#putting the BAMF in... well bamf I guess

[loveexpelrevolt]

KURT WAGNER / NIGHTCRAWLER X-men '97 | "Tolerance Is Extinction — Part 1"

[peachdues]

shoutout to both @humanitys-strongest-bamf and @amywritesthings for single-handedly bringing back my motivation to work on my secret pregnancy AU, Coalescence. Enjoy filth from a later chapter.

You pushed down on his head, trying to force him to return to where you needed him most, but it was fruitless; Levi only continued to lazily trail kisses along your inner thigh, his eyes locked with yours.

“Levi, please,” you whined, planting your feet firmly upon his rug and spreading your legs wider, bucking your hips slightly towards him in agitation.

The Captain only smirked as he pulled away yet again, this time trailing his lips along the sensitive seam of skin between your inner thigh and your folds.

You weren’t sure if you were already feeling the effects of pregnancy hormones, but if Levi didn’t put his mouth on you soon, you thought you might break down in tears.

“Tell me what you need, Y/N.” His voice was as sultry and dark as his eyes as he watched your teeth sink into your bottom lip. “Use your words.”

Another pleading whimper was followed by an impatient buck of your hips, but Levi’s hold on you only tightens, limiting your movements.

“You’ve gotta speak up, sweetheart,” Levi mocked between teasing kitten licks against your outer folds. his breath was hot as he exhaled against your damp core. “I’m waiting.”

Frustrated tears gathered in the corners of your eyes. With an impatient whine, you rolled your hips towards him desperately, eyes wide and pleading for him to do something to fill the empty ache you felt within.

“Not good enough,” Levi growled, tongue lazily circling your entrance, twitching away every time you jerked your hips towards his mouth.

“Levi, please, I—,” you choked off with a frustrated groan. “You’re not being nice — I’m pregnant —,”

The stoic Captain pulled his mouth away from you entirely, rocking back on his heels. From between your thighs, Levi studied you, a renewed heat flaring to life in his steely eyes.

“You are, aren’t you?” He conceded, his eyes locking in on your mouth as you sank your teeth into your bottom lip and mewled. “And all because of me.”

Levi’s eyes dropped back down to your core, slick and aching, ready to take him however he wanted.

“And what kind of father would I be if I made the mother of my child suffer unnecessarily?”

Any response or yearning plea you may have answered him with died in your throat as Levi surged forward, his tongue plunging deep within your entrance, his nose pressing right against that sensitive bundle of nerves at the apex of your thighs.

You just managed to slap your hand over your mouth to stifle the scream he pulled from you as the Captain began to fuck you with his tongue.

—-

Levi’s chest heaved as he caught his breath beside you. “Didn’t take you very long to pull the pregnancy card, did it?”

“You’re just annoyed someone else knows how to play your game.” Your head rolled to the side, a shit-eating grin stretched across your mouth. “Didn’t take much to make you give in, either.”

His laugh was little more than a sharp exhale through his nose, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Guess not. I’m sure you’ll keep that over my head, too.”

Levi imparted one final kiss just below your belly button before he rolled to his side, drawing up next to you on the rug, one arm stretched out behind him. You waited for him to do something more, to pull you into him and continue what he’d started, but he made no movement save for a light graze of his fingers over your cheek. Frowning, you moved to sit up with to him, his hand a steady, guiding weight on the small of your back as he helped you rise.

“Wait — are you not —?” You reached for the buckle of his belt, bandage-wrapped fingers already working to pry it open.

Levi’s hands came to rest over yours, stilling them. “You’re still recovering.”

You shook your head, tugging insistently at his belt, but Levi’s hold tightened. “I want you.”

“You’re healing.”

“Don’t care; I’m well enough.”

“You’re not in a position to make that call. You’re biased.”

“Like you’re one to talk,” you shot back coolly, still working to pry his buckle open as he made a halfhearted attempt to twist out of your grasp. “Captains who take on the habit of fucking and impregnating their subordinates definitely aren’t biased in any way.”

A slight flare of his nostrils was his only reply, yet it was enough for you to know you’d backed him right into a corner that he was struggling to figure out how to maneuver out of.

You tugged your bottom lip between your teeth, biting down to keep your triumphant grin to yourself.

Levi’s eyes tracked the movement, narrowing when you softly release your lip, swollen and plump. There, beneath the half-undone buckle of his belt, his cock strained hard against the seam of his pants.

Before you could offer some quick remark on the obviousness of his need, Levi’s arm shoved under your legs, the other, anchoring around your waist. Deftly, he lifted you up into him, cradling your body close to his.

At your raised eyebrow, he sighed. “I’m not fucking my pregnant girlfriend on the damn floor. I have more tact than that.”

anyways part I will probably be today? Tomorrow? I’ll test drop on AO3 first most likely.

[spicerackofblorbos]

i'm GOD AWFUL at answering my asks unless they're requests, I'm sorry a;sldkfjas;df but to everyone who has sent me hearts, good vibes, and sunflowers, I appreciate and love you all so much!! <3 i'm finally getting around to this one!

i've been ordered by kat to do 5 more so here's my top 10 favorite fics I've written!! These are ALL x reader!

1. Amethyst | Leon Kennedy 2. Unspoken Words | Levi Ackerman - Chapter One: November 3. Sunrise | Levi Ackerman 4. Home | Leon Kennedy 5. For You, I Would | Armin Arlert 6. Can I Go Where You Go? | Levi Ackerman 7. Are You There? | Levi Ackerman 8. Chasing Waterfalls | Toge Inumaki 9. You'll Be Okay | Levi Ackerman 10. What's Mine, Is Yours | Erwin Smith

And here's my answer to tay's ask about my fics!

❥ fic I loved writing the most

this will always be dependent on when you ask me, because right now it will have to be Amethyst. If y'all haven't noticed, my newest love is Leon Kennedy, and writing for him is so much easier than writing for Levi and I think it's because I understand Leon's personality more. He's just so fun to riff off of. Not that Levi wasn't!! He was just harder to put down for me, I guess. ANWAYS. I loved writing for Leon and I'm working on a part two!!

❥ fic others loved that I didn't care for

okay so this might come as a surprise because it's my ultimate comfort fic, but it would have to be Sunrise. tbh, I don't know what loved the most means here but I'll equate it to notes. Sunrise is precious to me because it holds so many of my favorite things. BUT I really feel like I could have done so much better. The plot is there, the scenario and surroundings are perfect. but the WRITING?? I could have done better. don't get me wrong though, I still love it and I am very happy so many people liked it!!

❥ fic I had fun writing

definitely my For You, I Would fic. I don't have very many Armin fics but I enjoyed writing for him a lot because he's just such a shy little bean and so full of wonder and love. I could really see myself wanting to take him out on a date. This was also a request for my friend Tay and it was fun catering her interests within the story and how it works well with Armin!!

❥ fic I'm most proud of

for sure it would have to be Unspoken Words. I'm proud because it was the first time I've written something for myself in a long time. I didn't think I would care as much about fanfic until I fell in love with AoT, now look at me LMAO. UW helped me become a better writer as well as be more confident in areas I thought I lacked. I quite literally used it as a way to be better, and I'll always be proud of it. My first ever full and finished fic, I'll never forget it <3

❥ fic I wish got more recognition

probably Can I Go Where You Go? mainly because I really liked writing the semi plot twist at the end. like if you were caught up with season 4 of AoT, you would know what I was alluding to and it's like a kick in the gut LMAO. but also I thought I did pretty well with the descriptors, not to brag ofc. :3

❥ my happiest/saddest/most comedic fic

I SPENT 30 MINUTES LOOKING FOR THIS. but the saddest will have to be this short drabble about Levi losing you in an expedition and him coming to your old room, reminiscing. I don't know what brought it on but I was like, huh. let's just be SAD.

if you're interested, my fic masterlist can be found here!

finally, thank you so much for the asks @kingkonoha, @youre-ackermine, and @humanitys-strongest-bamf!! I love y'all a lot <3

[incorrectringsofpower]

Season 2, Episode 4 liveblog notes (spoilers behind the cut)

So much r-roll flexing. I'm jealous.

