#more so for the first couple seasons when I was doing full recaps! but still to some extent now that it’s live-blogging | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

physalian · 2 months ago

Text

On Writing a Compelling Fetch Quest, as told by TFP

Save for a single recap episode, season two of Transformers Prime is one long high-octane fetch quest, gunning for weapons and tools and eventually the keys to restoring Cybertron.

See this post where I’ve already gushed about this show but I just rewatched season 2 and it does absolutely everything right when so much of the tension could just come from the macguffin of the week.

Full Spoilers Ahead.

—

Season 2 begins with an amnesiac Optimus convinced he’s still best buds with “Megatronus” and that he’s still Orion Pax, factory reset to before he became a Prime with no knowledge of the war or Autobots or Decepticons. In this version of the lore, he was an archivist, the skills of which come into great use as he can decode ancient encryptions that Megatron’s had sitting locked in a vault and unable to crack for, seemingly, eons—unknowingly helping the enemy murder all his friends.

The information contained in this “Iacon Database” prompts the fetch quest that takes up the entire season. After the three part season debut (6 part if you count the 3 part season 1 finale as one long movie) where Team Prime ventures on their own fetch quest to restore Optimus’s memories, the board is nearly set. But first, a couple other episodes catching up with C-tier villains and bringing in some shiny new characters.

In these episodes, Megatron’s second-in-command, Starscream, who’s been rogue for quite some time, loses his ability to transform after trying to screw over Bumblebee. A “loose cannon” for Team Prime returns not quite as a main character, but more present than his lone episode in season 1, and Starscream’s replacement, Dreadwing, makes his debut. And, the other rogue character, Airachnid, is temporarily disposed of.

The board is now set: Autobots, Decepticons, and Starscream.

We begin at episode 11, where Megatron decides it’s a grand idea to infect his ship with zombie fuel to speed up some repairs, and the ship gains a life of its own, decoding the rest of the Iacon Database that Optimus left sitting behind, a job left to a different ‘Con, Soundwave, who’s no Optimus but doing his best. In that episode, the humans of Team Prime sneak aboard the wayward ship, steal the only four coordinates of the Fetch Quest that are available, and get the heck out of dodge.

Episodes 12-15: Four whole episodes occurring simultaneously, everyone available on both teams, every major player, Starscream included, all racing to these four locations to pick up either mystery weapons or tools of varying mass destruction. Each episode is intercut with dialogue and details from the other units, all coming to a head with the near-death of the Team Prime “Tank,” Bulkhead.

What’s in these four episodes is just a taste of the tension that the rest of the season will take on, kind of like a tournament arc pitting unlikely foes against each other over the MacGuffin of the day. My favorite is Wheeljack (robot cowboy samurai) and Ratchet (grumpy medic) vs Soundwave (aforementioned decrypter replacement who does not speak). The episode is visually gorgeous with a showdown on a cliff at sunset with the most beautiful golden hour for the fight (pictured above).

Every MacGuffin brings a new twist to the fight of their episode, of the four, 1 goes to the Bots, 1 goes to the Cons, 1 goes to Starscream, and 1 gets destroyed.

In the Wheeljack episode, Ratchet comes up with an idea to sneak a virus into Soundwave so they can steal the rest of the Iacon Database from the Cons, which proves a success.

Enter episodes 16-19, where we take a break from the pacing of the fetch quest to bring in another new character, Smokescreen, let Bulkhead heal up, let Wheeljack almost get murdered horrifically by giant bot beetles, and teach a little girl about how revenge does not bring peace. Oh and do away with the C-tier villains, they (almost) all die.

Episodes 20-23 are the last five coordinates for the quest: A fancy new sword to sell toys for Optimus in an absolutely badass episode where he cuts a whole mountain in half, and the 4 literal keys to restoring Cybertron.

The new tension comes from both making sure that Team Prime gets all four keys, and making sure that Megatron does not find out how important they are.

Team Prime gets 1, Megatron gets 1, Team Prime gets another, and then Starscream comes in out of nowhere to steal the 4th, and then sneaks into the base of Team Prime to steal the other 3.

I cannot remember the exact quote but after a yell of absolute anguish and frustration, Optimus collects himself enough to say: “The fate of our world now lies with Starscream, whatever his intention.”

Because, Starscream can’t do shit alone. He just has a very powerful bargaining tool to either buy back the Bots favor, or buy back his place with the Decepticons. Underscoring the importance of who has the keys is this: Whichever side restores Cybertron will have effectively won the war, able to then brand the other side officially as traitors, for a whole new reign of absolute authority. The stakes could not be higher.

Episode 24: The second and far superior flashback episode taking a look exclusively at Starscream’s role throughout the series and all his fabulous shenanigans, as Megatron puts him on trial to decide whether he should just kill his traitorous little SIC.

While these flashbacks are being displayed literally on a screen like they’re connected via HDMI cable, Dreadwing (Starscream’s interim replacement) finds out that not only did Starscream get his twin killed way back in season 1, but then raised his corpse and left the zombie wandering around the fifth dimension, and Megatron knew about it, and lied. (Dreadwing is a fantastic lawful evil character, this post is just ridiculously long already without giving everybody bios)

The episode ends with Dreadwing betraying his whole side to give Team Prime intel, and a magical MacGuffin hammer (that they initially lost in the earlier stages of the Fetch Quest) to level out the playing field, he then goes back to his team and monologues a bit too long before trying to kill Starscream himself (as Megatron still won’t) and gets murdered for his efforts, when he was absolutely right.

At this point, Starscream is back with the Decepticons, they have all they keys (but not yet the knowledge of how they work or where they go to), and they believe that they have a free shot to fly back to Cybertron as the Autobots don’t have any way to get there themselves.

Enter the finale: Episodes 25 and 26. We’re almost there.

The magic MacGuffin hammer Dreadwing gave the Bots can fix or craft almost anything (with limited uses) and they use it to make their wormhole portal into a much beefier version—a space bridge—to portal themselves to Cybertron with every single weapon they’ve collected over the course of the Fetch Quest in their arsenal.

This is a mission they’ll either win, or die trying, they have to steal back the keys and reach the lock before Megatron does, and Megatron just figured out where the lock is.

The Bots manage to do it all, get the keys, take out hoards of faceless minions in their way, they’re a the lock, all they have to do is turn it on.

When out of seemingly nowhere, Megatron executes his backup plan: The whole season, he’s had Soundwave quietly scoping out the Bots’ secret base, and the homes of their human allies. Due to a grave mistake on Ratchet’s part, those humans are not protected at the worst time possible, and they get kidnapped.

Megatron delivers an ultimatum: Cybertron, or three human children?

Rather controversially, Optimus chooses the children, but destroys the lock so Cybertron can’t be revived by either side.

Episode 26 then ends with the reveal that Megatron discovered the location of their base, and as they all scramble to different corners of the earth, Megatron nukes it, and Optimus with it.

—

What I think TFP does really well with the MacGuffins is that, by and large, they themselves are never the point of their episodes. The writers knew audiences wouldn’t be sated with just the objects themselves carrying the story, which is what every fetch quest story should be:

The MacGuffin itself does not mean shit to the audience, 9 times out of 10. It could be swapped out for something else and largely not impact its purpose in the story. What matters is what it means to everyone who wants it, and what they’re willing to do to get it.

In TFP's case, these MacGuffins cannot be replaced. Several show up more than once to give unique advantages to different fights or become incredibly useful 11th hour tools—the setup and payoff with them is fantastic.

Yes, some of these “relics” are dangerous weapons, but in the background of the whole season there is so much subtext. Optimus’s guilt and Megatron’s manipulations over what he did while he had no memory. Various rivalries between sides coming to a head. The Starscream wild card that continued to take everyone by surprise again and again. Optimus’s increasing impatience to finally end this war and set aside the rivalry to try and kill Megatron for real this time, several times.

Regardless of who had what item, the balance of power between both sides was shifting constantly. The Bots would get a slight advantage, and the Cons would match it immediately. The Cons would win a battle, but then infighting would cost them the next one. Optimus’s fancy sword was shattered the very next episode when Megatron made his own using a stolen hand of a dead Prime to power the magic creation hammer—a nice bit of commentary on mutually assured destruction. Megatron never would have gone that far if Optimus didn’t get his own uber powerful weapon first.

Nor was every battle over the MacGuffin-of-the-day the same. Different players, different environments, different rules at play depending on the power of the MacGuffin itself, or the ulterior motives of either side.

And there were consequences, too, as this series is pretty mature. Dreadwing dies pretty graphically, a different dead Bot gets turned into a ghoul and his (totally canon) husband loses his shit over seeing a filthy human wearing his metal skin around.

If you won’t watch this show because you think the franchise is lame, I can’t change your mind, but if ever there was an entry into the franchise that proved how good it could be—and there is a time and a place for the camp of G1—TFP would be it.

#tfp #transformers #transformers prime #fetch quest #writing advice

28 notes · View notes

kolbisneat · 2 months ago

Text

MONTHLY MEDIA: August 2024

The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting cooler. The summer is waning. But the monthly media posts carry on. Here's how I spent the month of August.

……….FILM……….

Wendell & Wild (2022) I don't want this to be one of the last major stop-motion film to ever be made, but the filmmakers put so many stories into this that I wonder if they thought this was their last shot. Essentially a 12-course meal from a great restaurant: the accomplishment is impressive but the whole is overstuffed and some of the smaller portions were undercooked.

Love Lies Bleeding (2024) The lightly surreal elements of the movie were great, but there's a point late in the story when that surreality kills all of the momentum.

Spice World (1997) Still holds up.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) Still amazed at how well this pulls off what it seeks to do. But maybe I'm biased because I love practical effects, puppets, and action scenes that serve the narrative. We may not get another D&D movie but I'm glad we have this one.

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) Based on other live-action multiverses, I went in with modest expectations, and this was a pleasant surprise. Maybe it's because it continues to do what Deadpool does well. Thoroughly entertaining in the moment.

……….TELEVISION……….

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Episode 1.14 to 1.20) It's been a couple of years since I stopped watching (mid season!) but luckily one of the episodes was essentially a recap of what's happened so far. Really ramping up in the abstract and the philosophical and I'm a big fan. These kids are meeeeeeeessed up.

Made for Love (Episode 2.01 to 2.08) I only really caught the first season in pieces but I knew enough going into this season that it really clicked! It hit me the same way early Black Mirror episodes felt, only with more humour, depth, and nuance. It's a real shame there's no plans for season 3.

……….YOUTUBE……….

I think this will be a Short Video by Matthew Colville A really great reflection on making art in the social age, the algorithm, communities/audiences, and how these can clash with the natural impulses of creativity. VIDEO

I'm What the Culture Feeling (The full story of Kendrick Vs. Drake) by F.D. Signifier Almost 3.5 hours but for someone like me (who knows next to nothing of this world, these artists, or this conflict) it expertly breaks it all down to paint a complete picture. Really great watch. VIDEO

……….READING……….

Cards On the Table by Agatha Christie (Complete) Top-tier Christie. The premise is so fun, and while I know the multiple detectives appear in other stories, it's a nice introduction to these characters. This book made me want to learn how to play Bridge.

The People of the Black Circle and A Witch Shall Be Born by Robert E. Howard (Complete) I have this collection of Conan stories and after a years-long break, decided to read a few more. Both great! The latter puts Conan in an almost supporting role and it's fun to see him take on a secondary role to the story. Keeps it interesting. And the former is such a classic pulp story (cults, magic clothing, a giant snake) that I can't help but love it.

