#redeemed before dying 😭

[the-acid-pear]

Estoy curado 😃

Norman Osborn estoy curado dot jpg unironically one of my favorite memes ever

[rayroseu]

I know its been said that Lilia likes acting cheerful despite his nearing death because he doesn't want to look weak. But, I think the undertone of his reasoning is he doesn't want to spend his last days in tragedy and sadness so he copes it with being happy as much as he can.😭

Isn't that a more obvious behavior especially now that we know that Lilia's life only has been happy for the last 2 decades, or less. I'm saying that because I feel like the years where Malleus grows up was depressing too because he was badly excluded and only recently, in NRC, did he finally have "a group of people to be a part of with freely"

I feel like this is more like an understandable reason why he wants to go away as "he can still smile and act happy" before his age deteriorates him up, and makes him "look lifeless" to his family.

Rather than making Silver and Malleus remember his death, I think his version of a happy ending was that party where they'll all have fun together. I think Lilia wants them to remember *his happiness* the most. Because Lilia's life has mostly been a tragedy, and I don't think he wishes even after his death, that he would still be a "tragic person".

I feel like his line about "not wanting Malleus to be a hero of a fairy tale" reflects that. Because he did experience being the "hero of a fairytale". He saved Malleus from being killed and dying. He is, in the story, the rightful hero of Briar Valley.

TWST has always told that heroes in this world are perfect individuals with perfect morals and life, but Lilia as a hero, added more depth towards the concept of heroes in TWST...

To be a hero, you need to be facing the story's conflicts, you have to sacrifice a lot, and be in pain for doing the right thing just for you to "have something to be victorious over."

And, I feel like that's a nice parallel to the theme that "villains are people that can be redeemed/grow up even if they're messed up". Its like saying everyone struggles even if you're a hero or a villain, like there's never a perfect role or a perfect world where there's no sadness.... 😭

also, I know Lilia mostly said that line about "heroes in fairytales" because he wants Malleus not to die forgotten like Meleanor and Levan, but its GETS ME knowing he said that as well because he doesn't want to see Malleus in any kind of pain😭

[willowser]

willow!! same anon as before but im in love w step dad touya i swear!!! his understanding - or lack really - of a parent/child relationship 😭 so he says love you to baby girl and shes beaming and hes looking at you bc theres so much love in your house and he doesnt know what to do tbh! hes never had that! and you're beaming too, looking just like your baby!! omg the thought of him squishing baby girl's cheeks i adore him! 🥹 and the swell of love makes him message fuyumi late at night, nothing much to begin with, just a simple 'hey how are you?' but its enough!! bc even though someone else's kid is so so different from one's own siblings, you and your daughter are showing touya that yes he does know how to love and care!! and he'll pass it onto his siblings bc there's a silly thought that he can redeem himself if he can prove it to them too <3 ee so sorry for the long rambly asks!!

him. messaging fuyumi. dead and dying.

i'm imagining touya and baby-girl on the couch watching some kid movie, just him at your house because you've taken a much needed night out with your friends. and touya really tried to put her to bed earlier, but — he's a goddamn pushover; all it took was a little pleading, a little promising, and then they were splitting a grilled cheese and some juice.

hey, he thinks, at least he didn't give her all of it.

but then comes the time when she's finally passed out, head lolled back, mouth all open as she snores. and touya is beyond ready to lay down in your bed, so the minute he can, he's hopping up from the couch and scooping the kid up in his arms, adjusting her so she's not flinging around everywhere.

and she's seven. not too young, not a baby, but when he enters her quiet room — with her purple curtains and mermaid night-light; her flower rug and massive doll playhouse — he feels a bit serene. he's hugging her to his chest so her head doesn't hang and she's instinctively turned her face into his shirt, and — it's just them.

touya, who never would have dreamed himself in this position, didn't think he wanted it, and now he's being trusted to watch your kid, your everything. now he's holding her carefully and tucking her into her bed and now he's watching as she blinks softly at him.

"love you dabi," she whispers, and she doesn't even care if he answers back; she just says it, because she does, and then she yawns and turns over in her bed.

touya sits on the couch in silence for a long time after that, watching the princess movie play out, and when it's over, he calls his sister without hesitation.

of course she picks up all worried, at this time of night. "touya? is everything okay? are you okay?"

and he rolls his eyes at her, because she's so dramatic. "everything's fine, calm down. a guy can't call his sister every now and then?"

"...touya, you never call me out of the blue."

"well," he shrugs even though she can't see it, "how's it goin'?"

and they talk for a little while, about this and that. catch up on her job and how his sobriety is going, if he's talked to their dad lately, if he's going to. how mom's doing, when natsuo is coming home next, what their plans are as a family for the next holiday.

how his relationship is going.

he's trying to think of how to explain it to her. there's something he wants to ask, but he doesn't even know what it is, how to word it. what he wants to know. he just feels — lost, when it comes to you and your baby-girl and all the love you both have. he's missing something, he thinks, and he needs his sister to explain it to him because she's a goddamn know-it-all.

but headlights flash across the windows and the front door opens slowly, revealing a only-slightly disheveled you. touya snorts at the sight, how you're sort of swaying on your feet, the excitement on your face at seeing he's still awake.

"it's goin' good," he tells her, grinning as you kick of your shoes and loudly whisper 'honey, i'm home!'. "it's goin' really good, fuyumi."

[rolotouto]

Rolo over the years

28th September is when Turn 25 “Re;” first aired, and together with Lost Stories also wrapping up R2 in its latest update, I’ve been remembering just how I miss what Code Geass was like before the year 2012ish. Rolo has been, in my opinion, treated worse since then.

