#once he has enough he will put them into groups based on theme

[fooleds]

what's one thing your muse has too much of but can't stop buying? log

those ducks in the play until u win claw machines

[the-ninjago-girl]

Ya wanna know what I just realized? The overall theme of scarlet and violet isn't actually about our treasure hunt, or making friends along the way,

It's obsession.(and how it hurts those around us.)

In the base game of pokemon scarlet and violet, we learn that the professor,(sada or turo depending on which version you play.) was absolutely obsessed with the paradox pokemon within the scarlet/violet book. They were so obsessed with these pokemon that they wanted, NEEDED to make them a reality by bringing them into our own. Their obsession was so bad, that they not only lost their significant other, but neglected their son to the point of completely abandoning him, all for the purpose of "paradise". Not realizing they already had one with their son.

The obsession has been with the professor since their childhood. As seen in the secret cutscene at kitakami's crystal pool with terapagos in your party, it brings the professor from iirc 10 years before the events of the game start. When they ask to trade for the book ms. Brair wrote they offer their copy of the s/v book and tell you "this book captured my imagination as a child and never let go." They were obsessed. It costed them their life, completely ruined arvens childhood, and almost caused the destruction of the Paldea region because they were too obsessed with having pokemon of the past/future along side them.

Then we go to kitakami, and meet Kieran. A boy who is obsessed with the ogre, a.k.a ogerpon. Kieran believes the two as kindred spirits, outcasts in kitakami because they were different. Though rightly upset at you and his sister for not telling him about meeting ogerpon, takes it too far when he steals the mask from his grandfather. As a result of winning the battle to get the mask back from him his obsession shifts, not really about befriending ogerpon anymore, but about beating you/being as good as you are. He becomes mean and ruthless to those around him in blueberry academy, becoming champion in order to try to be strong enough to beat you.

In the underdepths of area zero his obsession with beating you causes him to seek out terapagos, and catch it so that he can finally beat you.

And finally ms. Briar, obsessed with terapagos and proving it was real. Her ancestor, the original author of the s/v book, heath, was claimed and told to be nothing more than a liar after writing what he had found in area zero. Briar was obsessed, determined to prove terapagos' existence to clear her ancestors name, and that everything in the s/v book was in fact real. In kitakami she was more concerned with figuring out the terastal phenomenon than helping to guide the students from the 2 schools on their field trip.

And once in blueberry, she asks you, carmine and Kieran to join her in area zero to find terapagos. Once in the underdepths she puts herself in danger because of a strangely terastalized glimmora, of which you battle to protect her and the siblings. In the final chamber of the underdepths, she eggs on Kieran to take terapagos(in crystal form) out of the tera crystals around it to finally see the pokemon she's been trying to get to for so long, and then tells him to terastalize the pokemon, putting everyone in danger. As the amount of Tera energy is too much for the little pokemon to control, and thus it goes out of control, destroying the environment around it, nearly causing a cave in.

Ms. Briars obsession with finding terapagos nearly caused the group to get killed because she was so obsessed with finding terapagos. Obsessed with proving that heath was telling the truth all this time.

Pokemon scarlet and violet showed that obsession can hurt and harm those around you. That an obsession like sada/turo, Kieran and ms Briars', will cause the pain of others and themselves in order to reach their goal.

[da-janela-lateral]

MP100 S2E01 under a writer's perspective

The Emi Fukami episode in Mob Psycho 100 was a beautiful display of Mob's character development in relation to his individuality and a earnest vision of emotional vulnerability, but I want to call attention to a single detail: Emi being a writer.

Out of all the secret truths that the cast masks during the narrative, Emi's must be one of the most mundane. She is writing a book. She doesn't want people to know about it, much less read it, as Emi was led to believe this hobby of hers was embarassing.

I find it very interesting that Emi, character whose focus episode revolves around vulnerability, has writing has her main passion. In a way, writing is one of the most revealing art forms that there is. Literary choices are a reflection of the author's context, beliefs, likes and dislikes, fears and dreams, even though many of these choices cannot be perceived in a sensible level. Even if I suddenly decided to write a tale about a random theme - you say, a blue-footed booby who becomes an architect while wearing ballet shoes - it would say something about me. It could be a preferred text type, my sense of humor or even my idea of what is "random". Word choices, rhythm, figures of speech, themes, narrative structures, spins on a literary genre's expectations - all of these and more consist of conscious or unconscious decisions made by the writer. Writing as an art form serves as a mirror to the artist's very mind.

As a result, a piece of text can be a very delicate thing. Many people would only reveal their works to a exemplarily trusted someone, or to no one at all. That's the origin and end of uncountable masterpieces. It is also associated to passion. Few are the writers who characterize themselves as such and don't feel a duty to write. Yes, duty. Not all pieces are a labor of love, but it's almost universal that they're one of resolve, as little as it might be. One can unlock a fundamental will to write something in spite of it being weary work. At this point, for many writers, it's not a simple hobby. It's a need. It's a compulsory manner of expression hardwired onto our brains; thus, it's an inseparable part of who we are.

So what does any of this have to do with Emi's arc?

S2E01 is all about being vulnerable. Even though Emi had only asked out Mob because of a bet and hanged out with him for a week, she felt safe enough to show him her book. Her own friend group didn't have an idea that she was working on one, and once they discovered this, they ridiculed Emi's effort and teared it to shreds. Emi tried to alleviate this rejection by affirming she didn't care for her work, while everything shown previously on the episode proved this was wrong. In turn, Mob uses his psychic powers to put back her text together - his first public demonstration of them since he was a child. Mob was honest about himself by revealing he was an esper. Emi was honest by wanting his opinion on her book.

Emi is a fourteen year old girl going through a confusing and ever changing phase of her life. After doubting on Mob's emotions, she tells him that she too doesn't know well who she is, and her actions around her friends prove how she was prone to peer pressure. Her mind and identity were on an uncertain state, and this would also reflect on her writing. Emi uses complicated words, perhaps to make her writing sound more serious. Based on a translation of her work "Adventure", she uses more of a stream of consciousness prose and ambiguous descriptions. She immediately decides to write something different after her experiences with Mob. Emi has a personal style! She has techniques and topics she enjoys and active choices about how she will employ them! Emi has a bit of her on her story and this was why she hid it so much: a mockery of it would be synonym of a mockery of herself.

This is what makes the plotline with her book so important to express the episode's themes. Emi felt insecure to reveal such an integral part of herself to the world until someone came and not only took it seriously, but appreciated it enough to make an effort to understand it better. It tells a lot how Mob's demonstration of caring made her leave the people who destroyed her work.

As a writer, this detail gave a whole another layer of significance for the episode. I've felt Emi's struggle in a very intense level on the past. Storytelling is something so dear to me I can't see myself without the adjective of "writer", but the acknowledgement of my work would be the same as exposing myself to the world. It can be scary at times, to divulge something so sincere to others. However, such is the writer's role: divulging. For reasons long unknown a magical excess of words was born to me, and this coincidence can't be supressed and abandoned on the dark. There is something I can offer copiously hand in hand and its words. Words. Words. Words... And the reflection of me resonates on others.

[luluplanc]

Review

Here’s my review of the Rising Sun documentary. Watching it made me feel really, deeply sad. This sentiment isn’t directed solely at The Rampage but extends to other groups I’ve seen featured in documentaries. There's often a recurring theme of placing adult expectations on young individuals, expecting them to handle responsibilities and demonstrate a maturity far beyond their years. I feel this pressure was particularly intense for the younger members, like those born in '97 and '98.

While I understand that being an idol is their chosen profession, I genuinely believe a different approach would have been better. Seeing them feel as though their spot could easily be taken by someone else was especially heartbreaking. Their anxiety must have been through the roof, and the stress they endured is almost unimaginable.

One member I felt especially bad for was Hokuto. I’ve always had a soft spot for those who come in without any background in music or dance, and for him, having no prior experience, to be suddenly thrown into such an intense training camp—it's hard to imagine the pressure. He even mentioned it was one of the most stressful times of his life. While it may look like a positive experience in hindsight, I can only imagine he must have been on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Furthermore, having them compete against each other didn’t feel right to me. They all shared the same goal of becoming idols, and it’s important to remember that, at that point, they were still kids. Imagine being a young teenager watching your best friend succeed while you don’t—that must be such a painful experience. They must have questioned their worth, thinking, "I’m not good enough," or "They’re better than me," or "I’m useless and never going to make it." That kind of pressure feels far too intense for such young people. I’m sure this doesn’t only apply to members of The Rampage, but from what I’ve seen, it was just too extreme for them. It’s clear that this experience has had a lasting impact—even now, if they aren’t giving 100%, they might feel as if they’ve failed or didn’t do well enough.

Reflecting on their feelings about the 2021 Tokyo Dome concert, I feel they’re being too hard on themselves. Despite the challenging circumstances, I believe they did an amazing job. Due to COVID, they couldn’t perform at full capacity, and their fans weren’t able to cheer, but I hope they understand that this was beyond their control and doesn’t reflect poorly on their performance. In hindsight, it might have been better to move the concert to 2022, but we can’t change the past; we can only look forward. Unfortunately, it seems this experience has stayed with them, making them feel like they missed a big opportunity. But at that time, there was nothing more they could have done. I truly hope they can appreciate that people showed up for them, and regardless of the numbers, if their fans were happy and satisfied, that’s what truly matters.

Lastly, I’m incredibly glad that from 2021 until now, all the members have worked hard to improve themselves, addressing what they once saw as flaws and celebrating the progress they’ve made. Although I couldn’t attend their 2024 Tokyo Dome concert, from what I’ve heard, they did an amazing job. Based on the documentary, it seems they felt delighted with their performance during the Tokyo Dome tour, and as a fan, I couldn’t be prouder. I’m so happy that they feel content with themselves and satisfied with this concert and all the hard work they’ve put in. I hope they continue as a group for many more years, as I feel they still have so much to offer to the world. I also hope they come to America soon—I’d love the chance to see them live. Cheers!

[james-preble]

okay this is probably going to make no sense and like 80% of it is pulled straight out of my ass but i thought it was fun to try and figure out

my ideas for how old each of the known charming cousins are and how they're all related

okay so. there's only one named aunt/uncle, and thats fairest, who's mentioned as the "youngest aunt," and is in a group of princesses that can be gathered to be vaguely similar to darling's age. bcuz shes explicitly singled out as an aunt, i think that means she is def older than the group though, so i'm gna say shes in her mid-20s maybe, so lets say like 24 or 25 maybe?

additionally, there's a theme of siblings' names starting with the same letter. however, that's sort of each cousin group, so i think that each of grandpa auspicious and grandma alluring's kids were named with a different letter, and then they each named their kids w those letters. ADDITIONALLY, in a lot of big families, as someone from a decently big family, there are often a bunch of second-cousins, who are your parents' cousins, and second-cousins-once-removed, who are their kids. so to fill in some weird gaps in ages/etc, in addition to just the number of kids, i think grandma alluring probably has a sibling, and them and their family & grandkids are also involved in the Family Ball. grandma alluring probably ended up w the sort of core oldest palace bcuz she was the older sibling, so its kind of js like the family homestead now or whatever. also, the charmings are pretty patriarchal, so if shes the older one and still ended up w the house, her sibling is def another sister.

okay so, known sibling groups:

daring--dexter--darling, grandma alluring's side, all ~16

courageous--cherished--charity, i think they'd be from gma alluring's side as well bcuz darling and dexter interact w her like theyre decently close; charity is def ~16 as well, and courageous is little so maybe like 4-7ish? cherished is w/ charity in the group of princesses that's around darling's age, so ive kind of randomly decided she's a tiny bit younger, maybe ~13-14 idk, and likes feeling like a part of things.

gallant--glorious--gutsy--gracious--gorgeous--good-enough, bcuz they start w G their parent wld be born after fairest, and since she's the "youngest aunt" im js assuming fairest doesnt have a younger brother, so theyre gma's sibling's side; good-enough is canonically 5yo, and the average age gap between siblings is ~4yrs, so lets say gracious+gorgeous are like 10 and 12 ish, gutsy a couple years older, and gallant and glorious a few more years older.

and then, not explicitly stated as siblings, but beauteous, breathtaking, beloved, and bountiful. bcuz im only basing this around two branches of the family, theyre gna be two pairs of siblings. bountiful isn't in the group w fairest/other B princesses/charity/darling, so i'm going to assume she's younger. bcuz beauteous and breathtaking r the first two mentioned im gna say they're siblings even tho that doesnt rlly make sense, and then beloved & bountiful are sisters. idk who'd be from which side though. and not sure why i feel this way but id say bountiful is ~12ish, beloved ~18ish, and then beauteous and breathtaking maybe like 18 and 20 or smth idk just to even it out and make less of a gap from fairest's age to the others.

okay now those who dont have explicitly stated siblings or vague context clues like the Bs

earnest is described as "throwing around the younger charmings w daring," so id put him maybe two years older? just to try to keep some variety in the ages. just for funsies i think he'd be from gma's sibling's side, idk why. there are two more named charmings that start w E, so to even out the number of cousins on each side, i think those two are siblings, and from gma alluring's side. that's elegant and errant. elegant can be whatever age i think, maybe similar to bountiful or a couple years younger idk. errant is stated as having told good-enough he was too little to get anything on the quest, so i think making him 2-3 years older at 7 or 8 is reasonable (also it fits into the avg sibling age gap of 4yrs purely by chance).

there's one other charming that starts w/ C, and that's caring, so she's going on gma's sibling's side.

and then the last two named charmings' names both start with F, and that's fearless and fragile. i have literally no ideas abt their ages, so like think abt them however you want lol, and im putting them on gma's sibling's side, bcuz fairest is only 25ish, and bcuz shes hanging out w a group of like younger princesses idk if she seems the type to have kids yet.

so, basically, i think it looks something like this:

sorry the photo is sideways, also i could NOT be bothered to put assumed/theorized ages on there, sorry.

