#maybe it's bc im used to fan subtitles

[thegoldenavenger]

Man, I read one post that said basically "italicising quote unquote foreign words is kind of distancing from the language, especially when so many words are already adopted from other lamguages" and I have never looked back. I am completely reading italics as emphasis only and whenever a "foreign" word is italicized in my readings now I get so confused bc it never warrants an emphasis.

[mangoposts]

i watch this youtuber called daydrian harding and he’s the funniest mf on yt, that’s besides the point but he uploads like MAYBE twice a month, mostly once a month, his relationship w his fans is truly amazing and his merch shipping is so fast.

ANYWAYS back to the upload schedule, he dosent have a schedule, he mostly uploads whenever he deals but it’s at least once a month, BUT the editing is always really good and he has subtitles on the screen when somethings hard to hear, and his videos are always 30+ mins and is clearly filmed over multiple days if not weeks, i honestly don’t mind the change in the triplets schedule BC of this. because i know that quality is waaaay better than quantity, ik we’re so used to 2-3 videos a WEEK but that is a lottttt. and it just dosent feel like it cus we used to it.

sorry for the yap session but that’s why i don’t mind them changing their schedule, it’s gotta be stressful too. hopefully this can change some ppls mindset on being upset abt it☹️ luv u minaaaa

-🎞️

This is so nice to hear he sounds so coollllll :-( People should be more open minded about the boys uploading schedule it’s really stressful as is but im only assuming they like posting twice a week hence why they’re keeping it that way. But i wouldn’t be opposed to one video a week or three videos a month and then they just stream or something whenever they play video games 🤷🏻‍♀️There’s so many ways but there’s already so much content from them, if the triplets put out long, quality videos once a month i’d love it. But their schedule right now is more than enough, just being able to see them and hear them once in awhile is enough for me so im hoping there will be be less whiners and complainers out there in the future 😭

I’m checking this dude out tho and i luv u too

[birbfeeder2artisticboogaloo]

thousand autumns donghua, episode 10~

(just realised that the old man is called '晏无师' like 'yan….without master'??? is this??? his actual NAME or?? bc i feel as tho this wouldn't be terribly auspicious?? and parents wouldn't be happy if the name were suggested to them, would they?? so could it be a second name? an alias?? another title??? i wonder if shen qiao has got a courtesy name?? maybe he just doesn't like it lol. NAMES ARE. VERY CONFUSING. i like them a lot bUT THEY CONFUSE ME ;A;) ANYWAY ahhh chang'an looks like a very nice place!! pretty treessss omg ;A; OH FUCK THE OLD MAN'S SPOUTING POETRY 😳 HELP I'M HAVING AN EMOTION 😵 yws: heyyyy u should hang out with meee, want this flower?? shen qiao: no :/ new friend unlocked!! yuwen qing!! and his concubine yuzi!! wonder why he brought her along?? she cute tho ;A; BAI RONG TAKE A FUCKING HINT CHALLENGE. NOBODY LIKES U. GO HOME >:V lol the old man is beating this lass and somehow i'm on HIS side lol, what has my life come to?? 😩 it's THE CHAIN GANG. THEY'RE A GANG. OF CHAINS 🔗🔗🔗 bai rong: UR A BIG MEANIE. i told on u and shizun sent big tough guys >:( yws: *yawn* i'm too old for this shit. it's past my bedtime. xiao se??? and who might U be?? that's a nice fan. made of knives 👀 i'm so glad they're taking the time to quibble about sect matters like this while shen qiao sits in his cart and yuwen qing tries desperately to carry his gf away from danger THE SUBTITLES HAVE 'QI' ROMANISED AS 'CHI' AND I DON'T LIKE IT, IT'S CONFUSING ;A; shen qiao's got the shillelagh, everyone back UP!!! WHACK EM, SHEN QIAO!! GIVE HIM A GOOD WHACK!! >:V i love these martial arts sequences so much ;A; OH NO IT'S THE WHITE LADY!!! nobody likes U either, missy, so sod off unless u intend to kill bai rong 😤 xiao se: SHIMEI HELP MEEEE ;A; bai rong: *running away in the bg* OH SNAP. SNARED HIM LIKE A FISH ON A SPEAR 🐟 lol yan wushi tormenting his victims before killing them is very funny, for some reason. he's like the 'chasing u down the corridor' meme lol OH NO WAS HE STRUCK??? damn i can't believe she got a hit on him ;A; she didn't even face him in honourable combat, what a coward 😒 yws: *happy smile* OH A-QIAO!! COME HAVE TEA WITH MEEEE :D shen qiao: ….there was an assassination attempt yws: soooo is that a yes? :D '我们家阿峤' SIR U ARE IN PUBLIC!! UR JUST!!! SAYING THIS IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!! WTF yws: where are u going?? :((( is it something i said?? :((( shen qiao is the best, he cares about the fate of missing handmaidens even tho nobody else does ;A; ALSO he's fucking BLIND, and still it's HIM who goes looking for her?? nobody else can be bothered?? these fecking ppl lol white ladyyyy, the old man was just returning ur needle!!! why are u mad??? 'if u want somebody to love, u can love me :D' exCUSE ME shen qiao: if SHE'S not good enough for me, what makes u think U are?? >:( lmao roastedddd got emmmm!! 🤣🤣🤣 OOH A TOWN!!! look at the cute shops!! look at the cute lanterns!! look at the cute re-used character models!! :DDD ....aaaand the old man's disappeared again! i like to think he jumped onto the passing cart and rode away with it 🤣 shen qiao does a tiny smile bc he's CHARMED by these antics now lol BAI RONG??? UR BACK??? i love this donghua but the pacing is WACK in places tbh 😅 ohhh that shen qiao, always trying to believe the best in everyone.....….even the tart who keeps trying to kill him 😌 bai rong: tee hee ur so cute when u smile~~ shen qiao: do not touch me :) her outfit is fire tho!! cute shoes!!!!! idk what they're talking about rn. sometimes the subtitles are very cryptic. im just gonna nod and smile 😊 is she is she trying to WARN him?? was that a WARNING from bai rong?????? that's so weird o_O wait who is OH OH IT'S RUYUAN KEHUI OH DAMN HE IS WOW HE'S UH gOODNESS HE'S CERTAINLY ahem. he's. inch resting. what a voice 😳😳😳 OH HERE'S THE OLD MAN. TO CHASE AWAY SHEN QIAO'S SUITORS!! wait they're going to fight why are they going to what ok shen qiao is used to ppl constantly fighting over him i guess it's probably not very shocking anymore smh poor shen qiao 😔

[golbrocklovely]

I fully agree with you, if he hasnt walked a mile in another person’s shoes, someone who hasnt had it easy, hasnt lived a life of privileged or had that cushion where he knew if he fucked up he could easily move back with mom and dad, then he has no right to tell people how it is and how its supposed to be based on what he’s read off self help books. Its not like he spent years helping malnourished children in a extremely poor part of the world and went “wow these people with so little still manage to be happy by doing this”, no he bought philosophy for dummies and ran with it.

