#plus as a fan I think it’s great to have duplicates

[obstinaterixatrix]

I have a friend whose favorite series is a•t, which, Yknow, I am trying so hard to be polite about having extremely different tastes. but I cherish & support her and when it comes to bday presents I’m either waiting for someone to express a need/want for smth during any time of the year & just buying it & going ‘happy early/late birthday’ OR I’m planning months in advance (& sometimes collaborating w/ folks) for The Perfect Present but I can never bring myself to get something I’m halfhearted on… I’ve been on & off scrolling thru mercari/ebay/amazon/aliexpress and feeling very Eh abt the quality/size/price and was almost close to just getting two small cheap but cute plushies (13 cm & 10 cm :/), then on ebay I saw smth that was 20cm (good size) and actually very cute, but it was like $50 for the plush & $20 for shipping and while I cherish my pal I am not dropping $70 on a plushie (AND ESPECIALLY NOT ON A•T MERCH). so I do a exact match search of the specific brand and find one (1) online store selling it for $20 (incl shipping) (they’re having a 20% off sale). which is suspiciously low so I made sure to look up reviews outside the site & it looks legit, so I’m gonna buy it & hope that even if it’s not legit it’ll be an acceptable quality bootleg, and if it isn’t even that then I still have a month and a half to get one of my backup plans. in a week we’ll see if I get a Perfectionism Win.

[egg-but-with-style]

HEADCANONS WITH THE BOYSSSS!!!!

My last post did pretty well, and if people like it, I figured I might as well try my hand at some more!!!!

Gaz

This guy literally has the best skin in the world, it's like looking at something carved from marble, everytime you ask about his skincare routine, he just says genetics.

He detests anything made with cinnamon, his older sister once made him try a pie she made, and by the time he was done eating it, he was literally coughing up cinnamon. Didn't say anything though, couldn't be mean to his sister like that.

HE CANNOT SIT STILL!! Gaz and soap are literally the most energetic people on base. Except Price finds Gaz charming and soap less so...

Also I for some reason think he smells like oranges and mangos???

(edited after I saw a tiktok about climate change) GAZ IS SUPER VOCAL ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE, all of the boys care to some degree (get it?) but Gaz brings hard facts and evidence everytime he talks about it, Price is now worried for Gaz's mental health

Price

Where to start? Maybe with the fact he has duplicates of his hats he keeps in his office drawer. Ghost went in there one time to give Price a report and saw Price open his Hat Drawer. Ghost had never seen so many hats

If some of y'all didn't know, if you have a low tolerance to cigars and breathe in too much of the smoke, you'll get sick. So, Price keeps a puking trash can just for the people that come into his office. Is he gonna stop smoking to prevent people from losing their lunch? Never.

When he's not on duty he wears the stupid Hawaiian shirts that middle aged dads wear on vacation. Also cargo shorts. Cause they're tactical

Soap

Again, he cannot sit still. He'll wake up in the middle of the night and you'll find him in the armory tinkering with an explosive, and even then he gets up every couple minutes just to pace around

He is very meticulous about his hair. Every morning he wakes up just a little bit earlier then everyone else and hair gels that baby into place. It does not move. It could probably be as effective as a military grade helmet at that point.

THIS MAN DRAWS PORN AND POSTS IT ON TWITTER!!! He uses an alias of course, and a very well hidden drawing tablet when he's on duty. Just ignore the fact that alot of the men he draws look just a tad bit like ghost. Just a little.

Also, while all of the COD men love a woman (or man) with meat on their bones, soap is feral. Chubby chaser all the way. There's also something really hot about a person being around his height and not taking his shit.

Ghost

He has horrible acne under that mask. It's actually awful how much he goes through just to keep it on. He's done skincare, moisturizing, pimple patches, everything, and nothing work. The worst part is, he thinks the mask is so cool it's worth it

This man is an actual dork. (Idea by @ghouljams) this guy definitely makes those little miniatures. The little details he puts into every bit of his work, whether it's wood grain, the look of water, he just does it all with such skill. The plus side is that it keeps his brain at bay, not thinking and more focused on what's in front of him. He also likes DND. Go figure.

I also do like the idea of trans ghost. He understands what it was like before he transitioned and feeling ashamed of his size when he used to be forced into the stereotype of what a woman should look like. So when people fuck with you about your size, he's right behind you like he's gonna kill them.

Authors note: the only thing I'm afraid of as I start writing is 1. The fan fic author curse, and 2. People actually paying attention to me, my anxiety is gonna kill me, lol. Anyway, hope y'all are having a great day!!! Bye!!!

[leatherdykelust]

on my hands and knees BEGGING you where do you buy your leather from I have been looking for real leather for ages and I don't care if I have to save for years to get my first gear set I am just begging for it at this point because I haven't had any luck anywhere else.

The trad leatherdyke answer is to have it gifted to you (my best jacket was a gift) but it's not the Eighties any more and there's a lot less leather gear in urgent need of rehoming, so that's unhelpful.

More seriously? Shopping around. I don't own that much leather, but here are sellers (many on Etsy) that I can vouch for:

Firebird Leather: My two main floggers are Firebird floggers. They run $250+ each, but they're genuine works of art, and guaranteed to be balanced. Act fast if you see one you like, because I don't think they make floggers fast enough to keep duplicates in stock.

Rapture Leather: The peerless @vamp-domme can say more about them, but I've got some over-door restraints from them and a flogger in the cards when finances permit.

Agreeable Agony: A whole range of leather impact toys in a huge range of colorways, and they're willing to guarantee that their floggers will balance. Plus they have gorgeous rope. And wax.

mxwllprnc: Home of the only Wartenberg pinwheel case (a must-have if you own one) and assorted accessories; he's also done custom strap-on harnesses if you're in the market for that sort of thing.

6Whips: Not really a fan of their flogger aesthetics, but very much a fan of their paddles, and they're the biggest shop I know of that works with latigo.

Mercy Industries: My main stop for harnesses and restraints, in part because they're very transparent and have great customer service. If you want rose gold hardware, they've got the best hardware on the internet, bar none.

[purplekoop]

So Marvel Rivals, that's an interesting surprise from nowhere! A new hero shooter with emphasis on the "Hero", but with a 6v6 format... huh. Interesting.

I'd do a full breakdown of everything shown so far but that feels like a job for someone with a usable computer. For now I'll just give my quick thoughts as a fan of both the genre and the IP.

On the Marvel side of things there's a good bit to be excited for already, with an interesting roster of picks already. Got a lot of obvious staples along plenty of choices that don't feel like cheap MCU tie-ins. Glad there's already a few X-men in, and genuinely very happy to see some characters I've literally never heard of. Again this mostly feels great because of how the MCU dominance has been overtly a hindrance to games like Marvel vs Capcom Infinite, where if a character didn't have a movie already out or in the works then they had a fat chance of getting in, even for series staples like Doctor Doom and literally any X-men characters.

On the gameplay side I can't say too much on the finer details, but it looks like individual characters bring a lot of interesting mechanics to the game. Doctor Strange can make portals, Hulk has his iconic leap and even has a transformation mechanic where he seems to need to spend some time as Banner before he can do the real work, and Loki has some sort of copycat technique. So... teleporting teammates, leaping and getting angry, duplication... yeah maybe these aren't as unique as they sound when tied to characters with a history of using those abilities outside of games.

There does also seem to be some sort of unique "team up" mechanic, like Hulk can lend Iron Man some gamma energy to power up his big laser blasts, or Rocket can scamper onto Groot's back in classic fashion. Not sure if these are unique interactions based on specific synergies, or if it's a more modular system, like first example coming to mind, Kirby Star Allies. Either has some balance or mechanical concerns, but it certainly sounds interesting.

The third person camera is also unique for a hero shooter, which makes me anticipate a less aim-intensive game and one more about movement, ability usage, and team play. Definitely a fair choice given the cast, plus I imagine it's compelling to actually see the iconic character you're controlling.

Now a big point I wanna address:

Will this be the Overwatch killer??

...no, probably not, sorry.

I think regardless of how much this game succeeds or OW2 fails, I don't think it's going to be much of a competition. Not as in Overwatch is gonna curb stomp it, but I just don't see the two games butting heads that much. Marvel Rivals seems to be going in its own direction with the finer details, even something as simple as first versus third person camera seems to inform pretty sweeping differences.

Plus, in the past I think calling any game the "killer" of the previous big thing in the genre. Looking to Overwatch specifically, people tried to call it the TF2 killer, which... I mean TF2 kinda killed itself trying to be like Overwatch, so bad example, but even with Valve's shortsighted incompetence TF2 never totally died, it's still got a solid playerbase and plenty of fans in spite of its rough post-2016 history, and with Overwatch existing completely fine alongside it. And "Overwatch killers" have come in the past, but never really meant much to OW besides some players deciding they preferred the other game more. Apex and Valorant are more just other subgenres with a "Hero" twist and not quite the same kind of game as OW, but Paladins was undoubtedly trying to fill that more specific niche. And... it didn't totally fail. No seriously, any game that still has its fans and active players, however few, is worth respect in my book.

I think that's the beauty of it, that multiple teams are willing and able to make their own approach to the same concept! That's how we get interesting new ideas, and move the subgenre forward in cool ways! To be blunt, ideally for me OW2 AND Marvel Rivals go on to coexist and both be great! If people prefer one over the other then that's fantastic, but the fact multiple options exist with their own ideas and approaches is so cool to me.

It's like with a similar subgenre developing over the past few years: platform fighters, or "Smash clones" for the outdated term. In the release downtime after the three most recent Smash games, we saw more and more teams try their hand at that uniquely accessible and interesting subgenre of fighting games, and it's been so exciting to see progress over time. We saw a good number of indie attempts after Smash 4, but after Ultimate we've been seeing bigger and bolder teams take serious attempts at a quality contender to challenge Smash. And while each new one garnering the title of "Smash Killer" is more and more of a meme, we're now seeing games that genuinely reach that level of polish and quality. Rivals of Aether 2 is personally the one I'm SO excited about in this respect. But I also can't help but think of the one platform fighter in recent memory that genuinely did Fail, at least in temporary dramatic fashion:

...Multiversus.