[offshore-brinicle]

That was one hell of a part 2 good lordy. I have SO many thoughts but I cannot put all into words for now, here's some though.

Dante is being real quiet [sus especially after how much they talked in canto 5, plus how they seemed seemed realise that they need to actually take part in helping the sinners proper] and they are [seemingly] the only sinner one could connect to Carmen [literally all of the chirstian symbolism, the way the static on her appearances was similar to the static Dante has seen on AFD and their overheating, the fact she seemed to speak through them at that point]. I am probably just reading into things but after the whiplash of how much they usually talk - internally and externally - I am very much getting a sinking feeling something's wrong.

Basements are evil. Hong Lu is rich enough to have a basement in his houses. He will probably have an evil basement. I would bet money on this, especially if its a sort of 'other world' as alluded to in his book (that I have not read. It does mention a Land of Illusion if i recall, however, so possibly a door to that). Bonus points if it ends up being upside down or smth.

Would the 'chaotic' part of the golden bough ( of 'em at least) have any sorta relation to why we Heath's E.G.O seemed unstable? I know most of the other distortions/E.G.O awakenings happened near boughs - which connects to the theory that they are directly related to Carmen and thus allow her to talk to people more easily like with the monolith - either Dante's fragment or a full one, but the specific mention of a chaotic one could mean it's responsible for Bodysack seeming to have corroded, as one can see the warning labels typical of a corroding E.G.O.

Given Faust's change in behaviour - namely stuttering for what I believe to be the first time - regarding the conversations around the 'creation of humans' I do believe this was how she was made. Yi Sang did say he made the tech used within the pods in that very basement, and the fact that he was the first recruit could mean that the Faust who approached him is not the same Faust on the bus. The idea of her being a metric fucktonna ID's layered on top of each other firstly explains the Council of Fausts theory, wherein she is able to talk to other versions of herself, in this case because that's what she is, as well as what Dante says about her looking somewhere else before answering. Mirrors alter perception, so her looking at a different Faust for answers could explain that as well. Work's too with her base E.G.O, wherein three shadows seem to point out an answer on her wall of notes. She has all the knowledge, she just needs her other selves to point it out when needed - thus her evasive attitude when it comes to answers, she needs time to get it pointed out.

On that note, do you think her attitude in Selva Obscura is a reflection of og!Faust, but she drops the act later on once Dante has fully forgotten their past? She doesn't really get that jokey after that.

Like how the middle seemed to be the antithesis of Ishmael in C5 part 2, the ring seems to be Heath's. The middle represented how Ishy as a person was mostly incompatibility with 'the bit', in the form of a situation that is remarkably silly on paper but ended up in near total annihilation of the group. The ring may represent how some may look for deeper meanings in all things from arts to people, which clashes wickedly against Heathcliff's more straightforward approach when it comes to handling situations. The dredges of the ring are those parts of him that overthink and he solves the problem as simply as he's been solving many others.

Cathy in a Coffin reminds me of when Carmen was content enough to haunt the narrative from her Bucket. Nothing else to say here except for the fact it's funny.

But back to Carmen, and more particularly 'fate' regarding distortions. The theme of denying of what 'should've happened' is a decently big theme of limbus - from the rewinding death to even subverting what happens from any literary source material - so if they end up going 'Carmen no Carming' to her later on, defying someone who seems to be as much of a god-like entity as the Head in some ways, I would not be surprised if we either get a visit from Iori, one of Demian's lot or another Lo9 member - x or current. Additionally, defying fate may just be what brings back Heathcliff from the edge, keeping Cathy alive in this mirror world but presumably in a weird weirdass way. My guess is that she distorts and gets nabbed by LCD - but I also just wanna see Moses so.

Also hey what happened to the seven strikes of lightning. Are they gonna be in Heath's distortion dungeon or something? No clue.

And I think that's it. Gonna stare at a wall for a while now methinks

OK SO FIRST UP THERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS HERE SO I'LL TRY TO ANSWER TO THESE CONCISELY

Now that you mentioned it, it was always very strange how Faust is Number 2 despite being there first and her mugshot having already been in uniform, so now that you mention her different attitude in the Prologue I honestly see a lot to what you are bringing up here. It was always a personal theory of mine that Faust's real "Mephistopheles" was Sang Yi or Yi Sang somehow, since Sang Yi still to seems to be a rather...odd entity that doesn't correspond to any particular mirror world and is implied by Yi Sang to have some degree of omniscience (and there's also that marked part in the dungeon where he "mysteriously dissapeared" for some time with no explanation), so she might have gotten Yi Sang to do the procedure that would give her this infinite knowledge, specially since even Yi Sang himself emphasizes on her having been "gifted" with omniscience, I Highly doubt he's being figurative here, even more with her EGO's background being the shadows of multiple people.

In regards to Dante not speaking I think it's simply because of the difference in situation, unlike Ishmael who was very clearly out of control due to her own mindset, Heathcliff is being driven over the edge by circumstance -- and some quite insane circumstances at that, so it might be why they could not intervene, but hopefully they'll step up when we get to the next part, specially since we'll be dealing with Distorted Heathcliff....and also, it's very interesting that we actually got Heathcliff's POV on how it felt to Distort. It might be Dante's connection to Carmen and The Sinners aligning at once.

And also, Catherine is def a Carmen expy (I actually did my own analysis some time ago in similarities Kromer, Ahab and Dongbaek had with Carmen too but this one is the most. Insanely explicit similarity) and the fact that she speaks to "Welcome Heathcliff home" at the very end in her own voice alongside Carmen...I can't help but feel she might have been planning to get Heathcliff to Distort all along as part of her personal plan that they can be together happy in Hell. The Overclocking symptoms seem to have been an indicator of Heathcliff approaching Distortion, I really like how...drastically different it feels from the awakened Crow's Eye View and Snagharpoon, and just in general how they completely threw the formula that had been built up until now out of the window (heh)

Either way, thanks for shooting me a message! It's always fun to get to hear other people's observations and theories and share my own two cents along the way

Edit: I forgor but frankly if Hong Lu has yet another Creepy Rich Person basement I think I'll bash my head against the wall. The real moral of Limbus is that basements are bad and evil. Sorry there are just So many good observations here and I'm a bit scatterbrained at times shfhh

In regards to the "fate" thing, I feel like that will be a big part of dealing with Heathcliff next part, Limbus Company as a game and story is built on the reimaginings or "what ifs" or classics, and we've seen it with Yi Sang that his ending was changed in the end; the original Yi Sang died and the protagonist of The Wings commits suicide, but he rejected all of that, while Ishmael was on her path to repeat the cycle of the story of Moby Dick but thanks to Dante and Heathcliff she rejected that as well. And the title of "Clear All Cathy" really establishes from the first moment the goal this time. We'll have to wait another week to see how it rolls.

[emblemxeno]

I know Azura and Corrin get a lot of flack for not having shown the orb to the Nohrian Royal but ... weren't they supposed to conquer Hoshido either way ?

Pretty much.

Hypothetically, showing the orb to the other siblings and successfully getting them to fight against Garon relies a lot on unrealistic occurrences going their way:

1) The siblings believing Corrin and Azura are telling the truth. Elise would probably believe them, but wouldn't have the power to stop things by herself. Camilla could go either way in terms of believing, but ultimately she cares more about not dying. Xander and Leo though? Good fucking luck lol.

2) The siblings believing the orb isn't a trap or a falsehood. Leo only entertains this aspect in BR because he was beaten before Azura gave it to him. The other three literally can't use it, so even if Leo does, if he isn't convinced that the orb isn't a Hoshidan trap, why would the others go along with it?

3) The siblings getting over their fear of Garon to fight back. Even when the truth is on the throne in front of them, the siblings aren't gung-ho to kill their dad. Even after all the things he put them through, it's not easy cuz he was their fucking dad and to expect them to flip the switch is to expect poor writing. It's only when Xander inspires them that they're able to do so, and Xander is the hardest one to convince.

4) Having the power to effectively do anything. Azura comments that half of the Nohrian royal army is loyal to Corrin, Xander and Leo, and the other half is loyal to Garon, Iago and Hans. She says this in chapter 23, 8 chapters after the orb is relevant. Safe to say, there wouldn't be enough manpower to rebel against Garon at that point.

5) Doing something that's effectively believable to the player. When the orb comes up, the war has been underway for a while. The Cheve rebellion has been put down, with Scarlet, Orochi, and Reina dead. The Cyrkensia townsfolk are in danger. Corrin has crossed blades with the Hoshidan army more than once. Realistically, what could Corrin's group do to Garon, that also takes into account the war going on? Joining Hoshido isn't an option (and shouldn't be one cuz that defeats the purpose of joining Nohr in the first fucking place), especially when Ryoma is the way he is and Takumi is already possessed. And you'd have to be an idiot to think that Hoshido will just sit on its hands while Corrin rebels against Garon, as if they wouldn't take advantage of the opportunity to take all of Nohr out in one fell swoop. There's precedent for this already, with Hinoka, Ryoma, and Takumi willing to use Nohr's negative reputation to their benefit.

Do you guys know the Rhetorical Triangle of persuasive writng? It's ethos (showcase of author authority through citing of sources or taking care to establish a base argument), logos (building up a logical audience), and pathos (appeals to audience emotions). Most storytelling is persuasive. For your story not to be utter dogshit, you need the central theme/argument to be believable, the logic of a story's circumstances and context in order to believe it, and the emotional weight to get the reader to care and invest in it.

The above "solutions" to the orb issue, would sacrifice the ethos (Corrin sticking to their path, the Nohr siblings being consistently written) and logos (not having the power to start a rebellion, Hoshido canonically taking advantage of Nohr's internal troubles) established in Conquest before chapter 15, in order to maybe satisfy the pathos of some of the audience. I say maybe and some because only a fraction of the fandom has this double-think thing going on where they hate that Corrin gets worshipped and followed for "no reason" but also that Corrin should be totally believed and, in fact, followed earlier to topple the king while there's a war going on. Another subsection also hates Corrin for being a "spineless, whiny coward" so those people might also like this alternative better.

But again, that's a fraction of the total. What about the rest? How would they feel about this change in this story? How can you guarantee that they'd care when you've sacrificed two other major persuasive tools to possibly achieve one for a small and annoyingly persistent group of wannabe story writers? It'd look amateurish and erroneous, not to mention the script's prose in the English versions is already scuffed thanks to Treehouse.

The only thing left for them to argue would be "well, they shouldn't have added the orb in the first place, because it just results in these questions being asked" which... okay! Yeah! In the grand scheme, it doesn't serve anything more than getting Corrin, a character known for his trust, to trust Azura's word. But that kind of critique is useless, cuz it boils down to "well this story should've been better", which can apply to every damn story in the world, and has been said about FE stories in the past. Robin's fake Gules plan was the magic orb of Awakening, same with the blood pact in Tellius, same with effectively every villain dialogue in previous FE games (like Ursula in FE7) that betrays what their ultimate goals are, same with the Turnwheel, Divine Pulse, and the Time Crystal in the future FE games, and countless other examples. At some point, you gotta roll with the punches and accept what the game is trying to tell you, rather than deride it constantly, cuz eventually you'll just hate everything in every story.

Hell, why do you think people say FE stories have never been good? Not cuz they're actually bad, it's cuz people refuse to set aside their biases and faulty evaluations/expectations in order to appreciate what the writing is doing in the grand scheme. It's a lame excuse more than it is a meme, IMO.

[oc-tournaments]

ROUND THREE - MATCH 3

DALO vs SALVANAN

DALO: @genericswordsmaiden

SALVANAN: @the-demoness-next-door

VOTE BASED ON THE INFORMATION BELOW CUT!!

Propaganda Content Warnings: Suicide, assault, internalised homophobia, animal death, dismemberment, alcoholism for DALO, abuse, manipulation, suicidal thoughts for SALVANAN.

DALO:

PROPAGANDA: Dalo is a ghost, she died by suicide at the age of 27, and in the world of the dead where she now resides, which is actually a purgatory of sorts, she has to endure loneliness because suicides can get corrupted - change form and become aggressive spirits - and are therefore ostracized by other ghosts. Born in an abusive family, starved during her childhood and bullied at school, Dalo develops trust issues growing up, her only friend being a pen pal, Luka, and her mentor, a man whom she only remembers as Professor. Dalo is not her real name, but a nickname that eventually erased her original name. At age 16, she gets physically assaulted by a group of guys and survives, but gets big ugly scars on her back that she tries to hide in every way she can. When she gets the chance, she travels to the city of Providence, renting an apartment with Luka. They form a band with two other characters, Mary and Sam, but soon tensions arise, mainly because they all love Sam in some way, and this puts Dalo in an uncomfortable situation because she doesn't really know how to deal with feelings. She ultimately decides to put them aside and think about how to help Luka deal with his homosexuality instead. In this period of time, which lasts about three months, another tragedy occurs: Dalo and Luka's cat, whom they treated as a son, is found killed one evening. This brings the two even closer, grief shutting them out of the world for a while. As if that wasn't enough, Sam, thinking that Luka and Dalo became a couple, marries Mary instead, breaking two hearts at once. Just when it seems like everything is slowly flowing normally again, Luka has a breakdown and asks Dalo if God can accept him as he is. The choice of words in her answer to such a cryptic question is crucial and will forever change her life, as well as ultimately end his, since he goes missing from that evening, until his body is found in a bag a week later, chopped up into pieces. The weight of the event is too much for her to bear, the guilt and pain make her turn to alcoholism. Her last choice was cold and calculated, she saw no value in a life like hers, so after months of suffering she took her own life. As a ghost, this choice hunts her, also because it made her directly linked to the main antagonist of the book, but this is a lore-heavy detail and I don't really want to delve into it. Her other big character trait is the fact that, with a life like that, she has tons of repressed anger, which all comes crashing out of her (literally) at some point in the story. Her power as a ghost is summoning chains, which symbolise both her guilt and the desperate need to be "chained to someone", to have some kind of bond with another person.