Personally i think the people that preach the most like he does are trying to convince themselves they are happy, so they go on these rants and spiels trying to convince people it should be like this or that because that is how their life is currently like and because they really aren’t happy. Not to sound like a jerk because i’d kill to have that life where i can be my own boss, follow my own schedule, and my biggest headache is “i need to edit & film” and not “how the fuck am i going to pay rent”, but Sam is over here complaining about editing all the time and how “its starting to feel like work”, yeah im not gonna feel bad for you buddy when you’ve had the means to hire editors and a team, no one told you to disassociate from friends or move and buy A second mansion and just abandon the first one. His issues are rich people problems and for him to have the audacity to say we shouldn’t put all our joy into vacationing!!! When the majority of us cant afford to travel every other week like him is absurd.

The same way Colby gets called out for the littlest things, i WISH someone would call him out and tell him if he feels like ranting to go to a therapist first and then if he still can’t scratch that itch, to actually take the time to get out of his comfort zone and learn about people and society instead of being so generalized with his thinking.

i don't think he would have to go that far to understand struggle. but i do think weirdly he can come across with a lack of empathy. i think he genuinely cares, but i don't think he fully grasps how bad some ppl have it. hell, even i to some extent don't. but bc my lows have been deadly to some extent, i care for those who have struggled more than me, bc i could barely make it thru.

and you nailed it right on the head. i think internally he struggles to find himself, to find things that make him happy, and bc of that, he tries to project this air of "i'm so happy and you can be just like me if you follow along." and it's just… not realistic.

i personally believe that regardless of life circumstance, you can still bitch about how life feels. even they have bad days. my issue is that maybe venting to us isn't the best way to go about it. go vent to your influencer friends who understand you gripe. i will say tho, when they do complain, they also immediately follow it up with "but we don't really have all that much to complain about" so… win some lose some lol

but i do get your point that they could easily hire someone to help take the stress of editing out of their life, but instead don't forever whatever reason bc they want someone they can mold into the perfect editor for them.

side note, and not related to this at all, on xplrclub they talked about how they might be hiring this one editor who's gonna basically do sam's half (or at least help out with that half) and i'm just like…. WHY THAT HALF??? they bitch constantly that they don't want anything flashy that a lot of editors do now-a-days, so clearly they want control on the back end of the editing. why not just hiring someone to cut the video up and make it make sense, and then the two of them can split between the music, subtitles, transitions, ect???? that would be SO much easier. also i basically said at this point they should just hire a fan to edit bc even i at this point could make a video like theirs lol

anyway back to your ask

oh yeah, when he talked about not living for things like vacation and trying to find happiness or positivity in the mundane, i get it. but like…. wrong messenger. you can actually afford a vacation. some of us can't and will never be able to. so like, if we some how miraculously can, shut the fuck up and let me enjoy it sksksks

highkey i would love for snc to both go to a therapist. like, i just know they need one. we all do tbh. but at least they can afford to go to one.

[transrightsjimin]

listened to + read the subtitles to yoongi's first kkul FM vlive from this year (or at least the first one that streamed since the pandemic started) and man... hes such a comfort... not only does his voice rly sound soothing but also just hearing him share little bits of stuff he had been up to (e.g. that he was studying psychology to hopefully get a licence for counselling, was studying philosophical books nd tried to learn to speak english) and he felt a bit more open and comfortable, like expressing that hes interested in psychology as hed like to be able to offer help to people like him, and he talked a lot abt wanting to do concerts nd missing performing on tours, seeing enthused fans w army bombs etc, nd him sharing funny facts abt the rest of the group and some questions he got from army were just so spot on :(( one fan asked abt what advice he could give to someone in a slump / burnout where you are stuck, nd he said he never went in burnout bc the issues hes faced were always so inevitable that he just ended up having to deal w them, but he did still try to offer support, nd he talked abt how he got inspiration from everyday things, and found it very hard to decide between things fans asked him to choose, and god he mentioned a few times how he used to read books more but struggles w it now bc he has no focus (big adhd mood) nd ahh it was just rly nice to see this nd feel like im not as stupid as i tell myself :((

i love him lots and i havent watched / listened to / read something from him in which he talked for a longer time since like, years, it seems, aside from listening to the mixtapes nd many other songs he expresses himself through. yoongi is just such a comforting person nd sometimes i feel like i couldnt relate to / bias him bc he is more quiet nd reserved but i feel like irl those are the ppl i gravitate towards and maybe i would even appear tht way to others depending on whom im around. i love yoongi man hes just nice nd passionate abt music 😭 also he laughed at how he thinks bts feel more like entertainers / comedians than singers bc the guys are so funny gdodgksg hes not wrong abt that latter

[where-is-my-mind-tho]

Guys I actually  kinda enjoyed The Rise of Skywalker

mini review/first impresions, spoilers will be highlited ;)

although my expectations were kinda low after ep. 8... I’m not gonna say TLJ was total garbage but for me certainly worst of this new trilogy. Compared to ep. 7 which I really liked. TLJ kills alot of new ideas from the previous movie and  has really weird plot and out of all these new movies feels the least like a Star Wars movie... 

I might actually write a little something about ep 7 - 9 later (like what was awesome and what I liked...) bcs when I see all the hate this new trilogy is getting it breaks my heart... I get it that It’s totally different from what we expected as fans but every movie has something epic and I really don’t wanna trash on Star Wars... bcs It’s well Star Wars and I used to love it soo much as a kid. and I still do

so back to ep. IX

I went to premier on 18th and I have to say there were like 3 girls + 1 man dressed as a Jedi :D (not that thats important) lmao and the cinema was like 75% full :D I expected more ppl tbh. But that probably depends on where u live... luckily the cinema aired the version with EN + subtitles first and I was super happy about that.

I gotta admit that I briefly read through the leaks on reddit (yes they are true) so I kinda expected the ending but I still wanted to see for myself and I was not entirely disappointed and there were bunch of scenes that blew my mind. The movie Is filled with so much action .... It would be enough for two movies and It was hell of a ride. All the scenes with Leia look awesome except for one (1) you gonna know when u see... they must have used CGI for that but It’s not a complete disaster.... As usual the trio is absolutely gorgeous... you gonna get more Rey-Poe interactions which are mostly fights but fun to watch. Sadly Finn has almost no development whatsoever and that’s a shame he was very interesting new addition to SW universe.

the saber battles are epic and probably one of my most favorite thing in TROS. also there’s bunch of new worlds and also red troopers... who are kinda just there. 

! spoilers ahead !

now we all know for some time that Palpatine is back but I did not expect him to be shown so early in the movie. It basically opens with scene with Kylo going to Sheev who tells him to kill Rey. IMHO kinda rushed start. Also the revelation that Rey is Palpatine felt kinda funny :D and the story of her parents was NOT what I had expected but thats not a bad thing... Better than what Kylo said about them in ep.8. And now Im gettting to the problem of this movie.

 Ep 7. was great. It introduced new characters and kickstarted the trilogy but then we have ep. 8 which totaly trashed and ruined the direction which was set in TFA and now JJ tried to tie it togheter and in feels so rushed and messy like Disney did not plan this entirely. I had a feeling that they put Palpatine there only bcs Snoke was killed so unexpectedly and they did not have the BIG BAD. Although the whole move is filled with nostalgia trust me when the movie ends you don’t have the feeling of closure. It does not conclude the 9 movie saga... It barely felt like an ending for this trilogy. 

