#she started as a running gag on a 1st april...

[k-looking-glass-house]

1st April

Twiwon got me bad with VDC animation

.........................

Be kind to everyone around you!!

[bnha-mha-imagines]

I’m Back In Time To Fulfill My Promise

ITS APRIL FIRST AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS

Mineta x Reader

Words: 2028

Warnings: This is Mineta so… hah. Maybe hints at spice/horror for some of you lolol

A/N: YALL REALLY THOUGHT I FORGOT ABOUT THIS AHAHA NOPEEEE! It’s April 1st darlings SOOO MY QUARANTINE-HIATUS OFFICIALLY ENDS WITH THIS LOL

ALSO

How in god’s name did i manage to get over 2000 words with this i’m c r y i n g haha if you read this, at least make it to the end lololol

Jirou looked at you with furrowed eyebrows, leaning back as she tried and failed to hide her wincing expression. “Are you serious (Y/n)?” she asked after a moment, as if she needed to pause and actually make sure what she heard was correct. “Like… this is a joke, right?”

Your friend’s reaction only worsened your shame, and you bury your face into your hands. “Jirou don’t look at me like that, at least try to pretend like you’re not judging me right now!” At your words your friend sighed, and you look up in time to see her lean back into the bean bag chair. 

“Sorry,” she said, tone growing more serious. “It’s just hard to believe that out of everyone you would like...him.” You sneak your hands under your thighs so that you sit on them, uneasy now that you’ve confessed to Jirou your feelings toward a certain someone. “You’re just… way out of his league, you know? Like how did he even… how did you even fall for that?” 

You groaned in embarrassment, becoming growingly flustered at her words. She was confused by the whole scenario, you knew that. After all, so were you. How could you possibly fall for his over the top advances? His terrible pick up lines? His inappropriate and filthy remarks? It was a poor choice, you knew, but you couldn’t help your feelings. It was out of your control. 

“I don’t know,” you sigh loudly, unable to bring yourself to meet her eyes. “I know he’s gross and he flirts with everyone but… I don’t know.” You sigh again, unable to find the words. You throw yourself face first into your pillow as Jirou goes quiet. 

After a moment of silence she speaks again. “I mean… if this is what you want, I’m sure he’d be over the moon with even a ‘hello’ from you.” You turn your face so one of your eyes could peak at her. She had an expression on as if it physically pained her to say those words. “But just so you know I think you can do much better. Like… Kaminari for example! He’s also an idiot, but he’s better than Mineta.” 

You felt your face bloom at the name, unable to hear your dirty little secret crush formed into actual words. “Agh! Don’t say his name!” you wailed, throwing yourself into the pillow again.

Jirou threw her hands up exasperated. “How can you say you like him if you can’t even stand his name?!” You ignored her complaints, practically rolling in the bed.

“I don’t know!” you cried, equally frustrated with yourself. “Like, I hate that I like him! My feelings are all conflicted and I like him but I hate that I do!” Your words came out rushed and Jirou groaned at them, dragging her hands down the sides of her face slowly.

After she took a breath, she tried a new approach. “Alright,” she said. “Let’s stop trying to label how you feel and start trying to figure out what you want. Do you want…” Jirou paused as if she was going to gag. “Do you want to date him?”

You quieted, unsure what answer was the right one. “I don’t know,” you settled on. “Maybe? But I’m not sure if dating Mineta will actually be dating. Like… can he even settle on one girl? Would he even change his habits?”

Jirou shrugged, face strained to stay neutral for you. “I don’t know. That’s going to be a gamble for you. You’ll never know unless you actually go through with it, but seriously consider if that’s something you even want to do.” 

You looked at Jirou, for the first time letting her see the fear in your eyes. “Jirou I’m… I’m just worried about the social consequences about doing this. Like… What if people look down on me? He’s not exactly a classy or well-regarded guy. What if people start to think that way about me?” 

