#not my fav work in execution but I liked the idea more

[darydark]

Tojoctober day 28 - Inferno

Yeah, Majima went through the hell. Non-censored version under

[viccharine]

what a wonderful caricature of intimacy

(commentary + process under the cut, reblogs appreciated!!)

about the piece: was anyone else obsessed with the line “accessorizing with a rosary tucked inside her lingerie” ???? genuinely, “build god and then we’ll talk” was my FAVORITE song almost entirely because of that line, it’s SOO GOOD. maybe it’s because I’ve kinda made it my thing to illustrate songs, but I really appreciate when songs have really descriptive lyrics/ideas that translate really well into visual art.

also, more about my process: I’ve realized two things about myself and my art w/ this piece:

1. i don’t really like working with color at all!! it’s just not very fun for me, I’d much rather work in shades of black and white and use my beloved screen tones instead :)

2. i like a lot of angular shapes— curved lines make me mad and i would prefer not to mess w them (read: loser who won’t put in the effort to draw anything resembling a circle)

I really enjoyed almost “carving” out this figure—i usually start with a black canvas and add a blob of white that vaguely resembles the form and then slowly using black to carve out the figure. adding the screen tones and creating the back-lit effect was also super cool (the lighting probably isn’t that accurate, but i never said i was GOOD at it)

also, if you’ve been following me for a while, you probably recognize this concept from my earlier dance dance piece:

they are very similar concept wise, but around a year apart!! i think I definitely like the execution of the more recent one better, but it’s cool to see the evolution of my art despite me not making art that often anymore. I can’t say much to whether or not the anatomy in either of the pieces is accurate, but I would probably assume that the recent one is more accurate

usually I would end these types of posts with some commentary about the song, but I really don’t have much to say analysis-wise! build god and then we’ll talk is still one of my fav songs off afycso, and sonically it’s definitely one of the most interesting songs panic! has ever put out—very happy to have finally made a piece to show my appreciation for the song :)

anyway that’s it byeeeeeeeeeeee!

[metalheads-trash-bin]

Hello everyone! My name is Toby, I’m a beginner writer and love to make shit uber realistic for readers. Here’s all the info about my stuff!

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Key:

Ships

Notices

Warnings

Fandoms

Baseline importance

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So far I have three fanfics, a fourth is on the way.

All of my fics will be linked down below! They are wips, so please be patient. Each has their own schedule so make sure to read!

All fanfics will have nsfw, and I don’t mean the basic “stick penis in hole” shit. I mean detailed, loving, and non vanilla nsfw.

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TROLLS:

The first one is my all time fav: Fliff! It goes into Floyd’s trauma, his healing, and realistic dynamics between the characters. This fanfic will be updated twice a week, it used to be updated every day but that’s not survivable long term for me ^^

The second one is Breek! Creek is in no way infantilized in this fanfic. I look at things in a psychological aspect and make damn well sure he’s not babygirlified. This fic goes into Creek’s trauma, Branch’s trauma, allll the trauma, a bunch of healing, and a little bit of angst. It’s updated whenever I feel, but it won’t be abandoned or rarely touched!

The third one is John Dory x Reader! In this it talks about JD’s trauma, some headcanons of his diagnostics, and a bunch of intimate stuff and heart to heart stuff. He is not glamorized in this fic, instead he’s recovering and in therapy. He also has a smallll teeny weeny alcohol issue, but he’s in therapy for that as well! The reader is a trans male, fat L if you can’t handle that. <3 It’s updated whenever I feel just like the Breek fic, but it won’t be abandoned or rarely touched!

The fics are interconnected, so if you see a ship or lore that’s in one of them, assume it’ll be mentioned or involved in the other!

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CREEPYPASTA:

I am currently working on ideas for a rework of a Jeff x reader fic I read. It had a really nice plot but the execution was absolutely horrendous + it was abandoned. I’ll type more info as I update!

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Where else you can contact me or see my content:

Insta: _.metalheads.trash.bin._

Twitter: _mhs_trash_bin_

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And with that…

!!Release the hounds!!

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TROLLS:

Summary:

Floyd is forced into therapy after Branch takes him to his annual checkup since he's staying with him.

Branch's reason for sending him being that he notices Floyd's facade of "being fine" and totally not traumatized even toward a doctor. This leads to him sitting in therapy, which in turn gives him homework. Whats the first assignment you ask?

Making friends besides your brothers and Poppy.

Who better than Barb, the queen of rock, as a starting point??

Summary:

It was the last few weeks of fall, Branch heading to the forest to get the final harvest for the season. There were rumors of an animal lurking around the farm, he didn't realize that that animal was a familiar face.

Summary:

You're a metal/rock troll starting a new life in Pop Village. During one of your bonding activities with Branch, you notice a large creature in the meadow.

Why not pay the owner a visit??

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CREEPYPASTA:

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PS. I have a shit ton of playlists on Spotify of ships, characters, and more! Check em out down below~

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Enjoy! <3

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[terriblyvexed]

hey hey! its one of your readers on ao3 i realized i can ask questions on tumblr so i am trying it out. this may be a controversial question as opinions vary greatly from person to person lool but i am curious being a fellow fan of aot and a fan of your work, so, what did you think about the ending to aot? 👀

(personally i subscribe to a specific fan theory (NOT ANR GOD FORBID i rebuke it!) to keep hope alive in my heart that theres more aot to come cause i did not like the ending much so basically, theres no judgement from me srsly im delulu myself as it stands 😭💯)

anyway thats all thank you for writing left behind and answering my question (potentially)! hope you have a great rest of your day :D

Yeah I know your nickname haha and you can ask or yap about anything!

Ahh yes the ending opinions where swords are drawn two minutes into the debate lol and it’s annoying that people can’t state their thoughts as freely because of the toxicity from every side. This is going to be long I’m sorry😭

I personally didn’t like the ending that much either. I don’t think it’s as bad as people make it out to be, I mean we’ve all seen GoT, but I know a story like AoT could’ve done a little bit better than that, so. It’s not that I wanted Eren to live happily ever after, because his death made the most sense even before I knew about it, but it’s the execution of the episode in general that makes it feel rushed for me.

Mikasa killing him is a beautifully tragic twist, I started bawling my eyes out right there, but I wish the cabin scene was done differently. For me it didn’t feel as raw and honest as the Eren-Armin convo, which I’m not the biggest fan of either, but I’ve always wanted more communication for Eremika so maybe that makes me bitter. Let me see them talk about the table scene and let me see Eren apologise to her. It’s their last moment together, I wanted to see more emotion and honesty rather than an already established relationship that they did off camera. I get what it’s trying to show, and the scene itself is not bad, but I was just a big EM shipper at the time and hoped for more. (I felt the same back when he told her he would wrap that scarf around her forever and always. It hit me just in the right place I remember wanting them to talk about it afterwards but nothing was said.) Same with the memories he gave back to his friends, I’d have liked to see them talk. Him opening his eyes one last time to see her was beautiful no comment there.

Other than that I also LOVED when Levi saluted his friends and comrades! Liked his internal monologue where he said he didn’t regret not bringing Erwin back (Which also made me wish we could’ve seen Armin coming up with impressive strategies and ideas like he used to.)

I liked how Hange was sent off, but I missed them in the final fight.

