#penny and he loved to parallel play

[ellilyre]

Yk what time is it ?

Autistic Odysseus headcanon time

He's the total opposite of Diomedes.

For example, he has mastered the arts of social clues.

Why he is a so good liar ? Bc all of his reactions actually are lies.

Even when his feelings and thoughts are sincere, what he shows (facial expressions, tones, body language...) are all consciously made up to look more "normal". So it's pretty much impossible to tell if he's sincere

Picky eater. He would rather starve than eat any of his no-foods.

Blood is a sensory hell (sticky + warm is a horrible combination) so not only he's usually the first one to the baths but also he will do pretty much anything to avoid getting blood on him

Eyes contact is horrible. He will do anything to avoid making eye contact (and if he rly has to, then he's gonna be terribly awkward)

He has echolalia but will gaslight anyone who points it out ("wdym, I didn't say anything")

Masking so much all day long (although "acting normal" has became a habit and he's barely aware of doing effort anymore) is actually exhausting and every day he needs a little "time out" when he's alone (or with someone he's comfortable with, but not directly interacting) to cool down properly. (Which tends to take on his hours of sleep. For example during Troy the war councils sometimes lasted until late in the night, and once back to his tent he still needed his calm time before being able to fall asleep)

When he gets overwhelmed he tends to go nonverbal, and to shut down if it gets too bad.

Anyways I don't have a meme picture to end this one but

Diomedes - doesn't know what is a social clue

Odysseus - social clues r his special interests

Achilles - knows about social clues and purposely fuck up as many as possible

[toulousewayne]

Trinity Head canon

Clark is the tallest at 6’3, Bruce is not far behind at 6’2 and Diana is 6’1.5.

Clark has a southern drawl. He’s been in the city for years, but sometimes it comes out when he’s angry or certain words will bring it out. Diana and Lois find it adorable.

Speaking of which Bruce has a thick Jersey accent but does have some British vocabulary that he uses like lift or tap instead of elevator or faucet.

Diana can speak the most languages, with Bruce behind her. She secretly taught him many forgotten languages, he enjoyed this time they spent. It was mostly when the first met.

When the two come to the manor they each have a favorite tea that Alfred or really Bruce will make. Clark likes Chamomile tea and Diana likes Oolong. Bruce himself prefers green tea.

The amount of last minute saves Clark and Diana have had to do to get Bruce out of harms way is crazy. They have a tally system that Barbara keeps track of. Clark is ahead by five points.

Bruce has planned out his affairs in case he dies. Again. Damian would go into Clark and Lois’ care he figures Jon would help him a lot during this time. When he was younger if something happened to him or Alfred Dick was also supposed to go to Clark. And had Jason lived during his younger years he was originally going to Clark but he changed it to Diana a few weeks before he passed away.

Diana drops by every Sunday to feed and play with the animals. Damian has grown fond of his aunt Diana’s visits.

Aside from Bruce, Alfred and Barbara Clark is the only other person who knows how feral and intense Dick’s run as Robin was.

Diana is usually the one to lead the league or a mission. Bruce has always felt she was better at leading the charge, though she thinks the opposite and just feels she’s doing what’s needed in the moment.

We have established that Bruce is a terrible cook. Diana is far worse as when she first invited the two over to her apartment she was making a casserole she kept hearing about. Clark had to put out the fire and Bruce payed off the fire marshal. Clark can cook four dishes; Beef stew, a traditional country breakfast, apple pie and Chili. He’s trying to expend his recipes but the other two enjoy the options.

The trio get together twice a month for a night on the town. They’ve only had three successful nights out where they didn’t need to save the city.

Once a year Diana and Clark force Bruce to take a week long vacation. The Batkids watch over Gotham, and Kara watches Metropolis.

They usually go to an island off the coast of Greece that Diana discovered. She has to mother Bruce about sunscreen because he burns like paper.

Clark enjoys surfing and snorkeling. Bruce will broad for the first two days then he’ll loosen up.

Diana and Clark each have a favorite thing about the Batcave. Clark loves the giant penny and Diana is always found staring at the T-Rex.

Speaking of which, Diana is banned from driving the Batmobile nether Bruce or Diana will explain why, but Clark is chuckling about the situation.

Clark had filled in for Bruce five times. Three times as Batman and twice as Bruce Wayne using his voice.

Tim and Damian are the only Robins to work with Clark as Batman and they both enjoyed having rogues confused as to why their usual tricks didn’t affect Batman.

Clark sometimes had doubts about being a beacon of Hope when they first formed the League. It was Batman they gave him a word of advice, though Bruce still denies it till this day.

Diana once caught Bruce with her lasso, she questioned him about why he was so interested in it, he never told her why but she thinks it’s because it’s the only thing that has forced the truth out of him.

Clark can drive a stick shift, Diana can’t parallel park.

Diana is actually a good mechanic, she’s worked on a few of the aircraft at the Watchtower.

Each of the Trinity has a favorite duo to team up with. Clark likes to work with Martian Manhunter and Atom, Diana likes to work with Vixen and Black Canary, and Bruce once again won’t attempt it but he likes to work with Green Lantern (Hal) and the Flash (Barry).

Bruce doesn’t have perfect vision as he leads people to believe. He had glass since he was ten, and has had LASIK three times.

Diana will sometimes braid the Batkids hair. She loves Duke and Tim’s hair the most. She sometimes will scold Dick about his longer hair because she knows he’ll never tend to it properly.

[girlreviews]

Review #146: Parallel Lines, Blondie

Man oh man oh man. I love Blondie so much. I found this record in the Windsor Oxfam. I don’t remember exactly how old I was, but I remember what boyfriend was with me so that puts me between 15 and 18. Yeah, same guy. I actually don’t remember if he ended up getting his hands on this record or not. I think I still have it. Will rifle through my collection later to check.

Blondie was in the “being cool” wilderness for some absolutely crazy reason at that point, and nobody really gave a shit about them anymore. When I was 17 or 18 they were playing the Reading Hexagon which is honestly still just such an unbelievable insult I’m still annoyed about it. I’ll circle back to that.

Parallel Lines epitomizes the complete and total coolness and badassery of Debbie Harry. I have never wanted to be someone more than I wanted to be her. So much confidence. Such incredible cheekbones. Such commitment to art. No apologies. The voice of an angel one moment and snarling whimsical warnings, like, hey you, don’t fuck with me, the next. Always standing in front of all of those completely non-descript nobody dudes. Yeah they’re playing the music, but who cares, who are they? It’s all her. She is Blondie.

Can I pick a favorite? It opens with Hanging on the Telephone, in which she is really threatening to rip the phone clean off the wall. It might be that one. But we’ve also got the classic One Way Or Another, which needs no comment, and one of my actual favorites of all time, Heart of Glass which never fails to fuck me up, but like, it’s a god damn disco track? Like sure, yeah, let’s boogie away our heart break. And I did. And I have. And I will. And these are all SINGLES. We aren’t even discussing the actual album tracks yet. Just listen to it. Honorable mention goes to Sunday Girl, which I always really loved. It’s cute and it’s kind of sweet in a very teenage girl kind of way that worked for me since I was in fact, a teenage girl. Also, not on the official album release, but there was a version of that track where the latter half was sung entirely in French and I always really dug it.

Okay so circling back to the Hexagon. This is a weird story and I’m still not sure how I feel about it, to this day. As I said, Blondie were playing a show at the Hexagon. I was absolutely obsessed with them, and Debbie Harry. I was also 17 or 18 and spent every penny I had on going to shows, but those pennies were pretty limited. I worked as a waitress at the pub that was two doors down from my house. It was full of characters. One such character was a regular, he was in his late 40s, was very wealthy, didn’t drive, was single, and spent literally every bit of his spare time in that pub. Think on that. He paid a lot of attention to the various young women that worked there. Was he creepy? No not exactly. But did it make you uncomfortable? Yes it did. Because you never knew when he might make it weird. Everyone liked him well enough. One day out of the blue this guy presented me with five tickets to the Blondie show. I didn’t know what in the hell to say or whether to accept them. Or what it meant. Whether there were expectations attached to them. Whether it was okay to take them. I was uncomfortable. I was 17.