Apologies in advance, as I'm going to complain, but I want to share what I remember about a time which may be forgotten or unknown to younger fans:

Before Akito, Code Geass’ “canon” story was mainly the 50 episodes of the anime. Picture/Illust Dramas, season 1 Sound Episodes (R2 SEs mostly stopped being serious) and official publications here and there were also part of the canon, but beyond that, comics like Majiko’s, Nightmare of Nunnally, or videogames such as Lost Colors diverged sufficiently from the anime to be clearly treated as AU spin-offs. Code Geass ended with Lelouch dying, and despite plenty of “the cart driver is Lelouch” theories, the creators themselves stated that Lelouch was dead (can’t remember the source, but it’s probably well documented somewhere). I miss when Lelouch stayed dead, not just as a Rolo fan, but because that’s what made the story bittersweet. That’s what made Continued Story a song I personally couldn’t listen to. All the fanarts of the characters being happy together when you knew Lelouch never got to experience that… It was sad, but in a pretty way. And yet, I guess many viewers do like Lelouch resurrecting, considering that both Lost Stories and Rozé follow that canon. For me, watching L.L. do nothing but speak in cryptic messages with C.C. is sadder than accepting his death, and not the “pretty” kind this time, but the “Lelouch was forcibly turned into someone who isn’t him” kind of sad. As for Rolo, during R2, Lelouch lived for 5 more episodes after Rolo’s death. And in such a brief period, he remembered Rolo as many as 5 times: Turn 20 preview, when Rivalz asked in Turn 20, Turn 21 preview, Turn 24 when Lelouch recalls the people who sought happiness, Turn 25 when his life flashes before his eyes. Back around 2008~2010, believing Rolo had become important to Lelouch was easy. Hikari (summary) was canon. Kiseki no Tanjoubi most likely isn’t, but Lelouch and Rolo had the main roles and Lelouch worries when Rolo gets tired. New official illustrations were still being released. The Special Edition Zero Requiem was dedicated to Shirley and Rolo because they inspired Lelouch’s Zero Requiem plan. That’s a lot of Rolo attention coming not just from the staff, but Lelouch himself. Yet resurrected!Lelouch doesn't remember Rolo again! Except for maybe just once, when Rolo and Euphy were saving him… and unfortunately for me, he uses kimitachi, which implies he was addressing Euphy (he would have used omaetachi with Rolo)… 😭 I also gacha'd Emperor Lelouch a couple days ago, hoping to find ロロ in any of his lines, but nothing. Code Geass’s canon expanding after R2 mostly took good things away from Rolo, and added bad things: -Akito and Oz both did damage to Rolo and Lelouch’s meeting. When only R2 existed, we assumed that Rolo had met Lelouch very shortly after Charles’ Geass, and that Rolo and Lelouch spent a whole year together. Akito shortened their happy year because Lelouch now needed to be Julius first, and Oz introduced Clara, who, turns out, was actually the initial choice to replace Nunnally instead of Rolo?! And even though I don’t think she even got to meet Lelouch, I don’t like how Rolo was no longer *the* Nunnally replacement. Since Rolo mentions unmei in Arabesque, I think he would have preferred to believe Lelouch and him were “destined” to meet -Couldn’t Benio and Savitri's stories be told without involving Rolo negatively? Did he need more sins? Ohgi and Nina have been redeemed in recent years, while Rolo… didn’t kill Shirley in the movies, but in the Fukkatsu manga and Lost Stories he did, so I still feel like he killed Shirley in the Fukkatsu canon -We don't talk about GeaGene -Mario/Maya ruining Rolo’s sacrifice There’s another piece of knowledge seemingly lost to time, which is that those pictures of Lelouch and Rolo aren't official. You know the ones. They were drawn by Yukie Sakou, who WAS an official animator/illustrator, but she released Anniversary & Memorial on her own. I've seen misinformed comments... Something else about Fukkatsu: I liked C.C. better when she wanted to live and be happy without depending on the protagonist for it. But if C.C. fans disagree, they certainly know her better than I do.

[ajwamiju]

Scene 7: Reviews

CW: None

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Thanks to the rehearsals you and Suna did, the rest of the filming went by smoothly with minimal fits of laughter, even for the scenes where Hiroki and Kumiko were implied to have been intimate not long before the scene is supposed to take place (You and Suna bursted into fits of laughter a grand total of 10 times! You would’ve had 50 if you weren’t comfortable with each other).

When you and Suna watched the clips you shot together of that particular scene, you were amazed by both your and Suna's abilities to look so genuinely in love with each other, lying in bed, and holding each other while you both acted out your characters having some pillow talk in a more heartwarming scene of the movie.

“To think our situation was basically the blind leading the blind.” Suna comments as the two of you sit in the bus rented by the studio to bring the crew back home to Tokyo. “The arguments Kumiko and Hiroki had were fucking intense, I think that series drained me more than my 6-year career.”

“They were.” You agree as you nod your head. “I absolutely cannot wait to get back to acting in horror movies. They're much easier than the series we did.”

Suna glances around for a bit before leaning in to whisper in your ear. “Wanna shit on the series when it finally comes out?”

“You don't even have to ask!” You laugh as you lean back into your seat. “Thinking about it, Kumiko and Hiroki were fucking toxic man, don't think they’d actually work out if they were real people.”

“That's true. But I guess they did redeem themselves at the end there when they talked everything out.” Suna shrugs. “I don’t know how our reputation will hold up after this drama comes out, though.”

“I guess we just have to take the L and move on as if we’re not the main characters of the drama.” You sigh. “Even the best actors have a stain in their career.”

The drive from your last shooting location in Kyoto back to Tokyo takes a while, but you don’t feel just how long it is. During the 6-hour drive, you mostly either slept or talked shit with Suna and your crew, gossiping about the latest scandals of celebrities or their secret activities that would get them into scandals.

You and Suna exchange addresses before you both part ways, promising each other to keep in contact and hang out as you click well with him (you also know you both have intentions to star in the same horror movies together and that’s another reason why you’re keeping contact. But that’s honestly a given).

You would contact Suna frequently and you would even meet to hang out during your cooling period before you get another job, the highlight of these hangouts is when you two got to watch the finalised version of the drama you starred in. You both cleared your schedules for the whole day and spent watching all 12 episodes in one day, shit talking and cringing at yourselves as the story unfolds into Director Kurosu’s vision.

“This is never going to get good reviews from anyone.” Suna says as he skips the end credits of episode five to go to episode six.

“Yeah, the trailer’s out and literally the whole internet is confused as fuck.” You comment as the recap for episode five starts. “The first impression from our fans doesn't look good.”

“Let’s just look for a good horror movie to star in by next month. That should steer the public’s attention away from whatever this is.”