Yes, the hellish concept of a free to play fighting game, which prided itself on its grind culture. Now the utterly bizarre mess that is/was/will be Multiversus is sort of a unique disaster, but I can't help but imagine the worst for Marvel Rivals just because it shares that dreaded "f2p" label. Maybe it won't be too bad, but considering early screenshots imply characters need to be unlocked makes me assume the worst.

Frankly my biggest hope, however unlikely it is, is that these two games pressure each other to fix their individual shortcomings. Have OW2 Season 10 making heroes free make Marvel want to do the same, and have Marvel's 6v6 format make OW2 bite the bullet and revert to the same to fix its otherwise impossible to solve balance mess.

...no that's a lie, my biggest hope is actually that Wasp makes it in as a support and gets a skin based on her Earth's Mightiest Heroes look. Or better yet make that the basis for her default design, the designs are another promising point for this game so I have hope they can recognize quality.

[adreamthatsworthkeeping]

I'm still getting my thoughts in order after watching the last special so no doubt I will have more, but this one is prominent, and please don't crucify me for this but I'm confused. Spoilers ahead, obvs

When Ten regenerated and grew TenToo (I think that was his new fan name?) he became mortal and lived happily with Rose in the alternate world.

When 14 split and grew a second doctor, both are still The Doctor. Both can regenerate (until told otherwise), 14 will live forever, so living with Donna is great until they all die and he is alone again. Then you have two Tardis/Doctors roaming the universe. (don't even get me started on splitting? duplicating? the Tardis)

I thought it might have been implied that after 14 recovered he could rest peacefully, knowing he did a job well done, he might have lost his regeneration powers in the split, maybe not mortal, but not immortal either. He could rest, and maybe he will die one day. I assume you could choose not to regenerate? But they never hinted at that so I'm left to assume give it 40/50 years after the Nobles all die and 14 is alone and roaming again.

It also implied that he didn't get to live and rest before. He did live on Trenzalore for ages, I get it it was a battle of sorts the whole time, but still. Plus his time with River. The Doctor can rest in theory, he's only burnt out right now.

Was it a weird cop out to keep fan fave David around and alive to keep having adventures? Could we not have moved on proper from him, stop keeping the poor man attached to this series (shut up I know he loves it, but isn't this also not properly moving onto the next doctor and giving Ncuti Gatwa a proper chance again. Wasn't that the issue before?)

Why does Ten/14 keep getting special treatment? He gets a regen that doesn't change him, a regen that gets him a life with rose, a second regen to be 14, and another to keep living with Donna.

[pajamadragon]

DOLLAR TREE HAS DONE IT AGAIN

For those who might not follow action figure news, Greenbrier International started a Dollar Tree exclusive action figure that made quite a few waves by being legitimately good toys (and accessories) for $1.25 plus tax. The plastic was good, the painting was passable, the story was delightfully cheesy, and it now has a small community of fans.

Evidently, this success is one they're wanting to duplicate for the young girl demographic.

Introducing, the Friends Forever Club

With the cutest, most Babysitter's Club-esque backstory I've seen in a doll line, these are honestly quite impressive for what they are. They're a group of girls who met and became friends at Science Camp.

Carina is into astronomy and wants to grow up to be an astronaut.

Alanis loves tech and video games, and wants to be a computer engineer! (and influencer but we don't need to talk about that)

Viera loves rocks and gemstones and wants to be a minerologist and geologist! Twofer, this gal.

And Iha loves the ocean and wants to be a Marine Biologist!

All the dolls have fairly simple joints, the head, arms, and legs all swivel (no ball joints). The clothing they come with is a soft plastic that actually tabs together quite nicely (I've seen $20 dolls with worse plastic connections.) There are fabric fashion packs that are slightly better than the regular doll clothes, but they still aren't that great.

Are they jawdropping, stunning quality? No. But these are as good or better than some $10 dollar dolls I've seen, have slightly different face molds, and I'm glad to see a line of (good) dolls priced affordably enough for any budget. I hope this line sticks around, because I think these could make a few little girls (and everyone who isn't) quite happy.

[turboacek-blog]

Dragon Ball Super, potential arcs

If the anime ever comes back, people already assume they would cover the manga arcs of Moro and Granolah

And probably adapt the movies Broly and Super Hero

But that’s two main arcs and two smaller arcs (the movies wouldn’t be that long even when broken into episodes and the anime fleshing out certain moments)

And don’t know if that would be enough for a return imo

So I’m going to brainstorm ideas to help justify a return as well as just have fun

Android 21 arc

Yeah adapting the Dragon Ball FighterZ story

Mostly the Android 18 version

I don’t think the reviving of the villains will go over as well but the general premise can work

Android 21 makes this wave ray thing that nullifies most of the energy in the world making Goku and co nearly powerless

And without doing the player's soul thing maybe Bulma makes a device like a bracelet that allows them to use some of their ki but it takes a while to make each one so they do need to solve the problem

Along the way the team consists of all the z fighters

Android 21 has a similar story with 18, 17, and a new 16 then her body splits into the good half and bad half and goes from there

Can be a fun arc to level the playing field as now Yamcha could hypothetically beat Vegeta now

Plus depending on how they handle the ending Android 21 could join the Z fighters as she is a fan favorite

Edit: watched DBS: Super Hero

Since she is now officially the wife of Gero and 16 would be her son and Hedo her great? Grandson

Could have some connection with Hedo and Gamma 1 depending on the placement of this arc as before 21 could meet Hedo her grandson

After Hedo can help against 21

Xenoverse arc

This can be handled in a lot of ways

But I’m mainly focusing on the Trunks, SKOT (Supreme Kai of Time), and Fuu aspect from Xenoverse 2 bonus content

In my ideal version, this would be the Trunks that left to join the duplicate of him and Mai in their timeline and through time shenanigans the timelines are fine and Trunks can ask Goku and co to help against Fuu

Can be the repeat of the Future Trunks/Zamasu/Goku Black arc as it’s incorporating Trunks again but this time has a god/Kai approval

Don’t know the details as it would need to be altered a bit to fit the anime as they didn’t do the multiverse stuff the games do

Maybe incorporate the other universes like Jirens 11 or the unknown ones like 1

Edit: realized this is a lot of the Heroes plot so maybe just find a way to connect them somewhat officially

Dragon Ball Online stuff

I don’t know too much about the game but I know it had a lot of stuff that Toriyama helped add that could make its way into canon in some version

Like Tien already has his dojo which was the idea that was first in the game

Some ideas I had without going into detail as these can be one episode “fillers”

Krillin’s dojo, has a dojo similar to Tien for the new turtle and crane schools to exist

Ms. Buu, Buu wants a companion and creates his wife Ms. Buu so can see that happening as even in Xenoverse he just creates kids so some form of Buu having a Major family can work

Gohans book, Gohan writes a book about Ki control that spreads and has many people learn about ki including Mr. Satan, probably more of a post-Z time but can at least get started here plus it ties into his Scholar profession and how he taught Videl in Z

Goten and Trunk different paths, Trunk takes up the sword and is a swords master and Goten with martial arts so they grow in those aspects, in Online they eventually teach so maybe build that idea for the future

Namek on earth, for whatever reason namekians are on earth in DB online and they’re not just descendants of Piccolo and Dende

This could work as Namekians are friendly with the Z fighters and they just need water to live but don’t know what impact it would have

So that was the adaption stuff

Now for my original off-the-wall ideas

Android 8 upgrade, somehow Android 8 gets an upgrade and can compete against the z fighters but is used for evil or something, if Hedo can make androids capable to fight Gohan and Piccolo then anything is possible lol

Adapting some Z movie villains:

Turles and the tree of might, another Saiyan that survived kinda like Tarble but his fruit of the tree of light gives him a power boost capable of actually fighting the Z fighters

Lord Slug, evil namekian can be old yet super powerful like Moro and gets his youth back

Cool Cooler, instead of just Freiza again, I think Cooler could be what Frost was acting as but being a good guy but he has a villain he needs help defeating or something

Janemba is just a pretty strong alien with a good power set, Janemba could take a lot of hits in the bigger form and had the teleport portal blade attacks in his more iconic form

Lastly, the one people are mixed on but for the most part, want

Redo GT

This would have to be after the Z of Dragon ball so it's not likely but if they do go past the end of Z

Black star dragon balls

Just needs fine-tuning, as its main problem was that it was too long leaving it to have a lot of bad episodes,

Plus it can give Universe 7 more world building

Baby saga

Can mostly be the same but obviously more modernized and fix the issues it had

The body-snatching idea was good alone and then adding the backstory was solid on its own

Super Android 17

This would need the most workaround as maybe it isn’t 17 this time but Gamma 1 and someone rebuilt Gamma 2 and they do the fused idea people thought Super Hero would have before release

Shenron/Dragon saga

This can again be mostly the same just modernized

Having there be a drawback for all the wishes they have made is good

The dragons would need some work as outside of Nova Eis and Shin the others can be changed

And the ending can be virtually the same again

And I’m not writing it out but this is again the opportunity to not make GT Goku time

[fmpmelissa]

Week 02: Wednesday – Production and Research 

At the end of the previous week, I continued my work on sculpting, mainly focusing on the details of the body. These details were achieved using a tool known as stamps. I have used stamps in previous projects; however, those were stylized. Since I did not have stamps designed for realism, I searched online and found some named “FREE High Resolution Skin Brushes 30 For Blender” by (Arca IRTEM, n.d). Although these didn't help much with creating wrinkles, they did add more depth by creating pores. In future, I hope to discover more of these alphas and stamps to help push my design even further. 

I then received feedback from artists I know online through an application called Discord. This is where I discuss my work with other artists and receive feedback using multiple servers. One artist informed me that the creature could use more eyes to enhance its creep factor and emphasize its spider-like qualities. Therefore, I duplicated the eyes and made smaller ones that sat on the sides. I didn't have enough room for six extra eyes, plus it would stray too far from the original design, so adding an extra pair was more than enough. 

Research

Subject 1) Researching ArtStation for potential inspiration, I found a piece by 伞仙 titled “Insect Monster” (2017). I liked it because of the amount of detail put into the sculpt. As I am currently working on the sculpt of my model, I believe it is a good opportunity to begin studying how to add extra detail. I wanted to take into account how they added details such as random lumps over the skin and scales. They also had veins added to support the definition of the model. 