Here’s what happened. My Mom, who sort of knew him too, since he was always there, decided it was fine, because she wanted to go. But for it to be okay, she decided he also had to come. So we went, he came, and a few friends too. The thing is though, she never knew him like I did. I saw him every day. I saw him with the other girls that worked at the pub. I saw him drunk off his ass. I don’t know that I ever would have taken the tickets. Or if I did, I’m not sure I ever would have invited him. I feel a bit queasy about it to this day. I think in the end something really off-base happened one night between him and someone on staff and he got barred. That was usually the way it went with regulars who were there that often.

The other thing to note is that Blondie ended because Debbie Harry was with Chris Stein, who was literally dying of some rare autoimmune disease throughout their last tour. There were other factors at play, but essentially, they broke up because he was too sick and she stayed at his side and became his full-time carer. When he was well, he left her. They are, remarkably, still close friends to this day and still perform together. Just never forget that men are dogs, and that Blondie is and always will be Debbie Harry. I love her. To this day she looks better than I do in a mini skirt and I love that for her.

ETA: I checked and in fact, I do not still have Parallel Lines in my record collection, but I am quite confident it got lost when I moved back to the US. Also, I’m not 100% certain that show was at the Reading Hexagon. I just know it was a shitty venue not worthy of Blondie. This was 18 years ago. You get the idea.

[solarsturniolo]

The parallel of Matt loving Gravity Falls and realizing that he probably feels connected to Dipper because Mabel and him are twins, but also because he probably also sees Ford and Stan’s relationship and compares it to his own relationship with his brothers.

Think about it. Dipper and Mabel have a good relationship. They argue sometimes but what siblings don’t?

Ford and Stan’s relationship is so much more complex. They had one bad fight and it got Ford sent to another dimension. Stan was so devastated that he spent the next forty years teaching himself physics and engineering to rebuild the portal, spent every penny he made on that portal, gave up any idea of having a relationship with someone because no relationship was more important than the one he had with his brother, and he willingly chose to go by Ford’s name because it didn’t matter if Stanley didn’t exist, but Stanford had purpose and he couldn’t let that die.

I know Matt watches those scenes between Ford and Stan and probably goes to Chris or Nick after and just sits next to them and starts showing them a funny tiktok he found or asks if they want to play fortnite or something. Because, even if he’s not super big on physical displays of affection, he loves his brothers and can’t imagine not having them as his best friends.

[atlaskrr]

HOLY SHIT I WAS FINALLY ABLE TO SEE THE NEW SPIDERVERSE MOVIE TODAY AND GAH DAMN

Here's a penny for my thoughts:

The animation team continues to impress me with the animation and in this movie more so than the first cause of how they made each universe feel

THAT OPENING (love me ambiguous openings where you slowly piece it as it continues)

Spot = traumatized silly guy turned into very dangerous traumatized guy

We all thought pavitr would be ✨TRAUMATIZED✨ but I'm so glad miles was able to help him save both (maybe he is traumatized if his universe is destroyed but let's hope not since he's so blorbo)

Love his silliness with his whole introduction introduction the romantic tension comments and "Oh he doesn't know about hobie" like a whole romantic drama is about to play out

I thought I was gonna hate hobie with how much police he was talking but I grew to be amused and fond of him (the true mvp)

Idk if this is controversial or not but even though miguel o'hara is traumatized I still don't like him (if it's not clear I hate it when people try to be "the system". Looking at you light yagami)

THE COLOR THEORY ON THIS 👏✨🙌

Like the color shifts in gwen's universe and the inverted colors on the scenes of earth 42 and gwen's universe is another on point moment

There is so much more that I can't possibly mention of the top of my head at the moment but all the visual symbolism (not just in color) is *muah*

PARALLELS (that's all I have to say)

MAYDAY 💞 is. so. ADORABLE AND CHAOTIC.

I love peter b. parker having a child cause he liked the idea of raising his child to be like miles... cause he's a good person

Also peter b. parker is SUCH a father figure towards miles

Speaking of miles THEY REALLY CANT LEAVE THE POOR BOY ALONE WTF (give him a break man)

The humour in this movie. PEAK. (Idgaf what you say)

I love all the cameos and references of the many spiders and will deffo pick apart every scene once I can get my hands on the full length movie on my pc

They make every spiderperson's attack feel unique and get creative with techniques and styles

I love the 2d-3d look it has as always

I love miles' parents and its nice to see gwen reconcile with her dad

GOOD OLD PARKER TRAUMA

EARTH 42. ITS ALL CONNECTED. THAT REVEAL WOAA.

I'm glad they brought back the old spiders that miles first met into the squad

GOD DAMN THE CLIFFHANGER

i LOVE all the details in this movie

I also love the theme and characterization

[sandbees]

Random idea but a Yuu being a cyborg like Penny is in RWBY. They have a soul because their parent litteraly split their own soul to give them one, and thus their own personality, they act oblivious to stuff and social cues because they don't have experience with that sort of stuff, however due to their parent being protective of them they are more than a little combat ready. Really they are similar to Penny as a Pinocchio parallel. Also imagine them just vibing with Idia and Ortho. Just, INTERACTIONS!

Yuu and Ortho meet eyes for one second and now they're best buds. 10/10 they would totally destroy the school for each other.

I'm so sorry they'd probably download the Queen of Heart's rules in a night to make sure they don't mess up in Chapter 1, thus avoiding the tart fiasco (Riddle still ends up getting mad at Ace for another rule he broke during the Unbirthday Party though)

I dread to think Yuu accidentally breaking the rules though, not to spite Riddle, but because some of the rules are based on social cues, which Yuu DOESN'T notice.

I think Yuu would love learning about the hobbies the cast goes on. Like...They can't sleep but they'd play a lullaby that they remember their parent singing to them, just to hang out with Leona who slept by the third verse-

Yuu would totally allow Rook or Vil to braid their hair or make a new style out of it. They also enjoy exploring the local fashion - asking them for fashion advice.

Sadly, they can't swim due to cyborg parts :/ Yuu does work in Mostro Lounge for the experience. (The octo trio don't take advantage of them though. Whether by their own violation or Ortho made a promise that it'd be ON SIGHT is up to you)

I think their friends would find their stories of the RWBY world fascinating. Especially their world's fight against the Grimm.

(Lowkey, I'd think Yuu would double take when Grim says his name. Cue a lot of careful watching to make sure Grim isn't some demon hellbent on killing people)

[empressawesomecoolness]

Doctor Who: The Ultimate Speedrun Marathon - Series 1 (2005)

Eccleston as the 9th Doctor seems to be a big fan favorite, including among my Whovian friends, so I was especially excited to start his era. Needless to say, I was very impressed! This series really brought Doctor Who out of its ‘80s era funk and into the modern age, so its importance deserves the praise, which I’m about to give in truckloads.

General Thoughts

Right out the gate, Christopher Eccleston was the perfect actor to take on the role! From what I’d heard of the 9th Doctor before watching this series, I assumed he’d be very serious, edgy, and overall just a grimdark take on Doctor Who. The early 2000s was ripe with franchises and reboots like that, so I was pleasantly surprised to see just how three-dimensional he was! I was mainly familiar with Eccleston from the 2010 TV movie Lennon Naked, which he was fucking awful in, so to see him so perfectly embody the Doctor gave me whiplash ngl. He does have darkness in him, which comes out in relation to his Time War PTSD and his hatred of the Daleks, but he’s also really lively and snarky in most moments. Such a great character all around! If Paul McGann makes you fall in love with the Doctor’s personality, Eccleston makes you understand it.

