#plus. i need to start utilizing supports more. and he’s probably going to be a really good one. fingers crossed at least.

[threnodians]

honkai: star rail i am BEGGING on my HANDS and KNEES for you to release more QUANTUM characters because i desperately need QUANTUM especially a dps but more importantly WE. HAVE. ENOUGH. IMAGINARY. IT'S. ENOUGH. SLICES.

[synergysilhouette]

"Batman: Caped Crusader" review

Binge-watched this show, and I wanted to be one of many people to share my thoughts on this--plus I was spurred on by getting a wish of mine granted from the show. Make sure to check out the show if you can!

The animation is beautiful--I know this is a weird comparison, but soemthing about the animation reminds me of 2010s Scooby Doo animated films, and I kind of adore that.

The voice acting was...fine--I can't tell if it was poor performances or poor direction; Hamish's Bruce Wayne sounds too raspy/rugged some of the time, like he's still playing Batman, and many of the other actors felt like they were just reading lines rather than performing lines, not enough emotion. IDK if they're more used to live-action work, but voice-acting is a different ballgame, since your voice is all you have to convey the character. A lot of performances fell flat for me, but it wasn't 100% unbearable, just underwhelming. I have some people I'd recommend instead (both familiar to the role and otherwise), but I don't wanna start anything.

LOVED Harley (but not her costume)--Jamie Chung had one of the better performances in the group, and I really LOVED the angle they did for Harley; I feel like the media often flanderizes her as the goofy crazy chick, so seeing her actually utilize her psychology skills (like I've been asking for!) is so satisfying. That said, the outfit has GOT TO GO. Gold and black is gorgeous, but it ples in comparison to her black and red look. And a weird nit-pick; when I first saw the stills, I was under the impression she was wearing a carnival-esque mask rather than face paint, and I find that idea a lot creepier. I wish we'd gotten more of Harley's antics--and even seeing her get close to Bruce in the way she did with Barbara and Renee--before revealing her as a big bad to the public. And I appreciate that she isn't 100% evil; she is doing what she believes is a noble cause, just doing it in an illegal and unethical way. I needed a backstory!

Not enough Batman--Maybe it's just me, but it definitely felt like there were some episodes where Bruce and Batman were supporting characters and more focus was on the GCPD. While I don't mind it too much, I enjoy superhero shows for the superheroes, not the heroes; this is why I had a love/hate relationship with "Gotham."

Batman (and Bruce) isn't quite likeable enough--In earlier incarnations, Batman was more kind and caring before becoming more emotionally closed off with time, but here he's that way from the get-go. Not to mention that Bruce Wayne puts on a facade around everyone, even people he trusts (he probably did that anyway; I can't remember), and his session with Harleen really frustrated me because I don't expect his walls to come down immediately, I don't expect them to be this high this early. I wanted him to be a bit warmer and transparent, rather than curt and cold like he's usually seen in the show. I feel like this is an issue often seen in comics, too; people prioritize Batman's "coolness" and thus push his feelings to the wayside.

Using underrated and familiar villains--I'm sure the real experts are gonna chew me out for this one, but as someone who got into comics in the 2010s and didn't catch up on the acclaimed 90s series, it was fun to see villains I loved and villains I didn't know; one of the best things a popular property can do is use underrated characters, since it helps the show feel original and fresh (thus why "Teen Titans" is so enjoyable; the whole franchise is underrated).

Too modern for the 1940s--I can't put my fingers on it exactly, but the vibes feel too modern; I assume the 1940s was for aesthetics, but since everything else feels updated (from the way people talk to Harley and Renee seemingly being open about their feelings for each other), I don't think it was a wise choice to have it both ways. I see no reason not to have it in modern-day, but I suppose you'd have to get more creative with technology.

Barbara and the Robins--First off, I should've gambled with someone that Jason would be a redhead; I'd have made SO MUCH money. Secondly, I'm not crazy about how all four kids are orphans; If I recall correctly, both Carrie and Stephanie's parents were alive when they joined the Batfamily. In any case, I'm confused on why Barbara is significantly older than them when they're all supposed to be within the same age bracket (I think; someone has told me otherwise since posting this, so I could be wrong). Not to mention, a part of me worries that because of the quartet's young ages and Barbara getting so much screentime as a lawyer, we won't get any of them as Robins or Batgirls unless something drastic happens, and/or we get a time jump.

Overall, I think my biggest gripes are the voice acting and how Batman/Bruce Wayne is written. That said, I enjoyed the show overall. IDK why HBO Max dropped it. Hopefully season 2 will introduce Poison Ivy, Catman, Tim Drake, Ghostmaker, and Gardener, since the finale already showed us a certain someone who IS coming to Gotham.

[sugary-spider]

Whats ur take on wambus.... I need more

..I don't have a lot of takes, but wambus I love him so much. A lot of never ask me for my takes on here../silly

WARNING : AXEL FUCKING RANTS A TON

I hate how hes mainly seen as this evil angry guy or just grumpy (mad yk) and its like..Yuck..A lot of people just would rather only view triffany as this saint and wambus is this evil bad guy. Sure hes mad lookin but like..Thats like saying filbo is dumb when he isn't, sure hes an sweet hyperactive guy thats prone to accidents but he isn't dumb. Thats an grown fucking man y'all.

I loved how he missed triffany so fucking much, he made an cactus literally look like her and as well as would basically (even from the one or two moments we seen it in gameplay) tell cactriffy about his day. And Y'ALL. Cactriffy is literally just cactus + triffy,, which is the nickname he gave to triffany!! And at best, you can just see how much he loves triffany from that and so much more.

Triffany work requires her to be away a lot, which is understandable but her and wambus literally had an farm together and wambuses whole issue was property and money. Farms are extremely hard to take care of, especially even with just two people. Wambus is an stubborn guy, and he loves his wife. He probably took care of that farm all by himself while triffany was away. I understand if y'all don't understand how farm and ranches are, but they're just..So hard to take care of. Especially with how utilities and so much more costs.

(this is coming from someone who just knows someone an good few ppl who like..literally grew up on an farm 60/40% of their lives this just me blabberin about that yk so my bad if I don't get the whole picture right. But like..Farms/ranches are so HARD to take care of unless you know what to do and such!! Like farms cost around 600 - 10000+)

So just imagine with how that feels, especially with how we know wambus is so okay with triffany going off on her own dreams while he was kinda struggling with his. He started an farm on the island because it was "more cheaper on mainland" and hes right, even if everyone was kinda shitting on him about it. But thats like his dream, and so much more. I like to even think wambus came from an huge or generational line of farmers, ranchers, just country-side work basically. Which would also make so much more sense in an way to understand how Wambus would understand heavily and support his wife on her journey and job of being an archeologist while also trying to find out what happend to her mom. Im not gonna shit on triffany either, but like. You gotta understand how wambus feels, he probably (and I think he did!! Pretty sure he did) lost the farm. And like I said, I like to think the farm was an family farm that was past down onto him. And he lost it.

I know triffany would try to console her husband, but she also now had to be this bread winner because of wambus losing this huge money maker but then just also caving underneath it due to all these taxes and so much more, that the list is just too much. Plus they're both workaholics so she probably never stayed long to console him or help him, only when she had to stay in an way she would or try to.

"Hes such an violent and angry guy! Triffany should leave him, hes so mean and-" Are we talking about the same guy? Cause NO WE ARE NOT?? He most likely has emotional dysregulation which is caused by stress!! And he just WENT through an stressful time period of his life!! (Stole this hc from an lovely bro ham of mine -> @loched-off 💪😼)

Also fear of failure. That can and is implied to be most reasons WHYYY he lashes out and hes always regretful of his actions by the way. Like when filbo got launched by an bunger due to his causing by throwing sauce at him,, and he was literally so regretful of it. Even asked the journalist to PLEASE check up on poor filbo.

Not to mention, probably due to his failure fears present and past, is kinda why people can see how triffany and wambus dynamic is 50/50 of great and needs some work.

But even then, triffany doesn't mean it. Shes looking out for wambus best interests, especially with how she knows wambus hates failure and hates failing so badly. Especially with how.hes gonna lash out, and view it as anything more than bugsnax not growing. He just lost his farm, something he worked so hard on. And now hes losing his little thesis of bugsnax growing..

And he did. He was so heart broken, and his voice you can just TELL this mans heart shattered into billions of peaces. Even if he has an not so hyperactive and has monotone tone in his voice, you can just..Still tell hes heart broken. He started giving up on HIMSELF, and hes STUBBORN Y'ALL.

DO YOU KNOW. HOW HARD,, AN STUBBORN PERSON HAS TO HIT ROCK BOTTOM TO BE LIKE..

"My hopes and all my work, was all for nothing. Im just an big ole failure."

Y'ALL. THIS MAN HAD ME CRYING AND NEEDING TO TAKE FIVE (You can tell im like..maybe more a wamby fan than a triffy one..I lobe blue hair and prns farmers....)

I like to think he also was made fun of for his feelings back then. Especially cause of like..Of grumpus world is like our world, him as an man would've been definitely made fun of for crying. Especially if this is..Something so heavy and meaningful to him,, he was definitely sobbing and pouring his heart out but only to be made fun of. Or had his problems seen as something so little..

And triffany *may* had accidentally had some help in it in an way, since she worked so much due to being an workalcoholic and its her passion. She loves archeology and wambus could never ever in an million years deny his wife of her happiness like she could never deny wambus his. Even though, that ended up with them fighting. Especially wambus putting his foot down on not wanting to be somewhere he can't grow plants other than cacti. Especially if he was so hyperfocused on sauce plants, and only ones that grow there are hot sauce or cheese,, but we seen wambus grow an wide variety. He wouldn't really wanna just only ever be able to grow two types of sauce plants.

Also just supperr self indulgent,, I like to think he has one or two actual degrees in some sort of botany or farm work..Plus hess ermm Audhd cause I said so. Sorry NOT sorry. <3

Also, I have an BUNCH. Of wambus hcs :3

-> Wambus is hispanic,, (You can pick whatever one, just I like mexican wambus a lot..)

-> Knows spanish, especially cause he lived in an heavy spanish speaking area.

-> Always worked on an farm/countryside, he loves talking about his childhood. You can tell by how much he smiles when talking about it

-> An shy kid in public due to his family always wanting him to speak english heavily in school, but was an rowdy kid that would say curses in spanish

-> He LOVES dogs and cats. He had an hunting dog when he was little, also talks about that dog a lot. Her name was brownie .. Had an barn cat or two, both were name Charolette and Scarlett.. :3

-> Was held back an grade or two, only because of how he worked more than was in school. But he isn't dumb, hes slicker than a fox.

-> he is TEXAN. Take it or leave it /silly

-> Hes an introvert extrovert heavily. Just due to people getting off putted by his natural 'bitch face' a lot of people don't talk to him.

-> Knows a lot about death, especially since he lived on an farm. One of his jobs he would've been fine with is an flower guy for funerals.

-> He *has* an childhood gothic friend. They talk alottt.. (is this based an oc x canon dynamic from me and my partners au?..Maybe..You'll never know sorry not sorry)

-> Due to the two other hcs,, its also how triffany was drawn to him heavily. Just..so heavily, cause he never overreacted to her funfacts and really really gruesome and horrifically details facts other than asking more about it. Cause he genuinely wanted to know.

-> I will NEVER. Give up my most famous hc of wambus being an girl dad.

-> Hes also really good with kids surprisingly. Even though his back would be hurting so much, he will teach kids how to climb trees safely or not, and go on and on about his own childhood stories. Once taught/told an kid about the time he ran away from bees. Spent the day helping the lil' kiddo try to find an bee hive before an accident happend and they both ended up stung badly.

-> He loves summer and spring..Especially spring, he gets so giddy about it.

-> Youngest. He is the baby of his family, was always picked on but is now the strongest between them. Gets called little blue or baby ox tho. They make fun of him but hes gotten used to it..💔

Thats it..Just I LOVEEE wambus. Ty for asking my opinion on him..Hes my favorite and I genuinely wish people loved him just as much as people loved triffany..

[childofaura]

I am bored and overloaded on fodder from arena tickets and pity breaks, so any suggestions for other projects while I get grails for baby Azura?

<3

I'm probably gonna be super biased towards some units, just because they're my favorites, lol.

Big one I can think of is Python. If you have a spare Summer Elincia lying around, her bow works really well for Python, and since he's a cavalry bow, he has good reach. Mine has a bit of an outdated build, but I run him with Whitecap Bow, Swift Sparrow, Desperation (it has saved my ass and I can't wait for Desperation 4), and Threaten Def (which you can just substitute for some other C-skill). Plus Deadeye.

Luthier is a good green mage unit if you need someone with speed and attack power. Not a whole lot of 4 star green mages are super fast that I know of, but he's a good one. I've considered foddering Tailtiu's Teacake Tower on him, but we'll see if he gets a Refine soon. Holding off until then.

M!Morgan is a big one for me, I have him dual-function as an offensive and supportive unit with Inf. Null Follow 3 (so he can support his mom Robin and dad Priam in the Arena). His weapon with the refine is really good and it makes him a pretty hardcore demote Red Tome.

Benny's a fantastic Far Save unit for me, most people run him near save but that satisfactory Res stat makes him optimal for far save. Only thing is that I run him with Arcane Qiang which is hard to get, so go for it if you have one on hand, but hold off if not. Not a lot of lance weapons that help boost the Res stat. My Benny is run with Distant Stance, Mystic Boost 4, A/R far save, and Def/Res Ideal S seal. I'm considering nabbing an extra Armored Beacon fodder, but the Armored Beacon/Armored Floe fodder I have right now is being saved for if Miklan gets added to the game. So yeah, Benny's a sweetheart of a defender if you run a Far Save on him. I love Henriette but I've never pulled more than one copy of her, and Benny works best.

