#more of them both being agents

[pnfc]

[goobie-goobert]

Nintendo try not to make autistic cephalopods challenge (impossible)

[fischiee]

carwash siblings carolina dyeing her hair red to be less like their mother, wash bleaching his hair to be more like their family

[sonknuxadow]

potential sonic 3 spoilers incoming if anyone cares. anyway . apparently there was an official survey about the knuckles show/scu in general and one of the questions was about what name you would use for an eggman/shadow/gerald teamup. which is a weirdly specific question. and also one of the name options was team dark …….. ?? even though rouge isnt mentioned in the question and theres no sign of her being in the next movie in general ? i was willing to accept amy being introduced a little after knuckles and tails but between there still being no sign of her being in the next movie and now this if they actually have gerald time travel or something and have him be the third member of the dark story trio instead of rouge then i will be fully convinced that theyre going out of their way to exclude as many already existing girl characters as possible. like i get cgi is expensive which could be part of the reason rouge might not have made the cut. but damn . assuming this is real anyway it could just be another fake leak but idk

[symbiotic-slime]

would you guys be interested in venom/the magnus archives crossover fan art

[fideidefenswhore]

Anne's ability to hold the king off for seven years is part of her legend. The brilliance of her strategy was to cast herself in the role of the courtly lady, requiring Henry to play to perfect knight. Henry was nothing if not dogged in the pursuit of all the roles in which he cast himself—philosopher-king, warrior, even husband—and 'this persona of courtly lover...was fully formed in Henry and had been signaling...for an answering adept to come and lift its latch. In Anne, he had her: she was the mistress of Petrarchan contraries [...] the perfect [player] for the king's tender interest.'

Renaissance Prince: Elizabeth, Lisa Hilton

[blueberry-blast]

So.. those splatfest results, huh?

[quietwingsinthesky]

pre-canon spn to me is just Azazel having to show up to parent John’s kids for him so they don’t die a la the Maleficent movie until he starts feeling partial towards Sammy as his favorite of the special children

[mirchloe]

typical raz and phoebe disagreement over how to handle a patient's mental health concern

[fettery-fetterie]

if i was an artist with budget i'd be able to draw the buildup and all. i am not an artist with budget tho. so 3 panels will do

Kinda suggestive/nsfw tags btw go there with caution

anyways i think i huave covid

[zenlosingit]

Bit of a hot take here but I don't think Dana is a good significant other for Terry nor should be a permanent one.

AND I WISH THAT WASN'T THE CASE!!! I WANNA SEE THEY HYPE AROUND IT!!! BUT THE WRITING NEVER HELPS!!!

Near every time I pick up a Batman Beyond comic or rewatch an episode it always pins Dana against Terry and calls him out as a bad partner.

Now granted it makes sense! Terry is living a double-life and keeping it a secret from Dana and with such it does create problems in their relationship- I get it. Yet, when the writers make the decision to have Dana always mad at Terry for lying, to have Terry always be in the wrong in their relationship and for him to be the one to always repair it, it just doesn't sell to me.

Because when Terry took on the mantle of being Batman after the death of his father, he presented it to his family and friends as a demanding job he took on to help support his family. Losing his dad cost his family to be down a steady income and him having a criminal record already doesn't give much promises in finding a job to help support his family. Having this job is a literal life-saver for him, yet she doesn't seem to care.

Your gonna tell me that Terry didn't lay it out to Dana? That he didn't explain to her what the benefits he would be receiving from this job, that he is lucky to have gotten this opportunity despite his criminal background, yet he has to be on-call at all times despite it? That he didn't tell her he would do his best to prioritize their relationship and make time for her, yet that she has to understand that if he's needed he has to go, and that he has to be there for however long he is needed?

I've seen constantly Terry bending his back to make their relationship work, to making set dates with her and scrapping whatever ever free time he has to make it up to her, yet all I've seen in response of Dana is whining and indifference to his efforts in trying to keep her happy.

And I know there are moments when Dana is understanding, that she gives him leniency and lets him do him and waits for him at the end of the day- but it happens so little that I just can't get behind it.

It just frustrates to me that, with how far Terry goes in trying to maintain his relationships while still maintaining his duties as Batman, that same consideration he has for them is not returned back- or isn't often shown being returned back. He deserves happiness as much as anybody and to have support no matter how much info people know about whatever problem. Yet from what I've seen, Dana doesn't fit the bill.