I assume the tragic backstory 9 mentions throughout this series (regarding the Time War, the destruction of Gallifrey, and him being the last of the Time Lords) was a retcon made for this series in particular, since the 8th Doctor was on his way back to Gallifrey at the beginning of the ‘96 TV movie. Maybe he was just visiting the rubble idk. I could be wrong, but I include this just to mention that I assume lore retcons will probably be rampant from here forward, so I’m cool with that.

Moving onto this Doctor’s companion, there’s a few. The main one we follow is 19 year old Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper. I was familiar with Piper as Brona/Lily in Penny Dreadful, which she was great in, so it was cool to see her again in a very different role. Rose starts out really wayward and flat, but over the course of the series and her adventures with the Doctor, she grows more involved with the world and becomes happier as a person. It’s a cool development that really cuts to the core of what the Doctor represents as a traveler and explorer of all things exciting and hopeful. Dr. Grace Holloway gives her a run for her money as my favorite companion so far, but Rose is really interesting and overall just a great human protagonist for us to tag along with.

Along with her, there’s also Mickey (Ricky?) Smith, played by Noel Clarke, and Captain Jack Harkness, played by John Barrowman. With Mickey, I assumed he’d just be a throwaway character, as a teenage boyfriend Rose leaves behind for good to move onto greater things, but he comes back again and again, with a lot of development that really surprised me! He grows from a pretty flat and lame guy into a character with a lot of agency and intelligence. His angst over Rose leaving him for time/space adventures was also really sad :( I felt bad for him honestly, but he grows beyond his need for Rose and comes into his own right

Captain Jack was really fun too. Reminded me a lot of Firefly. I expected him to be one-off character too, but he sticks around and is really fun to follow. It’s cool to have another snarky space/time adventurer around for a little bit. He’s also a bi king so that’s dope as fuck

Back to the 9th Doctor himself, I really liked the parallels drawn between him and the Daleks. This might just be a coincidence, but I think the interior walls of his TARDIS look a lot like the outer shell of the Daleks. Just thought that was a cool detail.

Speaking of his TARDIS in general, the more industrial look contrasts with the 7th & 8th Doctor’s warm homely TARDIS. The spindly concrete pillars and the shiny metal walls/floor are really striking. It’s like a modern-art exhibit. It’s both very 2000s and very classic looking.

Favorite Episodes

Aliens of London

World War 3

The Empty Child

The Doctor Dances

Dalek

The End of The World

Favorite Moments

“You would make a good Dalek”….. omg chills

Rose being there for her father’s death was really sad and moving. That whole episode was great, but that last moment was especially effective

“Kill yourself.” lol

Charles Dickens having his own sort of Scrooge-esque arc was really nice. A bit sad knowing that he would die a year after the episode is set, but still bittersweet and nice.

The Doctor’s joy after realizing everyone finally gets to walk away okay in episode 10 was great! It’s an amazingly emotional moment for someone who’s gone through so much loss and grief, and Eccleston plays it perfectly. Everyone lives!!!

Rose getting super glowy TARDIS powers was cool as hell for her development into a hero in her own right, as well as being dope as fuck overall. I’m gonna assume/headcanon that the “Heart of the TARDIS” that appears in the finale is the same as the Eye of Harmony that appears in the TV movie.

That final regeneration scene… So cool! I’ll miss Eccleston, but he made the most of his time as the 9th Doctor. The way David Tennant also makes his appearance uniquely his was super funny. Just kinda commenting on his new teeth and then shrugging it off.

Alright, that’s it for Series 1, as well as the end of Eccleston’s run as the 9th Doctor. It was a fun ride and an amazing start to this fresh new beginning to the franchise, but I suppose it’s time to move on with him. Now, onto Series 2, with David Tennant taking over as the 10th Doctor.

[cosmokyrin]

god I’m just still really thinking about ep 2 but

tbh until today (2 years after lmao) I still love the Salem/Ozma and Ruby/Penny parallels theory and Ruby’s speech about how she perceives Penny kind of reminds me of how Salem might have seen Ozma before

Based on her recent speech, Ruby saw Penny as someone even purer and kinder than anyone else, possibly even more than herself, which is probably similar to how Salem perceived Ozma as a kind of pure/noble person. When Ozma rescued Salem it was because he believed she should be free and not because he came for her hand in marriage.

Salem was in a hopeless situation having been trapped in the tower; Ozma came to save her and became her light. Life had greater meaning because of him. Ofc the parallels in the story aren’t mean to be one on one, but Ruby and Penny’s arcs with each other doesn’t designate them to being Salem or Ozma, but interestingly Ruby and Penny are both Salem and Ozma to one another-- Penny started out as the girl who was “trapped in the tower” (Atlas military) and Ruby was her “savior” and her light (Ozma). And now in V9 Ruby has become more akin to Salem -- they’ve both seen someone they loved die before them, be resurrected only to be taken away again. Penny is now Ozma, the person Ruby (in the shoes of Salem) grieves for, someone who gave something special in her life. Ruby is in Salem’s arc eons prior and it would be interesting to see how that plays out, how Ruby will evolve as a character with greater understanding for an enemy who cannot be killed in any way. So she has to make Salem realize something perhaps, which in turn means Ruby has to really deal with all that inward storm to find the answer.

[marisoft-paint-adventures]

Pgs. 309 - 384

so there’s this guy.

he has an intro.

and

he’s pretty cool.

he’s so cool he has a shitty galaxy reflection in his shades.

his name is David and his room looks like this.

Dave’s room is the most kind of guy room ever, I can just feel his entire personality here, and I can also feel the “this dude has no parental guidance outside of an equally unorganized brother” energy.

Dave is just a hyperspecific Guy, a real type of Guy, he’s even described as liking obscure bands and shit, Hussie was airing something out when making him.

Anyway, these are your copies of the beta you received in the mail recently. You've labeled them with your name in BOLD RED PRINT to distinguish them from your BRO's copies, who labeled his in kind. Neither of you really gives a shit about this game or has any intention of playing it, but you'll be damned if you'll let that get in the way of your campaign of one-upmanship.

the Lalondes and Striders have a lot of parallels going on between each other with their dynamics and situations. 1 thing that sets them apart is that the perception of an insane mindgame rivalry seems to be more truthful on Dave’s end compared to Rose. Rose thinks that even a fucking fancy pillow is some kind of symbol of scorn and spite in the waterfall of irony and insincerity. while there’s not much seen out of Dave and Bro’s relationship on a normal day, the stupid ass stealth moves that Bro pulls out in order to get Dave’s goat really implies that there is a genuine absurd rivalry going.

also they’re just brothers. when there’s brothers in fiction, they either hate each other or like each other but still fuck with each other just for the sake of Being Brothers.

Dave: Bleat like a goat and piss on your turntable.

You would never consider allowing any fluid even remotely resembling urine to touch your beloved TURNTABLES. That would risk breaking them, and a world without the gift of your godly science just doesn't sound like a place you want any part of. While you're at it, you might as well wipe out human civilization with a meteor or something ridiculous like that which will probably never happen. That sort of thing only happens in stupid idiot movies for stupid idiots.

You will however contemplate bleating like a goat for IRONICALLY HUMOROUS purposes at a later date.

Dave is so lame.

FUCKING APPLE JUICE BABY. YEAH LOVE THAT SHIT. TOP 3 FRUIT JUICES ON THE TIERLIST WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

he’s gonna say it, he’s gonna say the thing.

yeah this is the OS design I’m attached to the most, I grew up with Windows 7 which basically did everything Vista did but a bit more glassy, so this is up my fucking ally. look at those GRADIENTS, look at all that GLOSS, it’s so fucking good.

HE SAID IT.

I love Hussie’s fake UI I love it.

I also love Dave Strider’s blog, he said the n-word on it

not joking you can check for yourself.