Flexing the pretty scenery again, alrighty.

Elf OCs!!!

Gal is handling Elrond leading really well /s

TOM TOM TOM :D

Tree: *nom*

Hey Mr. Bombadil. Care to do anything or...?

STOORS

j'scuse are we suddenly breaking up the Harfoot wife ship? Roodt

Aaaah Stoor food spotted!

Child stoors!

ilu Poppy

Ah the Hermit sign is Tom. That explains it.

Is the Dark Wizard a Blue? Who is heee?

GOLDBERRY

Adorable lamb!

Tom lore!

Well this is gonna kick off a Dark Wizard x Sauron ship, ain't it

Barrow Wight Time!

Elves about to get murked

Daemor nooooooo we barely knew ye

Elrond fighting time yasss

Elrond saving Galadriel oho

GALADRIEL ARCHERY YESSS

Theo better be okay ffs. Don't torture Arondir more.

But is Berek okay? May I see Berek?

Scenes are so darrrk. Let me see shit!

Handyman Isildur!

Oh boi Estrid x Isildur vibes are strong here. Flirrrrting.

Arondir is suspicious.

Well that subplot got resolved quickly. At least this kinda puts the Shelob shifter theory to rest.

Oh this is awkward.

Is Arondir gonna talk to the Ents first? If so, I love that for him. Call back to his S1 talk of being a Grower.

Maxim wasn't joking about the mud for him this season.

Ah fuck quicksand, my childhood fear! Glad he still has plot armor

Y'all better be okay!

What the fuck was that. What the actual fuck.

Ok food note: Giant snake thing. Survival food time!

Shire foreshadowing!

Don't you touch her, you asshat.

More hiding behind things at night!

Lol that's an awkward reveal for that show photo of Estrid and Isildur we all saw this summer.

ENT TIME

YES ARONDIR OF THE GREENWOOD.

OH THIS IS AWKWARD FOR HIM! S1 ANGST!

Theo and Arondir hug I'm gonna cry ;_;

Ohhh this is even more awkward for the Estrid x Isildur shippers. RIP. (Look we all thought Hagen was dead. It's fine.)

Aronwyn theme :(((

Lord of Pelargir but alas I have a bad feeling about what that might foreshadow, oh dear.

Gotta bring back the Nampat theme somehow I guess.

Don't let that be Berek :(

Fuuuck

I thought Elrond would have a healer moment but nope, Galadriel healer time.

Elrond having to hold a ring, fascinating! Explains a lot.

Galadriel BAMF stuff, love to see it!

AYYY THAT WAS FUCKED UP,  ADAR. I LOVE IT.

[ghosdeds]

Soooo I just found this in my drafts funnily enough — I wrote it before the second season came out so I guess sometimes in late 2022/early 2023. Back when I was (foolishly) hopeful for season 2 and honestly I might make something out of it and get to writing.

-

How, in my opinion, they can salvage the ‘call me Aleksander’ scene : flashbacks of moments between the Darkling and Alina that we’ve never seen before (the deleted scenes!!! More of Alina’s life at the Little Palace please thanks), prior to the unfortunate name reveal, shown to us one by one as Alina grieve for what could have been and for the man she’s come to almost love. Mal calling him by his name and Alina immediately snapping at him not to say it aloud, with us the audience realizing that she feels guilty over sharing this last confidence she’s gotten from him. The Darkling letting her know, very bitterly, that she’s made him feel .. human (not in so many words, ‘course), that he thought he’d finally found the one who’ll accept and understand him, his one true equal, that he believed for a second that he’ll never be alone again, and him looking back at her and telling her he’s been unfortunately mistaken, that it was a weakness on his part - I put my trust in a girl who cannot stand the thought of her own potential - and that he’ll never even think of trusting her ever again, with her yelling back that he never really did, did he, that his flowery words meant nothing because it wasn’t enough, that he’s never given them a chance, that he shouldn’t delude his actions for what they are to ease his own guilty conscience, and that she’s the one who’s never going to trust him again. And then we have the Darkling responding that she never did, either, because she ran off without hearing his side of the story. We see them glaring down at each other, the echoes of the proud, hurtful words barring them from adding more, then the Darkling disappears and she’s left alone with her dark thoughts. We get the ‘you betrayed me’ as well as the ‘all men can be made fools’ line from Aleksander. We get a ‘I was merciful’ moment from the Darkling, after he threatens Mal’s life. We get the ‘I want you to know my name, will you have it?’ line in a different way, maybe a ‘I want you to know my story, will you hear it, Alina?’ and him telling her about the events in the Demon in the Wood, and us being shown them, of course, and more - how he came to be an ever present member of Ravka’s court and the founder of the second army, how badly the Grishas were treated and are treated even now. I want him to tell her about his past lives. If he obviously trusts her enough to tell her the name tattooed on his heart, he trusts her enough to tell her all that’s happened to him, to make her understand that not all things are black and white, that it was for the greater good, for them, and when he realizes that she can’t see past his wrongdoings, we see his anger. How dare she judge him when she’s abandoned Ravka for a peaceful life with Mal? When she’s betrayed him?

Season 2 do not fail me I want the best angst ever written, please. Let Alina find out Aleksander destroyed Novokribirsk because they were actively trying to assassinate her and that he wasn’t lying on that front, it’s interesting to see her conflicted emotions at war. I want a lovers to tragic obsessive enemies. I want misunderstandings, with the frustrating realization that they’ll never talk about anything without making it worse. But I also want Alina to realize that the Darkling is the extreme, that what he is fighting for might have started as a good cause, but that he lost himself centuries-of-persecution earlier. I want her to learn from his mistakes. To see in him a version of herself that she might become, should she forget herself. Overall I just want to see her fight for her people and become BAMF. Ughhh so many thoughts

[ineffable-rohese]

Oh hey, I've gotten a few followers/mutuals, so I guess it's time for a pinned intro post?

Demographic info (because it gives context to my words): Early 40s white fat cis queer poly pagan woman living in the wet corner of North America. My nearest and dearest are almost all trans/non-binary.

Personal (public facing): I'm an Aziraphale-coded hobbit. Like, so cozy and wholesome you might want to puke. I rewatch just the first disc of the LOTR extended edition because I love the Shire so much. I drink Earl Grey with milk and one sugar. (Or a good scotch, cause every Aziraphale needs a little bit of Crowley inside them, right Sheenie?) I read mainly historical fiction, especially anything set in (actual, not fantasy) medieval Europe and I was at one point a medieval music history nerd. I wear cozy sweaters. I love rain on ferns and April flowers. I make soup with things I've tended and harvested. I work a Wholesome AF job. I unironically hug trees. I'm in love with the world.

Personal (in private): I'm deeply kinky. I'm primarily a Sensual Sadist with a significant Dominant streak. I often play as a Panther. I love consensual violence, and get great joy from hurting people who want me to hurt them. I've only really given myself permission to be that in the last year or so.

Fandoms: I fell in love with Good Omens in 2000 when a college roommate gave it to me. It was genuinely the funniest, greatest thing I had ever read, and I evangelized about it to anyone who would listen. S1 of the show immediately became a comfort show, and it got me through a time of massive loss and upheaval. I put it on when everything was too hard and I needed something that made me feel like everything was going to be OK. S2 - well we're all here still, aren't we? It dropped when I desperately needed One Good Thing for my brain to latch on to as I got through some intense pressure, and boy howdy did it lodge itself in me.

Other fandoms in roughly chronological order: Star Wars (original trilogy made me a child nerd), X-Files (first real social fandom, and intro to fanfic!), Buffy/Angel/Firefly, LOTR, Doctor Who, Torchwood (the only other show I've been driven to write fic for), Sherlock to an extent. OFMD and WWDITS are great fun, though not obsessions.