I would apply this to my own work by using Blender and its sculpting tools, utilizing the stabilized stroke option to create clean, sharp lines to define muscles and create veins. I’ll also use the dotting tool to create small bumps around the body, often referring back to this sculpture to get an idea of how they did it. 

Subject 2) Researching ArtStation for potential inspiration, I found a piece by Ilaria Baldassari titled “Locust - Gears of War - Fan Art” (2023). I was inspired by this piece because of the gif they used to show the process of layering, which provided a better understanding of how they set up their art. While my project focuses on creating and animating my artwork for the final project, I also want to showcase my individual artwork. This gave me insight into how to do so in Blender, where they then translated it to Photoshop to further edit by adding dust and extra lighting, which is much harder to achieve in Blender. I think this is a great way to save time and create a high-quality render and edit. I plan to do something similar near the end of the semester and upload it to my own ArtStation. 

References

Arca IRTEM. (nd) FREE High Resolution Skin Brushes 30 For Blender. [Digital Brush]. ArtStation. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/marketplace/p/2K9Na/free-high-resolution-skin-brushes-30-for-blender    伞仙. (2017) Insect monster. [Digital Art]. ArtStation. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8dLex  

Ilaria Baldassari. (2023) Locust - Gears of war - Fan Art. [Digital Art]. ArtStation. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Keqqk9   Ilaria Baldassari. (2023) Locust (Gears of war FANART). [Digital Art]. ArtStation. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/VyE2dg    

Gantt Chart

Light Red highlights marks the day

This is in place to keep me on track what has been or needs to be done this day of the week.

[here4theheartbreak]

The photocards! SanSang!!! Adorable!!! I also really like the Hwa/Mingi one!

Omg the random albums really gave you the full Woosan experience! Sannie with the hearts stuck on his cheeks~ 🥺💕 Also, Mingi looks absolutely incredible this era?? There's something about him! Massive main character energy.

I think you made the right decision! With the amount of pcs available per album, you'd have to get a filing cabinet to store them all! 😭😂

Ohhh, that lot of albums sounds amazing! That's how I got most of my Vixx albums, all in a big bundle! It's great that you have a little network of people wanting albums though, it'd be such a shame for the duplicates to just be sitting around if someone wants/needs them.

I also bought the fan kit! We have SOOOO many tarot cards in this house. 😅 I recently got a cool Korean holographic deck! It's really beautiful~

I've also noticed that about buying straight from KR! The price is usually about the same. And things definitely arrive much faster! I honestly love the Korean postal system. When I mailed a postcard home, it literally arrived the next day. I was amazed.

You were caught ugly crying at a concert by a member of OOO? I salute you. Not many could survive it. 😂

It truly was a shame about Yongguk. Because I'm sure he'd have absolutely no problems interacting with male fans. It's just an example of him being shortsighted, I suppose. He's just gone with what he sees / what he expects. And it's very unfortunate.

That's so true. If someone is absolutely spotless and never puts a foot wrong, then it's kinda strange. If they're eternally, faultlessly good... it feels odd. Like how lawyered up are you, and how deep have you buried the bodies??? Humans make errors. People have bad days. Moods change. It's hard to be ON all the time. It's fine. It's normal. As long as it's nothing malicious or purposefully hurtful, I can understand.

I ALWAYS think this. Particularly about K-pop and gaming. It's grown adults, with regular incomes, who are buying merch and albums, and paying stupid prices for tickets. Plus, going to a concert is an EXPENSIVE experience if you live outside of the city the show is at?? Every K-pop concert I go to costs me around £450-£550 (average of £120 per ticket, £100 travel costs, £160 hotel, £50 for food and drink) + whatever I decide to spend on merch. I spent £160 on Ateez merch in February! Kids are simply NOT affording it.

Oh, Pungja? I love her, she's so funny and her humour is so direct! I really liked the interview she did with Mingi and Hongjoong during Halazia era too. That was around the same time (same week?) we got that WooSanHwa Lucky Oppa episode! (I watched it again yesterday) I really loooove how they all interacted with Hoyoung — especially Woo, he was so excited. It was truly a great week for Ateez interviews and queer interactions in general. And, you're right, there is an honest comfort in their engagement that's GREAT to see. It just doesn't seem to matter, which is obviously how it should be.

I loveeeee San's thanxx rainbow ear!!! 🌈 I really liked thanxx as a whole, I understand that it was a hard time with the whole CA situation. But the song is so good!

Omg. There were SO many quote contenders for my little ateez tattoo. But most of them were a bit sad, even though they're very meaningful to me?? So I just went with the straightforward but hopeful '너와 나의 promise'. But I was SO CLOSE to choosing Joong's whole verse from Halazia... because it's basically (read: exactly) how I feel about my whole health journey these past few years. And there was also 'I shine on my own [people will call that a star]' which is really beautiful... but also kind of lonely in a way?? And then I was like maybe 'just keep it up' because it's so encouraging and Sunrise is a GREAT concert song. But Promise always cheers me up. Although, I did also seriously consider '별처럼 빛나' and I still might get that one because '별' is one of my favourite Korean words. And '처럼' and '빛' are two of my favourite Korean words to say. But I think I'd like to get something more conceptual/visual. Who knows. You'll definitely have to let me know what you decide to get, if you decide! 😊

I really liked neon green Yeosang! But I do prefer his natural hair, especially when it's a bit longer. He looks like an actual fairytale prince. Still, I was a big fan of highlighter green Yeosang! The black stripes have me less enthusiastic BUT I respect his scene kid journey! 😂 He definitely knows that rawr means 'i love you' in dinosaur. Ahhhh. May our lord and saviour (Gerard Way) protect our sweet xXxY3oS4ng13xXx from harm.

San looks stunning with the red hair! Literally, red is SO HARD for idols to pull off. Wooyoung was another GORGEOUS red.

So many more hair things have happened. They change their colours way too fast!

Also, helllllllo, Ateez Cosmopolitan Mingi with the stomach reveal?? It seems like he really wants to show us that area lately. You do you, King. You show 'em what you've got, princess~! 💖

Mingi looks so good this era, I absolutely love the style they put him in. I didn’t love the short cropped when it was blonde, but now that it’s gotten a bit longer it looks amazing (and it looked great with the pink).

And yes, in regards to pcs - I have limited space 🤣I collect pcs for 7-ish groups (only SHINee and Ateez are ‘every album must have a pc’ type collections - the other 5 are more “if they’re cute I will get them” lol) - so far I’ve been displaying them in these little polaroid mini things so I can flip through them easily - but I’m running out of room 😭 I’m probably going to need to get a third one V_V

The album lot arrived last week, it was so much more than I had anticipated! She also sent along '22 Season’s Greetings which I did not at all expect, and the special edition of All to Action which I uh… Wasn’t aware even existed until my friend lost her shit when I showed her the spread 😂 (And I got one of San’s autographed albums 🥲 - not from the same seller but they arrived the same day so I was absolutely chuffed - I need Wooyoung still but am waiting a bit for a good deal).

In all there were 11 duplicates because of some that I already owned. I wasn’t planning on collecting every version of each album, but I mean… She already did 90% of the work for me so 😂 - I actually have a shop online where I resell kpop merch like albums and pcs so it works out; new inventory for my shop, I'll be able to recoup a good half of the money I spent on it I figure.

But, at least until another group I like as a comeback, and until I get the last 2 albums I’m missing (yellow and blue versions of Movement are all that I’m missing V_V - they’re on the way though) - this is what my kpop center looks like overall … I’m out of room.

Oh my God I LOVE that tarot deck! That is so gorgeous!! Where did you get it?? My favorite deck that I own is my Black Deck; I love darker, more eerie decks - but I also love fandom decks; I have a Nightmare Before Xmas one on the way and am eyeing a Star Trek one as well. (And am lamenting the fact that no one has made an American Horror Story deck? Like come on people.)

And yeah, I expect mistakes from people. I’m not delusional, I know my idols and favorite celebrities are human and sometimes humans just don’t want to deal with shit or say things without thinking. It’s just how we are as a species. The problem is when it is repetitive, malicious, or shows willful ignorance or hostility (i.e. sexism, racism, etc) that is not due to ignorance. And right??? I love the stereotype of fans of these things, kpop, video gamers, etc - being 12-14 year old children - like, do people realize the amount of money that it takes to be a fan in the way they are imagining? Obviously I don’t think you need to buy everything or do everything to be a fan - that’s ridiculous - but when these people who mock kpop are mocking fans, they’re mocking ones that have every version of the albums, collect the pcs, go to the concerts, travel to KR to go to fan signs, etc — do they realize what that all costs??? I freely admit that I have a good probably 2k-4k usd worth of merch and albums sitting on my shelf or up on my walls or in binders rn (whether or not I paid that, someone did) and that’s not near as much as it used to be when I collected for BTS, plus a good 500usd or so sitting in a box for resale. A child isn’t going to do that. A child isn’t going to be able to do that, and I know almost zero parents that would be willing to do that for their child - kids are expensive enough as it is 😂 - I fund my son’s hyperfixation (dinosaurs/the Jurassic series) and that’s bad enough. Tickets/concerts are so expensive, you are right! Between the cost of the ticket (which is so much more if the group is popular and if you want seats close or the extras like hi-touch an such). And then travel, hotel, food — and for me personally, even if it’s the rare one in my city (I’ve been lucky enough to see A.C.E and OnlyOneOf here in Minnesota) - most of the time tho I have to travel to Chicago or New York). I still have to pay for a sitter - which isn’t as bad as a hotel but still not cheap — and a kid isn’t going to be driving, so either their parents are footing the gas bill or they’re taking a rideshare, so… Yeah no. (Not to mention some cities here in the US have age curfews - which means parents are gonna need to spend money on an extra ticket to go just so their kid can go.)

Yes! Her. She’s a hoot. I saw she did an interview with those two, I haven’t watched it yet though. I haven’t seen Lucky Oppa either! I will have to go look it up. I’ve never heard of it! I agree as well, that it doesn’t matter - which is what I think is important. I don’t want the community being treated differently in a bad way OR a good way, you know? I just want all of us treated like humans. If you’d treat a cishet host a certain way, then treat the queer host the same way.