FUCKING SWEET BRO AND HELLA JEFF YEAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

SBAHJ is so damn interesting because it’s the Homestuck thing that has the furthest reach out of the entire comic but at the same time people don’t even know it’s Homestuck.

true story: my 1st ever exposure to Homestuck without even knowing it was when I was like 12 years old and watched a fucking VanossGaming GMod video in which they played that masterpiece SBAHJ map.

seeing a giant shittily compressed texture that just said AIDS which spun around in a circle and fucking instantly killed anything it touched was literally formative for my sense of humor.

the backstory is also absolutely beautiful, imagine dropping your armature Gamer Webcomic™ on the Penny Arcade forums only for Future Homestuck Artist Andrew Hussie to come in and completely shit on your comic by turning it into the worst form of art you have ever seen which would then turn into its own popular comic.

I really like the utility of SBAHJ as an in-universe source of memes and in-jokes for all the kids to reference rather than forcing relevance by shoving in memes that were popular at the time. it really helps make Homestuck feel... not exactly timeless per say, but more relatable in way that supersedes generations.

I say this because I fucking know for a fact real ass memes come in later on in the comic and they get really fuckin annoying.

I would kill someone for a Midnight Crew adventure, you would not believe how far I would go for this to be real.

TT: In some cultures the persistent refusal of a lady's invitation to play a game with her would be a sign wanton disrespect. TT: Either that, or flagrant homosexuality.

STOP JOKING ABOUT DAVE LIKING MEN YOU DO NOT KNOW OF THE FUTURE CONSEQUENCES IT HAS.

it is here where Dave and Rose immediately become the best fucking character dynamic ever.

TT: Sometimes I wonder how you are ever allowed to pay for meals in restaurants. TT: It must be hard to keep a low profile when you're always overhearing awed voices whisper, "It's that guy who has a blog." TG: seriously TG: dudes be worshipping me left and right TG: i cant hardly walk down the street without stepping over torsos of the prostrate TT: Navigating the urban landscape I'm sure is difficult enough without an obstacle course of deferential flesh and skyward asses. TT: Perhaps adapting the art of parkour to your unique environment would help? TG: yeah! TG: i mean damn TG: like theres this scruffy little shit at my feet TG: an orphan or something i dont know TG: face flush on the pavement TG: im like dude you listening for a stampede of buffalo or something? TG: he braves a look at me then gives my shoe a little kiss and scurries the fuck off TT: Heavy is the crown. TG: yeah TG: not kicking oliver twist in the fucking face every day is my gift to the world i guess

also the little "yeah!" he does in excitement of parkour before he corrects himself back to serious coolguy mode is fucking perfect.

aw what the fuck put that shit away.

Dave’s Phat Beat Machine may be a silly joke about shitty fucking DJ machines that have weird pre-made beats and sound effects but some of this shit slaps when you play them at the same time ngl. 11 and 12 together is really fuckin good.

also Captain Planet is in this flash.

maybe Dave is cool, no one else could catch and open that apple juice with such finesse.

this is a really great series of expressions, he is so mad. he can’t stop thinking about PISS.

HE’S SO MAD.

oh god.

oh god they’re here.

You glance at one of the many RADICAL PUPPETS in your BRO'S collection and nod in approval. Is there anything not awesome about your BRO? No, you think not.

this is not cool this is very not cool.

why is the little man in the SHOWER, bro does not BATHE, he is made of WOOD.

he is simply having a terrible, terrible day.

why did he do this.

HOLY SHIT IT’S DAVE’S IRONIC SELF PORTRAIT.

this is why Dave’s sylladex shit is the best sylladex shit, sheer frustrating mathematics leading to renaming items into weird synonyms and yelling out shit to fucking send out swords.

LOOK AT HIM.

he changed his tune so fast, he went from imposing and about throw down to just...

:o

now how will he play the funny Sburb??? what will he do to get out of this situation- WIZARD.

GIANT, STONE, WIZARD.

girl is not having it.

it is here we get the entire downlow of this maddening mother-daughter relationship through the totally not biased eyes of Rose. I mean look at this shit:

Your mother clearly has no real affinity for these damnable things. She only collects them to spite you. If anything, she finds them even more repellent than you do. She's just a committed woman.

A while ago you gave this as an ironic gift to your MOM for mother's day. You even customized it with a drink holder to support one of her ubiquitous ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES. She "liked" the gift so much, she had it bronzed and put on this pedestal. She even left it plugged in so it can still be turned on now and then. But never to do any cleaning. It never leaves this display.

The PRETTY PRINCESS DOLL has been sitting there for months, ever since your mother got this abomination for your birthday as a totally PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE gesture. You decided to make it much less abominable by knitting Her Majesty a new head and new arms. Now it brings a mischievous smile to your face whenever you walk by. Your mother hasn't removed the doll yet, and probably never will. She would never be the one to blink first.

This was a drawing you did of your cat JASPERS when you were younger, along with a poem about him. Your mother bought this ostentatious $15,000 frame for it, and had it welded to the door.

Using the colorful MAGNET LETTERS, you recently left a succinct message, which may or may not have been directed toward anyone in particular. But you couldn't find the letter W, so you just stuck two V's together.

Your mother then purchased a fresh pack of W's and left them there for your convenience. Appreciative of the thoughtful gesture, you left her a sincere THANK YOU NOTE, which you had legally notarized, and then marked with a drop of blood.

But part of it was touching the floor, so your mother was kind enough to lift the lower portion of the document with a VELVET PILLOW.

this entire cavalcade of fucking overly professional stupidity really just symbolizes the daily Lalonde struggle. again, way more of an actual thing compared to the baking menace in Washington, Rose does not feel loved enough, she projects contempt onto every action of her mother, even if they’re completely genuine, who’s also literally an alcoholic. but at the same time, this is ridiculous. I can bet that the mere thought of any of this coming off as mean-spirited to Rose is just flying over Mom’s head because she’s too busy cleaning shit or getting drunk. she’s so sincerely nice but also too damn ignorant, while at the same time going completely overboard in every sense just because she can. “oh look at this!! my daughter’s very own drawing!!! it’s so nice!!! let me put it in an expensive frame and then weld it straight onto the fridge!!! :)))))” and then Rose sees this and just goes “SHREW!!! DAMNED SHREW!!!” meanwhile Mom’s just taking this as “oh she’s spelling words on the fridge!!! :))))) but she has no Ws..... :((((( I’ll buy some for her!!! that will satisfy her needs!!! :)))))” and I guess Rose takes a break from the absolute scorn she’s building up in her system to make the most polite ass note all like “Dearest Mother Lalonde, I thank thee for this humble present.” and notarizing it with BLOOD. of course this has to end with Mom walking in, seeing this note and going “how thoughtful!!!” and then sliding a god damn pillow just for the presentation.

it is my firm belief that the Lalondes are just kind of off the fucking wall inherently, literally all of them just do wacky shit like this without question.

fandom mischaracterizations are so frequent that they’re not even a surprise, but this concept of Rose being this completely serious and levelheaded girl who’s always moody and brooding and never puts up with stupid shit is something I cannot understand how anyone picked up from her. she has a sense of humor, a really damn good one, a lot of the comedy can be attributed to her dialogue. she’s not dead serious, she literally knits Lovecraft monsters in purple for goofs and does something like the above while no one is around. and in no possible way is she running on full logic and reasoning because she plays weird mind games with her mom and later on just goes insane and destroys shit for the hell of it. there really is more to Rose than just “goth = serious smart.”

a lot of this extends to Kanaya as well because I guess people just write the 2 of them as the same person, as we all know, couples can’t be together unless they completely overlap on the Venn diagram of their personalities, hobbies, and interests, but that’s for later.

AND THEN SHE PAYS FOR THE FUCKIN MAGNET. WHO DOES THIS.

MOTHER JUMPSCARE.