This one is weird, but Azama is also an interesting staff unit; he's not flawless, but I have him in Aether Raids and he tends to fuck up people who ignore him in favor of taking out other units first. Serpentine Staff deals less damage than Pain does (7 HP as opposed to Pain's 10), but it also has built in Deep Wounds. So I run him with Fort. Def/Res 3, Renewal 3 (which probably should be replaced with Poison Strike, or Poetic Justice if you need him to attack better), and two counts of Savage Blow 3. Problem is you gotta invest a LOT of Dragon Flowers into him. But to me, he's still worth the build. If you have a Holy Panic, slap that on him. His Attack stat is absolutely abysmal, but he's more of the "Death by a Thousand Papercuts" type of unit.

This one is only a suggestion if you have an Arcane Downfall, but Mustafa definitely is a solid axe unit. He virtually has Ganglot's kit (Distant Stance and Quick Riposte 4) plus Def/Res Menace and Fort. Def/Res 2 as an S seal. If you have good support units behind him, he's a monster. The unit showcase video I did of him has him taking down Ninja Camilla, though I'm like... 95% sure it was unmerged (or only had one or two merges), but STILL. He's an enemy phase slaughterhouse.

This one goes without saying, but one of my most utilized units is Silas. The only thing that sucks is the constant influx of sword units that are starting to outclass him (LOOKING AT YOU, B!SELIPH), but if you play to his weapon refine, he's incredibly reliable. Just needs a Far Save unit to cover him, lmao. I run him as an enemy phase unit: Sturdy Stance (prevents cooldown charge in most cases, very useful to prevent him from getting wiped out by a Special), Quick Riposte 4, Atk/Def Menace (which I may replace someday if we get a better Atk/Def C-skill), and Atk/Def Form 3. His refine weapon, Sworn lance, requires a support partner, but it prevents most units from making follow up attacks; which means sometimes he can tank hits from dragon units (but not all the time) because he prevents their follow up attack. So most of the time in combat, he's getting at least 20+ Atk and Def. And his support partner is OG Kinshi Hinoka (since I paired them in my Fates game), so with her Atk/Spd Oath 4, she can usually get around to where he is if she's close enough to him or another unit. He's not as destructive as Geralt or Petrine, but he's my buddy and that's all that counts.

Sorry for the long list, I started going down my barracks and realized I have a lot of units that I just have fun using, lmao. There's a couple I left out but I didn't wanna drag out the list.

[seventeenlovesthree]

“The dads of the 02 kids - why 02!Taishirou hits differently”

I’ve been meaning to write an analysis post about 02!Taishirou for a while now, because they’re a special kind of “comfort ship” to me among all iterations of the Digimon Adventure franchise; whether you take Adventure, 02, Tri, the novels, the stageplay, the PSP games or even the reboot, you get somewhat varying degrees of dynamics between those two - and while 02 doesn’t give them as many opportunities to shine together, they still get way more exposure than other characters (and their combinations). And the interactions they have can probably be read as one of their most peaceful dynamics, besides maybe the reboot.

Upon starting Digimon Adventure 02, Taichi and Koushirou are already shown to be the the first “senior” characters to appear - besides Hikari and Takeru of course. And while all of the older kids are very keen to support their successors to varying degrees, these two appear to be the most “consistently committed to it” (as in, “ditching real world responsibilities more easily than the others to go help the kids as well as their partners, the Digital World in general and each other”). This could already be gentle foreshadowing towards their later careers, actively striving to research the Digital World and to improve the relationships between it and the real world. But for now, let’s start at the beginning:

Once Agumon is in danger, Taichi rushes into the Digital World, sending a message to ask for help - and Koushirou immediately rushes to help him as soon as he reads it. Which isn’t very surprising since Adventure already established them to be completely ride or die for each other when things are at stake. So - besides Yamato occasionally - they’re  established very early on to be some kind of “team dads”, always ready to support. And while they’re at it, they actually show a very interesting dynamic that Adventure had merely hinted at slightly, but hadn’t been able to fully utilize due to the seriousness of the situation back then:

They’re basically the “bickering couple” trope; with Taichi - while obviously having grown more mature - still being the more reckless one, whereas Koushirou has to act as the voice of reason to keep him (and the kids) in check.

Taichi - as shown above - not only acts very charmingly playful about the situation (”You just wanted to come too, right?”), but also isn’t really able to deal with Koushirou pushing back (”Taichi-san!”). In fact, he appears to be easily caught off guard by it. Koushirou has displayed confident behaviour like this since the very end of Adventure and absolutely isn’t afraid to call Taichi out, so this is just a more comfortable, softer extension to that. This is especially important since the episode this scene stems from was also directed by Kakudou - who was directly involved in writing this lovely novel passage, confirming that Koushirou is, indeed, able to open up to Taichi in ways he wasn’t before:

Speaking of softness; Taichi on the other hand reacts very reassuringly towards Koushirou on several occasions - whether he tells him not to scold himself for not having had the right fix to a problem or confirms that he doesn’t need to worry about his mother having caught them. 

Plus - just like Adventure already implied, they’re absolutely not afraid to consistently invade each other’s personal space, especially when they’re theorizing and plan crafting together. It also happens for comic relief reasons, but that’s very rare after all.

What becomes very apparent in this context is the fact that Yamato is often played to be their “third wheel”. And that is actually one of the most fun aspects of their 02 relationship - because they’re actively seen teasing and laughing at Yamato’s (comic relief) demise in a very casual manner. It absolutely wasn’t necessary to display them as giggly dorks at the back of a car, but here we are, witnessing them being all comfy and cheeky...

I haven’t rewatched 02 in its entirety for a long time, but generally speaking, I just really enjoy their dynamic as ambitious team dads, who are comfortable enough to not only (casually and healthily) bicker, be close and mutually supportive, but who are also sharing lighthearted and fun moments. It’s what they deserve after all the rough stuff they’ve been through.

[blu-joons]

Taking Care Of His Pregnant Wife ~ Nam Yoonsu

You sighed heavily as soon as your eyes opened to see the left side of the bed was empty, with no sign of Yoonsu in the room at all. Your head shook, carefully sitting yourself up in order to go in search of him, resting a hand against the top of your bump before swinging your legs off of the bed, using the bed frame to support yourself as you rose to your feet.

After making sure that you had control, you began to tread through the house, walking across the landing and into the nursery that the two of you had put together where Yoonsu sat, flicking through scripts on the floor as he waited for you to wake from your afternoon nap.

His eyes were busy reading through the lines, unaware of you walking into the room until your foot tapped against the top of the piece of paper. As soon as he looked up and saw you, Yoonsu scrambled to his feet, resting his hands against your bump, watching on with a smile as you couldn’t stop a small yawn from escaping.

“Are you sure that you shouldn’t still be asleep?” He frowned, kicking his scripts to one side with his heel. “I thought I’d let you sleep for a little while longer, plus, the scripts for this new drama aren’t going to read themselves.”

“I managed to get two hours sleep, so with how wriggly this baby is, I’d consider that a success,” you chuckled, “but I can’t spend all day laying around in bed.”

Yoonsu’s head shook, if he had it his way, you’d be on bedrest from start to finish in your pregnancy to make sure that nothing could happen to you or the baby either.

“There’s nothing for you to do,” Yoonsu tried to argue, but your head could only shake back at him, dreading to think of the endless list of things that you needed to do.

And as your eyes looked past him, you knew where you needed to start. “I’ve got loads of washing to do from when you were away last week.”

“Let me take care of it if it’s mine,” he suggested, but even Yoonsu knew how bad of an idea that was. “Or at least you can teach me, how hard can a bit of washing be?”

A quiet hum came from you, having trusted Yoonsu to help you with chores before, only for it to end up creating even more mess for you. “I guess I could let you do some of the heavy lifting, it all needs taking downstairs first of all.”

“I’m on it, a pile of washing is easy work for me to lift up.”

“You just wait and see how much of it there is.”

Yoonsu flexed his arm as he led you out of the room, “don’t worry, we’ll get it all done as a team, you just shout instructions at me, and I’ll make sure that I get the job done.”

“I’m still not quite convinced that I trust you around our washing machine,” you muttered under your breath, “we need to make sure it arrives still when the baby arrives.”

“Nothing bad will happen, and even if it does, I’m sure that I’ll be able to fix the problem too.”

Your eyes rolled as Yoonsu continued to ooze confidence as you made your way over to the washing basket. He extended his arms out as one by one you piled him up with items of clothing that needed washing. It didn’t take long before Yoonsu could barely see over the mountain that he held onto, leaving you chuckling behind him.

Somehow, he managed to make it downstairs and into your utility room, dumping the clothes in front of the machine before racing off to grab a chair for you. Once you were seat, he began to load up the drum, attentively listening to everything that you told him to do.

“I could get used to this housework business,” he smugly smiled as a few minutes later, the machine began to fill up. “I can see myself being quite the domesticated dad sometimes, all I need is for you to show me the ropes with a few more things around the house and I reckon I’ll have it under control in no time at all.”

“I could start by showing you where the hoover is,” you jokingly suggested, “although you’ve probably never even held onto one of them before, have you?”

His mouth opened to try and protest, but soon closed again as his head shook back at you. It was only now that you were struggling, was Yoonsu really beginning to appreciate quite how much you did around the house in amongst working yourself too.

“The only thing that you concentrate on around this house anymore is growing that human of us,” Yoonsu suddenly instructed, “that’s got to be your priority.”

“Just because I’m pregnant, it doesn’t mean I can’t do anything,” you tried to remind him, but as ever, Yoonsu refused to listen to you. “You hate chores anyway, you complain constantly.”

“I could grow to love them.”

“That would be miracle,” you remarked.

Yoonsu jabbed gently into your arm, “it’s never too late to start leaning, and when our baby throws up on their baby grows, or our clothes, I want to be able to stick them in the wash without constantly having to rely on you.”

“You don’t rely on me,” you smiled, shaking your head, “there’s plenty that you do around the house that I could never even dream of doing.”

“Very little, this home depends on you Y/N.”

As reluctant as you were to accept responsibility, Yoonsu knew in his heart that you were the machine that ran the home. And now that you were pregnant, he was determined to repay you for everything that you’d done by being there for you and stepping up where he was needed.

“I’m going to take the best care of you,” he suddenly whispered as he took a seat on the floor beside you, “especially as you near the important stages of pregnancy too.”

Your eyes glanced down at him, “you already take the best care of me, there’s nothing more that you could ever possibly need to do, just you, that’s enough for me.”

“But it won’t ever be enough for me, I always want to be more.”

Yoonsu could see the exhaustion still in your eyes, how hard you were working constantly just to stay awake whilst growing your baby inside of you. He only wished he could work as hard as you and be as strong as you were every single day.

He worried constantly about you, he wanted to do everything for you and be the best possible husband, and soon to be father that he could possibly be. No matter how independent you were, Yoonsu knew that you needed him now more than ever.

“Our little one will be here soon enough,” he continued to speak, stretching up so that he could relax his hand over the top of your bump, “and when they are, I’m going to make sure that the two of you are safe and protected. I’ll do whatever it takes and learn to do as much around the house as I possibly can to be there.”

Your head nodded as yet again your eyes began to close, unable to fend off the urge to fall asleep again that constantly seemed to hit you.

“Don’t worry, you sleep, I’ve got my eye on this.”

---

Masterlist

[nyan-koii]

Hashira ft. Sabito as genshin impact players

aunotes : Bad grammar ahead! I didnt proofread it so be aware of brain damage. plus i initially wrote it at the 1.6 update

PART 1 : T.Muichiro, R.Kyojuro, K.Shinobu, S.Sanemi, U.Tengen 

Muichiro : he probably would be uninterested at first. He's more to first person shooting game or anything other than this concept of farming or investing. So that's why when he saw yuichirou banging his fist on his desk, trying to get his fav character, he would simply just watch

"Fck this game, i've had enough,"

"But you havent finish your wishing things yet,"

Stares. "How about you give it a try mui. You might get the character i want,"

"You sure about that? You might get angry at me," "better than nothing. Now go go, get em you donkey,"

His first ten pulls on the game brings out a light we all want to see

"Eh is tha-" "AAAA A FUCKING 5 STAR FCK FCKFCK,"

Apparently, it was one of the luckiest wish yuichiro had ever seen so far

"OHMYFUCK, you GOT A GODDAMN KLEE, QIQI AND SUCROSE WTFF???"

"I think i get your fav character?"

"Yeahh!! More than that to be honest. I want klee but you brought me two more person," sniffles and cries "you're really lucky mui. You should try and play the game,"

"It's probably the system. I doubt im that lucky tho,"

Nah, he really is lucky. Apparently he wished for his friends and got what they all really wanted for so long

"Thank you for getting me the aquila favonia, muichiro,"

"It's nothing really. I just simply press the button. It might be the system that's giving you the thing you want when i wish,"

"But still, even if i were to wish, i can get really scared and paranoid over it,"

"That's bad. You shouldnt invest yourself that much in the game tanjiro. It's just a game,"

"Ehehehe, i guess so. But you're really good at it muichiro! If you download it, we can play together :D!"

!!!!