Jirou’s expression softened. “(Y/n), people aren’t going to stop liking you. Pity you maybe, or be confused… really, really, confused… but everyone in our class adores you. If you stay as sweet and kind as you are, that won’t change.” She crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing again. “If anything, everyone’s going to get very protective of you!” 

You look up at Jirou once more, giving her the biggest puppy eyes you could muster. “Aww, Jirou…” you say, touched. “You would kick his ass for me?” Jirou scoffed, smirking as she leaned forward to throw a blanket over your head.

“I’d do that on any normal day. If this is what you want, I’ll support you… but yeah, if he does anything to hurt you I’m gonna rip his balls off.” 

You raised an eyebrow at her. “Which ones?” She didn’t answer. 

The next day came much too fast. After talking with Jirou, you had decided that you were going to accept your feelings without any worry about what other people would say. You couldn’t explain why, but you liked him. You liked Mineta. And you weren’t going to let yourself be ashamed of that any longer. No… you were going to make your move.

You sat through Aizawa’s class with a stiff posture, forcing yourself to look confident. In reality, your thoughts were in complete turmoil. Mineta’s assigned seat was directly on your left, and sitting in close proximity to him had you completely shaken. From the corner of your eye you could see him sneaking peeks at your chest. It wasn’t as if this was a rare occurrence, but there was something about you knowing that in half an hour you would be confessing that made it nerve-wracking. 

After thirty excruciatingly long minutes, Aizawa released you all for lunch. You waited in your seat, taking your time to put away your things. With careful eyes, you watched as Mineta exited the classroom. There was no backing out this time. 

Zipping up your bag, you began to make your way down to the lunchroom. Many of your classmates were already sitting togethers at their usual tables. You saw Jirou make eye contact with you from across the room. You couldn’t read her expression, but you knew it had to be something of a mix between encouraging and pitying. 

Taking a deep breath, your eyes scanned the open room before landing on Mineta’s table. Much to your dismay, he was sitting next to Kamiari. They often got lunch together, Kaminari switching off every other day between eating with him and eating with his other friends. This was going to make things a lot more awkward for you. You had hoped that you could confess in private but… fate apparently had different plans.

The sight of the two of them was nearly enough to make you back out, but as you half turned to sit somewhere else you froze. You couldn’t run forever. Screw it. 

Turning back towards the table, you took determined strides across the lunchroom. Setting your lunch bag on the table top, you startled both of the boys out of their conversation. No one else ever sat here when this duo was together… well, never a girl at least.

Both of their eyes were wide with surprise as you cleared your throat. “Is this seat taken?” Your question hung in the air for a moment, your eyes completely focused on Mineta. He seemed to squirm under your gaze, simply nodding his head quickly and making room for you to sit. 

Kaminari was the first to break the silence as you sat down. “(Y/n)! What a surprise to see you here. Decided to switch things up and sit with us cool guys?” His tone was joking and he winked at you, but you didn’t give him any of the attention he wanted. You didn’t come to chit chat with him.

“Not as casual as that,” you spoke, turning to look at the purple boy next to you. His face was completely scarlet at the sight of a girl--you--sitting so close to him out of your own volition. “I really just wanted to sit next to you, Mineta.” Your words were bold, you knew that, but hopefully they didn’t sound as tasteless aloud as they did in your head. 

Both boys practically went bugged eyed, sharing a disbelieving glance with each other. Kaminari got quieter, partly because you shot him down and partly because your statement about Mineta completely threw him. Mineta took a sip of his grape juice as if it would help him in this situation. His eyes brows were furrowed and you swear you saw him sweat a little. 

“W-Well lucky me,” he recovered once he had quickly drained his drink. “It’s not every day that the hottest babe in class chooses our table…” His words had you cringing and swooning at the same time. 

“Keep talking like that and maybe you’ll get to see a whole lot more of me,” you replied, forcing yourself to be strong. You heard metal clatter on the table as Kaminari dropped his spoon mid-bite. You ignored it, trying to keep the color from your cheeks.

