#saga is so good and so funny but also so fucking sad

[takuminis]

i just caught up with saga and i am so incredibly in my feelings about it

[dadvans]

my favorite line in the entire bucktommy saga is maddie's reading of "wait, it's the same tommy?" because at that point you know this girl has been THROUGH IT way too many times in a short period, like:

her soon-to-be husband comes home. he just fake called out sick from work to fly into a hurricane with his closest coworkers, her disaster-prone brother she mostly raised included, to save his boss and his wife. he tells her all about it, adrenaline still pumping the day after he comes back from the COAST OF MEXICO, and is like, no, it's fine! see, my old co-worker tommy works in air ops and I saved his life once, and we used to be super tight--[insert 10 minute off-topic backstory about how tommy used to be a jackass but now he's different here]--until he moved away, and funny enough, buck was the guy who filled in for him? anyways, tommy's the coolest, we could've died but we didn't! how was your shift at dispatch, honey

her brother she pretty much raised comes over and also brings up this tommy guy. yeah, he's so cool! do you think it would be weird if i called him up and asked for a tour of harbor? he just seemed like a neat guy, i want to be his friend, you think chim would put in a good word for me?

her brother she pretty much raised comes over AGAIN and is like, okay FUCK this tommy guy, he's so cool and knows everyone and his meat is huge!!! my best friend likes him more than me and they're doing things without me and i'm so sad about this in a really abstract way, can i please have a bagel

her soon-to-be husband comes home in the middle of this and is like, yeah he's cool and knows everyone and his meat is definitely huge. LOVE that guy!

her brother she pretty much raised shows up at her workplace and is like, remember how i was experiencing jealous thoughts and feelings because the coolest guy i've ever met with the biggest meat isn't paying attention to me and is new besties with my best friend? i may have caused bodily harm about this and yes i did involve your almost husband as a co-conspirator

approximately 2-to-3 business days pass where she experiences quiet. maybe too much quiet

her brother she pretty much raised comes over for a fourth time and is like, i lied to my best friend who i was just telling you i was angry at and s l i g h t l y injured because he kept hanging out with this other guy i was trying to hang out with and totally unrelated but i went on this date with someone and lied to my best friend about it and oh yeah it's the same guy but that is so besides the point it's not even worth mentioning

justice for maddie

[spineless-lobster]

Fuck me okay it’s 12:50 and I have to wake up early for work tomorrow but I don’t give a shit HERE ARE MY INCOHERENT THOUGHTS ABOUT THE WISDOM SAGA

Legendary:

- TELEMACHUS IS SO ADORABLE OH MY GOD I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!!

- FULL SPEED AHEAD!!!!

- ARGOS!!!! ARGOS MY BELOVED!!!!!

- bro just wants to see his dad is that so bad?

- WATCHU GONNA DO ABOUT IT CHAMP?????

Little wolf:

- AS MUCH AS A BANGER AS I THOUGHT IT WAS!!!!

- Antinous is such an asshole I love him “your mom’s a slut your dad left you and I’m gonna beat the shit out of you now”

- TELEMACHUS IS SO CUTE!!! Athena does quick thought and he’s like “WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING????” and when athena explains it all he’s oh “wait this is sick as hell!!!!” I love him your honour

- Rip telemachus still got your ass beat womp womp

We’ll be fine:

- THEY’RE BESTIES!!!!!! ATHENA AND TELEMACHUS ARE BESTIES WOOOOOO!!!!!!

- “I had a friend like you once” that reminds of how in the odyssey EVERYONE is like “wow telemachus you look just like your dad lol”

- they’re such cute besties I sure hope nothing bad happens to either of them! 😁

Love in paradise: (what the fuck)

- NAW WHEN ATHENA DID TIME DIVE AND ALL THE MUSIC PLAYED SUPER FAST ARE YOU BEING FOR REAL RIGHT NOW?????

- “Who’s penelope? 🥰” “my wife 😔” “😐”

- You can’t kill a goddess! *stream fucking dies*

- “I’m not your man” as “I’m just a man” what if I threw up

- y’know if calypso didn’t imprison odysseus on his island and harass him all the time I think I would like her

- also her voice is beautiful!

- NOT HER CALLING HIM ODY YOU CANT CALL HIM THAT!!!!!

- ody at the edge of the cliff… this part fucked me up

- SHE SAYS OPEN ARMS!!!! YOU CANT SAY THAT!!!

- POLITES!!!!!! 😭😭😭

- ALSJGLJSKFLFNGLSJFLSHDKSHDLSHDLAHDLSHDLSJGLSHDLSHDLSJFLSKDKDK ALL OF THE MOTIFS ALL AT ONCE WHAT THE FUCK NO NO YOU CANT DO THAT YOU CANT FUCKING DO THAT!!!!! STOP FUCKING STOP RIGHT NOW

- what if I killed myself then what

- jay when I find you it’s on sight

- straight up if I imagine ody’s pain for too long I get so incredibly sad it’s not even funny

- FREE MY MAN ODYSSEUS HE DID ALL THAT BAD SHIT BUT I DON’T CARE!!!!!

God games:

- LETS GOOOOO ANOTHER FUCKING BOOPPPP!!!!!!!

- APOLLO!!!!! <333

- I love songs with clanky bits like heph’s part it makes me :DDD

- Aphrodite’s voice is >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

- Ares’ flow is so insane I have it stuck in my head I love it

- beat the shit out of your brother athena lets goooo!!!!!

- HERA!!!!!! 🪩🕺🪩🕺🪩🕺🪩🕺

- GROOVY!!!!!!!

- “He never once cheated on his wife!” “…release him.”

- BEAST MODE ZEUS HOLY SHIT BEAST MODE ZEUS!!!!!!!

- SERIOUSLY THATS THE SICKEST THING EVER LUKE HOLT’S VOICE IS KN ANOTHER FUCKING LEVEL!!!!!!!

- TEAGAN’S VOICE TOO HOLY SHIT THIS SONG DEFINITELY HAS THE BEST VOCAL PERFORMANCES!!!!!!

- SHE CAN’T BE DEAD YOU CAN’T KILL A GODDESS SHE’S JUST TIRED SHE’S JUST SLEEPING!!!! EVERYTHING IS FINE!!!!!

…anyways so if you guys don’t hear from me it’s because I’ve run away to an isolated convent and have dedicated my life to god

Fuck what a good saga this was

[blackswampotter]

Honestly, this is kind of a bummer

My take on this show was always that it was pretty much fine.

Nothing incredible, but average. Average with some legitimately good ideas and plot points sprinkled in.

And, given how many average shows get to move forward, I figured that would be the same here.

But, nope, no more Acolyte and it's weird how disappointed I am by that.

Yes, much of the dialogue was clunky. Yes, the pacing suffered in the way it suffers for many of these streaming shows. Yes, several of the characters were fairly forgettable.

But, in spite of all that, I did find myself curious enough to keep watching. I liked the mystery angle and the different perspectives on the same tragic event.

I liked Sol and wanted to see what he was hiding. I liked the way Mae and Osha swapped roles and I liked the cliffhanger endings they both got.

I wanted to see where those characters were going to go and now we won't get that. And, yeah, that's a little sad.

It also sucks because the action sequences in this show were genuinely great and many of the fights were just straight up better than the prequel duels.

They were more vicious, more intense, and shot with a sense of urgency and dynamism.

And, something I find really funny about that is that this show, in a lot of ways, was trying to give the toxic fanboy types exactly what they claimed they wanted:

Prequel level action, focus on the Jedi Order, something outside of the Skywalker Saga, a darker story with a more villainous perspective, etc...

All of that, and they still loathed it for a bunch of annoying reasons.

End of the day, if the viewership isn't there, it isn't there. I don't want to give the rage merchants too much credit, but I do think they managed to pretty effectively poison the well around the discussion of this show.

They made it miserable to talk about or share any excitement or interest in the show, so fuck it.

Honestly, I feel like this is a prime example of a Disney Plus show that should've just been made as a proper, feature film released in theaters.

Relying on streaming metrics for a show this expensive meant they really couldn't afford low viewership. Plus, it was the ongoing week after week discussion that allowed the aforementioned well poisoning to continue for so long.

I'll be shocked if we don't get a novel or comic book or something that continues the story.