Delicious in Dungeon Volume 14 by Ryoko Kui (Complete) It's been a 6-year-long journey for me and while I couldn't be happier with how it ended, I'm sad that it's over. Still so impressed with how well it stuck the landing for me. Do I wish there was more of a wind-down with these characters? Sure. But I really respect an artist who knows what they want to say/do and says/does it. Very excited to see what Ryoko does next.

Hellboy Library Volume 1 by Mike Mignola with John Byrne (Complete) Without being hyperbolic, this is one of my favourite contributions to the craft. So confident and fully-formed right out of the gate. Excited to reread this series.

……….AUDIO……….

The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess by Chappel Roan (2023) Technically I started listening to this at the end of July. I saw a positive review, figured I'd check it out, and it felt like that was at the same time everyone else in the world was talking about her. Love an album with such a focused perspective.

Currents by Tame Impala (2015) In recent years I've been really enjoying Tame Impala's one-off songs (Barbie and Dungeons & Dragons soundtracks, their collaboration with Gorillaz, etc.) so I figured I'd really dig into this album. Easy to listen to both casually in the background and with a magnifying glass just pouring over the lyrics. Love it.

……….GAMING……….

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) Only got a few sessions in this month but the crew is still reassembling the skeletal pirate they trashed years (real time) ago. Now they're about to face a big electric centipede to recover his legs.

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Mof1 crew split the party and one half casually shopped and planned while the other half discovered a secret testing facility full of captured magic-users.

Wonderland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) We got in a single session of Wonderland and it was a small party but a lot of fun! Also the first true character death of our playtesters. Luckily we had backup characters though character 2 ended the session losing their arm. Hey that's Wonderland.

And that's it. See you in September!

#Monthly Media #Kolbisneat #Andrew Kolb

21 notes · View notes

annakie · 4 months ago

Text

Okay so I just finished season 2 of Prodigy.

I woke up early this morning and got a few episodes in.

I WFH so I worked all morning getting shit done, and then watched at lunch, and then my normal Monday afternoon work is work that can easily be done while multitasking watching things, so I actually got a ton of work done while watching straight through the afternoon and finished the last 5 or so episodes after work/dinner.

I posted a few posts today with some thoughts but hey let's make it more coherent.

Heavy spoilers!

I loved this season so, so much from start to finish. It somehow never felt like there was a lull. Every episode either did something interesting or pushed the story forward in an important way.

So many shows do that "one story in a long season" thing and the show really suffers for it in the middle, especially. But I, personally, never felt that, even when they were taking diversions like getting Zero a body, that and the Tribble episodes might have been the "slowest" and still, I really enjoyed those.

Digging deep into the tropes and finding something new.

And the arc actually came together so well and nothing felt forced. It was a complex arc, too. So many moving parts, and it would have been easy to lose some threads and let things drop, but it actually felt like every element was important and it all tied together nicely.

They did a great job giving recaps where needed to reinforce what was going on in the storyline and why they were doing what they were doing, which was appreciated. I never felt lost. No arc felt like it dragged on too long.

Everyone got their moments to shine. Some of the characters had more of an arc in the season, like Zero, and some had less, like Jankum, but no one felt left behind from the main cast. I think it would have been easy, especially with adding in a new major character to the group, Ma'jel, but they really made her fit in. I especially love that they used Wesley to help cement her part in the group.

And yeah, the cast was huge. Seven main "kids" now. Janeway, Chakotay, Wesley, and the Doctor all felt like main cast throughout the season, plus Ascencia, Dreadnok, Ilthuran, Tysess and Noum... the cast is huge but everyone had a place. With 20 episodes they had some time to breathe, and I loved that.

The kids each had a lesson to learn, something to contribute. Gwyn was at the center of it all even more than last year, but she's such a fantastic character that holds the story up so well.

Of course there's a contrivance in things like... them not getting thrown in the brig in the first couple of episodes, and the fact that the ending was something allowed at all when they literally just said because of the Synth attack on Mars ships were in short supply but I mean, all easy to overlook in the name of the Story needs to happen. None of it really bothered me.

But as much as I love the kids, what they did with the legacy adult characters this season meant the most to me.

The Doctor fit right into this show, and was such a great inclusion. Still the same egotistical but loveable hologram. It was so good to have him back. And that scene with him and Holo-Janeway was adorable. I was glad to see that their rights weren't affected in the Synth attack -- at least not yet!?

I don't know if ANYONE would expect Wesley Crusher. That hit me in the face like a ton of bricks, seeing Wes again, and it was amazing. He's now been in Picard, Lower Decks and now Prodigy and every time I'm just delighted to see him.

But this was definitely his best re-appearance so far. A Wesley Crusher at his full Traveler powers. He was so smart, and funny, and a little manic with his big brain running at a thousand miles an hour. It really felt like this was what Wesley always had the potential to be, a real logical progression in the best way from the Wes we saw at the end of TNG. Space, Time and Thought all coming together and he had awesome magical powers to go along with it.

I was hoping after his initial two episodes that he'd be back! They dropped some decent hints about it, and they mentioned him almost every episode while he was gone, so having him in the final handful of episodes was amazing. And it seems like he might have a place in the future of the show, if we get that future! (and GOD I hope so.)

But my absolute favorite part was the MOST unexpected. I was hoping we'd get to see a bit of him calling Beverly. But then the hug, he went and saw her and Wil's voice breaking when he said Hi to her and gave her the hug broke me, and I cried.

Then, holy shit, they closed the loop on that burning question so many of us had at the end of Picard S3, if Wesley ever met Jack. Wes met his brother, and spent time with Beverly, and that meant so much to me.

It's crazy that the ending of this season tied up loose ends from other shows, and integrated those shows into the universe with fewer seams. It was amazing.

---

And as great as all of everything else was... I just want to be more coherent about Janeway and Chakotay.

Not going to lie -- the fact that there wasn't a kiss, or an obvious love confession did sting a little, but what we got was so, so good, and it was enough.

I do get it -- this is a kid's show and as much as we love them and how important they were to the season, this show is about the kids and not J/C as much as some of us are watching for J/C reasons. I'm not mad about it.

We got fed. More than Voyager.

You'd have to be blind to not admit that there was love there, on both sides. They never gave up on each other, they both looked forward to that reunion, they were terrified of losing each other again but did their duty. There was a little tiny bit of hand holding and quite a bit of touching. It's enough, it's canon enough for those of us who have been shipping it since Season 1 of Voyager.

And like I said in that previous post, they did so much more for Chakotay than Voyager did. This post summed it up better than I could. This season took two of the most maligned and neglected characters from their initial iterations -- Wesley and Chakotay -- and not only did them justice but made them the best versions of themselves. I felt like I was seeing the Chakotay from the Beyer novels on screen, the character he always should have been.

His relationship with Dal was an unexpected delight and I very much hope that in season 3 that mentorship continues.

I need more of that Chakotay. I need more of Janeway and Chakotay together. I just need so much more of this show.

---

I love every Trek. Yes, even that one that isn't that popular, or that other one that people forget exists. But this was without a doubt one of my favorite seasons of any Trek ever.

I'm so mad at Paramount's treatment of this show.

I'm so glad that Netflix stepped in and let us get this one.

I need at least one more season, y'all.

#star trek #prodigy #star trek prodigy #chakotay #janeway #janeway x chakotay #chakotay x janeway #uhhh more tags but they're spoilers #prodigy season 2

41 notes · View notes

my-rose-tinted-glasses · 11 months ago

Text

Kinou Nani tabeta. aka My Heart is Full aka I suck at titles

Let me just say before anything else. This is not a recap or a review. This is me feeling the need to write down my feelings because they are pouring out of me. This is more a personal note than anything else so skip it if that's not your thing.

I always watch this show on saturday mornings, with my coffee and breakfast, because it gives me a boost for the weekend. And I wanted to postpone the final episode as much as possible but I just couldn't. I gave in.

Second FYI. This will probably be incoherent and a mess because that's how I feel. Also, this fucking menopause (surgical, don't give me too many extra years) is really making a mess of my emotional state this week, so I'm all over the place. Also I might've had some wine. Also this may be a bit long. I think that's it.

How I got here

So, I've loved cinema since I was like 7. (yeah I'm going really back in time) Because my mom like films, she dragged to the cinema even when I was way too young for whatever was on. [ Fun Side note- The first film that I saw in the cinema was Bram Stoker's Dracula, when I was like 6, and my mum got into an argument with the cinema employee because" I am her mother, and I'll decide what she can or can't watch"and so I did watch it.]

So I always loved watching films, talking about them and eventually went to uni to learn how to make them. During that time, I went through a phase (which happened to a couple other people in my school) where I kinda got emotionally detached from the stories. I could only see the camera angles, the lighting, the editing, etc.

When I was done with uni, and had decided that editing was my favourite thing I started doing a bit of work in editing, mostly online stuff and a couple of ads in London, and 3 years later I was done. Obviously there were life factors and health factors that contributed to this, but still I left it all behind.

Then, I quickly went back to being able to watch stories with all the emotions.

Let's skip forward to present day.

Kinou Nani Tabeta? feel in my lap by way of my very first BL. Seven Days. I watched those films and went through all the emotions and needed more. More of that serotonin please.

So I got in research mode and that's when I found this wonderful world of BL and eventually this show.

Now, a little bit more about me, just in case you aren't sick of me talking about myself. I'm not a jolly person. If you asked anyone that knows me irl, they would describe me as someone who always thinks the sky is falling. However, I also love a lot of things deeply, and when it comes to things that I can't find a word big enough for it I call it magic. So I'll use it here.

Kinou Nani Tabeta? is magic.

If this show was a meal then the absolutely right ingredients were found, they were put in the hands of the best cooks and everything was prepared with love and care. This show that I love, was put together by people who love it, and couldn't not make it. This is what I believe. It's my kind of faith.

I've seen so many shows, I've loved so many of them, a lot of them touched me deeply. But only a few touched me this way.

When there is love in something, real care and empathy in the making of something, you can feel it, I believe. And I feel it so much watching this show. I get emotional just writing this.

I wish I could thank every single person that made this show possible. And we could argue all day about the quality of a show, its actors, writers or directors. I could argue why my favourite show is better than your favourite show, and why your show is more important than my show, and why that show failed and another succeeded. I will not argue about the importance of this show and my faith is unshakable.

Maybe because I love food so much and in my life my love filled moments were always around food, I connected at first with Kenji, because his reactions to food resemble mine. But this season Shiro stole my heart and soul. His quiet but profound way of loving Kenji made cry more than any sad scene ever could. And onions and chicken thighs will forever have deeper meaning in my kitchen. These two characters are so well written and so well acted, the words are so layered and so meaningful, that it's a miracle to me that it exists and that I got to watch it.

I'm sure other people will write much better posts about this show, and will probably be better (at a hell of a lot more on point) at writing about all the amazing things that this show has done. But I'm an emotional wreck and I could only write from a personal place today.

I'll be rewatching this show in it's entirety soon, because the evolution of these characters, Shiro specially, was such a joy to witness.

If you read this far, thank you. 💜

#kinou nani tabeta?#what did you eat yesterday?#what did you eat yesterday S2 #it has never been so hard to hit the post button #i'm having so many feeling about posting this #i'm a wreck right now

45 notes · View notes

alea-says · 6 months ago

Text

H50, season 5, episode 1 thoughts...

Whatttt?

Okay, I have seen this scene before. The boys obviously in some kind of therapy. I just, honestly thought it was part of the whole therapy episode that, I think, comes in a later season.