“H-H-How much more of you?” Mineta practically drooled, his eyes starting to trail over you as he got more excited. For once a girl was responding back to his awful advances, and it was like a dream. There was no way this was real.

“Well,” you said breathily, feeling more confident at the sight of how much your words were affecting him. “Maybe we can discuss that over dinner. Tonight?” Kaminari was suffocating as he watched this scene unfold, his lungs forgetting how to breathe. 

At this point Mineta’s nose was starting to leak a tiny blot of blood. His hands were shaking slightly as he shifted closer to you, as if any movement would scare you off. You held your breath as you felt him crawl into your lap, his legs wrapping over your own. His giant purple balls brushed against your cheek, which was quickly blooming pink. 

You felt his cold fingers tease at where your shirt met your pants, sliding under to barely touch your skin. “That sounds good to me.” His trembling hand rode up higher as he continued to speak. You loved the way they felt. “Then maybe we could go to my room and--”

“ALRIGHT!” Kaminari bellowed, slamming his hands on the table as he shot up from the table, face horrorstuck. Mineta whipped his head sharply at the suddenness of it, watching as his friend quickly retreated to another table. When Mineta turned his head back to you, he was startled to see that your face had changed into Aizawa’s. 

“W-What?” he squeaked, leaning away as Aizawa’s gaze burned into him. 

“Mineta,” your voice came out of Aizawa, whose lap Mineta was still shamelessly planted on. 

“(Y/n) what is--”

“Mineta,” your voice was now Aizawa’s voice, matching the tired scraggly face that glared at him. 

Mineta shook his head. No no, not like this, it couldn’t end like this when he was finally so so close! “Mineta!”

Mineta started as he felt a painful pressure smack on the back of his head. He threw his head up, gasping and looking around wildly. His gaze quickly looked in every direction before it turned upward, freezing as it came face to face with Aizawa. Only now, Aizawa no longer had your gorgeous body, and Mineta was no longer sitting on your lap but in his own desk chair. 

“Just because I sleep in class does not give you the excuse to do the same,” Aizawa’s voice grumbled, not particularly pleased. Mineta turned his gaze away from Aizawa as the teacher walked back to the front of the classroom. 

He couldn’t help but look to his right to stare at you longfully. He was already beginning to mourn the thought of never getting to see how his dream about you would have ended. He must have been staring too long, for you glanced at him and offered a timid, uncomfortable smile as if that would make him stop. Ahh… back to reality.

[mr-gooseyshoes]

(ASKS ARE OPEN!!! Version 1.1. The original should be referred to as ‘Version 1.0’. Full size of the regular version [3000x1000] in my Sta.sh!

Feel free to ask these guys questions! Or maybe roleplay with any of them. I have enough spare time for both! 😊

Anything with an asterisk is IRL or other matters involving the character.

‘COO’ stands for ‘country of origin’, ‘COR’ stands for ‘country of residence’.)

Info on each character, prepare for a long read.

🍰 Mr. Gooseyshoes 🎸

Full name: Yvan August Gooseyshoes (Originally nameless, then titled ‘Clumsy One’, then was eventually given his current name.)

Species: Humanoid toon

Height: 4'4 ft

Est. age: Mid-late 20s / Canonical birthday: August 31st / ‘Creation date’: Same day, 1931

COO: France 🇫🇷

COR: United States 🇺🇸

True origin*: (When I decided to play around with my Robloxian’s look, I made the limbs and torso different colors: left arm green, right arm red, torso blue, left leg white, right leg black. At the time, I couldn’t easily determine his gender, but he was undoubtedly male-presenting. This dated back between 2013 and -15, possibly making him the ‘youngest’ member.)

Beginning: Starting off in black & white comics translated from French, Yvan was a mischievous slapstick character with a lack of common sense. He had companions; his cousin Kenneth (can also be called ‘Ken’ or ‘Kenny’), and a rogue clown named Barry. He was the clumsiest of all, and was (and still is!) known to swing large items around, knocking the other two over; this lead to a fight, but they made up later.