But, I guess we'll see what happens. Might be funny to just never expand on what the fuck Plagueis was doing in that cave lol

[deadite-central]

Okay so when I was almost done with it something bugged with tumblr and this post didn’t save, which is why it took me so long to get back to it. But since I left off the last Dressrosa post saying I can’t wait to talk about the things that are coming, let’s get to it

Usopp has been lying his way through most of the arc, generally not believing that he’s able to do anything significant to help. It’s a struggle he’s been having within himself from way back in pre timeskip obviously, but I love how he’s the one to finally stand up when Robin has been turned into a toy and the tontattas need help. He’s still terrified, and he still doesn’t quite believe he can do this, but he will try his best, and because of that, all the toys will finally be freed

Before they get their freedom, we get the Toy Soldier’s story on why he’s so adamant about defeating Doflamingo and protecting Rebecca. As it turns out, he’s Kyros, Rebecca’s father, and his story is incredibly tragic, where despite the toy’s face not moving an inch, you can feel the emotions he’s feeling, and the rain falling down his toy face is a wonderful although sad visual for crying when you physically can’t cry

And then finally, the moment everyone was waiting for, the aftermath of Usopp defeating Sugar (in a hilarious manner). From Doflamingo completely losing his cool when he realizes his entire plan has went to hell, to Kyros turning back into a human and decapitating his clone, to finally, one of my favorite moments in this entire arc: God Usopp. Things getting from ridiculous to more ridiculous here is just amazing, and I like how it keeps you on the edge of your seat, especially first time around, to also give you a few funny moments along the way

Proper introduction of the Revolutionary Army members here! Love their place in the story and I think considering the situation in Dressrosa now was better time than ever to have them really come into play for the story. Love their designs and the reasonings each of them you can figure out to have to be Revs, and of course I’m so happy to see more of Sabo. He’s an incredibly cool character to me and I’m so happy Luffy gets to have at least one older brother out there to look out for him

Back to the main plot, the birdcage is a genius idea. Oda often (if not always) introduces some type of timer for our crew that they can’t pass, and I think the birdcage has been the best idea he had so far. Using Doflamingo’s power to create something that not only locks everybody who knows of his true nature in Dressrosa, but also forces a deadline for everybody because otherwise, the birdcage will kill everyone. It’s also a good metaphor for Doflamingo’s character itself, as he doesn’t care about his subjects, he only wants power and destruction, even if that means killing an entire nation

With all the pieces in place , Luffy (and Law who gets carried around) can finally go after Doflamingo. We get one more moment of interaction between Luffy and Rebecca, with him finally revealing his actual name to her, and making it clear to her that things will work out. I love their friendship, as despite the fact it happened in about a day, they both clearly care so much about each other

One last thing I want to talk about before we get to the main battle of the arc, is Usopp awakening his observation haki. It’s funny that he doesn’t even realise it, but it shows how much he has grown and how much stronger despite his fears he’s gotten, which is such a nice touch in an arc filled with great Usopp moments, I love it

And finally, we get to the top floor starting what has been built up since the beginning of this saga. Everybody (except for Trebol fuck that guy) looks so cool here (and also Bellamy rip man) and it just hypes you up so much for the fight to come. The framing here is great and I love the expressions Oda draws for everyone involved. I’m incredibly excited for the upcoming fight

[lizzie-is-here]

HOLY SHIT ANT MAN QUANTUMANIA SLAPPED

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

holy shit

that was wild af

ok first of all, them not even being subtle w the whole thing being kind of a metaphor for colonization? our first intro to teen cassie being her getting arrested for fighting back attacks on a peaceful protest? slaps

i love her sm.

also the whole time i could not get over how great everyone’s eyelashes looked

i want the scott book so bad fr you can buy it through marvel

RYAN? AS IN BUZZFEED UNSOLVED RYAN?

I SCREAMED BRO AND SO DID MY FRIEND

the quantum realm looked so cool so things i thought were cool saga:

the manta ray flying thing

the snail horses

the hot general lady

the hot telepath

the sun jellyfish

um. the ant society? hello there are probs trillions of them what we saw at the end was a tiny fraction and i love that for them so much. you don’t understand that made me so happy.

WHAT THE FUCK WAS DARREN

HOWD HE GO FROM THIS

TO THIS

shit was horrific and when i first saw it i very loudly said “oh my gawd” in a full imax theater

ok but his death made me so sad. like cassie just gave him this great pep talk and he fuckin dies. what the hell. rip new avenger

maybe i’m just too emotional

hot general lady was hot and her staff could make people disappear

WHYD THEY KILL THE ROBOT DUDE NO

HE LOOKED LIKE RESIN

>:(

janet being a badass fr fr

omg my ear is bleeding

oh well moving on

that scene in the probability storm with all the scotts helping each other made me cry baskin robins scott slayed

ok but the rings around kang’s ship thing reminded me of the shang chi rings

and the ten rings were also emitting a signal, like how they all got into the quantum realm in the first place

the mid credits scene confused me lmao. i guess it’s the council thing from the loki series

BUT THAT POST CREDIT SCENE

ooh.

#let möbius and loki kiss 2023

but overall, this movie slapped. i say that about every movie but still. i loved the emphasis on scott and cassie’s relationship, i thought the special effects looked cool, and the creativity put into making the people of the quantum realm diverse but still very human was tangible.

10/10 good movie, though i do think it’s funny that ant man went from “thief that hangs out with his bestie in san francisco and occasionally fights with the avengers” to “oh my god he saved everyone and is now stuck with a very powerful multiversal enemy”

[boxenstopp]

previous one here (ep 1)

EPISODE 2 OF CZECH IT OUT GOING INSANE TIME

LETS GO!!

omfg i love these boys so much. anyway shadow here calls them "double Ms" and carzzy makes, probably an innuendo by telling him to get between his legs? marek then, in the intro, says stuff about double m two, and refers to them as "me and matyas" which first of all. he says matyas!! second of all, the says matyas? without the š?? could be english-izing.

carzzy then with the. and this is literally all i can think of when i hear/see it. beauty vlogger intro. "hello guys :)" but his eyes look completely dead i love it so much.

then there's a cut because you know these bitches were just awkwardly staring into the camera for far too long.

NOW. HAIR SAGA. carzzy needs to check his hair with his phone (fucking girl) and humanoid just starts messing with his too like I GET IT GUYS. YOURE LITTLE PRINCESSES. humanoid and his movement actually like he thinks he's in a hair commercial. and then.

needs to bump into carzzy because while carzzy is loud about being an attention whore and everyone knows it, humanoid is also one, just. more private about it or something (not really if i'm pointing it out here) probably planning something devious.... like calling carzzy hot.

NEXT. i always do a watch of these beforehand so i know what i'm getting into but honestly. always makes me gasp when humanoid leans over and just says "you're so fucking hot, oh my god" . like okay he can do that sure but normally that's a backing down type thing not a teehee i want attention from by bf. cannot overstate how much this means to me foaming at the mouth im normal guys im normal

also nothing except humanoid has. arms. and carzzy says he's "lost it mentally" but i mean we all knew that already.

THIS FRAME. a) carzzy with the eyes b) the fact that he actually leans towards marek like he's going right baby? hmm? good midlaner!!

also marek has the "backing down" face again cause his ryze got countered by the pantheon oh no :<<< he also does a little apologetic look down at back at carzzy like he's ashamed. this also makes carzzy laugh way too hard cause i mean, free insult for him xdd.

THEN. the synchronized stomped "to the floor" is AMAZING because they look so fucking proud like yes guys WE GOT IT.

so far no "marek brazda"s :( also genuinely i need to state how much these guys are pretty much the same around each other. constant just blatant insults, intense neediness same fucking humor all of it. there is no like needy/patient angle to me. humanoid would call himself the patient one sure, but he is WRONG.

really good carzzy face here btw. what he looks like in my mind 24/7.

+ bullying carzzy time! poor little sad baby can't hit an mf ult and it's call his fault until it isn't :( he goes on to go boo hoo actually it's reallt hard to hit an ult and it relies on MY team who were doing shit and ACTUALLY they were calling me a perfect player like yesterday so whose fault is it >:(

humanoid's face when carzzy claims that he'd called carzzy a perfect player

here we also get one of the stupidest dom/sub moments because really i don't know what else to call it. carzzy says humanoid shouldn't talk cause he isn't allowed. and then as a little funny joke haha humanoid pitches his voice disgustingly high and says. fucking. "yes i agree master" i mean he regrets it immediately after but he still said. that.

THE THING I TALKED ABOUT LAST EP . where one of them just entirely backs down and goes actually youre the fucking best thing in the universe. and this time it's marek and he's cute and stuff about it and actually very thought through explanation of how carzzy carries the entire team 1v9 <3 i mean not that this is a standard, he goes right back to insulting carzzy's elise but the dynamic of it is so so good chomping on thoughts rn

next segment is just humanoid making noises :)

carzzy goes on a rant about how he was sad and crying and depressed (but in a teehee way if that makes sense. in a :3 way.) and like any normal person humanoid GETS UP, has a weird scuffle and pulls carzzy's hood over his head. i mean you could argue carzzy initiated it but they're always on the verge of bodying each other. classic carzzynoid behavior love how they never explain shit youre just supposed to sit and stare like wtf

FINALLY THE ENDING. YOU DONT UNDERSTAND HOW CZECH IT OUT TORTURES ME. BUT THE ENDING. IS EVEN MORE TORTUROUS.

THIS SHIT. i have no comment i feel like if i did it would be exactly this. silence. they do this shit in complete silence. (we also get a bit of a bi thing w carzzy and humanoid saying i love you which is a thing. they do. but im also so tired goodnight lol enjoyers.)