It took the word "play together" to get muichiro down on his knee for that game. Usually the idea of playing with your friends is not that interesting. So when tanjiro said that, you bet he's going to play it

Type of player

Extremely lucky it's not even real. He got a five star on the beginner's banner

Fast farming. He probably will complete all the quest and become an endgame player within one month

"I just wanted to play with tanjiro..." bashfully

He's really good with whatever he's doing. Attack combo, dodging, elemental reaction and all sorts of stuff. If he invest more of his time on artifacts, he would probably even one shot it!!

He's very lucky. Very

Kyojuro : he wouldnt even know the existence of this game. Well, he took a glimpse of it one day and boom, heart stolen. Maybe it was the fiery burning passion in bennett that made him play the game.

'oh wow!! What a determined young boy! Even though he has a very bad luck he still keep pushing forward! Amazing!!'

'I want to be like him'

Kyojuro's the type of player to read and pay attention to every single lore of his fav character. Bennett, oh my how he wish he could've had bennett in his team. Every wishes he made would make him a c6 bennett main if only barbara wont stop coming home

"I really like you barbara but i dont want you!! Thank you for the c6 though!! I promise to use you in the future but just-" he prepares to wish

"not NOW!!" Clicks

The highest con of bennett he had ever gotten is probably c1. One day the paimon's bargain shop offered bennett as their monthly character. Kyojuro had never been so excited over a game before. He usually perks up over academics and not this kind of thing. But it's bennett, the character he admires the most.

Unfortunately he couldnt get it due to low currency. He had never feel so sad in his life.

"I shall not give up. Dont worry, i will be a c6 bennett main!!!"

He will be a c6 bennett haver!!

Type of player :

Carefully reads every stories and listens to their lines attentively. He finds it amazing how the company spent their everything on this game. It amazes him. From the stories, lores and lines, he truly appreciates it.

Balance his team pretty well. He mains bennett so he doesnt need that much of a healer in his team.

Enjoys bennett's hangout very much!! He tried to not get him killed by the dungeon's trap but ended up having to sacrifice him which ultimately ends the route. He had never felt so down and guilty before.

Not much of a damage dealer. He prefers to play it in normal mode and doesnt care that much about one shotting monster.

He feeds his character three meals a day!! If only there's a sleep option, he would be sending bennett to sleep first before the rest.

Everyone loves his teapot

Shinobu : found the game while she's scrolling through the app store out of boredom. Initially she played it on her phone but due to the fps and a really bad ping, so bad that douma wouldnt find her interesting anymore, she finally downloaded the game on her pc where things has starting to get real

"Ara, shinobu chan, it's lunch time already. Come downstairs please,"

"Sis give me five more minutes, JUST FIVE PLEASE I NEED TO KICK CHILDE's ASS,"

"he's not going anywhere sweetie,"

"yEAHH BUT MY BP IS,"

'Bp?'

"DIE DIE DIE!!" Aggresive clicking intensifies

"Shinobu chan dont hurt the keyboard that much!!"

She got lucky on the beginner's banner too and pulled a 5 star along with bennett and noelle. Who's the 5 star? Diluc Ragnvindr in all of his glory. Shinobu benched him sadly. She prefers sword over any other weapon

"I mean he's cool i guess but i just really dont get that 'WOAHHH COOL' vibe from him you know?"

"then give your diluc to me! I really want him so bad shinobu chan!"

Deep sighs "yeah sure. You can have my c2 diluc mitsuri..."

Loses 50/50 to diluc everytime everyone would think she either is lucky or cursed by the amount of that man greeting him on the screen. She still bench him though, sadly

"Im begging you, give me jEANN THE GRANDMASTER I NEED HEALER iN MY PARTY TO DO ABYSS

Type of player :

Suffers a lot in the abyss because she just want the primos which is a valid reason to do because that's the only thing that keeps her going

She's a sword character main. She'll properly build every character as either support or dps. The support would be kaeya and bennett, and her main dps ayaka

Ayaka main btw

Honestly at some point she wanted to quit the game because of how tiring it is but then inazuma came out

Fragile resin = 0

Resin = 160/160 happens once in a blue moon

"i should probably control myself with the amount of resin i've used,"

"But i cant,"

Hates domain but always can be seen playing in there

Only coops if mitsuri is there

"So that someone can calm me down,"

"That's not a really good reason shinobu chan,"

Sanemi : dude probably know the game through obanai. He watched the latter play and finds it interesting on how high the numbers he dealt. He loves challenges so a game like genshin impact would probably satisfy his need.

"Obanai, are you hearing this shit?"

"What is it sanemi, im busy doing this event,"

"That loser giyuu is also playing the game,"

"Oh yeah i know,"

"YOU KNOW? WHY YOU DIDNT TELL ME??"

"i just know right after you told me,"

"...."

Sanemi's a meta but a mediocre one. He's meta but he doesnt show it that much. Probably buys welkin once in every three months or when he really needs it same goes with battle pass too. Honestly, he really just use his money when he really needs something

"Donno if my allowance can buy me a welkin so i'll probably skip,"

"But the next banner is zhongli's,"

"....."

"Ah fuck it," buys

My man cant dodge after he got zhongli. Its very painful because he used to studies the enemies movement in the early game so that he can utilizes it on the team but zhongli's shield is so tank he forgot that dodging exists

"Im gonna kill you and you and you hhahaahhaah just you wait im gonna shred all of yo- oh shit zhongli's shield. puT IT BACK PUT IT BACK ON,"

That one event where zhongli's shield plays an important role in the domain? Yeah, he felt like a god at that time. Even got his c2 on his rerun. Sanemi just really like zhongli because it kinda reminds him of himejima. Calm and wise and strong too. He looks up on that kind of person

"Zhongli sama, im in debt for all of your hard work protecting my team," bows and wipes tears

Type of player :

Spends a little money on the game to get what he wants

Zhongli main

Is that one player that has hoards of food but doesnt even use it

"Why need healer when you have zhongli's shield,"

Compare to kyojuro, he doesnt even touch the teapot because he finds it ridiculous and bothersome to create and design everything in it

Loves one shotting bosses and compares it to giyuu. He ask for advices from obanai regarding team build supports and stuffs

Doesnt do character's story quest. The key is full every single time. He unlocks it but leaves the quest like that.

"Ah shit, i accidentally activate the quest,"

His friend list only has obanai in it. Whenever people sent him friend request, he wouldnt hesitate, more like wouldnt care to accept it

They either have to coop in obanai's world or his world and after that, unfriend immediately

Says thank you after coop because he has manners and then completely disappears

"Zhongli main forever,"

Tengen : played since 1.0 this madlad has been staying loyal to the game ever since. Quite huge amount of money he spend on this game to be honest but he never gets broke by it. You can see his regular donation to the game by purchasing welkin and battle pass and some genesis crystal too. He's loaded with money, he didnt know what to do with it.

Uzui also plays honkai impact and guns girl Z so when he saw the unknown god at the intro , he was not surprised.

"Oh we have to pick between the siblings? Cool cool co- oh hi kiana,"

"Thats so herrscher of void hahahahah,"

Although he is a loyal fan to MihoYo games, he lost his composure when he saw the 1st genshin anniversary reward because what was that. Imagine getting billions of money and they give us this? Tengen cant believe this shit

"Oh god wtf was that reward, i have to draw to get a welkin and some primos?? aND I ALSO HAVE TO BE LUCKY? WHAT-"

"WHERE'S MY FREE MONA,"

In need of mona. He needs mona so bad he literally spent his money on standard banner to get mona but always ends up with qiqi. Not that he's complaining but he just wants the astrologist to complete the support team

"GOD QIQI YOU AGAIN? WTF WFF WTF-" converts genesis crystal to primigems

"Tengen, you should control yourself!"

"SHUT UP KYOJURO, IM GONNA WASTE MY MONEY TILL I GET HER,"

"yeah but my f2p ass is hurting with how many bennett cons you got," droops

Tengen sees potential in every character. Everyone has their weakness and strength so when kokomi comes out, he diss her at first but then realize maybe its a new way for a character. Adds the uniqueness if he may say so.

"Meh i dont care honestly. You guys should pull whoever you find nice or beautiful. Like me ;)"

"Who do you main uzui?"

"Beidou,"

Type of player

Spoils the storylines, lores, leaks A LOT THE REST HAVE TO BLOCK HIM ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Speed runs the game and has become an endgame player ever since but he still does his daily commission and helps people with domains and stuffs

R5 every battle pass weapon

Fights azhdaha for fun and to test out his characters rather than ruin guards and stuff

Mona wanter

Puts traveller as the pfp and doesnt display any showcase of his characters and namecards. You can only see his achievements and spiral abyss ( 12-3 ). Says its for fun and mystery

Throws a lot of pickup lines and roleplays a lot. Spams your chatbox messages with stickers and censored stuffs

Probably steals your ores and exotic things like violetgrass, qingxin and silk flowers

Screams in the chatbox whenever he saw Mona until Kyojuro had to calm him down

Changes signature every single time and sometimes put spoilers in it

In every survey he would complain "MihoYo where the fuck is my Mona,"

Doesnt heals his characters

[willowbird]

Hey! For the au + trope + prompt thing, could you do 1 for au, 9 for trope and 27 for prompt with pynch?

(P.S: I just remembered you have already done one with pynch, so you can do this one with another ship of your choosing if this one feels repetitive!)

Roommates AU, strangers to lovers, “that was a very bad idea. 0/10 would not recommend.” ~ for pynch!

I am more than happy to write 10,000 roommate aus for these idiots <3

---

It all started with an only mildly suspicious ad on craigslist:

Roommate needed $275/mo - utilities included must be ok with corvids good w/cars a plus - rent discount if u can prove it

Adam wasn't an idiot. He knew something that was too good to be true when he saw it. He also knew that answering a craigslist ad for a roommate was a good way to get stabbed, robbed, and God only knew what else.

And yet...

Sometimes, when your options were limited it really was better to take every possible avenue to get away from the devil you know - even if that means sharing a small apartment with the devil you don't.

Well, the devil and his pet raven. And really, Chainsaw was by far the more agreeable of the two.

That being said, it wasn't like Ronan was awful. He was an asshole, and he was downright grumpy bastard anytime before 11am. He listened to terrible music, if that trash could ever be considered such. Chainsaw was a sweetheart, though, always bringing Adam new shinies for his approval and sitting with him while he worked on a paper or research or any number of other assignments for his degree.

(Taking the risk that he had by jumping at that craigslist ad meant that he was able to cut back on his hours a little bit at work, go to school full time, and start amassing a savings account.)

And, okay, Ronan probably had some merits too. He could cook, for one thing. Not to say that Adam couldn't cook. He could - he just didn't like to. If it were up to him, he'd probably subsist on saltines and hard-boiled eggs. In fact, he had done exactly that for the first two weeks living with Ronan until the other man had dropped a full plate of breakfast in front of him, stole his crackers, and pointed at him. "Eat like a fucking grown-up," he'd said -and... well, that was that. Sure, Adam had tried to protest, but Ronan had just... started making food for the both of them and maybe if it was shitty food or even mediocre in quality Adam would have been able to ignore it - but it killed something inside Adam to waste food. Especially good food. And Ronan's food was fucking amazing.

So, there was that.

He also wasn't an absolute terror to be around. Having a conversation with Ronan Lynch was a choose-your-own-adventure novel written by very high geniuses. You really never knew what you were going to get and each alternate path was bound to be either completely bat-shit crazy or a humbling level of profound. Not only that, but Ronan didn't pull that alpha-male bullshit so many other men did where they refused to admit they didn't know something. No, when Adam proved that he knew what he was talking about when it came to cars, Ronan just said "teach me?" with such open intensity that Adam couldn't really tell him 'no', alright?

And then there were days like today, where Adam got home from an early shift at the garage to find Ronan sitting halfway out of their third-floor apartment, securing a thick rope to a hook above the window that definitely hadn't been there when Adam left that morning.

"Are you about to do something stupid again?" Adam called up to him as he got out of his car. Upon hearing his voice, Chainsaw (who had been circling anxiously above) crowed out a warbled imitation of speech that sounded a lot like 'Atom' and coasted down to him.

"Me? Stupid? Nah, this is gonna be fucking amazing," Ronan called back without looking away from his work.

Chainsaw landed on Adam's shoulder and clapped her beak affectionately near his ear. Adam dutifully lifted a hand to stroke at the soft feathers of her neck. If he also whispered 'hello beautiful girl, is your papa making trouble for you again?' it was between him and the bird and Ronan would never need to know.

Chainsaw crooned a tense 'kreh!' that Adam took as an affirmative.

"What exactly are you doing, Ronan Lynch?" Adam called up as he took another look at the setup, walking closer to the building. The rope that Ronan had just finished tying to the hook was already secured to a tree on the edge of the parking lot, the one that stood awkwardly out from the rest of the tree line. Their apartment complex was situated right on the edge of a forest preserve. A lot of Ronan's hair-brained ideas usually came back to the forest in one way or another.

"This is just a test run. If I can get it to work right, I'm going to set a line straight into the forest."

"Mm, yes, because... leaving civilization through a door is beneath you?"

Ronan paused, then grinned down at him, the expression somehow both boyish and savage in a way that always made Adam's heart jump for some reason. "Actually, yeah. Literally."

Adam rolled his eyes but didn't bother to fight the smile. "Punk."

"I resent that. I reject all labels, Parrish - you know that."

"Uh-huh. Sure. Well if you-- Ronan what are you doing?"