What you and Suna didn’t expect though is that the drama you both starred in ended up as a huge hit, to the point where it’s one of the most streamed dramas on all streaming platforms. Fans of both the romance and horror genres banded together to praise the drama as well as you and Suna for your 'phenomenal acting'.

“[Surname]-san and Suna-san’s acting were so good 😭😭😭 I’ve always known they were well-known in the horror genre, but I never knew they would also be this good at doing romance dramas!” -xxTsumufan123, 5 stars

“I’ve been a big fan of Suna-san’s works and have been DYING to see him in a movie with [Surname]-san since I also love her movies. I never thought I would see my dream come true in a romance drama but I’m deffo not disappointed 💯💯💯” -User89302, 5 stars

“Kumiko and Hiroki’s characters fit [Surname]-san and Suna-san so well! The plot of the drama isn’t that light-hearted so it also makes it feel so real and not forced!!! I can’t wait to see them in future instalments, doesn’t even matter if it’s horror, romance, or even comedy!” -Sunasveinythickthighs, 5 stars

“I’m so used to seeing Suna-san and [Surname]-san dying or killing, literally covered in blood. This is a breath of fresh air.” -Yamiki8294, 4.5 stars

You and Suna agree that you’re both dying at the outcome of this drama as well as what’s to come in the near future.

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Taglist: @mirophobic @atrashsith @lilith412426 @rntrsuna @reignsaway @fallenisded @sunaemoby @buttercupp-baby @akari-fujikawa @omlxlaure @soonajeeme (Drop it here to be included in the taglist!)

[m1ckeyb3rry]

Is Niko also actually a gamer? I thought he was only very much into manga and anime. But that’ll be so cool if he’s also a resident gamer in bllk along with Nagi and Hiori.

Also, I have this headcanon that the likelihood some of the boys like Yukimiya and (even) Karasu have girlfriends outside of Blue Lock. Or maybe Karasu is seeing someone? He just give me that vibe too AND— I guarantee this Otoya panel, he got the number of that chick and probably are seeing each other idk 🤣 OR he definitely broke it off before he entered the facility again.

Dying and curious to know about Karasu and Marisa so bad (it’ll make and break me), there’s something about it that just pains me a little, not because Karasu is my fave but there’s something else. Idk if its hitting me closer on a personal level lol.

i actually have no idea if he’s a gamer canonically (i think he’s into yu-gi-oh! but that’s more of a card game iirc) but i feel like everyone just kinda headcanons him as also being a gamer because it kinda goes along w reading manga/watching anime + his personality?? to the point that it’s just kinda widely accepted that he’s a gamer even if there isn’t necessarily strict canon backing for it 🤔

unfortunately all of the bllk boys except otoya and aiku give me zero bitches vibes 😔💔 according to the egoist bible karasu thought ALL of his valentines from the previous year were given to him as a prank so i’m p sure that man has never known a romantic relationship in his life 😭 otoya though for sure went on a couple of dates with that girl before being like “ok later” when he got bored (which coincided perfectly with his return to bllk) LMAOAOA he and aiku are actually menaces to the female population 😩 i can fix otoya though like trust if he ever met me irl he would be a changed man (mostly because i would probably not even want him until he redeemed himself)

hmm i think for me that trope of leaving someone even though you like them because you think it’s for their own good is always very interesting 🤔 i’ve written it once with the reader’s MOTHER getting left by someone in my yuta fic (that sounds so insane but it makes sense in the story) because he doesn’t think he’s good enough for her…honestly i kind of like when it ends in them not getting together in the end because it’s so angsty one that got away vibes and i love angst 🙂‍↕️ honestly given kaneshiro’s immense skill and talent and love for writing female characters (sarcasm intended) we’re probably never seeing marisa in the future (besides the karasu ln whenever that comes out) until like MAYBEEE an epilogue that’s ten years in the future or smth and it’s just mentioned that karasu is married to her out of the blue 😭 i think it’s sweet that he still remembers her so vividly and thinks so highly of her even now though 🥹 like he truly is such a green flag HAHA we love him for that

[minamorsart]

Happy holidays to you 🎄🎁🌟❤️

*whispers* , who do you think deserves better

Lotor or Ben Solo/Kylo Ren

First of all: thank you so much! Happy Holidays to you, too!! I hope you are enjoying this holiday season with your loved ones ���🎀☃️💖

And second of all: NOOOO Anon how could you make me choose??! 😭😂😂

My gut reaction is to say both of them, but that's not really the answer we're looking for here, is it? Hehe. So I have tried to seriously consider this and provide a sincere answer to your question.

A quick heads up, I will be mentioning reylo and lotura here and there throughout this little essay!

The most fun part about comparing Ben and Lotor I think comes from the fact that these two are suuuuper similar to one another. I covered this a tiny bit in this ask where I talk about how protective the two of them are, but to reiterate:

Both Lotor and Ben are from sci-fi/fantasy franchises that were released around the same time, both have troubled relationships with their fathers, both are great swordsmen and pilots and engineers, both murdered their fathers, have complicated childhoods, rarely show their true faces to others, killed their dads, fell in love with fierce and powerful women, kissed said fierce and powerful women before shortly dying afterwards, said bye-bye to papa by doin a lil stabby stab, became intergalatic leaders of the most powerful empires in the universe -- oh, and did I mention daddy issues? You tend to find that a lot with long-haired emo boys from fiction. It's just the way it is. And for these two in particular you can also sprinkle in a little "mommy issues" just for funsies.

But in all seriousness, Lotor and Ben share a LOT in common, which is pretty crazy! So who deserves better, really? In order to make a fair judgment my first thought was to take into account their crimes and if they were able to redeem themselves in the end. But this is also fiction. As soon as people slap the label "toxic" on a character or ship, I usually tend to tune them out. This is by no means a hot take, but fiction is a form of escapism. It is a way for people to experience a thing (e.g. horror, adventure, romance) without actually having to experience it. So if we have a couple of sad boys who murder and manipulate people but also want to find love, who's gonna stop us from rooting for them? Absolutely no one!