[takiki16]

so what’s the deal with your new blorbo? assume 1. i know how football works (used to actually watch) but not how/why some players get famous; (2) i know nothing about messi except that he. exist; (3) feel free to go bananas to your heart’s content if you decide to answer this.

fuuuuUUUUUUUQ ME. Can litchrally any Argentinian, any FC Barcelona supporter, ANYONE who has followed fuutyball for more than *checks watch* TWO WEEKS spot me for this one?!?! I am GROSSLY underqualified to answer this question Cunningham's law is about to hunt me for SPORT.

Okay. LIONEL MESSI. I can't summarize everything about this Guy who is currently one of the Main Characters of the most watched sport in the world, but I CAN summarize how he has started cooking my brain!!!

(that is him!!!! my guy!!!! HIM JUMP)

I have been trying to read a book with @rhaeneystargaryen for at least a couple years now, but somehow never had the spoons or the right overlapping interest. And then she told me that she was reading this:

I figured I would give it a try! I wanted something low effort, low investment, something I didn't care a whole lot about that I could put down at any moment bc work has been hell lately. And then I hit THIS line in the introduction, and I could literally FEEL the cursed hyperfixation key in my brain start to turn:

GUESS WHICH ONE IS MESSI!!!!!

I'm not a twitter stan, I swear. I am AWARE there is a media layer here. These people are real, actual human beings with documented flaws and mistakes, I am WELL AWARE that they are ungodly wealthy pro athletes and not "stars who are just like us!!! ✨✨✨." It's also obviously reductive and unfair to view anyone solely through a comparative lens - no living being could live up to the marketing hype that has been generated around Messi, Ronaldo, or indeed any pro athlete in the elite leagues.

BUT GOTDAM IF THIS FUCKER DOESN'T MAKE IT HARD!!!!

Bare bones: Lionel Messi is a football player born in Rosario, Argentina, who at 13yo moved to Spain to play for FC Barcelona. He joined the adult team at a whole ass 17 years old. Ensue absolutely RIDICULOUS teen prodigy meteoric rise, with both Messi and Barcelona winning all the Best Football Awards ever and Best Individual Sports Achievements in Everything. I have spent the last two weeks spending FAR too much time reading football books, and all the gotdam graphs look like this:

People talk about Messi being the player who made them fall in love with "the most beautiful game," and I can SEE WHY!!! HERE I AM!!!! A CLOWN!!! ALSO FALLING IN LOVE!!!! I am googling sports highlight reels of his plays like a CHAD FOOTY HOOLIGAN!! WHO AM I, I AM HAVING AN IDENTITY CRISIS. It is just so much fun to WATCH him! Listening to commentators screaming "Eight, ten, IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW MANY DEFENDERS THERE HE GOES THROUGH THEM!!! MESSI GOAAAALLLLL"

What makes it WORSE is the whole fukken rivalry business the book was about. Cristiano Ronaldo was another super-gifted player who debuted at about the same time and had a similar prodigy teen genius rise. He signed for a rival club in the same league at the same time Messi was playing with Barcelona. The story reads like a gotdam Hollywood sports drama, on both an individual and a team level!! I cannot IMAGINE what it was like watching this unfold as it was happening!

For starters: on an individual level, they were constantly thrown up against each other for every award imaginable. The Ballon d'Or awards list, which crowns you King of Soccer for the year, has looked like this since 2008:

(there is obviously talk that Messi is up for an EIGHTH award this year, but I don't think about the future bc it is bad for my cooked brain 😊)

On a team level, there was (and IS) of course the clubs. I am ABSOLUTELY not qualified to get into the weeds on this, but the rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid has deep, deep political, historical, and cultural roots going back (among other things) to Catalonian oppression under the fascist Franco regime in Spain. Josep Suñol, then-president of FC Barcelona, was shot in 1936 by Francoist troops.The matches between the two clubs and the two players with their drastically different teams and styles at the time were super-charged - an ACTUAL QUALIFIED Barcelona supporter is going to have to get in here and explain the history and emotion behind the Clasicos bc THAT IS SEVERAL BOOKS IN AND OF ITSELF!!!!!

The whole point of THIS particular book was not, in fact, a blow-by-blow comparison of the players. The point was that by being WHO they were and WHEN they were, Messi and Ronaldo changed the shape of the game forever in terms of marketing, branding, team strategy, finances, etc etc etc. It's an interesting read (if not entirely unbiased on all points), if you enjoy the absolute blood and oil-soaked clown show that is professional football money!

But ANYWAY.