I really liked the rumbling montage with Guilty Hero playing and Armin’s VA pouring her heart out + that cry at the end when Armin sees Eren. The Levi&Mikasa team-up/final stand was amazing. Those were all done nicely, but that’s pretty much it for me.

For some reason I wasn’t vibing with Annie. I mean she was never my fav but her in season one and in her ova was so much more interesting to me.

I was left underwhelmed by the final fight considering we’ve had great battles like RTS and Liberio previously, it does not compare in my opinion. I understand that Eren won’t kill his friends and I definitely agree with that, but something else could’ve been done with Ymir to make the stakes higher. The ancient titans didn’t feel threatening when you just knew no one was going to die, especially when Falco (first time flying) could dodge all of their arrows.

When everyone there turned into titans, like Jean and Connie, I would’ve preferred if they stayed titans and died when the curse ended. Bringing them back a few minutes later is just meh for me, and makes the emotions I’ve felt a one time thing only because that Jean&Connie dialogue didn’t hit the same afterwards. Not to mention that Connie’s mom was brought back only for us to not see their reunion lol.

Ymir’s storyline was interesting when Eren saw her memories, but after that she lost me a bit. I also don’t like that that *chef’s kiss* scene with Eren telling her she’s just a person didn’t free her at all, that killing Zeke stopped the Rumbling, that Levi was nerfed for the sake of the fight. If all these decisions were done in a slightly expanded time period, I don’t think I would’ve minded much. Especially the final episode itself was, again, rushed in my opinion.

Also, this isn’t just the finale but Historia being sidelined like that is a no-no for me. Not a fan of how the Hizuru-Mikasa plot line didn’t go anywhere either. That may just be nitpicking, but again I do believe season 4 should’ve been longer, maybe with a season 5 as well.

With all that being said, these are just my personal opinions/feelings and despite all, thematically the author did a good job wrapping everything up. Ending a story like AoT couldn’t have been easy at all. Watching it was an experience I don’t think I’ll ever forget or get over and I’m forever going to miss it. (I’m reading the manga now and the uprising arc has me hooked since it’s a bit different from the anime, and dare I say better?)

The ending didn’t ruin it for me or anything, just sad that I won’t get to see the things I wanted to see because naturally everyone has their own expectations, but what are fanfictions for?

What’s the fan theory that you believe? Other than that ANR I’ve heard about the mist and ouroboros but I’ve never read them in detail.

Thank you for reading Left Behind! I’d also like to state that my criticism of the AoT ending does not mean I’ll write one better lol. I like my ending for my story but I’ve already made peace with the fact that some readers might have problems with it. Which is fine as well because I love a good finale debate.

You have a great day/night as well!💓

[franki-lew-yo]

ALL my feelings towards Friendship is Magic could be so easily summed up as:

" -Twilight Sparkle should never have become an alicorn princess in season 3 of a series with 9 seasons - ''

She should have always had it in the books to eventually become an alicorn, but her becoming one in season 3 is where literally all (my own) problems with the show stem from and almost all of those problems are about the show in execution, NOT in theory. 

Everything about later seasons Friendship is Magic’s writing reeks of the writers trying to make their ideas, fan ideas, and Hasbro’s ideas work all at the same time with so little time. They were told to make Equestria Girls, Princess Twilight, Flurry Heart and the movie “work” while also juggling writing in Starlight and her whole arc (and the characters attached, like Sunburst), the CMC getting their cutie marks, the reformed changelings, griffons and dragons, their Starswirl the Bearded stuff; WHILE ALSO making sure Discord and the Princesses (mostly Luna) and the ‘fan fav’ characters worked on their own and come together.

In my opinion, it just didn’t.

There was always too much going on with little to no time to breathe or appreciate the characters -how far they’ve come, how much further they have to go- at all. And it made later bit of lore and characters feel frustrating. It made potentially great characters deeply unlikable. Starlight and Discord are the biggest victims.

I want to like them. I really do. I can’t though because Starlight is not only a ‘madeawittlemistake’(aka ran a cult)-villain redemption, BUT she has to share her stories with the main six. They underdeveloped her while also trying to make her important and it just made me dislike Starlight and Twilight so much. It made me get mad at Starlight for being in the way of a Twilight episode, it made me wanna scream at Twilight for getting in the way of what should be Starlight’s time to shine!

Discord now had to share his ‘redeemed baddie’ spotlight with Starlight and others meant he had no time for his development which, when it was done* (ALL of Season 4) was abysmally fast, badly paced and in my view insulting. It made Discord, even in episodes where he had a point to be there, feel useless because fundamentally was overall. Season 4 assassinated Discord’s character to me and I didn’t remotely like him. For years I thought I just didn’t like FiM simply because the show and the fandom clearly preferred Fluttercord to Dislestia and I was just butthurt. Which, to be clear, I am. My mega revelation regarding this show was realizing that, no- what I hated wasn’t Fluttercord, it was Discord himself. How he was being handled, how he was written from s4 onward (ALL THE EPISODES WHERE HE’S YANDRE TO FLUTTERSHY SHOULD HAVE BEEN BEFORE HIS BETRAYAL. ALL OF THEM. NO YOU WILL NOT CHANGE MY MIND IT’S FINAL) pissed me off so much as a person who really loved his potential character in season 2 and 3. Discord and Fluttershy being besties and possibly more could and should have been adorable...but it wasn't because the Discord we got was a horrid character. Fluttershy deserves better.

I know you guys don’t wanna hear this same old worn-out critique about FiM, but I’m sorry I have to agree: when they weren’t being crowbarred into stuff that didn’t need their stories, Starlight and Discord were both forgiven -by the show- WAAY too soon. The problem wasn’t that they had redemption arcs and/or that other characters didn’t. The problem was their redemptions were badly done. The show didn’t treat them like they had been redeemed from something hurtful, it acted like they had never done anything wrong. And that was bad because it made it so, when the three baddies at the end of the series were officially crowned "irredeemable", the show felt biased. It felt mean spirited towards Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy when their end should have actually felt fitting and funny. It’s not about ‘morals’ or ‘punishing’ fictional cartoon horses voiced by John DeLancie for warcrimes or whatever tf Lily Orchard goes on about-- it’s about how the show FELT LIKE IT FAVORED some characters more than others. That was a thing that I loved Friendship is Magic for not doing in seasons 1-3, what made it and it’s character’s endearing and wholesome to me, and it’s why the handling of the main cast in later seasons felt so mean.

But to get back to the alicorn in the room; Twilight could have graduated or something for season 3 and then the whole show could build up to her actually outdoing Starswirl’s wrongs as she does in the pony of shadows plot. THAT could have been her ‘upgraded to alicorn princess moment’; but it didn’t. As much as I wish it were that way, it isn’t and that’s not what the writer’s did because they didn’t have the time or foresight for that. Sadly, even though lots of flaws and problems were always baked into the loaf from the start (Celestia being useless or 'sinister', ponies being racist towards everything else, bad and/or basic friendship lessons) Twilight becoming an alicorn princess, which DID ultimately change her character, her role and her presence even amongst her friends and the rest of Ponyville, was the start of all the problems.

We’re stuck with what we got and what we got was a series that -to me- only ever kept adding more and MORE until it felt overstuffed, hectic, and unfortunately mean spirited when it wasn’t trying to be. There’s nothing we can do now. Personally, I highkey am annoyed at other adult bronies saying I “didn’t get” the show and its decisions which is why I didn’t like it. No. Trust me I get “it”; the problem is that “it” wasn’t well done which is why I didn’t like “it”. “It” deserved better.