And of all things to be doing during a power outage. She's up to her IRONIC HOUSEWIFE routine again. That mop bucket doesn't even have any water in it! What an absolute madwoman.

I like how Rose calls this some kind of weird irony chore that no sane individual would do without a hint of joking, she really expects too much out of Mom. a real core part of this relationship is how Rose assumes that her mother is operating on the same high level thinking as her, when in reality she’s just doing actual housewife stuff genuinely. the bucket being empty is even part of Rose overthinking all of this, Mom’s using a Swiffer, she doesn’t need water, she just brought the bucket because it completes the housewife look.

I don’t know if that latter part was intentional or if Hussie just didn’t know how Swiffers worked.

NYOOM.

SICK TRICKS.

ah fuck.

the Strider household is such a very specific home aesthetic of “complete fucking disaster, the likes of which you have never seen, owned by 2 dudebros who like Eminem.” this visual style is so poignant that the best way Dave fixes a window is with straight black tape, how classy.

big fan of how everyone talking to Jade starts to smile, she just has that energy. I mean look at Dave, you see that single raised pixel? that’s him smiling! he’s got joy! and he’s so much more genuine when he’s talking to her too, she’s literally the one person in the friend group where he can drop the whole image of “I am so fucking Cool and Real and Awesome and Swag.” they play off of each other really damn well, no wonder DaveJade is a really big ship.

TG: say hi to your grand dad for me too ok GG: ._. GG: yes i guess an encounter with him is almost certain GG: it is usually........ GG: intense!!! TG: well yeah isnt it always with family

this is the non-embarrassing parallel to John talking about Dad with Rose. Dave’s probably thinking to himself, “ah yes, she too knows of the struggle of high octane anime fights in the middle of the house.” meanwhile Jade’s talking about yelling at a corpse.

also JADE KNOWS THE FUTURE??? HUHHHH???? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE???????????

[safsunderc]

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

A beautiful film, centring beautiful people, whose melancholic stories of neglect and deprivation spring no sympathy to mind, The Talented Mr. Ripley is an ode not only to one man’s jealousy, obsession and desire, but the shame he has been taught to carry as a low-class, gay man in modern western society.

Beautiful Country

The major bulk of the film takes place in Italy because Dickie loves it there, it is only there Marge is finally in her element to write her book. Italy has always been a place for bourgeois aristocrats to spend expensive summers, even now you think of Capri and images of Gucci stores spring to mind, of hundred euro meals and fashionable little sailing boats. I’ve been briefly, and it happens to be one of the most beautiful places in the world, worth every penny on the planet, and then some. But if you are as Dickie is, and pennies aren’t of your concern, why wouldn’t you spend all your time in Italy? It’s a lifestyle most of us can only ever dream of, but he carries it like a burden; Meredith says that those with their kind of money are driven to despise it, but if that is true they surely don’t behave that way. 

In all honesty, it’s pitiable to watch the sob story of a man with so much more than yourself, and for me, that’s what I find most irritable about Dickie and the characterisation of the bourgeois characters generally. As a woman of working stock myself, it’s hard for me to sympathise with any of Dickie’s hardships, and it must be the same for Tom, who is even closer to the excessive wealth they all flaunt; me, I’m just watching through a screen, Tom lives, for about the first hour of the film, my very worst nightmare: to have everything you’ve only ever dreamed about dangled in front of your face, and you’ve got to pretend like it’s nothing, like you’ve seen it all before. It’s excruciating watching Tom try and fit himself into this new bourgeois dynamic and navigate the extravagances of his new Italian lifestyle, as though he’s got to learn two new languages instead of one. 

Along with designer fashion brands and espressos, 20th century Italy comes to us off the back of the Roman empire and the renaissance, arguably two of the most culturally impactful events in all pre-modern history. Shakespeare’s final play, The Tempest, takes place on an isle off the coast of Italy and centres Italian nobility. The driving force of the plot is of a betrayal between brothers, an ironic parallel to Tom and Dickie. Italy is certainly home to the most beautiful buildings, paintings, literature, to the largest and mightiest military force in history, but it is also a haven of deceit and discomfort for the aristocratic class; Brutus had been Caesar's closest friend after all. 

Italy is also an uncommonly religious state, of course, it’s home to the Vatican city, home of the Pope. Catholic (or simply religious) guilt plays a large part in any person’s life who struggles dealing with their sexuality, and in a place like Italy, where religious superstition is at the heart of its people and communities, there is always an underlying sense of guilt for Tom during his time there. In a scene where Tom is accused of homosexuality by a police officer, it is made all too blatant the imperfections of the place. After a dreamy, hazy Italian holiday where Tom can kid himself into acceptance, it’s time to wake up and go back to the real world, it exists in Italy too. It’s a culturally progressive yet simultaneously conservative country, and that’s why the upper class thrives: there are boundaries safe to cross so you might feel like you’re living large, when really there is nothing extraordinary about Dickie’s life. In all its extravagance, it’s ultimately devoid of what Tom’s fruitless life has got: passion, devotion, and love. 

“But, because it spares my shame”

Along with those things, however, comes heaps of shame. The working man’s inner plight is that of trying to prove to others your worth through what labour you can provide for those whose own worth lies within their pockets; more than that even is trying to prove it to yourself. Tom deals with a lot of prejudice from other characters, but the one he is really facing judgement from is himself. This guilt and shame is ultimately what drives him to kill; it’s arguable that he kills Dickie out of pure obsession with the man, but if we follow the rest of his killing spree, it’s made obvious that it’s really because he is ashamed of his sexual and general identity. 

First, he kills Dickie. It’s honestly one of the most horrible, difficult scenes I've ever sat through, thanks to the way Tom cries as he does it, how he girlishly screams and is genuinely horrified at what he’s done. He’s just confessed his love for him and then Dickie is saying he is going to marry Marge and he realises that’s what is supposed to happen: boy meets girl, boy falls in love, boy and girl get married. But Tom is nothing if not gifted at spinning the narrative around so he lies blameless. No, it’s all Dickie’s fault for leading him on, and he’s so embarrassed of himself he can’t do anything but kill Dickie. Faced with the horrifying nature of his sexuality, Tom tries killing it, along with Dickie. You see a gross, incessant bug and you hit it hard as you can; a natural human response to disgust. 

Talented Tom Ripley’s Chains

You could say his next victim is arguably Tom Ripley himself when he assumes Dickie’s identity. Throughout the film I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, expecting it to be revealed that Tom Ripley wasn’t his real name either, and that Tom doesn’t exist at all. Instead, I’d like to think that Tom Ripley is already dead before the start of the film. There is so little we know about who Tom is: he’s musical and plays piano; he’s of low class; he of course has a knack for imitation and impersonation. He’s not academically-minded, cultured, charismatic, Tom Ripley is hardly even talented. The film spends about a good hour portraying Tom as calculated and brilliant and apparently he becomes Dickie with ease, something psychopathic about how good he is at what he does. But, when you really think about it, he gets caught at least twice and is almost caught another three times. Tom isn’t the intellectual mastermind he is famously cast as, rather he is driven by his passion and desire, and of course his shame. 

When Tom first reveals his ‘talent,’ it sets Dickie off laughing, like it’s some kind of party trick. As much of a talent as it is, Tom hardly uses it, signing maybe one paper as Dickie. Even Tom’s greatest talent is a meagre trick to impress and entertain people like Dickie; once again, he is the low-class laughing stock amongst the crowd of trust-fund babies and Princeton prodigies. Every small conversation between Dickie and Tom is laced with mockery and the class difference is blatant, even posing as an actual Princeton alumni he can’t hide he’s classless: can't ski, can’t sail, can’t even wear a different set of clothes each day. Class is something entrenched in a person’s being and you can’t escape whatever situation you were brought up under, and Tom is no different. 