AFTER I finished the book Messi ended up cooking my brain bc (1) all of the context above re: rivalry in league football, and (2) his PERSONALITY. Someone made him in a lab to ruin my life!

I mean, the club loyalty gets me. For his entire professional career, Messi has played for exactly two teams - Barcelona and his homeland Argentina NT. He only left Barcelona in 2021, VERY much against his will (per him, his agent, his friends, his family, AND FC Barcelona) due to an absolute hot mess of a league financial situation that is apparently still sorting itself out. I don't know how common it is for pro athletes at his level to move around, but I feel like it's more common than that!!! THE CLUB LOYALTY gets me, the HOME LOYALTY gets me!!!! Especially as he's gotten better and better, and there's been more and more pressure on him to keep delivering even in the absence of anything else!

The gotdam STOICISM also gets me!!! Call it shyness, call it humility, call it down-to-earthness or reservedness or whatever you want - what everyone kept mentioning about him in the books (and what certain French marketing departments are still probably saying about him) is how QUIET he is. Journalists would complain about how he "made it to age 30 without ever uttering an interesting sentence in public." A Nike exec who lost a bid with his agent for a sponsorship waved it off by saying "Imagine how much trouble we would be in if Messi had a personality." Relative to his peers in the elite football world, he doesn't have a flash lifestyle with a huge entourage. He doesn't do a lot of press. He doesn't try to push a personal brand, even though it's a big chunk of income for wherever he plays. Even though he obviously COULD, he doesn't go around talking about Greatest Of All Time (TM). When he DOES give interviews he doesn't even talk super loudly. He keeps to his immediate family and his closest circle of friends.

AND YET. AND YET. ON THE PITCH, HE PLAYS LIKE HE DOES. He creates not just for himself, but for his TEAMMATES the way that he does! I realize that NO ONE gets an award for being a team player in a team sport, or for "not being as much of a dick as you could have been," but HE STILL HAS HIS HOMETOWN ACCENT!!! He dedicates his goals to his GRANDMOTHER! He met his wife when he was FIVE YEARS OLD, he has never had a relationship with anyone else ("It has always been Antonella, for me"), he has three beautiful kids, his teammates keep apparently falling in love with him and doing Intricate Rituals, I AM ENDEARED I AM ENDLESSLY ENDEARED

Did I mention he is also very short? Allow me to mention that. 5"7 / 1.7 meters in pro-athlete world is PICK-UPABLE SIZE. Multiple reels out there of his teammates celebrating goals just by PICKING HIM UP it MAKES ME SO FOND

(on an Intricate Rituals note, Messi's size and his evasive style of play has caused a lot of opposing team's strategy to be "make a cage, kick him as soon as you can and tackle often," which has in turn prompted a lot of specific protection strategies for him as a forward and also over-protective teammates :)))). WHICH OF COURSE COOKS MY BRAIN EVEN MORE YOU KNOW HOW IT IS.)

And that isn't even STARTING on his saga with the Argentina NT, which reads like YET ANOTHER HOLLYWOOD SPORT DRAMA that I cannot believe actually happened!

Again, I am begging ANY Argentine to jump in here, I AM GROSSLY IGNORANT as to the history of this sport I got here two whole weeks ago how is this HAPPENING to meeeeeeee

My very basic understanding of the situation is that Messi has played for the national team ever since 2004, whenever he was on break from Barcelona. Over the years since then, Argentina (with Messi) has tried again and again to win the World Cup (and the Copa America), but consistently failed despite regularly advancing to finals. BECAUSE Messi was on the team, Argentina routinely and perhaps unfairly got billed as "favorites" to win, with criticism in the press being focused disproportionately on Messi when they didn't. I don't know how bad the situation in Argentinian media got, but even the western English outlets were picking it up. "Messi plays better for Barcelona than for his home country, Messi isn't Argentinian enough, Messi keeps too much to himself and doesn't sing the anthem,etc etc etc". Maradona famously commented that Messi was "a great person, but had no personality," and that it was useless to try to make a leader out of him because he caved under pressure (referring to Messi reportedly being sick from nerves before the world cup games).

(note: gotdam rivalry. Of the people named who would be better and more stylish leaders, Cristiano Ronaldo was up top )

The pressure DID get to Messi in the end - he issued a statement in 2016 saying he would retire from international football, but there was a huge home campaign to get him to come back to the team. Argentina still didn't win the 2018 World Cup (players of opposing teams said that their strategy against Argentina was not letting them pass to Messi). And so on, and so forth.

AND THEN!!!!! 2021!!!!!