THEME SONG:

SALVANAN:

PROPAGANDA: this poor man. buckle in, you have a LONG one coming. he's very old, he's the god of plants + the earth and he's great i love him but man i have not been nice to him. so. way early in his life, he had a very sweet boyfriend named azyll along w lots of mutual friends. except oops, sal developed chronic anxiety and depression and decided that he did not think he would be good for azyll and broke it off w him. it was amicable but it still sucks. fast forward a bit, one of the friends in their circle, jekath, is being manipulated and hurt for no reason and sal knows but for magic reasons he's incapable of telling anyone, just has to watch. and then he eventually has to watch jekath finally snap under the pressure and betray them all and go evil. no bueno. so he spends a long time feeling terrible and eventually he plans to just. yknow. off himself. but oh surprise this little boy named safari shows up in his garden! and he's like well shit guess im a dad now. and he loves this little boy very much. it's good times! except when he's a teenager two of the little boy's biological brothers drop him off a cliff and nearly kill him, which is, yknow, terrifying. that's his son! his son was almost murdered! no! bueno! anyway, azyll's mortal so eventually he dies of old age, now sal's even sadder. least he's still got his other friends and safari but Man. anyway fast forward again, whole world is at war. and his two best friends, arona and morana, both die in it. but if that was not bad enough, arona was killed by jekath. you know, the old friend that was abused and eventually betrayed them all. so the friend he felt like he failed has now murdered one of his best friends. and his other best friend is ALSO dead. things are just going Great. flash forward another little while and his goddaughter's husband, sibrum, goes evil against his will too. he's known sibrum since he was a kid so now he's got ANOTHER person he felt responsible for gone evil against their will. then sibrum's daughter dies. are you seeing a pattern yet. anyway, sibrum soon kills jekath so now sal feels like he's double failed both of them and also even MORE of his original friends are dead now. so he is trying So Hard to relax! but then safari is turned into a terrible person against his will too! and because they were so so close for so so long they end up in a toxic dynamic instead of cutting each other off. sal finally figures out how to break the spell on safari and it's all Okay Now (they're both traumatized and it's definitely not okay). he gets to relax for only a brief time before his other child's son, volta, has a villain arc too. and what happens? you guessed it! sal tries to stop him and help him and he's not able to. and feels like he failed someone AGAIN. yeah this just happens over and over through the course of his life. he's so tired and sad man

THEME SONG:

[stormclaws]

thinking about the parallels between venat and g'raha and i need to lie down (but i rambled for 1.5k words instead)

major spoilers up through the end of endwalker

like they're both victims of circumstances beyond their control, right? there's no right choice to make. there's no objective way out to save everyone. but if they don't act, then there will be nobody left to save at all.

there's one person they know could do the impossible. all they need to do is put their entire trust in them, structure hundreds (or thousands) of years of their life into a singular plan to prevent disaster, and wait for them to kill you.

let's think about old sharlayan. the day theme is so pretty! the atmospheric singing is a bit hard to make out but it adds to the vibes. you can tell that they planned the city the best they could around the terrain. everything is grouped together in places that make sense, structured around learning and preserving knowledge.

we find out that beneath the city is labyrinthos, but deeper beneath that is the aitiascope. they've gone looking for god and they've found her.

and all this time she is singing. she is guiding souls gently into the afterlife with a gentle lullaby. you finally realize it: this is the singing you hear in old sharlayan. you can hear god alive and well.

imagine her watching the other reflections. each of the rejoinings. an imperfect decision that led to the final days of other entire worlds (i mean. not directly her fault but you get it) and just watching as those calamities ripple over to the source. holding on to the world she split apart. planning escape routes for humanity with the best possible outcome leading to her death.

like can you just imagine that. waiting for the one who will ultimately save the entire universe, the only one who will have then known you personally as the human you once were. who will have SEEN this put in motion and you trust them not only with your life, but the life of every person on etheriys.

and you've been holding on all these years because you want to give them one final test and blessing, culminating in your death. you grow weaker every day. and one day you finally see the strange adventurer from all those years ago come into existence and make ready for them to end yours.

do you even think about the fact that they might fail? that instead, you kill them and all of this will have been for nothing? will your love for humanity and trust in this one, singular individual have been enough?

you wait and you sing.

and back above the surface, you (the player) find some sort of familiarity in old sharlayan that you can't quite place at first. i mean yeah, there's new sharlayan in the hinterlands but you figure that the two would look similar. but when you think of the singing, another city comes to mind: the crystarium.

g'raha mentions that he based the look of the crystarium after his time in old sharlayan. it's easy to see once you pay attention: the domes, arches, white brick, and the overall elegance of the city. but even more importantly, it's designed in such a smart way that every part of the city has its own section. you can even draw similarities between the studium and crystal tower as center points.

beneath the city, they're growing plants to try and restore some of the damage from the flood of light. there's precious knowledge they want to save. they can use the crystal from the tower in the domes as protection.

the crystal exarch loves his people, but he loves his home world beyond imgine. he promised with his life to keep it safe which is why he locked himself away in the crystal tower; it was the only way to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. he was promised to be woken up when things finally got better. instead, he awoke to a future where everyone and everything he's known is dead.

do you think the blue crystal of the domes was a reminder for the people of the crystarium of the blue skies they lost a hundred years ago? or for the home g'raha could never return to?

there's no right way forward, but there is one thing he could try. there's one person he knows could make things right. so he spends a building a city, protecting his people, and studying the tower's secrets so he could tear that one person from the source and bring them to the first. it's incredibly dangerous for the warrior of light, but ultimately the crystal exarch will be the one to pay the consequence for this: his life.

like we all know how tragic it is, right? waiting all that time with the stories of the warrior of light to keep him company. he wanted to be an adventurer just like venat wanted to spend her retirement traveling the star. the game makes it very clear that he talks about what he would have loved to do if his duty didn't set him on this path. i don't need to re-invent the wheel.

but let's take a minute to let that sink in. all of this time and effort for the best possible outcome to lead to your death. imagine that there's no other way out. you've had all this time to think about it; what's one life in exchange for countless others? it's the love of his world and the warrior of light that keeps him going. (consider that love how you will--admiration, romantic, trust)

he needs that love to be the blade that kills him.

and this whole thing might fail, too. he's risking your life on this bet as well. it might be too much for the warrior of darkness and the corruption might create the most powerful light warden ever imagined. but the people of the first and source were already doomed. he reassures himself that threading this needle is the right way. he reads the tomes of the warrior of darkness's deeds over and over and over, imagining it was him by their side instead of alone in the tower.

as a lover of stories, he'd want to make this a good one. one that hurt less for the protagonists. if he can convince everyone (including himself) that he betrayed the warrior of darkness for his own selfish deeds in his final moments, it'll be easy to let him go. painless and hated. cauterize the wound on the killing blow.

...but the thing is, that's not what happens.

so let's actually reroute for a minute. we've spent this entire game with the mantra "for those we have lost, for those we can yet still save".

estinien sharpened his life into a blade for revenge. he built himself for one purpose and was ready to die to achieve it. when he begged for us to kill him after the final steps of faith, we said not today and found a way to make him live.

g'raha--at least one version of himself--ultimately lived because we found a way out together.

there's no way to save venat. either we kill her, or she kills us and dies in the final days.

imagine g'raha recognizing himself through her. that used to be him. do you think he would have tried to find another way out for her? stayed up at night for weeks on end afterwards wracked with survivor's guilt?

he, above anyone else, could understand completely the way she felt. maybe instead he felt catharsis in the fact that she could die with a duty fulfilled? with the dignity she wanted? did he feel grateful for her sacrifice, empowered by the fact that he got to live a second time when so many others couldn't?

do you think he was proud that he could fulfill her one last wish, the same one he had in a different lifetime?

maybe he found peace in the fact they both knew this: even if they die, their love will live on. everyone else lives because they won't.

...admittedly, despite this whole thing being about endings, i'm not great that myself. i've got literally no idea how to wrap up these wramblings, but i've been listening to the sharlayan day theme, the crystarium night theme, and flow on repeat while writing this. the music in this game carries so much weight so i think i'll just leave you with some lyrics from these to ponder on instead:

Deep, dark, far away, I have heard your voice, weighed your every choice Now our hands join round the meaning you sought I'll catch your tears, quench your fears with joy, til you near the shore Where in time, all shall as hope be reborn

Stand tall my friend, may all of the dark lost inside you find light again, this time, tumbling, turning, we make amends, eternal winds from the land ascend here to lift us that we won’t end!

[cowboymantis]

"The gate has opened.

A new history has written down.

Seven kings of the seven world gathered

and headed for a new kingdom.

All will be one, and the one will be all,

All come to mean the world.

King, draw your sword."

"He who holds the sword, bear the weight.

Carry onto a new era."

And that's how Kingdom starts off in a way, those texts are in the very first debut album of Kingdom and I absolutely loved their concept since the very beginning.

Now... It does sound very similar to King Ohger right?? I'm not going crazy because I obsess over two things and want to connect them no?? No! Because!! I already did this before King Ohger even started, just when it was barely announced. Sure there was a lot of hype anyway because it was the first Sentai season I was there for from the very beginning, and I absolutely love themes like that, but I was even more hyped because it just reminded me SO MUCH of Kingdom, which is one of my favourite bands. I own every album (versions) and have written a whole theory google doc combined with an introduction for my friend and made a whole personal archive of all their stuff ,,,

It was just perfect, the main characters are a bunch of kings of different kingdoms, all of which look completely different and are centered around one big theme.

And then I noticed how some were kind of overlapping with King Ohger, the more got announced about that show.

So I planned on doing this Kingdom X King Ohger thing a while back, but then I didn't really want to start it yet since King Ohger was just beginning, and looking back it was a smart move because a lot of things changed. For example, I probably would've put Ivan and Rita together because of snow, same with Mujin and Kaguragi because of the outfits and theme, just like Louis and Himeno, once again for that exact reason.

Sure, I could also just make one based off of aesthetics alone, but now I like to put a bit more lore into it! Because that's what it's all about, the LORE

So how am I doing this now? First, next thing I'm gonna do is share my notes on who I'm pairing up with who and why. Or at least, I try to explain why I think it fits. Then, I'll add some parts of the Kingdom member's "song" that I think also further prove my point...or something like that. And some photos I thought could have a similar vibe when I went through my albums and archives and stuff. (Also I love calling it archives that sounds so professional hdhdhddh)

I mean, at the end of the day it's just a little project I plan on doing for fun for two things I love so it doesn't have to make much sense right? Jdhdjd I doubt anyone that's gonna see this has both of these things as an interest anyway. Well maybe, who knows.

Anyway, one thing it all leads up to is me making some fanart and I'm thinking of drawing the Kingdom members and mix up their outfits with their "corresponding" King Ohger character. I'll think about later if I do a group pics, or do multiple for each character and whatnot. Maybe I'll even assign them differently just based on outfits alone, since a lot of them fit outfit/kingdom theme-wise but not really character-wise?

But now it's brainstorming and planning time!!

Arthur - Racules

(I'm not writing this name Rkules or whatever weird spelling they gave him-)

Arthur is not the leader, but the first one to be revealed as a king. The power of Excalibur is both what helps him and what leads to his downfall in a way, kind of like Racules' power lust is what makes everyone turn against him and makes his "downfall" for now happen. Idk man. Does that make sense? They're not TOO similar but similar enough? Plus, Arthur definetly feels like he's got the most smug Racules vibes in the music videos. Ivan is a close second, but for him it's way more of a Gira vibe.

Excalibur

"Destiny is in my hands

This fantasy will unfold

The master key will blow away

All the madness spiraled in chaos"

"Hold onto your wounds

Cut by pieces of glass deep inside

Your heart like sharp thorns

To the end of the world, I'm killin'

Bear the weight of the crown"

"History begins with us

The world must work properly

The colour becomes clearer, reject any fear

Kneel and pray in front of the closed castle gates"

Ivan - Gira

Ivan might rule over the Kingdom of Snow BUT he is really not like Rita at all. The kingdom fits well, but other than that... I don't know... But here too, Racules could be kind of fitting, but it's just different, y'know? It's more like a Gira VS Racules internal fight for Ivan if that makes sense?