VIDEO END.

final thoughts: ouwghdhwja. ahhhooaaaaaa. every time i watch one of these i go damn, they posted this? they went, hmm, this is good for out branding. 2 disasters trying to overcome their disaster-ly mess and come out on the other side exactly the same, just way more fucking annoying aboutit. what am i even saying anymore. also no marek brazda's :( too busy being gay ig

[bitegore]

🍄♻️🤔

🍄Describe your wip/one of your wips in the format of “_ + =__”

okay for the sake of my fucking sanity i am NOT going to presume I get any real wiggle room here. or i will do another 400 line proof. because it is fun but oh my god it takes so long.

((Felyx + Taran)(Rex + Haven + Taran) + fake dating)^spite = fireworks

♻️A scrapped idea for your current WIP(s)

not sure it qualifies as a "wip" because I haven't actually decided to pull it out of the graveyard of abandoned-works out-of-progress yet - call it a wip-aspirational or something lol - but the more I poke at Haven and Taran's actual story the more fun I have thinking about siccing Rex on the two of them. In like 2020 or 2021, so, a good while ago at this point and at a time I'd describe myself as "rusty" I started working on whatever the worst version of a meetcute is (ending in the equation above) lol. If I recall correctly my endgame then was that the three of them would fall into a stable orbit. I think that's kind of silly now. They're not that kind of people.

other scrapped idea, same story: Rex and Taran were meant to get along. That's not happening. It's a lot funnier if Rex and Haven (both deeply, deeply difficult people to get along with who hate accommodating for other people) can find a way to coexist pleasantly but Taran, resident NormalGuy who is extremely accustomed to unpleasant asshole bullshit, genuinely cannot get over Rex's various fuckeries beyond, like, the civility of "I recognize that you are living in my house now because the other person who lives here really likes you, and I don't want to have a screaming match in my own fucking kitchen." I tend to make Rex tolerable to speak to when I write him on his own because it's narratively difficult to use a protagonist who will just spit anything handed to him in someone else's face, but in this particular setup he is actively attempting to get Taran's genuine actual hatred on purpose because he's under the impression that's the goal and he's having fun with it also, so it lets me just make him a huge cunt asshole too which is more fun than having him show any scraps of humanity anyway :D

ok let me come up with something you have actual interest in lol

The Rex & Casey conversation fic I was working on ran into an unrecoverable roadblock (I decided the premise needed work) and has to be restarted in a different place with a slightly different version of Casey (tragic!), so one of the things I had to scrap to keep it rolling is Rex commenting on the color of the sky. It's really sad for me because I always think it's funny when you have a guy In a hell dimension like "damn... this place is weird.... the sky isn't bright red, it's eerie". But I can't justify The Story bringing Rex into The Real World as a Plot Element now that I know more about how it works, so I

......

Aha. Well. Actually. I can't justify Alan using The Story to bring Rex into The Real World, because I know how he works. Might have fixed my opinion on my own premise.

We'll see, I'll sleep on it. It needs to cook longer anyway. I also realized (aw2 spoilers) (for serious) (skip this paragraph now if you havent at least finished the first run of the game) if it happens in The Story In The Real World it's got to be situated between Saga's first time going through the loop with Alan and the Final Draft, but I still haven't found enough time to watch t full playthrough of Final Draft, so I'm sure when I hit Zane's part in there and then endgame I'll know a bit more about the direction I want to take.

🤔What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet

Anything like that I have, either it's so busy being a concept I cannot write it yet, or I've started it just to make sure I won't forget it XD so it's hard to come up with. And most of the concepts are less "this is the kind of story I want to write", so much as "this is the kind of effect I want it to have". You know. I want to write something ~mind-bending~ or I want to ~do talking animals but cool~ or whatever.

A lot of words to say I'm drawing a huge blank on this question.

I think - and this is something I keep approaching with different stories but not leaning into, because, frankly, I'm the first line of concept-check for myself, and i get bored - I'd really like to try a story that works as one extended record-scratch. You start at the very end, in a scene that means basically nothing to anyone, and then in the events of reading the entire rest of the story you get more and more context until the very end of the book is the exact same scene as the first part, like, down to the description, and then it just loops infinitely. Something you could read spiral-binding style so it doesn't really have a "start" or an "end", just points between chapters with cardboard so you can close it anywhere, if it's a physical book. you know, some experimental shit.

Unfortunately I find time loops boring as hell to write. This would be ONE loop, so it'd maybe be better, but I'm still kind of burnt on being willing to touch another timeloop from how badly I did not enjoy the one I wrote for an exchange like two full calendar years ago. And also I do have other things to be doing.

That's also not a story! That's a plot structure! I might as well say I want to write The Hero's Journey for all it really tells you 😂 at my heart I'm a parodist, I'm going to need to see someone do it wrong and decide to do a better job than they did to really get a fire lit for an actual narrative here. I do love me some themes of insurmountable stupid bullshit you put yourself into on purpose because you decided you could surmount it and then discovered you couldn't, and some futile attempts at some stupid shit for retroactively-really-dumb reasons that weren't worth it, so it'll have that. as seasoning. because what is a permanent stable timeloop but one person committing suicide over and over? I'm only really able to approach the properly frozen-in-sequence ones as either Hand Of God (boring) or Sunk Cost Fallacy On Steroids (fun! interesting! miserable in a slightly unusual way!) so...

....well, it's going to have to keep simmering, because I like what I've got in the broth, but there's no meat in there yet, only spices. It would make a terrible meal right now. But it answers the question, I think.

[atarev]

Future Redeemed Rambles/Thoughts

FUTURE REDEEMED SPOILERS!! DON'T CLICK UNDER THE CUT IF YOU DON'T WANT THOSE!!

So! Future Redeemed is A Lot. Both as a prequel to 3 and a book-end to the Klaus Saga.

I am enthralled by it with my only major complaints being the return of the Community system + things like Gem Unlocks being locked behind excessive exploration which doesnt gel with my personal aim for these games which is Get Strong Quick, Punch Big Bad In Face.

Starting off with what started it all, Klaus's experiment and the insights we gained into the Trinity Processor. (I haven't reviewed 2's TP stuff extensively so I might get some details wrong) But i love the details we got! About how Pneuma was engineered as a female persona, Logos as a male one, and Ontos as a (NON-BINARY!!) arbiter! I love how this finally gives context to why Gallea was given godhood beyond her being in the room with Klaus. it's because Ontos; Alvis needed two halves to balance and ultimately introduced a third, splitting his power more to favour Shulk. Whereas in 2, Ontos wasn't even there so Klaus was handed his godhood alone, leaving Pneuma and Logos as purely processors of information. I also think that "those two" that Rex was referring to in the final fight weren't Pyra and Mythra, but rather Pneuma and Logos. Since realistically, Pyra and Mythra wouldn't have helped that much, being about equal strength to Rex as is, who alongside the party in general was already clearly struggling. But if we think about Ontos's actions wholely as a radical conclusion of a machine being actualised, having its two main "weights" present may have actually shut him off (It turns out that Pneuma was kinda sorta there in Matthew's glove, and Logos maaaybe in N's sheath).

Now focusing in on more of FR's specific details and its links to 3. First of all, It Worked!! Origin worked!! It brought the worlds together!! I'm so happy we got to see that. And dude,,,Dude the blending of 1 and 2s world! How Valak and Tantal combined alongside Prison Island! How Colony 9 actually existed! And god how sad it was that it was so ruined and overgrown and it eventually got annihilated by Origin, which explains why we never see the Cent-Omnia region in Base 3, because Origin wiped it out.

What I would've done to hear Rex and Shulk call their kids their son and daughter out loud!! I'm so mad (not really) that they didn't, also I guess Panacea and Linka founded the houses that Rex and Shulk are the statues of, good we got to see the actual founders! As for the 7th, I have absolutely no idea. Maybe it was spelled out and i missed it? It'd be super super funny if it was Riku, maybe A?

Dude, God, A!! I love that her Vision breaks Alpha's Perfect Monado Buster and lets the player beat him! Xenoblade has always been really good about tying its themes and world into gameplay (Yaldabaoth, visions against Zanza, Vs Jin and Malos above Morytha). (Also cuz i was playing with the Japanese voices I had to piece together that that's what was needed LMAO).

And perhaps what took me out the most, Riku's masterpon is MELIA?!?!?!

THE FUCK?!?!?

So THAT's what that nod was in Origin!

Anyway uhhhhh Future Redeemed Good. Buy all the Xenoblade Games on Switch. Do it

[childofaura]

Big question I have: who are your top 10 favourite Awakening characters from the First Generation and why?

This one will be fun :D also same disclaimer I always say: these aren’t in any particular order except for number one, because he really is number one.

That’s pretty much how all my lists go, lol.