Now to some positive stuff

Adam Driver and his acting is the best thing that could happen to Star Wars. This person has an incredible emotional range. Those who watch his work will agree with me. I’m forever thankful for Disney and JJ for casting him, making him well known and gave him the opportunity to show some raw emotions on screen. He deserves all the awards in the world. 

That being said I can’t shake the feeling that we were robed. His portrayal of Ben Solo is absolutely incredible even though he almost does not speak and It’s a great shame that we won’t be able to see this character more. When Ben appears on Exegol it’s a totally different person even the style of his walk changes. I can’t even imagine how awesome it would be if Kylo turned at the end of ep 8... the whole RISE of Skywalker could have been filled with sarcastic sassy remarks aka Han and Leia style... NOT to mention Ben’s super hot outfit which contains baggy tshirt and black pants... yes that’s it... hottest character and outfit since Loki and his leather armor in 2012 Avengers.... 

I mean look at him....

And than we have the final scene with him and Rey... Ikd what to say about that I’m still processing that smile™. I should say I was never a true Reylo bcs I had the feeling it would be a relationship based on manipulation an abuse BUT I was not totally against REYBEN which is basically canon at the end. As I said I don’t know what to think of it yet...

In conclusion the real tragedy of this story is the fact that Ben dies :( totally useless death imho. So the ending is actually bittersweet and not what u expect when go see a movie that should end the 40y.o. saga. That being said and done my opinion is mostly positive and ep. 9 is for me actually the best from Disney trilogy followed by ep. 7 and ep. 8 being the worst. 

Theres like sithton ;) of other stuff that I did not mention bcs the post would be like 100 miles long soo maybe in another post. Now id like to know what do you think? Have u seen it yet? Which ep is the best/worst? Which part of the movie did u like?

Sorry for the repost of the last gif and pic the are not mine also bless the person who made them

Sorry for typos or grammar I’m still SHOOK

[heartsoftruth]

I’m kinda glad Neymar is staying with PSG, cause I think he needs to chill and rebuild his image a bit before he does anything else. But then a part of me feels like he’s stuck. Maybe because I am biased towards Barca. But I really can’t picture where he goes from here. I can’t see him at Real Madrid. And I can’t see him staying at PSG too much longer. Maybe the premier league? I really don’t know. Idk I guess I still think he made a massive mistake leaving Barca the way he did. 🤷🏻‍♀️😔

Yeah for his image it might be good. To get back to being talked about bc of football and no other bs. But if he stays he’s expected to win it all in France again and the only thing where he can really shine is the CL… 

Anonymous said:ohhh ok I though you guys are maybe having the Purge in Netherlands right now lol 😂😂😂😂😂 See the original it’s BEST!!!

Hhahahah, nooooo!!! I would move out of the country ASAP! Can you image something like that ever being taken place in a country… Brrrr. 

Anonymous said:do you know if neymar is going to play tomorrow? i saw that there’s a psg vs bayern matchAnonymous said:nvm i saw that he’s on vacation like mbappe and the rest and will be back in august

Yeah he’s still on a vacay so he will be back when pre-season starts for the players that played in the WC etc. 😊

Anonymous said:Hey ash, now that cr7 gone, do you think it is chance for isco to shine?

I mean… I don’t see Isco play a lot - since I dont watch RMA a lot - but from what I did notice is, is that he had a great start of the season last year and then it went downhill. But with Spain he always performs… 

So I for him I hope he will get him mojo back at RMA - but not so good that they beat us haha - but I don’t think having or not having Ronaldo around will play a big part in how he performs tbh.  

Anonymous said:Ash I agree with you especially in one of the videos where they just arrived, he took a picture with the little boy and then said something to the security because he waved his finger he was not impressed about something xx

Yeah, that one he looked not amused indeed xD And on the carpet etc just grumpy. 

Anonymous said:Grumpy neymar is a hot looking neymar 🤤🔥

on the carpet it’s a bit weird haha. But angry Ney is hot! 

Anonymous said:Nasser had a interpreter with him I think because of the headphones he wore… Like a “tolk”

Yeah, I saw that, but when he talked with Ney he didnt use it. And he was seated next to Ney and his father. 

Anonymous said:Ehh the anon won’t have problem with that event if Bruna wasn’t in attendance. The point of this event was to bring in as much donations as possible not to put on family show. The event was appropriate. But of course the anon had to do the usual over analyzing because of their dislike of bruna. Those anons reminds me of British journalists that publish “body language reading “articles every time when Meghan attends the royal events. Im not fan but tired of people searching for problems everytime

I don’t think saying the event of last year felt more honest and personal has anything to do with it. The anon even said it looked beautiful yesterday. 

I also get what she’s saying meaning it HAD a more intimate feeling last year. It was a bit more informal and you saw his family a bit more. Dancing with his mother and his grandma etc etc. I’m sure with the sponsors as GQ and Fox Sports the event was way bigger than last year so greating  that intimate vibe is more difficult. And on the other hand it is an auction so I presume they also got more money with these two being involved for example. 

For me the vibe doesnt have anything to do with Bruna and I dont think the anon felt that way because she was there. 

Anonymous said:wait what happened with that lady and golden medal? I’m sure there’s a story behind it why would she steal a medal right there?! if they wanted they could’ve taken it backstage or anywhere else or jusz ask and get one probably it’s putin ffs… why would she do it on the field?? maybe it was damaged or an extra or smth??

I also have no idea.

Anonymous said:She didn’t steal the medal. She’s a higher up FIFA official who makes sure everything goes as planned. Like having spares in her pocket in case one is missing. I read in a journal that this medal was extra, so she took it. But don’t worry, she had the right to! 😊

Ahaaa! Thanks for the answer! I was already thinking wtffff is she doing when I saw it going viral last week haha. But I forgot to reblog it on here. 

Such a strange moment but this explains it! 😊

Anonymous said:Do you know where I can watch the documentary of the France nt? It doesn’t matter if it’s without subtitles, I’m fluent

How lucky you’re able to understand. I’m still hopeing a version with subs will pop up. 

Here is one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlv3fcgUpBA 

P2 is also uploaden on the same channel! 😊

[creion]

gen z/millennial fma headcanons courtesy of me.

greed:

greed is friends with everyone in this au. everyone. he knows everyone.

no one knows greeds real name. he’s just greed. in this au thomas halbert doesnt have the url greed. greed does. hes not even that greedy and he most definitely blocks everyone who calls him out on it.

he’s mysterious in general. his youtube channel goes between him doing backflips off of things he shouldnt be doing back flips off of to a podcast about [some obscure political thing]? who is he?

greeds probably low key homeless like idk in an au where hes human i can imagine him showing up at one of his friends houses every night with like his one backpack of belongings like “hey im sleeping on ur couch and using ur shower” and no one really questions him because hes charming enough to get away with it yknow

except edward questions him. “ling isnt even here. wyd.” “please. if i dont shower i might die.” “fucking fine I GUESS”

greeds favorite place to go is ed and lings apartment because theyre nice and ling always feeds him and also eds funny and greed appreciates humor

this is just a general greed headcanon but god is he poly :3c i can and will fight about this.

ling:

GAY! TANA! MONGEAU! hes wild and a lot of people hate him even though hes really a giant sweetie. he’s best friends with greed and sometimes ling goes on greeds podcast so they can talk about their exercise regimen

hes dating edward of course. theres not more to this other than theyre dating and they love each other and Would kill for each other. also a lot of people probably dont think they have a deep relationship but im telling you. theyre star crossed lovers. its total romcom bullshit.