(cont.) Despite the antics and mean-spirited remarks the two made at strangers without him, Yvan mostly stuck to jokes and harmless pranks…when he’s not accidentally being hit in the face with planks and canes. There were even colored animated shorts of the three, a series which only lasted a couple of years due to budget problems; the three went their separate ways, until meeting again decades later.

📖 Ollie 🎶

Full name: Oliviero Percy Rigatoni (Originally just ‘Oliviero’)

Species: Humanoid toon

Height: 4'3 ft

Est. age: Mid-late 20s / Canonical birthday: September 18th / ‘Creation date’: Same day, 1971

COO: Italy 🇮🇹

COR: United States 🇺🇸

True origin*: (I drew a picture of a man with blue skin and reddish-pink eyes, somewhat like the current design. The only things that haven’t changed are his hair and eyes. This estimates back to 2011.)

Beginning: N/A (TFW you’re too mentally exhausted to continue writing stories about your own characters. Don’t worry, I’ll get to it!)

⛪ Doug the Dog 🎼

Full name: Douglas Noah Beagle

Species: Anthro dog toon

Height: 3'2 ft

Est. age: Early 30s / Canonical birthday: May 21st / ‘Creation date’: Same day, 1994

COO: United States 🇺🇸

COR: See ‘COO’

True origin*: (In this universe, he’s a toon; but in the real world? He’s an arts & crafts sockpuppet from my old church, hence why I gave him a cross and halo. He doesn’t have his ears, but the hair is there. I also based the sweater off his sock design, making the brown a little darker so it didn’t look weird. Est. 2004-5, making him the ‘oldest’.)

Beginning: There was a drop of Christian faith in the neighborhood. A local church had lost a lot of members over the years, the lack of interest among youth causing too many seats to go unfilled. Thanks to 3 of the churchgoers having a knack for drawing; they passed around ideas back and forth until eventually settling with Doug and his family; his father Harry, his uncle Rufus, and eventually, Roxanne in “Episode 10: Someone I Know Isn’t A Christian. What Do I Do?”. They already had their own website, and Flash animation was all the rage at the time!

(cont.) Was it easy? Not really. But Doug did have fans, even receiving letters from a few of them straight to the church nearly daily. The makers received a lot of attention across the web, the cartoon dog being loved for several different reasons; his important life lessons, his adorable appearance, his kindness, and his relatable nature. Some news: As all 3 animators started raising families of their own, the responsibility of running the series went to younger members so that the original ones could spend time with their kids. (A lot of time passed since 1994. They were 14, 15 and 16 upon starting; the 9 new members are all between 15 and 30.)

📼 Troy ⚽

Full name: Troy Nate Donaldson

Species: Cyclops-esque toon

Height: 3'10 ft

Est. age: 13 years 🔞 / Canonical birthday: December 9th / ‘Creation date’: Same day, 1979 (First televised 1985. Seems he’s been a youngin for an awfully long time…)

COO: United States 🇺🇸

COR: See ‘COO’

True origin*: (Like Ollie, he started off as a drawing; I even drew him with a tornado for a mouth once. The only differences being that I gave him longer hair up front, and a wardrobe unlike his original one.)

Beginning: Two brothers had a great idea for a show; animated figures cross into the real world via portal, walking into the backyard of a human kid named Jesse. Troy would be seen exploring elements foreign to him; such as ladybugs, soccer balls, and the grass being green. Because of time limits, Troy was never given a mouth outside of concept art, which meant not worrying about lip syncing when they had other things to do.

(cont.) Jesse taught Troy how to play 1-on-1 soccer, then taught him how to spell larger words such as ‘dictionary’ and ‘encyclopedia’. The show also had montages of Jesse chasing after the one-eyed people (including Troy), which was a running gag involving disguises and leaving messes behind. The show ended in 1990, 5 years after its first episode, as there was no more of the story to tell. To this day, he is still a child by choice.