But apparently I get BOTH!

Danny: We have been together for three years

Steve: Four

The fact that Steve then corrects him down to the day. Yeah, someone's been paying attention.

Also, Steve in that blue button up. Mmmhmmmm.

This is so beautiful I just want to quote it all.

Sir Daniel.

The fact that this is how they're starting the season... it's an obvious recap of who everyone is for new viewers but ... really?? ... could they have made it any more mcdanno??

Steve: we're ohana

Danny: I guess I was just agreeing with him, for the first time

No matter how much they argue they're family.

This poor couple obviously something is gonna go wrong... and it did.

And just in case we haven't been able to tell from his general vibes, one of Danny's intro scenes is now him and baby Joan (I think, based on how short it is). Just so we know he's father material.

(And if it's Joan, interesting that him interacting with Steve's niece is considered important enough for his intro)

Kono and Adam being adorable.

Wait. Was she surfing with her phone on her ankle? I may need me a waterproof case like that that is actually waterproof!

Hey, Steve let someone else fly the helicopter.

Shaw: you must be Detective Williams

Max: I have given her the full heads up

Danny: you gave her the heads up on what?

Steve: it's all true

And now you know there's a drone... go put your vests on.

Steve and Danny teasing Jerry together. And Danny has to slap Steve's thigh while doing so.

I'm sorry, Jerry, but yes, people do still read hard copy books.

Book em Danno.

And Steve's been shot.

Oh, look at that, Danny's just the right height for Steve to put his arm around him and use him as a crutch.

Steve: I can't drive, Danny

Danny: oh really? There's a silver lining in the face of death. Fantastic.

Steve: my leg will heal. Don't get used to it.

Okay, but now we need some cool action for stopping the plane please.

Okay, that drone was cool. Even if I did was some super Seal shanenigans (but I guess Steve's been shot, so...)

But he's up and running anyway...

Go Danny! Nice shooting!

Okay, and that clip ejection and reload was hot.

Yes, Steve does need a loyalty program with every fifth bullet extraction free. Lol.

Also, I note Danny is the one allowed to push his wheelchair.

Max: I just explained to Dr Shaw that Commander McGarrett is the leader of five-0 and that you're his deeply cynical, misanthropic, short-tempered partner.

Max: Dr Shaw agreed with my assessment, however, she did think you were cute.

Steve: hey! *reaches his hand back for a fist-bump with Danny.

(Okay, but does Dr Shaw think Danny is Steve's cop partner or partner partner? Just asking)

Well, now they're setting up a whole bunch of things for the season...

Mention of Danny's brother again... that dude better not threateb Grace.

Okay, I think this is now one of my fav eps despite the fact wasn't as much fan of the drone storyline as some of the others we've had.

Deleted scenes...

Oh, this is a brilliant one of mcdanno arguing...

Danny: where do you get stones big enough to tell that lady that I get to drive my own car?

(Stones Danny? Where are your thoughts?)

Danny: I'd like to drive it when we're together as friends.

(Steve, Danny is inviting you on a friend date where he gets to drive the car, okay)

Oh wow. Catherine found Najib but decided to stay in Afghanistan.

Wow, so Catherine breaks up with Steve in a deleted scene.

(I mean, I'm not mad, cos I do like her as a character just not with Steve, and I like she was honest with him and her reasons for staying there are good)

#h50 #mcdanno #hawaii five 0 #steve mcgarrett #danny williams #my thoughts

16 notes · View notes

shimmeringweeds · 1 year ago

Text

EDIT: so like. all of this was wrong. and I don't know what I was on when writing this. Tired is what I was. Read it just to laugh at how dumb I was being.

Link Click S2 E10 part 3 (part 1) (part 2)

Destiny and Fate

Let's go back to this scene for a moment:

We've already concluded that this episode is a dramatization of events, a theater play. Events in this episode are symbolic not literal.

Recap: Cheng Xiaoshi and Li Tianxi are symbolically crossing paths here, not literally. After all, by the point CSX!LG is at this crossroads, Li Tianxi has already been in police custody, unidentified, for two days. Li Tianxi's half likely takes place the night she ran away, after Chen Bin's death.

So what's the symbolism? In regards to theater, it could be a couple of things.

1). When two characters cross paths in theater, it can represent two solutions to a problem posed. Sometimes, there's only one right answer and the viewer has to discern, which is it? There is more to this than meets the eye. - I'll come back to that at the very end.

2). Two characters crossing paths can also symbolize a swapping of fate. In the context of Link Click, this one is the obvious choice so let's go.

Li Tianxi's fate is not a happy one. She's traumatized and her mental growth is stunted. It doesn't appear she can take care of herself. She can only rely on her brother. And Li Tianchen (brilliant mad lad that he is) is still only in the process of becoming a real hunter, and not just Qian Jin's hunting tool. He hasn't broken free of that yet (though the extent that LTC also is using QJ as a tool by this point is worth noting. QJ probably knows he needs to watch out, with those gloves.)

Li Tianchen wants to rewrite destiny and "find" his sister.

Li Tianchen wants to rewrite destiny so he doesn't loose his sister in the first place.

I'm not talking about that night she ran away. Remember this is figurative. Li Tianchen started loosing Li Tianxi the moment he started loosing himself. Li Tianchen lost Li Tianxi the first night he impulsively chose to murder through her.

Li Tianxi and Cheng Xiaoshi figuratively cross paths in "inevitable destiny."

Whether by free will or by force, it's implied that Cheng Xiaoshi will take on an inevitable destiny for Li Tianxi. The key nodes of the past cannot be changed, but there are multiple ways to cause them.

______________________________________________________________

Intermission : Li Tianchen

I've got a bone to pick with you.

"Without photos, you have no chance to cheat now."

LI TIANCHEN. WHAT? I'm sorry, are you for real? I thought you understood how these games go???? So your telling me, That Cheng Xiaoshi using photographs, using his own damn ability, is cheating. But that you're allowed to possess people? KID. How does that logic track?

Is it just because Cheng Xiaoshi can physically disappear? Does he consider that a cowardly hunt? I mean, honestly, no matter how you look at it, from a game POV Cheng Xiaoshi won this round fair and square. Li Tianchen was outsmarted. If anything, having Xiao Ma stationed as backup is cheating, but that's a Qian Jin problem. It's out of Li Tianchen's control.

I need to mull this one over more, why is using the photo ability cheating? What a curve ball.

But what we do get out of this is: Li Tianchen didn't realize the full extent of what Cheng Xiaoshi could do. What else doesn't he know?

______________________________________________________________

Lu Guang

Li Tianchen has been.... somewhat dismissive of Lu Guang the entire season. I mean, he meets Lu Guang and immediately thinks, "yeah, this guy is a disposable resource, let's stab him." And then a night or two later he's like, "Oh yeah. BTW. Here's a photograph. Please deliver." (because I still can't think of reality where that photograph wasn't a card he played.)

In eps 8&10 Li Tianchen says, "I regret being too lenient before.."

Wow, that's a threat. So you did mean to kill him back then,or--?

Li Tianchen wants to know how in the ever-loving world did Lu Guang know about the damn boat. No one knew about the boat. Even Li Tianchen might not have known about the boat (QJ set up multiple escape routes.)

So HOW? How did this nobody on bed rest know about the damn boat?

There is a dark spot on our timeline. A few dark spots, actually:

Dark Spot 1). Li Tianxi's escape. We see her run away. We see Tianchen chase after her. That's all.

Dark Spot 2). Cheng Xiaoshi/Lu Guang getting to the boat. How did either of them know where to go?

Dark Spot 3) The murders of Liu Lan/Li Fan and Chen Bin.

Dark Spot 5). Lu Guang's visit from a twin. (or that's just me)

What are we missing? Why have we not been shown these specific details? What is the link?

Crazy theory 1: Li Tianxi

Li Tianxi has had her ability abused. Possibly, it was abused before she even knew what it was. What if needing to use a photo is a safeguard? What if Li Tianxi can but doesn't actually need to use a photo in order to see a person? What if she can run a mental check up on anyone she's recently met... or touched?

If we don't know the full extent of Li Tianxi's power. Then maybe she and Cheng Xiaoshi could work together.

Li Tianxi can see memories, yes? Maybe they don't need a photograph of that time, maybe they just need the memory.

Not sure yet how that plays into the above scenarios but, it's a thought.

Crazy theory 2: Future Cheng Xiaoshi and the consequence of his actions.

Crazy theory 3: Future CXS/LG combo and the dual consequences of both their actions.

Crazy theory 4: "Hat Man" as the physical embodiment of the consequences of everyone's actions.

Well, that started okay and now we're ..... well, we're somewhere. I'm tired.

#I think I had a point and then I got distracted by LTC's nonsense.#watch me formulate thoughts in real time #maybe this will spark someone more eloquent than I #my lc theories

28 notes · View notes

riagraie · 30 days ago

Text

The Extinct People of Balance: Harmonizers pt2

WOOOOO PART TWO!!!!

Ok so as a recap, in part one I discussed: Where Harmonizers Came From What The Lost Realm Is What Is In The Lost Realm How The Lost Realm Fell

And ofc there was some extra lore stuff put in there. If this is the first part your seeing, I highly recommend you go see the first part otherwise this stuff might not make sense.

This is a long one gang, buckle up.

What is a Harmonizer?

To start off, I'm saying again, Harmonizers are an original species I've created that come from the 17th realm called The Lost Realm. I'd also like to mention, Harmonizers in modern day Ninjago (so Dragon's Rising Season 2 Part 2) are extinct except for two people.

That set aside, all the information from here on out will be about the Harmonizers when they weren't extinct.

I'm cutting it off here just bc there's A LOT of shit below.

If you have any questions, comments, or ideas, please comment, reblog, or send them to me! I love getting stuff about my au (i've gotten like 2 things but my braincells jumped around for 30 minutes straight bc of it)

General Notes:

Harmonizer's are a humanoid (2 legs, 2 arms) species with some non-human characteristics. I'll talk about their physique later on. They can either be male or female and require both biological genders to reproduce.

They come in 2 different "sub-species." Or as I like to say, factions because the two factions can still produce viable offspring if they interbreed. The 2 factions have different appearances, characteristics, and abilities.

Before I dive into the factions, I have to talk about the abilities of Harmonizers and what common traits all Harmonizers have.

Traits:

All Harmonizers have a few non-human characteristics in common which could change/alter depending on your faction and abilities.

A set of horns/antlers. Harmonizers can have either horns or antlers. I say antlers bc they look more like extra pointy antlers than horns lol. They can range in height from being 4 to 14 inches tall, and in width though most are thicker where they meet the skull and get thinner as they go up. Those statistics are dependent on genetics.

Sharper canines. Nothing major, but if you look to long, you are able to notice the canines of Harmonizers are just a bit bigger and longer than normal human canines. This is also depending on genetics.

Pointed & rotational ears. They have slightly pointed ears, (think half elf but less of a curve), which can turn or rotate up and down depending on the Harmonizer's mood. For example, if they just got good news, the ears may be pointed upwards. If they are angry, the ears will be pointed to the ground. This does give them a slightly better ability to hear as well, but nothing much better than a human's ability to hear. They do have sensitive ears so don't scream in them.

Glowing eyes. Harmonizers, no matter which faction, can see perfectly in the dark. For them, pitch darkness is like it's mid-day in the room/area. However, as a downside, their eyes glow like they have mini flashlights in their eyes. So they cannot be sneaky at night unless they have their eyes closed. This also means Harmonizers are very sensitive to light, especially after a period of being in darkness.