And yesss - I swear so many of their lyrics are so deep and meaningful. I feel like a lot of their lyrics are really impactful and speak to me — which ofc is what most fans think, that’s the sign of a good song lol - but you get it. I really like lyrics from Utopia and Aurora (actually Aurora would be really fun to play with as a sort of watercolor night sky looking tattoo but idk). I also really love Better and One Day at a Time - they’re so simple but meaningful. And an odd one that I like but not probably for why you’d think is Good Lil’ Boy - as a transmasc preson there’s parts of it that just resonate for me. I’m sure that I’m sure wasn’t the original intention but 🤷🏻‍♂️ - also parts of Say My Name and Thanxx for a similar reason.

There’s a shop that I found, they did my Doodle tattoo (which was also my first pride tattoo without planning for it; I told her that they could play with the colors of it and she realized it was the perfect # of letters to use for pride colors lol. I love this shop though; it only hires queer, disabled, female identifying, or poc artists. The owner is an enby artist who specializes in top surgery/scar coverups — I want to go to them when I finally decide on what I want for my top surgery scar tattoo. But there’s one artist there that does amazing watercolor - I really would like to have her do sth. But I’m sure I’ll figure something out; maybe I’ll get it for my birthday next year, I try to get one a year when money allows.

The way I snorted over “xXxY3oS4ng13xXx” - because I definitely had a username similar and so did my friend - the nostalgia this kid is giving me rn 😂 - that’s why I don’t like it, it’s giving me clique war flashbacks 🤣🤣🤣🤣(speaking of nostalgia tho - the 2022 Season’s Greetings that I got from that seller - talk about making me feel old jfc - the fact that these trends are retro for these GenZ kids V_V please. They were cute, but I also wanted to hide under a rock seeing some of them).

And yes oh my GOD Wooyoung’s red hair was amazing. It caught my attention right away. I can count on one hand the number of idols that have been able to pull of that neon red and honestly 1/2 of them are Ateez members 😂 - tho some of them really are just super well suited to fantasy colored hair. Like Joong looks amazing in various unnatural colors imo; my least favorite styles of his are when he’s just with his natural hair 😅

The COSMO OH MY GOD I DIED. The way I immediately went to my budget and wiggled stuff around to pre-order a couple of those, it was embarrassing. (I was gonna get all 9 but even I realized it was a bit silly to get 9 copies of the same magazine just for the covers… Despite my desperate want for them.) If I had an easy way to display all of them I would’ve, but alas, my walls are already almost entirely full so, I limited myself to WooSan and ot8. Mingi tho - absolutely killer. And Yunho??? I swear, that man goes totally off my radar for periods then BAM - there he is.

Also, I was watching some shorts and this video came up and I just… Wooyoung is so tiny he looks like a little boy V_V — and I know he’s not really all that small (tho tbf compared to my barely 5ft ass EVERYONE is tall) - but he looks so little next to him and the expression he’s making 😩 My heart.

[no-reply95]

Revisionism A Study: Get Back

One of the sites that I used to browse before I started my Tumblr account, earlier this year, is Hey Dullblog. I’m sure a lot of you are aware of the site, if you're not it’s a Beatles discussion forum with articles on discussion points ranging from whether or not John and Paul were lovers, the role of Yoko Ono in the Beatles story and, more recently, discussions on the upcoming Get Back documentary series. I’ve pulled a quote from a recent Get Back article that be viewed in its entirety here I’ll pull sections out one at a time which will form the basis of my discussion:

When I was coming up in the Beatles fandom, nobody had any problem with “Let It Be.” We didn’t like it — how could you? — but we didn’t think it was lies. We didn’t have the same relationship to our obsessions as people do today. The Beatles made this movie, it seemed to show certain things, you might have opinions about those certain things, but it was accepted as the movie The Beatles gave us, and thus as factual as the tracks on Revolver. Now, fans have a very different relationship to all this stuff; there’s definitely a sense of “fan as customer” working here. A significant number of fans don’t like the story, so Peter Jackson has been brought in to see if there’s another story in the footage, one that fans will like more. And pay for — while at the same time, the Official Narrative becomes a little more forgiving. Paul will be less bossy, Yoko less weird and controlling; both will be more sympathetic. Like those WWI soldiers.

Michael Gerber, Hey Dullblog

“When I was coming up in the Beatles fandom, nobody had any problem with “Let It Be.” We didn’t like it — how could you? — but we didn’t think it was lies.“

This quote outlines the fact that Get Back is not the first time we’ve seen footage from the Get Back/Let it Be sessions. The first presentation of the sessions was the Let It Be movie from 1970, directed by Michael Lindsey-Hogg. The general reception of the Let It Be movie, both at the time and in the decades following, was that it showed the miserable disintegration of a once great band, John looked disinterested, Paul was hectoring George while he bristled under Paul’s tyranny, and Ringo dragged solemnly on cigarette after cigarette, seemingly hoping to be transported anywhere but there. That was the original perception of these sessions that was further bolstered by the principals, John called it “the most miserable sessions ever” and George likened it to their “Winter of Discontent” so that must mean that Let It Be was a true reflection of the sessions then, as the quote above states, fans “didn’t think it was lies” so if Get Back tells us a different story, that must make it proof of Apple and Disney Plus’ duplicity right?

What this quote appears to be making a case against is that of revisionism. Anything that comes first must be true and anything subsequent to that is inherently false and less credible, but is that a historically sound argument?

I recently shared Erin Torkelson Weber’s quote with regards to revisionism but it seems relevant again here:

"Each camp in Beatles historiography has accused the other of revisionism. Yet revisionism is a part of historiography, and simply because a narrative has been revised does not mean that the new, revised version is incorrect. In historiography, official narratives are inherently suspect and early narratives are always incomplete and often incorrect. Condemning later narratives simply because they did not come first excludes sources and perspectives essential to understanding the truth of the subject."

Erin Torkelson Weber, The Beatles and the Historians

As Erin states, revisionism is essential to a better understanding of the truth of any historical subject, taking the Let it Be movie as the whole and only truth of that period of the Beatles history is, in my opinion, a myopic view to have. A lot of what Peter Jackson has highlighted in the new Get Back series we’ve known from bootlegs from the Nagra reels for decades, that there was a lot more camaraderie and fun during the sessions than was originally relayed. The footage that Peter Jackson used as his basis for the Get Back series is exactly the same footage that was available to Michael Lindsey-Hogg in 1970, the footage is one and the same, making more available doesn’t muddy our understanding of that period in the band’s history, it enriches it.

“The Beatles made this movie, it seemed to show certain things, you might have opinions about those certain things, but it was accepted as the movie The Beatles gave us, and thus as factual as the tracks on Revolver”

Again, this appears to be insinuating that the first account of the story we've been presented with must the correct one. Of course, the Beatles were there so we can’t dismiss their accounts of the negativity of the sessions but Get Back is not trying to do that - just from the trailer alone (not to speak of the 6 hours of footage we've yet to see) the new documentary appears to be more transparent on the most negative aspects of the period that were "whitewashed" from the original movie: George quitting is literally circled in the trailer - this is something that isn't even referred to in Let It Be and Get Back also outlines the friction that was caused by Yoko’s presence, something suggested in Let It Be but never as explicitly as in Get Back: "It’s such a comical thing…In 50 years time…They broke up because Yoko sat on an amp."

Something I think we need to remember is that just because John and George, in particular, were so negative about Let It Be in the immediate aftermath, that doesn't make Get Back less authentic or even mean that their original comments are wholly credible. Many of John's comments on Let It Be come from Lennon Remembers which was the first extensive account of the disintegration of the band and how it operated. If we follow the premise that the Beatles', and particular John and George's, contemporaneous view is the most accurate, we should also believe that the Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership stopped being collaborative in 1962 and the majority of their songs were written separately - the whole interview was later downplayed by John as per his comments from 1980:

"Yeah, I was lying. It was when I felt resentful, so I felt that we did everything apart. But, actually, a lot of the songs we did eyeball to eyeball"

John Lennon, Playboy Interview 1980

Historical distance is such a crucial aspect when analysing historical events, John and George's original comments on the Let It Be sessions came from the emotionally charged time of the break-up when they were keen to portray the most negative aspects of the band and to break the myth so they could allow themselves to move on. As we see from John's quote above, the resentfulness he felt impacted the statements he was giving to the press in 1970 and 1971 so when we analyse his and any of the other Beatles' statements from that time we need to be aware that their comments come from an emotionally charged place so may not be reliable.

“A significant number of fans don’t like the story, so Peter Jackson has been brought in to see if there’s another story in the footage, one that fans will like more. And pay for — while at the same time, the Official Narrative becomes a little more forgiving. Paul will be less bossy, Yoko less weird and controlling; both will be more sympathetic.”

There seems to be an insinuation that Get Back is fan service for Beatle fans eager to see the Beatles having fun, not squabbling and hating each other’s guts. There’s also a reoccurrence of the suggestion that, as Paul is one of the last Beatles standing, that this happier depiction of January 1969 is purely at his direction (presumably with Ringo, Yoko and Olivia’s sign off too).

It's possible that the remaining Beatles wanted a happier portrayal of Get Back, but if the reality was that the sessions did have happier moments, showing those moments to us improves our understanding of that point in time, it doesn’t diminish it. Paul, Ringo and Yoko aren’t jumping into time machines to make their actions in 1969 more palatable to 2021 audiences, the happier moments being shown in 1969 were produced in the same context as the more downbeat ones that we’ve seen already in Let it Be, seeing more of the picture just helps us to get to a more nuanced view of that time, is that such a bad thing?

The thing that I think we all need to remember is that Get Back isn’t the only project that may have been impacted by agenda. Let It Be would have also been shaped with by the agenda of the day. When the film was released in 1970, the band's break up was now public knowledge, in that context is it really so surprising that Michael Lindsey-Hogg decided to show more of the negative side of the sessions than the more upbeat side? If Let It Be was meant to provide the answer to fans to explain why the band had broken up, the early cut makes more sense but cutting the film to fit the climate of 1970 doesn't make it any more accurate than a film cut to fit the climate of 2021. The sessions took place in January 1969, over a year before the breakup announcement in April 1970, - why should Let It Be explain an event that happened in April 1970 better than the more harmonious Abbey Road sessions that directly followed it in 1969?