He has to decide how to defend his kingdom and for that he uses the power of evil. Y'know. Like the... the evil king Gira? Also their facial expressions when they want to look "evil" are very similar and not very convincing because they just have babyfaces 😭

Black Crown

"With a bit of cruel

But beautiful dangerous power

Getting something

Means losing something

A paradox which I swallowed enchantedly"

"Accept it, just the way you are

Wake it

Don't forget who we are

Engrave it

Raise the holy grail above your head

Put on the black crown

Endure the pain of astonishing power

There's no limit"

"Rather than losing the world

I would become a monster

I choose suffering

Over the loneliness which overwhelms

The evil power of necessity given to me"

Louis - Jeramie

NOW, when King Ohger barely was out, I already had the idea of making this "crossover", especially because King Ohger started airing in the same month a new Kingdom album came out which was insane for me who's obsessed with Kingdom's universe and Toku so it was a win for me for sure.

But also, when King Ohger started, Jeramie technically didn't "exist" yet and I'd given Himeno the position here because of the whole Kingdom of Aesthetic deal. And the outfits, they are basically the exact same.

HOWEVER. Louis is insanely fitting for Jeramie, because both of them feel like outsiders and having lived through many more years than any human ever would.

Also, Louis is one I noticed the most often being bount/restrained in some kind of way. I've made some connections how it's often in an almost connection with Chiwoo and Mujin, but I mean that doesn't really have anything to do with the topic rn,,

But yeah,,

Long Live The King

"Time goes off

A lot of things were destroyed then go

But I always existed

I protected my kingdom"

"A child stuck in a time of loneliness

When will this chaos end

I'm on the eye of the storm"

"Lights out bright light, I'm alone under the lights

Dancing in my own

Shining upon me, the spotlight

I can feel it even with my eyes closed"

"Before that sun rises again

The moment I waited with bated breath

Even if everything changes, I shall stand here"

"Running out of time, nothing can stop me

With my own two hands, I'll write again the destiny

Long live the king

Long live the king, I'm a light that will never go out"

"Winding up the spring of endless memory

Unfamiliar masks are dancing in the hall

The moment the good and evil collide

The second hand stops as if it's laughing at me again

Even with the darkness cast inside me

What brightens is the small flame

To this soul that went against the world, what isn't granted is the finale"

Dann - Rita

I was debating on wether to give him Racules or Rita. I know, Racules again, but they are all very serious and strict in a way and the main characters are all way more silly? So yeah.

But after thinking a bit about it, I think Rita is quite fitting. Dann is quite... stoic? Serious? In the music videos, and often seems to be some kind of advisor to other's.Plus, he's got more of that cold vibe that Rita has? Also in general, his music video is just very fitting, the vibe is really perfect.

Ascension

"I'll leave behind the tears in agony

I'll just pass by

Willow leaves shaking precariously

As soon as the wind strikes

All the arrows with resentment are pointing at me"

"One beautiful day

The flower blooms splendidly

One sad night

The deep shadow troubled my heart"

"A glance in between the narrow bars

I see all the enemies coming

They are puring down at once, keep your ground"

"All the evil souls

Burn it all

I'll turn everything back to its original state"

"Spread the wings. Strike hard

Those who rebelled, you will drown in blood

I'll protect you, I miss you

Enchanting ascension over the horizon"

"Knife of condemnation

Don't forget my royal command"

Mujin - Himeno

Another one I really had to debate. In a way I think aesthetic-wise Kaguragi is the most fitting, Mujins theme being traditional Japanese and all, and Himeno would technically fit better in the Kingdom of Aesthetic, but just character-wise I feel like Himeno fits. Also, "Kingdom of Cherry Blossoms" does sound really fitting for Himeno too. And the whole self sacrifice, or rather doing everything for the wellbeing of your own kingdom-theme is also very in character. Also, not like Mujin as the lore character, but Mujin himself loves to be a bit silly just like Himeno :D

And also Dystopia overall is kind of similar to certain events that happened in the show I guess?? So like??

Dystopia

"Rewing the strings of fate and bloom with all your might

All delight swiftly crushed by the rise of rampant evil"

"The flower that blooms in deep darkness

The overwhelming sword of salvation

Sinking into the abyss

Like a dystopia"

"On the night when hatred opened its eyes

The darkness swallows the light

The power of the cherry blossoms suddenly dissapear

The song of monsters

Extinguish the embers of chaos

Just you watch I will definetly shatter it all"

"The flower petals are blooming again

The light of my soul is getting darker

Even if I cross the bounds and dissapear it does not matter"

Hwon - Yanma

This one's hard to properly explain so just believe me when I said it appeared to me in a dream or whatever. IDK at the same time they are quite different but the vibes are just kinda fitting, y'know? And Yanma is quite uh... stormy I guess I don't know man this is hard to justify with words,,

Overall, Hwon is the hardest to fit in because we know the least about him, since he's still quite new and hasn't gotten an album yet... but I mean I might come back to this all later and update it when both Jahan and Hwon have an album!!

Jahan - Kaguragi

So, Kaguragi was really hard to decide if he's more fitting for Mujin or Jahan. Guess in a way Kingdom of Sun is fitting, bees and harvest and all I guess. Anyway, I did a lot of Kingdom analysing and looking in detail through the music videos and lore and Jahan often seems a bit confusing, in a way it's never too obvious which side he's on? He can seem more mischievous, even when he's acting serious. If that makes sense.

And gah sadly no Jahan album yet either. BUT SOON. Hopefully. I mean his specific Kingdom logo was revealed so I guess it's in the works?? 😭

[itcamefromthetoybox]

You Can Run, But You Can’t Glide!

Almost everyone has seen the original “Jurassic Park,” and if you haven’t, then do yourself a favor and go watch it right now. Are you watching it? Isn’t it great? Alright, so let’s carry on. NOW almost everyone has seen the original “Jurassic Park,” and I think we can all agree that it’s glorious. My wonderful wife, knowing my love for this movie, recently got me a toy from it. So today, we’re looking at the “Jurassic Park Dr. Ian Malcolm Glider Escape Pack!”

Quick rehash about the plot of “Jurassic Park,” in case you need the refresher: a rich dude finds a way to bring back dinosaurs in modern times, which everyone tells him is a bad idea, and decides to open a theme park with them, which he cuts some important corners on. He invites a group of scientists to the park to confirm it’s safe, so that the insurance companies will sign off on it. Thanks to the aforementioned cut corners and the actions of the single IT guy who worked there (“We spared no expense” my ass), the park’s power and security craps out during a storm, trapping everyone on an island now roaming with dinosaurs, including velociraptors and a T-Rex, because bringing those back from the dead in a world where they have no natural predators was a great decision. Now, there’s some room for debate on how much of the park’s failure is from the owner cutting essential corners and pouring money into things like presentation and ice cream, and how much of it comes from intentional sabotage from the IT guy, who it’s implied put in a very low bid to get the job, but it’s my blog and I’m blaming the rich guy.

The main focus of this set is my favorite human from the franchise, Dr. Ian Malcolm, as played by the always-delightful Jeff Goldblum. Malcolm is a snarky mathematician who specializes in Chaos Theory and is brought in to mathematically predict the odds of the park going to Hell in a handbasket. Once he sees the dinosaurs in person, he quickly goes from “oh wow, the dinosaurs are alive” to “oh dear God, this is gonna be such a disaster.” Spoiler alert: he’s right, and a bunch of people die. Malcolm’s such a delight in the first movie that he was made the star of the sequel, “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” and would go on to appear in two of the “Jurassic World” movies.

The toy we’re looking at today, “Jurassic Park Dr. Ian Malcolm Glider Escape Pack,” is part of a Target-exclusive line of “Jurassic Park” toys meant to homage the original movie toys from 1993, when the movie first came out. And the fact it came out 30 years ago makes me want to go drink and cry. The different toy sets in this line are based off the original toys, but, unlike other toylines that have done similar things, such as the “Star Wars Retro Collection” and “Transformers Vintage G1 and Beast Wars,” the figures in this line are modern toys with details and accessories inspired by the originals, instead of rereleases of the orignal figures. They’re also not modern versions of the original toys, like how Hasbro released updated versions of Greedo, a Jawa, and Obi-Wan Kenobi as part of the “Star Wars Black Series.” Instead, the sets here are original sets based off different ideas from the original line, which makes for some fun and interesting toys.

This set features Dr. Malcolm wearing a winged jetpack, which the packaging calls a glider,” and swooping in to rescue a baby dinosaur from a larger dinosaur by shooting the larger dinosaur with a gun bigger than Malcolm’s own torso. This toy takes a lot of inspiration from the original “Ian Malcolm with Launching Tranq Missile Dart” toy. The Ian Malcolm figure in this set is a smaller version of the original, with better detailing and articulation. His glider pack looks almost identical to the original’s, just with the addition of wings, and his gun’s large enough to make an NRA member feel emasculated. He’s even got a large, translucent green missile, which is very similar to the original figure’s missile, just without the grey part the original’s missile had. In terms of being a solid homage to the original, this toy passes with flying colors. Plus, I do really like how the figure took a lot of inspiration from the original and then added on. It’s not the same toy from ’93 and successfully stands on its own, but you can still see where it took from that first toy. It’s a successful modernization of a toy from the early 90’s.

Not pictured: me desperately trying to clean all this before my wife needed to sit down.

Ian Malcolm himself is really articulated. He’s got articulation in his head, shoulders, elbows, legs, and knees, which makes for a lot of fun posing. In terms of looks, he’s fantastic. The sculpting is really on point with this toy. There’s a few buttons undone on his shirt, his clothes have some wrinkles, and even his boots have a lot of sculpted details. Where he really shines, though, is his head. His head does a terrific job of capturing the character from the big screen, from the rocker hair to the cocky smirk. One detail I especially love is what was done with his eyes. Malcolm has eyes behind his glasses, which are a separate piece that was attached to his head. Behind the glasses, and visible through them if you look close enough, are actual eyes. It’s an added detail to this toy that I really like. Just be careful, because since the glasses are a separate piece that the makers attached to Malcolm’s head, there’s a risk of accidentally breaking them off. It’d be hard to do, and I haven’t done it, but a small piece attached with glue or pegs will always have that risk.

Malcolm has two main accessories: the aforementioned glider pack and large gun. First, let’s talk about that sweet-ass glider. The glider pack comes partially disassembled, so you need to attach the wings to it yourself. It’s a super easy process, as the wings peg right on and stay on securely. From the back, it looks almost identical to the backpack accessory from the original toy, just with wings. What that means is that it’s a black backpack with translucent green parts on it. It almost looks like Jeff Goldblum is wearing a nuclear jetpack to fight crime with, and I am definitely into that idea. 

Because if you’re gonna be a scientist, you should definitely have giant guns and jetpacks

Now, getting the backpack on Dr. Malcolm is a little bit trickier than it used to be, where you would just peg it onto his back. For this toy, you have to pull the bottom of the left shoulder strap out of the little slot it tabs into on the backpack. Then, you slide it over Malcolm’s right arm until you line the peg up with the hole on his back, which will let you attach the backpack. Now, put the left strap tab back into the slot. It’s a little more complicated than I like, and the tab feels a little loose. Also, putting the backpack on wreaks havoc on Malcolm’s ability to stand. He WILL fall over, and it IS because of the giant jetpack on his back.

The other accessory is the large gun with the green missile. I love this weapon. Between the absurd size and the green missile, it feels less like something you use to tranquilize a dinosaur and more like something you use to kill Superman. It’s pure 90’s glory, and I love it. The missile is spring loaded and does have some power, so keep that in mind. Don’t aim it at anyone’s face, or there’s gonna be issues. My only problem with the gun is that it’s so big that Malcolm will fall over if you put it in his hand. Rule of thumb: big accessories mean little balance.

Lex Luthor’s latest weapon to kill Superman

There are two dinosaurs in this set, and each have their own accessories. So yeah, this is a longer review. I just waited to bring it up until now because now you’re trapped in this review and have to see it through! Trapped! TRAPPED, I SAY!

Anyways, the first dinosaur is a baby triceratops. She has no articulation at all, which is alright with me since more articulated figures in this set would drive up the price. She looks very pretty, though. I love her colors, especially the facial markings. They draw attention to her surprised expression and match her horns, which, again, look very nice. I also really like her sculpted details. They add some texture to the figure and also really add to her appearance. Without them, she’d look like a cheap, dollar store toy. 

Soon to star in about 15 “Land Before Time” sequels

She has one accessory, a harness that fits over her back. It’s a nice little accessory that fits pretty snugly on her and has a handle so Dr. Malcolm can carry her away. Getting the handle in his hand can be tricky, though, so you might have to fiddle a little with it.

It turns out that, even as a baby, a triceratops weighs a crapload.

The other dinosaur is a dilophosaurus, which, as a carnivore who needs to eat meat to survive, is our villain for this set. Because the Great Circle of Life can kiss our collective asses. She looks pretty good, too, with her dark green body and the leaf green markings. It really draws in the eye without clashing and sells the idea that this is a jungle predator. She has a little articulation, which is nice, since it lets her pose a little and chase her prey. Her mouth opens and her limbs can all move, but be careful with the legs. They’re a bit stiff, and I’ve heard some people worry about damaging them from moving them too much. She also has a tab in her back you can pull up that has a code you can scan as part of an app meant to go with the toy. Now, her tail looks like it should be able to move. It can’t. Don’t be tempted. It’s not stuck, it doesn’t need a little force to move, and it’s not a factory error. The tail does not move, and attempting to force the issue will not end well.