I digress, but my point is that I usually don't care which character did what and why they're a bad person for it. But even then were Ben and Lotor really all that bad? After all, we learned from "The Rise of Kylo Ren" comics that Ben was ultimately not the one responsible for destroying Luke's Jedi school, and in TROS we found out that he was being manipulated by Palpatine the entire time.

For Lotor, we never really got a clear picture of what exactly he was doing with that Altean colony. To this day I still don't get it! In S6E6 he says, "Many Alteans perished in my quest to unlock the mysteries of quintessence." But then in S8E13 Allura says, "Lotor may have been misguided, but ultimately he wanted to preserve life." Like, what does any of that mean?? There are cracks in the armor, Anon! Cracks!!! Not to mention all of the theories with very convincing evidence that there were a ton of changes made to season 8, and unfortunately I don't think we're ever going to get a solid answer from the showrunners as to what was really supposed to happen.

In the end, the complicated and morally gray choices that Lotor and Ben made throughout their lives are what make their characters so interesting! They did the wrong things for what they believed to be the right reasons. If they didn't come across as the mysterious and devious fellas as they did when we first saw them, we wouldn't be such big fans of them. We would've chosen someone else 😉

So any bad deeds aside, maybe we oughta take a step back and do one last comparison. Most notably, comparing how they died. Ben died saving the person he loved, while Lotor died fighting the person he loved. I would have to argue that Lotor's death was far more gruesome and superfluous than Ben's. Not only did he go mad from all of the raw quintessence coursing through his body, but we find out in season 8 that his body had remained in his ship for three whole years, decayed and melted (seriously whose idea was it to share that imagery? I'm scarred for life) and left to sit there by his own mother.

Ben's passing was also deeply upsetting. I cried in the theater. But you can't deny that it was a peaceful one. From the way his body faded into nothingness, leaving beind only his clothes, the audience is able to assume that he became a Force Ghost (or did he? 🤔). He was battered and beaten, but he brought the woman he loved back to life, and in giving his life to her and helping her defeat Palpatine, he redeemed himself. And not only did he redeem himself, but he was also able to reconcile with both of his parents.

Lotor didn't get to do either of those things. He never got the chance. He was manipulated by both of his parents, and he never had the opportunity to redeem himself on his own terms. You know, for someone who directly influenced the entirety of season 8's plot, Lotor is hardly in it! I suppose he sort of redeemed himself, at least in Allura's eyes, but he was long gone by then. He wasn't around to see any of the stuff going on in season 8, stuff happening specifically FOR him because his mother wanted him back. In season 6 he went out like your average cartoon villain--dying because of his own hubris while the heroes looked on. In season 8 we only get: a flashback episode, him showing up in Allura's bedroom ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), and him copied and pasted into the background as a ghost in the finale, almost like something is amiss in this scene (cracks in the armor, Anon!!!). UGH. You hate to see it.

But at the same time, I'm not too upset that Lotor died if I'm being completely honest with you. At least not anymore, anyway. Don't get me wrong, at the time I cried when his death was confirmed, and then I cried again when Allura died. But at least they get to be together in the afterlife. Ben had a lot going for him. He was only 30 years old when he died, and that's still very young. He could have had a long, happy life with Rey, and to truly redeem himself in the eyes of the resistance, could have devoted his time to restoring peace and order to the galaxy, as well as teach the new generation of Force-wielders alongside Rey.

Lotor, on the other hand, was 10,000 years old. The idea of having lived that long is not only unfathomable, but the fact that he probably spent most of that time being completely alone is just... really, really sad. If I were him I would have been ready to kick the bucket, too. I think the kindest thing to do for him at that point was to give him a peaceful, as well as justified, departure in the series finale. Allura had suffered as well. She had lost everything, just like him, so the two of them finding peace in the afterlife would be the most merciful conclusion, I believe.

Soooo I'm gonna cheat again with my answer 😂 Who deserves better? I would say BOTH of them deserve better, but in different ways. Ben Solo deserved to live, while Lotor deserved a better death.

Thank you so much for this question, Anon! I really had to think a lot about this one, and even though in the end I couldn't actually choose between the two, I still enjoyed coming up with this long-winded answer haha! If you have any further insights you would like to add, or if you even disagree with any of the things I've said, please don't hesitate to say so! I am always happy to discuss anything Ben or Lotor-related 😁 My love for these boys knows no bounds 💖

[lokisprettygirl]

Okay I finally watched the episode and I have several feelings so here we go...

If you haven't watched the show, stop reading. (Though I hope you have blocked the spoilers tag, if not it's your own fault..don't come at me)

Am I dying every second thinking about him being alone there for eternity? Obviously 😭

But am i stupid or delusional enough to think he won't make a comeback in the next Avengers movie? No.

I don't think those people can fight kang without loki, they would at some point need his help because he's literally the most powerful god out there now.

Coming back to the episode there's not much I cared about, I probably wouldn't have blinked if ob, b15 or Casey would have died..didn't care about them at all if I was being honest and it's not the character's fault.

As much I hated the ship (because god forbid two male characters are friends in any show these days because they have to be lovers otherwise it's homophobia.. remember when bromance existed? Good times)

Mobius had a good character development that began in season 5 and continued this season unlike Sylvie who started as such a badly written selfish character that the only way they could have fixed it this season was to completely sideline her, which thankfully they did. The smirk and smile at the end even knowing that she may never get to see Loki again? (Yeah just die already).

Hopefully I'll never have to see her again.

Coming back to Loki (my precious baby love) i know his arc ended on a bittersweet note (that smile at the end just warmed my heart like never before) and it's more bitter for me than sweet because I can't handle the thought of him being so lonely because this is not what he wanted or deserved but then I think about Loki who died via strangulation and I'm like fuck everything, this is definitely much better than that ending.

Personally I think with time he's going to grow and learn to control this new power (or he could just clone himself and use him in a way? Idk Marvel can do anything) but I can feel it in my bones that this is not the end of him (unless ofcourse Tom is done with him and won't return for future projects)

That being said, Loki is alive and sure he is alone at the moment but he's a hero now, he has more than redeemed himself and he can finally forgive himself for everything that he didn't do right, perhaps this is what he needed to find that sense of purpose he has been looking for all his life. Hopefully he'd see himself as the god that he always was.