Conclusion

I don’t have anything against anyone that holds the view that Get Back is a whitewash, unless they release all 56 hours of footage and all the available audio, we'll never know what they've chosen to show us, and more importantly, what they've decided to keep in the vaults forever. But I do think we need to understand that revisionism isn’t a bad thing, not only has it improved our understanding of the Beatles, it's also improved our understanding of all historical topics.

The Get Back/Let it Be sessions were a broad canvas showing the band at their worst but also at their best. Why should we be beholden to a view of those sessions based on the tiny corner of the picture that we got in 1970 when the band was broken up and the world needed a film to explain why? Getting more of that picture only increases our understanding and highlights the nuances of that point in time. The factual reality is that the Get Back/Let It Be sessions may have been the last canonical word on the Beatles' recording career but they were not the last word on them as a band, after the sessions they continued seamlessly on into Abbey Road, if the Get Back/Let it Be sessions were as miserable as the original film and comments from the principals suggested, why didn’t they break up in January 1969? Why were they all so happy to continue working together? We haven’t seen Get Back yet (or the 56 hours of available footage) but I think the film will more accurately fit into the Beatles story and explain why they all still felt able to continue as a band in 1969, rather than why it all came crashing down over a year later. Get Back isn’t a lie any more than Let It Be was a lie, both films get us closer to a more true understanding of the band so I for one am glad we get to see more of the picture and gain a better insight.

[drummergirl231-2]

This fandom is funny sometimes.

For example, since the finale, I've heard people say things like: "The only complaint I have about Webby being Scrooge's daughter is that it kind of kills the message of found family - the idea that being related by love is just as good (if not better in some cases) than being related by blood."

Personally, I think it would only kill the found family narrative if they had treated Webby like she wasn't family before, and only started treating her like family when they found out they shared DNA. But they did treat her like part of the family before the finale (Scrooge's Season 1 outburst in "Last Crash" notwithstanding).

Plus, Beakley always knew Webby was a F.O.W.L. creation, and that didn't stop her from always treating Webby like her beloved granddaughter. There's a found family narrative right there. Beakley had no clue whose DNA Webby had, but that didn't matter.

Other people in the fandom have the opposite complaint: "Man, I really wish we'd found out she was made from Beakley so Beakley really would be her relative."

And to that I say: "Who says she isn't?"

Despite what fan wikis and random fan reviews say, Webby was not cloned from Scrooge. She is not Scrooge's clone. Clones are complete genetic duplicates. Just like an actual daughter, only half of Webby's DNA came from Scrooge.

Bradford needed Scrooge to have a son or daughter (not an identical twin) to displace his niece and nephew as his heir and find the Papyrus of Binding.

That being the case, Heron would have had to combine half of Scrooge's DNA with half of another distinct set of genes to create Webby.

By now it is well established that @alliterativealbatross is a proper psychic genius in this fandom. She predicted this ending two years ago (albeit with some details being off, because we didn't yet know Bradford's motives and he hadn't even been revealed as the head of F.O.W.L. yet in the show).

Al speculated F.O.W.L. created Webby as a superweapon by combining the DNA of the world's finest operatives on both sides, so according to her theory, both Agent 22 and Scrooge McDuck were in the mix, along with a few other brilliant duck agents.

I see no reason why this part can't be canon as well. Heron was always far more bent toward chaos and self-admitted villainy than Bradford. She probably thought, Well, if Bradford wants me to create a descendant of Scrooge McDuck, I might as well engineer it to be the ultimate agent for evil.

I imagine Heron played God with a few people's DNA to create a genetic code she would eventually combine with Scrooge's, and I imagine Beakley's DNA would've made up at least part of that code. Hey, the other half of Webby's genes had to come from somewhere, right? As far as choosing the best agents, no one knew what Agent 22 was capable of more than Heron, her greatest nemesis. If I were Heron, I'd want Beakley's genes in my genetic experiment. Plus there's the irony of potentially taking out her nemesis with a girl made form her own genes. Villains love irony like that.

Either way, I stan this fam. They're so cute and great.

Being related by blood in the end doesn't make this any less beautiful of a found family story, because they found each other and loved each other before they ever knew they were related by blood.

[herorps]

Hey flo do you have a guide to naming Chinese characters?? So I can be ethnically correct !

i apologize for how late this is. i’ve had a very busy work day and i’m only now getting some downtime to sit down and answer this the way i want to answer this. i want to start off by saying that i am chinese-american and that what i say and how i name my chinese characters is based on my personal experiences in my community growing up and what i’ve gathered through long-sought out research and diaspora twitter. 

i also want to say that of course your ethnically chinese character can have an western name, it’s very common that we do, especially in modern times and in immigrant spaces, however i think we should be able to normalize using ethnic names. also unless you are adopted ( see: leah lewis ), in my experience you 100% have a chinese name on top of having a ‘western’ name, so if you want to give your character a western name it’d be accurate to give them a chinese name as well ( see: natasha liu bordizzo/liu chengyu ).

if you find this guide helpful, please like and reblog the post, validate me and if you have any questions/corrections/add ons please let me know! 

i would have you start off by reading this really helpful guide. it’s a little long winded and you don’t have to read all of it but they do a great job with describing the different romanizations of names and how they’re different across different dialects/regions. you need to first decide what context your character exists in, whether they’re from beijing or taipei or hong kong, their full name is going to be spelled differently based on what background you want to give them.

my mother’s surname is actually a great example of this. her surname is ��� which in mandarin chinese is pronounced “tang” but because my mother’s family is originally taishanese, her last name is romanized “hong” everywhere that uses an english spelling. alternatively, if my mother’s family changed their romanization when they moved to hong kong, where they speak cantonese, her last name would have been romanized as “tong”. 

another example of this is chou tzuyu. because she from taiwan, the romanization of her name is chou tzu yu but if her family was from, like, shanghai her name would be romanized zhou zi yu. same chinese characters ( 周子瑜 ), but because they are pronounced differently across different languages and because she is taiwanese, the romanizations are different. 

so after you’ve decided what romanization you want to give them, the next step is to actually choose a name. i personally begin with the given name with all of my characters because i like attaching a meaning to the given name over the surname. and also surnames are pretty easy to find/figure out.

here is a guide that discusses a little bit about naming conventions in china, particularly about gendered names. i really like what tangelotime had to say about the fact that gender doesn’t really matter when it comes to naming because, in my opinion and experience, it doesn’t. i would say that what would be “gendered” is possibly the way a name sounds. idk how to explain this but there are some names that sound “girly” but more in the sense that it’s like girly vs. butch. and i can’t think of a good example of this so you’re just gonna have to ... idk go with your gut. but for the most part, chinese names are gender neutral. 

what tangelotime also said about how giving a chinese name is intense is absolutely true because there are so many things that parents may consider including chinese zodiac and fengshui and radicals in a certain character and what it means---it’s a sport that i do not have the effort for nor the intelligence to properly explain. however, i think the guides that i’ve linked so far do a good job in explaining that in a way that i cannot. here is another extensive guide, but this one discusses historical contexts ( for all u historical rpers heh ) and more importantly imo, the list of themes that a parent might take in creating a name. 

8/6/21 edit: i came across these pictographs of characters from mdzs that analyze the etymology by the radical that gives you a lot of insight to possible name meanings and to the written chinese language. 

additionally, here is a video by avenue x, an amazing creator on youtube who reviews c dramas and gives a lot of in depth cultural context for some of the shows she watches, that explains the names of characters from word of honor and gives the poetry references that the writers may have used. 

so if you’ve taken a look all the guides i’ve given you, good on you, i really appreciate you putting in all the work. now let me give you some examples of how different things may be taken into consideration when giving a chinese name. 

my given name is 安儀, romanized “on yee” because my family speaks cantonese. the first character means “safe” while the second character means “appearance,” so together my name means “safe appearance”. but, my mom also took into consideration the radicals of the characters as well. the first character looks like it has a hat or a roof on it right? that is intentional. the character underneath the hat is the character/radical for girl, so my mom wanted to make sure that her daughter had something over her that would protect her. hence why she chose the character 安. the second character in my given name consists of primarily two other words/radicals, 亻+ 義. the first radical is a variation of ⼈, the chinese word for “person,” and the second radical can roughly translate to “righteous” which means when put together, 儀 can mean “righteous person.” however 儀 can also come to mean “the appearance of a righteous person” if you consider all of the meanings i’ve given so far. my parents thought heavily about what my name means, not only on a translation level but also on a structural level. 

if you’re writing a family with multiple children, consider having a generational name. in short, generational names usually have a shared character among a single generation of family members. both of my parents and their siblings are named in this manner. my mom and her siblings all have the 華 ( wah ) character in their names. my dad and his brother have the 少 ( siu ) character and his sisters have the 美 ( mei ) character in their names. my grandparents ( both sets ) thought to give their kids a generational link in their names. 

now let’s look at jackson wang’s given name, 嘉尔, which he explained was homophonic in meaning. this is a tangent but chinese people love homophones and it’s why we don’t trust the number 4 but love the number 8. his given name, romanized “gaa yee”/”jia er”  is essentially a homophone for “plus 2″. he said ( in a video that i cannot find anymore ) that his grandfather named him because he wanted the meaning to be “a king with two guards to protect him”. jackson’s last name 王 (wong/wang) means “king” so “king” “plus 2″ is the intention his grandfather had in naming him. 

but if you’re really not versed in things like fengshui or poetry or you don’t have someone with chinese literacy available to you, the next best thing is to honestly ... take a look at media. whether that’s celebrities or film/tv/book characters ( written by actual chinese people pls ) and see what their names are ( or at least the romanizations are ). this will help you figure out what sounds appropriate and what sounds like you’re just mashing sounds together ( see: cho chang is she korean... is she chinese?? who the fuck knows ). and then finding characters that give off a meaning ( like my name meaning “safe appearance” ) is just fine imo. 

and honestly sometimes giving a name doesn’t have to be so deep. like fan bingbing’s name literally translates to “ice ice” and i don’t even know what her brother, chengcheng’s name is supposed to mean, i think their parents just think having the duplicated character is fun and cute. so don’t stress yourself out. 

also a lot of what i’ve gone over has pertained to the common 3-character name ( 1 character surname, 2 character given name ) but you can also consider a 2 character name ( 1 character surname, 1 character given name ) ( see: xiao zhan ) or even a 2 character surname ( see: ouyang nana ). 

so finally, to get you started, here is a short list of characters and their romanizations that you can take a look at.

thank you so much for bearing with me, i know this is a lot of information to take in but it is great that you are seeking this information out in the first place. i also know that this may seem very daunting, and even for me it’s daunting sometimes, but if you have any more questions, please let me know and if you have anything you’d like to add, please let me know. 