Ugh, she’s making a face. Now we gotta take the picture again

Her accessories are a set of restraints: a muzzle for her head and a set of cuffs for her limbs. The cuffs clip onto her limbs nicely, and the muzzle fits snugly onto the head. The end result is that you really get the feeling this is a dangerous animal being transported in a zoo. I really like how it comes out.

The all-dinosaur version of “Silence of the Lambs” was a smash hit

“Jurassic Park Dr. Ian Malcolm Glider Escape Pack” is a Target exclusive set that normally goes for about $25, but my wife got me this one for about $17 because it was on sale. The set’s aimed at ages 4+, but keep in mind that the giant missile does have some kick to it. Would I recommend this set? Very much so. The figures all look great, the accessories are fun, and it’s got everything I loved about the original toys as a kid in it. It’s a solid addition to your collection, and who could say no to the seductive looks of Plastic Jeff Goldblum? Next time, we’ll be looking at some more fun stuff in the lead up to our next series of theme reviews. For now, this is JS signing off and wishing you Happy Toy Hunting!

[darkershining]

Just watched episode 16 of Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure, in which Ageha and the Cures put together a puppet show to cheer up Ellee.

The episode begins with a brief recap of the events of the previous episode, as well as the girls explaining to Ageha what happened during their stay in Skyland. Yoyo enters the room, revealing to have done some more research. Apparently, the Undergu Empire and Skyland fought against each other in the past, but after the war, the two realms never interacted again until now. On a brighter note, she also reveals that she found a way to heal the king and queen during her research. If the Cures gather enough of the positive energy released from whenever they purify a Ranborg with the Mirror Pad, she might be able to make a medicine that can cure the king and queen.

Ellee, remembering the state her parents are in, begins to cry. The Cures figure the first thing they should do is try to cheer up Ellee, and Ageha has an idea for something they can try. She brings in some picture books, suggesting they put together a puppet play based on one of them, and tries to see if Ellee would be interested in one of them. Sora asks about the story of Momotaro, which Ellee takes an interest in, and Mashiro gives Sora a brief summary of the plot.

The Cures and Ageha have fun making the puppets and props for their puppet play while Ellee takes a nap. Once everything is ready, the Cures begin the play, with Ageha having made some changes to the story to appeal to Ellee. As the Cures continue the play, we see from Ellee’s perspective how she imagines it playing out.

At first, things are going well, but once “Elletaro” and her companions are heading out to where the ogres live, the Cures are reminded of the recent events and their own battle with the Undergu Empire. Ellee begins crying, and the Cures quickly hurry over to comfort her, with Ageha managing to calm her down. Ageha notes how babies are perspective of the feelings of those around them, and the Cures apologize for getting anxious.

Meanwhile, in a park, Battamonda has just arrived in Sorashido, and spots some kids trying to throw a ball into the hole of an ogre-themed playground device, giving him an idea.

The Cures continue the play, until Sora gets too carried away and accidentally knocks over the sheet with the ogre on it, leading to part of their scene collapsing. As the Cures and Ageha scramble to fix it, Ellee walks over to them, saying each of their names. Ellee manages to raise everyone’s spirits, and Ageha comments that the puppet play seems to have served its purpose. Yoyo interrupts to tell them they’ve received a call from Skyland. The Azure Guard explains that Yoyo filled them on the situation, and they’ll leave getting the cure and looking after Ellee to the Cures while they look after things in Skyland.

A group of birds suddenly appear at the window, with Tsubasa explaining they’re some of the birds he befriended around town, and he changes into his bird form to talk to them and find out why they’re so worked up. He learns that Battamonda showed up, and the Cures quickly head over to the park, with Ageha and Ellee observing from a nearby bush. Ageha suggests she and Ellee go home, but Ellee wants to stay close to everyone.

Battamonda turns the ogre-themed playground device into a Ranborg, causing the people nearby to flee, and the Cures transform. They battle, and the Ranborg gets the upper hand, knocking the Cures down and smashing part of the playground. Battamonda compares it to the state Skyland is in, but Cure Sky protests that Skyland is not weak, and they’re doing all they can to protect everyone. Ellee cheers on the Cures, and they get a second-wind, managing to figure out how to disarm the Ranborg and weaken it enough for Cure Sky and Cure Prism to purify it. Having brought the Mirror Pad along, Cure Sky uses it to collect the energy released from the Ranborg’s purification as Yoyo asked. Battamonda freaks out, wondering how he could be defeated once again, but quickly regains his composure when he notices the Cures staring and tries to take his loss gracefully before retreating.

The episode ends with everyone headed back home, noting once again how Ellee helped lift everyone’s spirits.

Another good episode! It was really sweet seeing everyone working together to cheer up Ellee, and then Ellee ending up being the one to cheer them up. And now the Cures have a new objective, having to gather enough energy to wake the king and queen. Part of me wonders if this will lead to an episode where Battamonda catches on to the fact that they need the energy from purifying Ranborgs, and then just refuses to make one and tries to fight them head on, or something.

I’ll be looking forward to the next episode!

[chrizbang]

Pairing: Bang Chan x female reader, ft. Han Jisung

Genre: smut, a little bit of angst

Warnings: mature content, partying, drinking, kissing, unprotected sex, oral sex, lowkey fuckboy!Chan

Word count: 8.038

Summary: You had to do a project for the last semester in college before your vacation. Not only you had to deal with the stress of doing it right, but you also had to deal with the stupid crush you had on Bang Chan.

"Felix, I'm not going to kiss Chan"

"Everyone, pay attention here, please," your teacher said. Slowly, everyone stopped with the side talk and paid attention to her. "For your last project of the semester, I decided that we are going to learn about different cultures." She got up from her table and went in the direction of the board. "Remember when I asked you guys to send me the names of your groups? Basically, I'm going to draw random countries for each group. I want you guys to do a study aboout the differences of said countries, based on a theme that you are going to choose.”

She started writing on the board.

“The theme must be something creative. If it is not creative, your project is going to lose points, okay?" she said enthusiastically.

She started to draw the countries for each group. Your group was formed by basically you and Felix. Felix became your friend after the first day of class but you felt like he was your friend since forever. "I want this project by the end of the month, so..." she looked at the little calendar on her table. "You guys have three weeks. Any doubts?" Some people raised their hands but you weren't paying attention anymore, you were writing down the countries that you had to work with: Australia, Germany, Spain and, Korea. You had no idea what to do for your project. Your teacher was very clear: it had to be creative. Creativity wasn't your thing. "Okay, guys, class dismissed," your teacher announced. Everyone started to get up and leave but you sat there, trying really hard to think on a theme. "Hey, we have to go," Felix said. "What are we going to do?" "We have plenty of time to think about it, Y/N." Felix grabbed your backpack and started to put your stuff inside of it. "Three weeks is not plenty of time, Felix." "Okay, what's your idea, then?" "I don't know, that's why I'm asking you, dumbass." Felix rolled his eyes and grabbed your hand, dragging you out of the classroom. "How about we do a project about the foods of each country?" "Hm, that's interesting." You took your backpack from his hands to grab a little notebook to write down the ideas. "But I don't think is creative enough." Felix sat at the bench at the corner of the hall. "What if we did the differences in the skin texture of each country?" Felix looked at you and saw the pout on your face. "Too much?" You simply nodded. You sat down next to him, already tired from all the thinking. "You know what would be funny?" you grinned. "What?" "If we made a project about the way that people from each country kiss and the differences from each one." "Y/N, that's it!" Felix got up, excited. "Felix, I was joking." "No, this is a great idea. It's creative! There are students from different countries in our college, so we can totally do it!" "As far as I know, there's only one german student here. Are you going to kiss him?" You stood in front of him, arms crossed. "You are going to kiss him." Felix looked at you like what he was saying was obvious. "Felix!" "Look, we have four countries. I can kiss two people and you kiss two people. It's not going to be hard." "You know what? I'm going home. I'm going to think about a better theme." "You know you can't," Felix shouted while you left. Felix was right, this idea was the best one. It was creative and bold, but kissing random people was the hard part. Not that you didn't like to kiss, but you were used to kissing people at parties, people that you would kiss while you were drunk and you knew that you would never see them again. Not people from your college where you would have to see them every day. "Hi, Jisung," you said while you opened the door of your apartment. Your roommate was laying down on the couch, playing video games. "Hey," he greeted you. You lifted his legs so you could sit on the couch, putting his legs on your lap. "Are you okay?" he asked, noticing your expression. "Ugh, I have this stupid project to make," you whined, throwing your head back and closing your eyes, letting the frustration take over your body. "Do you wanna talk about it?" "No." Your phone rang, you grabbed it only to see that it was Felix calling you. "Hey, Felix." "What's up Feliiix," Jisung screamed. "Hi Jisung,” he yelled, making you pull the phone away from your ear. “Y/N, can you come to my apartment today?" "Nope. No, I can't." "Why? Do you have something to do?" Felix asked. "I don't want to. You know why." "Y/N, you have to get over the crush you have on Chan one day." "I don't have a crush on him, Felix. He just makes me...uncomfortable. Not in a bad way, in a weird way. I don't know how to explain." "Y/N, he's not even here now. Besides, we have to work on the details for our project," Felix insisted. "Why don't you come to my apartment?" "Because every time I go there we can never get anything done because of Jisung. Please? Please, Y/N." "Fine," you sighed. "I'll be there in twenty minutes." "Are you going to get pretty for Channie?" Felix teased. "Shut the fuck up." You turned off your phone and went to your room. The truth is: you did have a crush on Chan. Chan was handsome, funny, he had a great body and a great personality. He was also a fuckboy. You can't remember the number of times that you saw him with different girls in their apartment, one prettier than the other. Eventually, you stopped going to their apartment because you never knew how to behave like a normal human being around him and, seeing him with pretty girls wasn't helping. You took a quick shower and dressed in simple clothes, you didn't want Felix teasing you. While walking through the campus in the direction of their apartment, you kept trying to calm yourself. It has been a while since you saw Chan, so you were excited, even though you were trying to convince yourself that you weren't. Felix said that he wasn't home, so there was no reason for you to be nervous. You stopped in front of their door and took a deep breath. You knocked and it took a moment before Felix answered. "Hey, Y/N," Felix screamed, giving you a hug. "Don't act like we didn't see each other a few hours ago." You entered their apartment. The structure was the same for all the apartments on the campus, but each one had its own piece of decoration. Surprisingly enough, Felix and Chan's apartment had a great decoration and was super clean. "So... let's go to your room." "Are you sure that you don't want to work in the living room?" Felix asked. "I'm sure," you said, already going in the direction of his room. Felix laughed. He knew you were trying to avoid Chan. You sat on Felix's bed with your notebook in your hands, ready to take notes. "Look," Felix said, sitting in front of you. "I know that you don't want to use kissing as a theme, but..." Felix raised his hand when he saw your expression, trying to explain himself. "It is the perfect theme, Y/N. We are not going to find something as creative and daring as this. And this is important for our grades, we are not doing very well on this subject, remember?" Felix tilted his head. You know he was right. "Fine, you are not going to leave me alone, are you?" "Nope." Felix got up from the bed and grabbed his notebook on his table, to show you some annotations. "So, we have to find people from Australia, Germany, Spain, and Korea. We already know the german student, don't worry, I'll talk to him so you can kiss him." Felix wrote down something in his notebook and continued. "There's a spanish girl in Chan's class, I'm gonna ask him to help me out." The simple mention of Chan's name made you feel butterflies in your stomach. "For korean, I thought about the possibility of..." Felix hesitated and looked at you. "No." "Come on, Y/N." "I am not going to kiss Jisung, Felix." "Fine, I'll look for a korean girl somewhere." "There's probably someone in our college." "The problem is someone australian. Don't get me wrong, I love you and you are gorgeous. But I'm not going to kiss you." "I don't want to kiss you either, Felix." "Felix." You heard Chan calling, startling you. "I'm in my room," Felix yelled. Chan opened the door of Felix's room. You looked at your notebook to pretend that you were occupied. Chan and Felix talked about ordering food for dinner or something. "Y/N," Chan said when he noticed you, making you instantly look in his direction. "Long time no see." He had a stupid cocky smile on his face. His sweet voice made you swallow hard. "H-hi, Chan." Of course, you had to stutter. "You can stay for dinner if you want," Chan offered before leaving the room. "So cute," Felix whispered, looking at your red face. "I have to go," you said, gathering your stuff. "But Chan invited you for dinner, Y/N," Felix teased you. "Bye, Felix." "Okay, let me walk you to the door." Luckily, Chan was occupied in the kitchen so he didn't see you leave. "Text me once you get there, okay?" Felix said. "Okay, bye." You kept thinking about the little interaction with Chan on your way home. He dyed his hair since the last time you saw him. Instead of blonde, it was now black. Both colors suited him so much. He was wearing a black sweatshirt and some jeans, the most basic clothes ever and he looked breathtaking. You hated how you were head over heels for him, you felt like a teenager. It was so silly. Days went by and you had a lot of work from college. Felix already worked on his part and managed to kiss the spanish girl from Chan’s class. Something made you feel like kissing wasn't the only thing he did, but you didn't want to know the details. Some students were planning a party and Chan invited Felix, who invited you. "I don't know, I have so much to do," you whined. "Can I go?" Jisung asked, stuffing some food in his mouth. "Of course," Felix said. "Y/N, that's exactly why you should go." He said that while holding some of the papers that were on the couch while you worked on your homework. "You need to ease your mind from all the stress from school." "He's right," Jisung agreed. "She's so grumpy lately because of college." "Shut up, Jisung,” you whined. "Okay, fine. But only if you help finish this," you told Felix. "Fine." The party was on a tuesday night, Felix would go with Chan so you asked Jisung to take you. "Looking good," Jisung stated, eyeing you up and down as he entered your room. You were putting your earrings on. You decided that since you would have all the work to go to a party, you had to a least look good. So you were wearing a leather skirt with a white long-sleeved blouse that showed some cleavage. "Thanks, Jisung. Are you ready?" "Yeah. Let's go." The party wasn't far away from your dorm so you were able to go walking. It was 9 pm, so leaving Jisung with you made you feel safer. Jisung was the type of person who was outgoing, he talked a lot and made you laugh all the time. Along the way, he talked about college and his classes. He studied music production and he seemed really passionate about it. You thought it was cute how his eyes glowed while he talked about his classes. It was funny because Chan also studied music production, but he was from a different classroom. Some minutes later, you were at the place of the party. You had no idea whose house was that, but you completely forgot about it once you were inside. The first thing you saw was Chan, but he was too occupied to see you. He was kissing a girl. She was gorgeous, with long blonde hair, and a tight red dress that accentuated her curves. You were sure that Chan enjoyed that dress by the way his hands ran over her body, stopping at her ass to grab it. "I'm gonna look for Felix," you whispered to Jisung. You found Felix standing next to a table where people were playing beer pong. "Y/N," he yelled when he saw you. He ran in your direction, giving you a tight hug that made you realize that he was probably, already, a little drunk. "Hi," you said with a sad voice. "What's wrong?" "Nothing. It's not important." "If it's not important, why are you making that face?" He held your face with his hands, looking right into your eyes. "Felix, I don't wanna talk about it, not now." You looked in the direction of the table. "Can I play?" "Sure," Felix shrugged. You played beer pong with Felix and some unknown people and eventually, you started to feel dizzy. "I'm going to use the bathroom," you said, stumbling on some drunk people while you tried to leave. You went to the second floor, looking from door to door when you finally saw the bathroom one. However, when you got closer, you realized that there was someone inside of it. And they weren't alone. You could hear the sound of skin slapping against skin and muffled moans. You widened your eyes, feeling embarrassed by witnessing people having sex. When you turned around to leave, you heard the girl moaning "fuck Chan, harder." You could hear Chan groaning while he fucked her.