Priam. This man is perfect and wonderful in so many ways; before I played Awakening, I watched all the confessions of the male characters, saw him, and went “THAT ONE. HE’S THE ONE .” He left me smitten even before I knew anything about him, like him being Ike’s descendent, and I’ve always been drawn more towards the “Avatarsexuals”. The game always tries to play him off as annoying, but he’s just incredibly passionate about gaining strength. He’s actually pretty passionate about everything he does, especially when he confesses that he’s fallen in love with you. His confession portrait has to be one of the most romantic in the game:

Priam is a hulking beast of a warrior but here, he’s kneeling down in front of you, having taken his gloves off so he can hold your hand in his (no one else does this by the way) while he gazes adoringly into your eyes. Combine that with how powerful and handsome he is, he’s my ultimate husband choice in Awakening. The only downside is how far in the game he is before you can recruit him (Chapter 25) but he’s worth it.

2. Aversa. I like a lot of SpotPass characters, and I like Aversa for her extra lore. Most people hate the SpotPass characters for turning the villains “good”, but I think it’s neat that the bad guys help defeat the TRUE villain pulling the strings (and it’s not like bad guys like Validar became good). Aside from that, Aversa is actually a sweetheart who struggles with making friends because she feels like she doesn’t deserve it (in her supports with M!Robin at least). It definitely makes her one of the more interesting female Awakening characters.

3. Vaike. WHEN, IS??? WHEN ARE WE GETTING TEACH??? Here’s hoping he’s not a demote when we get him… he’s a cool dude and his support with Sully is actually pretty touching, they were made for each other.

4. Frederick. I think Frederick (along with Dedue) is actually one of the nicer vassal characters in Fire Emblem, because Jakob can kind of be an asshole sometimes and Hubert is… Hubert. He’s diligent, cares about others, and holds the Shepherds together.

5. Gregor. The dude is SO overlooked as “haha funny Russian man” despite the fact that he’s powerful as fuck and even could have been a Khan of Regna Ferox if he wanted to. And RESOURCEFUL, the fact that he knew how to do Cordelia’s makeup is impressive. Plus I think he’s the best dad for Severa (I actually headcanon that Severa is bilingual in Gregor’s homeland tongue and it comes out when she’s pissed off at something or someone). Great dude and I’m glad he got added to FEH.

6. Gangrel. I said it. He works great as an antagonist and he’s a fun ally with a fascinating backstory (he kind of reminds me of Askeladd from Vinland Saga). It’s actually really sad to me that he dies a horrible death if he doesn’t support with F!Robin, I’d have liked for him to have loved to do SOMETHING.

7. Kellam. NO END. I’VE HEARD NO END TO THE INVISIBILITY JOKES. I GET IT. I will ALWAYS acknowledge my boy. He’s such a sweetheart and I adore his support with Olivia. He better get a prf when he gets added to FEH or I will riot.

8. Panne. She turns into a bunny. I like her.

But also she has a great backstory.

9. Virion. Ok yes he’s silly and goofy and flirts with anything that looks remotely female and walks on two legs. But if you read his Support with F!Robin (definitely one of the most sincere supports of the game in my opinion), he’s actually a very noble and caring guy. Especially during one of the DLCs where he sells an heirloom dagger for an old couple who was sick, and refuses to be acknowledged in any way or form for doing so. He’s got a great heart.

10. Mustafa. Does this count? Probably not but I wanna give him a shoutout anyways. I’m mad that HE wasn’t a SpotPass character, as cool as Walhart was, I would have preferred Mustafa. At least he got added to FEH, I’ll take what I can get.

Special additional shoutouts to Olivia, Sully, Lon’qu, and Yen’fey, they’re also really cool. I do like the other characters (especially Maribelle’s support where she knows how to talk like a sailor) but I’d prioritize these guys on the list.

[deathweak]

my review (ish) of whole cake island saga/one piece until chapter 902 (obv spoilers until then)

originally my fav arc was alabasta. then water seven/enies lobby. then it was impel down. then it was punk hazard/dressrosa. but then...whole cake island... actual emotional rollercoaster

the best part of this arc was definitely how human some of big moms kids were. my fav new characters introduced in this arc were pudding, chiffon, brulee and katakuri. i wish that big moms kids will all escape from her.. oda writes abusive families a lot, even the 'good' parents will beat their kids in one piece, i guess thats just the world they live in... but when it's a bad parent... oh man.

i managed to somehow not get spoiled about sanjis family at all, i was pretty shocked abt the reveal. i love reiju, even tho she was complicit in/a bystander to a lot of the abuse sanji suffered, i dont think there was anything more she couldve done. she saved his life multiple times over. i really hope we get to see her again.

but the best character in this arc was pudding. her mood swings/evil personality/tsundere gag wasnt the funniest ever but she was genuinely so human.. the way i kept going back and forth like.. is she just pretending to be evil? is she pretending to be in love with him? is she gonna betray him?? AND THE KISS... i actually ship sanji and pudding just a little ..

like i actually cried here. her arc was just chefs kiss(lol) amazing.

my other favourite antagonists were brulee and katakuri. at first i didnt like either of them, but after how much the gang bullied brulee i started to feel sorry for her and grew fond of her. i also always end up having a soft spot for odas 'ugly' female characters since it's just such a breathe of fresh air inbetween all the uncomfortable fan service (honestly the fan service kinda ruins a lot of scenes)

i didnt think there would be any deeper connection between brulee and katakuri until the very last moment, and this scene is one of my favourites in the whole series

like. brulees SMILE. the scar. katakuri was just defending his sister.. also the way flampe thought she was the favourite sister. nah!! thats brulee!!! i fucking ended up really loving her. i mean without her powers being abused by straw hats they wouldve all died. sorry brulee, you didnt deserve that... i hope mama didnt punish her after. also the way that katakuri was glad luffy got away!! he gained so much respect for luffy during their fight. Also i love how hes lowkey a jojo reference (and your next line will be...)

the way that a lot of big moms kids think theyre monsters is so sad.. but these three are just my favourites. i honestly love them. this arc is really about family bonds.. blood family and found family especially.

like sanji calling zeff his father multiple times and denouncing judge, but still hes such a kind person he had to save his blood family anyway. SANJIIiii. man. the way he really is. truly. KIND. i hate whenever hes being a complete pervert, sometimes its funny when hes in the respect women mode but when hes just being a creep i hate him. but this arc made me appreciate him a lot more, and i can kinda forget abt all the weird stuff.

when he was crying in the rain, lost all hope, and luffy gives him the light again..

i like that men are allowed to cry in one piece. like kyros cried all the time after being turned human again, and sanji cried multiple times in this arc. i cried at this scene as well.. luffy really out here saving the lives/souls of his whole crew. hes such a pure bright star..

lastly this scene!! CORAZOOOOONNNN!!! luffy didnt even know about that..the way he held his mouth shut and forced a smile to make sure his crew wouldnt be worried.

if i didnt know that he was gonna survive i might have actually thought he was gonna die

the annoying part about one piece for me is the plot armor tbh. theres no stakes, bc i know none of the straw hats can die. idk if id want one of them to die but it would bring some real shock to the readers. like the gang will pretty much always win by some trick in the end, sometimes its funny like how usopp defeated sugar, but sometimes it feels like a bit of a cop out. but i think luffy and katakuris fight was believable, the only gripe i have with it is that it was dragged out a biiit too long. this arc couldve been a good 5-10 chapters shorter if oda hadnt dwelled so long on things.

also i love love love how lola became relevant again and chiffon wanted to repay the debt of nami saving her twin sister, also mamas vivre card coming in clutch lmao. nami was epic in this arc, she went up against big mom without losing her shit too badly. i love her sadistic streak lolll. cant forget brook in this either, he was hilarious.

finally. RIP pound. a great father. also RIP pedro. two good guy casualties in one arc, is oda finally permakilling people?

overall id say this arc was a 9/10. -1 point for being a bit dragged out and the fan service with reiju.

[brick-a-doodle-do]

Hitting you with boredom questions for the inbetweens of lore.

Hit me

Your fav word right now

Fav number

Fav letter

Fav flower and specific colour

Fav plot line of the dsmp lore you’ve seen so far.

Fav most recently watched interaction of dsmp lore

Have you been hit with any story fic ideas while watching the lore as of right now

Skirts or shorts?

Bucket hats or caps?

Fav movie snack

Are you a hoodie person? If yes, zip ups or pull overs?

Hope this fills some time!!!! Thanks for the previous questions before!!!