Ronan had produced what looked like a fucking tie (was that the one Ronan's brother Declan had been wearing when he came by for dinner a couple weeks back?) and had wrapped one end around his hand. As Adam watched, he flicked the loose end of the tie over the taut rope and then wrapped it around his other hand.

"Told you it was a test run, Parrish. That mean's I've actually got to test it."

"Ronan I don't think--"

But it was too late. Ronan had already jumped out of the fucking third-floor window like he was expecting to fly. For a second or two, he sort of did. The rope bowed but supported him and the smooth tie provided little friction as Ronan began to zoom down at a steep angle. Then the rope shuddered and went completely slack, the hook having torn free from the side of the building where it clearly had not been properly anchored. Ronan plummeted like a stone in a still pond.

"Ronan!" Adam did not make the active decision to move, but he was suddenly sprinting to where the jumbled heap of Ronan Lynch had landed on the rough pavement. Chainsaw had already launched ahead and was hopping around near Ronan's head, squawking out anxious reprimands of 'Kerah! Kerah!'

Adam skidded to his knees beside Ronan just as the other man was shakily trying to sit up. "What the FUCK Ronan Lynch!? What were you thinking!? You can't just jump out of a God-forsaken third-floor window like that. Do you want to be killed?" Adam didn't even care that the rural-Virginian flavor of his youth had coated his words in a thick batter, he was so mad.

Ronan blinked at him and there was a strange mix of confusion and pain and... something else on his face. "Scared, Parrish?" The words did not come out as teasing as they normally would.

"Scared? Scared? Of course I was scared. You... you fucking idiot!" Adam had to give himself a moment. He raked his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath, then another. He closed his eyes and tried to center himself. Fear and anger would get him nowhere, even if the fear had already set its nasty little hooks into each and every one of his nerve endings and the anger felt like the only way to burn them away.

A hand touched his shoulder, then his cheek. Adam opened his eyes and Ronan was wearing another indecipherable expression, his dark eyes hooded, his mouth pursed.

"Come on," Adam said as he leaned back so he could stand up. "Can you stand?" Chainsaw continued to hop around, but she'd stopped her distressed shouting, perhaps sensing that Adam was taking control and feeling more comfortable knowing that he would set things to rights, whatever that might mean.

Ronan was quiet for a moment, then seemed to shake himself out of his thoughts before giving a derisive snort. "It was just a little fall, Parrish, I'm --fuck!" Ronan had just tried to stand up, but his knee buckled out from under him as soon as he put his weight on it. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck, alright. Alright. Shit. Fuck. That was a very bad idea. 0/10 would not recommend."

"The standing or the stupid fucking stunt you pulled jumping out of a goddamn window?" Adam asked. He attempted to make it as dry as possible, trying to get them back to some kind of equilibrium, but his heart was still racing a bit too fast and he could hear the angry bite in his own words.

Still didn't stop him from instantly stepping forward and catching Ronan, though. He wound an arm around Ronan's waist, guiding Ronan's arm over his shoulders so he could support him.

"The standing, of course. Shit! Ah... fuck. My idea for the apartment-forest zipline is fucking genius thank you."

Adam helped Ronan hobble forward, taking them back toward his car instead of the building. "Yeah. Right. Whatever you say, Lynch."

"Where are we going?"

"To the hospital, dumbass," Adam said with a roll of his eyes, all but shoving Ronan into the passenger seat. He held the door open for Chainsaw to be able to swoop in and land on the idiot's lap. The least Ronan could do was soothe her for the drive.

"You don't have--"

Adam cut him off with a glare. "We. Are. Going. To. The. Hospital. Am I being perfectly clear?"

"...yes." Ronan glared back, but then sank down in his seat, expression mulish.

Adam fixed him with a hard stare that lasted another few heartbeats, then gave a nod and snapped the door shut.

So yes, Ronan Lynch wasn't all that bad. Sometimes the devil you don't really is the better choice. Because sometimes that devil has a cute bird and makes good food and has great conversation. If he also scares the shit out of you on the regular and makes your heart race inexplicably, well, that's not so bad a deal. Right?

[thefairyletters]

Showdown

Naruto and Hinata versus Sasuke and Sakura

According to stats: Naruto and Sasuke are almost equals, and Sakura is the most powerful Kunoichi, only second to Kaguya who is not a Kunoichi but a goddess. But if in Boruto, these two couples were to face each other for real (and not just spar) then it wouldn't be Naruto vs Sasuke while Sakura faces Hinata, contrary to what most of you may think.

Sasuke and Sakura have an extreme Intelligence advantage. The 3/4ths of the total brainpower in this fight would be coming from their team. Sakura is the second smartest shinobi in the Leaf village as an adult, only next to Shikamaru, and Sasuke is arguably a close third. It has been like that since their genin days. The amount of tactical planning going on from their side of the battle would be ridiculous. Naruto and Hinata are both the type to charge headfirst through sheer willpower and pressure, but this isn't going to work against any plan Sasuke and Sakura manage to think up. Brains are always one step ahead of brawns.

As an adult Sasuke shows us that he is capable of using the Rinnegan in far more versatile ways than he did in the war arc, when he was new to the power. He can jump dimensions, swap places with another body, affect the gravity around a person, throw immensely powerful genjutsus with a single glance, see any invisible barriers, predict movements, recognize patterns/codes/signals, and much more. Like holy shit y'all. You really think Naruto would preform as well as he did against war arc Sasuke now that Sasuke actually has a full understanding of his Rinnegan and frequently UTILIZES it?

Gravity and pull. Sasuke's Rinnegan gives him limited control of the gravity around a person or between him and another person. Using this, Sasuke has the ability to tap into some Deva path shit and yank Hinata towards him. It is immensely difficult to resist the pull, and someone as physically weak as Hinata would be easily ripped forward away from Naruto. Once they're separated, Naruto has no surefire way of getting Hinata back to his side and safe in enough time, because she would either be led right into a fatal punch from Sakura or a chidori or sword through the gut from Sasuke himself. Either way, if Naruto lets his watch on her slip even a little bit, she probably already dead or close to it. This could also be a support tactic. Sakura gets separated and is in danger. Using his Deva path pull Sasuke can drag Sakura out of a potentially dangerous situation and back to his side. Same works with the body swap. If Sakura is in a nasty situation, Sasuke can swap places with her in his Susanoo to easily tank a hit that may have killed her. That or he can swap her place with a rock if need be.

Two words: Summoning strength. Sasuke and Sakura hold two of the three boss summons in the three way deadlock. Naruto holds one. Hinata holds…nothing. It doesn't stop there though. Sasuke has at least two other powerful summons that we know of, and while they aren't as powerful as Aoda, they still give him some fair advantages. For example, Sasuke's hawk, Garuda, gives him an aerial advantage should he ever need to take to the skies as a countermeasure against Naruto. Naruto and Hinata have no summons who could reach Sasuke, and this gives him many solid opportunities. Sakura, on the other hand, has Katsuyu. Katsuyu can be spread out across the battlefield in various sizes to heal her allies wherever they may end up on the field. She could also be used in her original form to spit acid or protect the two from any taijutsu and most ninjutsu attacks. Katsuyu is stated early on to be extremely resistant to taijutsu and ninjutsu, and for fucks sake she can tank Pein's attacks with ease while protecting people inside, plus she survived Naruto's corrosive 8 tails chakra just fine. I see absolutely no taijutsu attacks that Naruto and Hinata pull getting through or truly damaging her, and Naruto would have to really put some effort into his more powerful ninjutsu techniques to take her down (also note that since Katsuyu has a very jelly like body type and is resistant to taijutsu and ninjutsu, Naruto's summons wouldn't be terribly productive on offense). But this leaves him wide open for counterattacks if he focuses too much on Katsuyu. And then of course Katsuyu can heal fatal injuries or at least sustain the life of a person fatally injured until help is given. The ultimate win for Sasuke and Sakura in terms of summoning.

Being an Active Shinobi is very important. Sasuke is an active shinobi. Very active. He is constantly on B through S rank missions, and Sakura has traveled with him on some of these. His teammate for this battle, Sakura, is still an active medical shinobi who easily accepts an S rank mission in the Retsuden novels and is originally dealing with part of it on her own before she teams up with Sasuke, who is also present. We have seen her fight in Boruto too. It shows that she is 100% still at her peak performance. Well, what about Naruto and Hinata? Hinata is a housewife who hasn't gone on anything above a C rank mission in years. She takes a B rank mission with her father and sister when Boruto is a toddler, and this is all we hear of it. She's rusty AF and doesn't have the experience nor mission bulk that Sasuke and Sakura have under there belt, nowhere NEAR it. Naruto is somewhat similar. He is, for lack of a better description, out of practice. He was only recently taking on S rank opponents in Boruto, and other than that he's been doing desk work and some minor shinobi guard training over the past few years. Sasuke and Sakura are more in shape and have more recent shinobi mission experience than Naruto and Hinata's combination, both by themselves AND as a team in a fight, which is immensely important here.

Everyone is always forgetting about how important Support can be. Sakura is a first class, kage-level healer at this point in the series. Her medical ninjutsu surpassed Tsunade's back in her own canon novel and is confirmed in the novelization of Boruto's movie a second time. Her ability to constantly heal or boost Sasuke's chakra in battle is important. Whereas while Naruto can amp up Hinata with a chakra cloak, Sakura can go even further. We see with Obito that Sakura can transfer her Byakugou seal markings with all it's chakra to another person she is touching, and in the Retsuden novels this is looked into further. By applying her seal to Sasuke, he becomes an absolute terror for even Naruto to handle. Imagine this: super fast shinobi w/ the Rinnegan abilities and Susanoo suddenly not only getting a chakra boost, but being able to automatically heal potentially fatal wounds completely over and over again for as long as the chakra exists. Sakura at this point has 15+ years of chakra stored in her Byakugou seal (we know this because she notes briefly in the canon novels after The Last that she has not stopped storing chakra and plans to continue doing so just in case she ever needs it). But let's say she didn't continue after that though. She would still have around 6 or 7 years of chakra in her seal. 6–7 YEARS OF CHAKRA. I don't care how much chakra you think Naruto has, it isn't anywhere close to the amount of chakra currently inactive within Sakura's seal, considering the fact that she could completely replenish Naruto's chakra with only 3 days worth of her general chakra. Sasuke would be a BEAST. Absolutely nightmarish on every level if this fight. And Sakura, so long as the chakra exists, would also be nightmarish - especially for those people who think Sakura and Hinata would end up dualing it out at some point.

Have we gotten to the whole dimension portal thing yet? Nope and this is a crucial winning point for Sasuke and Sakura. If in danger, in need of a new plan or simply to dodge away from a particularly crazy attack from Naruto, Sasuke can pull both himself and Sakura into a completely different space in the blink of an eye. He can also use this to jump around the space Naruto is in and really screw around with them. And if you're worried about Sasuke's chakra levels diminishing quickly, don't be. Once again, Sakura's Byakugou seal is the ultimate support ability. Remember that whole “she has at least 6-7 years of chakra even if she, for some reason, wimped out on her plans” spiel? Yeah…that's an easy fix. She helped Obito actually hold open AND SEARCH (people seem to forget that he had to use chakra to search dimensions) multiple dimensions when she only had 3 years of chakra in the seal, and even the she still had enough chakra left to reform the seal on her forehead soon after. Sooo…keeping Sasuke's chakra level high wouldn't be a problem. They can also use the dimensions for Sakura to heal and repair them both. Hinata can't heal and Naruto can't truly “heal" so much as his life force is just really strong, so they're at yet another disadvantage.

Terrain manipulation and swaps. This is where it gets really technical. Sasuke has the Rinnegan, and with it he can do serious damage very early on in the game when his opponent is not expecting such a rush. Try to imagine a scenario like so: Sakura winds up for a full power punch directly behind Sasuke as soon as the fight begins, or otherwise as early on as possible. She fires off the punch at Sasuke. Sasuke, at the last possible second he can manage, swaps his place with Hinata, and BAM. That's one down for team Naruto. Hinata would either be dead or close to it immediately after she hits the ground and stops. Same applies for a switch with Naruto. At that close of a range with literally zero time to dodge at that point, even Naruto would be fairly damaged from a point blank shot, and a damaged Naruto from the start spells bad news for Hinata - the girl basically fully depends on Naruto in the fight, she can't do anything to Sasuke or Sakura without his constant support.

Overall, we can go into arguments if whether Naruto is stronger than Sasuke or Sakura stronger than Hinata, but the truth of the matter is that it doesn't really matter. What matters is that Sasuke is at least competitively close in power to Naruto, and Sakura arguably the most powerful kunoichi in the series at the moment. Their power gap is extraordinarily close, so at this point it all comes down to who is best tactically suited and best prepared for this kind of nuclear fight. And honestly, with their ability to manipulate their surroundings and work more with the terrain and constantly replenish, there's no doubt about the victory. 80% of the time it'll be Sasuke and Sakura if they play their cards like they should.

Answer credits goes to Alex Hendrix, Quora

[sonnetthebard]

Owen doesn't really like horror movies and he gets paranoid pretty easily because of them. He hates that it happens and never tells anyone about it, he thinks its embarrassing for someone like him to be set off by something as simple as a movie. Curt also didn't know, until he proposed watching a horror movie one night. Owen went along with it because he knew Curt wanted to watch it with him and tried his best to sit through it, but Curt picked up on how uncomfortable he was -S

I know this was supposed to be headcanons, but... I had to write this as a oneshot. I absolutely love it.

Genre: Fluff/ Romance/ Angst

Words: 3171

TL;DR: Owen is not a fan of horror movies.