[ninjastormhawkkat]

Another Wordgirl Au: Morally Gray Wordgirl

Morally Gray Wordgirl au

I don’t know if anyone else in the Wordgirl fandom thought about this at one point. A what-if I thought one day was what would have happened if Steven became Dr. Two Brains before Becky became Wordgirl? Such as what if Steven became Two Brains when Becky just came to earth as a baby? This is where the au begins

In this au, Becky is adopted by Dr. Two Brains. After Becky and Bob crash land on earth, Bob carries Becky around for a bit and enters the city. This is around the time Steven first becomes Two Brains. Bob, while carrying Becky, runs into Two Brains. At this point, Bob has no idea that Two Brains is a villain. Two Brains has cheese with him and Bob is hungry. Two Brains awkwardly hands some of his cheese to Bob. Two Brains may be a villain now but he is not heartless to not offer someone that is hungry food. Bob eats the cheese while Two Brains holds Becky. Two Brains is nervous at first because some random monkey just gave him a baby to hold😟. When Becky looks at Two Brains, she curiously calls him daddy. She is just a little kid who think that this new man holding her is her parent now. Two Brains heart just melts😍after hearing her call him daddy and looking into her innocent, alien, eyes. He immediately begins to dote on her as a dad would, ex. baby talk and cooing. Bob watches the interaction between Two Brains and Becky and decides that Two Brains would be a great person to stay with and raise Becky. He later regrets his decision.😓😆Here is an outline for how this au would go:

1. Becky still becomes Wordgirl. Bob tries to implement heroic morals into Becky during the time she is being raised by a villain. Becky wants to become a hero because she does not want to see the lives of innocent civilians hurt. However, since Dr. Two Brains also implemented villainous ideals into Becky growing up, her moral values are kind of mixed in her actions as a hero.

2. Becky is more sympathetic towards villains. Ex. When Chuck and Butcher claim to be innocent after being framed by Amazing Rope Guy, she immediately believes them and tries to figure out another angle of who really committed those crimes.

3. She isn’t as upset as when the spotlight is turned off her such as when Tiny Big came onto the scene or when Granny May became bingo champion. She is still upset, but Becky is not as focused on the limelight as canon. She, from Huggy’s teachings, believes that a superhero’s true reward comes from protecting the citizens and just helping when needed to prevent or avenge the cruelest of injustices. Wordgirl will accept gifts or keys to the city out of politeness. She uses the limelight to give the people of Fair City comfort and assurance that she is still there to protect them. Becky views heroism as a job more than a pleasure. It is basically, “You get good results based on how hard and well you do the work, not just what others say.” mentality.

4. That being said, Becky will not take a passive stance and try hard to prove her innocence if the citizens suddenly began to take advantage of her heroism or if they turn on her such as with the evil duplicate or when Granny May framed her for crimes. As I said earlier, Becky in this au views heroism as a job she enjoys and doesn't take impolite backlash, constructive criticism yes. Basically she just becomes done when residents of Fair City act like morons who think they know better. (I have always had a problem when a majority of the residents in Fair City act like gullible idiots. It always irks me how they will turn on Wordgirl easily and not often give a proper apology when they realize they were wrong. Sometimes, to me, it seems the villains have better appreciation for Wordgirl than the citizens. I am not including all citizens, just seems like a majority do this.) (Okay rant over.) Becky will be like, “if you guys don’t want me anymore then good luck.” She will intervene again just to keep the city from going into complete chaos. She still cares about the safety of the citizens, she just does not like it when they abandon their trust in her for no good reason. She is not even mad at the villains who cause this. They didn’t force the citizens to dislike Wordgirl, that was their choice.

5. Becky will not often take her dad to jail. She loves her dad and does not like the idea of him not being home (the warehouse; Becky’s living conditions their are like my version of the Becky Boxleitner au, just somewhat better due to her living their all her life.) She also does not like the idea of having to fight him, but has to in order to keep up appearances and not let anyone get suspicious and start suspecting her identity. That being said, she will let Two Brains escape after stoping the crimes depending on the severity. If Two Brains just steals cheese from the grocery store, she may often ignore it (its just cheese and it can easily be replenished). For crimes such as stealing money or turning artwork into cheese, Becky will stop her dad, but later act like he got away (if police are not around. “Two Brains Quartet” still happens because police are there.). Becky may do this sometimes for other villains depending on her or their mood. Citizens and Villains believe that Dr. Two Brains is an extremely tough villain to catch which raises his credibility as Fair City’s #1 villain when Wordgirl does this. Captain Huggy Face is not happy when Wordgirl let’s her dad go, but he deals with it because she cares about her dad. Becky does stand her ground if her dad, and the other villains, do something dangerous that affects the lives of the citizens. Incidents such as the plot to mind control all the city with bunny buttons and the cheesteroid do get Two Brains arrested. (Becky is like, “Sorry dad, but I can’t let you threaten the lives of innocent civilians.”) Since this happens rarely, Becky usually stays at her friends houses until her dad leaves prison. She has a visitor clearance and does visits with her dad when she can. (Still brings him cheese.) Not much interaction with the Botsford family unless they were a focus in episodes.

6. Becky is more aware of when villains act deceitful. (She was raised by one herself.) She pretends to be tricked to let their guard down before turning the tables on them. (She can be tricky and deceitful herself when she wants to be.)

The police force are more competent in this au than in canon. They were able to capture most villains, with exception to Two Brains and other major villains, before Wordgirl came onto the scene. The city was similar to Gotham before Batman showed up. It was fine, but crime rates were still high. The episode “The Wrong Side of the Law” happens differently than canon. Wordgirl is civil and polite to the police, but does really like law enforcement or fully trusts them due to her upbringing by a super villain. (Two Brains taught her she can respect law enforcement because they are capable of doing a good job, it does not mean she has to like them or follow the rules all the time. I sorta think that the villains have some respect for D.A. Sally Botsford because of how she is good at her job.)

Now on to “Normal” girl Becky. Becky is still referred to as Becky Boxleitner. (Dr. Two Brains did not want kids ignoring or making fun of Becky with a last name like Brains, or something mouse related. He wanted people to know and treat his daughter as herself, not just who she is related to. Two Brains also wanted to give Becky some protection so random people wouldn’t bother her because of his actions. So he just gave her his old human name.) Becky is similar to her canon character with a few changes.

1. Becky will empathize with someone if they are feeling upset and hurt. But if they are doing something dumb and stupid, or anything that is concerning to her, she will be upfront and honest with that person (not complete brutal honesty but something like “Please don’t do something stupid, I care about you and your health.”). She isn’t mean, but she is forward and won’t bother to hide feelings if hiding your emotions will only make the situation worse. 

2. Both Becky and Wordgirl are sassy like her dad.

3. She is still passionate about words and respects her teachers and main authority figures.

4. Becky is more clever about excuses.

5. She enjoys science more as well as literature. Becky has top grades in her class. (Next to Tobey). She enjoys science fairs and is a bit better at creating workable, and visually acceptable, inventions.

6. Becky likes puns (Two Brains) and knows every fact about cheese as well as every fact about words (again Two Brains’ fault). 

7. Becky is still a fan of Pretty Princess, but has ponies, books, and science stuff in her room. She is a bit more tomboyish than canon.  

Becky is still friends with Violet in this au. I always viewed Violet’s mom as an open-minded nature women, based on Violet’s character and where they live. She is easily accepting of Becky and Dr. Two Brains despite Two Brains life as a villain. Becky is also forward early on how some of Violet’s traditions make her uncomfortable so there is no issue in the series. 

Becky is more a fan of words and science in this au. She and Violet have fun mixing art and science. Becky does not take art classes, but rather is part of after-school science and reading clubs. (She takes science club with Tobey and reading club with Violet.)

Becky is also friends with Tobey in this au. I have nothing against Scoops’ character. I was just more fond of his character development in the episodes during and after he learns Becky’s identity, plus a few before the reveal. (In the early seasons, it seemed that Scoops would do anything for a big story, even as exposing Wordgirl’s identity as Becky. I was upset in that Vocab Bee episode because Scoops did not seem to consider Becky’s input or feeling when he found strong evidence that Becky was Wordgirl. To me it seemed unfair that Becky had to throw her chances at a competition she was having fun in just to protect her identity because of Scoops’ actions and attitude.) Tobey met Becky when they were between 5 and 6. Tobey just lost his dad (up to interpretation on how) and was just lonely. Kids would make fun of Tobey’s nerd-side and some other mean reasons, or they would ignore him. Becky sympathized with Tobey because most kids, not Violet, would avoid her because of her dad. (They would not dare bully her for fear of how Dr. Two Brains would react.) Tobey and Becky easily began to get along and overtime became friends. Claire McCallister was worried about her son hanging out with the child of a villain. But quickly after seeing how Becky was a good kid plus Two Brains being a good dad despite his status, and that her son was happy with friends, she let her worries slide. Claire, Dr. Two Brains, and Violet’s mom, have made an unofficial single parents support group between the three of them. In this au, Tobey does not become a villain, but still builds robots. (I already have a new villain that takes canon Tobey’s role.) Becky and Tobey are silently crushing on each other. Tobey does suspect Becky is Wordgirl, but respects her secret identity and will wait for her to tell him (or a reveal). (Still cares for her anyway.)