My Writing: Writing Index Here I'm really enjoying writing right now! I don't know how long this ADHD hyperfocus will last, but I'll take it while it lasts. My goal in writing is to challenge myself, create things I'd want to read, and have fun with it (for a definition of fun).

I'm also definitely working on being comfortable expressing the things I like and want and being unashamed about that. I worry too much about how my 😈 side might reflect on my 😇 side, and honestly, these shades of grey lovelies are helping me with that a lot. It's probably why I love writing Dom Aziraphale so much, because he is just so sweet and good and bright, and also a toppy BAMF who can make demons (and their Bentleys) do whatever he wants and wields a flaming sword against Satan himself.

So yeah, every time I make Aziraphale go to a dark place, and then come back again to being a ball of delight, it's helping me create a map that allows me to do the same (to a, you know, more reasonable extent). And when others read and like the things that come from the darkest corners of my brain, it makes me feel seen.

Anyway, you made it this far. Here are my cats for tax. Yes, I have one of each of the Kinds of Cats.

[leverage-ot3]

What are your k drama recommendations??!? I need new ones

omg my time has come thank you anon for giving me the opportunity to ramble about shows

I ended up talking WAY too long so I'm putting everything after the first one under the cut

all of us are dead- show about high schoolers as a zombie apocalypse starts. very funny and relatable, literally they call the police and are like 'have you seen train to busan?' bffrrn. has a lot of social commentary and there are references to the sinking of mc sewol (a cruise that sunk where the captain deserted it and left a large amount of high schoolers to drown). commentary about how adults save themselves first/leave youth to fend for themselves. one of my comfort shows and although they didn't intend for more seasons, it was received so well that they have been renewed! I am also an ot4 truther and sometimes talk about them on my international shows sideblog: @nam-on-jo

sweet home- (disclaimer: I am not caught up and have not yet seen s2 which came out a little while ago) honestly I have no idea how to explain this so I'm gonna copy-paste the blurb: as humans turn into savage monsters, one troubled teenager and his neighbours fight to survive and to hold onto their humanity. basically people turn into monsters for [redacted] reasons and everyone in his large apartment building is stuck inside trying to fend for their lives.

my name- I'm just going to paste the blurbs going forward because it's easier: Following her father's murder, a revenge-driven woman puts her trust in a powerful crime boss -- and enters the force under his direction. bro some of these twists I expected but others caught me off guard. I love the main character and am a little gay for her but I think that's valid because she's a bamf. there was a plot point at the end of the second to last episode that I really didn't like and made me very upset. narratively I get why they did it but it made me sad so I'm still pissy. might get around to writing a fix-it fic one day when motivation strikes because my girl deserves better things.

the guest- a detective, a catholic priest, and a psychic join forces to fight crime caused by supernatural forces. not to say they are my ot3 but they kinda are. (other ppl interpret it is a lesbian and her two bi/gay bffs which I also accept but. ot3 tho). LOVED every twist and turn and how the three of them go from not trusting one another to being family. genuinely one of my favorites from all the kdramas I've watched over the years and I want to rewatch it again soon

happiness (tvn)- The residents of a high-rise apartment fight for their lives against a deadly infectious disease while Sae-bom and Yi-hyun try to find the person because of whom the virus spread. bro I adored this. some characters annoyed me (which means they were written effectively) but it has so much. fake dating/marriage (they wanted a better apartment lmao). annoyances to lovers. mean/rude woman soft for sunshine man. what you will do for the people you love. morals and humanity during a catastrophy. *smacks show* you can fit so much into this. no but seriously, I thought this was a really interesting take on the zombie virus! so some of the time you come off completely asymptomatic and 'normal', so people can get away with acting normal and hiding the disease around other people, so the paranoia and mystery is REALLY amped up. had me guessing a LOT. sae-bom and yi-hyun are both cops/detectives and you find out really early (ep 1/2?) that sae-bom is immune which gives a really interesting dynamic that leaves her (to yi-hyun's exasperation and heightened blood pressure levels) to be kinda reckless in the pursuit of truth and salvation. I'm rambling now because this is making me watch to rewatch but yeah as a zombie/dystopia/apocalypse lover this was a good watch. it's more story-focused than violence-heavy which was a cool and refreshing twist

alice in borderland- okay y'all I am aware people had mixed feelings about s2 but overall I did enjoy the series. 'Obsessed gamer Arisu suddenly finds himself in a strange, emptied-out version of Tokyo in which he and his friends must compete in dangerous games in order to survive.' what can I say, I love a dystopian-esque setting.

the silent sea- imma be real, I only watched it for loml bae doona from sense8. 'During a perilous 24-hour mission on the moon, space explorers try to retrieve samples from an abandoned research facility steeped in classified secrets.' basically earth is in severe crisis mode as they run out of water to drink. water has recently been found on the moon, and although there was a mysterious tragedy that happened previously to researchers looking for water in a base on the moon, they have reached a level of desperation where they have another mission to look for moon water. mystery, paranoia, a couple of good twists ensue. I thought it was pretty good even though I have some mixed feelings about the open ending.

semantic error- yes I am sliding a bl into this list. bitch you thought. of course my bl-loving self would mention this (I forgot about it until I looked up good kdramas to remind myself of stuff I have watched). 'A strict, rule-abiding computer science major must work together with an artist with a polar-opposite personality to his.' confident cool boy meets bitch boy. it's great.

and of course...

leverage con artists- I would be fired from running this blog if I didn't mention the beloved korean spinoff of leverage. 'The series follows the story of Lee Tae-joon, a former insurance investigator who forms a team of thieves and con artists to target the rich and wealthy. The team was also formed to avenge Tae-joon's son's death.' I've posted about it before so I won't go super into it but it's VERY camp, a good time, and the ot3 is alive and well. debatable more overt than their predecessor!

other mentionables:

I tried watching kingdom (again for bae doona) but couldn't really get into it. might try again later because it's critically acclaimed (I think) and has even gotten a spinoff series

my roommate really liked mr queen. I didn't really pay attention when we were in the same room and they were watching it but it's fruity

the island on amazon prime was good! interesting plot but not in my top 10 or anything. worth a watch if you're looking for a kdrama to watch in your spare time. features girlboss businesswoman being thrown into a world of the supernatural because [redacted]. supernatural black horse man keeps her safe while keeping a life-changing secret.

let's fight ghost was a thai show that I saw and loved that was adapted into a kdrama called bring it on ghost, but honestly I couldn't get through it because I liked the thai one better.

train to busan is technically a movie but it's iconic and well-known and I highly suggest watching it if you like zombie/apocalypse movies. disclaimer: kdramas do not have the slow 'walker' zombies. they are fucking fast and the stuff of my nightmares. would probably just jump off a bridge if this actually happened ngl

I did think that extraordinary attorney woo was cute. I never finished it and know that there are VERY valid criticisms about the perpetuation of media portraying people with autism in the stereotypical savant ways. however, I liked how the love interest accepted her for who she was, loved her because of who she was and made efforts to accommodate and learn how to comfort her in ways that would work for her

business proposal was pretty decent if you like lighthearted romance- I didn't finish it but would like to at some point

tale of the nine tailed was another one that my roommate and I started watching but never finished. it was alright! just lost interest

shows on my watchlist:

black knight (netflix)- 'In a dystopian future devastated by air pollution, the survival of humanity depends on a group of deliverymen known as the Black Knights who navigate the wastelands using unconventional means.'

copycat killer-

hellbound (netflix)-

shop for killers (hulu)- 'A nephew who lost his parents and grew up in the hands of an uncle who runs a shopping mall faces a new truth after his uncle's sudden death.'