Peeping Tommy

Tom’s relationship with Freddie is an anomaly, being the only person Tom seems to dislike. Maybe it’s because Freddie is genuinely Dickie’s friend and can flawlessly pull off what Tom himself is hanging by a thread trying to achieve. Tom is jealous of Dickie, yes, but he doesn’t hate him. When Tom kills Freddie he’s waiting for him behind a closed door, like an actual premeditated murder. It's also the only time we see him actually disposing of the body, like maybe he doesn’t mind us seeing this one, because there is no feeling for Freddie. This is really the only time we see Tom in all his glory, being that calculated psychopath. However, the act of killing Freddie is the same as killing Dickie: he’s just plain embarrassed and angry at himself, because Freddie is right, he is peeping Tom, he does know his ass from his elbow.

Later, when Tom is close to taking Marge as his third victim, he cuts himself on the razor that was meant for her, except, why are you clutching the blade of a weapon you’re about to use? It almost seems like Tom never intended on harming Marge at all; he can only afford this for the simple fact that she is a woman. This means two things: 1) He isn’t afraid of his attraction to her, and 2) No one would believe her if she uncovered the truth. This makes the women safe territory and he doesn’t feel the need to kill them.

There is a split second near the end where you think Tom might just push Meredith off the boat, but, of course, he doesn’t. He would never hurt a woman because Tom idealises them to the point where they could never be blamed for his shortcomings. Of course it’s Dickie’s fault Tom is sexually attracted to him, but there is no fault in his attraction to Marge because there would be nothing wrong with it. Except there seems to be no case of Tom actually desiring a woman as he does Dickie or Peter. 

The scenes of sexual intimacy between Tom and any other man I often found uncomfortable, or at least that Tom himself was uncomfortable; it is obvious he cannot stand himself and he says as much in the very first line: “If I could just go back, if I could rub everything out, starting with myself, starting with borrowing a jacket.” This sentiment is consistent through to the end when he accuses Peter of lying when listing good things about him, particularly when he’s told he’s beautiful. The crux of Tom’s psychopathic motivations is a crippling self-hatred, and that extends to his physical form. “Tell me some good things about Tom Ripley.” He asks, practically pleading. He’s so close to having everything that he wants, a man to love him, a huge sum of money, elevated social status. Except he can’t have the one thing he really wants, to be someone else. In the end, he is Tom Ripley and he can’t get away from that, in mind, body, and in all his talentless, displeasing spirit. 

This film is what I think is the most accurate portrayal of struggling with your sexuality and overall identity. It’s not a moving, sensitive experience that movies like Call Me by Your Name or All of us Strangers portray; it’s anguish, it’s violence, it’s losing the people you love and feeling like you did it yourself; it’s fearing being alone for the rest of your life. It’s pretending a whole section of you is not there and lashing out when you’re confronted with the basement full of unhappy thoughts. It’s hearing good things and not believing them; it’s hating your body and being afraid of it. It’s looking in the mirror and not knowing who you even are. It’s feeling like you made all the wrong choices and, like Tom puts it, believing it would be better to be a fake somebody, than a real nobody. 

[rainsparks29]

Overanalysing Mela's Ace

Last night I wound up thinking about Mela’s rematch team, and specifically her ace, Armarouge. Overanalysing has let me gain a deeper appreciation of her character, and I wanna ramble about it here a little.

In the Starfall Street story, Mela is visited by a Charcadet nicknamed Charlos who she used to play with at the academy. She was close enough with him that, a year and a half later, she still recognises him and can tell what he’s thinking just by watching his flame. Mela also trains other Charcadet, and we know she evolved multiple to power the Starmobiles.

It’s safe to say that Mela has an affinity with the Charcadet line, or at the very least, the game draws a connection between her and the line more than it does with most other trainers and specific Pokémon.

Yet, despite this, Mela’s initial team only consists of Torkoal and her Starmobile. There’s a strange absence of Charcadet for someone who is largely characterised as ‘angry Charcadet girl’. But it’s actually really clear as to why when you look at her rematch team.

Mela’s ace is an Armarouge. This, on its own, doesn’t sound very notable. It’s a fire-type, a gen 9 Pokémon (every Team Star boss bar Penny has a new Pokémon as their ace), fits her colour scheme… No problem. But what makes this interesting is that her ace is not a Pokémon she had on her team previously.

In every other rematch, the boss’ ace is a Pokémon (or evolved form) that they used during the story. Even Giacomo, who, like Mela, only has one regular Pokémon on his initial team - Pawniard - evolves it and has Kingambit as his ace. (Side note - it has Defiant, not Supreme Overlord, which is really funny to me. As though they purposefully nerfed him because he’d always send it out last. The reverse Geeta.)

Anyway, that implies their aces are all Pokémon they’ve known for a long time, and love and trust most of any of their team. It would imply Mela knew her Armarouge longer than other new additions to her team, despite not having a Charcadet on her initial team…

Her Armarouge is Charlos. And it’s all but intentional, too. Why else wouldn’t she have a Charcadet in her first battle, if not solely to show us the Armarouge she eventually uses is not some random Pokémon she already owned, but the very one who tracked her down because it was worried about her? Mela went back to school, reunited with Charlos, and added him to her team. It’s adorable.

Now, I’m sure some people are reading this and thinking, well, yeah, that’s obvious. Which is fair enough. But I’ve got a little more to say. Because Charlos is a Charcadet in the story, and Charcadet has two evolutions. It’s a split evolution depending on whether you use the Malicious (intending or intended to do harm) or Auspicious (conducive to success) Armor.

Ceruledge’s Violet entry: An old set of armor steeped in grudges caused this Pokémon’s evolution. Ceruledge cuts its enemies to pieces without mercy.

Armarouge’s Scarlet entry: Armarouge evolved through the use of a set of armor that belonged to a distinguished warrior. This Pokémon is incredibly loyal.

Mela uses an Armarouge in both versions, despite no major character using a Ceruledge on their team. Which makes me ask, why? Why not change based on the version, or have both on her team, if she’s so heavily associated with the Charcadet line?

Well, if Charcadet evolve based on the emotions imbued into the items you use…

Mela has an Armarouge, not a Ceruledge, because post-game, she’s grown and changed. Her anger and attitude were a defence mechanism against the bullying she faced, but she’s in a better position now. She’s letting go of old grudges and resentment that define Ceruledge and instead embracing being a strong trainer and loyal friend. 

As a character so closely linked with the Charcadet line, the traits of both evolutions have strong parallels with Mela - until the post-game, where she only has an Armarouge, because she’s in a better place, and she’s healing.

Or maybe a Gamefreak employee just thought the colour palette suited her better. Who knows.

[yangxiaolongprotectionsquad]

Some stand out things to me that were DEFINITELY overshadowed by the most tender, soul-restoring, gorgeous, stunning confession to ever be conceived and executed, in no particular order:

1. I know some ppl are unhappy abt Weiss being down bad for Jaune now but I personally think it’s fucking HILARIOUS and the way RBY were all 🤨 was amazing. Jaune fr looks good…. “MATURE” LMFAOOO Weiss really put on her clown shoes and I love her for that

2. I don’t think anyone thought Alyx’s story was going to be totally accurate but DAMN. Writing her kind brother out of the story entirely, sacrificing him to return to Remnant, poisoning Jaune? What a twist.

It shines an entirely new light on her interactions with those in the Ever After. The Crimson King ascended into a colossal shithead because of how she beat him—no wonder he resents humans so much. I think it’s likely that she cheated to win, so when he came back it was with a vengeance. I wonder at how she and Louis were raised to become opposites?

3. The Curious Cat is basically Ozpin. A helpful if eccentric guide at first, that eventually is forced to confront a painful reality. What really makes the connection stand out is how the Cat deflects by saying things like, “You never asked,” regarding the brother. They both technically don’t lie outright but they do withhold crucial information that would change how the others would perceive them and the world.