Of course, I also get some of why those bronies are so defensive. After all I was there when the whole 'Twilight becoming a Princess'-controversy happened. I remember how ugly it got and how annoying and entitled you guys were about it and Equestria Girls' existence (don't even get me started on ur #savederpy).

Something I want to make especially clear whenever I criticize writers, especially of kids shows, is that a criticism IS NOT an attack. Ever. Boycotts and callouts should be reserved for stuff that's actually morally wrong and yes they also count for stuff I like, not just stuff I want to be mad at. Lookin at you, Didney.

There was never and still is never a reason to bother, hurt or ask the writers for MLP gen 4 why they did what they did. No, not even if you're being 'friendly' about it. Leave M.A. Larson alone.

Granted, fans being entitled to creator's attention and creator's being entitled to fans' affection is it's own rabbit hole, but I truly think that FiM set an ugly standard for that with animated shows today.

Besides still being too thin skinned and not liking that a thing they've divested so much real life time into could be bad, a thing about cartoon commentary and criticism in the 2010s-2020s is they're really parasocial and demanding of writers and artists behind a show. The was always the biggest, ugliest, most uncomfortable aspect of Friendship is Magic to me: because it's creators were online and fans knew they were listening, could approve of fan's creations, and especially because they felt 'responsible' for a show's success, they were really into @ing writers about everything. When critics would call something out for being badly written it somehow always made it's way into becoming a personal accusatory thing. People were blaming writers for being human and working within time constraints and network decisions. You didn't have to be like that TinyToons guy who stalked Tress MacNeille about sexualizing Fifi in the 90s to be a harasser. You could just be an aggressively oversupporting 'stan' or angry nitpicking critic to make a writer who's just doing their job, uncomfortable

tl;dr: I disliked the writing of the later Friendship is Magic. I think it was bad because it was bad. None of that is meant as an attack on the writers who were trying their best and don't need to be roped into any fandom nonsense, positive or negative, and never should have been in the first place.

Hopefully, that's one deadhorse finally beaten.

[capybonara]

More personal thoughts under a cut

I’m not trying to think about the other day’s rude message but here I am trying to get my thoughts in order. I was vague in my last personal posts because I want to air out my grievances but not in a way that spreads negativity. But for clarity's sake, this message was a private tumblr dm from someone who didn’t follow me. Like, I think they felt they were trying to be helpful, but everything about it screamed "passive aggressive I-know-better-than-you" energy. And the implications it had is what I keep dwelling on; that my characters in my friends comic are/will be terribly written. And I’m like THAT'S MY WORK, THAT’S OUR WORK 😤 and that’s when I spiraled with thoughts like “oh so people who viewed the comic disliked them the whole time? Are my contributions/ideas that bad?”

I've been talking with @semirampant-dwickery and @smackins about this, and how these collaborative projects with zora characters reminded me of CDN. For context, that was a mass effect RP forum I was part of that focused on the lives of OCs. @werewolfsister added this nice response to a comic of mine, and all of this got me thinking about past projects and the kinds of things that worked, did not work, and the troubles we had in the forum.

The basic definition of a collaboration is a project between two or more people to work to create something. Using my own experiences, it was common courtesy to ask others if they were interested in joining in on a project/story. After someone said yes, we started talking about our characters to give each other a basic insight on their personalities, and hopefully we got a rough outline of the idea we wanted to execute and then wrote it out, drew scenes, or both!

The roadblocks I've come across are sometimes characters (and people) don't mesh well. Their ideas might not vibe with mine, and vice versa. As an example, I really enjoyed a lot of slice of life scenarios and many others wanted to do action related plots! And try as we might, a middle ground couldn't be reached so while it was a shame, no harm no foul! The community had mods to keep the peace, so if someone went too far with crossing lines they were given the boot!

You never want problems but at times they happen regardless. One example for myself involved a former writing partner who didn't want to do any work, but they still wanted the rewards of the end game. We talked about developing a ship between characters, but they didn't want to work on the in-between details. Details like first meetings, going out on dates, the realizations, etc. It was difficult to push anything along, and their personal end goal was for our characters to have sex (I guess in accordance to mass effect tradition of “we’ll bang, okay?” haha). I didn't feel comfortable with that and wanted to have the characters build a rapport first. Despite asking questions about their OCs, it usually ended up like this:

“Let’s start with something basic. What’s your characters fav thing to eat” “Your character 😏” “Ew dude cmon” “Lol I dunno, just food”

 which made me go AUGH! 😂😅

So, I started chatting with other forum members who were more than happy to brainstorm and make ideas happen. My character started making friends with other OCs, I joined other threads, but my other writing partner was feeling left out. And I sympathized because I wanted to work on the ship, I wanted them to feel included. Every time we talked though it was like hitting a wall. I was slowly getting the impression they didn't want to write. But they sure didn't complain with the art I drew of their OC! 

There’s a lot of details regarding that experience that's still ick to discuss openly. In the end, they unfortunately got banned for their behavior and it took a while to recover from it.

The happier side was, in time, I began collaborating with other, kinder people again. But after bad experiences I learned how important communication was. My characters got to engage in all kinds of adventures because all people involved were willing to talk. I learned it was important to let others know that I wanted to join something. I couldn't sit in my corner and hope someone noticed me. It was hard, and it still can be now because I'm shy, and bad experiences make me wary to try again. Though later I found out everyone I worked with had the same anxieties so we would discuss how we can help fight those insecurities. @smackins and I would build each other up to make posts because we were so worried we came off as dumb or annoying. And sometimes that's all you need, a little support and the courage to speak up. 

@semirampant-dwickery and I ran into each other by chance via an “in character” argument and his OC challenged mine. Originally, I wasn't going to accept because I was scared and I thought it'd just annoy him. Whenever we talk about it now, he always expresses how happy he was that I accepted his offer to write a thread with our characters meeting. Said meeting ended up being one of my favorites, a lot of improv that included musicals, a hologram room, feasts and a hammer to his OCs face xD

Werewolfsister’ss response to my comic got me waxing sentimental! This method of collaborating is a little different from CDN because it's more art focused but the same process applies. You chat with folks, you work on outlines or do fun improvs on the fly!

The other difference I noticed is how small cameos can turn into stories of their own!  Characters who appeared in her comic regularly are usually because communication continued between people. Some surprise art pieces prompted other people to reply with their own art. Like werewolf’s response said, it's how we ran into each other! I remember a few months back they were asking folks if they had diplomat characters they could include in their comic, and originally I wasn't going to join because of my own anxiety. But I realized nothing ventured, nothing gained, created Kaska and said “here's my submission!”

They later sent me a message asking if the zorca could participate in assisting other characters in a scene, and asked me questions regarding scenarios, and I answered to give an idea of what they could or couldn't do. I was excited for even the smallest role xD so when they asked more questions I gave more answers and ideas! The person who sent their “warning” to me the other day made an assumption my characters were being controlled by her, but everything dealing with them has my hand prints on it as well. Like with my friends on CDN, I offered suggestions, helped when they hit a roadblock and asked if I could contribute with my art!