ling probably gets paid to go to parties. like thats his job and he makes good money doing it even though he has a masters in psychology. he just. goes to parties. pays off his student loans.

he does a lot of prank videos on youtube. think tgfbro but american and less edgy.

ling probably also models on occasion. like hes pretty enough that he just does it.

he shaves his head at some point or like maybe gets an undercut and no one can look at him for a month because its just weird. lings hair is like his identity.

he gets up to a lot of hijinks with greed. theyre probably a little gay together. edward doesnt care because its 2018 time 2 start normalizing polyamory ok.

ling spends actual money on new clothes for greed but the man always wears the same two outfits and although ling rarely gets angry this gets him a little riled

edward:

his youtube channel is just a mess kind of like greeds except with him its unintentional he just... does what he wants. theres videos of him showing off his physical prowess. like hes small but he WILL kick your fuckin ass. hes probably a black belt and is the physical embodiment of the navy seals rant.

sometimes he does vsauce style videos on youtube and everyone hates when he does it because hes memelord 69 but at the same time hes wicked smart

hes a physicist in this world and im serious it throws anyone who meets him for a loop.

ed gets asked a lot how roy is his dad if hes only 12 years older than him. eds answers are either “he found me and my brother as infants and has mothered us since” or “idk man”

ed accidentally starts a meme. he posts a bunch of pictures of ling either sleeping or passed out and idk the specifics of the meme but he starts a meme and it pains him. he consumes he does not create.

ed likes greed but he doesnt express it. “i dont like you” “[eyeroll] and???? im still eating ur leftovers”

ed actually does kick russel tringham in the head for a skit for one of lings vlogs. ed and russel are best friends even if russel genuinely did try to steal eds identity at some point and may or may not have put ed in debt for a few months

roy: 

hes one of ed’s professors much to eds dismay since roy is, technically, his adoptive father.

he probably argues with ed a lot in the middle of lectures (”hey dumbass thats not how it works” “im literally teaching you what you’re majoring in.” “yeah and im telling you that you’re wrong.”)

he’s like 35 in this au and technically a millennial. ed’s 21.

roy has an instagram and its literally just pictures of hughes and elicia and nina and ed and al

roy and hughes are most definitely a foster family and am i pulling this from my own fic yes i am can you stop me no you cant

hughes:

HES FINE. HES ALIVE.

all of the gen z kids in this au think hes awful bc of all the dad jokes and slightly outdated humor. hes not awful. hes perfect. hes doing his best.

he loves all four of his children.

he and gracia are best friends even if their marriage didnt work out for unknown reasons. they along with roy are GOOD PARENTS to elicia. you can pry this from my cold dead hands. canon can suck my chode.

lust:

shes not like greed she doesnt try to be mysterious. shes probably a beauty guru (SolarisCosmetics) and does a lot of tutorials like “Low Commitment Goth Makeup Tutorial”

shes unintentionally mysterious because for her first like 50 videos or so theres no commentary its just subtitles

her first video with commentary is like “i... apologize. i was not intending to be so... mysterious.” and shes actually very sweet and nice and you can fight me on this ok

greed is her adoptive brother and greed makes her bleep out his name and blur her mouth whenever she calls him by his name bc he likes to lurk in the background of her videos because hes an asshole

winry:

shes a mechanic in this au and i mean shes a mechanic in canon but she prob specializes in like. idk. cars. this is a headcanon list im not looking up specifics of mechanics point is she can rebuild an engine in an afternoon and everyone in this au is in love with her

BIG LESBIAN

she probably tries getting ed to go on double dates (him and ling with her and lan fan) but every single time he shoots her down and its to the point shes almost convinced that hes not even dating ling in the first place

greed is probably her biggest client. no one knows how he does it but his car is constantly breaking and winry is the only mechanic in his general vicinity who knows how to do her job worth a shit and also her repair shop has cool music and he probably finds excuses just to chill for the music

“[greed] please. if your fat ass is going to be taking up counter space AT LEAST help clean up” “excuse you my ass is FIRM AND PERKY.”

its probably a joke among ed’s following that winry DOES NOT put up with his shit and when winry gets asked out it shes just like “hes an asshole why the fuck do you think im gonna let him walk around all half cocked like that”

riza:

i like to think shes in the military in this au too. not like military military but maybe air force idk. imagine pilot riza. wow.

shes not on active duty or w/e but you KNOW shes in a foreign country going to college paid for by the government.

everyone in this au is at least bi and riza is no exception. she is dating olivier armstrong. they are in love u can pry this from my cold dead hands you fucking gremlins

edward is probably platonically in love with her. like when he gets to see her (which isnt often) he has to occasionally stop, put a hand on her shoulder, do the ‘boi’ hand (idk how else to describe it) and say, “i love you dont ever change” “thank you, edward.” “[hug]”

envy: 

a troll. like you know those troll blogs that are pretending to be otherkin or some really obscure gender w neopronouns (u do u but we all kno theres trolls). envy has one of those blogs.

envy is actually nonbinary irl but theyre very critical of “special snowflakes” (again u do u these headcanons dont necessarily reflect my opinions and as long as u aint hurting no one i support u) and they probably cyberbully ppl

envy is garbage in this fic

“god i hate you” “actually eat my ass, greed”

see greed is the opposite of ed w riza. he looks at envy and occasionally has to say “i fucking hate you”

theyre secrety buds but like... they annoy the shit out of each other. u kno they do.

ENVY STARTS A LOT OF DISCOURSE. THEY PROBABLY START A LOT OF HOMESTUCK DISCOURSE. GOD. here i am in 2018 writing about envy starting fucking homestuck discourse. its probably like davekat discourse too tbh

i know im forgetting alphonse, may/mei (i spell it mei), and lan fan but its like 4:19 am 

please send me asks if u have any feedback. or reply to this post. its up to u. i trust u to make the right decision. (there is no reight decision and honestly i need to go to bed)

[n0ttinghamshad0w]

It's not like I'm falling in love, I just want you to do me no good And you look like you could

ROBIN OLIVER HUNT (Name at birth: Robin Huang; Alias: Robert Oliver Gardner)

Birthday: March 12 1990 (Pisces) Hogwarts House (Primary):  Gryffindor Hogwarts House (Secondary): Slytherin Myers-Briggs: ENFP Enneagram: Type 8 Height:  5’9

Overview:

Mother:

1.       Unknown—Linda Huang, still alive, forced to give up her child by her conservative parents who did not want her raising a child out of wedlock, has not tried to make contact with her son.

2.       Mother Florence—the head nun at Nottingham Orphanage, firm, but kind; strict, but genuinely wanted the best for the children; had a soft spot for Robin, since he’d been there for like all his life.