A man that was always ridiculed for his selfishness and narcissism chose to save the multiverse by sacrificing his freedom, by giving up his own free will. He chose everything he didn't want, a throne and what seemed like eternal solitude (but hopefully not)..a man of actions indeed. His arc reminds me of Tony in a way and that's beautiful.

Wherever you go, it's just death, destruction, the literal ends of worlds!

Uhhhhhuh? Look what my boy just did for the whole fucking multiverse.

I'm just trying to see the silver lining here that he's alive and he's the moment..he's everything, he literally became the most powerful being to ever exist in mcu and that gives me hope for him…he'd come back. Kang's arc started with him and they'd need him when the time comes. If not I got my fanfiction powers 🤣 (He deserves to find the sort of love that would stay by his side even if he's all that person would ever get)

Thank God they changed the writers this season and fixed somewhat of the mess they had made of this majestic, ethereal god last time.

Overall yeah my heart is breaking for him but look at him..he's the moment, he's the king of the multiverse, he's everything.

[siilvan]

Someone posted on TikTok the bios of the new MW3 operators, including Vladmirs. You have to squint and pause the video a lot to read it, but here it is: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGJcKKotP/

my actual hero, ilysm 🫶 i’m gonna go ahead and post makarov’s bio for anyone curious, since it’s hard to read in the vid lol:

“Vladimir Makarov was born before the fall of the Soviet Union in the suburbs of Moscow. As the son of a high-ranking politician within the Russian government, Makarov watched the Soviet Union crumble, taking his father with it. The bright-eyed, intelligent boy woke up one morning to his father’s hanging body. Makarov came to despise his father’s weakness, as well as the failures of the Soviet Union which had brought it about. He vowed not to make the same mistakes and so began his lifelong obsession.

In 1998, Makarov joined the Russian military at the age of 18. A natural soldier with a talent for strategy, his reputation turned sour when he joined forces with an unsanctioned rogue army to maintain control of Urzikstan. When the ULF rose and took back their home, Makarov experienced his first failure.

Recognizing traces of the Soviet Union’s failures once again, Makarov pleaded with his superiors to reclaim Urzikstan, disgusted by the national mockery the ULF had made of Russian power. But the Kremlin, who had not sanctioned the attack on Urzikstan to begin with, refused, stripping Makarov of all military honors. Seeking justice, Makarov joined the Konni group and plotted an attack against Verdansk to get Russia’s attention. Captured by Captain Price and Task Force 141, Makarov was handed to Russian authorities and sentenced to life in a maximum-security gulag.

Now a liberated man, Makarov plans to resume his operations against Urzikstan and its allies. Determined to redeem himself and Russia for its past failures, Makarov will only stop at the full reclamation or annihilation of Urzikstan; and if the Kremlin’s too cowardly to play their hand, he’ll gladly force it upon the rest of the world.”

…dude’s blaming urzikstan for his joint self esteem-daddy issues, damn 😭

i feel so… conflicted lol. obviously he’s an asshole, that doesn’t need to be restated a million times, but i do feel sympathy for him as a child. he never stood a chance at a “normal” life— he was born into those insane beliefs. as an adult, he’s the only one to blame for still holding those beliefs, but it’s pretty clear that his child-mind created a link between the soviet union falling and his father dying; ergo, if he can fix the cause, he can “fix” the death. i get that.

OG makarov and reboot are both referenced as obsessive and compulsive… “developed severe OCD after his father’s death” anyone? no? i’m just projecting? understood. 🫡

i could go into far more detail about my thoughts on his backstory, but this is already a long-ass post, and i’m a little worried about looking like i’m sympathizing with him outside of the childhood trauma. like i said, he is at fault for his actions as an adult. he knows better. it’s a very interesting change from the original, though. this may just be me, but he almost seems… less intimidating? not in a bad way, i think they’ve made him feel more human and less like a caricature of evilness.

this is also 100% influencing how i write him in bloodsport lol. mmm, character analysis…

[desertfangs]

"Years ago", Armand interrupted, "it wouldn't have mattered to me, all this".

"What do you mean?"

"But I don't want it to end now. I don't want to continue unless you--" His face changed slightly. Faint look of surprise. "I don't want you to die".

Csually going insane over this on a Thursday afternoon because WHAT THE HELL, this is totally the moment for me where Armand went from being a quasi-villain to one of the most sympathetic, lovable characters in all of VC. The moment where the needle drops for him and he has that once in a lifetime realization about the redeeming qualities of love, and how his love for Daniel and Daniel's love for him meant that he all of a sudden he had a reason to live, and began to care about the possible demise of his kind (and of himself) a result, because it jeopardized his future with his lover. And the mere thought of Daniel dying? Unconcievable. Absurd. Out of the question. Loving that man saved him in every way that a person can be saved. Sorry for dumping all of this on you, I'm in my feels over them!!!

ANON!! 😭😭 I read this at work earlier today and I've been thinking about it ever since. Please always feel free to share your Armand/Daniel feels with me! I love it!

This moment is so important and means so much to me, and it means so much for Armand's character. The fact that he makes the choice to turn Daniel rather than let him die, and give up his long-held vow and conviction that he would never do so, all because he loves him too much to face the world without him in it is just... amazing. I really do think theirs is the best love story in the series because they both grow and change so much together.

Daniel goes from feverish and desperate for the blood because he wants to be a vampire and live forever, to desperate for the blood because he wants to live with Armand forever, and finally in that moment is resigned to die in Armand's arms because he knows Armand can't or won't do it. He's just happy Armand is there with him and he's not alone, but with the person he loves.

Armand goes from wandering alone and lurking in the shadows barely existing and not even caring if he meets his demise, to diving headfirst into modern life with Daniel and he learns to love someone, and learns that he can make mistakes in that love and they're not world ending. He learns to love and be loved and in the end, he realizes that love isn't something he can let go of. That he wants to keep it in the world and keep going.

I do think Armand, on some level, knew he wouldn't let Daniel die before this, but how much he let himself really understand that is debatable. I think here in this moment, faced with the very real prospect of losing him for good, he realizes how much he wants his life to continue with Daniel in it, because he's found himself and learned to be his own person and found that love at the same time. It's the most beautiful sentiment.