Thinking on CDN, I know the roadblocks I personally hit was the lack of communication between parties involved. Like with my writing partner who didn't want to help do the work. I ran into others who came and went and the one complaint that stuck out for me was how I formed a “clique” with semirampant-dwickery, but the thing was, I sought their help the most because I knew they were fun and easy to speak with, and they helped me when I hit my own roadblocks. They proved to be a trustworthy and supportive partner! So of course I worked with them often! He’s done so much to write stories to get other members involved. 

I've received messages years later from people who admitted they made assumptions about us, and how anxiety kept them from joining our threads. I still grieve over those missed opportunities at times because I personally thought they were heckin cool! It is what it is though 😔

Because of those experiences and how difficult it can be to organize projects; I want to give werewolfsister praise for their hard work, their positive attitude, and welcoming presence. It's not easy communicating with a number of people, making outlines for the plot, and then drawing a comic where I've literally witnessed you dish out TEN+ PAGES A DAY. And you've been doing this since MAY! It's a lot of things to juggle alone. 

To the casual onlooker, it might look like a simple project with guest appearances she has full control of. But cameos remain cameos unless someone speaks up and offers more info and help. And characters who've had longer appearances were all discussed with her in chats; from permissions, to story outlines and boundaries. I've had the privilege to watch and be part of these discussions 👍 

I kept thinking about disengaging from the zora community, because of how that message had me focusing on the negative. It was one harassment message but honestly that's enough. I know why it came about, and I hate how that kind of negativity made me want to cut off from everything. Wanting to isolate is my knee jerk response because it made me paranoid. Who else am I upsetting? Who else will send more “warnings?” I'm an old millennial, I'm not here to have beef with strangers on the internet.

The paranoia has been an issue for me and that message “cemented” some other worries I had. For example, I made a previous post asking folks if they had characters that played instruments, then tried to clarify if anyone would be okay with their OCs interacting with Cironus. I got a few responses, but the tumblr dm responses I received, however, were details of who not to associate with, along with a fatphobic remark about Cironus. It left me feeling on edge: one wrong move from myself or my character, one piece of art that didn’t depict every detail correctly, and I was guaranteed to set something off.

I understand there are folks who have extremely personal connections to their characters, and I sympathize and respect that. And for the sake of everyone’s mental well being, I’m going to avoid them. Characters carrying that level of weight need complete control by the creator, and collaborating with others by definition means you have to relinquish some of that control. It requires that you retain a modicum of trust that other players are acting in good faith and not out to ruin your character. No one else gives over that control but you.

Collaboration is about trust, communication, and teamwork. CDN thrived when people came together, but if someone didn’t find the idea appealing, they chose to go solo and found other outlets. I came to this community with the hopes of creating stories with others. And if they don’t want that, like it was with the forum, we move on.

I know we can curate our spaces so we are surrounded by the things we enjoy, and choose to be around those who are supportive and understanding, but I’m not feeling very confident about finding more folks to work with. That’s not an invite to say you want to either. I need to think, and writing this helps me think. My original plan was to post about my zorca and Cironus to give what audience that's out there a better idea of my characters. 

As I write this I realize what I’m tired of is having to set things up like I’m preparing for an audition. I just want to draw, I want to include people and make them happy with the things I draw. This is a hobby I’m trying to have fun with. Outside of my friend group, I don’t think I’ve been able to casually share ideas about my characters with other people. I want to be seen, and connect with others. In turn, that usually became a chain of helping others feel seen too.

The negativity makes you feel powerless at times, but we have the ability to build the kind of communities we want. It takes time, it takes people you trust. I don’t want to say “be the change you want to see” because to me it always implied you have to do it alone. And we don’t.  CDN had a set of rules when working with others that allowed the community to last for years, and the one I try to follow the most is don’t be an asshole. Be kind, be respectful, uplift others when you can, and when you take, give back to others as well.

[magpod-confessions]

Honestly i wanna hear opinions on season 4, cus im gonna confess i could NOT finish it (didnt move on to season 5 either lol). Got to like ep 135 & i just couldnt tell any of the episodes apart it felt like such a drag; just a slog of misery with some offhand Important 5 Minutes once in a blue moon. I hate repetition & i got the sparknotes from fandom/wiki stuff so yeahhh i just stopped listening; i still love TMA & it’s story & characters, it’s just the execution that got to me RIP

Everything felt kinda forced to me ig? Like there was some shoe-horned “humans are more monstrous than the actual monster” that snuffed S1 Jon’s fun cockiness/jackassery just to make him ? The best one in the archive ??? & all of his wrongdoings are either off-screen or justified by him being tricked into becoming a literal monster against his will (who would STARVE w/o his ‘evil-doings’, which didnt even kill ppl). Also felt like everyone got needlessly dumbed down except for Martin (the Love Interest ofc, who got 180’d from his pre-established incompetency to be some mastermind in a playing field he should have REALLY been inept in) just so they’d be blind to Jon’s situation & be mean to him LMAO

They started trying to make Jon accountable for “choosing this” & i couldnt handle it, held no fucking water to me—the guy being explicitly puppetted & manipulated as the entire plot? That guy is expected to take responsibility here? Felt like some after-thought theme they threw on top of it all. Anyways uhh feel free comment either on what i said and/or your personal thoughts on the season, or nothing if ya got nothing lol

🗣️

Ehh disagree. S4 isnt my fav but I dont think its bad. S1 Jon to s4 jon feels like natural character progression to me. He starts as acting all high and mighty to try hide the fact he has no idea what hes doing and is terrified, and then experiences a lot of ppl dying that he feels is due to him and is his responsibility. At that point his thought pattern is 'I keep messing up and making mistakes and getting myself and everyone around me hurt, so other ppl surely know better'. Hes got a lot of black and white thinking around him, which has been consistent throughout his entire characterization

I dont think any characters were dumbed down either

Melanie was always angry, she only go worse bc she had smth making her think everything she did was justified and when that stopped she became avoidant and stopped lashing out. She was still angry, just managing it better

Basira has always been Daisys no1, the person to justify all of Daisys actions. She knows what daisy did and why its bad but she holds onto the idea that daisy is right in doing so. She blames jon for what he does bc logically she knows its wrong, hurting ppl who havent done anything is wrong, but still excuses daisy bc she needs to. Bc that was a fact of her life and it cannot be wrong. In the unknowning she focuses on facts to keep her grounded and to her 'Daisy is a good person' 'Hurting ppl is wrong' and 'If you hurt ppl you are a bad person' are all facts she needs in her life to stay grounded. How she justifies Daisys actions is by saying that the ppl who daisy hurt were worse and it ultimately helps more ppl to have them gone. Not only can she not do that with Jon, as she believes those he hurts are entirely innocent, she also doesnt care to. Shes not close with Jon and she doesnt have 'Jon is a good person' as a fact in her mind, so she doesnt need to work to excuse his actions. Its all or nothing with her, if you hurt and continue hurting ppl, no matter your reason, you need to stop and the only way you will stop is if you are gone. She also has a lot of black and white thinking, gotta love the autism podcast