the legend of the blue sea (viki + hulu)- 'A magistrate's plan to release mermaids into the ocean backfires when they're caught by fishermen.' (legit I just miss mermaid media)

gyeongseong creature (netflix)- 'In the city of Gyeongseong in 1945, a group of young people thinking only of their own survival encounter a monster born of human greed and ask themselves what humanity is.'

dark hole (viki)- 'A mysterious black fog from a petrochemical factory's sinkhole turns people into bizarre figures; people who are not infected try to survive in this middle of pandemonium.'

the cursed (multiple)- 'An enthusiastic social issues reporter, fighting against the evil hidden behind an IT conglomerate, meets a teen-age girl who is possessed by a spirit and has special abilities.'

blood (multiple)- 'Dr Park Ji Sang believes in the sanctity of human life, and struggles to treat terminally ill cancer patients and save lives while at the same time being a vampire.'

the ghost detective (viki)- 'In this horror thriller drama, a detective who catches ghosts tries to solve the case of his younger sibling's death with the help of his assistant.'

possessed (netflix)- 'A smart-mouthed detective and a reclusive psychic medium join together to get rid of the ghost of a murder who was executed 20 years ago.'

connect (hulu)- 'A man is kidnapped and one of his eyes removed by a gang of organ hunters; his eyes was transplanted into body of a serial killer; the unwilling donor now has terrible visions as he witnesses terrifying attacks on the residents of Seoul.'

and now just because so many of these only have het romances, I looked up k-dramas with lgbtq representation... (some of these recommendations were from articles from screenrant, movieweb, this subreddit, herzindagi (bl-focused), allkpop)

schoolgirl detectives (viki)- 'Five teenage girls join together to investigate mysterious incidents that occur at their school, as well as help classmate deal with bullying, depression and other crises.'

be melodramatic (netflix, viki)- 'Three 30-year-old best friends, Jinju, Eun-jung and Hanju each pursue different paths in both career and love. Despite life's difficulties, the three friends can always return home at the end of the day and support each other.'

lily fever (available w/subtitles on youtube)- 'The story revolves around the budding relationship between Kim Kyung Ju and Jang Se Rang who meet when Kyung Ju can't find her passport and has to go to her friend's house to try and find it.'

love alarm (netflix)- 'In a world in which an app alerts people if someone in the vicinity likes them, Kim Jojo experiences young love while coping with personal adversities.'

nevertheless (netflix)- 'The story of a romance between a man who is annoyed with relationships but likes to flirt and a woman who wants to date but does not believe in love.' (wlw side couple romance)

[ominousvibez]

hyperfixating on pokemon again, and thinking of an ash journey in paldea. obviously, a lot to think about-- where does his journey start? how much of the game plot does it follow, and how original does it get.

most importantly, what is his team like?

well, i've done my research (AKA extensive bulbapedia deep dives). and going off previous "trends" of ash's journeys, i think i can put together a likely list of pokemon that i could see on his own team-- and possible character arcs involving those pokemon-- with maybe a bit of creative liberties, of course.

1. PIKACHU

i think this is an obvious one. like, duh, of course he has pikachu. they're besties. they'd kill for each other, and they probably have before. they'd die for each other, and have multiple times.

2. SPRIGATITO -> FLORAGATO

i know this is a weird one, but hear me out.

throughout most of the series, ash gets between 1-3 of the starter pokemon. in earlier seasons when it's him, misty and brock, he's gotten all three, with the only exception being notably unova (he has the starter trios in kanto, johto, and unova). in other seasons, he's only gotten 1-2, with the 3rd going to the Region Girl, usually the more feminine one.

but. but!! he's gotten the grass type starter the most often-- bulbasaur, bayleef, sceptile, torterra, and snivy. and rowlet. so i feel like this gen would follow a similar trend, where through shenanigans ash ends up catching a sprigatito (or Sprigatito goes after him).

i'd like to imagine that this starter ends up somehow getting their hidden ability Protean, which if you didn't know, changes the user's type to whatever move it uses. which isn't handy in tera battles because the pokemon will keep their tera type but in normal battles, having a sprigatito go from grass type to, like, fairy or something would be fun! it would shake up a few gyms, for sure.

i'd also like to imagine this sprigatito evolves into floragato and decides, yep, that's enough, and doesn't want to evolve further. not all of ash's starter pokemon fully evolve.

only like six of the thirteen starter pokemon ash catches ever fully evolve. capping it at a overpowered floragato seems like it'd be in character for the classic seasons of the anime. idk plot reasons i guess

3. ROOKIDEE -> CORVIKNIGHT

Paldea is a very interesting region in the Pokemon world because it deviates just like Johto did and it doesn't have a typical regional bird pokemon. Wattrel and Kilowattrel fill in the void, but they're more like the Hoothoot/Noctowl sort of vibe. but I don't see ash catching a Kilowattrel; he's never had an electric-type other than Pikachu, and i doubt that they would try it with that

so, i offer up the alternative: his first official paldea catch is a lil' rookidee.

in this canon, ash never traveled through Galar in the "typical" way. everything with goh & the world champions still happens, and ifso factso plot stuff happens and ash ends up enrolled in the paldea schools.

rookidee fills in the "bird" pokemon slot for ash. he's caught just about every other regional bird (including a shiny Noctowl, how cool), so it makes sense that this one would end up in his care. i think it'd be cool to see ash train up a corviknight. they're cool pokemon. i had one in my shield game and her name was poe (quoth the raven evermore) and she was a BAMF. give ash a BAMF bird, as a treat.

4. NYMBLE -> LOKIX

along with the trend of ash catching the regional bird, he usually catches at least one bug-type, and i think a nymble -> lokix would really fit well into his team. they're an atypical bug-type (bug/dark) but i think it'd be cool to explore an arc where ash catches this poor little nymble who is afraid of everything to eventually help it get over its fears and evolve into a powerful lokix.

there's always at least one Problem Pokemon on ash's team, and i think a lokix that wins enough battles that it gets too cocky would be a good continuation of an arc, and cause inner team conflict.

plus i think lokix looks a little bit like mothman and i think he's cool

5. FINIZEN -> PALAFIN

finizen is a very interesting pokemon. not just the first dolphin pokemon, but the evolution is convulted in the game. you gotta be in a union group and get it past level, like, 35 to technically evolve, but nothing really changes with it until it's in battle and it transforms into it's hero form.

but a palafin just fits to me! ash is a very heroic character, and palafin is the hero Pokemon. the palafin is probably a bit of a reckless dummy like ash, who gets into fights too easily, but training with ash (despite his own reckless streak), helps mellow the pokemon out a bit. boom! character arc.

6. CETODDLE -> CETITAN

every few seasons ash gets ahold of an egg, which evolves into a really strong teammate. i think it'd be funny if ash was given an egg that hatches into this nearly 4 foot tall toddler who likes to bite things. i think it'd be really funny. c'mon.

ice is not a type ash commonly gets. he usually gets the pseudo-legendary or something equal in power to it, some sort of dragon-type. heck, in the last season, he has two dragon-types, a dragonite and a dracovish. i think it'd be a cool juxtaposition to have him come out of a season where he got so many cool dragons and give him this giant literal toddler who will eat anything it sees and is an ice-type.

and, sure, cetitan looks a lot more Mature and Serious. but it is still a toddler, deep down inside, and still bites things. ash needs a comic relief team mate, and cetoddle/cetitan fits pretty well

TRAVELING WITH: KORAIDON

this au that's forming in my brain is a mix of scarlet & violet -- idk how the school works with this, but basically, koraidon and miraidon exist together, as do the paradoxes, and both of arven's parents are emotionally distant professors who focus on research in area zero. poor guy. twice the parental trauma.

anyway, i think i see ash taking care of koraidon a lot more than miraidon. again; he's never had another electric type on his team other than pikachu. and while it'd be cool to see how a "ride" miraidon would interact with pikachu, i think koraidon's past vibes vibes better with ash's more wild nature.

i know ash has caught more than a team's worth of pokemon each generation, and i think there's still definitely room for one more wild card of a pokemon, but i can't think of any that would fit atm.