3.       Barbara Economides—Robin’s first foster mom, had six kids of her own, but room in her heart for a dozen more

Father:

1.       Unknown—Ernesto Rosetti

2.       George Economides—Robin’s first foster dad, loving and hard-working man, who unfortunately did not have a very hard-working cardiovascular system. Died of a heart attack when Robin was ~12

Mother’s Occupation: he doesn’t care about his birth mom, but Barbara owned a bakery

Father’s Occupation: he doesn’t care about his birth dad, but George owned a bakery

Family Finances: well, none of the homes he was in were great financially

Birth Order: only child as far as he’s concerned

Siblings: N/A--(Stefan, Petros, Elek, Idola, Eileen, Karena...the Economides kids)

Other Close Family: None

Best Friend: Joan Woode (28)

Other Friends: Tuck Frere (26), Martin Maddon (18), Fakhir Azhar (27)

Enemies: all those who neglect/abuse their children

Pets: none, would love a bird or a fox tho

Home Life During Childhood: He was in an orphanage till he was nine, and it was not a bad orphanage at all, just massively under-funded. At nine, he was placed in a foster home, a large Greek family, and he was very well-loved and well-taken care of, but the father dropped dead of a heart attack when Robin was 12 and the Economides family had to move and they couldn’t take care of Robin. He shuffled through like four other foster homes, at least one of which he was badly abused in, till at seventeen, he just didn’t come home one day and the family never reported it and that was that.

Town or City Name(s): Nottingham, England

What Did His Bedroom Look Like: Never had a steady room, or one of his own. Always shared with someone else, always a small bed.

Any Sports or Clubs: Nah, he was the type of kid who hung out under bridges and threw stuff.

Favorite Toy or Game: Had a toy archery kit back at the Economides house

Schooling: left school at seventeen

Favorite Subject: History and English, loved old stories of Robin Hood

Popular or Loner: loner---’cept he was real popular with the “troubled” kids, the freak in freaks and geeks

Important Experiences or Events: When George died, the abuse at the other foster homes

Health Problems: None

Culture: English?? He’s actually Italian and Chinese, but wouldn’t know at all. Considers himself Greek, if anything

Religion and beliefs: The only time in his life when he was religious was when he lived with the Economides family and went to church on the reg, since then, he’s convinced that if a God does exist, he’s a shitty God and only people can really help each other

Your Character’s Character:

Bad Habits: smoking, drinking, commitment issues, def has ghosted girls before...oh yeah, uh, stealing things??? He’s also a pickpocket

Good Habits: very good with children, when he wants to be he’s very kindhearted, very charismatic, very charming, good sweet-talker

Best Characteristic: intense--has his set of beliefs and morals and will stick by them

Worst Characteristic: intense--to the point where he isolates himself

Worst Memory: The moment the Economides family left him at the social services office (also George’s death lbr)

Best Memory: His first Christmas with the Economides family

Proud of: the money he’s been able to give back to the orphanage

Embarrassed by: his lack of formal education

Driving Style: erratically, I don’t think he has a license but he definitely knows how to drive--does not get into accidents, but is hella reckless

Strong Points: passionate, believes in a cause, dedicated friend, charming, charismatic, quick-learner, good with his hands

Temperament: sanguine

Attitude: passionate, intense

Weakness: has a very specific mission, keeps people at a distance unless you’ve proved yourself to him, you can know him but never really know him

Fears: man, uh, not being able to make a difference

Phobias: abandonment issues~~~

Secrets: the fact that he’s a master thief

Regrets: not finishing secondary, not being like a better person or whatever

Feels Vulnerable When: talking about his past

Pet Peeves: tourists (but they make good bait), people who hate on people who use subtitles, americans, mac copmputers

Conflicts: his very idealistic moral code vs reality, his very idealistic moral code and mission vs caring about his own life/needs

Motivation: justice for children

Short Term Goals and Hopes: find Tuck’s family, steal from Tuck’s family, find Martin, find enough money to get Fakhir a good lawyer

Long Term Goals and Hopes: well shit, making a difference in the lives of people somehow

Sexuality: heterosexual, but could be convinced to fuck a bloke

Exercise Routine: just generally active, runs a fair bit, likes to play sports with friends

Day or Night Person — Night

Introvert or Extrovert — Extrovert

Optimist or Pessimist — Optimist

Likes and Styles:

Music: alt-rock, classic rock, rock in general, also some punk

Books: he likes old stories and folktales (ie; Robin Hood whom he modeled himself after), but does have a soft spot for some high fantasy books (he’s a big fan of Lloyd Alexander’s work--wait, I guess that doesn’t exist since The Black Cauldron is disney but IM SURE HE HAD SOME SORTA EQUIVALENT...The Beige Cauldron) and adventure novels

Magazines: GQ probs let’s be real. Never bought one, always knicked ‘em out of newstands. ALso probably playboy……...Recently has been into tech mags.

Foods: Greek food---reminds him of his time with the Economides family. Loves him a good lamb gyro with a big side of chips.

Drinks: Whiskey--straight up. Not a huge tea drinker, but likes a strong Turkish coffee. Also Gin and Tonics

Animals: Foxes and birds of prey. Tbh, kinda hates that the name the orphanage gave him is ROBIN for crying out loud it sounds so fuckin’ wimpy

Sports: big football fan, also into rugby, probably out of all my characters the one who follows sports the most jeez

Social Issues: def def a huge proponent for children’s rights, especially within the foster system; that’s his biggest thing, but he’s also really for Magick-Rights and against the pressing xenophobia and nationalism that’s rising in a lot of Western European nations

Favorite Saying: Faint heart never won fair lady; As you wish

Color: Dark forest green

Clothing: enough to maintain his image as a #rebel, but def does not invest toooo much in fashion. Lots of cool jackets, mostly darker colors

Jewelry: nah, mate that’s excessive (has this pendent that Barbara gave him that used to be George’s but that’s it)

Games: loves dominoes a lot actually

Websites: uhh reddit probably

TV Shows: probs into Game of Thrones and #epic period dramas

Movies: his absolute favorite movie is The Princess Bride, he loves good action flicks with a dash of epic romance--something with a real hero. Also probs a Star Wars fan. V for Vendetta

Greatest Want: to make a difference in the world, to make sure no child is ever hurt

Greatest Need: to let people in

Where and How Does Your Character Live Now:

Home: small studio apartment in Benbow

Household furnishings: sparse, probs just sleeps on a mattress let’s be real, has a hot plate and a mini fridge, uses a crate for a coffee table

Favorite Possession: his trusty pocket knife, one of the first things he bought with his own money

Most Cherished Possession: necklace that Barbara Economides gave to him that used to belong to George, it is a Greek Cross

Married Before: Nope.

Significant Other Before: the only serious one was this rather posh girl when he was 21. She ended up getting pregnant, but got an abortion and the relationship sorta derailed after that.

Children: nah

Relationship with Family: lol

Car: n/a

Career: no “career”--has worked service jobs and manual labor, was a bartender for a bit but quit bc of the Fakhir thing

Dream Career: god, he doesn’t know--maybe a social worker, tbh, or owning some sort of afterschool program for kids

Dream Life: he wouldn’t tell you, but being married to a beautiful girl, having a buncha kids, adopting a bunch too

Love Life: a string of one-night stands and brief dramatic love affairs that ended like smoke in the night

Hobbies : knife-throwing, wood-carving

Guilty Pleasure : women?