📚 Mrs. Donaldson 🍇

Full name: Athena Jessica Donaldson

Species: Cyclops-esque toon

Height: 5'2 ft

Est. age: Mid-to-late 30s / Canonical birthday: April 15th / ‘Creation date’: December 12th, 1979 (First televised 1985.)

COO: United States 🇺🇸

COR: See ‘COO’

True origin*: (I thought of a beautiful cyclops-looking woman. Smart, too. She just popped up into my brain while drawing some art.)

Beginning: Before becoming an art teacher, Mrs. Donaldson was a guardian of her hometown (in our world, that’s like being a cop), making sure no one suffered as a result of crime. One day, she felt that Troy needed to be educated about alternate dimensions, which led her to take him to a vastly different version of America; or more specifically, a human family’s backyard in Tennessee. While the location was random, the weather was just right. Unfortunately, the portal was open for too long, a bunch of Troy and Athena’s people ran out from it with joy, then it closed behind them indefinitely. Due to the fuel inside of the portal wand being extremely hard to find in this dimension, they were gonna be stuck here for a while.

(cont.) They were not ones to panic so quickly; instead, they sought out knowledge and resources from this different Earth. She played the role of protecting these people before, and would gladly do it again. Athena did not star in as many episodes as her son did, her count being 283 out of 294. She also taught morals when not teaching the basics of art, ranging from honesty to sharing. Parents complained about her old outfit, so the brothers had to put her in what she wears now to avoid being cancelled before wrapping things up.

💷 Ken 🚬

Full name: Kenneth Joseph Cross

Species: Humanoid toon

Height: 4'3.5 ft

Est. age: Early-to-mid 20s / Canonical birthday: March 4th / ‘Creation date’: August 31st, 19??

COO: United Kingdom 🇬🇧 (Made by a Frenchman, though.)

COR: See ‘COO’ (Sometimes goes to America, but only to visit relatives.)

True origin*: (Okay, so I thought ‘Why not draw a guy with a large grin/frown?’ I sometimes pictured him in black & white stripes as well, but maybe I’ll use that kind of design for his pre-color days.)

Beginning: N/A

🎭 “Barry The Buffoon” 🔨

Full name: Fionnbharr Patrick Emmett (Originally nameless, then only titled as “The Buffoon”, then was eventually given his current name.)

Species: Humanoid toon

Height: 4'1 ft

Est. age: Mid-to-late 30s / Canonical birthday: May 6th / ‘Creation date’: August 31st, 1931

COO: Scotland (Made by a Frenchman, though. No Scottish flag emoji? Boo. ;n;)

COR: See ‘COO’

True origin*: (I was inspired from watching some cartoon shorts from the 20s and 30s, mainly B&W ones. Plus, I wanted to give this random clown a meaningful role.)

Beginning: N/A

🍮 Buford 🐕

Full name: Sir Buford of Birmingham XIV (the 14th)

Species: Quadruped dog toon

Height: 1'3 ft

Est. age: Bet. 1-5 years / Canonical birthday: September 1st / ‘Creation date’: January 29th, 2003

COO: England 🇬🇧

COR: United States 🇺🇸

True origin*: (I imagined Yvan having a talking dog who truly loved his master, making sure he was happy and healthy. I hope he actually looks like a Scottish terrier, or at least some kind of terrier breed/mix.)

Beginning: Sir Buford was one of the secondary antagonists of a show called “Canines Out Of Line", an ongoing series about bipedal dogs breaking the law, spending money carelessly, and doing things I shouldn’t mention. (equivalent rating of TV-14) Buford was a dog that gained the ability to speak by accidentally eating a dog treat, which his then-owner pulled out of a strange beaker containing unnamed chemicals. It was meant to be thrown out, but Dr. Mecha (no medical degree) wasn’t fast enough. She marvelled at how her pet (at the time) started talking like an Englishman, taking notes on his newfound vocal abilities.