I fucking LOVE the parallels man. The nail in the coffin was when the Curious Cat left after admitting Alyx played them. I’m certain the cat will return in some way or another, like Ozpin.

4. Ruby. Oh dear, Ruby. She’s been lost ever since she fell. Literally of course, but mentally, too. She doesn’t know her purpose, her role, her reason to keep going when Salem is out there with two relics and the situation appears hopeless. Volume 8 was a massive pill to swallow, and her plan failing has had horrible consequences. She’s at a crossroad, (lol), because she needs to be a leader.

She can’t doubt herself, she can’t fail, she has everyone relying on her and that burden has never been heavier than it is right now. It’s crushing her, so she’s trying to lighten that load by erasing pieces of herself. Ruby gave away her emblem. Penny’s sword.

Her beloved Crescent Rose, a PART of her, at least symbolically, being given back to her by Jaune, offers ZERO reassurance. Worse still, just looking at it fills her with dread. It’s a symbol of every burden she’s shouldered and every battle she’s fought.

Jaune returning Crescent Rose is akin to him saying, “We need to keep going, to keep fighting.”

And Ruby Rose, the optimistic hero and legend straight out of a fairy tale, wishes she could just disappear.

SO YEAH. That’s my incoherent analysis. I think volume 9 has already become my favourite, and EDDY RIVAS. It cannot be said enough how amazing the script was. Truly. The animators went ballistic. The concept and background designers? They served us a 5 star meal. Miles is SLAYING as an older Jaune, who is both familiar and yet distinctly different. Lindsey, Kara, Arryn, and Barb continue to give us incredible performances.

HOW COULD I NOT MENTION CASEY AND MARTIN??? Banger after certified banger. Give me the album.

Thank you, CRWBY. For everything. I knew you’d deliver but you’ve outdone yourselves. That’s all I can say for now, but I’ve deadass had a smile glued on my face since I watched the ep, and you should know that.

[theanomily]

This is a Bloodline "live react", but also not really because I'm posting my initial thoughts as I read in maybe two goes, depending on the time I can allocate to reading.

Disclaimer: The book has been out for two and a bit years. I hate surprises. Consequently, I know stuff. Specifically, I know that:

Otto "dies" // the volcano explodes. These are somehow linked?

The Queen of Shadows is a Sinistre who... exists // Raven is Nero's daughter. Again, these are somehow linked? Sidenote: hive fantasy au where there's a Nero, furan and sinistre kingdom/royalty

There's a scene in which Nero is tied to a bed?? And I think Anastasia is there?? (*squirts Mr Walden with water*)

There's some Anna kid/super-robot. I assume she wants to kill everyone (mood). Sidenote: given how similar her name is to Anastasia's, there's probably some connection there.

Ms. Leon gets her body back. Her cat's name is Kali.

Pietor has a "lurking heart."

*

Chapter One:

OK, opening with a scene of Nero + brandy into a flashback sequence... very Overlord Protocol. Wonder if that was intentional and if the books may be linked.

Nero is younger than I thought. Much younger.

"There's a fine line between being devoted and pathetic." Oh, I love Elena already.

Clumsy Max. That's all I have to say. See, I thought it was as he was bending to kneel when the shot happened, not bending to retrieve a fallen ring. It's kind of sweet that it's the one time we've seen him display nerves. And it killed his (finace? Girlfriend? Does the proposal count?), generating a Never Again type of instinct and the birth of the max we know and love

KILL ANASTASIA, MAX... oh, you IDIOT. Suppose plot gotta plot, eh?

Dr Higgs... why is that name familiar? Glass tanks. Did he work on Otto back in the day?

Laura seems much more bold than any other book. It's interesting, given that Deadlock has literally just happened.

Shelby's first line is an insult. Now that's the Shelby I love

This is wholesome (barring the implied make outs, of course), but Penny. What has happened to Penny?

Oh no, h.i.v.e.mind is thinking they're having a foursome, isn't he?

Chapter Two:

So Anna is Otto crossed with the Contessa. And the whole initial want to know stuff about her creator? Aka her "parents"? I'm sensing AU potential centred around a more human version of her, yearning for a family to find and slowly being driven into insanity/violence

Oh my god, max on holiday? It's him, he's being controlled by something.

I forget that Raven and diabolus are only friends/kind of close in fanfiction. I have no point to make here. It's just very jarring to read max saying to her that he'll do all the talking as though it's all a political battlefield.

Also, we should actually talk about max's daddy issues

Why is Franz a gym bro now? I suppose he inspired himself to try to attain his ninja alter ego via his newfound shooting skills. Still extremely out the blue. (Oooh, And They Were Study Buddies).

...That better not be the extent of Nigel's self-acceptance arc. Or else I'll have to dust off the old ffn account, and nobody wants that. Mr Walden, my guy, I'm counting on you.

Anna, will you take my hand in marriage?

Ouch, Zero really did just exist to be told "a copy is never as good as the original" and then to have his successor be even better than him.

Chapter Three

Excuse me, I know Otto points it out immediately, but Wing advocating for more aggression? Interesting. Makes sense in context- a simulation, in which he would have been the one getting hurt if they took a more aggressive approach. I wonder if that's going to come into play, perhaps the other way around, in a real situation?

Are they really not going to say what this security flaw is? Damn, poor hive'll never learn

Chapter Four

Why are block and tackle being nice? Wing's right, this is a complete parallel universe

..or perhaps not. Only shelby would dare picture Nero in tights.

Page 66 and hive is already fucked. What I'm hearing is Cypher was a complete amateur

CYPHER BOTS :)

Chapter Six

We are nine books in, and let's be honest. Dr Scott isn't the chief medic, he's the only medic

I forgot to jot down anything for c5, but if I forgot, then I can't have had anything particularily noteworthy to say.

Here, I do find it quite interesting that Anna referred to guns as nasty. Reminds me of those really convoluted family trees in which wing is related to otto (and, by extention, anna) via his parents working on Overlord.

Damn, looks like a united glove isn't good news at all for max right now

Also, I'm still really wondering if Mr Walden just straight up forgot about Penny

[septembersghost]

Since you love Sweeney Todd so much, I'm just curious; what did you think of the film adaptation in 2007 (the one with Johnny Depp and Alan Rickman)? Personally, I really liked Alan Rickman as the Judge, and he honestly didn't do a bad job singing either.

depp and hbc are miscast, but that turned from mild bewilderment (their voices were lacking given the complexity of the score, but their acting and chemistry was enjoyable) to unfortunately finding it egregious given everything that's happened in the past couple of years. separation of art vs artist comes into play, but i still wish ANYONE else had gotten those roles in the film version of one of my favorite shows, and were it not for those extenuating circumstances, i'd probably still defend it a bit more.

that aside - my biggest issue with it is that they cut my babies johanna and anthony's parts down so dramatically that it dilutes the intentional contrast (and inverted parallels) they have to sweeney/lovett (although i loved both actors). alan rickman was excellent (wasn't he always?!), and back in 2007, i was actually in the minority of defending its structure and burton's direction (which is quite good and visually striking in its blend of horror conventions and musical blocking, and does fundamentally understand the penny dreadful/grand guignol history of the thing). the orchestrations are exceptionally gorgeous, the aesthetic/costuming is quintessentially burtonesque in its spooky beauty, yet it works. sondheim was proud of the film (and he was not a fan of musical film adaptations) because he thought it justified itself and transformed properly within the medium instead of being a poor translation of the material onscreen, and i respect his opinion in that and definitely understood why he felt that way. it's not perfect, but it's better than people think it is (if you could only see the in-depth livejournal entries i used to write about this!). i haven't revisited it in a long time, but there was definitely a time when i cherished it in its own right.

[giantchasm]

top 10 pokemon characters/story arcs?

Hi! Sorry this response is coming a little late. I can take a bit to answer asks, but I swear in general I will get around to them. Life's just been hectic.