Martin being a mastermind in s4 also makes sense bc him being stupid is an act. If ppl think your stupid theyll underestimate you and ultimately leave you alone. They wont scrutinize you, they wont attack every part of you, they will brush it off as just a typical normal thing. It will get you ignored and you cannot be hurt if nobody knows who you are or how to hurt you. Its a lonely miserable existence but its one martins used to. Martin rarely drops the mask of 'Sweet but stupid' bc he needs that to survive and tbh he probably learnt that from needing to survive his mom LOL. Martin just knows and picks the best method of getting ppl to like him, which for him is doing exactly what they want and keeping their expectations low so they wont hurt him as much when they mess up. Honestly in s5 I see him as hes finally got to a place where he doesnt care if everyone hates him, bc he has someone who does and thats all he needs. Hes survived the worst of it and he doesnt care anymore

Part of the reason everyone blames Jon is bc he is there and he is the one who is currently causing the most problems. Also they dont actually see the extent that Jon is manipulated. Elias talks and interacts with Jon differently to how he interacts with others. All of them met Jon when he was already at the institute, they meet him when it does actually look like he made his choice, entirely of his own free will. It doesnt help that daisy is there, someone who completed their transformation like Jon did and turned back on it, and she looks like shes managing well enough. She is surviving without feeding so why cant Jon do the same? Also basira does trust elias on some level. She trusts he knows more than she does and can be an asset if used correctly, which definitely doesnt help things. Also the idea of Elias is locked up, he cant affect Jon anymore so why is Jon still acting this way. Elias has very effectively vilified and isolated jon and jon doesnt fight back against it bc he believes it as well. Other ppl are normally right so why wouldnt everyone be right abt him?

Oh my god that was an essay and I absolutely missed sooo much stuff but idk take that - rosette

i literally have nothing to add . rosette sincerely you are insane and i love that . i honestly don't have a lot of s4 opinions that i could really put down , but i also disagree anon . s4 may not have been the best , but it certainly wasn't Bad or not enjoyable to listen to . coming from someone who has listened to the podcast twice now [ and who is planning on a third relisten ] , i really do enjoy s4 as a whole . martin's buildup and his manipulation of peter lukas is honestly one of my favourite parts , because it has been said that martin was originally going to be apart of the mother of puppets ! this shows that part of martin we didn't get to see but has been there . i got distracted and don't remember what else i was gonna type um . whoops - deceit

[lurkingshan]

hi1 i hope im not bothering you! i just love your blog and thoughts so i wanted to come to you with the mess that are my own thoughts. i just finished watching at 25.00 in akasaka and oh so rarely has any piece of art left such a huge impression on me. the longing, the yearning, the heartbreak, the stunning cinematography, everything was so unbelievably perfect about it. what are your thoughts on it?

You are not bothering me at all, I love talking about my shows. And I really loved 25 Ji, it’s one of my favs of the year. I agree with all the things you listed as strong points, and I also thought it did such an impressive job of building a compelling romance while also delivering incisive commentary about the bl industry and its artifices.

One of the strongest themes in the show for me was this idea of the blurred lines between what’s real and what’s pretend, and how hard it can be to tell the difference, both for the characters and for us in the audience. The show was constantly putting us in scenes that we thought were real before revealing they were just part of the show within the show, because they wanted us to understand that even fake things can be made to feel real. That is what this industry is all about, after all. And for performers who are asked to extend their pretending outside of the film set, that can really start to fuck with your head.

I thought they weaved those ideas into the romance arc so artfully. Hayama was such a great character because he was just so kind and restrained despite the intensity of his feelings. He was yearning and longing for something real all along, but Shirasaki drew a firm line and so he settled for pretending. And of course once Shirasaki started to crave something real with Hayama, he could never be certain he actually had it because he had asked Hayama to pretend. It was a great conflict that connected back to the show within a show plot and underscored the story’s ideas perfectly.

If I have one small complaint about this show, it’s that I feel like the character arcs were unevenly executed. Hayama really confronted his issues over the course of the show and came into himself beautifully, but Shirasaki did not. From start to end, he stayed deeply insecure and unable to ask for what he wanted, and I was a bit sad for him that he didn’t get to grow. When the show ended I wondered if they were aiming for a season 2 to tackle his growth more, and maybe explore what it would look like for them to try to be in a relationship while both working in this industry. I’m still holding out hope that will happen.

[aimfor-theheart]

If you have the time, I would like to hear your thoughts on the parallels between itadori and suguru pretty pls😌🎤

omg i would love to. it’s honestly one of my fav parallels in jjk. i think it sometimes gets overlooked bc itadori is more jovial/fun/light color schemed like gojo and fushiguro is more serious/dark color schemed like getou BUT. just listen!!

to begin this parallel, we can start with the most obvious one in my mind. and that’s the fact that itadori and getou both ingest curses. they quite literally eat them. they’ve both talked about their taste—how gross they are. getou remarks that no one knows the taste of a curse. but now itadori does.

my next parallel between them is more in terms of their story arc. both of them have very strong morals; morals which their counterparts (gojo and fushigro) sort of scoff at in the beginning. itadori and getou both believe that people need to be protected. and those who are stronger, should work to protect them. NOW….getou’s do change. but let’s look at the moment that forever changes him; it’s strikingly similar to a moment itadori has, too.

the moment riko dies for getou is incredibly similar to how junpei dies for itadori; in the sense that, here was this person they had worked to protect and save, here was this friend who they wanted in their life, and all their ideals they had placed in them, being torn very gruesomely away. this is also a pivotal moment for every wide-eyed sorcerer. they must deal with death. and the death of those closest to them.

morally, this is where their paths diverge. but we certainly see itadori begin to spiral the way getou also had to spiral when faced with the constant death and loss of other sorcerers. specifically i’ll show these next two panels to depict that;

same position. same idea is being conveyed for both. lost, traumatized, uncertain of the morals they once held; where did it get them? where did it get others? for both, many ended up dead.

now the other parallels i’ll draw…one of which is almost an exact replica of the other, is the way in which their bodies are not fully their own anymore. kenjaku inhabits getou completely and uses his body to do things he would not have done. similarly, sukuna does the same to itadori. and there are moments where getou and itadori have tried to fight back against the one controlling them;

that parallel is the one that really did it for me. oh it’s so poetic in the most wretched way. i love it.

beyond that, both itadori and getou are not from prominent families in the sorcerer world. there is little expectation placed upon them in this regard. also, they both get entangled in the politics of the higher ups and both are ordered to be hunted and executed at a point in their story.

now i could also bring in gojo and fushiguro, too, which would also highlight the parallels between them. both are from prominent sorcerer families and have a lot of expectations placed upon an extremely powerful inherited cursed technique. both grew up in the sorcerer world. getou and itadori juxtapose them in which they have to learn how brutal this world is. in fact, they serve to remind gojo and fushiguro that the world doesn’t have to be the way it’s always been.

now, of course, morally, itadori is not like getou. and their parallels are not exact nor should they be!

itadori (and fushiguro) serve to try and end the cycles that getou (and gojo) were trapped in.

in my mind, the parallel here was always one of hope; itadori is supposed to do what getou failed to do. narratively, he has been set up to end the cycle.

at least, he had been. i’ll stop here before i start cursing out akutami and his absolute assassination of itadori’s character in more recent arcs and chapters. but really truly the getou/itadori parallel is a favorite of mine, much like the gojo/fushiguro parallel. i think this is where jjk’s writing is at some of its strongest.

thank you for asking!! i hope you enjoyed my lil analysis/presentation!

[dsaf-confessions]

I'm gaining a minor fixation on musical theatre and this thought popped into my mind.