You swallowed hard and left. There was another bathroom on the first floor which you found eventually. Once you were inside, you sat on the toilet and cried. You had this stupid crush on Chan for so long and look at you. Crying in the bathroom while he fucked a girl in another bathroom. You stayed there for a while, feeling sorry for yourself until you got fed up. It was time to get over him. You cleaned your tears and got up to go back to the party. You looked around for Felix but couldn't find him anywhere. "Y/N," you looked in the direction of the person calling you and saw Jisung enthusiastically waving at you. He was standing in the middle of the living room where people were dancing. "Hey," you half yelled since the song was loud. "Are enjoying the party?" "Not really." You really wanted to leave, you didn't feel like staying at that party, and you especially didn't feel like dancing. That's when you looked around and saw Chan at the corner of the living room, talking to Felix. You saw that he had his eyes on you. Like he would always do, looking at you like he was checking you out but without it being obvious. You clenched your fists, you were tired of Chan teasing you. You had an idea and you didn't even stop to think about it. You grabbed Jisung's face and kissed him. It was a weird kiss at first, the smell of alcohol exhaling in the air. Jisung's lips were soft but eager, he held onto your waist, getting your body closer to his. He wasted no time before shoving his tongue inside of your mouth, taking you by surprise. You kissed him for a while but you stopped the moment you felt him rubbing his boner on you. You lightly pushed him by his shoulders.

"I have to go," you said, leaving the room. Jisung stayed there, looking at you, without knowing how to react. You decided that you had to leave. You were confused, upset, angry and a little horny, thanks to Jisung. You started to walk in the direction of the gates of the house when you heard somebody calling your name. "Y/N, wait!" You sighed and turned around. The last thing you needed was to talk to Chan. "What do you want?" you roared. "Are you leaving?" "Yes. I'm going home." He looked like he was angry at something, but you simply shrugged. "Let me take you home. It's way too late for you to be walking alone," he said in a serious tone. "I don't need your help, Chan." You turned around to leave when he grabbed your arm. "This was not a suggestion. I'm taking you home," he growled. You pulled your arm from his hands but didn't fight. Chan walked with you to your apartment quietly. Not a word was said until he stopped in front of your dorm. "Thanks," you said, looking at the floor. "So, Jisung, huh?. I didn't expect that." "I'm sorry?" You raised your head, looking at him. "How long have you been dating him?" he asked. He really looked like something was bothering him, clenching his jaw and crossing his arms. You felt like he was fighting with you for doing something wrong. "T-that's none of your business. Goodnight, Chan," you remarked. You went in the direction of your door and stopped. You were so angry at him, you couldn't stop the words from coming out of your mouth. "Where's the girl you were fucking in the bathroom? You should be worried about her." Chan widened his eyes and smiled. You wanted to punch that stupid smile out of his face. "Are you jealous?" he asked, raising his eyebrow. "Fuck off." You unlocked the door and went inside. You lay down on your bed and closed your eyes. It didn't take long for you to sleep since you were exhausted. You couldn't say that you had a good night of sleep though, you woke up with a hangover and headache. Still, you had class first thing in the morning so you had to go. You took a shower and got dressed up when you remembered what happened to Jisung. You were not ready to face the consequences of your actions, so you tried to leave without seeing him. You were sitting in your class, trying to pay attention when Felix arrived. "Hey," he said, sitting by your side. "Hey," you whined. "I have good news. There was a german girl at the party last night, so I did your job for you." "Yay," you said without any enthusiasm. "Aaand, since you kissed Jisung, you have the korean part. There's only Australia missing." "Haven't you kissed any girls when you lived in Australia?" you interrogated him. "I did, but I'm australian. I think it would be better from the perspective of someone who isn't, you know?" You sighed. When you started to pack your stuff to leave after the class was over, you groaned. "What is it, Y/N?" Felix asked. "I have to go home." "And?" "I kissed Jisung, Felix." "Was it that bad?" Felix tilted his head, not understanding your point. "That's not the point. He's my roommate and my friend, that's weird." "Well, unless you are planning to move somewhere else, you'll have to talk to him." You groaned again, throwing your head back. You went home thinking about what exactly you would tell Jisung. You always thought that Jisung was an attractive guy and you would be lying if you said you never took a look at his body when he would walk around shirtless. There was even that one time where he brought a girl home, they tried to stay quiet but you could hear them fucking. That turned you on so much that you had to touch yourself. Still, Jisung was your friend and kissing your friends was not something that you usually did. When you got home, you looked around for Jisung. You heard some noises in his room. You knocked at the door and he stayed silent for a while. "Come in," he said. "Hey," you purred when you opened the door. "I think I need to talk." "Yeah, I think we should." "Sorry for kissing you last night, that was a stupid thing to do," you stumbled on your words, barely giving yourself time to breathe. "Y/N," Jisung raised his hand. "It's okay. You are a good kisser." "Thanks. I guess."

"I have to admit that I couldn't stop thinking about it. I was thinking..." Jisung hesitated for a moment, thinking deeply about what he was going to say.

"Why don't we do it again?" he suggested.

You bit your lips. You had to admit that that's not what you were expecting from him.

You sat at the edge of his bed, getting closer to him.

"Jisung, I... I kissed you because I wanted Chan to notice me, maybe get him jealous." Saying it out loud made you realize how childish and silly that was, you couldn't help but to feel embarrassed.

"Y/N, I don't care. It's not like I'm asking you to marry me," he laughed.

Jisung sat by your side.

"What do you think about being friends with benefits?"

He watched your reaction. You had a confused expression on your face, trying to understand his words.

"When was the last time that you had sex?" he asked.

"I don't know. Eight months ago?"

"See? It's been a while for me, too. Besides, you can even use me to make Chan jealous, if you want."

"Are you listening to yourself, Jisung?"

"Yes. We can still be friends, no feelings involved. Think about it."

Jisung got up from the bed and walked in the direction of the door.

"Ji-jisung."

He turned around to look at you. "Yes?"

"I want it."

Felix, 5:35 pm: Hey 

Felix, 5:35 pm: Did you write your dissertation about the korean part?

Y/N, 5:38 pm: I did

Y/N, 5:38 pm: Even though I don't think it's really useful since I was drunk

Felix, 5:40 pm: You should kiss Jisung again then, lol

Y/N, 5:41 pm: Maybe I will ;)

Felix, 5:42 pm: Y/N??? You nasty little b

Felix, 5:43 pm: Send it to me, please.

Y/N, 5:45 pm: Okay.

Y/N, 5:45 pm: Hey, are going to do something tomorrow?

Felix, 5:48 pm: No, why?

Y/N, 5:49 pm: Let's go to the movies. There's that horror movie that we wanted to watch in the theaters.

Felix, 5:51 pm: Sure!

Y/N, 5:52 pm: Can I bring Jisung?

Felix, 5:52 pm: Yes

Felix, 5:54 pm: But don't you dare to make me feel like the third wheel.

Jisung didn't even know that you had plans with him that afternoon. But you wanted to spend time with him, to ensure the "friends" part of your negotiation. After accepting to be friends with benefits, he didn't talk about it anymore. You thought that he would kiss you again or something, but no, he went to the kitchen to make some mac and cheese for dinner and then went to sleep.

"Jisung," you said, knocking on his door. You know that if he was silent he was probably taking a nap.

"What?" he asked, in an annoyed voice.

"Can I come in?"

"Ugh, no, I'm sleeping."

You entered the room anyway. You swallowed hard when you saw that he was laying on his stomach, shirtless. His back was exposed for you to see. It was not the first time that you saw him like that, but it was the first time since you kissed him.

"Get up, we are going to the theater."

"We?" he asked, looking at you.

"Yes, you, me and, Felix."

"Aww," he whined. "I thought it would be a cute date."

Jisung winked at you with a cocky smile on his face.

"Shut up. You have ten minutes to get dressed."

You agreed with Felix to meet him at the movie theater, so you left with Jisung on an Uber.

When you arrived at the movie theater, you could see Felix at the line to buy the tickets, but he wasn't alone.

"Felix?" you asked when you got closer to him.

"Hey!" he said. "I hope you don't mind Chan coming with us. He insisted that he wanted to come. Like really."

"Hi, Y/N," Chan purred, smiling at you. He then looked a Jisung.

"Jisung," he said in a low voice. His face looked serious, it didn't look like he was happy to see Jisung there.

Chan looked back at you. “I hope you don’t mind if Felix and I accompany your date with your little friend with benefits.”

You didn’t have time for a reaction since Felix pulled you to buy your tickets and some popcorn and headed to the movie. The mood was heavy, Jisung walked around with his arm around your neck all the time and you saw Chan looking at you with an upset expression. Was he jealous? You didn't know.

You sat by Jisung's side on the theater and Felix sat by your side, but after talking about something with Chan, they switched places.

Chan's leg touched yours and you felt your heart dancing in your chest. Why couldn't you get over him? You held Jisung's hand, trying to distract yourself. You were not giving Chan what he wanted.

With the corner of your eye, you would see Chan watching you sometimes. But you avoided looking back at him at any cost.

Jisung would whisper some things in your ear during the movie, making you giggle.

Suddenly, you felt Chan moving next to you. He stretched out for a moment, but he left his arm on your chair, next to your shoulders. You swallowed hard and rolled your eyes. Would you be lying if you said you didn't like the sudden attention you were getting from Chan? Yes, you would. But you felt confused and angry. Chan was acting jealous out of nowhere, to the point where you started to feel guilty, while you had to deal with the countless times where you saw him with other girls. Still, you never acted like a jealous teenager around him, so yeah, you were not giving in. The movie ended and all you wanted to do was to leave the theater. Jisung was by your side all the time, walking with you in front of Chan and Felix. "Let's go home, darling," Jisung purred, after giving you a peck on the cheeks. You could tell that he was loving to tease Chan. You said goodbye to Felix, and, reluctantly, to Chan and left with Jisung. When you got home you sat on the couch, still thinking about everything that was happening. Jisung sat by your side, almost sitting on your lap. "Ouch," you whined. "Sorry. What is up with Chan? He looked really angry at me today." "I don't know and I don't care," you shrugged. "Come on, Y/N. I think he has a crush on you and got all mad now that you have a man." "Oh, I have a man?" you looked at Jisung with an amused expression. "Well, we are friends with benefits, remember?" Jisung laid his head on your shoulder while his hand grabbed your thigh. "I almost forgot since you didn't say anything about it anymore." Jisung's thumb drew patterns on your skin while he talked. "Well, I wanted to give you space, you know? To get used to it." "Awn, you are so sweet." "I am, baby." You looked at Jisung, who was also looking at you. Slowly, you got closer to him until your lips touched. Now that you were sober, it wasn't so weird to kiss him. He was very eager, but not in a bad way. He played with your tongue while he guided the kiss, holding your head with his hand. Suddenly, he grabbed your waist, making you sit on his lap. He kept on kissing you, running his hands through your body. You started to grind on his boner, just to tease him a little. Jisung held hard on your waist, pulling you closer to him, so you would grind harder on him. You couldn't hold the little whine that left your lips when you felt his hard dick against your clit. "Take this off," he whispered, helping you to take off your t-shirt. He didn't waste time, grabbing your boobs and pulling your bra down. he licked one of your nipples while he played with the other.  You moaned loud, rocking your hips on his cock. Jisung started to kiss your neck, working to take his belt off. He opened his pants and freed his dick. "Are you on the pill?" he asked. "Yes." Your skirt was already raised, exposing your wet panties. He pulled your panties to the side and held your waist, helping you out so you could slide on his dick. You whined when you felt him stretching you out. You started to ride his dick at a fast pace, not giving your pussy time to adjust. "Fuck, Y/N," Jisung moaned. "I'm not gonna last long if you keep it like that." "Play with my clit, I'm close," you whined. He rubbed his thumb against your clit while you sat on his dick. After a little while, you came, kissing him on the lips. Quickly, you got off his lap and got on your knees. You grabbed his dick and started pumping and sucking it. Jisung came, moaning loud, filling your mouth up with his hot cum. You swallowed it and looked at him with an innocent face. "That's fucking hot," he whined. "Y/N, we need to finish our project," Felix said. You were sitting in the cafeteria. You had only one week before you had to deliver the project and Felix was starting to panic. "I know, I'm still looking for a guy who is from Australia that's not you." "You know a guy that's Australian and it's not me." "Felix, I'm not going to kiss Chan," you grumped. "Why not?" You turned around to see Chan standing behind you, with that cocky smile that he always had on his face. He sat on the table by your side. "Felix told me about your project. Why are not going to kiss me? Is your little boyfriend going to stay mad?" he teased. "You know that Jisung it's not my boyfrie-," you stopped once you noticed that you were explaining yourself. You cleaned your throat. "I don't owe you any explanation, Chan. And Felix, you really need to stop exposing my life to him."