Skin markings. While the color of them changes depending on your actual skin color and your abilities/faction, all Harmonizers have full body skin markings that can range from being straight lines to swirls to loops to a couple dots, it really doesn't matter. The general shape of the markings (like thickness or the actual line shapes) depends on your genetics.

Black fingernails. Harmonizers have black fingernails that are usually naturally pointy like little claws. They aren't long, the longest recorded fingernails being at most an inch.

Natural beauty. For no reason other than character development and plot for Hanna, Harmonizers are naturally attractive. While they have different body types (hourglass, pear, apple, stick, etc.) they almost always will look attractive to another species. They have symmetrical faces and do not struggle with acne the same way humans do.

Otherwise, Harmonizers have normal human characteristics.

Other Physical Features:

THEY ARE TALL AS FUCK. Which is why Hanna is 5 feet 10 inches(177.8cm). She'd be taller if not for her human genes muting the height factor.

Adult Male Humanizer height, regardless of faction can range from 7 feet 2 inches to 8 feet 10 inches. Or, 218.44cm to 269.24cm. Adult Female Humanizer height, regardless of faction can range from 6 feet 8 inches to 8 feet 7 inches. Or, 203.3cm to 261.62cm.

They also don't know what being obese is, most of them having good to great muscle tone. So weight is in accordance to the average weight for their height and gender lol.

Harmonizers can have any skin tone and/or hair type. You could see a black Harmonizer with dreadlocks just as much as you could see a white Harmonizer with beach blond waves. Hair color and eye color, I know darker skin tones for humans means probably black or brown hair and eyes. For Harmonizers, this doesn't matter. If you part of a specific faction but have a skin tone that conflicts with the specifications, those conflicts wont happen lol.

Abilities/Powers:

Harmonizers are able to control 1 of 3 abilities with the third ability only being known to exist within 2 alive or once living Harmonizers.

The first ability is control of the Essence of Peace.

The Essence of Peace looks like either white or yellow/gold mist. It's function or how it can be controlled is similar to Scarlet Witch's magic from Marvel. In general, it's connected to the aspects of being like Life, Renewal, Growth, Continuation, Stability, and Community. The Essence of Peace, when housed or utilized by a Harmonizer can be used to undo destruction (like the Ladybug Miraculous after defeating an akuma lol), bring on fertility, heal active wounds, calm conflict, and give people a sense of serenity in the mind.

This may sound like it is a tranquil or steady power to control, but a Harmonizer who uses/has it is just as able to use it for negativity as Krux and Acronix were able to use their elemental powers for evil. The Essence of Peace is sometimes referred to as the Power of Control since it can so easily rectify "negative" situations without the consent of others.

The second ability is control of the Essence of Chaos.

The Essence of Chaos looks like either a lavender or dark purple mist. It's function or how it can be controlled is similar to how benders from the Avatar cartoon/anime control the elements. In general, it's connected to the aspects of being like Death, Decay, Despair, Conflict, Closure, and Isolation. The Essence of Chaos, when housed or utilized by a Harmonizer an be used to cause destruction(Like Chat Noir lol), cause illness or wounds, vegetation to decay/rot, cause conflict inflicting emotions, and give people a sense of hysteria in the mind.

Just like The Essence of Peace, the Essence of Chaos can be used for either good or evil, just because of what it is related to doesn't mean a user of Chaos can't use it for good or positivity. The Essence of Chaos also has a special name, it's name is the Power of Turbulence because it's uses may come off as disastrous or negative, the things it causes are just a part of life so they are necessary in a way.

The third ability is the Power of Discord.

Yep, the third power able to be used by Harmonizers is the power of Discord, Hanna's abilities. The only other person who has been able to say they are the user of Discord is Fuwa, who is Hanna's ancestor.

The Power of Discord looks like either a combo of purple and white mist, or is silver. The power function's like Lloyd's powers in many ways but can also be used like the Essence of Peace and Chaos.

This is connected to both The Essence of Chaos and Peace, The Power of Discord is a combination of both so in turn, it is connected to the same things as both and can be used to do the same things as both.

I'll explain why only Hanna and Fuwa can use the Power of Discord later on.

Factions

So, now that I've got the powers explained, I can explain what each faction of Harmonizers is and why there's separate ones. Something to note however, the Females of this species are referred to as Ladies and Males are called Lords. They have no royal status it's just what I decided to call them lol.

The first faction are the Lords and Ladies of Peace.

As you can guess from the name, this faction can use The Essence of Peace. Only this faction can use this Essence and as such, they take on characteristics of the Essence.

They often have lighter hair colors like blond or white but they can have darker versions of these hair colors that are like medium (dirty blond, red heads/gingers, etc.) They also have a specific kind of eye color to them. The whites of their eyes remain white ofc. The iris can be blue, green, yellow, or amber, sometimes light brown.

I mentioned above that skin tone is just skin and has no relation to hair and eye color for Harmonizers. This still stands. A Lord/Lady of Peace could be black as hell but have the blondest hair and bluest eyes ever seen. The only thing which remains to their skin tone is the hair type.

I mentioned before how Harmonizers are humanoid with non-human characteristics. Well, for Lords/Ladies of Peace, these are what the non-human characteristics can look like.

Horns/antlers: - usually antlers with 2-4 connection points to the skull and around 6-10 off shoots from there. - they are also usually white, yellow, or light brown in color with a gradient towards the root(connection to the skull) that matches the skin tone and/or markings.

Skin markings: - usually more straight in shape but more in number and less thick. - the markings color changes in how dark or light they are depending on the Harmonizer's skin tone so they can still be seen. But in general, Lords and Ladies of Peace have gold, yellow, amber, orange, pink, or white markings.

Eyes: - Lords and Ladies of Peace have normal eyes except for the pupil. For humans, the pupil is black. For them, it is pure white just like the actual whites of their eyes.

The second faction are the Lords and Ladies of Chaos

Noo... I wasn't lazy with naming, I just found the names fitting. This faction can use the Essence of Chaos. Only this faction can use the Essence of Chaos and as such, take on it's characteristics.

They have darker hair colors like black or brown but can also have medium shades of the hair colors just like a Lord/Lady of Peace. They also have a select few eye shades. Unlike those of Peace, Lords and Ladies of Chaos have the whites of their eyes as pitch black. Otherwise, the iris can be light shades of purple (lavender mostly), darker shades of blue (navy), dark or muted shades of green (sage), browns, blacks, and deep shades of purple.

Just like the first faction, skin tone doesn't matter for hair type n shit.

Also just like the first faction, the non-human characteristics change.

Horns/antlers: - Most have horns with varying structures (think the different horns in My Little Pony). They can have 2 - 6 horns or 1 to 3 sets. usually, one set will be bigger than the other two with each set getting smaller. - The horns tend to be darker colors like dark purples, blues, dark greens, browns, blacks, and at times very dark gray.

Skin markings: - usually more curvy in shape having multiple swirls and off shoots. They also tend to be thicker - They also change how dark or light the color is based on the Harmonizer's skin tone. But most of the time, they are black, dark purple, dark blue, dark gold and orange, or brown.

Eyes: - The only thing going on is that the whites of their eyes are black instead. Everything else remains normal lol.

I was going to do more BUTT this is again a lot of stuff happening in one post. So I'll be putting out a part three with some pictures of what the Harmonizers look like. I'll be using Gacha Life 2 for the general designs just because I don't feel like drawing people from scratch.

In part 3, I'll explain more about the lifestyles of Harmonizers, how The Lost Realm fell more in-depth, and how Hanna (my oc) is affected by her Harmonizer genetics since it is such a distant relation.

5 notes · View notes

adultswim2021 · 1 year ago

Text

Tasty Twosday (Tuesday)

Assy McGee #16: “Showdown in Magic City” | June 9, 2008 - 12:30AM | S02E10

Hey gang, long time no queef. I was back yesterday, and I actually sat down to watch+review this episode, but I wound up rage-quitting because the Adult Swim app wouldn’t let me rewind the episode to check on some very important detail. Oh well.

Also, I need to really apologize again. I am being targeted by harassers who think it’s funny to take my Tuesday posts (which, I’ve established, are rare because of my work schedule) and titling them stuff about “Tasty Tuesday”. There is nothing tasty about this day, this post, or this episode. In fact, it’s repugnant.

In this one, Assy and Sanchez investigate a Miami crime syndicate who are targeting jai alai players in Exeter. They wind up getting a little more than they bargained for when they sniff around their Miami turf. Sanchez is kidnapped, and they leave behind his mustache with his whole upper-lip attached. Gross! The ending involves a daring rescue and Sanchez’s disgusting disfigured face.

This one has a couple of moments that are at least somewhat funny; the theme song suddenly having lyrics is great. Actually, that’s it. That’s the only thing that’s great. Damn. Sad, but true.

EPHEMERA CORNER:

The Boondocks: The Complete Second Season (June 10, 2008)

Okay I’ll do the AI thing for this, because I really struggle with talking about DVD sets I never owned. Just go look up a review, sheesh:

The Complete Second Season of The Boondocks on DVD is a must-have for fans of the show. The season features all 13 episodes, as well as bonus features such as deleted scenes and commentaries. The episodes are just as funny and thought-provoking as the first season, and the bonus features are a great addition. Overall, this is a great DVD set for anyone who enjoys The Boondocks.

This did not mention the two originally-unaired-on-Adult-Swim episodes. Those are on there.

MAIL BAG

So, I saw the Venture Bros. finale over the weekend. I binged the last couple seasons as a refresher, as well as watching the seasons 1-4 and season 5 recap videos. Season 5 would’ve been good to watch again, but you know. I really liked it! I watched an ILLEGAL COPY because I knew I was going to buy the blu-ray eventually. But guess what? It’s sold out at all the places that still carry new blu-rays! So I ordered it on amazon like I should have, and it says it won’t come for AN ENTIRE MONTH. What the hell? I guess it’s heartening that the blu-ray is selling so well. But damn!

do you like assy mcgee better than axe cop

I haven’t seen a TON of Axe Cop. But, yes.

are you gonna do more Tasty Tuesdays in the future? That was fucking weird.

I need to reiterate that Tasty Tuesday is being forced onto me by some malicious trolls who hate me and they hate you and they hate our freedom. I’ve recieved many threatening letters from them telling me that if I make posts on Tuesday that “it’s over for you” referring to me. This is a twisted game they are playing. I would call it “twisted Tuesdays” but I don’t wanna give these FUCKERS ideas.

I think my ideal tasty tuesday is spaghetti, steak, and a handburger. I eat all of that before 2PM and I also have a full-fat coca-cola while on my work shift. Then I just snack all night. Nilla Wafers, pretzels, you name it. Happy Tasty Tuesday, Adult Swim 2021!

Wow, what a spread, sounds good to me. But, I refuse! I will not participate in this custom because it simply isn’t real and it’s being perpetrated by enemies.

Are you going to do tasty tuesday again? I've seen some weird stuff on this website but this particularly is pretty bizarre imho

Okay, I’m convinced that the person whose hacking my blog and making it say “Tasty Tuesdays” on my Tuesday posts is the one writing these Mail Bags. Fuck you, pal. If you are just a fan/best friend, I’m sorry.

what is tasty tuesday? say it! say IT!

NO!

Will we get an update for Tasty Tuesday I wonder>

>_<

#adult swim #adultswim2021 #assy mcgee

2 notes · View notes

summerspn · 1 year ago

Text

Arrested Development

(Series)

Very minor spoilers- no plots mentioned…

I finally finished the series!