How would a DSaF musical work? What would the vibe be? The sets? What would the songs be about, what SPECIFIC PART of DSaF would be good for a musical (considering it's probably better to focus on one part than the whole timeline, yk?)?

Or DSaF movies, even? How many? I'm guessing one per game. What route would be touched on for either a movie or musical?

These are just silly little ideas I'm having I do not want to execute them nor to I expect it at all. Lmao it would never happen

-the. Hooker fox.

im actually a huge theatre nerd so I WILL ADMIT I HAVE CONSIDERED WHAT A DSAF MUSICAL WOULD BE LIKE BEFORE!!

personally, i have a top three picks for when the dsaf musical would be best set!

Pre-canon. Perhaps with Henry's circus, focussing on william and henry and them opening up fredbear's

dsaf 1&2, following a gnarly route -> perfect route combo. we get to see jack completing his promise mindlessly, longing for a 'life' that means so much more than this. we get to see what causes him to work with dave and kill kids and go to vegas, and the regret he feels as he realises his selfishness took over him. we get to see him desperately try to make up for what he did in dsaf 1, and having act one conclude when he gradually connects the dots about peter. act 2 could follow him desperately try to make up for what he's done, if we go based off of the idea that peter shut out jack in the rain after dee died bc of jack being framed (a common and insanely angsty interpretation) then act 2 could follow jack desperately trying to save the kids and reconnect with his brother, the guilt from murdering kids and going to vegas creeping up on him even worse now. peter shut him out under the belief that he murdered dee, and he was so desperate to prove him wrong and that he would never, but how is he supposed to do that when he did murder children? the musical could end with peter letting jack in like he did at the end of the perfect route, and him being let back in could be symbolic of jack accepting his wrongdoings and swearing to never do that again.

just, the entire dsaf lore. if u wanna keep the act1/act2 combo, then act 1 could just be dsaf1 and 2 and 2 was just dsaf3. the majority of the story would be likely told in flashbacks

im sure its very obvious which of the three ideas is my fav

-modred

[mrghostrat]

do with my bashful rambles what you will…

i spend a lot of my time as a depressed artist in a slump; i have so many ideas but no motivation to execute them.

and then you posted this drawing of mr. B and something clicked, and i decided i’d finally get around to making something for my oc.

i stared at it for a while, and went to look for refs on pinterest for how i should go about making this piece, and i saw the clear reference you used, and it felt meant to be 😍

lineart is my fav part of the process as well, but i still struggle with it (mostly lineweight and detailing). i kept your piece as a reference and heavily mimicked it (and i don’t outline lips normally either)…

i started to mimic the way you color too, but i’ve never had more fun working on a piece, and i just kept going and going until it became something new…

behold!!!! wisteria!!!!! i rlly wanna say thank you for getting me out of this slump (by posting that SEXY sexy mr. B) and that, as much as i joke, i literally adore your work so much :DD <3

- 📎

this is!! amazing!!! i'm totally lost in those colours 😭 it's so very cool to have inspired art like this and i love that i got to see how it turned out, thank you!!

[ravenkinnie]

what do u think ab act 2? fav moments and least fav?

I just finished and let me say first. warwicks faceeeee I took an edible and by the time the show got to warwick I was losing my mind. my fav moments were training montage with ambessa and caitlyn, every time caitlyn was on the screen she is so beautiful idc idc, caitlyn and vi beating each other up and vi spitting in her face and i think then there was a cute lil moment that i did like, and jinx with silcos jacket. my least favs are the fucking hugs with warwick, the two goofy moomin ass montages with vi and jinx and their family and the kid, and the way jinx and warwick calling jinx his daughter I'm sorry I can't I'm cackling just remembering

*let me say it here i was always the believer that caitlyn fucks, that she gets pussy and I win. I wish maddie wasn't such a downgrade from her previous concubines but it is what it is.

*I feel like they are trying to use both mel and caitlyn to humanise ambessa but we have so little screentime with both of them that it's just not working

*I think they struggle with tone sometimes because the warsaw ghetto ass look of zaun is so serious but then some of the humour is so goofy but not in an elevating the mood way but in detached way, it's just mcu ass clunky writing. we achieved peace in zaun with one act of nonviolence and sevikas speech be actual and factual. idk I guess you could say it's because of the threat from piltover but I'm not buying this

*I wish they had more space to flesh out ambessa and caitlyn but the pieces that are there are so juicy. they just don't have enough screen time together and we have to fill in the gaps a lot. one thing I know for sure is they should be scissoring like crazy rn. seeing less ambessa and caitlyn feels detrimental to both of their characters but also that training montageee I hope ambessa gets her pregnant

*jinxs writing is so messy idk idk. her saying silco shouldn't have died kind of cracked me like GIRL WHO DID THAT that was literally you. I didn't mind the dejected and aimless route but also thus show chooses to focus on the weirdest things like idk what the fuck the goal is here

*I think they are still trying to do this cycle of violence thing but the way we only have caitlyn as a fascist dictator who's actually in zaun going through shit is just not working, like the violence has a clear source here

*god the kid is such a waste of screentime, I hope jayce did end her shit acc. everything being done with jinx could have been better if it was without the kid like they are establishing what's already been established but worse. I just understand the idea but not the choices for execution so far. they very clearly used the kid just to have a quick latch between s1 jinx amd s2 jinx by connecting the two and giving her a vague reason to care about zaun because the fucking kid does but it's so lazyyy

*piltover continues to have the worst security on the planet like I just don't believe a prison should be this easy to break into. fucking arkham asylum has tighter security and people escape that shit weekly

*if stillwater has that lil over the water tram why the fuck was caitlyn on a dingy in s1

*Warwick vs jinx fight got me a lil I can't lie yeah it was beyond corny but vander being the thing that brings them back together and jinxs willingness to blow herself up are both so juicy. I am someone who cries at EVERY greys anatomy episode tho so don't trust my judgement

*I yearn for caitlyns dungeons for sure idk about yalll but I felt that line. I'm gonna get cancelled for this joke but caitlyns fuhrer look has got to be some rightwing propaganda for lesbians she looks so fucking good. the way she's obsessing over jinx I'm losing my mind, my caitjinx fics have been getting kudos lately and I was like oh bitch this ship is rising. however caitlyn is lowkey not seeing heaven like I think at the nuremberg trials she would be hanged

*cocktail molotov is better than heavy is the crown I said it and I'll say it again

*the way black women's accomplishments are never acknowledged because mel should be prime bisexual headcanon real estate for fandom like shes got a hunk, a sickly victorian twink, a furry transfem conspirator, and a close female companion like what is not to enjoy here

*the whole subplot with singed is like. in separation I could enjoy it but when it was introduced I was just look not another fucking plot that doesn't connect to anything yet

*however after a line of complaints JINX WITH SILCOS JACKET FUCK OFFFFFF THAT GOT MEEE

*that flashback was pointless and should have been cut but not fucking jinxs mother saying all this shit about what a decision naming a kid is and then naming her powder. this is proof it was a conscious act of sabotage

*end of episode 5 with the hug broke my goofometer I'm sorry if you cried I can't treat this show seriously right now I was like this better be purgatory or jinx is off her fucking rocker just completely gone up there and she's hallucinating this. I think I'm in minority about this but i don't really care my love for bad media has depths you wouldn't understand

*and also again I cry at every greys anatomy episode like I'm not a snob trust I was giggling