TW: Anxiety/ Triggering, brief mention of violence, panic attack, minor implied ptsd.

"Darling, I'm home!" Owen called into his shared hotel room teasingly.

"What, you're done scoping out the venue already?" Curt smirked, making his way out of his room, already dressed down to just a dress shirt (with a few buttons undone) and dress pants.

Owen smirked at that. Evidently Curt had decided his work for the day was over. They were in the primary stages of a small mission- one that should be simple. Intercept the passing of information from the French to the Russians- no matter the cost. If they had to kill someone, so be it. It may be an easy mission, but it was a crucial one. It was set to happen at the ballroom in one of the biggest estates in London during a gala hosted by its owners- set to happen in two days. The owners weren’t royalty, but they were rich- which probably made them more powerful than royalty either way. The event was going to be massive. Royalty and dignitaries from all around the world would be there- and, of course, the informants they were there to stop. If they didn't intercept this information... well, let's just say the Soviets would have a rather large military advantage. And that wasn't something anyone wanted.

Earlier in the day, Curt and Owen had gone out and met the family hosting the gala- who were in full support of their work. They’d even offered to be so good as to give them a discreet signal when their marks arrived. Of course Owen had turned that down because, even with good intentions, the utilization of untrained assets was always a risk. Once they were done with that meeting, Curt and Owen had done some genuine espionage. They were lucky. Their informant had told them when and where their marks would be in preparation for the gala. So they'd alternated locations to watch their opponents. That way no one got suspicious seeing the same two people watching them everywhere they went. Then Owen, being the keener that he was, had gone to the ballroom and scoped it out. He always loved that part of planning. Plus, the house was practically a castle, and it was old. Owen just wanted to see it. It was a marvel of architecture. But it was at least a productive visit. He had a good sense of the place. 

Now, though... Now Owen was exhausted. He'd had a big day preparing for not only his physical game but his mental one. So he was more than happy to be back with the man he loved. And he really did love Curt, in spite of his flaws. Owen was well aware of those. He would have to have been dull not to take them into account when preparing for their romantic relationship. Owen knew he was the more fit spy. He knew Curt could be a bit... careless at best, reckless at worst. And boy, did Curt’s ego ever get the better of him sometimes. But Curt was one of the most affectionate people Owen had ever met. His heart was massive, and he was as loyal as a dog. That was more than enough for Owen. They would follow each other to the ends of the earth. Owen may not have the smartest lover in the world, but... he had never felt more loved by one person. Not even his own parents.

"Already? Love, I was there for nearly three hours." Owen chuckled softly.

"You must be exhausted." Curt rolled his eyes playfully.

"As a matter of fact I am!" Owen scoffed, smirking and setting his jacket on the rack. Curt walked over to him, wrapping his arms over his shoulders and kissing him gently. Owen hummed into it, snaking his arms around Curt's waist. "What are you up to, Mega? Trying to breathe some life back into me?"

"No... I just missed you." Curt blushed lightly, still smirking and trying to play this off as cool as he could. "Am I not allowed to kiss my favourite partner after a long day of work?"

"Oh, you're more than welcome to..." Owen winked, giving him another gentle peck. He rested his forehead on Curt's, sighing. "I would say you could kiss me any time you’d like, but... well... we both know the world isn't quite ready for that."

"I know." Curt sighed. "One day..."

"We can only hope." Owen agreed. He gave Curt one more small peck of reassurance before, pulling away, walking into their room. "So what have we got for plans tonight? I was thinking maybe we could grab a bite at the fish and chips stand down the street. It's quite good. Then... maybe we could go to the cinema?"

"Actually... I was thinking maybe we could stay here." Curt bit his lip. "We've got a television here, and... they're showing Creature From The Black Lagoon on one of the channels we pick up. I missed it in the theatres while we were in Germany, and I've been hoping to see it for a few years now. It's a horror movie, and I've heard the special effects in it are great! We could watch it together!"

"Oh..." Owen bit his lip, breath hitching a bit at that.

Now... there was a bit of a dilemma. Owen came off as very suave, very tough, and impenetrable but... he had a bit of a problem with horror films. That, and films surrounding espionage. He didn't know what it was about the visual medium of storytelling that was becoming so popular, but... it affected him deeply. It was as though it set off something deep inside him, and brought up all his own fears. Even if they weren’t the fears discussed in the movie. As tacky as the movies were with their corny monsters and questionable acting they sparked his anxietes. Even worse to Owen was the irrational paranoia that came with it. The fear of something that didn't even exist. Even the things that very clearly could *never* exist. Like Dracula. Still, if Curt wanted to watch one with him, he would do his best to sit through it. Maybe he could focus his attentions on Curt and not the movie. Or maybe this movie wouldn’t get to him so badly. 

"Oh what?" Curt checked, the smallest trace of concern riddling his features.

"It's nothing." Owen chuckled, trying to mask his lie. He didn't want Curt worrying about him for something so trivial. "I would love to. What are we doing for supper though?"

“I didn’t think that through.” Curt admitted. “We, um... well, we’ve got half an hour before the movie starts. Maybe we could grab fish and chips and eat it here while we watch?”

“Sure thing, love.” Owen sighed. “You want me to go and get it, then?”

“That works for me.” Curt nodded. 

“And do you want me to get some crisps for later in case you get a bit peckish?” Owen checked. 

“Can a get a translation of that?” Curt teased. He knew most of what Owen meant, he just loved bothering him and he knew how much his boyfriend hated Americanisms.

“Do I really have to?” Owen groaned. Curt just raised his brows in expectation. “Fine. You’re lucky I love you... Do you want me to get you some ‘potato chips’ for later in case you get the ‘munchies’?”

“I would love some potato chips.” Curt smirked triumphantly. 

“‘Potato chips’...” Owen grumbled, grabbing his jacket again. “Bloody Americans butchering our language...”

“Love you too!” Curt called out the door teasingly as Owen left. 

The fish and chips place wasn’t far down the street. It was one Owen knew well- his parents had even taken him there as a child. He remembered those days... Things were simpler. Not nearly as complicated as his life had become. But that wasn’t why Owen was so eager to get out of the hotel room. No, Owen wanted the space alone to brace himself and prepare himself for this movie. Because he’d always been strong for Curt. He didn’t want Curt seeing him weak. So he just needed a bit of fresh air. That’s also why he’d volunteered to get the crisps (no matter what Curt wanted to call them). Extra time to steel himself. He took his time, but even then he only spent twenty minutes out of the house. Still... it was better than having had no time at all to prepare. He took deep breaths, making his way back to the hotel room. 

“Alright, darling. I have the food.” Owen called him, taking his shoes off and walking into the hotel. He set the food down on the coffee table. Curt walked out, dress shirt completely gone now. In it’s place, a white tank top. He was in denim jeans now, likely so that he didn’t ruin his dress pants. Owen smirked. “I thought we were supposed to be watching a movie, love...”

“We are.” Curt furrowed his brows, confused. He sat down on the couch, taking one of the meals for himself. Owen shrugged his jacket off, hanging it back up. He then joined Curt on the couch, a teasing glint in his eyes. 

“Well... you’re very distracting...” Owen hummed. Curt blushed. 

“I can put my shirt back on...” Curt mumbled. 

“No, darling. Don’t do that.” Owen sighed contentedly, taking the meal Curt hadn’t taken and setting it in front of himself. Curt had taken out his multi-purpose hunting tool and a pocket knife to eat with, but Owen stopped him. He pulled out the provided cutlery. “Here, darling. We can eat like civilized people”

“Right.” Curt flushed again. 

“You’re adorable when you’re all worked up.” Owen chuckled. 

“You’re a bully, you know that?” Curt grumbled, getting up and walking over to their in-room television. They were lucky. Not many hotels had them, but... this one did. Their superiors didn’t mind splurging a little on their accomodations, because it usually meant they were better rested for their job. 

“I’m not a bully...” Owen chuckled, his heartrate picking up again at even the thought of what he was about to watch. “I’m just a tease, doll.”

“So you admit it?” Curt smirked triumphantly, fiddling with the knobs to adjust the channel. 

“Only this once.” Owen rolled his eyes playfully. 

“I think I... there we go!” Curt beamed as the television crackled onto the right station. The scoring to a typical horror movie started. Owen gulped, already not liking this. Curt seemed to pick up on that. “You okay?”

“Absolutely fine.” Owen lied. Curt sighed, coming back and sitting down. 

Both men sat in silence, eating and watching the movie. Owen tried to focus on his food, blocking out the movie and his surroundings. But... that was unfortunately very hard to do. Especially when Curt was so invested. The man was leaning as far forward onto his knees as he possibly could. He thought Curt might have said something about Owen being right about the fish and chips, but Owen didn’t really hear it. He was caught in his head, in a way. And in many other ways, he was totally and uterly absorbed in the movie, trapped without consent the the saga being recounted on the screen. He didn’t even notice when he finished his food, caught up in everything. 

And then... then came the moment Owen was dreading. The one that had his palms sweating and his body tense the entire night. Even with all that awful anticipation it caught him completely by surprise. Just as it was meant to. For some people, that was the thrill of the game. To him, it wasn’t. To him, it was not just truly terrifying, but also... humiliating. Totally and utterly humiliating. Especially in front of his Curt. Curt, who thought he was this suave, impenetrable rock. Curt, whom he was the foundation. Curt got to watch him cower like a child. The moment of dread was, of course, the first jumpscare. And just as Owen had predicted, he had jumped right out of his seat, yelping. Curt saw him and... he started to laugh. 

The world caved in for Owen. It was a mix of the genuine fear he’d experienced watching the movie, the fears that fear alone had resurface, and the humiliation. He felt in a way that he was disappointing Curt already. And the laughing... it rang in his ears even once Curt had finished. Because this time Curt wasn’t laughing with him- he was laughing at him. He tried to mask it, but he was far too caught up in his head to have any control over what his face did. He shook a little bit. He couldn’t even fear anything around him. He had tunnel vision, and everything sounded like it was underwater. Owen hated it. He knew then and there that trying to be tough had not been the right move. That he should have said no to Curt. But it was far too late for that realization to be any good. 

At first, Curt had admittedly thought it was funny that Mr. Tough Guy Owen Carvour himself had fallen victim to the classic jumpscare. And he would be the first to admit he had laughed a long time- especially when he thought that for once he had been the one to fluster Owen and not the other way around. But then, when Owen neglected to come back with any snide remarks... When he didn’t tell Curt to shut up, or even chuckle along with him... That was when Curt knew that now was not the time to be laughing. That something was genuinely wrong. That was when he finally took the time to notice that his lover was shaking, and the fear that had been in his eyes when he jumped had not vanished- even though the protegonists were safe. Curt took Owen’s hand’s carefully. Owen twitched in what could be a flinch, but put up no fight. That was the final tip-off for Curt that sommething was very wrong. He got in front of Owen carefully. 

“Hey... Hey, Owen. You’re okay.” Curt soothed. Owen seemed to snap a bit out of it- enough to see Curt in front of him and look him in the eyes. Curt suppressed his concern and put on a comforting smile for Owen. “That’s right, babe. Look at me. I’m right here. I’ve got you.”

There was a moment of Owen just staring into Curt’s eyes and reminding himself that Curt had his back. That he was safe. Once he had calmed enough to speak, he took a shaky sigh.

“I’m sorry.” Owen mumbled. 

“No... no, don’t be sorry!” Curt shook his head, giving Owen’s hands a squeeze. Immediately as thought that had awakened something in him, Owen was squeezing back as if it were the only thing keeping him on the ground. “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for.”

“Yes I do.” Owen spat, almost as though the words were poison. Self hatred oozed from his tone. “I’ve been lying to you. I’m a coward.”

“You are not a coward...” Curt stated firmly. 

“I bloody well near shit my pants at something I saw on the telly!” Owen pointed out, incredulous. “Something imaginary, on the other side of the screen where it could never harm me.”

“That’s what these movies are made to do, O.” Curt assured him. 

“They’re meant to give people a quick fright.” Owen shook his head. “But... that terrified me. Genuinely scared me.”

“Well... we’ve got pasts.” Curt bit his lip. “We’ve seen stuff. We’ve been the victims of real jumpscares where we could have died. Maybe it reminds you of those. Maybe the lines blurred.”

“Curt, it wasn’t anything we’ve been through that scared me.” Owen softened, nearly whimpering, both scared and embarassed but also pleasing for Curt to listen. “It was that that creature was going to show up behind us and do the same, or... take you away. That poorly dressed, hokey monster that could not be any further from being real. I’m not just a coward. I’m a bloody idiot.”

“You’re not a coward, Owen. And you’re not an idiot. Everyone’s brain is built a bit differently.” Curt soothed him. “You want to protect me... just like I want to protect you.”

“From something that could never hurt us either way.” Owen pointed out. 

“Sometimes that doesn’t matter to the mind.” Curt sighed. “I don’t know if this happens to you when you read all your books, but sometimes someone will tell me a story and I get so invested in it that I’ll feel like I’ve lived through it myself.”

“I know what you mean...” Owen nodded. 

“Well... maybe this movie did the same thing for you.” Curt reasoned. 

“I... suppose.” Owen blinked, realizing Curt made a lot of sense.

“Just like you feel things when you read... you’re feeling things watching this.” Curt sighed.

“Right...” Owen nodded, letting that sink in. 