(cont.) Sadly, when word spread around the neighborhood about a talking dog, the COOL blew up Dr. Mecha’s lab and tried to force Buford to join; he refused, and was held hostage. He fought them off, escaped back to his home, and came back to see the female scientist who cared for him still alive, making it a happy-ish ending. Despite that, things only got darker from there. From the start, he was determined to bring C.O.O.L. down, one way or another.

More characters coming soon?

[robbyrobinson]

Requiem for a Loud (Again)

So, in my review of Syn....whatever they way you pronounce that phobia, I was asked what were my initial thoughts on another notorious fanfic in the Loud House fandom; Requiem for a Loud. For starters....my relationship with the fanfic was sketchy at best. Whilst I was browsing TV Tropes, I stumbled on this fanfic completely by accident. After reading the summary, I assumed that the story was going to build up to some great big joke, so I decided to start reading. Reading the first chapters sent several different emotions through my mind; I felt sad, depressed even. It came to a point that I found it extremely difficult to look at the show again after reading the story. Every time I saw Lincoln, I was only reminded of the fact that he's going to die soon in the fanfic. And yeah, I am stating that now: I am quite certain that Lincoln will die at the end as requiem means "mass for the dead." If Lincoln doesn't end up dying meaning that all of these emotional scenes that were being delved on were entirely pointless, this would be my most likely reaction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZkC26-3t6U.

So, yeah, at the time, I really loved this story. Normally, I tended to hate fan fiction because of how they often try to make children's shows grimdark by introducing subject matter that the actual show would never do. That's why many Creepypasta based on kids' shows suck. But no. I actually felt that I was reading pure gold here. It did what many stories fail to do for me; actually make me feel sad and empty. I mean, yeah, the touching moments were there to numb the pain a bit, but at the end, I still felt empty knowing that the story won't be having a happy ending. I mean I loved the story so much to write an unofficial spin-off based on it that UnderratedHero himself actually liked. Butttttt....I consider it an old shame now. I read this story around the time that I was becoming a fan of the show (I was more a passive watcher), but this one story rocked my world. It inspired me to write stories based on the show with one currently having 235 reviews and 96 faves. And that's coming from the fact that I'm currently a junior in college with no writing background prior. I owe a lot to this story as well as that one that I can't say or spell.

However....I lost interest in the story. Many factors went into the story. For one, some of the chapters seemed dull. Really, even if I listen to the story being read on YouTube, my mind was wondering several times. I just felt bored reading the story. That doesn't help with the fact that the chapters are long. While I do read a few good books here and there, I normally am unable to finish them because they would be that long. It's a miracle that I was able to finish reading Stephen King's IT before the book fell a part. I don't know if it's because of my Asperger's, but reading Requiem constantly felt like a chore than leisure. Besides that, my other issue with the story was how it tries to make you feel bad for Lincoln's predicament. I mean, he's dying of a terminal illness and his family is devastated. But, here's the thing. The more I watched the show, I just didn't really find myself being fond of Lincoln. While Lincoln is relatable, I just found him...uninteresting. He's to this show like Kermit is to the Muppets. He's the straight man for the more colorful characters. Besides that, there were several moments that Lincoln had that showed him as being a jerk. He was selfish, mean, and often got into fights with his sisters for the most flimsy of reasons. With that being said...I couldn't really bring myself to care that Lincoln was dying. If it happened to a more interesting character...maybe I'd raise an eyebrow at that, but because it's Lincoln...I mean, Lincoln gets the short end of the stick several times. So him getting a terminal illness would be the most logical next step. That's not helping how half the fandom practically worships Lincoln like a god or Christ figure. I found myself gagging multiple times while I was reading the story. I just find this really terrible to Lincoln, because it ignores the mistakes that he did prior to this.