*it was to be said jayce is hot now in that jaimie lannister covered in horse piss and in chains way. unexpected development

*the way they are patching vi and jinx up and setting up what is obviously jinxs redemption arc is kind of really bad and goofy but it's not like I don't like redemption arcs I just need to ruminate on why I think it's just not working. I think it's killing me that caitlyns storyline is actual fascism and then vi and jinx are reconnecting while trying to cure their werewolf dad with the help of steampunk jesus. it's very adventure time this way and I was right that caitlyn IS princess bubblegum in the sense that they are both fascists sjsjjsjsk

*every time we switch gears I'm just like oh my god another fucking storyline I forgot was also here, like everything will always go back to the fact that they have way too many storylines

*domestic abuse caitvi eats. I'm sorry they are everything, I think this season is fanservice for a very specific type of a lesbian and I'm exactly that type

*warwick calling jinx his daughter was too much like actually delete the file. this power of friendship ass writing I can't, I'm fucking cackling

*if I was caitlyn I would actually become more fascist now like if I saw jinxs life get better after she killed my fucking mum and I ruined mime so I'm down a parent, her fucking dad comes back to life and she reunites with her sister and becomes a teen mom???? this is bullshit jayce pls do blow up this fucking place!!!!

*I truly cannot tell you what the thesis of this show is anymore things just kind of happen

*we cannot make killing vander the only inciting event in runeterras history like history cannot be repeating 1:1 this much, it's gotta be dressed in slightly different decorations

*overall I think we gotta say those last 3 episodes cannot be good

[marihem]

Let me be the one to ask. How did you come up with this Queerplatonic Frans concept? What drew you into making this?

Aww thank you for asking such a delicious question, pal! Hope you're ready to listen to my 1 am rambles XD

Alright so, to be completely honest...I actually don't truly know how Romance works to execute it myself 😬

Haha yup, sadly, the concept of Romance and Romantic Attraction didn't naturally come to me my whole life and I had a hard time understanding them. (Skill issue, amiright?) So I learned about them through fiction. And even then, my understanding of Romance was a little bit different from what it's usually is (spoiler: it wasn't actually Romance, the word I needed was "Queerplatonic").

I've drawn ship arts before I started drawing Frans and let me tell you, almost all of them were 2 characters just standing next to each other, no hugs, no kisses. Maybe they'll look at each other with fondness. And I was like "hell yeah, I've achieved Romance 😌" pfft.

My 2020 Frans works were where my ship art skills got improved. But you can still see that they aren't explicitly romantic (like, the first time I drew a Frans forehead kiss was for a request). Whatever, I was drawing stuffs about my fav lil guys and I was happy... and yet a tiny part of me wasn't feeling it, like it felt...odd to call them romantic. All these shippy art and I still felt uncomfortable to draw something extremely Romantic. (...this kinda sounds similar to a comphet kind of situation, you get what I'm saying?)

2 years later, I learned about the term "queerplatonic" and just like that, everything made sense =o Now THAT'S the kind of relationship I've been thinking about all these years and it felt magical. Suddenly, with this new knowledge, drawing shippy art felt more comfortable for me, cozy even. Cuz now, the "romance" I'm making is like something a little special for me.

And then I thought "what if I...👀" I grabbed Frisk and Sans like figurines and used them to make my own little ideas of a queerplatonic relationship as they were the perfect materials to work with for me.

I've actually been busying myself with thinking up ideas for them a year before I revealed it to my mutuals, even long before I revealed it publicly 😅

Still, my Roommate Banter AU Frans is still classic romantic. I've only been making funny lil contents of them but I swear! They're secretly crushing on each other, there's romance underneath! I just suck at Romance 😭

So yeah, TL:DR, I don't completely understand romance so I did what I felt comfortable and did actually get the most, approach a ship with a queerplatonic lens.

Tho I'm still learning about Romance cuz there're other ships I'd love to draw shippy art for XD

Anyways, yeah thank you to anyone who read all of this and thank you dear anon for indulging me with your ask <3 Have a lovely day/night ^^

[6ad6ro]

my review of each game in UFO 50: BARBUTA - intentionally "hard and obtuse to reflect the era", but imo it works. haven't gotten far but i really appreciate it. BUG HUNTER - kinda hated it at first, but wound up really liking it once i understood the basics. NINPEK - controls great. appreciate the mr goemon inspiration. but sadly way too hard. PAINT CHASE - a fine game. sorta like pacman. MAGIC GARDEN - a really cool take on snake. took a minute to warm up to it tho. give it a chance. MORTOL - what a cool idea! lemmings combined with a platformer. gets hard fast but fine. VELGRESS - inverted downwell? it's neat. super hard but i'm just bad at it lol. PLANET ZOLDATH - an awesome bitesized roguelike. this game is sick, don't skip it. ATTACTICS - i'm too stupid to play this. but also i don't really want to learn. just okay. DEVILITION - seems more interesting than attactics, but i want to play it even less. KICK CLUB - bubble bobble clone, seems amazing at first. but all too quickly turns into tedious bullethell drop puzzles. after world 2 you'll wanna stop playing. too bad. AVIANOS - hard but kickass strategy game. has game customization and difficulty settings! MOONCAT - a big reason to buy ufo 50. weird and great! BUSHIDO BALL - do you like windjammers? this game kicks ass. gets real hard tho. BLOCK KOALA - i've never liked sokoban and i never will. seems fine if you do. CAMOUFLAGE - didn't wanna give it a chance at first, but it seems alright. lil stealth game. CAMPANELLA - it's probably a fine game but i hate playing it. maybe if it had a healthbar? GOLFARIA - amazing idea executed poorly. i wish i liked this more, but it's annoying to play. THE BIG BELL RACE - campanella combined with super off road (or sprint). better than campanella, but that "touch the walls and die" shit makes it way worse than it's inspirations. WARPTANK - seems cool. i def need to spend more time with it. WALDORF'S JOURNEY - good, cute game. hard but small scale, making it very fun. PORGY - an even bigger reason to buy ufo 50. small scale metroidvania. cherried it. ONION DELIVERY - god, what were they thinking? has so much potential but wayyy too hard. CARAMEL CARAMEL - such a good game ruined by a two-hit gameover. booooooo. PARTY HOUSE - this game is just really really good. hard to explain, just try it. HOT FOOT - imagine if super dodgeball had shit controls. why does my player autoswitch? i may never give it another chance… DIVERS - weird swimming rpg. i need to give it more time, but seems ok so far. (skipped over next 5) FIST HELL - a final fight clone? hell yes! but then i realized it was more like playing final fight on hardest setting with a single credit. aka "not fun". another example of a good game mossmouth ruined by making it too hard. (skipped over next 10) PILOT QUEST - tied with porgy for being my fav so far. zelda 1 combined with crafting. but you gain resources even when playing other games. kicks ass, PLAY THIS FIRST. cherried. (skipped mini and max) COMBATANTS - tbh i heard it sucked so i jumped ahead to it. they were right… (yet to play final 4) ??? - awesome but can't talk about it.

i'll update with the rest of the games once i try em.