“You think you can take a few breaths with me, O?” Curt soothed. Owen nodded, following Curt through a few deep breaths until he had stopped shaking and his grip on Curt’s hands had lightened. Once Curt was satisfied, he got up and changed the channel. I Love Lucy was on. He smirked, sitting back down on the couch. For once, he was the one pulling Owen close to cuddle. “We’re going to watch this channel for the rest of the night, okay? I think it’s got some of the good family shows on it.”

“Are you sure?” Owen checked. “I can go lay down. I know you really wanted to watch this film.”

“Yeah, but... not as much as I want to spend time with my handsome British boyfriend.” Curt teased. 

“I love you.” Owen sighed, resting his head on Curt’s chest. 

“I know.” Curt winked playfully, running a hand through Curt’s hair. “Hey, if you’re ever uncomfortable with what I want to do... just tell me, okay? No judgement.”

“Alright.” Owen nodded. 

And so they spent the rest of the night in each other’s arms. Eventually they did switch and Owen was back to holding Curt. He found immense comfort in that- and that Curt didn’t judge him. It was lovely to be totally and utterly enamoured with someone. And that was what he was with Curt- what he was certain they both were. He didn’t focus on the telly (though it did give him a few laughs- that Lucy was always getting into trouble). Instead, he focused on Curt’s hands running though his hair, or the little kisses he was being adornerd with. In other words, he chose to focus on how much he was loved. And that put him in an entirely better place. There was, at least, one thing they could take away from the whole fiasco: no more horror movie nights. They had enough horrors in their own life without needing to worry about anything on the tv. 

[macgyverseries]

rebutting and debunking frequently used arguments against macriley

I made this 10-page google doc rant a while ago, but I never ended up posting it. Today, however, I woke up and chose violence. So here it is: my thoughts on frequently used arguments against macriley.

I took some quotes and arguments that people put online (reddit, tumblr..), and I debunked them all :p I feel like I always see the same arguments all the time, and I’m honestly getting a little tired of hearing them. I’m here to settle this once and for all.

and yes, i did manage to cut down the google doc by 3 pages :D (but it's still long af so rip my brain)

1.”Mac and Riley are siblings because Jack is their father”

I can (mostly) get behind the argument that Mac and Riley shouldn’t be in a romantic relationship because of their super strong friendship. Some people really value that sole platonicness, and I get that.

But the argument that I can’t get behind is that: Mac and Riley are siblings because Jack is their father figure”

If you google the definition of “father,” the first result that comes up is: “a man in relation to his children.”

Now, Jack was definitely the father figure to Riley, and I would consider her his child. He raised her. He helped shape her ideals and upbringing.

Mac only met Jack when he left MIT. So it was pretty much after Mac was raised (by Bozer’s parents haha), that Jack really came into his life. Mac already became his own person. (also, I always saw Mac and Jack as more of a bromance)

So because Riley and Mac met Jack at different periods of their lives, and they were raised differently, I wouldn’t say that they were siblings who were raised by the same father.

2. “The show writers left the impression that there was a huge age gap between them”

I understand this a little. I do think Riley was introduced as pretty young and idk naive? Because she was literally in highschool, and then she went to prison, and then she got released into the wild. Personally, when I started watching the show, I googled the whole cast. So I started the show knowing that they were the same age.

And also, the more I got to know Riley, the more that I thought that Riley was more mature and had an old soul herself. I think it was because she was just a dynamic and round character, who is well-developed.

But, I get first impressions. I feel like once you get stuck on an impression, it’s hard to go away from that.

Also, Jack would’ve totally shipped macriley, and you can’t change my mind.

3. "Riley isn't ready for a relationship"

I honestly think that this argument should be more geared towards Mac. He needs to figure himself out and go to therapy ffs. However, this person targeted Riley (the literal queen), so I shall defend her:

I understand wanting Riley to take some time off, and figure herself out before going straight into another relationship with someone. But here’s the thing. Throughout the first few seasons Riley’s character was very well established, and she didn’t have any partners during that time. She has proven that she is a strong, well-rounded, independent woman (with or without a partner). So i think it is valid to say that she isn’t just some girl who only has boy toys. She is much more than that.

My next point is that Riley has made it clear that she wants a lasting relationship with someone who will support her. When talking with Mac in 4.04, we see her express her interest in a stable, healthy relationship. It’s not wrong to go out and look for that potential partner. This applies to everyone (not just fictional characters): It’s going to take a few relationships and self-discovery, to find a good relationship, and people shouldn’t be shamed for searching for that.

Riley has only ever had two major boyfriends that I remember. First was Billy; she took that relationship very seriously. She really did seem happy with him. It was a shame that he cheated on her. Second was Aubrey. She also took that relationship very seriously. She had been living with him for six months (and they even had the cutest date nights!) So I wouldn't say that Riley only has boy toys. She has meaningful relationships.

Lastly, I think this was written when season four started airing, but it’s been over a year (and a pandemic) since Riley has dated. I think enough time has passed.

*4. I had to split this one up because, oh boy, there is a lot to unpack here.

4a. “If that was the direction they’d chosen to take with that relationship from square one… My issue with it is that Mac and Riley were presented to us as friends/ found siblings for three years. There were NO romantic vibes to speak of between them..”

I actually felt the same way about macriley. The thought of them being together in season one, made me want to throw up. I don’t think the writers intended on having macriley, and I was perfectly fine with that.

I know that people look for different things when they ship. Some really like having instant gratification with the spicy, hot, sexy parts of a relationship, like macdesi (which is why I was fine with the idea of shipping macdesi in the past).

I always wanted to see macriley do more: have hot, flirtatious banters/interactions. it can be hard to ship people who seem to be missing that part of the love equation. So i agree. It's definitely strange. And I understand if you genuinely have a hard time seeing the romantic potential of macriley, when the writers have only dragged out and shown us the platonic potential of them.

Also, the reason why it is difficult to see macriley as romantic, was because they ALWAYS PRIORITIZED AND WERE DRIVEN on their friendship. A partner should be friends first, and then makeout buddies second.

But just because people start off as friends, doesn’t mean that they still don’t have that potential to be lovers. Because guess what?! Feelings change. It’s now canon that Riley has feelings for Mac, and Mac always had feelings for Riley (but never acted on it).

I'm sorry, but you like a boomer when you say “bAcK iN mY dAy, tHeY dIdN’t HaVe fEeLiNgS fOr EaCh oThEr.” like okaAAAyyYYyYY????? We are not “back in your day” anymore. We are in the present. We are in today. And today, macriley is real :)

4b. “There’s the incredibly tired trope where long-term coworkers suddenly catch feelings for each other out of nowhere”

Personally, I will never get tired of the friends to lovers trope. I think the fact that Mac and Riley had such a strong friendship and foundation is what makes them perfect. Again, I know that some people just like instant gratification, but I love when a couple can take their time to have depth, emotion, and realness in their relationship.

Obviously I am biased because I have so much love for this trope, it's my favorite trope, but I don't see why you would use the “it’s overused” as reasoning to hate a ship. Just because a trope is used a lot, doesn’t mean it is bad (that’s probably why it is so good lmao). I can understand getting tired of it, and growing a dislike towards a trope. For example, I have grown an extreme dislike towards the love triangle.

A bit of a tangent: But the difference between overusing love triangles and overusing friends to lovers, is that love triangles aren’t just commonly used tropes. They are cliches. They cause unwanted drama and unnecessary hurt to one character. Whereas friends to lovers doesn’t involve as much drama and pain for a character. It is more of just angst between two people. And we know that they will get together eventually with a happy ending. So it was never really problematic.

And even then, the great thing about overusing or utilizing tropes, is that they can act as a guide. It allows the show writers and cast to make it personal, make it their own, adding their own special flair to it

I just don’t see the “this trope is used a lot” as a valid reasoning for disliking a ship .It just seems like this commenter doesn’t like the friends to lovers trope for the sake of not liking it.

I could be very wrong in my assumption of this person’s thoughts on friends to lovers, maybe there is a deeper reasoning as to why they don’t like it, but the tone that i interpreted when i read this section, was that they don’t have a real reason to dislike it, it’s more of just because.

4c.“then there's the fact that Riley had a mostly single Mac in her life for 3-4 years and she never even considered him romantically until he was with someone else”

First: Riley didn’t CHOOSE to fall in love. You may recall that “emotions aren’t a science. You can’t control them.”

Second: Mac was broken up with Desi when she caught feelings for him. Plus, the moment Riley saw that Mac and Desi were getting happy together, she moved out and gave them space. She sacrificed her own feelings for his happiness, despite the fact that her heart was breaking.

4d. “and finally, Mac not only still doesn't seem to even have Riley on his radar in that way but he literally told another woman that he loves her just last week. Neither of them look particularly good here if they get together now.”

I'm assuming that this was written when 4.12 first aired. I'm also assuming that this comment was more directed towards the idea of Mac and Riley getting together immediately at the end of the season, rather than later down the road. I always saw of macriley as more of endgame material. That i would see them get together sometime in the future. So I agree. Macriley getting together during that time period, would be too rushed and unsatisfying.

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

So those were most of the supposed arguments that I saw for people who were against macriley, but I also wanted to provide some really good examples of people who were very respectable, and actually had valid reasoning for disliking them.

1. they just don’t like shipping in general

Ships can be annoying af. Seeing people ONLY focus on the ships is sometimes tiring. I, myself, even feel a little guilty making this post, because I need to chill and mind my own business lmaooo. I really should let people do whatever they want to do with their lives, and not get caught up in the ships, but here I am :p

Anyways, I know that there is a lot of unnecessary drama that comes with shipping, and it's tiring to see people constantly go on and on about romance, when there are other perfect things about the show.

2. No matter how hard they try, they just feel it.

This is literally so dumb (and a little hypocritical/self-contradictory), but if you have a gut feeling, and you just can’t get yourself to ship it, I get it. If you truly and genuinely believe that they are best platonic friends, I can't change your opinion. And I have respect for you (if you say it in a kind manner).

Here is a nice example of a person who expressed their opinion in a nice way, with no BS.

So the moral of the story: I can't control your deepest thoughts. I can't control your gut feelings. And that’s okay. But the moment that you start backing up your thoughts and insights with BS reasoning, is the moment that I lose respect for you.

[lizacstuff]

SCK Asks: Episode 38

(asks under the cut)

Anonymous said: happy edser just HITS different. maybe it's because we've been so deprived of them together and blissful, it's such a joy to watch. i had a silly grin on my face during all their scenes. sure the tumor cloud is looming over our heads, but this episode only laid the foundation for that and then went into romcom mode, which i really appreciated because we've been bogged down for SO LONG with heaviness, it was nice to just take a breather.

OMG! Yes, all of this. And I’m not sure if it’s happy Edser that hits different, or if it was whatever magic and sparkle these writers injected into this episode that made it hit different.  

The magic was BACK. The sparkle was BACK. These writers took the most ridiculous scenario idea (these two famous architects deciding to solve a murder) and just made it sing. I grinned through the whole thing and laughed out loud, A LOT. 

This was the first episode in ages where I wasn’t watching the clock and waiting for some uncomfortable or unpleasant moment or scene to occur. Instead watching was pure joy and no anxiety, even with a tumor diagnosis. 

There was so much good Edser in this episode it’s hard to know what to talk about. I loved every moment they were on screen together. 

Anonymous said: I have to hand it to you, you said that the reason they were doing this pregnancy story is so that we could find out that Selin and Serkan never slept together. ngl I wanted her to suffer more, but as long as she’s gone I’m fine with her punishment being the humiliation of having to admit that in front of Eda. 

Ha! Yes, I have said that all along, and I’ve never been more relieved to be right. They really went the extra mile with having Selin spell out that it hadn’t happened.  With the English subs it almost sounded like they had never, ever had sex, even before.  If so, I could actually believe it, their prior relationship seemed to be very business like, like they were each other’s safe, convenient date to business and family functions, and it wasn’t emotional or physical for him. 

After the gross story around Selin, and how much damage she did and how much she got away with, this was not nearly enough comeuppance to sate my thirst for her pain. These writers started this story and introduced Selin’s role in it, so it’s not like they 100% inherited something they had nothing to do with. However, between Bige’s limited availability due to her father passing, Sarp Can having covid, and the way the other writers drug it into the ground, I’m also just happy it’s over and will deal with this being all we get, plus, while she didn’t get punished adequately, she did take her lumps. It’s humiliating that Serkan went around acting incredulous to everyone who would listen that she could be pregnant because he never touched her, even while she was his fiancé. I mean that’s a shrinker. Can you imagine agreeing to marry a man who you knew didn’t want to touch you? Everyone now knows her sad, pathetic desperation to have him under any circumstances. Yikes. 

And as you say, she then had to stand in front of Eda and Serkan and admit he didn’t touch her. Admit that Serkan never wanted her, and it’s humiliating that everyone at Art Life knows what she did and thinks she’s a monster. Serkan finally knows she’s an awful manipulator who tried to trick him, and in the end she gets an unplanned pregnancy with a man who doesn’t love her and whom she doesn’t love.  So it’s not like she’s winning by any stretch of the imagination. 

(Though I really wish everyone knew (mostly Serkan and Eda) that she sabotaged Eda’s presentation. It’s important for the characters to know that she can’t be trusted professionally as well as personally... but oh well.)

Anonymous said: Two things: 1) I kinda love it even more that they got the tattoos before he found about the illness.. idk why but it was even MORE romantic. Also does this mean they're kinda sorta engaged again since the reason she said no in the first place was Selin? and 2) I need more of that "ring for love" bell ASAP. My jaw actually dropped when he lifted her up since we were deprived of it in 26.. please more breaking of family structures!!