To answer your question, though (And assuming this only applies to mainline Pokemon— I'll do everyone a favor and spare you from hearing me talk about my feelings on PMD characters... unless people WANT to hear about those too?)

As a note, this is within the context of how well developed I think their characters/story were, so it's not in the order of my favorites in general. That would vary slightly. For example: I love Raifort, but her ass does NOT have that much going on. I'd also put Volo much higher up than I did on this list.

1 - N - Honestly, I had a lot of trouble deciding whether he or Lillie deserved first place. They're more or less a tie in my book. I think they both had character arcs handled extremely well in different ways. I ultimately opted for giving N this slot because I think BW is just the more thematically rich game as a whole, but I do love Lillie. N is just so fantastic, though. I love his arc as well as the different facets of his personality. He was the first character that was ever truly a "blorbo" in a fandom sense to me and with good reason. I would take Ibuprofen with him any day.

2 - Lillie - Like I said, Lillie almost made first place. I really do love her. I think her arc about learning to stand up for herself and generally carve out her identity as an abused child is extremely well done. She is my FRIEND and it made me VERY SAD when she left at the end of the game. I hope everyone who complains about Sun & Moon's story without ever having actually bothered to engage with it blows up forever.

3 - Arven - Say what you will about Scarlet and Violet- they're buggy, rushed games, but their story slaps. I think Arven's arc and the general way he's characterized is super well done. Although that goes for all of the ScarVi cast! I think they're just sincerely good characters. Blowing up everyone who didn't pay attention to the story then had the audacity to complain about it being bad with my mind here as well. [This is malice directed specifically towards Alpharad for his read on Penny, but don't tell anyone that]

4 - Silver - Silver's interesting in that he comes from a time when Pokemon character arcs weren't super defined but he has such a solid one, so he really stands out! I love him learning to open up, trust, and love his Pokemon and think the way that story is told organically through elements such as his Golbat finally evolving is wonderful. His Pokemas event with Ho-Oh made me cry.

5 & 6 - Cheren and Bianca - I feel weird separating these two because of the way their arcs parallel each other, so they're going together. They really do exemplify the way that Black and White were sincerely well-written games and I love their individual stories as well as the way they play into the themes of the overarching story as a whole.

7 - Cyrus - What a character. Cyrus is well and truly one of the most offputting yet interesting characters in the entire series. His nihilistic outlook burying what little he does seem to sincerely care about is so fascinating, and his backstory easily gives him even more depth. He's just this guy who's like... sincerely mentally unwell, and not in a cartoon villain way. He has legit psychological issues. I would love to study him under a microscope.

8 - Volo - This guy's one of my favorite Pokemon characters, but even I've gotta admit he doesn't actually have that much going on. I feel like so much of what I like about him just came from my head. That said, he has a fun charisma about him, even in canon, and I loved getting stabbed in the back. Please stab me in the back more, GameFreak. ([A flying ice-cream truck appears over my head, a la SpongeBob] IN THE STORY! PLEASE DON'T STAB ME IN THE BACK BY MAKING DISAPPOINTING GAMES...)

9 - Barry - Yet another fantastic character from gen 4. I love him realizing he needs to actually take some things seriously and the way he grapples with his failure to protect the Pokemon of the lake. For the third time in this post I'm blowing people up with my mind, specifically the people who just see him as annoying and loud and don't pay attention to the way he changes over the course of the game. ADHD king.

10 - Bede - Tbh... I don't know if Bede actually deserves to be on this list. I think it's probably a little offensive to put any SWSH character on this list. But truth is... I just like him! Even if it was ostensibly poorly executed, I'm a complete sucker for the "spoiled brat gets smacked in the face by reality and has to learn some goddamn humility" trope, and he embodies it well. I also like how ultimately he finds himself and his place in the world through embracing things stereotypically associated with femininity :) I simply think it's nice.

[daniels-rwby-blog]

Volume 9 episode 8 reaction

That's a hell of a thumbnail and again an interesting title of tea admist terrible trouble, the Alice and wonderland parallels continue.

The title is as Good as Ever And again ruby is sitting by a tree,

ep1 parallels woo.

No dont yell at little!Punches tree like shes playing minecraft

Dam its dark already, okay rt spotlight of pressure we get it.

And the house of neo.

So much backstories in these portraits

HES BACK, its amazing i love it.

THE META YEEEEE

Its just like chibi said nothing bad ever happened and i love it this kind of meta is what i wanted from a fairytale volume.

The subtle camera work really sells it.V3 call backs wooo.

Reset you say?

Its interesting how we did actually hear neo before she strikes,

nice bit of attention to detail.

But yeah ive got loads of ideas about this little sequence, how neo projects to torchwick, the leaves from the tree, why the tea is rainbow, looking forward to going over this ep in detail.

But for now Action!

love Neopolitan, was my favourite character untill v8 and Ambrose. But best girl is back and the umbrella twister of fight scenes is hinted at beautifully with that little entrance.

And she know shes best girl, that smile to roman.

And back to bees plus Weiss

Wiess no your comedic relief not serious.

I love this fight, the colors the shade ruby hears the fall penny turning and penny just savage and so dark its amazingly blocked.

This is the moral story i wanted from v7 and v8

The blur of good and evil and if team rwby are the hero's. Reminds me of clone wars and its change of perspective. But obviously very different.

Also little is still adorable while so scared.

Alright the "well shit" moment is apon us.

So yeah that got dark. Rose garden fans how ya doing?

Its framed so well.

The staff

the change to oscar,

and then neo pulls out the cards with qrow and rwby and jnpr.

Then she steps in herself, best girl.

And the cat ex machina, this is fucking dark.

Okay so the cat says maker, and the cat wants a purpose, and also the relics are made, and the relics are hidden in pocket dimensions.

Yeah I'm saying it, the cat is the crown.

Now i don't love this idea (go watch the video on yt) because i feel like this should be the reset volume with no links to any wider stuff on remnant, like a pause and then we go back to normal but with growth and deeper relationships. But i see it.

And as a call back in volume 10 or 11 it would be awesome, just not as they leave with the crown from the ever after, that's gonna take a lot of convincing to get me on board. Okay back to the reaction:

Again i love it.

And neo wants it all for herself.

And poor little, gonna come back to that,

and back to the tea.

I mean yeah rubys not dead, but wow who said this was filler

we just said the main new character of the cat is trying to get a permanent body and using ruby as it, and then killed the title character, nkt a volume for beginners.

Also yeah its a metaphor for

Suicide, woo.

And neo is batshit crazy, but we knew that anyway.

I assume the voice of roman was always there, always chippin away at neos mental state.

But addressing the cat, wtf?

Like it went inside her?

Mate what the hell is going on i thought i was watching rwby?

I enjoyed it, i really did its so good, but its dark and wacky and yeah this volume better stay self contained cause this plus salem and grimm would be too much.

I dont like neo speaking and i dont like that model, with all of neos new semblance and again cat just peaces out like ruby at the end of last episode.

So my final thoughts and mini theories.

What's littles Ascension gonna be?I love that we get 2 ships confirmed, like roman and neo were already pretty much cannon, but just to reaffirm it.

Also the i think the writers are telling us something with his consumed neo got by killing ruby that after she drank the tea, neo broke.

Like straight up died inside, even her inner voices got worried,

i wonder if RWBY can use that info to sedate Salem or something, involving sacrifice and all that good jazz.

Also dude we got jaunes saving neo, kinda.

That face gives me hope for the dark ass RWBY i wanted from this volume, but also nightmares.Why cat want to suck my soul and body? has cat done this before?

(Sorry for the swearing i try not to with these but this episode is as close to losing its pg13 rating as rt have dared go before so i hink its warranted)

Thanks for reading y'all, stay tuned for in depth theories and read my other stuff, I'm only wrong 50% of the time.

Steal my gifs, go on do it

☝️how we all feel after that