THANK YOU i just watched the sad-ist animation dawn of 16 again bc it's my tradition to watch them at the end of each era (sometimes before or sometimes after depending on what it was for) so i am just so hype rn for no reason. i fucking love the dream smp 😭😭

ANYWAYSSS THANK YOU FOR THE QUESTIONS :d

HMM probably smithereen(s) (for obvious reasons) or trembling. those are fun :D

my favorite number changes but usually i like the numbers 6 & 11 :D

HMMMMMM probably m, w or d bc they're fun to write

my favorite flowers are calendulas. um. for no reason in particular. ahah

HH favorite specific color is hard cause idrk? i usually go with red as just my basic favorite color. but if i was being specific specific, idk the name but i do know the hue is #c92351. also tortilla brown is good if paired with the right colors

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH there's so much to say. i can't go down the road of any bonding stuff cause TECHNICALLY that isn't really a plot line. so um i like the dreamon thing with tubbo fundy & sap, uhhh and of course when tommy and wilbur are FRESH out of exile. and going wayyy back, i really like seeing how tommy starts to like...form the server into what it eventually ends/ended up being. it's fun. and of course the disc saga cause YES!!! BUTTT if i had to choose i'd say CURRENTLY it's the sapnap & tommy duel in the pet finale. it's fucking funny as shit 😭 OHH and also that whole thing where everyone has schlatt surrounded and he just dies from a heart attack and comes back and says "flatty. patty." IT'S SO RANDOM I LOVE IT

for INTERACTIONS i can go specific cause yes....um techno giving his "die like a hero" speech is nice. and dream and tommy sitting on the bench together is just...peaceful. cause a LOT of the server is together looking off into the distance, it feels like a REALLY good ending to a "season". and uhh there's a lot of little interactions like the whole schlatt thing i mentioned...oh god i need to cut myself off bc actually watching VODS instead of like lore outlines is so rewarding cause i can get down in the crevices and see EVERYTHING (granted i have a LOT of different povs to get to but it's happening! slowly! and with the delayed (cancelled) season 2 i have a lot more time than i thought i did lmao)

i have actually! a lot.... :') mainly just little things cause everytime someone says REMOTELY close to sounding g/t i just....mwah add it to random lines i might make a fic out of. i already sent orchid a fake fic title from something wilbur/tommy (i forget) said LMFAO

i'd prefer pants over anything but shorts!

not a hat gal, and if i am it's beanies....but if i had to choose i'd say bucket hats, they're a vibe :D

HM i gotta go with the basic option of saying popcorn. it's just unbeatable and the BEST option out of everything :D bonus if there's hot tamales or mike & ikes mixed in >:3

yes i am! and pullover all the way, i hate the way zippers look

THANK YOU FOR THESE QUESTIONSSS !!!

time for exile arc lets goo

[dwn055]

im rewatching saint seiya and i am in a phase rn so bear with me cuz im thinking about this again so much, I got lots of thoughts im just gonna talk about

Other than just rewatching the original 80s one(plus like the rest if it cuz my siblings never got to watch all of it with me), i decided i'd give a chance to the knights of the zodiac netflix cartoon too and i was super surprised I really liked the second season alot more than i thought especially cuz I wasn't really the biggest fan of the first season

Honestly, the show isn't like the worst thing ever but like it had a very bad rocky start with all of the changes (Shaun💀, the military guy, i guess i can't really say anything too bad about it but the somewhat lackluster animation and how little impact of visuals we had as compared to the original ver,(like rly still thinking of the injustice of shiryu changing the direction of the waterfall only going up like an inch and its treated like he learned the move, its rly fucking funny how it was tho) plus the seriously fast pacing to cramp everything in there before the sanctuary arc but I'm actually glad I enjoying this show now cuz there's not alot of new material or spinoffs made from this franchise that is actually enjoyable unfortunately and i really did wanna give this show a chance when it first came out but we finally got to where its good!!!!! and like i actually appreciate alot of the changes they added or expanded in the 2nd season so the characters wouldn't seem so stupid or whatever. plus now the writing is evenly paced where it doesn't feel like things just immediately happen then move on before we get to fully take it in

Anyway im gonna try to see if I can make points of what i wanna say of what i like here so lol

There's a better explanation now for why Sienna is like some cursed Athena

More June or Genet(?) role into the story

The other good guys who are not the bronze saints are not sitting around twiddling their thumbs and their story is mixed into Marin's offscreen journey to StarHill

Their version explanation why the Sanctuary is duped for so long by Saga

Evil fucked up Athena prophecy

Ok, like first of all I know its supposed to be a build up for the Sanctuary arc but honestly I really didn't understand why they went with this plot, personally I'm still not a big fan of it but I think that they way they used it for the story of them already knowing Sienna is already a goddess rather than them thinking she's a fake like the original because it takes out the plot point of why hasn't anyone seen Athena around for like 13 years and how they let that shit slide so I can see why they changed that subplot. Plus honestly, I feel like the the reveal will probably be that Saga was lying that she was going to bring chaos to the world anyway just so he could take over, though idk im just guessing it's probably what it is but ig they could still make the prophecy happen and its just like "changed fate" or whatever

Genet (ok im just gonna refer to her original name June cuz i don't know how they spelled it)

I'm super happy they made June sort of secondary main character and expanded her relationships with Daedulus and Shaun cuz she deserved so much better and they really delivered. Like i thought it was sweet they had more of a father-daughter relationship in this one and it was really sad to see the scene when she discovers he's died(or dying from this ver)

I also thought it was kinda clever they made Daedulus be Shion's student along with Mu/be like the inventor(cuz of his name haha) since he didn't do jackshit in the original other than basically die, plus we get to see early Aphrodite appearance, and it was super cool. I really enjoyed seeing their ver and of the fight instead of the handwave in the original 80s anime, that already had to unintentionally butcher the story to make it Milo who killed everyone on Andromeda Island then last second say "oh yea Aphrodite was there too cuz he spit the rose at Shun's teacher that weakened him"(which Milo got away scotfree for, like he wasn't the one who killed everyone on the island but Aphrodite is the bad guy cuz he helped kill the important character)

But anyways it was nice seeing June just get focus in general and get to fight and actually be cool, when in the original she was just Shun's love interest cuz she's girl. also her sibling relationship with Kiki was super cute, I liked them qwq I'm excited with whatever they give her in the future honestly

Starhill subplot

June's part sort of a build up to this part but I did like that they had the other "good guys" travel with Marin and June to Star Hill instead of just sitting around playing jacks and cards while they wait for the next 12 hours. Honestly it didn't bring much interactions(other than basically June and Kiki) or rly bring depth to anyone else other than Marin having a connection to Aiolos and him being the reason why she has a mask/forgot her memory, like the most they got for the gold saints is that they're basically in denial about betraying the pope or whatever

but I still thought it was great to see something else going on and its actually very sad that Mu found out Shion(or Sion, im assuming from how they pronounced it) died the hard way, which leads to this next one

The whole reason why the Sanctuary is on the Pope's side

Since they changed the reason why anyone would actually be on the Pope's side in this one being that they don't want the world to be destroyed so they begrudgingly decide they should kill Athena no matter the sacrifices, plus they highlight the Pope's good side much more rather than his bad side, Also the explanation for why Saga's blue hair and pronouns ass isn't found out, cuz his magic turns his hair the same color as Shion's when he puts on the helmet which like yeah

This one was actually a really good change in my opinion cuz it makes some of the characters who should probably be smarter about it, seem less stupid, cuz in the original story in general, Saga's actions as the pope is probably the most sus out there that basically its hard to see why anyone would still think he's actually a good person telling them the truth about anything. Then the 80s anime had to really take liberties and just hope the people watching would forget the crazy ass lore/explanations they said about the Pope and somehow just try to paste Saga into the picture to follow the original story of the manga, where the anime starts that the good pope died so his evil brother Pope Ares took over as the new pope where things began to just suck ass for the sake of it but then they had to fit Saga into the story where he had actually killed the original pope 13 years ago instead and its like which one? the first one or Ares? Or a completely different guy altogether? (who's the Shion fill-in)

So I think that the whole "It's a hard decision but we gotta do what we gotta do because the prophecy could fuck us up if we leave it to Athena" and its like yeah it's definitely more plausible and basically when Saga's evil side does something sus, he's (im assuming accidentally)immediately cancelled out by his good side crying or whatever about his actions that the others use that to basically guilttrip the person going against him to feel bad which makes more sense why they are stuck in this dumb loop rather than just seeing a blatantly evil guy be in control, (which is something ig i can't actually fault the original story anyway cuz there was no such thing as gray morality back then in the 80s, or ig if u count whatever "gray morality" manga!Shura had ig tho imo its dumb as hell but anyways thats a rant for another time)

But anyways this rant was mainly for Shaka cuz honestly, I think the original anime made him a lot more evil or as evil as they could make him and its like there's no way in hell how someone like Shaka doesn't even have a doubt about Saga, though ig he still doesn't know that he's an imposter in either version but the manga honestly has a somewhat (really take this with a grain of salt)better explanation onto why Shaka doesn't think Saga is evil as compared to the anime ver because he explains its the same reason he spared Ikki where deep down he's not really evil, but also like you are still enabling him being evil rn dude??🤨

Cuz like the scene where Saga does the Demon Emperors fist that mind controls Aioria right in front of him to kill a person, Shaka doesn't even bat an eye that he used a move called that while in the kotz Shaka at least questioned him a little about it but then immediately justifies it to himself when the pope gave him a handwave explanation and didn't tell him of what he's actually mind controlling Aioria to do (im pretty sure)

Anyways that was probably my whole rant about this but wow I have a change if heart about kotz now, im actually looking forward to the second half since they kinda abruptly stop at Milo's fight, They really just needed that slowburn to actually become a little bit better storywise

[nikkirecs]

i’m so sorry roy

this is gonna be a monster because i love educating baby weebs

psych

Zankyou no Terror - saw you paused it but it gets so wild in the latter half and i just love it so much

MONSTER - possibly one of the greatest psych anime of all time

86: Eighty Six - if you like code geass you’ll probably like this

BANANA FISH - it’s tragic. it’s gay. i’m sad.