Felix frowned.

"Come on, Y/N. You would rather fail than to kiss me?" he asked, tilting his head and looking at you, using a soft voice. You hated how he made you feel butterflies in your stomach by the way he looked at you. You hated how he looked so good with that stupid sweatshirt and his messy hair, making you think that he was probably late for college today. Probably because he was fucking some hot girl the night before. "I'm n-not gonna fail. I'll kiss Felix if I have to." You got up and left, going home. Felix called your name but you kept walking. In your college, there were a lot of foreign students, but not many australians, from what you knew. You knew that were no way that Felix would kiss you, so you had to do something. You were looking on Tinder, trying to find what you needed when Felix messaged you asking for you to go to his house. He said that you needed to at least finish to write the project, even if Australia was missing. You went to his apartment, ready to be angry at Chan, but you soon learned that he wasn't there. You and Felix did what you had to do and by the end of it, you were both mentally exhausted. "How come just writing something can be so tiring?" Felix asked, throwing himself on the couch. "Probably because we are both very stupid," you stated. "That must be it. I'm kind of hungry but we don't have anything to eat. I think I’m going to the supermarket to buy us something, okay?" "Okay. I'm gonna review our work while you are there." You were sitting there, doing your job for about ten minutes when you heard the door opening. "Already?" you asked. "Y/N?" "Oh, Chan. I thought it was Felix." you sighed. "Sorry to disappoint." Chan went to his room and stayed there for a while. You found it strange that he didn't come to tease you. "Y/N, can you come to my room for a moment?" "I'm busy." You felt your palms sweating. Was he really inviting you to stay alone, in his room, with him? "Please? It's going to be really quick, I need to show you something."

You wanted to say no, you really did. But you went to his room anyway. Chan closed the door when you were inside and told you to sit on the chair next to the table. He had his notebook turned on. "Put this on," he said, handing you his earphones. Chan played a song. It had a smooth melody, with soft lyrics. The person singing had a sweet voice. The lyrics talked about feelings and liking someone. It was short, about a minute and a half. "Do you like it?" Chan asked, with expectation shining on his eyes. "Yes, it's beautiful." He leaned on the edge of the table next to you. "Well, I wrote it and produced it. I also recorded it," he said with a smile on his face, but this time it wasn't a cocky one, he looked satisfied. "Oh, are you the one singing?" "Yes." "I didn't know you could sing." Chan played with his fingers and looked down. You have never seen him like that before. He looked hesitant, almost nervous. "Y/N, I-" "Hello?" Felix opened Chan's door. "Y/N, I was looking for you. We need to finish our project." Chan didn't say anything, he just left the room. "I hope I'm not interrupting something," Felix added. You shrugged and went to the living room with him. You finished all you needed about your project and went home. You looked for Jisung, until you found him in his room. "Can I come in?" you timidly asked when you opened the door. "Of course." You ran to his bed, getting under the covers with him. He was sitting down with his back against the headboard, he looked like he was studying. "I don't want to bother you, Jisung." "That's fine. What's up?" he directed his attention to you. "I'm so confused." "About what?" "About Chan." Jisung laughed. "Tell me about it." "Today he showed a song that he wrote. It was about love and stuff. And he has been acting all jealous. I don't know how to feel about it." "You really like him, don't you?" You sighed. "Jisung, I don't think we should be friends with benefits anymore." "It's okay, Y/N. Can we still be friends?" "Of course!" you hugged him, resting your head against his chest. "I'm gonna miss the sex though," he teased. "Jisung!" "Just kidding, baby." Y/N, 9:45 pm: Felix Y/N, 9:45 pm: We have one day before our project is due Y/N, 9:45 pm: I'm gonna ask you something Felix, 9:58 pm: Y/N I DON'T WANT TO KISS YOU Y/N, 9:59 pm: It's not that, dumbass Y/N, 9:59 pm: I need you to ask Chan if he will kiss me Y/N, 10:00 pm: But I want to make it clear that this is strictly professional Felix, 10:02 pm: Okay, I'm gonna talk to him You had no other choice anymore. You couldn't afford to have a bad grade so yeah, you were going to kiss Bang Chan. Felix said that you would have to go to their apartment. You already started to feel nervous. When you arrived, Chan opened the door for you. "Where's Felix?"" you asked. You were holding tight on the sleeve of your blouse. You walked past Chan while you entered their apartment and you felt your legs going weak when you smelled his cologne. He smelled so good. "He said that he wanted to give us privacy," he answered. You frowned, that was typical of him. "Look, I'm only doing this because I need to, okay? We don't have much time anymore and we really need to finish this project." Chan got closer to you, looking into your eyes. You wanted to run away. "Okay," he said. You stayed there looking for each other. You didn't know what to do. "A-are you going to kiss me?" you asked. Chan smirked. "I'm sorry, I'm a little nervous," he admitted. "You? Nervous?" "Yeah." "Chan, please. I've seen you kissing a bunch of girls a lot of times and you've never looked like you were nervous." "Yeah, but they were not you." Chan's words danced in your ears. "That's not funny." "What?" he asked. "It's not fun to play with someone's feeling like that." "I'm not playing with your feelings, Y/N. I'm serious." Chan touched your chin, making you feel shivers down your spine. One little touch and he had you on the palm of his hand. "I've known for a long time that you had a crush on me." You felt your cheeks burning. "I've always thought that you were amazing. Gorgeous, funny, smart. I just thought I wasn't good enough for you. But when I saw you kissing Jisung... I don't know. I felt so bad. I think I was used to having you around." Chan's hand that was on your chin ran to your cheek, holding the side of your face. "C-chan," you whispered. Chan shortened the distance between your bodies and kissed you. By the moment where his lips touched yours, you knew for sure that you would get addicted to it. His plump lips were soft and warm, welcoming yours like a tight hug. His other hand grabbed your waist, getting you closer to him. It was so soft and sweet, not something that you would expect from him. You held onto his neck, touching him to make sure you weren't dreaming. You wanted more. You slid your tongue in his mouth, deepening the kiss. Your hand ran through his chest until it reached the end of his shirt. You put your hand under his shirt, feeling his abs. "Y/N," Chan said. "Please," you whispered against his lips. You weren't thinking straight anymore. Chan's lips started to go down until they reached your neck. He sucked on it, making you whimper. "Are you sure about it? We don't have to do anything if you don't want to," he asked, looking right into your eyes. "I want to." Chan held your hand and took you to his room. He told you to lay on his bed. You never thought that this would happen one day. He laid down next to you, facing you. "We don't have to do anything, Y/N." He smiled, the stupid dimples making his face look cuter than ever. "We can just talk, maybe kiss and-" "Chan. I want you to fuck me." You were begging. You were begging for that cock like a little bitch and you were not embarrassed. Chan widened his eyes and swallowed hard. "Okay, okay," he giggled. He got on his knees and took his shirt off. You have never seen him shirtless and you were pretty much pleased by what you saw. You wanted to kiss every inch of his pale skin. Chan got on top of you. He kissed you, exploring your lips. You were wearing a dress that was quickly on the floor of his room. "Fuck," Chan groaned when he saw you only in lingerie. You saw the boner on his pants and licked your lips. You pushed him on the bed and got on top of him. You helped him so he could take off his pants and underwear. His dick was marvelous. Above average, thick, pink tip and veiny. You didn't waste time, you grabbed it and started to lick the head. Chan moaned, closing his eyes. You twirled your tongue around it while you pumped it with your hand. You sucked hard on the tip and Chan moaned again. You tried to go down on it as much as could, which wasn't much since deepthroating wasn't your specialty, but you guessed that Chan was enjoying it by the sounds he was making. Chan grabbed your head and stopped you. "Lay down, baby girl," he demanded. He opened the drawer of the nightstand next to his bed and grabbed a condom but he didn't put it on yet. Instead, he took off your lingerie and got between your legs. He slowly kissed your belly, going down your body. He bit the inside of your thighs, leaving marks behind. He finally went where you wanted him to. He licked your pussy lips, making you whine. He teased you, going from penetrating you with his tongue to licking your clit. You were moaning and whimpering, feeling your orgasm approaching. "Chan, please," you moaned. He started to finger you while he licked your clit. It was too much for you and you came on his mouth. Chan kept licking you until you couldn't take it anymore because of the overstimulation. He took the condom, slid it on his dick and, pumped it a few times. He kissed you, making you taste your own juices. He finally started to slide himself into you, slowly. You whined, feeling him stretching your pussy. "Fuck, baby. So fucking good," he whimpered. When he was fully inside, he gave you a deep kiss. He kissed you for a while, giving you time to get used to him inside of you. "C-chan," you moaned. He started to move, pounding into you at a slow and deep pace. You could feel every inch of him inside of you and you loved it. Chan's moaning was driving you crazy. "So good, baby," he said in your ear. His low voice went straight to your folds, getting you wetter. He kept it slow and intimate, rubbing his pelvis against your clit. "Chan, I'm g-gonna cum." "Cum for me, baby girl." You came again, feeling your legs shaking. Chan kept fucking you until he felt his high approaching. "Ah, fuck, baby," he whined when he came, thrusting deep inside of you. Chan lay down by your side. He took the condom off and threw it in the trash bin next to his bed.

He hugged you, making you lay on his chest. You stayed quiet, listening to his heartbeat, no words were needed. Chan played with your hair, his warm arms making you feel safe. Suddenly, your stomach growled. "Somebody's hungry," Chan teased. He started to move so he could get up. "No!" you whined. "I'm gonna get something for you to eat, baby," he giggled. You let go of him and Chan got up from the bed. He put on his underwear and went to the kitchen. You decided to put your clothes on. Some minutes later Chan came back. He widened his eyes when he saw you with your dress back on. "Are you leaving?" he asked, worried. "No, I just wanted to put it back on. Unless you want me to leave." "Of course not!" Chan sat by your side on the bed, he brought a plate with a sandwich and a cup of orange juice. "Here," he handed it to you. You ate while Chan talked about the songs he was producing. It was interesting to hear even though you had no understanding about the subject. "It's getting late. I'm gonna get dressed so I can take you home, okay?" he said. "You don't have to, Chan." "But I want to." Chan walked you to your apartment. He stayed with you in front of your dorm for a while, kissing and hugging you like he didn't want to let you go. Reluctantly, he went back home. When you went inside, you were surprised to see Felix sitting on the couch with Jisung, playing video games. "Wow, finally," he said. "That was a long kiss," Jisung teased. He didn't sound bitter, it really looked like he was being funny, which made you feel relieved. You sat between them, laying your head on Felix's shoulder. "I had sex with him." "Too much information," Jisung said. They laughed. "It's not funny, guys." "What's wrong, Y/N?" Felix asked. "Isn't that good? You've had a crush on him since forever." "Yeah, but what if I gave him what he wanted?" You got up from the couch, frustrated. "He had sex with me, so he will probably run for the next girl to fuck." "Y/N, I'm pretty sure he's head over hills for you," Jisung said. "I'm going to my room." Later that night you finished your project with Felix. It was due soon, so you were relieved but disappointed in yourself. You let yourself go so easily. You didn't want to feel like that, but you couldn't help it. You were feeling insecure. It wasn't just sex to you, you really felt a connection with Chan. But did he feel the same? What if he just acted as he liked you so he could fuck you? Claim you as his so he could show dominance against Jisung? You didn't know. The day to deliver the project finally arrived. You were relieved that it was finally done and the semester was almost over too. Soon you would be on vacation from college. When you were leaving the classroom, you saw Chan waiting for you outside. "Hey," he said when you got closer. "Hi." He hugged and kissed your cheek. "Wow, right in front of me, disgusting," Felix said. "Can I have your phone number?" Chan asked. "I thought of asking Felix, but I wanted to ask you in person. I also wanted to see you." "Yeah. Of course." "Hey, guys. I love both of you, but you are not going to make me the third wheel," Felix said, standing between you and Chan and intertwining his arms with yours and with Chan's. It was the last day of class. You and Felix got a 9 out of 10 on your project. Felix thought it deserved more but you were just happy that you did well. Your teacher said that she was impressed by the theme you chose. She loved how bold it was and it was exactly the type of stuff that she wanted. You laughed about the way Felix got excited because she complimented your project.