Honestly, all of DM gets me all the time but the scene where he turns Daniel just kills me because it's so beautifully written and you can feel their emotions so vividly. It makes me so happy I could sob (and often do!)

Thank you so much for the ask and the feels, anon! I feel like there's something more intelligent or insightful I should say about this but work has mashed my brain into pulp so this will have to do and I sure hope it's coherent. 💖

[dappledpaintbrush]

Are you the one who wrote 'A Jester's Lament'?

What inspired you to write it? (41 chapters!)

Oh no no no, I’d HATE to be that weirdo who wrote 400 pages worth of mario fanfiction! haughty laughter is then interrupted by 500 drawings of Lament Dimentio falling out of my pocket

Tbh what inspired me was. Myself? Weirdly enough? I mean of course SPM being my biggest interest was absolutely part of the reason why it’s so long and why I wrote it to begin with. But what specifically sparked the story of AJL was the fact there was an extremely specific type of Dimentio redemption story I was looking for. Of course, I’m not saying AJL is the first of its kind or something because it most definitely is not lmao😭😭 But there were just some things I preferred in an AU that tries to redeem Dimentio, and after searching for a while for, again, that extremely specific story, I thought, “DUDE JUST MAKE IT YOURSELF💀💀💀💀” and so I did. And a lot of people just ???? happened to like it??? :

Even though story length was one of my specific wants, I highly doubt I could’ve completed 41 chapters without the immense support I received. I genuinely cannot thank you guys enough. Seriously, if you like a fic, I highly highly reccomend commenting. You have no idea how much that means to writers 🤍

I’m putting this under a read more so I don’t clog people’s feed, but if anybody’s curious, some of my specific wants were:

- Length. I needed this fic to be almost unbearably long. I needed people to say GODDD DAAMMMNN when they looked at the word count.

- Dimentio somehow getting more unredeemable before he got redeemed (idk if I fully accomplished that, but I tried) (it’s hard to get worse than the complete annihilation of life) (I just tried not to purposefully write him in a likable way early on in the story)

- Dimentio dying the same amount of times he killed Luigi in the game

- Dimentio in general getting shit absolutely rocked

- Luigi not being a doormat, ESPECIALLY SINCE DIMENTIO ABUSED HIM

- DIMENTIO. BEING. IN. CHARACTER. THIS IS NOT JUST SOME SILLY GOOFY CLOWN!!! HE IS EVIL!!! HE TRIED TO KILL EVERY SINGLE ENTITY THAT HAS EVER EXISTED, DEAD AND ALIVE. HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE TERRIFYING AND SCARY!!! yes he’s naturally charming, write him as such, BUT NEVER FORGET THE THREAT HE IS!!!!

- Dimentio having a backstory that’s emo enough to explain the person he became but not emo enough to be his main source of redemption via pity if that makes sense. I think I achieved this? But of course that’s subjective, and looking back there were better ways to go about it. Basically what I tried to do is give him a good childhood with loving parents- minus the “accident” of course- and have Dimentio himself clarify in Chapter 15:

Basically: the loss of his family and the shit he went through definitely played a role. However, instead of a Blumiere-like “My loved one(s) died, now all worlds are without meaning and deserve to be destroyed,” Dimentio’s grief triggered a very deadly greed that did not revolve around the ones he lost. Blumiere’s motivation for destruction, including himself, was purely the loss of Timpani. Dimentio’s motivation for destruction, excluding himself, was, well, himself. For once, Dimentio wanted to earn, not lose. Making Dimentio have an understandable backstory but be “less sympathetic” than his counterpart, Blumiere, was important to me during the creation of AJL. But this gets extremely complicated because something like hmm uh idk erm MASS MURDER is impossible to truly make sympathetic. Regardless of intention, Dimentio and Blumiere did the exact same thing. Regardless of intention, Dimentio and Blumiere were both selfish. You can’t exactly destroy life itself in a non-selfish way. Both characters are equally unredeemable (or… equally redeemable, technically). Strip their actions down for their bones, and all you’ll see is two characters that tried to ERASE EXISTENCE. Sure, you can FEEL more sympathy for one than compared to the other, but feelings are subjective. Facts are objective. And the fact is, Dimentio and Blumiere attempted mass murder. You see why this is difficult to explain and even more difficult to write? I have a headache. God speed everybody

- More shit I’m probably forgetting

- Picture of a cat I found

[self-spaghettification]

Hypothetically Viewing Viren as Unsympathetically as Possible

he not only coined 3 elves just for? sadistic reasons?

there’s that too

he also coined his own old dark magic mentor for unknown reasons which is kinda fuckin insane —like at least for the others he has the excuse of not knowing them or gaining empathy for them

that points to viren actually having carried out the soul serpent plan against harrow’s will and turned him into a bird which is!! yk!! INSANE!! he couldn’t just let him die he had to turn him into a bird and then fake mourn him so he could take the throne

and if that theory is true then im sensing a pattern for this mf —killing someone to take power

in viren’s dream, perhaps a flashback, kppar tells him he knew he’d go far but he didn’t know he’d go that far for power, implying viren has also done other horrible things to gain power-become part of the royal court and get the position of high mage perhaps?

even his kids he doesnt rlly care abt them, he just views them in terms of himself, people to pass on his knowledge or self onto, legacy

which is part of the reason why he praises claudia so much and dislikes soren

he doesnt see them as individuals with their own merit

it’s so fucked😭

concession: of course there’s those 2 ways to interpret viren- morally grey or evil and its possible to want to romanticize what he’s done, romanticize his connection with harrow or his kids as a tragic character doing what’s necessary, or blame aaravos.

and theres always other possibilities—like maybe he coined kppar in self defense or because k'ppar was gonna do something terrible

and maybe he didnt bird harrow??

but like

the latter, the unsympathetic viren, makes more sense- especially since when viren has fever dreams it goes over these past choices, his interaction with kppar, dream harrow putting viren’s soul into the bird (probably the opposite of what harrow did to viren) and how viren talks abt his regret ie: “i’m tired of taking power/trying to be someone important”

he doesnt say “im tired of trying to change things for the better” so it just seems to reinforce the idea that all the choices he made up to that point were well.. to take power? to gain recognition? or in more grey cases to selfishly save what he cared about, like soren?

sooo yeah

2. since he’s terrible, he doesn’t deserve a simple death of being killed off, he actually deserves to suffer on his redemption arc

he deserves feeling very awkward trying to apologize to the elves after rayllum uncoins them

and he deserves having to struggle to be on good terms with soren again

he doesnt deserve to just die

and that’s what tdpo has plans for

link to post on why he’s getting redeemed!!!

is this a bump on his inner journey?