Death Parade - an anime about death

Made in Abyss - it fucks up my head so much, also could probs go ounder the shounen section

PSYCHO-PASS - defs makes you think about society 

Yuukoku no Moriarty - the manga’s better but still fun

shounen (by that i mean action/adventure bc there’s defs non-shounen here)

HIGH CARD - it’s not finished but has those bsd vibes

World Trigger - i actually read not watched and tay says s1 isn’t great but 2&3 are and i love the manga

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST - one of the greatest anime of all time, it’s amazing and has some psych elements too

HUNTER×HUNTER (2011) - long and so worth it, again one of the greatest anime of all time

Kekkai Sensen - very fun urban fantasy with a+ characters

Soul Eater - my favorite anime of all time, the manga is better but it’s still amazing, some fanservice

Akatsuki no Yona - heavy on the romance and idk how you feel about it but it’s so good, an adventure 

Arslan Senki (TV) - by the creator of fma, a fun story of a prince reclaiming his throne

Baccano! - fun mafia ensemble that has spn elements 

BLEACH - one of the greatest shounen of all time with a shitty ending. really just stop when it feels like it should end (i can’t say when without spoiling it)

BURN THE WITCH - by the creator of bleach, it’s fun but you need to read the prequel first

Dr. STONE - it’s fun and sciency 

Enen no Shouboutai - by the creator of soul eater, it’s a fun anime about firefighters who use fire powers, some fanservice

Kyoukai no Kanata - another urban fantasy with kyoani art so it’s beautiful

Luo Xiaohei Zhan Ji (Movie) - it’s a really cute urban fantasy

Magi: The labyrinth of magic - a fun shounen about dungeons 

Mob Psycho 100 - about a boy who’s too powerful and an adult who is irresponsible in most ways but is very responsible with how he treats children

Promare - it’s just fun

Shingeki no Kyojin - it feels weird to rec this bc the series goes downhill tbh but the early seasons are a+ shounen with a lot of psych elements later on

Ansatsu Kyoushitsu - listen you’ve seen nothing it’s making it hard to find creative ways to hype things up

Ao no Exorcist - full disclosure the first season has an anime original ending which isn’t great but s2 gets it back on track

Durarara!! - so fun and defs something for someone who likes bsd

K - heavy fanservice warning but bsd vibes are great

Kemono Jihen - honestly i forget about this so much but it was fun and p basic shounen

Modao Zushi - it’s just v good

THE GOD OF HIGH SCHOOL - it’s fun, it’s funny, it’s got great animation 

Vanitas no Carte - the manga’s better but i still like this lots

VINLAND SAGA - could also be psych probably but it’s v good

EDENS ZERO - by the creator of fairy tail so fanservice warning

GANGSTA. - the quality is not great but it’s fun. i really need to read the manga

Kami no Tou: Tower of God - it’s fun. i’m excited for s2

ORIENT - honestly kinda meh but i’m fond of it

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - it wild

One Punch Man - op protags are fun

Owari no Seraph - i love fighting vampires

spoani bc it’s good for everyone

Blue Lock - you mentioned that you read it so you should watch it too

Aoashi - a+ soccer anime

Cross Game - technically this is sports but really it’s a drama about grief and how we handle it and move on

Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru - god what a good spoani

SK∞ - it fun

Ballroom e Youkoso - dancing spoani

Chihayafuru - v romance heavy but still v good

Diamond no Ace - baseball boys

Ookiku Furikabutte - more baseball boys

Yuuri!!! on ICE - figure skating is fun

Kuroko no Basket - basketball boys

Yowamushi Pedal - biking boys

misc 

GREAT PRETENDER - it’s so fun and all about heists which is one of my favorite things i just coudln’t find where it would fit

Godzilla: Singular Point - tbh i just like science and giant monsters

[butterboy69420]

Butterboy's Bizarre One Piece Rambles Part 2: Alabasta

Yet another saga I will tackle with one post. Well...mostly. There's one thing I want to talk about first. Again, none of these screenshots are mine, they're stolen.

WARSHIP ISLAND

I know this arc is filler, but I think Apis is cute. I thought this arc was cute and wholesome, with Apis wanting to protect her dragon. I wouldn't mind if Apis had become a canon character and had joined the gang. Also! She's a Devil Fruit user too! That's cool.

I don't have much to say about this arc, but I thought it was a solid one-off story. I definitely think this one was worth watching.

REVERSE MOUNTAIN

I like the little bits of worldbuilding upon establishing the Grand Line. There's the Calm Belt and the Sea Kings, which definitely add peril to the Grand Line. I just thought the different conditions of the sea was neat. That requires them to use log poses instead of regular concepts. I thought that little bit of worldbuilding was neat and really added more meat to the world. Really adds more to the adventure feel. Anyways, because this is a show that involves sailing, they have to run into the obligatory whale. And that whale is Laboon. Lemme just say, Laboon is baby. I love that whale. Poor guy just got abandoned. Luffy and his gang better come back to him at the end of the series or else I'll be sad. I think it's sweet that at the end, Laboon just has the Straw Hat symbol drawn over his scar.

I also find it so funny that Laboon just casually has a fucking island inside him and that the old flower guy is just looking after him. Like everyone mistook his insides for being at sea. Also Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday are first introduced here, which is neat. After the whole thing with Laboon, the Straw Hats take them to Whisky Peak. Speaking of which...

WHISKY PEAK

I think it was about this point where I noticed this saga had a more linear story than East Blue. So basically the Straw Hats are welcomed to this island that treats pirates like celebrities, which is way different from how previous islands treated them when they showed up. Previously in East Blue, if they went on an island, they were usually treated with disdain. But then here they're treated like celebrities. But there's a twist. This island is run by Baroque Works members, who is the group of big bads in this saga. So they get ambushed by them and they all fight.

Imma be honest, I don't remember much of this arc aside from the "Luffy, it's good to see ya buddy!" memes. It's not really that this arc is forgettable, it actually has a lot of important shit in it such as introducing Baroque Works. Anyways, they fight the guys and they defeat them. Fucking Luffy and Zoro fight each other. There's these other two guys, Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine, who show up. I think their abilities are really cool, although Mr. 5's fucking Snot Snot no Mi ability or whatever is...unique to say the least. Anyways, they're here because it turns out Miss Wednesday and Mr. 8 are actually spies for Baroque Works. Their real identities are Princess Vivi and Igaram, who are both from the Kingdom of Alabasta.

I liked that Mr. 9 and Miss Monday, even though they're not from the Kingdom of Alabasta, they still decided to ally themselves and fight for Vivi and Igaram. I was a bit sad that they never showed up ever again, but hey at least Vivi joined the gang. Oh yeah, there was something about Luffy destroying the log pose that Vivi gave the gang to take them to Alabasta, but I'm not sure what that was all about TBH.

Also...I have a bit of a crush on Miss Monday. I wish she did more, sob sob.

I forgot to mention that Miss All Sunday, Mr. 0's partner in crime, is also here. She cryptically shows up on the Going Merry. She's important. Keep her in the back of your mind.

God I want her to step on me.

LITTLE GARDEN ARC

The gang arrives to Little Garden, which is not so little. There's fucking dinosaurs and giants here. There's two giants here and they're in this 100 year war with each other, and that...weirdly also ties into Zoro and Sanji's weird rivalry with trying to see who can collect the most amount of dinosaur meat. I dunno, I wasn't too invested in this arc just yet. Until Mr. 3 and Miss Golden Week showed up, knocked out one of the giants (because characters in One Piece don't die, sometimes to a fault, as you'll see later). I love Miss Golden Week's design, she's just a little painter girl, she's so silly.

Anyways, Mr. 3 nearly transforms Zoro, Vivi, Nami, and one of the giants into wax. And while they're being transformed into wax, Zoro just decides to fucking pose in the middle. God, Zoro is so stupid sometimes, it's great. Like you'd think he'd be some stoic badass, but he's actually just as dumb as Luffy sometimes.

I think it was silly that Usopp looked up to the giants. It reminds me of myself when I look up to fictional bara men from animes. One of which will be mentioned soon.

But yeah, where's Sanji in the meantime? He's in some random house and he poses as Mr. 3 while the real Mr. 3 is getting his ass kicked by the rest of the gang. And he's calling the real big bad of the series, Mr. 0. And I find that moment with Sanji to be the coolest thus far. He just picks up the phone and says, "Hey, this is Kuso Restaurant." HE'S LITERALLY JUST MESSING AROUND AND BEING SUCH AN INCONVENIENCE FOR BAROQUE WORKS, IT'S GREAT.

There was also a whole thing with Coby and Helmeppo from earlier which honestly redeemed Helmeppo for me. They're both chore boys in the Marines and they end up proving themselves to Garp, which is neat. Helmeppo learns to truly value Coby and their friendship, it's honestly great.