[monocle-teacup]

I have SOOOOO many gripes about the way Earthspark handled Optimus (and I’ll admit he’s my fav, so I might be a LITTLE bit biased) and your recent posts about the Prime Time ep. just made me think about how much better his character could have been if the writers had just shown him to be struggling. Like, OP in the show comes across as an idiot who doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing, and so he just says Robby and Mo have gotta be Primes and sees nothing wrong with that, but if they had instead written Optimus as someone who was struggling IMMENSELY with the “needing to work with humans but also protect his kind while acknowledging that his kind are much more powerful than humans and blew stuff up on their planet a lot so they don’t have a very good rep and haven’t earned one” and is constantly making mistakes and in Prime Time he just full on admitted that he was WAAAAY out of his depth in this scenario and that he felt like it was very important that they investigate the Cyber-sleeves ASAP and figure out how to help Robby and Mo harness and control their powers and be able to protect themselves (cause like, Swindle would have KILLED Dot and Robby if the shield hadn’t popped up) while also trying to find a way to protect them since Mandroid and other Cons are literally after Robby and Mo because of the sleeves and keep them more under the radar. Anyway, I’m losing my train of thought here, but the writers really missed out on what would’ve been a GREAT arc for Optimus, showing him at odds with the humans (when previously OP and humans have got along great) and out of his depth with Prime powers (as a contrast to how he usually knows this stuff) all around showing a flawed, caring, trying-to-be-a-perfect-leader-but-failing-especially-because-there’s-no-such-thing-as-one Optimus, and how even Optimus Prime needs his team, his FRIENDS by his side to help him out. But instead, we got inconsistent writing that made him out to be an idiot, no moments of vulnerability, and completely isolating him from all other Transformers and not taking the time to develop any meaningful relationships with anybody (SIC Elita-1? Nope, let’s throw that out, she never has any power or influence and only appears in a couple more episodes :)). I’m just…immensely frustrated with this show, because it had some incredibly solid ideas, original plots, and then poor writing/execution completely wrecked what might’ve been.

OP has definitely been handled terribly in ES so far. Some of the fandom think he's shady, but I honestly can't take him seriously because of how often the writers purposely make him into an idiot. Like, how did this Bot lead a whole faction for years in a war? Part of it is the writers usually use OP's dumbass moments to make Megatron look good because they clearly have a bias for Cons. If they want to make OP look bad, have a flashback about the Autobot friendly fire incident.

I was honestly expecting/hoping for an arc for OP like you described and the shame of it is that the show hints at it such as when Dot sees the shady side of GHOST and his line (at the end of the Age of Evolution arc) to Megatron about what the human/TF alliance should be.

I agree on how OP seems incredibly isolated from everyone else except Megatron. In general, the show seems to treat OP as "The Friend Nobody Likes" trope.

This is OP's entry in the show's Production Bible:

As much as it pains me to say it, wasted potential is a perfect way to describe ES. There's a chance that Season 2 might redeem the show, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

[epickiya722]

Happy holiday.... What do you think that made Yuuji is so likeable as a character? I've only been in the JJK fandom for a year, and I've seen a lot of other JJK characters' stan. But one thing in common, they all love Yuuji and mostly will include him in their top 5 fav JJK charas (including me :D)...

Okay, in general I don't know, but I will tell you why I find him likeable!

For one, it's his design. Yuji's design is actually one of my favorites in JJK. That pink hair + brown eyes combo? Love it. The touch of red on his uniform, I like that, too. Since when I got into JJK, I started with the anime and then the manga, I didn't know Yuji used to have blond hair.

Neither way, I like it! I find both colors fitting for him.

And it's not just his features, but also how he's animated/drawn. He has a range to him that I just love so much. It reminds me of how my other favorite, Izuku Midoriya from BNHA, has a range.

Yuji will literally look like this one minute!

And then look like this the next!

Of course, with everything he's been through, he's going to look different, but you get what I mean! 😆

Another reason is his overall personality. First episode/chapter alone with clock you on that he is a goofball with gets along with people, but he's not a pushover. He care about others and has a good heart. He's just so kind and energetic. His energy easily matches up with other hyper characters like Satoru and Kugisaki.

He's willing to sacrifice himself just to save someone and really, it's also a sad part of his character. He later on gives into the idea that he is just a cog in a system. He accepts death, deciding to help as many people as he can before his time is up. It leads to him going through so much as the story goes on to the point that he isn't exactly the same as he was before.

On a funnier note, he's just this strange kid to me. Like, Yuji finds a love story within a movie called Human Earthworm. Those dolls Yaga be making? Yeah, he calls one "creepy but cute" and even Satoru Gojo questions it "this thing is cute"? When Megumi tells him about Sukuna's finger and curses wanting it, wanna know what Yuji asks? "Why? Is it good?"

YUJI, IT IS A FINGER?!

He didn't even freak out when he saw Megumi's Demon Dogs.

Love his strangeness though. It's an endearing part of him to me.

Adding on, I adore about him is his overall skillset.

Yuji didn't even have cursed energy or any special techniques, but he was already capable of breaking records and outrunning cars. So much so that he gained a nickname like "Tiger of West Middle" and believed to be the reincarnation of Mirko Cro Cop, who is an actual person who is still alive.

His strength is so powerful that he was even given curses like Hanami and Choso a hard time fighting.

On top of that, it wasn't as if Yuji needed to go through a training session to learn basic fight skills. He was already beating ass before curses!!

Yuji is also a quick learner. Apparently, Black Flash is a move that is difficult to accomplish, yet Yuji was told about it for a couple of minutes and managed to delivered several Black Flashes within that same time frame. And if you count the amount of Black Flashes that has happened in the series so far, Yuji has executed the most at 8 - 10. Yuji is also able to adapt to the fighting style that whoever he is fighting alongside has. He has done it with Nobara, Aoi and Megumi. Three different styles, yet Yuji is able to work with each of them like nothing.

One more thing, is his relationships with other characters.

Again, Yuji is a sweet guy so it's easy for people to take to him and be his ally. It's not even just him being sweet, but there's also his other personality traits and skills. He was able to impress someone like Aoi Todo. There are not a lot of characters on the same wavelength as Satoru because of his personality, but Yuji is one that is. Even Megumi, one of the grumpiest characters, takes to him.

And while I do love the positive relationships he has, there's also the negative ones I like, too.

Out of all the characters, Yuji's clash with Sukuna is the most entertaining to me. That is not to say that the other relationships are boring.

It's just that with these two are so different. So very different, yet share a few things in common that makes my brain get to working and then I have thoughts I have to write down.

Really, that's all I have to say for now!

Yuji Itadori is a favorite of mine, the #1 on my list. I don't blame others for liking him, too, because to be for real... Yuji is a character I can't imagine anyone genuinely hating. Like... how can anyone, I don't know! Maybe not care for him? Not everyone has him as a favorite character, I'm sure.

I mean, I have seen people say they prefer Yuta or Satoru as the main character (makes no sense to me, I highly disagree, if either of them was the main character of the main storyline, then it would be a totally different story, HELLO, and I do like those two).

I have seen people call him "weak" and "useless" for losing to Choso as if Yuji didn't give Choso a hard time even after running around and fighting curses and curse users before then. "Yuji should stick to jumping". Yuji be doing 98% of the jumping, stop it now I'm exaggerating but you get it.

I'm just saying, Yuji could do almost all the crazy stuff a lot of other characters do without hesitation, but I doubt anyone else would be able to willingly, without thought, swallow a finger that looks like that like Yuji has. That kid is a menace, but an absolute sunshine and I adore him.