...

anyway yeah that's what i think ash's paldea team would be like!

[the-clintster]

So, since we're kinda done with the time travel discussion, what other tropes do you like? XD

When it comes to Steter fics I really like the Bad Friend Scott/Bad Parent Sheriff Stilinski/Stiles gets pushed out of the pack tropes. Not that I dislike these characters in the show (well, some maybe a little) but putting them opposite Stiles is perfect for angsty and hurt/comfort scenarios which I LOVE SO MUCH. It puts Stiles and Peter in the same corner and gives off that "us against the world" vibe. Which is probably also why I like Season 1 AUs where Stiles sides with Peter.

Another thing I have a soft spot for are Eichen House fics. As someone who was put in a psychiatric clinic as a child, they hit close to home and watching (or rather reading about) fictional places like this burn is better than therapy. A+ recommend.

Soulmate/Mates/Soulmark stories are also great, though it depends on the execution.

I guess my favorite tropes no matter what ship or universe are Hurt/Comfort, Angst and BAMF [character].

Your turn! 😉👀

[crowley-the-1-true-king-of-hell]

Screaming with excitement right now

Crowley in season 8x07 was willing to knife fight Castiel. That was when he assumed Cas’ was too weak to use the full smite of his angel powers

I love it, because Crowley does not underestimate Cas in anyway. Crowley has always had a healthy appreciation for Cas’ abilities, so Crowley is more than aware of how BAMF Cas is at knife to knife fighting. Yet Crowley believed he had a chance, which shows that Crowley is pretty BAMF himself

I won’t lie, I think Cas would win in a “fight until one is knocked out” type situation. Cas is millions of years old and a soldier, it is highly unlikely Crowley would be better than him, and I just “yeah sure lol” whenever Dean is made to be more skilled than Cas? like what are the directors smoking? Dean is skilled but he doesn’t have millions of years of experience. Or if Cas only began fighting when humans were created, then thousands of years

But do I think Crowley could have put up a good enough fight, with his cunning, to stun Cas for just long enough to teleport away with Kevin and the tablet?

The answer is yes. It takes 7 milliseconds to snap your fingers. He needs to use cunning long enough to have that 7 milliseconds. Don’t get me wrong Cas would absolutely kick Crowley’s arse in any fight, even a non power fight where it’s just melee vs melee but I do think Crowley has enough skill to buy himself 7 milliseconds and that is an incredible feat, because Cas has way more experience even if he didn’t have powers, which he did

So why didn’t Crowley teleport with Kevin and the tablet while Cas was doing his light show? We know from 7x23 that Crowley doesn’t need to touch an item or people to teleport them

The answer I believe is this:

originally Crowley thought Cas didn’t have enough powers. The light show made him think okay maybe I was wrong. Originally he thought he just needed to stun Cas long enough to get him, the tablet and Kevin out and Cas wouldn’t be able to follow because he wasn’t in good shape

Cas was able to bluff well enough to make Crowley believe he was fine and if we remember from 5x10 Cas can follow Crowley’s teleportation energy like how he followed Crowley to his house, even though Crowley teleported before him 

So if you already know the angel can follow your teleportation signature, and you guess that they still have some power left in them to follow you, what would be the point? Fold your cards and try again. You can risk teleporting away, but if the angel follows you they might not give you an advantage of warning you with a light show next time

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Beverly Crusher

By Ames

Paging Dr. Crusher to medbay. Dr. Crusher to medbay. We have a character spotlight procedure to perform, so get your medical scrubs on and refresh yourself on the hippocratic oath as A Star to Steer Her By reviews the vital signs of Dr. Beverly Crusher, The Next Generation’s Chief Medical Officer for six out of seven seasons of the show. Plus the movies (I guess?).

She may have taken a full season off, and you know what: it’s painfully obvious why. Her character probably gets less to do than Troi whom we recently discussed, and she more often than not defaults to just being the mother of the resident boy genius, which isn’t saying much. So what can we say about Bev? We definitely scraped together some moments to highlight, so read on below and listen to this week’s episode on the podcast (jump to 1:00:49 for Bev chat). Stat!

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

Say no to drugs, kids As we’ve said when covering doctors like McCoy and Pulaski, Starfleet CMOs are at their best when they put their patients before the Prime Directive. So when Crusher brilliantly figures out how the Ornarans are exploiting the Brekkians’ addiction to felicium in “Symbiosis,” she uses it to pressure Picard to intervene. His response wasn’t NEARLY enough, but Bev was 100% right.

Set phasers to BAMF I love it when the doctors get to kick some ass in an action scene, and Crusher proves herself capable of absolutely owning enemies on occasion. Especially awesome is the scene in “Conspiracy” after the alien-possessed Admiral Quinn beats up Riker, throws Geordi through a door, and swings Worf around like a ragdoll, Bev just walks in and phasers him like it’s no big deal.

The longer we argue, the longer it’s going to take me to save them In the middle of the terrorist attack in “The High Ground,” Crusher puts her foot down and puts her patients first, defying orders to stay with the injured casualties. And though the Federation’s position is to stay neutral (though they fail at this), Bev diagnoses the terrorists willingly and ably despite not agreeing with their insurgence against their government.

I’m here, Jean-Luc. I’m not going anywhere. Though it’s pretty clear that Patrick Stewart and Mark Lenard steal the show in “Sarek,” we’ve got to give some commendation to Dr. Crusher as well. She’s the one who figures out that Sarek’s Bendii Syndrome is causing disturbances around the ship, even when the Vulcan party tries to conceal it, and her devotion to helping Picard through the mind meld is nothing short of beautiful.

Separating the man from the machine Not only does Crusher get to go on the away team to the Borg Cube to find the captured Picard in “Best of Both Worlds” and proceed to shoot Borg drones like she’s swatting flies. But she also defies all odds and deprograms Locutus after they’ve rescued him and destroyed the Borg Cube. She’s so good, there’s nary a scratch on him for the rest of the series.

If there’s nothing wrong with me, maybe there’s something wrong with the universe Pretty much everything Bev gets to do in “Remember Me” is stellar. It makes you realize that Crusher doesn’t get a lot of episodes that are deep character pieces like the other characters get to (even Troi, though those are mostly problematic). But “Remember Me” gets to show off the doctor’s shrewdness and problem-solving abilities in one of the most original episodes of the show!

Correction: Blown out While her and Geordi’s subplot in “Disaster” is probably the most disconnected of the lot, it’s actually pretty impressive that Crusher is able to survive the decompressed cargo bay and get to the panel to repressurize everything. She knows exactly what to do to prepare for the absolutely lethal conditions inflicted on them, keeps her cool, and gets them both through it alive.

Then Deanna has to die I’m not going to even pretend to understand how everything worked out in the end in “Man of the People,” but it was all thanks to Beverly Crusher. She figures out Alkar’s psychic vampire deal, risking everything by performing an autopsy against orders. But even better than that, she makes the batshit decision to kill Troi and then revive her to break the link, and even crazier: it works!

Someone in this morgue is a murderer! Later the same season we have Crusher yet again performing an autopsy against the wishes of the deceased’s culture, but in “Suspicions,” there are consequences. Bev’s tenacity in sleuthing out Dr. Reyga’s murder, her flying into a damn sun to prove him right, and her killing the hell out of Jo’Brill make an otherwise forgettable episode into a great showcase for her character.

Let’s make flying into the sun a thing And somehow, that’s not even the last time Bev flies into a sun using Dr. Reyga’s metaphasic shield technology! In “Descent,” she avoids a Borg attack by hiding in a sun’s corona, even while her security officer Barnaby (who’s played by the same actor as Jo’Bril; that can’t be just a coincidence!) is over her shoulder doubting her and tactical officer Taitt’s every decision.