Scoops parents are friendly but are strong law-abiding citizens so they avoid Two Brains and Becky. Scoops in this au is nice, but is more concerned on news stories. He originally talks to Becky in hopes of getting an interview with her dad. Scoops is trying not to be inconsiderate, but he is sorta using Becky as a way to get to her dad. Becky deals with this stuff from other reporters and fans of her dad. Neither Dr. Two Brains and Becky like this attention. (Two Brains likes being in the news and in magazines, but he doesn’t like people using his daughter to get to him. Becky is the most important person in his life with cheese being second.) Becky shuts Scoops down after his first few initial attempts. Scoops is disappointed, but he apologizes and doesn’t bother her anymore. Becky is civil and polite to Scoops in this series, but that is about it. There is no crush. (I don’t know if I will keep the Violet x Scoops ship in this au or change it.)  

I really like this au along with a few other aus I made up which include an Alliance Swap au. I am going to expand more on this au and the characters later.  

[dadoroki]

Reminder [1]

Dabi x F!Reader x Hawks

Warnings: violence, fluff, Dabi is Touya and we know it clap your hands 👏🏻 👏🏻

Description: The League of Villains prepare for their upcoming raid. Dabi takes the time to study you, who he is already quite familiar with. The only problem is the one obstacle in his way.

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]

The team of villains watched the screen closely. The Hero Billboard Charts had started not too long ago and this was the perfect opportunity to study the enemies.

Dabi scoffed in annoyance. The ceremony was just an entertainment event judged by popularity and had no real purpose. It goes to show how pointless the title “hero” really was.

Number three! She may not be the number one hero. However, she is the number one in stealing hearts! The hero who makes dreadful weather look beautiful,

Lightning Hero: Storm!

Dabi’s full attention was now on the screen, watching the camera pan up to your contoured face. The last time he saw you was when you both were kids. Now you’ve grown into something more beautiful than ever.

You gave the crowd a wink and turned to the camera, blowing a kiss to the audience from the other side of the screen. One thing that never left you was your flirtation and Dabi was glad you kept it. Twice squealed, tugging on Toga’s sleeve who shared the same reaction as him.

“She remembered us! That gives me a better reason to love her.”

Toga nodded and twirled around the dim room with blushed cheeks. “I know! Isn’t she dreamy? I wonder what her blood taste like!”

She stopped beside Dabi, leaning back on his arm. “Don’t you agree? Look at you, you’re blushing!”

The man shoved her off, looking away from the live video. “Shut your mouth. You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“All of you be quiet! You’re supposed to be studying them for battle and you’re all doing the exact opposite!” A furious Shigaraki yelled, silencing everyone and becoming more serious.

Number Two! He does things his own way but he’s fierce! With great momentum, he’s reached the number two spot!

Wing Hero: Hawks!

The hero ravishly posed with a hand placed on his hip, the other behind his head. Yeah, Keigo definitely didn’t change at all.

The top heroes stood in a line with Hawks already fidgeting with boredom. He whispered something to Endevour before turning to you, a hand covering his mouth from the audience. “Hey, you’ve heard what the media’s saying about us, right?”

You didn’t dare to take your attention away from the crowd infront of you, not even sparing the man one glance. “Because of you, people think we’re an item.” Hawks smirked, returning his gaze towards the audience. “What’s so wrong about that?”

You let your head fall forward, slowly shaking it back and forth in defeat. You had known Hawks at a young age, working together in the same commission. The more you both grew older, the more the bond between the both of you blossomed.

Apparently, Hawks had grown bored of the hero speeches, moving forward to grab the mic. “Hey, chicken wings. Wait your turn.” You hissed which he ignored. “Lets see.”

Flapping his big red wings, Hawks began to levitate above everyone. “If we’re just talking approval ratings, Storm is number one with the charm and flirting she does with the fans.” Hawks looked back at your annoyed face, smirking at your reaction. “Second is me, third is Edgeshot, and fourth is Endevour. I’ll skip the rest.”

“I think approval rating is the most important number right now. Though, I think the most important news everyone really cares about is if Storm and I are a thing.” You furrowed your eyebrows at the man above you. “What do you think you’re doing?” You whispered. The winged-hero ignored you, continuing on.

“There are speculations that we are dating, that we are hiding our relationship, or that we are even married. But the truth is, the rumours are just rumours. We aren’t together. At least not yet.”

You squeezed the bridge of your nose, growing more annoyed. “Hawks, cut it out.” You were tired of reading articles and sources giving false accusations and now, Hawks was doing them a huge favour by stirring the pot even more. He flew towards you, stopping beside you with a wide smirk. “Lets give the fans what they want. If I save the day yet again, you have to agree to go on a date with me.”

“A public proposal!” The moderator exclaimed in excitement. Cheers erupted from the crowd and you could practically hear it from around the world. You glanced up at the cocky man. He knew exactly what he was doing and he knew you’d have to agree in order to keep the people happy. He lowered the mic to you. “Well, what do you say, Y/N?”

Everyone grew in anticipation for your answer, even the heroes beside you and the moderator. You desperately wanted to say no but Hawks had you pinned in every corner. You sighed and gave in. “Fine.”

Everyone in the packed stadium shouted in joy, clapping and rising to their feets. Except for the ones who wanted Hawks’s spot, groaning in disappointment. You just got yourself into a terrible unfixable mess. Hawks lowered the mic, never looking away from you and keeping that same cocky little smirk. “There’s no going back now, babe.”

From the League of Villains lounge, a groan from Twice and Toga escaped. They were upset but not as angered as Dabi. He clutched his fist tightly. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This was never supposed to happen.

A young Keigo and Touya was sitting on a curb by the building. Touya began to fiddle with his fingers, thinking deeply about something that’s been bothering him.

“Do you think Y/N likes me?”

Keigo released the red feather he was playing with and faced the flustered boy. “Maybe, but who knows? She could possibly like me instead.”

Keigo was always competitive. His words didn’t affect Touya because he knew deep down, it was all just Keigo’s competitive nature. Plus, the boy promised him that he’d never in a million years like you. That was until his “disappearance”.

Even though Touya was “dead”, he was never really gone. He cared for his friends and watched over them. That’s when he noticed the change in Keigo. It would start off as subtle moves, gradually growing into full-on flirting. Of course you just had to be oblivious, your natural flirtation not helping the situation at all.

Touya felt betrayed. Not by you. He’d never blame you for anything. But who he did feel betrayed by was Keigo. The boy was supposed to be his friend. He swore he’d never see you as anything more than just a friend. And there he was, laughing with you, smiling at you, holding you close.

Touya’s trust in people would never be the same and he’d do anything to get back at Keigo.

“You alright there, Dabi?”

Dabi ignored the worried Twice and stormed out of the room, leaving everyone confused.

With weeks worth of preparation, the small group of top pro heroes hid quietly behind the buildings, getting ready to initiate their plan. Thankfully for you, you weren’t partnered up with Hawks but instead with Mirko.

“Pretty lady, do you copy? Do you copy, pretty lady? Over.” Psss

You placed a hand on your earpiece, scoffing at the nickname. “What?”

“Oh, you’re alive. Good. So for our date, where do you wanna go? Over.” Pss

“You don’t have to say ‘over’ everytime you’re done talking. You know that right?”

Silence from the other line.

“Yakitori, got it. Over.” Pss

You sighed, releasing your hold on the piece. Mirko nudged your arm with a grin. “Was that your boyfriend?” Just hearing those words made you roll your eyes without the intent of even trying. “No, don’t have one and don’t want one. Unless you wanna be that special somebody to me.” You teasingly winked as a joke.

A signal interrupted your conversation, indicating it was go-time. You watched as the league exited their building and you raised your arms far apart, letting your quirk do the work. Clouds began to huddle against each other and violent lightning struck down, one hitting a power pole which caused an explosion. A perfect distraction.

With that, the heroes rushed into action. You flew your way to a group of Twice’s duplicates and took a stance. You didn’t even have to fight since the men were already giving you heart eyes, arguing with one another on who loved you more. That allowed you to send a huge storm of wind their way, causing them to fly in all types of directions.

Before catching a break, you felt a shadow behind you which made you fully turn, quick to grip the sharp blade by your neck. Toga licked her lips and maliciously smiled at you. “Storm, right? I’m such a huge fan.” You hissed at your opened wound that began to slowly drip of your blood. “Yeah, I bet you are, sweety.” You gazed up at the newly crowded clouds you created, sending a lightning strike to the girl who fell down unconscious.

You were about to attack one of the Nomus until one of the villains caught your eye. Dabi slowly trailed his way towards a busy Hawks with angry eyes. But they weren’t just angry. Those eyes held frustration, disgust, even a look of lifetime rage.

Dabi didn’t have enough time to meet with Hawks but instead, he was met with you as you flew infront of him. He smirked and dusted his hands on his black pants. “Well isn’t she a beauty?”

You scoffed at the compliment, preparing yourself for battle. “Ever wondered what would happen if you mixed fire with lightning?”

The man only held his smirk, prepping his hands. “No, but I’d like to see what it could create if you know what I mean.”

Electrical discharge shot out of your hands and towards Dabi, him doing the same with his flames. Both lightning and fire met eachother in the center and it was an ongoing battle to see which person it’d end up striking. Instead, it caused another huge explosion and the impact caused you to shoot back.

You fell to the ground, scrapes and bruises forming on your body from the rough fall. Smoke surrounded the two of you and you heard the villains retreat from the battlefield.

“I guess our time is cut short. I’ll see you around.”

Dabi began to walk away before stopping, taking one last glance at you.

“Oh, and Y/N...”

Your head shot up at the sudden call of your name. The name you’ve never heard come out of anyone’s mouth with an exception of Hawks. He was the only person who’d be able to call you by that forbidden name.

“Don’t forget that promise you made for me.”

What promise? You’ve never met this man until today. With that, the scarred man left you with nothing but confusion.