I THINK I HAVE POSTED FAR TOO MUCH ALREADY about the current Argentina NT for someone who, as I said, JUST ARRIVED AT THIS GOTDAM SPORT, but I'm going to make everyone look at these quotes again. These are quotes the team has given ABOUT MESSI HOW IS THIS REAL????

Argentina would go on to win the Copa America - and then...well 🥰

I DON'T KNOW IF I'VE EXPLAINED THIS ADEQUATELY!!! I DON'T KNOW IF I HAVE SUFFICIENTLY REPRESENTED THE DEGREE TO WHICH MY BRAIN IS COOKED!!! Did that mean anything to anyone???? I don't know!

HELL

[rotzaprachim]

the trope i am going to bring kicking and screaming into the rebelcaptain fandom is saw and luthen inadvertent matchmakers 

[softquietsteadylove]

Thenamesh Actor AU. Both of them being in a press conference to promote their new series/movie but after a while the reporters are asking Thena some really rude, uncomfortable and sexist questions and Gil warning them that they are here for the movie and not for those question. They still asking her those question so Gil (sweet protective Teddybear) runs out of patience, says something like that’s enough! gets up grabs Thenas hand and just walks out with her leaving everyone stunned, most of them and even Sprite impressed!

Would be super cool to read more of protective and supportive Gil :D

"You don't really have to finish this stupid press conference, do you?" Sprite rolled her eyes as she handed Thena a bottle of water.

"Yes, we do, that's the press part of the press conference?" Thena snarked right back at her frosty sister between sips.

"They're not asking you any real questions," Sprite whispered rather loudly at her, glancing out on stage to where the audience of mostly media reporters was waiting for the five minute break to end. "Except if you're single or not."

"No surprise there," Thena murmured, capping her water and handing it back to Sprite to finish. "But it's almost over. And then Gil's taking us for lunch."

Gil was the only reason Sprite hadn't charged out onto stage and made an absolute scene in her sister's defense.

As much as Thena probably wished Sprite wouldn't think of doing something that could embarrass them both like that, it wasn't enough to stop the temperamental teen.

But Gil had risen to Thena's defense at every opportunity.

"Okay," he sighed, smiling at them both as he rejoined them. "Ready to go back out there?"

"I'm afraid so," Thena smiled, walking back out beside him to finish up the media circus that had been this particular press set. She took her seat next to Gil. He gripped the back of his chair as he sat, deliberately budging it just a little bit closer to hers. The lighting guys would probably be livid over it, but she couldn't help but smile.

"Okay, so, where were we?"

"You had a stunt question," Gil volunteered readily, "for Thena."

Thena held back a sigh.

"Right, so, with the underwater scene, you both trained to be able to hold your breath for quite some time, given how long you're in those wet suits."

This was starting to sound like a real question.

"Are you able to wear underwear in something like that?"

Maybe not.

"Are you kidding me?" Gil glared right at the reporter. "You haven't asked a decent question yet, and I warned you about this already."

"Look, man, the questions get written for me, I'm just asking them."

"Well, don't," Gil stood firm, not caring how argumentative he had to be.

Thena moved her arm on the chair's armrest, letting the side of her hand just brush the side of his. "Anyone else?"

"Gilgamesh, you've done diving work before haven't you?"

Thena happily listened to his answer recounting his time on other projects. She had already all but written off this release as a bust. She wasn't going to be getting any questions that weren't disgusting, so she might as well let Gil answer any and all of them until they could leave.

"Training for this was actually really interesting," he looked over at her with a smile, "Thena's a champ--did way better than me when we were being instructed."

"Well, you know what they say about being able to hold your breath."

Thena kept her expression neutral, although she managed to glare at Sprite, who she knew was about one question away from pulling the fire alarm on them.

"No, I don't know," Gil sat up straighter, glaring at the audience as a whole. "What do they say?"

The reporter cleared his throat, offering at least some shame, "s-sorry."

"If you guys don't want to interview us, that's fine, we'll just go," Gil held out his hand.

Thena tapped the back of his hand with her finger lightly, "it's okay, Gil."

"It's not," he grumbled, but sat back and lowered his mic. He looked at her with a sigh, "you get one more comment like that, and I'm gonna take one of those cameras and shove it-"

"Okay, Thena, here's something we all want to know-"

Gil looked relieved at the sign of a legitimate question, but Thena frowned, not nearly so hopeful for it.