DRUM ISLAND

Oh my god, I have a lot to say about Drum Island. This is one of the most peak arcs in all of One Piece. Drum Island is basically Canada but if Canada's healthcare system wasn't free and only restricted to the King. I like Drum Island. It really cemented how gay Nami and Vivi are for each other, as well as introducing us to Tony Tony Chopper.

So Nami gets sick, unfortunately, and they need to head to an island with a doctor. Nami keeps insisting that they ditch her or something, which...NOOOO, NAMI... And Vivi keeps insisting that they go to a doctor... I dunno, Nami and Vivi's interactions with each other really hit different. As time passes, Vivi gets more and more worried about saving her country, but Nami's just always there encouraging her... GAH. They're so cute together. I'm a huge NamiVivi stan. Nami doesn't interact with anyone else the same way she does with Vivi.

Also with Zoro, we can still clearly see how Mihawk has affected him, and he's training in the cold without a shirt.

Luffy and Sanji try getting past these carnivorous bunnies to bring Nami to the one doctor in the whole country, who everyone says is a witch doctor, and then the avalanche happens, causing Sanji to pass out in the process. So Luffy, being the gigachad he is, decides to carry both Nami and Sanji all the way up with his bare fucking hands. Holy shit, that moment goes hard. You know shit's going down with Luffy, who's usually a jovial, goofy guy, is serious and determined. His hands are bleeding and shit. And then he reaches all the way to the top of the mountain after literally risking his life to save his friends, and he asks Chopper to help his friends. Not help himself. Help his friends. Luffy's a dedicated captain. He truly does care about his crew.

Anyways, onto Chopper's backstory. Chopper was just this blue-nosed reindeer who was kinda an outcast, even amongst his own species. Then he ate the Hito Hito no Mi, which made him even more isolated from his family. He tried integrating with humans, and he just gets outcasted by them as well, treated as a monster and shot at. Weirdly enough, this is somewhat relatable to me as an Asian-Canadian. Not quite Chinese enough to fit in with my Chinese family because I speak Chinese like a fucking five-year-old and barely know anything about my own culture, but I don't look white so I stand out amongst my white peers. It all changed when he met Dr. Hiriluk, one of the only doctors who's in the country still after the rest of them are either working exclusively for King Wapol or exiled, who showed Chopper that he could trust him by...taking off all his clothes? I dunno, Hiriluk as another outcast, befriended Chopper and it's really sweet and stuff. He told Chopper about how he looked up to pirates and how he wanted to create cherry blossoms on Drum Island. But then after a year, Hiriluk kicked Chopper out once he was all better and no longer had to treat him. Why? Because he didn't want Chopper to see him die. He was slowly dying of some unknown anime disease. However, how Chopper sees it is that this is the one friend he made kicking him out of his life. So Chopper does everything he can to get back with him. Injuring himself, and eventually finding a mushroom to cure his sickness. Except here's the thing. The mushroom was poisonous. Hiriluk ate it anyways cause he figured that he's gonna die anyways, why not try convincing Chopper that he's fine, right?

Anyways, Hiriluk's goal is to make the cherry blossoms to cure the country of its sickness, as well as going to cure all the doctors because he's been told they're all sick. Anyways, King Wapol fucking lied about that because he's a fucking dick. So Hiriluk essentially sacrifices himself for the country's sake. The way he went out... FUCK. I didn't cry at that, but holy shit, it went hard.

So that's why Chopper lives with Doctorine now. Chopper's so fucking cute, honestly. He has the same VA as Pikachu, so that definitely helps with that. And he's like...he's baby. Nami compliments him and he gets so giddy but he's trying to hide it but he's also so bad at hiding it! He's just a little guy! But he's also scared of getting close to people. After all, being mistreated by almost everyone he sees... IDK... It'd be hard.

Also, there's this one moment with Sanji that really shows his kindness. When Chopper sees Luffy fighting Wapol and his two lackeys, he asks Sanji what he is. And Sanji says, "He's a monster." Really showing his empathy to Chopper. It's so sweet.

Anyways, Chopper finally gets to join after some convincing, and his farewell with Doctorine is really sweet. She's really harsh on the surface, chasing him out of the castle, but then she sends him off with the very cherry blossoms that Hiriluk made. And it's honestly such a beautiful moment. Ignore the fact that this

On a side note, I love that Oda fucking draws the ugliest fucking crying expressions on everyone, man, woman, child, reindeer, with drool and snot thrown into the mix. And it'll still be an emotional fucking moment.

ALABASTA

Finally, we're at Alabasta. And oh boy, we have a lot to fucking digest because this is almost 40 episodes for this one arc.

First, we're introduced to Bon Clay, AKA Mr. 2. He's so silly goofy. He's the first canonical queer character in all of One Piece, being able to shapeshift into various different bodies. Anyways, they kinda befriend him at first? But then Vivi realizes he works for Baroque Works. They draw Xs on their arms and wrap them with bandages so that they can tell which is the real version of each other and which is Bon Clay. It's also a sign of their friendship.

Anyways, they finally arrive in Alabasta and we're introduced to Portgas D. Ace, who is Luffy's brother. I honestly don't get the naming system in One Piece. Ace and Luffy don't share a family name. The only thing they have in common is the D. So is the D their last name? If so, then why is it in the middle? Is Luffy Luffy's first name or last name? Anyways, Ace is pretty cool, ironically enough from his power. I feel like his appearance serves as foreshadowing for the time being because he's introducing us to Blackbeard and he's a member of the Whitebeard pirates. He's basically Luffy but more mature. He stays with the crew for a few episodes and then dips, so we'll definitely be seeing him in the future.

Also the Marines are in Alabasta. They followed the Straw Hats from Loguetown to Alabasta and they have an altercation with each other.

Luffy is also very silly and stupid and he eats the fucking green powder, thinking it's food. This powder is the illegal dance powder that Baroque Works has framed the King of Alabasta with to get there to be a civil uprising in the Kingdom.

We get to hear Vivi's backstory with a guy called Koza, and they were childhood friends. We learn about the situation in Alabasta and how Alabasta hasn't seen rain in at least a hot minute, and how a town called Yuba has been seeing a shitton of sandstorms. It's also revealed that Koza and Vivi are in opposition with each other because Koza is the leader of the rebel army. Koza's father gives them a thing of water so that they can travel safely, which is really sweet of him.

Also Chopper befriends a perverted camel named Lashes.

I honestly feel really bad for Vivi. She's going through so much stress and she's putting so much burden on herself. She's kinda the opposite of Nami, where she's more calm and idealistic, whereas Nami's more hotheaded and realistic. I think they're good foils for each other because when Vivi gets more stressed out about stuff, Nami's there to be calm for her. Being a princess sucks, I learned.

This is the one screenshot I took of the entire series and it's just Nami and Vivi sleeping next to each other.

Anyways, Nami x Vivi break aside... The gang find themselves in the casino where they're face-to-face with the big bad of the arc for the first time, Crocodile. And lemme tell ya, I love Crocodile. He's my favorite character in the series. He's just like me for realsies. His ability is just so fucking cool. Who knew that sand could have so much potential? Although I figured out his weakness pretty quickly because I thought, "Well, he can't turn into sand if he's doused with water because wet sand doesn't get blown into air." Anyways, he tries to feed the gang (minus Sanji and Chopper, and plus Smoker) to his bananagators. Sanji manages to bust their asses out and help out Vivi, taking advantage of the fact that Crocodile isn't even aware of his existence at that point. He also managed to get Mr. 3 to make a wax key to bust them out. God, I love Sanji. He's so cool.

After that, the gang starts heading towards Alubarna, but Crocodile intercepts them. Thus enter round 1 of Crocodile VS Luffy. I really like that Luffy just wants to go straight to defeating Crocodile rather than having to battle all of his remaining underlings one by one. He lets the others head to Alubarna while he himself fights Crocodile.

Anyways, it didn't go so well.

The rest of the gang are doing their own fights with the underlings they encounter around the gates of Alubarna. Which I think is neat, because everyone gets their own time to shine. My favorite fight of them all is Nami's fight against Miss Doublefinger though, because this is Nami's first real chance at fighting one-on-one against someone. And she's given her own weapon called the Clima Takt by Usopp. Which...side tangent here, I love the friendship between Nami and Usopp. They're such besties, and I mean that platonically. One Piece allows men and women to just simply be friends with each other! That's amazing! That's so good! They're usually shown sobbing and hugging each other when they get freaked out by something. It's so good. The Clima Takt really suits Nami, since she's a navigator and understands weather conditions enough to maniplate them to her will.

Vivi also runs into Bon Clay at one point and remembers that she can differentiate between him and the real versions of her friends. Which, I will also say, the fight between Sanji and Bon Clay is also peak. It's just lighthearted and fun, which is so nice compared to the other, more serious battles.

Meanwhile, Crocodile and Miss All Sunday (AKA Nico Robin) have Nefertari Cobra in hostage (I will also mention that Cobra isn't as serious and stoic as you think he is, and he's honestly such an honorable King). Vivi tries to stop the rebel army from attacking but she's completely foiled by Crocodile's fucking sand getting in the way. Crocodile's plan is to essentially take over all of Alabasta.