Sports or Clubs: not at the moment

Talents or Skills : wood-carving, bartending, bit of an amateur hacker, decent dancer and football player, decent at like climbing things lol, lock-picking, stealth talents

Intelligence Level: Never did well in school, but is quite very streetsmart and can read people very well, knowledgable on random things, courtsey of Tuck 

Finances: not as bad as you’d think, but still def the poorest out of my characters. He’s the type of dude who gives everything he gets back--always drops in coins for street musicians, always

[ohoshi]

yess the part where johnny bumped into taeyong was cool!! ty looks so cool while performing gosh 😌 i think ive watched that nct u class performance so many times by now, im still not over it for some reason hahaha

OMG I KNOW XIAOJUN BEING RELEVANT!! YES!! honestly im so glad that during nct 2020 a lot of the wayv members got to show their skills and how theyve improved (like xiaojun, hendery, yangyang) and i hope this keeps going (i feel like winwin esp couldve been showcased more? maybe it's hard with soo many members and i dont wanna be *that* fan...but he was the leader of the 90s love unit and had like 2 lines lol)

omg yes shotaro!! you never couldve known he debuted just 2 MONTHS AGO but i agree even in maw u can tell that the boy got moves! i feel so proud of him and hes so cute 😊 i agree, sign me up too for the idols who have such duality!! they were all so good (as expected)!!

WAIT LMAO SO SORRY i just fact checked myself and haikyuu actually has 4 seasons 😂 😅 there was like a 4 year gap between s3 and s4 so i think i felt like it was 2 seasons lmaoo. lately i have been more okay watching ongoing shows bc it gives me something to look forward to every week! but i usually do binge shows, which is why im a little sad that the uncanny counter is ongoing so i am forced to wait 😭 i must say though my binging skills are amazing...my one talent in life 🤣

her private life is another fake relationship kdrama (the main girl character is a fangirl and she runs a blog for her bias ahaha relatable??), and i think crash landing on you has some fake relationship things?? obviously it's not the main focus of the drama but crash landing is iconic u gotta watch, be prepared to cry tho if you get emotional watching these things like me 😭 because this is my first life was also good (i've heard some ppl get frustrated by the main guy character's lack of emotion though but i liked the writing and it's worth giving it a shot if you want!) i love the fake relationship and the enemies to lovers tropes, so if you come across any that are good pls let me know hehe

SVT yes that part in home where they choreographed like a house imagery with their hands was so cool!! the choreo is just so detailed (like i think there was a part that looked like they were opening a door bc it's "home"), i had heard svt is self produced and thats so amazing! theyre so talented and their performances are so good (the ones i've seen so far). i watched their mafia dance video for left and right and it was so FUNNY HAHAHAA they seem so chaotic i love it (also i love the mafia dances in general lol like nct dream did it for we go up). i'm going to try to learn svt's names (which i usually do by just watching crack videos about the group on youtube lmao) so stay tuned 👀 coming from nct, 13 members doesnt even seem like a lot to me anymore hahaha and i think im usually good with names so we'll see! i am also curious to see if i end up stanning dino :)) who are your svt biases??

haha yes i can understand xj/hn/lc without subtitles!! it's interesting because i think all 3 of them are from different places so their canto actually sounds a bit different from each other! but when i hear wayv speaking canto it feels so familiar bc i really only speak cantonese with my family, and it's such a weird but also good feeling and it makes me feel warm :) wayv is the unit that feels like ur close friends (whereas dreamies have best chemistry and i think i like 127’s music most? (but ofc i do actually like all the units songs hahah))

🥺yeah me too! i’m glad wayv members became more relevant thanks to nct 2020! honestly they are soooo good and they deserve all the attention! and winwin 💔 honestly i’m so happy he is in wayv now where he is being appreciated more! where he gets the lines and screentime! he deserves it 😤 of course you’re gonna be *that* fan! we’re all *that* fan 😤 the leader of the unit got 2 lines 😤 smh 😤

omg 4 year gap???? that’s a lot 😳 what for?? i guess the 4 year gap is the reason the show is still airing after all these years lmao when i saw gifs on my dash my reaction was wtf when did haikyuu become one piece what have i missed and then i googled and saw that the anime has 80+ episodes????? ABOUT VOLLEYBALL???? 😳 WILD

ohhh i see you have something to look forward to hmm that makes sense? maybe i should try it, especially since it’s most likely not as consuming as binge watching!! but yeah same, binge watching tv shows is one of my talents 😏

her private life is about a girl who runs a blog about her bias? there’s a whole kdrama about me? are you kidding me rn? never knew someone would be inspired by me or us for that matter? since we’re both just two little human beings running a blog about their biases<3 OMGGGG when am i gonna get the time to watch all of these drama 😭 hopefully really soon, but knowing how busy my college life can be (and esp rn) probs not 🤕 if i ever come across any drama that you haven’t watched already i will most likely recommend it to you!!!!

AHDGAGHFSDGH i love when idols play mafia game of any kind and i think that svt’s left and right is my favorite mafia dance ajfdshgadfshga they’re so chaotic and funny and omg vernon was so good tho?????? 😳 i was impressed bc i could never lie so well ahgdfags yeah it’s not that hard to remember all 13 of them especially because all of them are so different (i mean all of the members in all of the groups are always so different but ajdsgakja for whatever reason svt to me seemed the most uhhh versatile from the others?? like for example woozi is so smol it’s easy to remember him, and then seungkwan is the loud one, and then mingyu and jeonghan are pretty ones, joshua the charming one, sweet one, my biases are the best<3 etc but i mean THIS COULD BE JUST ME AJDGAJSH maybe i’m just too biased bc i love them so much sigh) anyways,,,,,, there’s a lot of ICONIC SVT CONTENT SO  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ welcome we have cookies, relax and enjoy yourself, the ride to being 500% whipped for svt begins right here, i recommend to you their pot and hammer game bc i love to watch when idols play it and svt? CHAOTIC AS ALWAYS! 

OK MY SVT BIASES 🥺 ok first of all here’s a digression: usually when i get into a kpop group i have like 3 different positions, 1) love at first sight - which is the person who i’m attracted to right from the second?? like the first person i see and i’m like oh //they// kinda like the way you’re attracted to dino’s dancing and stuff; 2) first bias - which is the person i just pick for whatever reason //ok they’re gonna be my bias//; 3) the actual bias - after watching a lot of content and listening to the music and getting to know the group in general i then choose //THE BIAS// or rather the bias chooses me bc it’s out of my control i just love them whoever they are! and with svt 🥺 all of the 3 were one guy (the only other time this happened to me is w nct dream lmao) 🥺 and i love him so much! one and only: xu minghao! (aka the8) 🥰 he’s one of the lead dancers and 1/2 china line in svt and he can sing! he can rap! and boy can he dance 😭 i just 🥺 love him 🥺 my other svt bias (whom, tbh, i don’t love nearly as much as i love minghao but i still love him very much<3) is wen junhui! (aka jun) 🥰 he is the other lead dancer and 2/2 china line in svt (this is random: but i really love china line in kpop??? like idek why? i mean of course i don’t care about their nationality or whatever but i’ve just noticed that for whatever reason the ones i tend to love and bias are more often than not chinese) and i know i know you asked ‘hey cora who are your svt biases??’ and everything i was supposed to say was ‘hey santa it’s the8 and jun!’ but no i had to be EXTRA bc guess what? well I AM EXTRA!!! bc i got excited i really love them 😭 (esp minghao<3 lately he’s been my ultimate bias so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

OMG I AM SO JEALOUS OF YOU RN? you can understand them without titles? lucky!!!!!! but the fact that it feels familiar and it makes you feel warm<3 is so precious<3 so cute!! so wayv feels like home? 🥺 bc you only speak cantonese with your family? this is so 🥺 i’m not crying you’re crying 🥺 teach me something in cantonese?? like?? actually, first tell me is it too different from mandarin??? and then teach me something? how do i say i love you? or hi and bye lmao and thank you? yk the basics! and i mean of course that we all love all units songs i mean!! we’re here for all the mess those 23 boys give us but!! i think i’d be biased and pick nct dream’s music<3 but i love wayv and 127 so much as well 😭

[woobyun]

Translation of Takada Kenta’s Insta Live

I don’t speak japanese so i only translated the korean parts, you can find translation of some of the Japanese parts here. Between “ ” are the fans’ comments!