You were sitting in the cafeteria with Jisung, Felix and, Chan. At first, the idea of Chan and Jisung together made you uncomfortable, but they seemed to get along, so you were satisfied. Jisung also thought it would be better if he moved in with Felix so Chan could live in the dorm with you, which Chan promptly accepted. You went home with Chan, talking about your plans for your vacation and how you could spend time together. You ate and watched some TV, but you were really tired. Chan laid down on the couch and you laid on top of him, resting your face on his chest. You loved to stay with him like this, feeling the warmth of his body. You just stayed there with your eyes closed and feeling his perfume. Chan's phone rang and quickly answered, he didn't know that you were awake and he didn't want it to bother you. You heard him talking to some guy, he was inviting Chan to a party. "Thanks for inviting me, mate, but I'll have to decline," he said, almost whispering. "I'm with my girlfriend and I want to spend the day with her." You smiled. Chan was what you always wanted and you finally had it, and he also had you.

A/N: This is a long ass fanfic, I tried to proofread it but it might still have some grammatical errors. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

[oc-tournaments]

ROUND TWO - MATCH 5

ICHIKO TAKEDA vs DALO

ICHIKO TAKEDA: @missmako-chan

DALO: @genericswordsmaiden

VOTE BASED ON THE INFORMATION BELOW CUT!!

Propaganda Content Warnings: Suicide, assault, internalised homophobia, animal death, dismemberment, alcoholism for DALO.

ICHIKO TAKEDA:

PROPAGANDA: Ichiko is an in-universe Kamen Rider fan, raised by the Imagin from Kamen Rider Den-O! She loves her brothers and all Kamen Riders! Sure would be a shame if she's ripped away from her world and put into another (Ride Kamens) where Riders work differently yet resemble the ones from her world close enough that she can't help compare them constantly despite the old Riders not existing here and internally hate the Ride Kamens 'Riders' for "copying a legacy they don't even know about" and not be able to go home!! Sure would be an even bigger shame if they turned into a monster about it because they've been stewing in their own conflicting emotions for the entirety of their stay in the Ride Kamens universe until they finally snapped and let go of the cheery persona they kept for so long!!! Especially if the one guy she's stuck with the most is based off of one of her brothers and yet so different from him that they end up catching feelings for him and is in denial!!!!

THEME SONG:

DALO:

PROPAGANDA: Dalo is a ghost, she died by suicide at the age of 27, and in the world of the dead where she now resides, which is actually a purgatory of sorts, she has to endure loneliness because suicides can get corrupted - change form and become aggressive spirits - and are therefore ostracized by other ghosts. Born in an abusive family, starved during her childhood and bullied at school, Dalo develops trust issues growing up, her only friend being a pen pal, Luka, and her mentor, a man whom she only remembers as Professor. Dalo is not her real name, but a nickname that eventually erased her original name. At age 16, she gets physically assaulted by a group of guys and survives, but gets big ugly scars on her back that she tries to hide in every way she can. When she gets the chance, she travels to the city of Providence, renting an apartment with Luka. They form a band with two other characters, Mary and Sam, but soon tensions arise, mainly because they all love Sam in some way, and this puts Dalo in an uncomfortable situation because she doesn't really know how to deal with feelings. She ultimately decides to put them aside and think about how to help Luka deal with his homosexuality instead. In this period of time, which lasts about three months, another tragedy occurs: Dalo and Luka's cat, whom they treated as a son, is found killed one evening. This brings the two even closer, grief shutting them out of the world for a while. As if that wasn't enough, Sam, thinking that Luka and Dalo became a couple, marries Mary instead, breaking two hearts at once. Just when it seems like everything is slowly flowing normally again, Luka has a breakdown and asks Dalo if God can accept him as he is. The choice of words in her answer to such a cryptic question is crucial and will forever change her life, as well as ultimately end his, since he goes missing from that evening, until his body is found in a bag a week later, chopped up into pieces. The weight of the event is too much for her to bear, the guilt and pain make her turn to alcoholism. Her last choice was cold and calculated, she saw no value in a life like hers, so after months of suffering she took her own life. As a ghost, this choice hunts her, also because it made her directly linked to the main antagonist of the book, but this is a lore-heavy detail and I don't really want to delve into it. Her other big character trait is the fact that, with a life like that, she has tons of repressed anger, which all comes crashing out of her (literally) at some point in the story. Her power as a ghost is summoning chains, which symbolise both her guilt and the desperate need to be "chained to someone", to have some kind of bond with another person.

THEME SONG:

[palidoozy-art]

Curse of Strahd dump #01. This is apparently the most images I can fit in one post, I guess! A lot of these were portraits used for tokens. I’ve gone and labeled some of them, because some of them include NPCs in the base game, and it’s always fun to see people’s taken on those! The height charts were made because my party kept stuffing NPCs into a bag of holding.

My party played the game in a very... anime/Neverwinter Nights kind of way, where they tried to gather as many friendly major NPCs as they could into a tiny army to fight Strahd. The first height chart shown is pretty much every major NPC they managed to befriend and convince to join them. And yes, they would sometimes put every single one of them in the same room at the same time. Playing like 16 people at once is hard.

Other fun Barovia facts beneath the read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

- I allowed my players to recruit the Abbot after he wound up being pretty popular with them. His story diverged a lot from RAW, probably because I changed the mongrelfolk from “ha ha look at these inbred crazy people” to “scared adventurers/Barovians sell their body parts to the Abbot in an attempt to fix diseases/bring their loved ones back to life, go mad in the process, and the Abbot tries to care for them after.”

- Rahadin was another character that wound up being popular with my players, enough that they captured him and want to work to redeem him. They took him outside the mists with them. With Strahd's death and nothing else to live for, the party convinced him to work for Ireena. Also he's 7 feet tall because Kelogul's player told me he always imagined him "being taller than Kelogul," who is a 6'6" half orc. so now there is a monstrous blue fuckin' elf who really likes cooking walking around with them.

- Speaking of, the dusk elves in general were based more off the shadar-kai than wood elves in RAW because, c'mon, why wouldn't they be? Also I changed their coloration to more dusk-themed. It made them stand out a bit more and feel unique in the sea of D&D elves.

- The party will be continuing on adventures outside of the mists with their gaggle of NPCs. They really want to hit level 20. There's still a few plot hooks they can explore -- most notably, Escher and Patrina both lived through the campaign.

- The players treated the game like a Bioware game and all wound up romancing an NPC. Ellerian wound up with the former mongrelfolk, Marzena; Kelogul wound up with the moon-themed elf, Ivalice; Miharu wound up with Gertruda; and Arialoth wound up with... Rictavio/Rudolph van Richten. Nobody understands what she sees in him, but the player seems happy so I ain't here to judge. Three of the players all wanted to romance Ireena, apparently, but none of them wanted to compete with each other and they wound up finding other options.

- Ireena's ending was changed as well, because I thought it was fucked up that she gets literally spirited away by Sergei's ghost and doesn't have much of her own agency as an individual. She has also made it out of Barovia, and will get to live a full, uncursed life.

- Kelogul got his arm ripped off by Strahd in the final battle. After the final battle, the group went on a 'Barovian Bar Crawl' (note: there's like, two bars in the entirety of Barovia) and Kelogul challenged Ireena to a drinking contest. Rahadin took her place after she started getting fucked up from it, and between the two of them they downed like, 10 bottles of moonshine. Rahadin won because Kelogul got so drunk literally the next drink would have killed him. Anyway the next day -- with a massive hangover -- Kelogul got his leg ripped off by a giant snake beast hiding in Lake Zarovich, and this basically summarizes the feel of the entire campaign.

- The party desperately wanted to be friends with Neferon, the arcanaloth up in Amber Temple, but pissed him off by releasing a bunch of dark powers. Exethanter also wound up being extremely popular.

[nightcolorz]

Random Gotham Rogues Headcanons

(In honor of all the wonderful people who wanted more after my last post, yes I see y’all)

*Jonathan has a huge sweet tooth, the poor bastard didn’t try sugar until he was like 12 and eats candy like it’s his last meal.

*He’ll forget he needs food to live for way too long and eat a gallon of ice cream or some shit that’ll give any sensible man heart palpitations and just be like “😐👍”.

*Selina tells the newer rogues she was raised by cats to freak them out, Jervis still believes her. (Tbf, Selina does walk around with a cat tail on hissing at people and purring on their laps, I don’t blame him).

*Edward has a tiktok account that he made to fule his own ego, he’s a fragile little shit, literally all of his hate comments have video responses (as you can imagine, Edward gets A LOT of hate comments).

*One time a teenager called Edward “submissive and breedable” and he was too baffled to make a clap back.

*The Rogues have a surprising amount of stans. Ivy’s fan base consists mostly of lowly simps, Joker gets stopped on the street daily by greasy redditors and zealous scene kids.

*No one likes Joker, he thinks it’s because he’s “Batman’s favorite” (it’s not).

*For a while Joker has been insistent that he fucked Bruce Wayne once at one of his many parties, no one believes him except for Harvey (begrudgingly).

*He says it’s “Perfectly in character for Bruce” as much as he may hate it.

*Selina denies everything.

*Oswald and Jonathan share solidarity as “the weird bird people”. At first Oswald was a little put off that Jonathan only held knowledge of crows but soon got over that when he realized that now he had an excuse to infodump on someone who might actually be interested.

*Every time Jonathan visits Oswald’s aviary to pick up Nightmare and Craw Oswald jumps at the opportunity to talk about his numerous birds in excess, Jonathan’s a surprisingly good listener.

*Despite Edward and Joker’s long term rivalry Edward has remained relatively civil when faced with Joker’s constant egging on. That is until one iconic day in Arkham Asylum when Edward beat the absolute, ever loving shit out of Joker in the cafeteria. To this day no one knows what exactly got him to snap, not even Joker.

*Harley keeps a scrapbook about all her misadventures + friendships as a rogue, she has a habit of taking pictures of the others at the most inappropriate times (during a heist, while being beaten to a crisp by Batman, ex).

*One time Harley asked Batman to pose for a picture to put in her scrapbook, he obliged to everyone’s surprise.

*Edward is wholly insistent that he doesn’t belong in Arkham, and is convinced he’s completely sane. He’s weirdly obsessed with the fact that Oswald is sane “as well” and will make unprompted snide remarks like: “Blackgate sounds terrific, unfortunately I’ve been misplaced among MORONS, it’s a shame that the system is too incompetent to properly judge my un-categorizable psyche.”

*Oswald usually responds with a simple “🙂👍” or “ok” to avoid conflict, disagreeing with Edward could be catastrophic.

*Art therapy is an occupational hazard for all the Arkham staff. (Seriously, who thought giving super villains an outlet to express themselves was a good idea).

*Edward can’t draw so he spends his time harshly criticizing the other rogues art, that’s caused more than a few fights. The one time Edward’s ever actually done art in art therapy was when he drew a green triangle and explained in complex detail how he colored it to perfection.

*Jonathan is no longer allowed to share his art with the group before having it reviewed by a staff member after emotionally scarring a few patients. He’s one of the few rogues who presents his art every time, just to see the disturbed looks on the others faces when he explains whatever twisted art piece he came up with this time.

*Jervis is probably the most dedicated artist of the bunch, he‘s not allowed to make himself any hats (for obvious reasons) but he’s still a very skilled seamstress and has a very interesting art style (Jervis tries not to draw anything explicitly linked to Alice in Wonderland in fear of getting repercussions, as rogues often do when they engage with their ‘personas’).

*Harvey isn’t very technically skilled in drawing, but Harv usually spices their art up enough to make it interesting. Their drawings are always two themed, as expected. One time Edward criticized a painting of theirs for being “too unrealistic” and Harv had to manually restrain himself from kicking Edward in the teeth.

*Victor can’t draw either, but he writes pretty good poetry. His writing is excessively melodramatic and flowery, and his themes even more so. Half of the presentation period is spent listening to Victor muse about the meaning of life or some shit, his poems are VERY long.

*Waylon and Ivy are the obligatory pretentious painters, both have a fondness for flowers (for very separate reasons). The two will often compare their paintings and wax poetics about the beauty of nature or some bullshit before never speaking again. That’s one of the positives of Art therapy, it brings rogues together who would otherwise not grant each other a passing glance.

*Group therapy is just as (if not more) atrocious than Art therapy.

*The only one who ever talks is Joker (and sometimes Harley, but way less).

*Joker is the embodiment of an irl troll, he does a much better job at getting responses from the other rogues in therapy than the therapists ever could (usually hostile responses but still).

*Occasionally a new and bright eyed therapist will try and coax childhood memories out of the rogues, it never ends well (usually with the rogue or the therapist in hysterics).

*The majority of the Arkham staff are either terribly unqualified or terrible period.

*Music Meister lived with Edward for a short while after escaping Arkham together but he was promptly kicked out because he wouldn’t stop singing.

*Selina and Ivy had a huge argument once because Selina’s cats nibbled on Ivy’s plants.

Okay this post is all ready super long so I’m gonna end it here, as I said last time I can always make more if you guys like these (I’m not running out of headcanons anytime soon!)