Oh I agree, I found it very romantic they went and got the tattoos and the only impetus was their desire to have a symbol of their love. I already love those tattoos so much, and I love that they sat their designing them together. They really do signify the ultimate commitment. 

I’m not sure if they’re engaged or not. Maybe they’re in a place where it’s obvious they’re going to get married, they both know they’re going to get married, but we’re still going to get one more proposal to make it official?  

As for the ring for love bell, when and where did he get that!? Hee. And yes to more breaking of the Turkish family structure. That lift and twirl through the living room was... HOT. And it was just so effortless, there are just no words at times for how good Hande and Kerem are, I’ve really never seen anything like it. They don’t really have time to rehearse on set, or limitless takes or the time to really block and perfect things, but they’re just so good together they make magic happen every time they’re on screen.  Amazing. Enjoy this kids, because you probably won’t see anything like it again. 

Anonymous said: With the nature of these shows, Eda and Serkan will not a blissful happily ever after without something hanging over there heads or some new drama until the show actually ends. So if the new angst is Serkan's potential illness, I'm down for the potential angst it'll create.. it's already a good sign that, although he hasn't told her about it yet, he's not pushing her away in fear, but instead the opposite. I also don't think, and really hope not, him keeping it secret rn won't cause trouble.

Yes, I like that even with that heavy health news hanging over the episode, it was still light and funny and romantic and had that old sparkle. That tells me that they’re going to strike the right tone with this story which seems to be a very carpe diem thing with Serkan. 

It didn’t bother me that he didn’t tell her. First, he told the doctor that he didn’t want anyone to know until he had a diagnosis. That makes sense, why worry her, or any of them, before they know.  I’m sure I would feel different if he was pushing her away because of the diagnosis, but since he’s holding her close and just seems to want to spend time with her, without that heaviness hanging over her head, I’m okay with it. 

Also, as seen in the new fragman, if this story is an excuse to get them out of the office and put them in all sorts of scenarios together it would otherwise be hard to justify, bring it on.  Let’s see how far down the list of things to do they can get! 

Anonymous said: i know no one reaaaally cares because they're not most people's favorite side characters, but it's really much nicer to watch aydan and ayfer scenes now that they're both on "team edser" and have become really good friends. i swear, the AAA trio scenes were so unbearable to watch when they were fighting over him and i was fast forwarding through all of them.. at least i can sit through team "united" aydan/ayfer scenes.

They’re actually enjoyable scenes now! I love that they’ve become actual true friends, best friends really, and along with Seyfi I love their little trio.  Love that Seyfi and Ayfer were being so supportive about Aydan rekindling something with Kemal.  And I agree that we can root for them when they’re working for Edser’s well-being and happiness.  I just hope Aydan doesn’t do something stupid if there begins to be some question about Serkan’s parentage. 

Anonymous said: the scooby doo gang ending had me laughing so hard i was tearing up when more and more people kept sneaking in and eda and serkan were getting more and more exasperated. erdem accidentally using flash took me tf out lmao. i love when sck does comedy with the whole cast and not just the usual "comedy" characters.. they're some of my favorite scenes! both "asking for the girl" scenes come to mind.

You could see Erdem using the flash coming from a mile away, but that still didn’t blunt the comedy when he actually did it.  So funny. Also Engin not recognizing Eda, imagine him thinking Serkan is there with some rando woman.  I also love the full cast comedy scenes, they are so much fun and really should be utilized as often as possible. 

The scene where Edser walk back into the house and Aydan and Kemal were there paying their respects had me screech-laughing! So so so funny. Both sides being incredulous that the other was there and wanting answers!  I also enjoyed that Serkan obviously put Erdem in charge of Kemal’s project, because he wants that project to go away. Unfortunately for Serkan, I think it’s going to take more than Erdem to drive Kemal away.  

Anonymous said: Everyone is saying serkan planned the whole thing, do you buy into that? Idk would he really put everyone in a gunpoint situation where they don’t know it’s fake? Cause that’s some potentially trauma inducing stuff. Also I have no idea where they’re going with this, since it’s been a 4 day break from set which is kind of worrying. And do you know why Melisa wasn’t in the ep? I know Sarp can got Covid but wasn’t Melisa posting with cast members on her story throughout the week?

Wow, this is a lot of negative energy and fretting after a really good episode. Deep breath. Since you sent this, we know that Hande and Kerem have been shooting for 2 full days at a romantic looking beach location for 39, so it looks like Edser has some sort of mini-getaway. I don’t see any reason to be concerned about the 4 day break last week. (now the fragman’s out, hopefully that puts your mind at ease)

No idea why Melissa wasn’t in the ep, other than the way the ep was structured with the supporting characters, if she had to miss the ArtLife shooting day then I can see that they would have had to write her out of the full episode, because most of their scenes were there and it set up everything for the rest of the episode. So perhaps she was in quarantine for a Covid exposure, maybe she was legit sick/injured (she has had a foot thing) or maybe she had a conflict for that one shooting day. No idea, but I don’t think it’s anything to worry about.  Also her absence gave us Ferit/Melo scenes and I’m 100% behind that, give us more of those! 

As far as if Serkan planned the whole thing, he did look pretty smug and relaxed while sitting there at the end, but he also wasn’t planning for the whole group to tag along and make a mess, lmao. We’ll have to see. 

Anonymous said: Do you think bad ratings makes sck in danger of being cancelled or do you think high social media engagement keeps it safe?

Friends, I don’t know anything about the Turkish system, but it seems to me that SCK will either go through May or extend into summer and end then, regardless of the ratings. We shall see. As I’ve said before I’m not going to engage in the fretting and worrying and discussion on this topic because no fan really knows what they’re talking about and there is nothing we can do to change what will happen. So just enjoy the show while we can, the news on when it will end will come when it comes. 

[dlamp-dictator]

Good, Unused Operators Allen X Recommends Leveling

Welp, 7-16 is kicking my tail at the moment because of the goddamn Herald spam... Jeez, five Heralds than increase mortar attack speed. This game can be a real pain sometimes, I swear.

Anyway, while I’m agonizing over how I now have to power level Cliffheart for this latest map, I’ve been thinking a lot about certain operators. With this limited banner going on and the regrettable amounts of whaling I did for W I’ve had some time to ask myself about all the operators I have and some of their utility. A lot of gacha games tend to be pretty cruel with their pull rates and meta, and Arknights is probably one of the few games that's decent with both. Due to the way maps work, most meta picks are only for about 60% of maps and supply maps, there’s still some strategy involved. The Blaze-Weedy-Saria trifecta can’t conquer everything, thankfully.

So I wanted to take some time to discuss the lesser used and off-meta Operators of this game and explain some of their utilities.

Zima

I only feels fitting to start this out with a Vanguard, and Zima has pulled in clutch for a lot of these chapter 7 maps. Kit-wise Zima has Scavenger’s attack boost plus DP on kill with her S2, making her a machine of DP on certain chokepoints. Not only that, she actually pretty tanky for a vanguard, matching up to some low level defenders in terms of defense. Where Texas would crumble like the glass cannon she is, Zima stands tall and can give a beating as well as she takes one. Not only that, but her personal talent at E2 lets her lower the DP cost of all Vanguard operators, meaning you can jet out Myrtle very quickly and maybe have some DP to spare to quickly drop Zima afterwards. However... it takes quite a while for her S2 to get ready, so it’s best to keep her on maps that don’t need the attack boost immediately. 

Perfumer

I admittedly don’t use Perfumer since I have Angelina and Ptilopsis, but her passive healing talent means characters like Vulcan, Hellagur, and Utage can have reliable, passive healing for free, which is always nice if you don’t have Sora or Angelina. Something I think a lot of people look over with 4-stars is that they’re cheap to promote. You don’t need insane 5th tier resources or a lot of chips and LMD to promote them. And while AoE healers aren’t meta, they’re helpful at times.

Shirayuki

Shirayuki is another cheap 4-star to upgrade, but her kit is actually really good. An AoE sniper who’s S2 gives her arts damage. And anything in this game that gives a character arts damage tends to be a tier higher than they would be otherwise, as very few enemies have heavy arts resistance with the exception of certain bosses. And again, she’s a cheap unit to promote, so if you don’t have Meteorite or Sesa, Shirayuki is a good pick. This woman carried a lot of my Annihilation runs before I got Sesa, so don’t under estimate her.

Waai Fu

Waai Fu is a fast-redeploy operator that can silence enemies and keep those exploding spiders at bay. She can outdo Red and even Lappland in some regards depending on the map. She does good damage if you level her up enough and her base skills are great in the workshops. She’s one of the many unexpected MVPs of my Contingency Contracts runs, saving my tail more than I care to admit.

Gummi

She’s a cheap Saria who’s S1 is extremely reliable. I’d honestly recommend her over Saria in some cases thanks to her lower DP cost. I don’t get much use out of her S2, so I can’t say much there. She’s worth promoting though, especially if you don’t have Saria.

Cutter

This is a blind recommendation since I haven’t used her much, but she’s essentially a cheaper Ch’en with more spammable skills. And while I already have Ch’en, she’s next on the list of Four Stars I want to level.

Broca

As much as I clown on Infall for simping him, and as much as I will continue to clown on Infall for simping him, any guard that can do arts damage is instantly more valuable than most, especially how clustered these Chapter 7 maps are getting. And Broca is an AoE Guard with access to arts damage. And while his S2 makes him stunned and block 0, Specter’s S2 has a similar drawback, and she’s in the meta. This is also another blind recommendation, but one I feel very comfortable making, as his S2 increases his attack range and you can just place him in front of a Defender to solve this problem.

GreyThroat

I talked about GreyThroat on this blog before, but just to reiterate, GreyThroat is a weaker Exusiai, but she also has high DPS, and has an easier time getting potential and a shorter DP cost. She can melt bosses with weaker physical defenses like Frostnova and Mephisto, and you don’t have to worry about her auto-activating her skill when it isn’t needed like Exusiai. She’s a good character to promote and raise if you want a cheaper option instead of Exusiai.

Pramanix

On that end, I also said on this blog that Pramanix is kind of niche, but great at debuffing enemies. Her range is insane and her DP cost is generously small considering her utility as both debuffer and emergency caster. She’s pretty good for Contingency Contracts, but... not really viable anywhere else, not safely viable anyway. 

Sesa

Anyone with Sesa that hasn’t E2′d him yet is honestly sleeping on him. Sesa is fantastic and is probably one of the better AOE snipers. I haven’t done much with Meteorite since I got here way after promoting Sesa, but Sesa’s damage on his S2 melts chokepoints. In the right hands this man is unstoppable. He’s destroyed entire clusters of enemies in just two bombs with his S2. His only downside is that his S2 turns his bombs into timed explosives, so some enemies can just walk away from the explosion without getting hit. His targeting’s also a little weird, but in the right chokepoint everything dies.

Sora

I think ever since Aak came onto the scene people kind of forgot Sora existed. She can stun or buff enemies depending on your needs. This is great for chokepoints and she can give passive healing like Perfumer, though for units in her range only. This is a great support unit overall. Nothing I’d recommend you should bring all the time, but... she’s good regardless.

And... that’s it for now. Time to go back to 7-16 kicking my ass... 

Ugh...

Well, next time I’ll probably talk more about Arknights’ gacha and gacha elements... when I conquer this goddamn, cursed level.

[lonestarbabe]

How do you think the writers could improve the characters? Like aside from Owen because we all know how he needs to change, they just aren’t doing it and making these changes for his character. I mean for Mateo, Paul and Marjan. I feel like when they have their little storylines, they don’t rly show much I mean they are interesting and I love seeing more of my faves of course but they don’t rly show these characters progressing in any way aside from Marjan’s recent storyline where she saved the girl in the house and maybe Paul’s with his sister. But with TK or Judd and even Grace’s storyline after the crash, we have seen slow growth in their characters and how they have learned from some experience to be better and be more open or something. Mateo’s was interesting because we saw his roommates and life outside of work which I loved but he moved in with Owen and we rolled right into another Owen-center or Owen-related plot line and it’s just annoying. Of course it was nice that Owen offered Mateo a place to stay because his burned down but as soon as Mateo moved in, it was all about Owen’s man pain and we cut to a later intervention about Owen lying about his surgery and other behavior. Paul’s first I think was when he went on the date with that woman who basically told him she couldn’t date him because he is trans at least that’s what I got from it. And like that’s not a nice storyline Paul didn’t learn or grow from that and probably only felt like shit in the end despite brushing it off. And the one with his sister was eventually resolved but I want a storyline for him that doesn’t involve his identity because that’s not just who he is- of course it’s a very important part that shouldn’t be ignored but I just want storylines for him that aren’t JUST about that- he’s Paul with great observation skills and he’s a good friend and a nice guy. And Carlos, too. The one in 2x8 with his dad was *chef’s kiss* amazing but I want more solo storylines for him. I know he’s TK’s partner and I love that for him because they’re cute but I want storylines for just Carlos. And I don’t meant to complain because the arsonist storyline where his place burns down looks rly good and maybe that’s a start if it’s just him in the house but I hope you get what I mean? And I love Marjan, Mateo, Paul and Carlos I don’t mean to complain about their storylines because I’m grateful we even get anything on them with how much the writers have eyes just for Owen but yeah I just want more (and better) for them

You make a lot of strong points, and I really think you’re right that there’s still more to do, adn that there’s a lot I hope for when it comes to those characters. Yeah, I think the main thing is to give them time, but not just time, they need to give them quality screentime. Some characters have been getting more screentime without being more developed, which is a major struggle that the show needs to get over to better showcase its characters. Oh no, this is going to wind me up!!