1st video:

Everyone, right now I’m… have you eaten? Bc I’m hungry… I’m going to eat soon…

“JBJ let’s debut” yeah me too… I want to debut, I don’t rly know… if I can debut it’d be nice!

“what do you want to eat?” since I like meat…I want to eat meat… because there’s (someone from his company, I’m not sure about the word he used but it’s a staff basically) next to me it’d be nice if we could eat meat, together (and he asked that person to buy him meat)

Wow but it’s rly fascinating… the fact that so many people are watching

In the future, when I have time, I’ll do insta live so keep an eye out for that/watch a lot

Also, teach me Korean! i’m still really lacking… so let me know (Korean)

“are you not doing activities in Japan?” I want to too but I’m still.. right now I’m practicing a lot and in the future if I could it would be nice

He said he’ll do lives often

And got rly bright when he was complimented on his Korean and said he didn’t know a lot of vocabulary

“where are you going?’ it’s a secret!

“there’s nothing you can’t do so you’re the best” no… I’ll work hard!

I can’t wink at all, but I’ll try

Wow jbj is popular!

He said he was going on a schedule

“you’re good at Japanese” ah thank you, my friends tell me I’m good at Japanese too so I’m happy… since I’m Japanese (the shade lmao)

“debut in korea! You have to!” yes, I will, I definitely will so until then give me support!

“why do you always post on insta at dawn?” ah… that… I can’t sleep… so I upload at night

“im Japanese but when you speak Japanese it’s fascinating” right? Me too… since I don’t speak japanse often lately …

“it’s cute when you speak in English” ah but I rly rly can’t speak English!

I’ll stop the live when I arrive

“do you sleep?” yes I sleep! I sleep a lot. When I don’t have schedules I sleep a lot

“what are you doing these days?” i’m practicing rly hard! I want to see you soon on stage so i’m practicing hard!

“there’s a lot of fans in Europe” ah, really? i wanna go to europe, europe (he said it three times at least)

a fan had a japanese exam so she asked for words of encouragement in japanese

“do you speak chinese?” no.. yongguk and... justin and jungjung taught me a lot but it’s so hard i forgot! chinese is rly hard!

on youtube and naver tv there’s “be mine”, “spring day” and “open up”, so watch the fancams a lot!

it’s the first time doing this... i rly wanted to thank you! while doing the program, thanks to all of you i got up to 24th place! it’s rly thanks to all of you, thank you, i was rly thankful. it’s over now but still in the future, please take good care of me

“how was mcountdown stage?” ah right right! it was rly.. i wasn’t nervous but i didn’t know what to do.. the fans were so loud i had a lot of fun!!

he doesn’t know where iran is.... OTL

“have you eaten” no, i’m hungry. have you eaten?

“you worked hard!” yes thank you for seeing that!

ah why did i chose the vocal position instead of the dance position? uh... that... tbh i wanted to do dance but... i don’t rly know why i chose vocal... but doing spring day was rly nice!

“kenta you went through a lot!” i went through a lot but you all gave me support!!

i think someone told him he looked like yuto (pentagon) he was like “no no no no”

“how long did you study korean” when i arrived in korea i studied in a private school for two months and then i studied alone and through having conversations with the people from the company and my friends. i’m still studying.

“kenta if you do a fanmeeting you seem like you would be good to the fans” ah, fanmeeting.. when i was doing activities in Japan i did one once! i did one... i don’t rly know.. doing a fanmeeting... i want to see the fans, i want communicate with the fans! wait just a bit!

“i want to learn japanese but it seems hard” yeah tbh japanese is hard! maybe... i think it would be hard, it’s hard for japanese people too!

you know the song “open up” was released... at the end the last “yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah naega isseo” i recorded it so listen to it a lot!!!

“do you like fruits?” yes i rly do! Mango, Banana and... yeah i like them! i like all fruits!

(sometimes he read beginnings of comments but not the end so it’s hard to know what they’re all talking about lmao)

“sing “right?”“ ah “right?” unnies’ “right?” i like it so much i could even do their dance!

“what korean food do you like?” i like chicken stew and..., but i can’t rly eat spicy things

and then the video ends on him being like oh we’ve arrived we’ve arrived lmao

2nd video:

He thanked the fans for the gifts, said he received everything

He said it’s not his house, he was at the house of someone from his company (not manager but something like that, the same that in the car)

I received this to from.. the fans, right? They bought me a star, im really thankful, I’m happy… rly happy

In the future I’ll work rly hard so continue to support me so that we can meet again

Ah, there’s the concert right? We can meet there, so… you will come right? I’ll show you a cool performance so you have to come !

I’m really… really ! really ! i can’t speak, idk how to express (he had a hard time pronouncing it ;_;) it, but first I’m rly rly thankful. I’ll work hard in the future so give me a lot of support.

“Thank You, I love you” ah, thank you a lot!!! I love you all! Thank you! Ah, it’s sad (to stop the live), but since we can see e/o again… (it cuts here lmao)

i’m sorry if there are any mistakes, or if this is messy i’m not a native korean or english speaker lmao (also someone should teach me how to make subtitles that’d be better than this OTL)

[mobianstrip]

sonic forces me to analyze the game

this is by no means a full, in depth review of sonic forces. however, since im working on a Forces au i think its only fitting to talk about my personal gripes with the game. just to be clear, i dont hate sonic forces by any means! there are some really neat concepts about it that i enjoy, which ill include my thoughts on as well! though with that said, theres a lot about it that could have been dealt with better. this post is gonna be a bit long and messy, sorry!

now i cant speak for what the gameplay controls itself are like since i havent actually played it with my own hands, so my primary focus will be the story and general format of the game. everything under the cut!