Crocodile may seem one-dimensional and evil for the sake of evil like previous villains. But what makes a villain like that hold up is that he is a genuine threat to the things that the protagonists care about. Because he sets up real fucking stakes. He set up a fucking revolution in a Kingdom while posing as a hero for the Kingdom, while wanting to take it over for the sake of power and thus threatening the destruction of the entire country. He's honestly really cunning. Also, there is definitely more to him because I know he shows up in the future and even ends up allying himself with the protagonists later on. He could even reappear in the current ongoing arc, which...I look forward to seeing that if it happens because he's honestly such a great villain. He says an awful lot of stuff about not trusting people, which feels like it's hinting at something. Also we barely know anything about the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and he's only the second one we've seen thus far. There's still so much we don't know about him, even after finishing Alabasta.

Anyways, Luffy's actually alive and he gets saved by Pell the bird guy...and Miss All Sunday as well. So he fights Crocodile again while the Kingdom is on the verge of being blown up. This is the part where it's revealed what Crocodile's weakness is. Water. Crocodile ends up defeating Luffy again though and if I recall correctly, he basically dries up Alubarna to the point there's cracks on the ground. Can I also just mention? There's something aesthetically pleasing about Crocodile with wet hair. Like his cool, calm exterior has just been foiled and he's losing his cool. Back to the fight, Crocodile's motivations for allying himself with Miss All Sunday/Nico Robin is because she can read poneglyphs. He believes the poneglyphs in Alabasta will reveal something about some weapon called the Pluton that can supposedly make him super powerful and shit. We don't know what that is by this point yet still. Upon figuring out that the poneglyphs don't actually contain the information to the Pluton, he stabs Nami. What is it with my favorite villains stabbing the hottest women in the show? Looking at you, Kars...

I also made a Tweet making fun of Crocodile for being named Crocodile...but also that's genuinely such a cool name.

Anyways, part 3 of the Luffy VS Croc fight. I think his fight with Crocodile is super cool and it definitely is a more strategic fight, which I super much like. It's very cool when characters use strategy against each other to exploit each others' weaknesses rather than simply using raw strength. It's nice. It's neat. Luffy ends up using his own blood to weaken Crocodile. Meanwhile, everyone else is trying to disarm the bomb and Vivi is still trying to desperately stop the fight by shouting on top of a clock tower. Again, I really do feel bad for Vivi. Crocodile eventually gets defeated, the King and Nico Robin get saved and stuff. There's also a lot of interesting foreshadowing with Nico Robin and stuff, how she was wanted as a child and stuff, stuff about her being an archaeologist, and why she lied about what the poneglyph said... Definitely looking forward to her own arc. To add to that, Smoker and Tashigi letting the Straw Hats off the hook... I love unlikely allies and antagonists helping out the heroes.

Alabasta being saved was very satisfying. The climax is over and Vivi has to make a decision between going with the Straw Hats and staying in Alabasta. She ultimately chooses the latter option, wanting to continue protecting her country.

And oh boy... Her farewell scene... It made me really sad. Because the Straw Hats couldn't shout back without attracting the Marines to them, it almost seemed as though they were gonna just leave without saying goodbye. BUT THEN THEY LIFTED THEIR ARMS UP TO REVEAL THE X ON THEIR ARMS... OH MY GOD. IT WAS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL MOMENT. YOU GUYS. IT REALLY WENT HARD. I didn't cry but it was such a beautiful moment and I know a lot of people cried here.

Also...one final note. The way Nico Robin joins the Straw Hats is definitely different from how the others joined. She just shows up instead of having some game-changing arc. I know she has her arc later on, I'm just pointing out the fact that it changes up the formula of characters joining Luffy on his journey. Her reasoning for joining is because she's pissed off at Luffy essentially putting her on suicide watch. Again, looking forward to seeing her.

Alabasta is just. Mwah. That's it for this madman rambling. Skypiea is next and I've heard good things about it as well.

[malamelodies]

Hello Precious

oh sweetheart,

what a weird whirlwind this life has been. I am presently in San Diego, finding myself constantly looking around thinking, how the fuck did I get here? what lead me to this moment, and I have moments where I;m fucking scared I won't be able to leave. that I will somehow be stuck here for a time too long. that in my 'prime' I'm actually wasting away my life.

I had this thought today: the two times I had the most money I've ever had: I was with Jedidiah, and I immediately spent it all. I spent it all. and the moments it was spent on was beautiful, but it was fleeting. I didn't invest. I understand that I was leaning into it. over 100% and the way I thought I was never going to get over greg... and I haven't in ways... I'm terrified that Jedidiah has cost me my ability to love whole heartedly.

Yes ross should have been a rebound... but I really really loved the way we spoke to each other. and when it was good, it was really really sweet. I loved laying in bed with him and just laughing. and enjoying each other.

I just know that I want monetary abundance. a family and to be in a place that is close to the ocean and its a place that I love absolutely love. in all aspects and beyond.

right now I'm waking up looking around asking how I got here in a bewildered and sad state. I'm excited to wake up and look around and think 'holy fuck how did I get here?!' with such excitement and love and appreciation.

now in the mean time, how do I gain that perspective where I'm at?

I think the first thing is routine. physical routine.

I need to not think about what has happened in the past or the future for the matter and just be here. in this moment. if font of public square. finding my flow. what can my flow be.

Monday: therapy, bike, yoga (work trade)

Tuesday: run with Moki. Gym.

Wednesday: Bike ride with Moki. Gym. Work at coffee house.

Thursday: Mom/swim. Open Gym Aerial. Yoga. (dance?)

Friday: Morning run with Moki. work (dance?)

Saturday: Work (maybe bring bike?)

Sunday: If I'm working in the evening, I think it would be really nice to go to the farmers market.

and then there is community outreach as well as finding another job that is easy is cash flow. I would like to find a restaurant and honestly, any that are in this area could be pretty sweet. Maybe look around in La Mesa or Lemon Grove or Normal Heights. Something a little more funky. I fell into Coasterra thinking that the view would ensure things. and it did. but being in kitchen. meh. and this is where I need to stop and listen. Universe. How do you want me to show up in this world at this time? Give me guidance to how I can best serve you.

Its funny... on the way over to wherever I was going to write this, I was thinking that I was going to write about what has happened the last 2... no 3 years of my life.

Starting April 19, 2020. I'm pretty sure I left for Maui sometime in May. and up until that moment. I remember being with Cary and thinking 'fuck this is the end of a chapter and its fucking beautiful'. but I was also craving to be on island. it was calling to me SO LOUDLY. then the money that was given to me through the government. and how active we were. there was literally nothing else we could do but work out. and garden. and be naked and spend more time with the environment around us.

and now. here. let it be a challenge. I know there are awesome people out here. I see it. I see moments of it. and I also see how my eyes get wider looking at different non profits.

I fucking hate jamul. my god. its so dry and hot and rattle snakes are real. I don't want them around. I don't like them.

so things for future online therapy of Tumblr.... 1. saga of 2020 to present.

2. find that job. maybe Carter, just maybe, you were brought here for a reason. and rather than trying to rush out or itch at the discomfort. remember that this is a beautiful place and there is hope to find that thriving community and purpose that I look for anywhere and everywhere I go.

I don't know if it's because things are more spaced out here, but I just want to ground into one neighborhood and really lean into it.

not to mention today is eclipse day. how to womynifest the things I desire and adore. and the kind ways of genuine connection with all types of people is something that I love. people do seem a little more normal and interesting. maybe la mesa is the starting point of normalcy. I fucking hate jamul. its so silly. more so I dont hate jamul, because actually going inland with all the feed places; I'm actually wondering how I missed out. there is a whole journey of farm life, and I was just far enough away.

I literally get disgusted when I think about how my parents live. EVERY TIME I eat with my parents, or more so, my parents food; I get sick. I genuinely get sick. I feel weird in my tummy and it just isn't fun.

so, baby girl. lets take it one step at a time. literally now and into the evening.

play by play.. because I find that my mind gets a little too whirly so lets write it down. even when I had a moment last night right before bed and I thought 'oh yeah I didn't do those things I thought about' and I didn't do those things because I'm not writing it down. they need to be written down in order for the tiniest chance they will be remembered and executed.

so now, as we wrap up this journal reflection, I would like to take out the envelopes and see what I need to schedule.

lets actually take a moment and do it right meow.

breast exam: presently on hold for

Dermatology: on the 24th I think it's at 1?

I need blood test, which I'm not seeing so I will need to drive down there (maybe tomorrow) (or Friday) to sign papers. so fucking stupid.

I think the best thing is to call them tomorrow.

then I'm going to go pee and put away my things and kindly walk up and down this street. maybe change, actually. and do I want to go down to kava? I think it could be fun. then come home. love up and have some bone broth and hangs out with parents for a moment.

THEN. upstairs music. candle. intention. <3

okay I like this.