(TLDR: they just need to flesh out the characters and show that they are more than just one part of their identities.)

You’re right about those storylines not allowing growth. Paul’s storyline with his sister ended up being about his sister’s growth, and the thing is, the Josie storyline was very similar in all the wrong ways. It was about Josie’s discomfort. Transphobia becomes something that is about the phobic people rather than the person who is experiencing it! These people also claim to be accepting of his transition, but they also show the opposite with their reactions (Josie was like, “you’re perfect but I can’t date you because you’re trans” while Paul’s sister also commented that she didn’t care that he was trans but also droned on about how she missed her sister... who Paul points out never existed. Like the whole storyline seems to be a pat on the back for transphobes, as if to reassure them that their behaviors are what we should be empathetic to.) Ultimately, Paul wasn’t the active participant in his own story; thus, he can’t really grow and develop. Paul needs to have more storylines that he is an active participant in (by making the scenes in his perspective rather than that of the subjugators). We also haven’t seen Paul’s flaws, whereas we’ve seen flaws of the more fleshed out characters. We know he’s heavily intellectual, observant, and a great listener, but I also want to see a moment when he has more of a struggle (one that is not related to him being trans because he needs a plot beyond that one part of him).

Mateo also is reduced to basically an object in other storylines. His screentime is rarely about him. Even in that last episode that featured a storyline about him, that storyline basically reduced him to a pawn in Owen’s storyline, which didn’t allow Mateo to have any growth. We didn’t learn anything new about him (at least not anything meaningful to the deeper nature of his character). We know very little about what makes Mateo ticks, and I think he is the character who is most reduced to just a few characteristics. He’s constantly a ditzy figure, and I want to see him as more than the probie. In the first episode, we saw that he’s attentive, and that he works hard. Let’s show those qualities some more. I think that especially because he is dyslexic, that it’s harmful to not showcase more diverse sides of him and to neglect the ways that make him stand out. He’s treated as a kid too often, and it’s okay to make him naive on some things because he’s newer to firefighting, but he needs to grow and show that he is making progress and is growing. I like that they bring up his dyslexia, but I don’t think they’ve utilized it as well as they could have, and it would be nice to show how he deals with it and how it impacts him. Just like I want to see mentions of Judd’s PTSD continue to pop up (and they’ve brought it up several times, whcih is nice), it would also be cool to see his dyslexia pop up casually and not as a forced “look he has dyslexia” plot. Like it has to do more for his character. Further, I would never want to see him reduced to just his dyslexia, so I think it’s a careful balance. With Mateo, I just want to see him become a real person because right now, he just feels like a stock character.

Marjan has seen some more development than Mateo. I’ve liked that she’s joined the Austin Annihilators, and I also enjoy the storyline we just saw with her, which really showed us more of her, and I’m glad we saw a storyline that wasn’t about her religion (because like Paul, she deserves to have storylines that show the full extent of who she is as a person). You see a lot about Marjan’s flaws as well as her deep drive for good in the episode. You see that she cares, but you also see that maybe ego does influence her in a way that isn’t always positive (which let’s be real... that’s true of ANY person haha). She’s going in the right direction, but I still think there’s more developing to do.

Also, Grace seems like she has more development, but she also still hasn’t had that much. Like in the episode where she could have been featured more, that was still Judd’s perspective, which I have no problem with. The episode was beautiful, BUT I still want to see a moment that is just Grace’s. 2x10 gave us some of this where Grace was struggling with her injury, and that was excellent. We know a good amount of her history, too, but I want to see the world from her perspective. Also, add in flaws (which again we got a little bit of in 2x10)! I want Grace to be more than the diligent wife who is constantly there to support Judd. She needs to be her own character.

In some ways, they’ve been letting Tommy down too. They started well with her, but they’ve still got some ways to go for me. We’ve seen a lot of her with her family and the same issues of her feeling out of touch and disconnected from them when she goes back to work, but I’d like to see some fresh storylines on that front!

Carlos, of course, still fails to get all the attention he deserves as well. He’s had some independent development, but I would like to see him in more scenes with other charaters. I live for Tarlos moments, but I also want Carlos to be separately connected and have relationships of his own that they explore in the show because he should never just be TK’s plus one! Like a lot of the other characters, I don’t want him to become an object for other people’s storylines. I’d like to see more of his mental processes and how he deals with his career and maybe see him in action more because we don’t see that a whole lot (and Owen somehow became the hero in 2x08, which is okay, but it was also Carlos’ plot so it was a funny choice to me). Anyways, MORE CARLOS. Let us see this wonderful man in all his multifaceted glory.

Even TK and Judd could use more development, but they’re obviously much better off. Owen, on the other hand, the character we’ve seen so much of, also has an interesting development. We’ve seen a lot of him, but I don’t know that he’s even developed that well (he’s pretty stagnant even if we’ve seen more sides of him) because his storylines are a bit repetitive. That repetition in general is an issue for Lone Star because they tend to latch on to just one trait of a character and then they keep doing plots based on that one trait.

Really the theme here is that without flaws, characters are always going to feel flat. They don’t need to be big dramatic flaws like having murdered someone or something equally dramatic, but I need to see the gradients in the characters and see more range of reactions and their personalities. They need to have balance, and they need to feel like they have depth and aren’t just being used to tell plots. Moreover, I don’t want characters to be props for plots that are not their own. Of course, characters always support other plots, but if they never have any moments that are their own, they become objects rather than actors!

[cousinmarcustalkswrestling]

The Five WWE MVPs of 2020

5

Asuka

It feels like WWE views Asuka as a skilled utility player instead of one of the elite talents in their company. There’s a level where that’s disrespectful and indicative of their problems, but also with a company this size it’s not the worst idea to have an elite talent bounce around different positions. No matter what was going on, Asuka approached her role with the same quirky intensity and she was a joy to watch throughout the year. She gave Becky Lynch two great matches to further legitimize her year long title reign, then had one of the best moments of the year when Becky announced her pregnancy and relinquished the title to her. She became the main opposition to the Golden Role Models in the summertime and had great matches with both Bayley and Sasha. She even gave a lot to a motivated Zelina Vega in their Clash of Champions match. Very few people are ready for Asuka.

4 

Drew McIntyre

Talk about bad timing. Imagine the biggest moment of your professional career happening at the biggest show of the year without any fans there. McIntyre had probably the biggest starmaking moment of the year when he eliminated Brock at the Royal Rumble. But instead of the epic showdown they should’ve had at Raymond James Stadium, they had a 4 minute finisher fest in front of no fans. Ay it is what it is. But even with the up and down quality of Raw throughout the year, not an iota of blame can be placed on Drew. His charisma and strong talking was on display nearly every week and he never really had a misstep the entire year. He had a great match against Seth Rollins at Money in the Bank and an underappreciated brawl against Bobby Lashley at Backlash. His Orton feud suffered from Orton problems and a stupid title switch, but their Ambulance match was great. His epic clash against Roman Reigns was one of the best matches of the year and he ended the year with a great TLC match against AJ Styles. Great job, Drew!

3

Bayley

DING DONG!! WHAT A YEAR!! Bayley really didn’t have a lot of quality opposition for her Smackdown title all year. Lacey Evans just isn’t at that level and booking didn’t put enough effort behind her feuds with Naomi and Nikki Cross. But it didn’t matter because Bayley (with Sasha) was a one woman army of entertainment this year. She was brash, enthusiastic, and almost maniacal in her heeldom. Honestly, she didn’t even need a murderers row of talent and great matches to get her over, just put a microphone in front of her and let her go. Once her and Sasha won the tag titles, they were given free reign to go to all three shows and they were the clear highlight of the company in the Summer. Her match against Asuka on the July 5 Raw is one of the best TV matches of the year and shows how refined her heel game has become in contrast to her being one of the best pure babyfaces in history. Her attack on Sasha added a brutal edge to her character and it resulted in two of the best matches of the year. Her booking post Sasha has been a little so-so, but she’s begun a fun feud with Bianca Belair to carry over into the new year. Great job, Bayley!

2

Roman Reigns

Forget everything that happened before Summerslam. He was in a terrible feud with Corbin and then he was set to face fucking Goldberg at Wrestlemania before he went on his COVID vacation. He returned at Summerslam looking super jacked and super mean. On the Smackdown between Summerslam and Payback, Roman revealed his partnership with Paul Heyman and I knew we would be getting something special from there. Roman’s cousin, Jey Uso, becoming #1 Contender for the Universal Title unleashed the Tribal Chief and he’s been a blast to watch ever since that moment. He’s a brutal dictator driven by the survival of his family which is completely dependent on his success and his reign as Universal Champion. He and Jey had two of the best matches of the year that were driven by Roman’s determination in Jey acknowledging him as the Tribal Chief of the family.

Roman really deserved this character. For the years and years that he was treated with inexplicable scorn from “fans”, he deserved to have a character arc that is treated with tremendous care and precision. Every segment involving him shows perfect characterization in how he reacts to whats going on in his world like members of Jey Uso’s survivor series team not respecting him or Kevin Owens having the unmitigated gall to have no fear in challenging him. In the ring, Roman is a brilliant blend of the vicious Shield Roman and the more dynamic Big Dog Roman. He’s brutal and mawling, but he’s still a tremendous seller and never looks unstoppable. His interpromotional match against Drew McIntyre was one of the best matches of the year and just a great display of two great modern talents locking horns and his TLC match against Kevin Owens is one of the best one on one TLC matches we’ve seen. He’s on the run of his career and we should be grateful. I acknowledge you, Roman, I acknowledge you.

1

Sasha Banks

The year started very weird for Ms. Banks. She didn’t participate in the Women’s Royal Rumble and she was absent from the Elimination Chamber card. She was just kinda floating along being Bayley’s primary support until it felt like creative actually flipped the switch and decided to A) give them more time to be the hilarious obnoxious tag team of the year and B) subtly show Sasha constantly saving and sacrificing for the team to build to an inevitable break up and feud. This rub really breathed life back into Sasha’s career which wasn’t dead at all, but was too stagnant for a talent of her caliber. They captured the tag team titles and spread their ridiculous heel joy all over the company, even returning to NXT where Sasha showed some instant electric chemistry with a future star in Shotzi Blackheart.

 The moment everything changed was the Monday Night Raw where Sasha issued a challenge….to Raw Women’s Champion Asuka. It instantly became one of the most highly anticipated matches of the year and it was Sasha’s first solo PPV match of the year. On the way to that, she returned to NXT and had a banger with the NXT’s top dog Io Shirai. They main evented that night and to date is one of only nine nights where NXT defeated AEW in total viewers. Despite the terribly booked finish, her Extreme Rules match against Asuka was one of the E’s best straight up wrestling matches of the year and ended with her as Two Belt Bankz. Her world came crashing down as she was once again unable to successfully defend the title and lost it right back to Asuka. The Golden Role Models also lost the women’s tag titles and after an unsuccessful rematch, it finally happened; Bayley snapped and assaulted her best friend, attempting to break her neck and end her career.

 Their split instantly made Sasha the biggest babyface in the company and everything from that point seemed like good old fashioned catharsis from being held back and misused through the years. She ended Bayley’s year plus reign as Smackdown Women’s Champion in one of the best Hell in a Cell matches in history. For the first time in her main roster career, she successfully defended her title and defeated Bayley in one of the best TV matches of the year. At Survivor Series, she finally cleanly defeated Asuka in a great champion vs champion match and she ended the year by having Carmella’s best match ever at TLC. This final quarter of the year was just all around tremendous for her as she had classic matches, exorcised some of her booking demons, displayed her aptitude for making anybody look great in the ring and even outside of the subjective realm of wrestling, becoming one of the primary reasons for Smackdown’s ratings surge and arguably the face of the company. This was the year of the boss, where the E finally realized the star that they had and put the power of the machine behind her. The sky is truly the limit.

[athenagrantnash]

Is it too expensive to have Peter, Angela and Rockmond all in a scene for more that two minutes? Cause Bobby returning to work seems weird to me. Yes, you can rationalize it like he’s needed elsewhere and there’s nothing he can REALLY do except, maybe keep everyone calm, be a support? I know he’s not the bio dad, it’s still weird that he left. And Athena knew he would if she pulled on his sense of duty and the she took off with Michael? Bobby would break down doors too I was disappointed he left

Okay honestly?

Yeah, from a character standpoint I'm not sure I 100% buy that he'd go back to work. I could very easily make the argument that Athena's line "This city can use all the heroes it can get right now" is her subtly telling him that she needs him out there to be her backup. (because remember, she wasn't originally going to let Michael in on her plan, but she still needed Bobby to be out there to have her back).

But from a writing standpoint, it made a LOT more sense to have Bobby leave than to have him stay. First of all, you'd have the awkwardness of trying to shoot all three of them in that car ride (there's a lot more angles you have to utilize and it's just A Lot Harder, and we then probably wouldn't have gotten that bit of levity in that moment that we DESPERATELY needed), and Athena was already being the rational one in the situation when Michael started breaking down. Bobby didn't need to be a calming influence on what's going on. Him being there would have been redundant.

Plus, I do think it's Interesting that he was kind of isolated during a lot of this. It makes me wonder if they're going somewhere with that. 👀

I honestly genuinely didn't have a problem with the way it went down, but I can see how you wish we saw all three of them teamed up instead of Athena teaming up with Michael and then her teaming up with Bobby.