"Apparently Eros was spotted with an actress on the set of his movie, meeting him at his trailer. He's made some implications that it's a big name, that she's currently on another project and that she's naturally blonde-"

"Are you asking if I've been sneaking off set to sleep with Eros?" Thena asked point blank.

"Well-"

"Enough!" All heads turned to Gil as he pushed out of his chair and tossed his - very, very expensive - microphone away. He moved in front of Thena, pulling her hand into his as he faced down the reporters and their cameras. "I cannot believe how disrespectful you have all been through this entire interview."

"Gil," Thena murmured, but he was far past forgiving, at this point. He pulled her to her feet, her hand in his, still shielding her behind his larger frame.

"You can't just leave in the middle of your own interview!"

"You've barely asked any real questions," he glared right back at them on his way off stage, "and I don't answer to animals."

Sprite was filming him from offstage. She was so going to leak this online. She would wait, of course, until stories popped up about how Gilgamesh had so rudely interrupted his own press conference. And just in time, she would offer the reverse angle, wherein he was so valiantly defending his costar from a horde of assholes.

Those in attendance were still uttering their protests as Gil rushed Thena offstage. "Sorry, sorry, I know your manager will...well, I don't know, but my manager certainly is gonna kill me."

"That was cool, though!" Sprite grinned at him, eager to offer her support to his act of defiance.

Gil looked at Thena, her hand still in his, "I'm sorry. But I couldn't sit there and listen to them...say stuff like that."

"I'm afraid you get rather used to it," Thena rolled her eyes, which only seemed to discourage him further. She gave his hand a squeeze, not letting go quite yet. "But no one can blame me for running off if it was your idea. So, you've still saved me from it."

Gil kept her hand in his, letting her much colder hand soak up his warmth. "Anytime."

Sprite pulled out her phone, pretending to text while her sister and her not-boyfriend stared at each other. In reality, she had a picture of Gil pulling Thena along, ever so valiantly holding up an arm to shield her from everything going on. She couldn't wait to send it to Thena and watch her lose her mind over it.

"Uh, r-right," Gil blinked as the reality of things sunk in again. He looked around them, hearing the audience officially give up on them coming out again and start standing and packing up. "Lunch?"

"Please," Sprite murmured as she typed up her message, "I'm fucking starving."

"Sprite," Thena chastised, not that it made a difference. She took her purse back from her sister; her phone was buzzing but she knew better than to look at it now. It was just from Sprite, and it was just to annoy/embarrass her, anyway.

"Any requests?" Gil asked the woman beside him and her sister on the other side of her.

"I just read about this new taco place," Sprite suggested, slipping her phone away to tell them about it. Thena had to use her phone eventually, and when she did, she would be greeted by a very romantic looking picture of her and Gilgamesh with the message:

you and the hubs! make it ur background

[chisatowo]

I kind of hope that we get more new salmon run music over time partially because it all fucking bangs and also because I want to see another salmonid band since I think it'd make for some interesting insight on salmonid culture! Mostly, how omega-3's music style represents salmonid music taste over all. Of course I would understand if we don't get a new salmonid band in splatoon 3, since from my understanding they serve a very important and almost sacred roll, and considering each omega-3 member comes from different groups of salmonids I could see it being an only one battle band can exist at a time sort of thing, but if that is the case I hope it gets said explicitly at some point (unless it already has been in which case ignore me dudjhdjdy)

[yeonban]

I've been thinking about Tobias' later life ("later life" as if it doesn't start in his mid-20s) and it's downright terrifying how much colder he gets in a majority of verses. Not because of external influence but rather because of a lack of it. Everyone already knows the only things that pour some rays of light (<-entertainment) in Tobias' life are amusing people and retribution, but everyone he finds funny keeps on dying! and he's forced to return to monotony over and over and over again!!

Similarly to how in Monster Johan speaks of "the monster growing bigger", Tobias' apathy and boredom are growing bigger by the year. And Tobias' apathy always kills bc when he's indifferent to 99.9% of people and there isn't someone he gives a damn about to tell him to do so, he doesn't go out of his way to save any of them unless they're a core part of his plans.

Even more than that, when the only thing that still makes him laugh are the deaths of those he's after, he's further led down the path of mass murder in a vicious circle of "entertaining person dies -> Tobias focuses more on criminals instead of on his personal life -> he kills more and more criminals -> he slowly starts getting bored of even that bc it's all he does and it becomes routine -> life becomes more and more monochromatic in his eyes -> he tries even harder to find something that'd make him feel anything -> he grows more detached from everything bc nothing works"