When the show first aired I saw a couple episodes but due to my hectic life I didn’t watch more than that. I always thought it was really funny though.

All the characters amuse me but my favourites were/are Gob & Michael.

I’ve meant to watch the series when it came on Netflix for years but I apparently completely forgot about it.

Recently I came across it so I binged the whole series.

As expected I found it hilarious!

For those that aren’t aware, the series aired originally on tv (Fox station). And the network does what it always does and cancelled a great series too soon. It aired on tv from 2002-2006.

Then Netflix picked it up years later from 2018-2019.

I appreciate the commitment of the actors, cast & crew. 99% of the original cast returned & there were a ton of cameos.

I think they did a decent job overall of the second half. I liked some of the meta jokes & the show was still amusing.

However, the second half was very different:

1. There was way too much recapping. In the first hand that aired on tv there was some but it was more like a quick few seconds at the start or a randomly thrown in reminder of what happened previously. Ie) when Michael says he won’t come back the voiceover says something like ‘he did come back as he always does’ and threw in a 5 second clip.

In the continuation it’s like a full minute or so of recap at the beginning of each episode. That actually started to get on my nerves.

2. The episode length is slightly shorter. I think most episodes in the first 3 seasons were between 25-27 minutes with a couple being around 30. In the second half of the series each episode is about 21 minutes… including the recap at the beginning. I think it did influence the quality of the episodes a little.

3. I feel like the writers had no idea what to do with the second half of the series. Though, it also felt like some of the actors were coming and going a lot so maybe the writers just had a hard time working with their schedules? In any case, the writing wasn’t as good. Still entertaining though, it just felt different.

4. It may sound stupid and an overreaction but I hated what they did to one of the characters in the final episode. It made me cringe & sort of slink into my seat. I felt cheated & little uncomfortable. It was clearly done to get a reaction but at the same time, that is not the reaction they should’ve gone for… it changed the entire tone if the series.

5. The lack of character development I think was a disservice. I get it’s supposed to be ‘arrested development’ but the series could’ve ended with some development. While I wouldn’t expect a full 180 of its characters, I think the lack of growth had me bored. I think Michael, George Michael & Gob had the most growth which is one of the reasons I liked most of their storylines in the continuation. The other characters had me a little bored.

Though having a secondary character like Barry Zuckerkorn being the same old ridiculous person actually worked because he wasn’t a main character.

I was a little bummed that Liza Minnelli wasn’t in the continuation but the show did a good job of still trying to include her.

I don’t want to spoil anything for people who haven’t watched yet but I’ll just say that the storyline for Lindsey was really short & went in a weird direction.

Tobias was always weird but I had hoped for him to get a clue by the end. He didn’t.

Buster, sometimes amusing & sometimes just awkward. I don’t even know what to say.

George & Oscar, I was pretty indifferent to them in the second half.

Lucille Bluth, while she was still in character I just didn’t like that of all things to do with her, they chose that? It felt like a waste of talent. Not terrible just not good either.

Maeby - sorry but I thought her storyline was really bad. In the first part of the series I thought her character had an amusing glib attitude & sass. The continuation just had me wondering how her storylines made it past the brainstorming stage. I’m glad the actress returned but it was just…so weird.

George Michael - I’m glad we got see him in a different element & changing up the dynamic a little. But somehow it felt like things were dragging a little plot wise. I think they could’ve had the 2 seasons in 1 then a separate plot for the final season.

Michael - I also feel like they could’ve condensed things into 1 season for him then write another plot for season 5. As always he was amusing. I like that one of his major flaws is that he doesn’t listen to his son while also trying to be a great dad. So everything felt pretty in character. For the most part. But there was still more they could’ve given Jason Bateman to work with.

He’s a great actor with a lot of range so it sort of felt like waste.

Gob - though ridiculous I like most if what they did with his character except I think the finale should’ve just pushed his platonic friendship a little more. And yes because I feel bad for fictional characters I did want to see him better his relationship with a certain family member…

Now I gotta say it…what is with all the incest?

Seriously. The first season, I thought the crush was funny. But it ended quickly and just felt icky.

Then it’s brought up over and over again. Then another character flirts with a relative… actually a new character does this with a relative as well in the continuation. A few one off jokes here and there too.

And they bring in Jason Bateman’s sister Justine for an episode & characters make implications about them… she does some flirting too. Thank god (spoiler) they don’t get physical. But seriously I was already cringing in that episode.

Then, all the mother-son comments in the continuation. Maybe it’s just me but felt like a different tone compared to the first half of the series.

The writers could’ve come up with better jokes instead. The constant incestuous comments just felt lazy after awhile, not to mention they stopped being funny.

All of that said, the series is amusing & fun…if you skip the finale. Tbh that episode kind of ruined the series for me.

But again I do appreciate the actors, crew etc came back to try to finish the series properly.

It is worth a watch.

Since there’s too many actors to go in depth on their other work I’ll just mention my two favourites & you can check IMDB fir the rest:

Jason Bateman (who plays Michael) , is amazing in the series Ozark, and is amusing in Game Night (2018), Office Christmas Party (2016), Horrible Bosses 1 & 2 (2011 & 2014) etc . He’s supposed to be in the Clue reboot so I’m excited to see what he does with that.

Will Arnett (who plays Gob Bluth), honestly I haven’t seen a lot of what he’s been in yet but so far I like him in everything. He was really funny in Murderville (2022), Blades of Glory (2006), and Up All Night (2011-2012) which I thought was hilarious.

6 notes · View notes

bedroom-dw3ller · 2 months ago

Text

This week has been really bad so here’s a recap with everything I can remember

Monday

I woke up pretty early so I got to paint for a couple hours then my boyfriend texted me and said he wanted to go to our university and find all our classes and buildings before school started. We took the bus into the city and we got to walk around for a couple hours before it started raining really hard. We decided it wasn’t worth it to find a couple more buildings and went to get food instead. We bussed home and he came over to my house and stayed the night and we watched longlegs cause I’ve wanted to see it for a while. Not a good movie :P we both fell asleep to it

Tuesday

TMI warning !!

My bf stayed over all day Tuesday and we were home alone for the first time in a really long time so I asked him if he wanted to go all the way with me and he said he did but he was too scared of hurting me. We didn’t end up doing anything. So im still a virgin, which I think is a good thing because later in the week I started to freak out a little. Most of Tuesday was just being lazy in bed and watching tv and sleeping

Wednesday

Worst day of the week. My whole family came to visit for my grandfathers birthday and they drive me crazy. I hate them. I relapsed because I always relapse when I see my family. My boyfriend texted me and said he thinks he got lice and I’m 100% sure it’s from my little brother because I thought my mom had killed them all and I didn’t tell him. I felt so guilty for letting it happen I texted him a huge apology and cried for the whole day. I wanted to die. Half way through the day I realized I had gotten my period and I kept crying because of it. I think I cried myself to sleep that day.

Thursday

I stayed in bed all day Thursday because my cramps were so bad and I refused to take and pain killers because I was still feeling super guilty and depressed from Wednesday. It felt like pain I deserved. It was the easiest self harm I had ever done. So I stayed in bed and cried. I played a lot of franbow and I watched YouTube in between my crying. My dad told me my family wanted my bf to come to my grandfathers birthday dinner because they wanted to meet him so I told my bf and he said he’d come.

Friday

I stayed in bed and panicked about my bf meeting my family for half of the day. My family is made up of alcoholics and conservatives and I didn’t want my boyfriend to be uncomfortable or think they are anything like me. He came over a little before we had to go and he saw the bandaid on my arm and started asking what it was and I didn’t want to lie to him so i told him to ignore it. We went to my grandparents house and he met everyone and it was actually really fun. My family didn’t really talk to us a lot so we just talked to my cousin and watched my little brother play with his friend. We went home at 10 ish and went to sleep.

Saturday

My parents left really early in the morning to go to the beach but we stayed home and we stayed in bed all day again. We watched a whole season of adventure time in one day which was fun but it totally rotted our brains and I don’t think I can do it again. We made cookies and I watered my garden and we had a lot of fun doing nothing together. We started talking about university again and his schedule is so full and mine isn’t really. He said it’s going to be hard to find time for each other. I got really really upset. I started spiraling really bad and I had a breakdown. I told him I was scared of him leaving me for someone better and I was scared that I would get in the way of his studying. It eventually turned into me crying because I’m scared of being abandoned and I scared him really bad because I kept talking about how I hate myself and I want to die. I told him I loved him. I wanted to tell him I loved him in a better context but it slipped out. He said he loved me too. I kept telling him he could go home and I didn’t need him to stay for the third night in a row but every time I told him I’d be ok I’d start crying again because I know if he had left I would have cut myself. I’ve only ever felt out of control of my self harm a couple times. Sometimes I feel the urge to cut so so bad I know I’d do it even if I didn’t want to I just knew if he had left I was going to do it and I was scared. He didn’t leave. He felt to bad and I felt guilty again.

We woke up today and I had to get up to go out with my friend and he had work today but I still felt so guilty. He said he loved me still and when I said goodbye to him he said it again. I’m happy. I love him. I’m happy he loves me. I hope he’s not upset with me. I want to get better for him.

#long post #I’ve been crying so much this week :(

0 notes

dollycas · 2 months ago

Text

Sunday Salon / Sunday Post – A Week in the Life of Dollycas – Weekly Rewind – New Arrivals

The Sunday Salon is a Facebook group that has become an informal week-in-review gathering place for bloggers. It is also a place to share our thoughts about things of a bookish nature. You can also link up weekly on Readerbuzz. The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received, and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE! September already. Why is this year flying by so fast? Remi had his 1st football game of the season last Saturday night. It is tackle, no more flags, this year. Sadly the 6th grade didn't have enough players to field their own team so they are now combined with the 7th graders. That means playing a little less and learning new positions. The team took a little time to find their rhythm and lost 0-6. Remi had some great plays including one that caused an interception. They didn't have a game this week due to the holiday weekend. You can see I have a new ride. Mr. Dollycas surprised me with a scooter. So I traded in the wheelchair for it for sporting events and other adventures. It's my favorite color - Purple! I am still getting used to operating it and just like when I was driving a car, reverse is not my strong suit. Hopefully, I will get it all figured out soon. Two of the grands started school on Wednesday—Thomas in Second Grade and Charlotte in Kindergarten. The Varsity boys played Friday night against the team that kept them from playing for a championship last year. They went on to win the state championship. So it was time for some redemption. Kaden did not play, nor did he play the first game last week. He suffered a concussion a couple of weeks ago at practice and has been following the concussion protocol. He was finally cleared to practice last Monday and has some catching up to do. They also have a new head coach this year so all the boys are adjusting to new ways of doing things. The game was a nail-biter and there were some mistakes but the Cardinals took the lead and held it to win 20 - 16. This week is a huge game against another state champ. Kaden hopes to be ready to play. It is hard for him to stand on the sidelines and watch. He loves playing this game. It was also Youth Night at the Varsity football game where kids from Kindergarten - 8th Grade were recognized. Of course, I did my reading, blogging, and book tours all week but chasing the grandkids is so much fun. How was your week? Weekly Rewind - August 26 - 31, 2024 Monday - My Reading Itinerary Monday! – Week #35 – 2024 Tuesday - Murder at Vinland (A Gilded Newport Mystery) by Alyssa Maxwell #Review / #Giveaway @KensingtonBooks @Alyssa__Maxwell Wednesday - Cozy Wednesday featuring In the Event of Murder (A Starlit Bookshop Mystery) by Cynthia Kuhn #Review / #Giveaway – Great Escapes Book Tour @cynthiakuhn Thursday - A Poisonous Palate (A Key West Food Critic Mystery) by Lucy Burdette #Review / #Giveaway @LucyBurdette @crookedlanebks Friday - Dear Little Corpses (A Josephine Tey Mystery) by Nicola Upson #Spotlight / #Giveaway @crookedlanebks Plus - Ellen Byron Saturday - Death at the Manor (LILY ADLER MYSTERY) by Katharine Schellman #Spotlight / #Giveaway HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE! Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent Read the full article

0 notes

stitching-in-time · 6 months ago

Text

Voyager rewatch: season 1 recap

Overall impressions of Season 1 after my first chronological rewatch:

This first season was consistently strong. I see why I fell in love with the show right away, and why I was already invested enough with the characters to stick with them for seven whole years, through all the ups and downs. The premise is great, the characters are all well delineated, with fantastic actors bringing them to life. I would actually argue that Voyager came out of the gate stronger than the other two 90s Trek series. It had it's format and identity fully figured out from the get-go, whereas TNG and DS9 both took a season or two to figure themselves out and get in a groove. Some of the characters individually still needed some time to percolate and settle into more steady characterization, but on the whole, the relationships and dynamics were already forming, and becoming a joy to watch.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that far fewer characters got killed off in this first season than I thought. Losing crew members they couldn't replace, yet still being able to run the ship, has always been one of my pet peeves in Voyager, so I'm going to keep a running tally as I go through the series to find out how many there actually were.