This confirms that Viren’s not getting killed off, because he never got the chance to interact with Soren before dying. so yeah

He’s been a Terrible Person and He Doesn’t Deserve a Quick Death (He Deserves to Struggle Through a Redemption Arc)

[castrotophic]

What are the books you didn't like?

ahaha this is sooo funny because i was thinking about it and the thing about my taste in books is that i like most books, but i do dislike a reasonable amount of books. but the thing that makes me remember a book forever as the worst ever??? is when it is REALLY GOOD and then i hate the ending. so here are a few of the books i will never ever forgive (yes with spoilers, sorry lol):

the gideon trilogy by linda buckley-archer: this series is about some kids who accidentally time travel back to 1763 and end up on the run from "the tar man" with this dude named gideon. AMAZING series, so intriguing and sooo much fun, until the ENDING RUINED IT. if you set up your world and say that you can't erase time (i.e. you CAN'T go back in time and change the past, as this creates fractured timelines ans very bad things happen, which does in fact happen in the book) and then the ending of the series is that instead of solving any of their problems they go back in time and stop themselves from traveling in time in the first place?? WORST ENDING OF ALL TIME hated it soooo much. i swear i read this book like 10 years ago but every single time someone mentions time travel all my friends and family know im about to go on a rant

the fault in our stars by john green: sorry john green. this book was soooo good and soooo cute and the romance was adorable and it made me cry like twice, but i have the pettiest beef with the ending that means i will never be able to enjoy this book 😭😭 so the main character hazel is reading this book called An Imperial Affliction where this empress (i think??) is dying and it ends in the middle of a sentence, as though she died before she could finish writing the book. very cool! so yk the ending of the ACTUAL book happens and its kinda cheesy but i was willing to look past it for the vibes, but i was fully expecting this little detail to be added. and it wasn't. why john green ???? this is 100% the most petty reason i have ever hated a book but i genuinely feel like the book would have been 100000x better if it had ended in the middle of a sentence. also i will never forgive john green for naming a character augustus, the most gorgeous name, and then having him be called gus 😭😭😭

little fires everywhere by celeste ng: this book was actually also amazing... some of the most beautiful explorations of motherhood ive ever read, and i ugly cried in public TWICE because of this book (there is a line where a mother is talking about her baby and she says "i would know her in the dark by one sound of her voice, one brush of her hand, the smell of her hair" and that made me LOSE IT) . but the ending completely destroyed it... the whole book is about the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters and how those relationships are so strong and beautiful and then?? the ending???? is that a 14 YEAR OLD GIRL runs away from home with no contact with her mother because she wants to chase another woman who she loves better and wishes was her mother ??? literally completely destroyed the spirit of the book for me

clean getaway by nic stone: this book was super cool, its a mystery about this guy trying to figure out his grandmothers secrets. she basically takes her grandson on a mystery surprise roadtrip but he can tell she's running from something so he's trying to figure out what she's running from. verrryyy interesting talk about race, very cool and intriguing plots... and then the ending ???? they reveal that the grandma is a straight up criminal who escaped the law until the day she died? like she isn't even a redeemable criminal, she's actually a BAD GUY and they play off her getting away from the law as a good thing?? hated it!! she was a bad person!!!! and also she totally kidnapped her grandson!!! and like, framed a guy who went to prison because of her???? like she just did a bunch of really bad things but the talk about institutionalized racism was supposed to rule that out or something. idk i have read reeeally good book about institutionalized racism and the american justice system that worked because the main character wasn't an actual terrible person who hurt a lot of people with her crimes. hated this book

lol i could probably think of more but these are the ones that immediately come to mind so here you go ☺️☺️

[blizzardstarx]

rewatching she ra and it reminded me of the rp i did four years ago and one of the main plots (there were like several main big plots that we just moved onto and came up with, a lot of them were spurred on by me) was based on s3 of shera (the portal and stuff) and also Catra’s nickname by Scorpia “Wildcat” inspired me to come up with my serval oc Wildcat

really old style and art 😭😭

Wildcat was a member of a Shadow Tribe cult (which brainwashed and corrupted kits/pups/cubs and turned them to dark powers) which Halfmask got his dark side from and they were former friends

(this was the last plot before the rp died)

But then Halfmask in my old rp destroyed the cult and betrayed Wildcat, throwing her off a waterfall and almost dying, her eye getting hit on a rock and blinding her in her left eye

and in another rp with one friend, during the Dragon and Wolf War (something something Quint’s (my friends oc) team wanting and stealing the powerful dragon gem), she wanted revenge on Halfmask, teaming up with Quint who was also a former friend of Halfmask but got betrayed by him and killed then resurrected

Quint eventually gets redeemed, but Wildcat is pissed and shit

something something Wildcat’s memory is wiped and she is freed from the cult’s corruption by the Light Tribe

[jayflrt]

Yoiiiiiiii! Great minds think alike😙

But I’ve actually been wanting to talk about this for a couple of days. I recently saw a YouTube Short that listed the most hated trainees in survival shows. Seon represented for I-Land, but K and Ni-ki were mentioned in the comments. A LOT. And I saw one comment that didn’t have any replies, so I couldn’t fact check it quite well (it’s been so long since I watched I-Land and I didn’t know if what EJ said has been outside of I-Land so—), but it made the comparison of Ni-ki being the most hated because of what he did to Taki and EJ because of what he did to Daniel. I was very scared that this is going to be true but like I said, I could not fact check it exactly. But now that I know that it’s true, I have very complicated feelings.

I started to watch I-Land a long time ago, after I became a fan of ENHYPEN, and I’m honestly so fucking glad I did. I don’t know if I would be as big of an ENGENE if I watched the show first. Ik that a big contributor of that would’ve been M Snake’s evil editing and that they were just desperate kids fighting a life or death situation, but I still have so much trouble separating the two.