ill start by saying that in hindsight, i think the general premise of the game is actually really neat (had the war framing of the plot not been so overly glorified and bland. more on that below). eggman taking over most of the world is very reminiscent to the initial circumstance of mobius in the early archie sonic publication. it seems especially reflective of the comic in the fact that sonic forces takes place on a planet setting more akin to that of Mobius than that of Sonic’s World/Earth, the difference being the lack of human beings aside from Eggman. while this does somewhat bother me for the fact that it paints an inconsistency with the setting, im also all for the planet being strictly Mobians + Eggman again tbh. the concept of sonic being on earth populated by humans, complete with a mock version of the united states, never really settled well with me. it always felt like just a means to make sonic more relatable, which is true, but not done because it made anything more interesting. a problem that then arises is that the origins of shadow and silver/blaze would be radically different or at least would need some retcon alterations to make sense...but thats a topic for another day

overall, looking past the inconsistency with the setting and its implications, i enjoy how the premise of the game feels like going back to the basics. but even the premise still has its problems...which is never a good sign, and this point practically sealed forces’s fate of inconsistency: the theme of war and how it frames the story is so, so poorly written

starting with whats presented at the beginning of the game, sonic is captured by eggman as a prisoner. if the writing had just left it at that, fine. however, the exposition goes on to say that sonic has been there for six months being tortured...and that tails has completely lost it. again id be fine with this - the theme of war is a darker one so these two events would make sense in this circumstance. however, that tension is just totally lost in a matter of a few episodes. you rescue sonic who is just as cheery and jokey as ever, somehow able to fight a boss despite being supposedly locked away and tortured for six months

of course i understand that its not like they could give sonic ptsd and make him look tortured and weak and so on - but why even mention the torture thing at all? the same problem is apparent with the first cutscene with tails. tails is hardly given enough time to seem like he has "lost it". i will say though that tails WAS given a bit more of an emotional response to work with than sonic overall. particularly when tails is about to be attacked by chaos, and he ducks his head in fear and calls for sonic to help him even though sonic isnt there - i actually enjoyed this small segment bc it does reflect some of what was said about how he reacted to sonics capture (aside from also being across the planet...for seemingly no reason except bc he "lost it" and to get him away from the main group so that classic sonic can appear)

frankly speaking from these two points alone, the games tone just feels kind of confused. its obvious the writers wanted some parts of the darker theme of war...and its also obvious that going all out wasnt gonna be an option bc of the nature of sonic as a character and franchise being about more lighthearted, easier to relate to stories about sonics heroism. which im fine with that being the case; sonic is a hero and more importantly a mascot that profits off of kids being able to relate and look up to. my issue is simply that the premise of this game makes consistent writing kind of doomed from the start if the writers are trying to appeal to both the kids AND older fans. they cant go to the lengths necessary to adequately build the narrative. cant go too dark, cant go too lighthearted, and not finding a balance between to two gives you a confused and bland story 

on that note,  i personally find the theme of war to be...uncomfortably glorified and unchecked (adding to the tone confusion and blandness). sonic forces is named so because...yknow. armed forces. armies. the whole point of the game is that theres a war going on and youre on the good guy side. i mean its not as if youre fighting against other living creatures, just infinite and eggmans robots, but still. i think what put me off the most is the first comic with the soldier cat. after they save the day, the last lines are "I'll do better. I'll be better. I'll become a real soldier and a real hero." now slap that as the tagline to a united states army corps commercial and suddenly its really...sour tasting

war is just one of those subjects that i think needs to be handled with a bit more care. i mean think about it: the primary gimmick of forces is that you get to make your own character, to be the sonic version of yourself in this world. the plot of the game is that theres a war, and your character joins the resistance to defeat eggman. this game is pretty blatantly glorifying the idea that joining in on a war can make you a REAL soldier, a REAL hero. to some kids, that might sound pretty cool. but theres no nuance to it whatsoever, nothing thought provoking on the subject. no one steps back to be like ‘its good to do good things but wars are tough and not fun, and being a hero isnt everything’. none-a that

now do i think a sonic game could get it into a childs head that they should join the army for real? no, not necessarily. i think its possible, but i think that would also be due to a larger issue of military glorification present in modern culture in general (especially in america). mostly i just find the implications at play with glorifying the theme of war in conjunction to the avatar gimmick to be in poor taste and also entirely avoidable because...

i dont think the war and army framing even had to be a thing. not only is it just so sloppily done in general, with that fact that the supposed soldier forces on the Resistance side are literally never seen on screen except for some dialogue boxes in one episode and the rest of the time only being mentioned through other characters, but i seriously think never saying the words “war” or “army” and not including literal soldiers would have worked just as well and even been the better route. they could have just been like yeah heres eggman taking over the world, heres the resistance fighters that have come together to stop him, they are opposing forces and you play as your avatar to stop eggman - and just leave it at that. it wouldve made the glorification of war less obvious and the handling of the topics at hand appear less confused, appealing to a more lighthearted tone rather than weighing it down with frankly out of place hints to a darker subject of war

finally i wanna talk about the story as it relates to how its told through the game. the plot itself is fairly standard - eggman starts war, captures sonic, takes over planet. you rescue sonic, and together you fight eggman and infinite and ultimately defeat them. thats all good and well even if its cheesy sometimes. the REAL problem is how its executed. a lot of the exposition is given not through cutscenes, but through spoken dialogue with text box subtitles over the episode select screen. and it just feels so...stiff. it doesnt feel like world building, it just feels like being forcefed information with no substance behind it

i get that fully rendered cutscenes throughout can be expensive and time consuming, but shoot id take in-game rendered cut scenes at least. (like in sa, sa2, shadow 2005...) anything that could have provided the world building with a bit more ground to stand on would have been great. sure, there are levels to traverse which look cool...but they dont provide any sense of scale, they dont tell us what the area is like, and more importantly, you never see the other characters who are supposedly on the battlefield "alongside" you in a couple episodes. the storyline from the exposition along sounds like it could be an epic journey - but the way its told with the given game mechanics (i.e.: stage-based gameplay with no open worlds to explore) leaves a lot to be desired

i feel like the stuff explained in the comics should have just been cutscenes or exposition or something to pad out the game a bit. the comics are so short anyways so why just put it in the game? maybe not the first comic about the rando soldier saving the day or w/e...but the comic with silver and knuckles fighting chaos? the comic about infinites origins? all of that could have easily been included. at LEAST the comic with shadow was part of the DLC...but even thats just so gimmicky. they provide important background to the main plot of this game so i really dont understand why it was sidelined to comics and not just included from the beginning

the tension that the exposition already fails to build up is brought down even worse when coupled with the confusing timing of the stage complete screens, where you get your completion rank and see what new character creation items you unlocked. listen, i know immediate gratification for completing the level is important and all...but i swear, having these screens between the end of a boss fight and the cutscene showing what happens to them after being defeated seriously impairs the flow of the game. maybe having it there allows for the cutscene to load up in the background to improve efficiency, but personally id prefer seeing a loading screen as the break between a boss fight and the following cutscene after it and THEN the stage complete screen to finish the sequence off. the boss fight end cutscenes arent that long anyways for the most part, so its just nonsensical to have the stage complete screen interrupt the action when theres only a two minute scene left to it

i cant stand how streamlined forces is to the point of the main plot. what happened to games that actually take the time to explain stuff, show us extra bits to the story and how they connect? and even when forces' does explain SOME stuff, its through audio/text only dialogue. nothing visually interesting, just...dialogue. and then its off to the next level. forces' feels very bare bones honestly. the story is supposed to feel big and epic but it just wasnt given enough to bring that feeling into fruition. this is probably the only thing that saves forces’ from the war glorification issue because the game simply fails so miserably at telling a compelling story due to poor writing and poor formatting that the war stuff gets lost in the mix - and thats just sad

all of this brings me to my conclusion. fuck i wish sonic forces was a better written and executed game, because i do think it could have been so cool. i really like infinite as a villain, in both his design and personality. yeah hes kind of a whiny, edgy bitch - but he had potential. and its really gonna suck if this game killed off all that potential in one fell swoop

(then again, thats why we have fan content and aus :3)