There were also more romantic subplots than remember in the first season. I'm going to be keeping a running tally of those too.

One of the things that surprised me on this rewatch was the friendship they started building between B'Elanna and Harry, which was sweet and lovely, and made so much sense, but then was abandoned entirely later on, which is a shame. Garrett Wang said on The Delta Flyers podcast how he thought back then that they were setting up Harry and B'Elanna to be a couple, and while I thought that was wild at first, I do see it now, and think it would have made sense. I wouldn't necessarily have preferred that, but I definitely would have liked their friendship at least to have been developed further, and maybe a romance would have worked if they had done. It's certainly an interesting path not taken to contemplate!

A weird thing I noticed was how much glaringly racist and misogynist dialog made it's way on screen this first season, like, way more than there was in TNG or DS9. I have no idea why anyone thought it was a good idea, and it definitely hindered Tom and Neelix's character development, as well as Kes's, indirectly.

The whole concept of Neelix and Kes as a couple is pretty questionable from the perspective of a few decades later. I had no idea back then how much of an age gap there was between the actors playing them; when you're 7 years old, everyone over 16 is an adult to you, but looking back now, and finding out that Jennifer Lien was only 18 when they started, whereas Ethan Phillips was in his mid-40s, I'm very bothered by the power imbalance that age gap creates. (I'm referring to the characters specifically, I've never heard anything negative about Ethan Phillips as an actor.) That already large gulf in age and experience is further exasperated by Neelix being a worldly space nomad, while Kes comes from a sheltered existence in a society with no knowledge of the outside world, who only live for nine years, yet, somehow, Kes is still presented as an adult based on her physical and cognitive development, despite being canonically under two years old chronologically. Having someone who was almost literally born yesterday in a romantic relationship with someone who also is, for all intents and purposes, her teacher, is a really fraught situation, all the more so for Kes having run away from home and being almost entirely dependent on Neelix, with no one from her family or culture there to support her. That aspect, at least, is somewhat mitigated when they join the Voyager crew, since Kes now has a ship full of people to learn from and depend on, but Neelix's position as her knight in shining armor figure who rescued her still gives him a lot of influence over her. Couple that with Neelix constantly either infantilizing her or unleashing jealous tirades on her, and it's a really uncomfortable thing to watch. It severely undercuts Neelix's likability, which he would otherwise have in the bag as one of the show's main comic relief characters. Kes, too, comes out being slightly one dimemsional when half of her screentime is devoted to having to be the perfect girlfriend who tolerates and soothes all of Neelix's moods, even though her developing skills as a medic is the more interesting storyline. Her friendship with the Doctor is also more interesting, since he at least recognizes and encourages her talents, but even here, most of her storylines with him revolve around being his cheerleader in his quest for more autonomy. It's deeply frustrating to see such old fashioned gender dynamics at play in a show that was supposed to be a progressive vision for the future. Despite having three female characters in the main cast, I don't think the three of them ever had a scene together outside the conference room, and I don't think Kes and B'Elanna ever spoke to each other at all this season beyond one brief exchange in sickbay in the season's last episode.

The writers were obviously struggling to figure out Tom Paris after having to switch him out for the Nicholas Locarno character they'd originally intended him to be, so we end up getting two versions of Tom Paris this first season. The original Locarno version is an asshole who says truly shitty things, presumably in an attempt to make him a bad boy who would shake up Starfleet's usual niceness, and eventually have a redeeming character arc. But with the tweaks made to the character's backstory in order to distinguish him from Locarno for copyright purposes, we actually get a much more sympathetic, kinder character who's desperately looking for redemption from the start, and has the Starfleet niceness baked into him as part of his upbringing. Listening to Robbie McNeill on the Delta Flyers podcast, he says outright that he didn't like playing the asshole version because he thought viewers wouldn't sympathize or care about a character who was a jerk every single week, and he was right. Unfortunately, it took the writers a while to see the light and lean into the latter version of Tom at last, and I think to this day, it's tainted Tom's reputation as a character. The casual fans who saw any of these early episodes and didn't tune in religiously every week to see his character develop probably continued to think of him as the gross dudebro we get in some of these early eps. Which is a shame, since he actually becomes one of my favorite Voyager characters by the end.

Some things that I was suprised to find started all the way back in the first season was Seska's betrayal and defection to the enemy arc; and that Tom being made a medic started all the way back in the second episode. I thought it must have been later on, after they lost more crew, because there's no way there wouldn't be another crew member with more medical training than him, but no. They really put a guy who has an essential, full time job, that he's good at, and gave him another one he's barely qualified for on top of it, just because. Ok then, I guess. That's just so random. Maybe they had plans to put him and Kes together already, but that seems unlikely, given how Kes's whole character was invented to be Neelix's girlfriend. (I read somewhere that Kes isn't even mentioned in the Voyager show bible except within Neelix's entry. Siiiigh.)

There was also a lot less of the Kazon and Vidians this season than I thought, which was nice, since I don't like either of them as antagonists, but that just means that all the episodes with them I disliked are still ahead, ugh. (In all honesty, I pretty much dislike all of the recurring villains on Voyager, but I'll go into that when each of those arcs come up.)

Overall, I've been having a lot of fun, and rediscovering a lot of stuff I'd forgotten. I'm excited for season two!

Season 1 stats:

number of crew killed off: 6

Caretaker: at least 5 confirmed (first officer, chief engineer, chief medical officer, nurse, pilot) with more implied

Faces: 1 (Lieutenant Pete Durst)

number of romantic subplots:

Paris: 1 with kiss (Ex Post Facto)

Janeway: 1 without kiss (Prime Factors)

Kim: 1 without kiss (Prime Factors)

Chakotay: 1 without kiss (State of Flux) [at least I don't think there was a kiss, maybe there was?? I didn't decide to keep track till after this ep, so wasn't paying enough attention]

The Doctor: 1 with kiss (Heroes and Demons)

Number of episodes I liked/disliked/mixed reaction:

Liked: 10

Disliked: 3

Mixed: 2

#star trek: voyager #voyager rewatch #rewatching star trek #star trek #season recap

1 note · View note

earthboundvalkyrie · 2 years ago

Text

Vikings Valhalla, Season 2, Episode 1 Review

New Post has been published on https://www.ebvs.blog/2023/01/22/vikings-valhalla-season-2-episode-1-review/

Vikings Valhalla, Season 2, Episode 1 Review

After about a year’s wait, it’s finally time to get caught up again with our trio of intrepid Vikings, Harald Sigurdsson – who believes he’s the rightful King of Norway; Leif Eriksson – a Greenlander looking to make his own name outside the shadow of his infamous father, Eric the Red; and Leif’s sister, Freydis Eriksdotter – another Greenlander seeking her place in the world. Over the course of the first season, the three became fast friends and war partners, and Freydis and Harald became lovers.

So, how was the first episode of this new season? Did it stand up to the story told in the first season? Well, read on if you’d like my opinion on that (and I certainly hope you do! 🙂 )

CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD

This was a pretty full episode, as we have plenty of characters to catch up with and stories to move along. If you need a refresher on this episode, I posted a detailed recap earlier this week describing what happened, so I’ll try to avoid repeating too much of that here.

Overall, I enjoyed the episode quite a bit. I was surprised by how quickly the time watching it went. The “catching up” was done with a minimum of repetition from last season. For the most part, the stories just picked up from where we’d left off.

Leif, however, has changed. He seems more lost than he had before, and given that his entire crew – other than his sister – were killed, that makes sense. Early on, we see him talking to someone who isn’t there. The camera briefly shows us it’s Liv, a crew member he’d loved. Later, there’s another brief scene – so brief I missed it the first time through the episode – of him speaking to her, though we don’t get to see her this time. These moments are important because they lead to a critical admission later in the show. It would have been easy for them to hit us over the head with it, but they went for a much more subtle setup, which was very nice.

Unfortunately, there were a couple of times they were a bit more obvious in their foreshadowing. While arguing about whether to go back to Kattegat, Freydis talks about where it would be best to raise children – usually a pretty sure sign a character is pregnant, and in this case, she is, as is confirmed later on in the show. In London, Earl Godwin expresses concern about Queen Emma’s safety, and she pooh-poohs his qualms. Again, a conversation like that is typically a set-up for an attack, and staging an attack shortly thereafter (that he, of course, foils) is right up Earl Godwin’s tactical alley. So there’s little surprise when the next time we see Emma, a priest tries to kill her with a poisoned communion wafer that Edwin stops her from eating.

I thought that Johannes Johannesson, the actor portraying King Olaf, did a marvelous job at showing another side of his character. Usually, Olaf is more over-confident than anything, but during the scenes where he’s in captivity – first in the cage where he’s naked and being subjected to taunts from his former subjects and then in the cell where Forkbeard is telling him his plan – Johannesson show fear and shame at his situation, desperate anger when told to protect Svein who Forkbeard is placing on what had been his throne, and tenderness when his son is brought in. It makes him a much more interesting character than he was previously. Seeing the humanity in him makes it easier to be invested in Olaf instead of just wanting to see him dead.

Very little happened with the London characters, except for the “attempted assassination,” which I firmly believe will be shown to have been orchestrated by Earl Godwin with no intent for the Queen to be harmed in any way – just frightened enough to take his advice to add more security. King Canute is still off fighting in Denmark and Forkbeard has been in Norway hunting down Olaf and putting his grandson on the throne.

One big change in the show from last season is the introduction of the Jomsvikings from Jomsborg, a city called a “New Uppsala Across the Sea.” Heathen worship is still strong there, and the Jomsvikings are trying to help Pagans fleeing Norway escape to there where, hopefully, they can have safer lives. In addition, the Jomsvikings are specifically looking for Freydis, who is called by some the “Keeper of the Faith” or “The Last Daughter of Uppsala.”

I loved the conversations Freydis had with Leif and Harald while they’re hiding from bounty hunters in a rocky area just off a beach. They’re waiting for the Jomsviking boats to arrive, and Freydis has decided to go with them to Jomsborg. The conversations are clearly meant to be farewells, but – as is appropriate for the characters – there is little sentimentality.