I didn’t even finish the show. I can’t remember exactly to what point I stopped watching. An episode or two after the second part started?

This is why I… strongly disliked (?) K for a very long time. I could not, for the life of me, get over the DNA unit and how he treated Ni-ki (it was especially bad since Ni-ki was pretty much my bias and I had grown to really love him). So even when &TEAM debuted, I could not look at him the same way (mind you, I didn’t watch &AUDITION at the time either. But I did start to watch it maybe a couple of months ago but then I stopped watching it🙃). But then I did end up giving him a second chance (and it was really strange).

But now finding out what Euijoo did is really messing with me and now I can’t look at HIM the same way😩 And it sucks because I loved him a lot— I LOVE him a lot… idk.

It’s honestly so crazy how this talk started on your account while this was happening in my brain lol.

I’m sorry for the long ass message, but I’ve been DYING to talk about this. It’s fr been eating me up😭😭😭😭 ENHYPEN and &TEAM are like my top two groups but I really really really wish I was blissfully ignorant of what they did in I-Land🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠

omg yeah :(( tbh riki had much different intentions and voted taki out because he felt like taki could improve first and then come back to iland, and he communicated that perfectly to taki too. so i don't get the riki hate for that reason because everyone had to vote four people out anyways and it's hard to gauge to be faced with something like that right off the bat 🥲 ej's intentions with voting daniel out were .. interesting LMFAOO but it was also a decision they were making as children who just were competing to debut so i guess he was looking out for himself :') sometimes u gotta put yourself first !! tbh the final 12 were all people who were very proactive about putting themselves out there and had the survival show mentality while still being able to bond and not see each other as threats, which is why i do think more trainees needed to be a lot more forward 😔

yeah im glad i watched the show after they debuted too !! mostly because of the voting stuff bc honestly i didn't know the members too well before i watched the show LOL so i was genuinely surprised when k didn't make it since he seemed to be a producer favorite for a while 😵‍💫 but yeah that whole thing between him and riki reeeeally put me off for dna and i think he got even worse for flicker unit :/ he redeemed himself a little later in that episode and from then on but im glad you like k now ! yeah it's probably way different seeing him in a fixed group where he's secure instead of on a survival show where he's fighting to debut 🥲 i think since he was oldest out of the final 12 it felt more bittersweet when he was eliminated 🚶‍♂️

i get why it bothers you !! but im sure for ej's case i don't think any of them took the voting to heart or anything :') daniel was still suuuper happy for ej once he got to go back to iland even though he was sent to ground !! and ej was hugging daniel when he made it into the final 12 so the voting is definitely dramatized to feel worse than it is

[unchartedperils]

SPOILERS FOR MK1 AHEAD. DO NOT READ IF YOU DONT WANT TO SEE YET.

First Tournament was really good. Don’t have too much if any complaints, though I wish Shao put up more of a fight against Raiden. And I felt so bad for defeating Li Mei 🥺😭.

The Johnny-Kenshi friendship was really cool and I almost cried when Johnny gave Kenshi Sento.

YES BARAKA AND REPTILE GET TO KICK ASS AND TAKE NAMES! Unlike Reiko who stays as Shao’s jobber but that’s his job lmfao so I can’t be mad 😆 (don’t get me started with his “demonstration”).

The reveal of the Deadly Alliance, I LOST MY SHIT. Though I can’t say I like Quan Chi’s new voice or personality that much. At best he seems more like a Saturday morning cartoon villain in the background that Shang’s equal if not more dangerous accomplice.

Speaking of Quan Chi though, I REALLY LOST MY SHIT in Ashrah’s chapter. I had already known that her lore was unchanged at all other than she too had served under Quan Chi, but I still was in amazement at her chapter (wish Havik played a role but he’s up for later) and I hope she can free Sareena from Quan Chi in a possible Mythologies style DLC.

Next up: ERMAC. I CALLED IT, I CALLED IT, I CALLED IT. From the moment he was revealed and mostly bashed by the fanbase, there was a reason for his radical new look: HE WAS JERROD’S BODY and ultimately Quan Chi resurrected him with both his and other souls from the Living Forest! This had been building up since MK9 in numerous endings but it’s now been realized! So badass and touching (more on this in a min)

Then just like Deadly Alliance: THE DRAGON ARMY RESURRECTED BY THEM (not a fan of them writing Onaga out so far but there’s still hope for him)!

Onto Li Mei’s chapter: Obviously as a few of you know, my newest MK oneshot is a AU of her chapter and I have so much to say: Li Mei is just so awesome and I sympathize so much with her for being framed/kicked out of the Umgadi after Jerrod’s death. But her being Sun Do’s first cop is just as interesting and of course with Liu’s help does she kick ass and take names! Oh yea and TAKE THAT TANYA! I just knew you’d betray them just like the older timelines. But at least her and Empress Sindel’s relationship is restored. Btw I have another possible plot bunny for Li Mei but I’ll keep it a surprise.

Sindel: tears were shed when her and Jerrod reunited. And more at her death in his arms 😭😭😭.

Mileena: SO MUCH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND IT WARMED MY HEART! Even with her condition, she’s now a noble and strong warrior! Liu really did redeem her and gave her all she wanted in his New Era. 🥺🥹

And that’s all I can think of for up to the Dragon Army chapter. It’s around this time unfortunately as soon as Liu mentions “timeline” the MK11 part of the story was gonna come back. Per usual the quality dips quite a bit, but if nothing else we got the Armageddon tribute with Liu’s “Forces of Light” against Titan Shang’s “Forces of Darkness” and NRS literally did trial and error on various NPC designs 😆 (Black Dragon Sonya alone had me dying).

But the battle itself was really cool despite the wackiness and now EVERYONE’s ARCADE ENDING IS CANON IN SOME WAY SHAPE OR FORM! And bonus points to if you select someone other than Liu, he initially seems to lose to the Titan DA like in OG DA (except obviously not dying) before the selected character comes to his aid.

Great ending and I’ll leave off at that another 3D era character might attempt to leave where both the OG DA and Titan DA left off…