You’re not Nana! Nana’s dead! Okay, hear me out. Even though “Sub Rosa” is a notoriously bad episode of TNG and it even swept our worst of the series list (we’ll hear from it again in this blogpost in the Worst Moments section), there’s some stuff to love about Crusher in this episode. Watching her stand up to Ronin in the end when she’s figured it all out is some great work from Gates McFadden!

Please state the nature of the medical emergency Finally, we get to the movies, which seem to mostly forget that Bev is a character sometimes, but we know the truth! Bev is a rockstar who saves her entire medical staff AND Lily Sloane in First Contact by thinking to have the Emergency Medical Hologram create a diversion while she leads everyone through all the various ducts like an absolute boss.

—

Worst moments

I haven’t the comfort of a husband Another week, another mention of “The Naked Now,” which has come up in pretty much every character spotlight except Riker’s (maybe he should have gotten a mention for not getting space drunk). And for Beverly, it’s just another case of the female characters all getting horny for the various male characters in that tropey, sexist way the show had, and it’s just bullshit.

Get out of my mind It’s not every day that someone on the Enterprise gets possessed by some entity or other. It’s more like every other day! So when Crusher gets possessed by the entity in “Lonely Among Us” and suddenly finds herself on the bridge with gaps in her memory, you’d think there would be some kind of protocol to submit yourself for examination, but she just goes back to work like an amateur!

Shut up again, Wesley We gave Picard some guff about this in “Datalore” and we’re going to do the same for his mother later that same episode. Sure, we’re ALL thinking it at pretty much all times this first season of TNG, but Starfleet officers should not be saying “Shut up, Wesley” to their crewmembers on the bridge, especially when he’s just imparting important knowledge about Lore!

The future the AI bots want I’ll always question Crusher’s leaping at the opportunity to assume Yuta is the woman from some impossibly old photo in “The Vengeance Factor” because the computer overlaid her face on top of it when they asked it to. Like we’ve never seen the same actor play different roles before. Call me faceblind, but I wouldn’t have even noticed the resemblance.

No wonder we retconned the Trill... Probably the most questionable thing Crusher does is continue her relationship with Odan after his symbiont is put into Riker’s body in “The Host.” Odan gives her an out several times, but Bev decides to keep romancing him, which seems really squicky to us since Riker didn’t have the ability to consent to the happy couple using his body in… that way.

First, do no harm... by doing nothing at all Cultural differences make the episode “Ethics” a very complicated one, since Worf refuses palliative care for his paralysis and would rather die. What’s a doctor to do in such a situation? How about make matters worse by ignoring every request of her patient, treating him like a human instead of a Klingon, and withholding the experimental procedure he’s requested?

This is a recipe of the Captain’s Aunt Adelle In the very first aired episode of The Original Series, “The Man Trap,” we see McCoy taking a sleep aid of some kind to help him sleep. And it works! So when Riker is suffering from sleeplessness in “Schisms” and Crusher just prescribes a hot milk toddy instead of actual drugs, I just have to call bullshit. You’re a doctor, Bev, not a barista.

The lobes for business Ugh, we’re not even on Deep Space Nine yet and I’m already fed up with oomox. I find it gross how often the women of these shows have to effectively demean themselves by giving a Ferengi oomox like Bev does to get information out of Solok in “Chain of Command.” Sometimes, I swear this show was written for sex-starved teenaged boys and no one else.

Put ze candle back! While I gave Beverly some credit for defeating Ronin in the end in “Sub Rosa,” I also need to take her down a few pegs first for getting so infatuated with the guy in the first place! Sure, it’s some level of minor mind control, but she’s treating her crewmembers terribly, gushing at Deanna about her grandma’s erotic diaries, and quitting her job all for some guy who banged Nana. Gross, Bev! Real gross.

AITA, Enterprise edition While we like to see our two medical crewmembers looking out for each other, Crusher’s devotion to Lt. Ogawa somehow leads her to accidentally spreading a rumor that Powell is cheating on her in “Lower Decks.” Ogawa tells her in confidence that she’s upset he canceled a recent date, and in the next scene Crusher is gabbing at the poker table about every time she saw him in the same room as another woman!

Captain, I believe the crew is de-evolving While we could blame Reg Barclay for making the crew “de-evolve” in “Genesis,” it’s also on Dr. Crusher for elevating his T-cells in the first place. The rest of the episode is a mess that Bev can’t be at fault for because Worf knocked her out with his venom breath early on, but the initial outbreak could have been entirely avoided if the good doctor hadn’t gone tampering with his DNA.

Not that we care about such things in this day and age Another quick repeat that we also brought up in the Troi spotlight, but wow, we must harp on how the writers seem to have no idea what else to do with their female characters. Dr. Crusher has about 20 lines in all of Insurrection and two of them are wasted talking about her and Deanna’s boobs just to titillate the men in the audience.

—

With this blogpost wrapped up, let’s blow out this candle for good. We’ve got more character spotlights on the way, with another Crusher to discuss next week, so make you’re following along! We’re also still flying along through Enterprise over on SoundCloud or wherever you pick up your podcast frequencies, maintaining our universe bubble over on Facebook and Twitter, and flying into a sun every chance we get!

[shopcat]

my bf is a self-taught metal guitarist who idolized metallica in middle school so i feel like he probably learned the same way as eddie. and the thing about metal guitar music is that a lot of them learn by ear and by listening instead of by the book. in fact the book that came out for master of puppets (album) was riddled with mistakes at the time so eddie probably learned it by ear. once you get the hang of how metal guitar playing works it's all kinda the same. master of puppets isnt easy per se but it's not the most difficult either. but i bet if i dropped a tab in front of him he'd be clueless. 5% chance this boy can read music

YEAH LITERALLY like Okay i'll be serious for a second sorry i like to joke around and i love making fun of eddie to combat the waves of people who think he's so cool when he's literally a beautiful midwest LOSER i think yeah definitely with the time frame of it's release to when he actually played it alone he totally just learned by ear by playing it over and over in his room with only the power of someone with unmedicated audhd AND YEAH afaik master of puppets is hard but playing it doesn't make him a super genius musical virtuoso it is the short amount of time he had that people glean that from i think but i think he's just funny and crazy. one man metallica cover band.

if i had to actually think about it i think ppl feel like they have to assign... perfection and extreme talent to the characters they love in order for them to BE lovable which is a weird way to interact with the world i guess UMM like i get it i also am in a word Protective of the perception of characters i like and i enjoy seeing then succeed or be acknowledged for their hard work in a way like that like there's a reason those .. bamf tags existed LOL 😭 it's like being able to see a projection of their worth to US especially with a character like eddie who was like. treated unfairly the way he was and no one GOT to appreciate his talents and the joy he could bring people but i also think that's just not very fair as well and puts the worth of someone entirely in what they can provide and if they're "good" at it. and doesn't acknowledge that most importantly actually people DID get to experience the real him and all the cool things about him contained in his existence and the tragedy of his horror story is that it was something that has to be and will always be kept secret but like. his loved ones do have those memories and even if he's then handwavingly alive they still get to see EDDIE and not um. a murderer or whatever. and he doesn't need to be any more than that right

like i think eddie is good at guitar really i don't think he's GREAT i don't think he's professional level i don't think cc would ever leave the garage it was founded in but it's a way for him to have fun which means it's cool. and people in his life appreciating and loving him for being like. eddie. and not for being a human being with this hidden unrecognised ~talent~ is 10 times more meaningful imo... that one post of sarah or em's that's like his friends coming to his performances at the hideout bringing the roof down every tuesday to a crowd of 2 people is way more true and beautiful than i don't know. some sort of simon cowell story. also it would just be so funny and yeah i don't think he can read music at all in fact i think whatever process he does have would have any other musician slowly succumbing to stress induced psychosis

[doodlegirl1998]

Ok lets talk about Izu's costume design. Have you noticed how it looks....less, for lack of better word, than the others heroes/students? (Yes. Mei did an upgrade for him cool of her) but it is strange bc we never got an explanation for that.