These quiet moments, though, set up an epic ending. The bounty hunters, led by now-Jarl Olaf and the new King Svein, give the order to kill everyone on the beach, which including peasants who are also waiting for the boats. Just as the hunters begin rushing toward the unarmed refugees, huge balls of fire come arcing out of the sky, hitting the beach and creating a wall of fire.

Granted, the timing is that kind of “too-perfect” timing that never happens when you really need it, but in a show like this, it’s a lot of fun to see. Because the beach is so foggy, we can’t see the Jomsviking boats or warships, only the rain of fire they’re casting between the two groups. Those waiting to leave with the Jomsvikings quickly get in the boats and head out to the waiting warship. Freydis, Leif and Harald say their final goodbyes, and the two men watch as the ship – and Freydis – sails off into the fog.

Left alone in a small boat that had ferried them away from the beach, Leif and Harald decide to head out for Novgorod, where Harald has an uncle he believes will back his claim to Norway’s throne. It’s a good place to end the episode. The show felt like the main threads were brought to a good stopping point, but with more than enough intrigue about what will happen next to want to come back.

I hope the rest of the season can fulfill the promises this season opener has made!

1 note · View note

shinahbee · 2 years ago

Text

2022 end of the year favorites!

Jan 2/2023

Hello,

The last time I updated was in October…lol. Well sorry for the long awaited end of the year favorites.

First and foremost happy holidays! I hope everyone had a good Christmas celebration and new years’ I have been eating a ton and getting fat and obviously not happy about it.

I also was working on a shop update so I was technically working on Christmas day and the rest of the week till New Year. The only thing eventful was going to see the nutcracker ballet on Christmas Eve, which was not really great when you are in a room full of coughing children and adults. Hopefully I didn’t catch anything.

Okay so if you have not seen my post about my Etsy store, I opened one! On December 6th I made a post about it. If you have not visited my store and is interested I’ll link that below!

http://shinahartshop.etsy.com

Like I said I will have an update soon so please check that out when it is up.

In the mean time you are here to read some juicy review posts right? Good cause this time I have finished a couple worth talking about so I’ll present them to you below.

Okay then …

Happy reading!

Sheena

I’m thinking of watching the live action for unintentional love story

But other than that I’ve watch some crappy drama TV …love is blind…omg it was something.

I specifically watched season 3 because I watched another youtuber review it and thought it was funny.lol.

Recap:

I’m just going to put up the ongoing list only. I also eliminated some titles because they are now completed or I dropped them for now

Ongoing

Liveta (hiatus)

Pearl boy

The third ending

One night mate (hiatus)

Night fragments (hiatus)

The pizza delivery man and the gold palace (hiatus)

The foul (hiatus)

Killer crush

Updates on ongoing titles:

How is it that everything is on hiatus LMAO….

Guess I won’t be updating anything for a while

Dangerous convenient store:

Ended already with little drama and a resolved conflict between euijoon and ahjushi, I’m glad they didn’t drag on the misunderstanding for too long because I’ve read so many that just will not stop and then it gets boring. So I really like it when the author knows when to end the story, it makes it seem like they care about their characters and decided to give them an end goal to work towards.

Euijoon and ahjushi had a lot of problems to work out and even with their misunderstandings resolved it didn’t make their communication more efficient, they still had to work out their differences after a year of being together, but what was important is that they were committed to each other and make things work out, and having that as an ending is already good enough for me.

Secret relationship: ending spoilers

Also has ended? Well it’s more like on hiatus because there is still side stories in the making but due to the authors health they are putting that on hold. I don’t really think it’s just the author’s health it’s also the crazy fans that had been stirring up trouble. There was some drama involving how the authors signed the published books of the secret relationship manga and they were both covers featuring Sunghyeon and Daon…lol. I knew this had to be a shipping fan war issue it always is…but anyways the Soohyun / Jaemin fans were really sour about how the ending and how their ship sunk and decided to harass the staff members of the café event to take down their display or something..it was ridiculous.

Imagine being a worker harassed/threatened by some random person, just because they didn’t like how their character wasn’t the endgame. I can literally count the times that my ship has sunk in many webtoons, manga, anime…you name it…but it does not give you a right to threaten staff members that have nothing to do with all of this and have to deal with all this horse play…it’s disrespectful and embarrassing.

When someone I followed posted that on twitter it really made me angry, it just reminds me of those sasang k-pop fans that harass those artists, they literally evolved into that. I would have left that all in just to spite them cause doing as they say will only instigate the idea that they had the right to say those things and the staff will listen.

Anyways, that was the only thing I wanted to point out other than the actual main story is now finished and sunghyeon and doan are now together as a couple.

So my ship sailed in the end but even if it didn’t I would not go and do the things these “fans” are doing…omg grow up

In last chapter a lot of fans are saying how Daon didn’t look like he was happy cause he looked really stressed and anxious, well of course he would be since he left a relationship that was like a safety net for more than 10 years and got nothing out of it but anxiety and fear, he would still feel like that even with a person he loves. Trauma does not disappear overnight and it will take years of therapy to even get a little better, nothing will ever be the same but it can get better with the right support system, I’m glad he chose to be with sunghyeon because like I said in the previous update, soohyun and jaemin didn’t care about daon’s physical and mental wellbeing and nothing is going to change if he continues to be with either of them.

Sunghyeon’s positivity towards dealing with conflict will be a good asset to counteract the negative thoughts that daon sees within himself and hopefully give him strength to see that he has good traits and deserves to love and be loved in return.

Sunghyeon and jaemin were the only two that had a connection to daon and his relationship with his family, jaemin convinced him that he no longer needs them and sunghyeon hopes to repair the bond between daon and his family members. I mean the choice is obvious when money is no longer an issue but rather daon’s guilt of being negligent to his family’s issues is the main thing that had been bothering him for years.

During the last moments of the chapter daon had a bad dream and was woken up feeling anxious and shakened up, in response to that sunghyeon held him and told him it was alright, Daon had some thoughts about whether or not he’d be okay if sunghyeon was not by his side one day, which is a normal thing to think about especially at this time in his life but it only made him more stress and anxious and so he instead of telling sunghyeon how he felt he just brushed it off as him being a nuisance and that they should forget about it since it wasn’t important.

Sunghyeon of course can read the room and knew that it wasn’t just nothing, he decided to propose the idea to daon of living together and getting a bigger space with a studio so that daon can work on his writing….and doan started crying…it was because he was happy, sunghyeon knew that daon always felt lonely his entire life and the fact that what he wants the most is emotional stability and having a partner that will stay beside him. Daon then has a monologue of how if it wasn’t for sunghyeon the night would be long with continual nightmares and that he gave him the strength to be brave and that he was grateful to be with him.

They didn’t say anything cheesy like “I love you so much”…and all that crap that I’ve heard a million times but instead showed that they were grateful to have each other at that moment and that alone has a greater impact than those three words alone.

So that’s all for now until the side stories which will most likely focus on tying up loose ends with jaemin and doan’s family and hopefully we get to see more intimate moments between sungda, cause I’ve been deprived this entire series….since most of this story is flash backs alone…omg.

Welcome to some spicy reads (21+)

Okay I’ll do my best to remember as much as I can about these stories, I have read them a while back so I don’t remember much.

The insatiable man:

“After food critic Jiho’s first meeting with novelist Inwoo ends in disappointment, he vows never to work with him. That is until Inwoo offers to buy him dinner. It’s then that he learns that Inwoo is unable to experience one of life’s basic joys – taste – and needs someone to describe flavors to him for his next novel. The more they meet, the more Jiho finds himself being drawn to Inwoo... but why? Is it because he too harbors a secret of his own?”

Jiho met inwoo in order to work with him since he was a famous novelist that jiho really liked, so he thought it would be a dream job for him. He really was engrossed in this novel that he knew the piece of literature inside and out, so when he finally was able to meet the author of his dreams he was really ecstatic. Jiho was a journalist for a column from a famous magazine company so inwoo’s manager was really excited to have them collaborate, but as soon as they meet, jiho’s impression of inwoo was less than stellar, he deliberately chose a café with really delectable sweets too impress his favorite writer but inwoo said that it didn’t matter because they all probably tastes the same, which made jiho angry that he didn’t eat anything, so it felt like he didn’t want to waste time with him.

Jiho isn’t the type of character to take people’s sh*t so he basically said what was on his mind and gave him a lecture on etiquette. It turned out how jiho got the job was because his work director and it turns out the director was inwoo’s ex-wife.

Inwoo then contacted jiho again later and apologized, he really wanted him to work together to figure out how to write food in a more delectable way. There was a reason for that and inwoos ability to taste food had become bland, the way he describes food is like a plethora of plastic objects and rubber so he doesn’t know what the actual food tastes like. Apparently his wife could not life with that any longer since she began to dislike food and was not able to share that joy with her partner, in the end they decided to split.

He called it “taste blindness” and it inheritly affected his relationship with people around him and made it harder for other people to enjoy eating with him. Jiho out of understanding and after reading the manuscript he had and how inwoo said he needed him, decided to help him with his problem.

Now this is a side thing but jiho also had a sex friend that pops in now and then…omg there’s always one of these right? I’m like here we go again. He wasn’t that bad actually he was the kind of person that knew what he wanted. Although he had feelings for jiho he didn’t like the fact that he was treated as if him being gay was a liability and that he can never been seen in public doing normal couple things. I actually applaud that he stood up for himself because you need to put yourself first and know that your wellbeing is priority.

Besides inwoo’s manager and him met a couple times and I’m positive they could be the second couple and they are so cute…lol.

Anyways, jiho and inwoo met a couple times and jiho made it quite apparent that he may be interested in him romantically but in a discreet way, until his sister…omg she’s a little bit dumb and barged in on their meeting, hair done, sexy dress and makeup in order to attract inwoo I guess…I didn’t know what she was doing. But jiho yelled at her for intruding later and got mad at her, since jiho’s family didn’t know that he was gay, the sister didn’t understand why he was angry with her and so they fought.

Later he met up with inwoo at his apartment because he wasn’t feeling well, and there was some sexual tension between them when inwoo came out in just a robe and jiho didn’t know what to do with himself. It turned out that he had been drinking and was honestly depressed about his situation so when jiho said that he wanted to take care of him he didn’t understand why he was here and what made him care that much. They got into an argument and inwoo said that he was invited to his ex-wife’s wedding and he felt uncomfortable and this made jiho think that he may still have feelings for her, so he didn’t know what to say.

When he said he wanted to stop writing because writing stories of someone like him just to understand her was pointless now, obviously since she has moved on with another person. Jiho was pushed out of the apartment. The next day was the wedding and the bride (ex-wife) told jiho how she wanted to tell inwoo the reasons why she left and that there were all these things left unsaid that she wanted to convey to him, but seeing as he has not appeared yet could mean he’s not going to show up at all.

In the end inwoo decided to show up last minute when the reception was over and a bunch of class mates were talking smack about him. Jiho understood his situation more than anyone and defend him, which gave inwoo the courage to go up to his ex-wife and congratulate her, putting an end to his lingering attachment.

After wards jiho and inwoo were alone in the hall and inwoo wanted to apologize and take back all the things that he had said because they were meaningless. Jiho had been hurt by the many words family and friends have said because they don’t know and sometimes it’s hard to just ignore them, cause words do hurt, this part kind of made me tear a little because it’s true, no matter how many times you tell yourself that you are okay…it will weigh on you when you are not. Jiho decided to become inwoo’s taste and emotions and feel for him until he is able to covey them on his own one day.