[thealmightyemprex]

10 Favorite Showa Godzilla movies

1.Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster (1964)

Three of Toho’s biggest monsters vs a three headed world destroying dragon ,plus a subplot about a princess posessed by an alien being pursued by asassins,this film is awesome 

2.Mothra vs Godzilla(1964)

While Mothras egg is being kept by two greedy buisnessmen ,all while Godzilla is rampaging ,so the three human protagonist must ask for the help of the insect goddess,but the question is will she . The last Showa film where Godzilla is a pure bad guy ,and with two great human villains in the form of the buisnessmen,this is a great movie and really where the series hit its stride

3.Terror of Mechagodzilla(1975)

Aliens team up with a mad scientist and his cyborg daughter ,using their robot duplicate of Godzilla and a mind controlled dinosaur to take over the world .This film has a very intresting /heartbreaking story involving the cyborg daughter and is one of the darker films in the showa series 

4.Godzilla(1954)

The most serious film in the Showa series.While the rest are outlandish ,this one is a  rather grounded allegory about nuclear destruction.An ancient beast awaken by nuclear testing causes death and destruction across Japan,with seemingly no way  to destroy him.Only Dr Serizawa knows a way to destroy him but is conflicted as the weapon he has constructed maybe more dangerous then Godzilla himself .This is a true horror film as the destruction  created by the titular character is truly horrifying ,as is the implications of Serizawa’s weapon 

5.Invasion of the Astro Monster(1965)

More of a straightforward sci fi film then a monster film ,two astronauts team up with a group of aliens to stop King Ghidorah using Godzilla and Rodan  in exchange for a cure for cancer.I like the two leads Akira Takarada and Nick Adams,I like the Aliens and it’s just good old fashioned sci fi.Sure theres not a lot of monster scenes but this has one of the better human plots 

6.Godzilla vs Hedorah(1971)

This is a WEIRD movie  ,which makes it a divisive movie .In it Godzillafaces a monster who  feeds on pollution,so this is a film with an environmental message ......But thats not the only thing going  on,as in between we have a musical number,dancing fish people ,cartoon interludes ,realy goofy moments juxtaposed with moments of pure disturbing horror .It’s a very strange experimental film that people  will hate or love....And I dig it.In my mind there is no greater sin for a movie then to be boring ,and this film is anything but .I think the trick is to go in KNOWING its a weird and just rolling with the insanity and you might enjoy it 

7.Godzilla vs Gigan(1972)

This is often seen as one of the weaker entries ,but I dig it,partially for the human plot which revolves around a comic book artist  discovering a conspiracy  going on at the theme park he works at .Yes it has it’s problems like over use of stock footage,the costumes for the three returning monsters (Godzilla ,Anguirus and King Ghidorah) have clearly seen better days and there is a weird scene where the monsters speak (Through word balloons in the Japanese version and ACTUALLY TALKING in the English dub) ,but I love the mystery ofwhats going on,I find the human characters charming ,and the new  kaiju villain Gigan is my absolute favorite Godzilla villain,being more of a cut throat type with a lot of personality 

8.Godzilla vs Megalon(1973)

People from a underground civilization set their god Megalon to attack humanity and it’s up to robo Superhero Jet Jaguar to stop him....Also Gigan and Godzilla are there to .This is one of my all time guilty pleasure movies.Like I get why G fans  are grumpy with it(This film gave the series the stigma of being cheap nonesense ) ......But as a film on it’s own this is goofy fun .The plot makes no sense,it’s  really cheesy but I cant help but love it ,it’s more of a superhero movie then a Godzilla movie.I love Jet Jaguar ,Megalon is a neat villain,the action is fun , and god I love the friendships between Gigan and Megalon as well as Jet JAguar and Godzilla.It’s silly but to me silly isnt a bad thing

9.Son of Godzilla(1967)

A team is working on a weather control machine on an island  filled with giant mantis’s,which crack open an egg revealing a baby Godzilla,named Minya .This one is cute,human plot is interesting ,there are some funny moments, I love the final battle against Kumonga the giant spider and the ending gets me in the feels 

10.King Kong vs Godzilla(1962)

A satire of commercialism and television,a pharmaceutical company imprision King Kong with the intent on making  him a mascot ,but he breaks free and rampages.Meanwhile Godzilla has just awoken and is also rampaging so the company decides to have the two monsters fight .Now truthfully .....I think this one is over hyped  and it would be meh to me but there are three things I like: The head of the company is such an over the top cartoon character he is hilarious ,I love Godzillas costume (It maybe my favorite of the showa costumes due to how lizardy he looks ) and the final fight between these two classic monsters is truly awesome 

[wits-writing]

Ultraman Z Ep 5: “First Juggling” (TV Review)

(Original Air Date: July 18, 2020, Director: Takanori Tsujimoto, Writer: Takao Nakano)

A chilling threat arises from Earth’s ancient past this week on Ultraman Z. As Haruki and Yoko are sent out to deal with it, we get a special look at the personal life of STORAGE Chief Shota Hebikura. Those elements plus the debut of a new weapon for Zett make this the most densely plotted and exciting episodes so far.

[Full Review Under the Cut]

The main threat of the episode comes from the freezing power of Peguila as the flying creature lands in the city. Why it’s arisen from the permafrost in Alaska after 30,000 years and targeted this city is connected to two things in the episode’s story; first is Hebikura speculating that climate change has made it easier for the beast to escape its ice prison and secondly is a legend connecting the monster to an stone spear recently recovered from the same area being studied at the local university. Yoko’s sent out in Windom with Haruki on the ground to handle evacuation.

We get a more detailed look at Windom’s launch procedures than last time, where the focus was more on what the robot’s like in action and seeing it fly out of STORAGE is a solid effects sequence. There are some of the more unique destruction shots in the series so far as we see Peguila marching through the city. Most impressive among them being a POV shot from inside a car that gets flipped over by the monster’s footsteps shaking the ground beneath it before cutting to an exterior shot of the vehicle getting stomped by Peguila. This part of the episode is also a solid highlight on Yoko as she’s determined to not eject from Windom until she’s certain as many people have gotten to safety as possible, even as Peguila’s freezing breath damages Windom to the point of nearly freezing to death herself. Listening to her determination and pride in her job over the comms, Haruki gets ready to join the fight as Ultraman Z before the Z Riser is stolen from his by a mystery figure, the returning Jugglus Juggler.

I’ve been talking around the foreshadowing and fan speculation about Chief Hebikura since I started writing these reviews. Getting to discuss the actual reveal feels like a welcome exhale now that we know for sure that Takaya Aoyagi is reprising the role of Jugglus Juggler from Ultraman Orb. The official reveal and seeing Aoyagi fully back in Juggler-mode was the most excited this already thrilling episode got me. For those less familiar with the Ultra franchise, Juggler was the main villain in Orb but has since been something of a wild card in terms of what his motives are at any given time throughout cameos and guest spots. His personality can best be described as “I think I will cause problems on purpose”, his monster form is like if Square Enix redesigned Mac Tonight, and he’s a favorite character among many in the Ultra-fandom, myself included.

Why Juggler’s gone undercover in a position of authority for an organization like STORAGE is currently unknown, but his actions in this episode appear to stem from simple boredom, as hinted in the cliffhanger of the previous episode. He leaves STORAGE HQ while Yoko and Haruki are dealing with the current threat of Peguila and we don’t see him again in human form until the actual reveal of him changing back from his monster form. Plenty of credit is deserved for Aoyagi as an actor, as he does play the two sides in great contrast with different body language and styles of line reads when he’s “Hebikura” versus when he’s on his own as Juggler. While my excitement for this reveal comes from my knowledge of past Ultra shows, I am curious how this reveal reads to anyone less familiar with the franchise. I could see the base level of “the main character’s boss was actually a monster-man the whole time” still being an effective reveal, but not getting that same excitement from it without that background knowledge.

Juggler’s boredom may have been what drove him to steal the Z Riser for his own end, but the meat of the story in this episode is what that drives Haruki to do so he can help against Peguila without the power of Zett. Remembering Yoko’s words about doing their jobs at any cost, Haruki rushes back to HQ to commandeer Sevenger to save Yoko and continue the fight against that “dirty penguin” (his words.) While he manages to save Yoko by thawing out Windom with Sevenger’s jets and gets a few good hits in against Peguila, the monster is still enough of a threat to damage Haruki’s robot. Once the two pilots are back on the ground, Haruki gets a last minute save from Juggler, giving him back the Z Riser.

After a brief reunion scene where Zett tells Haruki he “sensed darkness” while they were separated, the episode climaxes in two different and equally stunning fight sequences. The fight between Ultraman Z and Peguila is mostly an aerial battle through the snowstorm the monster creates, composited to look like a continuous shot, and features a nice shot of the “camera” frosting over as the monster’s artic blast hits it. This fight gets resolved in one shot once the stone spear glows to life and Zett senses the power of a past Ultraman within it, remarking that he knows how to use a weapon like this. Before the fight ends there’s a great humorous bit where Peguila visibly freaks out at seeing the weapon that sealed it away again.

While that may have been where the other episodes so far would have ended, here we go on to see the results of Juggler’s machinations. Earlier in the episode he’s seen conducting a ritual calling upon the powers of darkness to make a dark duplicate of the Z Riser along with three Monster Medals of his own. Once he sees that the fight against Peguila has concluded, he pulls out the Riser to test his own powers against those of Zett. We get to see his own transformation sequence, styled after that of Ultraman Orb, in a purple version of the Z-Riser pocket dimension. He takes on the form of the fusion monster Zeppandon and is clearly using this fight as an opportunity to size up the abilities of the young Ultra. He teleports around and taunts at the heroic giant. Zett, even with the new power of the spear, initially gets overpowered but Haruki recalls Yoko’s words about pride in their jobs fighting monsters and that encourages Zett enough to earn them a second wind. The final act of the fight is marked by one of my favorite tropes in anything, the show’s opening theme song kicking in, as they strike a final blow against Juggler’s giant monster form.

This episode, even apart from the glee I got from the official reveal of Juggler, is easily the most exciting so far. Ultraman Z’s episodes have all been pretty action oriented in their own way, but the displays of determination from Yoko and Haruki make this a highlight of how both characters operate under fire (or ice in this case.) Tying what was already a solid setup into this episode’s main advancement of the overall arc for the series has me more than ready to see what comes next, especially as this episode ends on Juggler clearly being pleased with the outcome of his fight with Zett and the preview for next time showing the return of my favorite hero in this entire franchise, Ultraman Geed.

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