Like did the entire class A1 is fashion geniuses.

Did they had money to buy cool designs? Even Ochako who is ...well, poor?

(It makes me think if Izu knows about the hero world...which if he doesnt...it is really strange for a boy who wanted to be a hero so badly)

And then Shig...had hands who is to retraumatized him(did he always knew he was Tenko Shimur? Hori admitted he didnt have a backstory for Shig)

Hi @mikeellee 👋

Hmmm. I guess that's a matter of opinion it could be argued that Jirou's costume is also pretty understated as is Kaminari's.

But Izuku, unlike those two, is a main character - I'm expecting something grand, flashy and BAMF for him and yet his costume isn't that even though his power lends itself to that. It's weird to me that despite Izuku being labelled as imaginative, being a hero nerd that he didn't come up with something MORE.

Similarly Shoto, he is a deuroragonist, his power is Fire AND Ice that could make a BAMF hero costume / design as well as a BAMF hero name (I've always liked Entropy for him) yet his hero costume is both dull yet practical...

Yet Bakugou, for all his flaws and truly terrible hero name (what kind of hero labels themselves as a murder God?), his aesthetics are pretty cool and it's obvious that Hori put thought into his design. Seemingly more than both Izuku and Shoto's - which is sad.

With the girls, they are there essentially to be pretty to draw in the teen boys (since this is a shonen) no wonder, Ochaco gets a 'pretty' costume despite being canonically poor. (I wonder if UA has a fund to support poorer students - most schools in my country do.)

As for your next point - Shiggy. I had believed it was established that he had repressed a lot of his origins out of trauma, only really remembering/knowing that he killed his family and (thanks to AFO's bullcrap) thinking he liked it.

[spacemagicandlaserswords]

The Clone Wars 2x5 'Landing at Point Rain' Reaction

YEET THE CLONE

Gif from this post by @elivanto

Is this the first instance that we see of Yeet the Clone? I’m pretty sure it is. If so, then what a beautiful introduction to one of the Jedi’s favourite pastimes: Yeeting their Clones. Poor Rex. I also loved the part before this where he just appears behind the Droideka that Ahsoka was fighting on the top of the wall, smoothly and silently steps through its shield and then puts a blaster bolt through the back of its head a la Trinity to Agent Smith in The Matrix. Certified Rex Is A Badass moment and it was a really well shot and framed moment that emphasised just how highly skilled the clones are. I did wonder how he got up to the top of the giant wall that quickly though. Rex, did you yeet yourself up there? Do you secretly want to be yeeted? 

I hadn’t really clocked onto this until this episode but it’s reminder that Rex is also an ARC, along with being the absolute BAMF that he is and The Captain to everyone. I was watching episodes 2x6 and 2x7 (more to come on those later) and was wondering why Cody didn’t have a kama. Surely Marshal Commander Cody has a kama? Is Cody not an ARC? Wookieepedia doesn’t list him as one so I’m guessing he mustn’t be, which seems decidedly odd seeing as he, along with Rex, are basically held up as examples of the ultimate clone. Though The Bad Batch aren’t ARCs but then they are a special category of genetically enhanced commandos in a spec ops squad of their own. Does this mean kama’s are purely an ARC thing? Either way, Rex looks suitably badass in his kama and Cody should get one too, as a treat. More clones in kamas pls.

Just after poor Rex gets yeeted off the wall by both of his jedis’, we very clearly see that Jedi are able to safely slow and stop the descent of a clone who is falling from a great height. They can even do this while falling from a great height themselves. So where is The Bad Batch’s jedi to stop Tech’s fall? Hmmmmmm?! I have Thoughts about this that I may cobble together into a post at a later date.

Hello to Trapper, who we’re introduced to as the only other survivor along with Obi-Wan from when their troop transport (I think they’re LAAT/i’s?) was shot down and crashed. I’m always slightly worried when we’re introduced to a new named clone. I thought Wooley was absolute Red Shirt material (to mix metaphors with the two main sci-fi franchises that start with Star) when he was introduced in 1x20 ‘Innocents of Ryloth’. The setup did not seem like it bode well for his survival. Four clones go off on their own on a dangerous mission to scout ahead. Wooley, the only clone out of the group without paint on their armour, is paired up with Cody (who has plot armour) and the other two clones, Waxer and Boil, have both been introduced and characterised at the start of this episode. Wooley was set up to be the obvious Red Shirt of the group, doomed to be blasted by the first droid they encounter while the main characters are left to struggle on in a desperate bid to complete their mission. Don’t get me wrong, I was very glad it didn’t happen! Subverting expectations like that worked well in this situation and the entire narrative focus was on Waxer and Boil anyway. More clones need to live. 

That was one thing that stood out to me in this episode, the sheer number of clones that were killed right in front of us. There were so many. It was a constant pattern throughout the episode. Clone after clone after clone dying, and for what? I’m assuming this is the writers making a point about the futility of war and the utterly pointless loss of life. On top of all this, the clones are just expected to keep going, always moving forward, nothing else mattering apart from following orders (*sobs*) and completing the mission. It was a very sobering way of emphasising the lot of the clones and the way they’re treated and viewed. Just the sheer number of LAAT/i’s alone that were shot down was so stark, and each of those carries 35 troops. Or at least that’s what Wookieepedia says. I didn’t think they looked large enough to carry that many troops in the episode, probably closer to around 10 or so clones.

On a lighter note, I really enjoyed how a number of the LAAT/i’s had custom nose art! There was one with what looked like a nexu that I think appeared twice and another with a very cool looking clone trooper helmet that drawn to look like a skull. I love little in-universe touches like that. Ok I’ve done a little bit more digging and omg the LAAT/i with the nexu nose art is called the Bad Kitty! I am crying, this is hilarious, I love it. 

Also, Cody can you come and get your husband. He’s all dusty and dirty and slumped against some boxes in the middle of a battlefield pretending not to be injured. Somewhere in the background is the decidedly miffed countenance of the 212th’s medic. Do we ever discover who the medic of the 212th is? Does Ghost Company have a medic? The only medic I know of is Kix and he hasn’t been introduced yet, plus he’s with the 501st anyway. 

This is all further confirmation that I am entirely here for the clones. Sure the jedi with their fancy laser swords are cool and all that and I will admit that I’m growing rather fond of Ahsoka. But the clones. The Clones. Give me everything about the clones. 

[creedx13]

Jason Creed Sabertooth Part 2

The Aftermath

 I just got off the train when I was engulfed In a cloud of brimstone smoke two blue arms with grippy bifractured hands grabbed me in a bear hug from the front. “Extraction incoming, hold your breath.” I do as i’m told and brace my self for the implosion of air I love my uncle but I hate this part. BAMF as soon as the smoke clears and my ears stop ringing and I have my bearings again I notice we’re in the faculty locker room. One of the nurses from the infirmary is there to. Dose everyone know about my sabertooth debacle? “Normally we’re doing this for logan” the nurse commented “what were you thinking? Kurt questions me. “ I wasn't “ I admit. 

“Now here’s the procedure you strip down and hand me your clothes to be washed and then you stand against that wall and stand still for kurt to hose you down I’ll be back with clean clothes vaccines and sicky sutures and bone and joint braces you'll need to wear for a week.” she explains. I strip it’s embarasing but It’s not like they haven’t seen me naked before and neither of them care kurt’s too body positive to notice or care and nurse patty is like 46 and has seen it all and then some.