They embraced each other and accepted the “love” they wanted to pursue. You just get to see them take it slow for a bit, but inwoo did have feelings for jiho. He stopped by his ex-wife’s place to get some stuff from her and they talked for a while about jiho and inwoo started to realize that he thought of him as attractively cute. Jiho…was seeing the sex friend even though he’s dating inwoo…which is a no-no, I don’t remember if they did anything or not but I was kind of mad at him for it.lol.

You then get to see inwoo’s story…the tragic backstory as to how he was like before the got the blindness disease and how his mother made a cake for him and he remembered the taste of it being sweet and sour at the same time. He told jiho that his mother when she was alive used to bake him a cake every time he got an award, he didn’t know what it was called but he just described it. Jiho decided that he wanted to try making it for him and it turned out pretty well until that sister again thought he made it for them…smh I want to kill her.lol. and so he only got to save a couple of slices for inwoo, he may have not been able to taste it properly but he knows the effort jiho went through to make this for him made him happy.

Then there was this stupid drama with the sex friend and jiho wanted to stay over at sex friends place because his father gave him some bullshit about a marriage partner if he didn’t bring his “girlfriend” over, and this made jiho upset and he just wanted to talk to someone, but his sex friend was about to get it on with another dude and jiho was sad that he had no one to talked to. The sex friend ended up bailing out on the one night stand because he liked jiho and thought he misunderstood. He met up with jiho the next day and it turns out jiho was with inwoo all night and the sex friend thought they had sex and called him out for two timing basically. Even though it really isn’t cause they are together and you are not in that equation..lol. it just made me laugh cause it is jiho’s fault for still seeing the sex friend and think that they can just be buddies…I’m like uh no, you had sex together and he has feelings for you, there’s no way. Anyways, this gave them the opportunity to end things and the sex friend confronted the fact that he’s still hiding the fact that he’s gay from his family and it would make things difficult for the other person. Jiho made the attempt to tell his family that night but got scared and ended up thinking that breaking up with inwoo was the right call. He then met up with him want wanted to end things, but instead ending up telling him how he really feels and how if he came out it would mean losing his family and he’d be alone. Inwoo said that he’d love him to the point where he won’t feel lonely and they made up…jiho then got the courage to finally tell his family, so let’s see how that goes.

I’ll end here because it’s one chapter away from season1 ending. I don’t know how I really feel about this story, I liked it but there are some parts of it which is weird and unnecessary, but that goes without saying for a lot of these stories so…whatever.lol. I am curious about the manager and sex friend …his name is chungi by the way.lol. I really like how they met and I’m curious is to how they will they get together in the end. You can read this on the Tapas app if you are interested.

I became the lousy side top:

“Seo Jaewoo wakes up to find himself in the world of a BL novel. But he isn’t just any random person. He’s actually the lousy side top character who’s meant to torment the main bottom, Yoo Hyeonjin. What’s worse is that by the novel’s conclusion, all of Jaewoo’s despicable actions catch up to him, and he is killed by the story’s crazy main top and Hyeonjin’s love interest, Choi Mujin. In order to avoid his death, Jaewoo decides to change his original role and get on Hyeonjin’s good side. His method: lure him in with food, of course! While his tactic proves effective and he slowly befriends Hyeonjin, that doesn’t become the only major change to the plot. After an unexpected encounter with Mujin, Jaewoo’s position as the “lousy side top” gets completely flipped upside down…”

Ya’ll aren’t ready for this…lol. May I introduce to you the first BL isekai written…it’s about time. Every one of those shojou webtoons is always “I’ve reincarnated into a villainess of another world” It’s that but BL so it caught my attention right away.

So it’s starts off with the reincarnated “jaewoo” realizing that he had died and was now in another body and not just any body but the body of the other side character of the novel that he was reading. I feel like all isekai starts off this way but I’ll let it slide lol.

Jaewoo obviously didn’t like that he was a “villain” and wished he would have been the actual main lead’s partner instead because his life was better.lol. But he had to make do with it and live this person’s life. Since jaewoo knew where the story was going he knew the characters within this novel’s universe and knew that “jaewoo” had done despicable things to the main lead hyeonjin and later gets killed by the main “top” character mujin who becomes hyeonjin’s love interest in the end. In order to do that, he’s going to need to reform “jaewoo” and change his attitude towards the other characters.

Of course this wouldn’t be easy considering he was basically in the middle of the novel and things were already underway between the characters. First he tried to win over the main character's only family members that were boarding with hyeonjin, which were his little brothers woohee and hyeonwoo, he started off by making them breakfast which of course the starving kids were tempted by since they have not had a decent meal in who knows how long. Hyeonjin told his brothers not to respond to that man since he was an asshole so they were reluctant to except anything from jaewoo. Hyeonjin was on his way back to the house and saw jaewoo, this was the perfect chance for jaewoo to make a better impression but hyeonjin immediately was on edge.

But jaewoo kept offering food to hyeonjin’s brothers and uses the excuse is that he made too much of it and it will be wasteful if they don’t eat. So the kids began to eat everyday with jaewoo, hyeonjin worked night and day so he had not noticed anything, until the next day when hyeonjin had some time off in the morning and noticed that his brothers be looking a little plump.lol.

Jaewoo called out to the brothers to come eat and hyeonjin thought the voice sounded familiar and found out the jaewoo had been in contact with his brothers, he then put his foot down and told jaewoo that they didn’t need his help and offered money to pay for all his brothers meals, jaewoo was offended that he thought all of this was because of money and told hyeonjin to eat with them since he already paid for his meal anyways.

The brothers also convinced hyeonjin to sit down with them and eat. While hyeonjin ate jaewoo’s food he was reminded of the time when his family was all together and his grandmother used to cook similar dishes for them. He began to feel nostalgic and loosen his guard around jaewoo after then. Jaewoo would always chase hyeonjin with food and it began to work when hyeonjin had found that jaewoo seemed different than before and became curious about how that happened, but he knew that kindness wasn’t forever and that he should stop accepting jaewoo’s help.

But because Jaewoo is understanding he wanted to help hyeonjin as much as possible, feeding him properly, making him lunch for work, preparing his meals so he's not have to worry about food. He knew hyeonjin's situation well and all the pain he suffered and will continue to do so in this universe. So jaewoo did all that he could to help hyeonjin out and that included even attempting to cover his night shift at the bar, when hyeonjin was tired and worn out. This made them get a little closer together and they began to see each other as friends. Hyeonjin started to catch feelings for jaewoo at some point but it wasn’t anything serious as of yet, he just enjoyed being around him. You know what they say, " to win a man's heart is through his stomach..."

Then one day when jaewoo went grocery shopping he came across an alley way where there lies the main characters love interest …injured and needed treatment, apparently this was the point in the novel where hyeonjin had picked him up from the streets and brought him back to his room for treatment, so jaewoo just left him there…LMAO…he’s like not my problem…

He was actually anticipating hyeonjin to bring him back home that day and found it puzzling when hyeonjin came back empty handed. He was like “didn’t you pick up anything on the way home?” so apparently mujin was still in the alleyway bleeding to death for three days.lol. Until jaewoo decided to just do it cause he can’t have the main lead die somewhere when he was supposed to be the endgame. Lol.

When mujin woke up and saw jaewoo tried to approach him he basically threaten him to keep quiet about the situation and broke his phone so he can’t contact the police. Jaewoo carried the injured man with a box cart all the way back to his house. He tried to treat mujin, but he was unconscious and would not take any medication, he tried to fight back by choking jaewoo.

Jaewoo was reminded of the final moments when he had died and it was frightening for him which really lead back to the question, how did he die? He remembered being dead and he still had his previous life’s memories along with him, but it seemed like he only remembered some things through the flashbacks that we got glimpses of. So that was interesting.

Hyeonjin came back just in time to see jaewoo being choked out and punched mujin. Lol. I’ll leave it here so that you can read the rest, but so far pretty interesting, we all know and understand jaewoo wanting to be better to the protagonist because in a way they are special to us as readers and jaewoo pointed out that he didn’t understand why all main protagonists have to go through all this shit in the first place. I understood that completely, there are some manhwa that should have been tagged torture porn because of how much the character had to go through, I can think of one that will be in the trash segment below. Anyways you can read this on the tappytoon app, I highly recommend this cause I’ve never read a BL isekai before and it was good so far.

Trash segment (21+)

a.k.a the part of the series where I shit on your favorite manhwa/manga/webtoon etc. Joking but not really, you have been warned.

This is the new section where you’re going to find titles that I dropped and the reasons why I discontinued the series all together, fair warning if you triggered by people criticizing your favorite series then you may want to skip this section all together. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and not every series that is “popular” or well liked by others will be like by all...therefore if there is content that makes a person uncomfortable enough to stop the series, that is on them and please don’t judge them for their morals.

So to recap, the series that I mentioned dropping so far are

Love or Hate

Yours to claim

Wistful summer

Anti-p.t.

The sound of fire

Kiss damnation

Cherry blossoms after the winter

Chasing Mr. CEO

Who’s a sweet cheater?

Another sequence

Love is a fantasy

Missing love/ married man:

Should have just been renamed torture porn the novel…

I’m not going to even find the summary for it, if you like reading about how old congress men rape this one dude in many ways and sells him off to other a*sholes to be sexually tortured then this maybe for you…smh

you know when something is too much and you just cant feel the realism in it anymore...this would be that. I get that protagonists go through a lot to make the story move forward but this is next level dehumanization...

It’s just fiction, I get it but at least have a bit of realism within it, this is too much that can happen to one person and although these situations can happen to people in general, I doubt that all of this can happen all at once to one person, this author is taking “can this day get any worse?” to a whole new level. At first when I read some chapters I thought it was like a revenge series and I thought at some point although these terrible things are happening to him, these men will be punished, but so far nothing…it’s just him being used as a sex object for ugly ass old men and this one asshole who can literally be the pilwon of this series…I’m so disgusted by him that I can’t even read anymore, so I decided to just drop it, this series isn’t for me unless you like depression. I’ve read plenty of depressing things but I’m already depressed in real life so I don’t need to read about it.

Anyways, that’s all for this segment if you read it and finished this when it ends let me know if it was worth it lol. I highly doubt it will be though.

I’m going to be honest I stopped watching anime for a while, nothing seems to be grabbing my attention the way it used to. I might watch spy family the second season when I get the chance but I guess that’s all I have planned.

Still lacking in the music department so let me know some of your favorite songs to listen to.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Ending note:

Hey! You made it to the end!

It was long wasn’t it, good thing you got through it all, not very special to end the year off but I thought I would share some manhwa that I have been reading recently and hopefully not drop any of it.

My shop will be updated soon, so if you have not check pout my shop please do so and if you support me by making a purchase I will be eternally grateful. I know Etsy isn’t the best place to sell things, the fees are ridiculous and there have been bad issues concerning the service, I don’t also like the fact that there are no notifications to let me know when to pay off my statements so I’ll have to check myself every time. Once I get a good following I’ll open my own website so more things can be available then.

Okay that’s it for now, I have been working on all sorts of things like clay pins and possible dry shaker charms for later updates, I’ll see how that goes, but right now it’s just stickers, prints, bookmarks, cards that you can purchase.

Follow me on my social media for future shop updates and more art.

Sheena

#monthly favorites #manga review #shounenai #yaoi manga #anime and manga #bl mahwa #boys love #bl manga

0 notes