I hand her my blood soaked clothes and i stand against the wall and kurt gives me that broad mischievous grin he dose so well. ‘Now comes the fun part, for me, not for you.’ he says with  a giggle. I brace myself and the gush of water hits me washing my gand father’s blood off of me and down the drain  “now. put your hands up and turn around slowly.” I do as i’m told and he hoses off down my back and leggs finishing off by blasting me right in the back of the head I whip around and growl at him. My uncle just laughs. “I’m used to doing this with logan, you’re just a grubby puppy all growl no bite. You can’t scare me. But  Next time  please leave sabertooth to the grown ups ok? mein kleiner Schatz.” his tone switched from goofing off to worried sick real quick, we don’t have a whole lot in common like I have with logan he sometimes ropes me into his pranks or sends me bible quotes he thinks might help me but that’s about it. My uncle kurt dose love me he is the only biological family I have that Isn’t a colosal sociopath/narcissist/ homicidal maniac. I’m pretty sure the feeling is mutual. “ I don’t want anything to do with sabertooth don’t worry. I just wanted to go to the cuniform and the wild places exhibit.” I tell him. He gives me a relived smile. “We can go together on my next day off avoiding trouble is easier when you can teleport.”  “ thank you.” I replied  “ great now that’s sorted. get in the tub. youre still a walking biohazard, you're getting the deep cleaning protocol.” he ordered pointing at the big round bath tub. In the center of the room he poured some bubble bath in and stirred it in with one of those bath brushes with the long handel encouraging bubbles. “Step in but give me your hands your claws look as atrocious as the rest of you.” I do as i'm told keeping my hands out of the water and giving them to him over the side of the bath my armpits resting on a plush towl for comfort the rest of my body under my bath bubbles. “Arguably your claws got the worst of it.” he said distainfully pulling a long blond hair from under my middle claw taking a small chunk of flesh out with it. He looked a little disturbed by this so to break the tension I said  “If you think this is bad you should see the other guy.” I grinned.  Kurt just gave me a disapproving tut and swatted my hand. “No more fighting. That’s an order.” he dictated 

“Yes sir.” I acknowledged. 

“Good boy” nuse patty said setting her equipment up beside me. Damn, that lady Is really sneaky I guess that’s how you survive in a house full of mutant kids. “ hey, Jason ignore her, focus on me.” Kurt encourages me. “I know how you feel about needles but I need you to try your best to not bite me. Ok?” nurse patty instructs as If I was an injured wild animal. After I’m all cleaned up I only growl at nurse patty twice this time And no one got bit or scratched I’ve matured. Compared to Sabertooth nurse patty is a walk in the park. Kurt brought me a clean Xaivier’s tracksuit it's grey and green and super comfy. My uncle Kurt set me up with a blanket in the xmen’s rec room he then put an errol flynn movie on. Mr. Logan ended up joining us but I fell asleep halfway through I was so exhausted and clean and comfy I couldn’t keep my eyes open but before I blacked out I think I caught them holding hands, that's sweet, good for them welcome to the family mr. logan now he might be my uncle through Kurt and or Sabertooth. Nice, I like Mr. Logan good for Kurt. I sleep peacefully and I am thankful that my family isn’t all bad I’m glad I have Kurt and Mr. Logan to look out for me when I need them.

[longroadstonowhere]

okay, after approximately.... seventeen hours? something along those lines (did, you know, have to do the occasional work task and, like, eat and get water obviously), i’m putting down the game for the night - got to a point where i didn’t immediately have an interesting task in front of me and needed to make a stopping point for myself

i’m gonna put a cut here and do some freewheeling thoughts on tears of the kingdom thus far, but generally it suffices to say that i am having a good time

first of all, i’m really glad i played age of calamity somewhat recently, because it gave me little bits of character info that i honestly would’ve completely forgotten without it - namely that teba had a son who was one of the tiny birds in the last game

anyway it really feels like they took the notes/complaints about breath of the wild’s story to heart, cuz god damn is there a healthy amount of story here, especially with them bringing back sages and temples and such - for posterity’s sake, i have completed the wind temple, and am on my way to death mountain for what i assume will be the fire temple; should be interesting to see who the sage is, since we got a little curveball from the ritos not making it teba (so now i’m thinking yunobo or someone else? and the someone else is a little more likely)

okay also for posterity’s sake - i have gotten four glyph memories, which i assume they’re assigned to the glyph and not given in a particular order, so i got the intro one (zonai), the castle, the demon king, and the sword; i’ve also done precisely 1 (one) chasm visit and started my job at the lucky clover, as well as completing enough shrines to get up to eight hearts with enough orbs currently on my person to get something, and i uncovered the demon statue under hyrule, as well

sad they’re not letting me play as zelda, but also love that she is literally an actual part of the imprisoning war from ten thousand years ago, like yup nope the zelda in that mural was in fact the exact same zelda who was critiquing and comparing herself to that perfect image of, it turns out, herself

like fucking hell i just love the character beats there, and hopefully some amount of that gets discussed on screen, cuz damn

oh, right, by the way, if i had a nickel for every time a dead king guided me through a great ____ zone i’d have two nickels - i kid, i kid, i really liked king rauru (which!! king rauru what?!?!? aaaaaaa my zelda lore brain is firing off all the time) bamfing around and actually, like, guiding us? like he doesn’t really quite know more than we do, he’s just more familiar with how the land works and such

... now that i’m thinking about it, though, how the hell did we end up where we did? like i was jokingly complaining to myself about how we were literally just shoved in a random room (on the floor), as opposed to breath of the wild where we were intentionally brought to an advanced piece of restorative technology, but also, rauru didn’t have a corporeal form? how was he able to replace my arm? and how did i get in that room????

guess that’ll be one for the zelda youtubers - oh, wait, right! i was gonna make this joke like fourteen hours ago, but i loved the opening bit where zelda is just like the zelda lore youtubers i watch sometimes, where she’s just excitedly pointing at things and going ‘!!! this is cool! i don’t actually know what’s going on entirely but it’s cool!!!’ like yes, love that for you darling, i will like comment and subscribe every moment you’re on screen doing what you love

let’s see... oh, the gameplay is pretty excellent, even if i keep dying because i’m bad at fighting without all my special powers (and because i couldn’t find a shirt for so damn long, like i know that was just luck probably but still), and the new magic abilities are fascinating - it’s interesting how they’re both more and less expansive than the previous set (like with the attaching things power, you can pick up anything not just metal stuff like you could with magnesis, but without cryonis water is way more terrifying cuz none of the other powers can really do anything about water by themselves)

fav so far is the ‘swim upward through solid objects’ one because ya know i love to climb things, and it’s really fun to have an escape clause on, like, most caves and a lot of other places (i think i used it a fair amount in the wind temple just to get away from dudes)

i haven’t made very many vehicles, because when i make stuff for movement i feel bad about abandoning it out in the wilderness but also sometimes you just gotta cut that corner and jump off the cliff (which, gods, it took so long to get the paraglider and i was so happy when it finally dropped into my hands) - this is how i felt about horses in the first game, although i’ve actually ridden a couple horses around this time

you know what i have done what feels like fifty times? supported president hudson, that’s what - actually it’s a really fun and simple engineering puzzle that i’m glad shows up again and again, but by gods i wanna take addison’s hands and just go ‘why didn’t you guys just make the sign stable to start with??’

it’s been very cool seeing how the world has changed, both with recovery after breath of the wild and with the stuff falling from the sky at the start of this game, although i think what fascinates me the most is that no one’s actually said (or even implied) exactly how long it’s been either since botw ended OR since link and zelda disappeared on their archaeological survey - like i have no idea if link was out for days, weeks, or months honestly (my guess is like three weeks but who knows!)

negative things... not a fan of how often i died, and it took me way longer to figure out how to use the zonai wings than it should have, i wish there’d been a slightly better explanation at some point, and i wish i’d gotten the latest memory i found (the sword one) later in the quest line, cuz it feels very resolution-y and while it’s occasionally fun to get these things as an almost in media res conclusion, in this particular instance i’d rather have just seen it later

the whole geoglyphs concept is super awesome, though, that was a fantastic addition and really rewards the whole flying around the sky thing that this game is really about

can’t wait to get through the rest of the major story beats so i can spend the next few months just dicking around

but first sleep