Going back to the sad scenes...Like I have said in a previous blog, I found myself laughing at some scenes that were supposed to be dramatic, but instead they come off as being artsy. I honestly found several scenes cheesy. For instance, when Lucy finds out the truth about Lincoln's condition, she runs to the junk yard to mope. Lincoln comes, tells her a poem, basically saying that regardless of whatever happens, he's always going to be there for her. And then he says the same thing to Lola and Lana. I get that it's a heartwarming moment and all that, but I also felt my eyeballs roll back in my head because of how cheesy everything was. Or then there's when Lincoln's doing his bucket list after he was informed that a boy that he met at the hospital died (which felt pointless, btw). Just....really, I couldn't help but joke about the severity of this situation. But that's not what I disliked the most about the story.

My last point on this story is that I felt that the author was making things darker for the sake of adding on to them feels. Of course, a story where an 11 year old boy dying is dark enough, but the author decided to include a scene where Luna - a 15 year old girl - actually drinks and...does some things with some random stranger. I mean, what the heck, Luna? Your brothers' dying, and you decide to get schwifty with some boy? Lori had every right to get mad at Luna for that. Okay, I understand the point of this scene: Luna is so depressed about her brother's oncoming death, that she decided to do this to leviate the pain a bit. Even then, I was that close to dropping the fanfic. Besides that, Lisa was also taking caffeine packs to stay awake as she tried to work on an antidote. Besides the fact that the chapters are long and often boring, my other complaint was the inconsistent updating. Now, I get that the author has other things in life to do like college work (I mean, him and me both), and the like, but I found it annoying having to continually wait for an update of the story as my interest in the story was waning by then. Most infuriatingly was the "fake chapter." On April 1st, UnderratedHero updated the story where it seemed as if it was going to be the conclusion to the overall story. But then it amounted to "Ha, ha! Fooled you; five more chapters to go!" To say that I was peeved beyond belief is an understatement. I was enraged by being duped by this. I mean, yeah, it was April Fools' Day, so what should I have expected. But that was the breaking point for me if the story was worth continuing to read or not. After hearing all of the praise and seeing the continuous recommendations for the story, I just slowly began to dislike it more for its obvious flaws. The story is overrated people; realize that. Since that chapter, I could've sworn that the story was dead, and I began to forget about it. I know that by the time I'm typing this that the story was finally updated, but I couldn't even care anymore about that. At that point, I just saw the story as some overrated piece of fan fiction that tries to be dark for the sake of being dark, or force you to feel bad for Lincoln and the family when I honestly couldn't care less.

I do appreciate the intention for the story; Lincoln is the glue that holds the family together. He is the emotional support. The story delves into what if Lincoln were to disappear? How could the family move on without him? Would they ever recover. The highlights definitely have to be the sisters' reaction to the news. You see how each sister expresses their grief in a different way; Lynn feels that everything is her fault, Leni tries to stay optimistic, Luan temporarily becomes a mime. That was the real reason as to why I even cared about reading the story. While I may not like Lincoln, it is made quite clear how important he is to his friends and family.

Anyway, that is my little blog on Requiem. Again. Hopefully, this is the last time that I'll be discussing this story. You don't have to agree with my points, but I'll respect yours as long as you are civil and respectful of mine. As always, AustinDR, out.

Final score: 8 1/2 out of ten stars

[otome-obsessed]

Just some thoughts Re: MFWP’s April Fool’s Day Prank

(I have been writing this off and on all day. I needed to write things and let them stew and I am finally okay with posting what is now here.)

So, just a bit of backstory:

In My Forged Wedding Party, there is a character who is centralize to the plot. Her name is Lily Saionji. She is a Flower Designer who is very famous and the MC ends up working for her in the basic plotline of every story. She has a crush on Kunihiko, the MC’s uncle, and is very open about it.

Also, Lily is a transwoman.

This has always been a bit of a, shall we say, confusing thing for me in many ways. Mostly because of how she is treated in the story.

Like most non-heterosexual non-cis characters in Japanese media, her role is mostly played for laughs. Kunihiko is obviously very uncomfortable with Lily’s advances on him and the other guys find it very amusing that he is.

Several of the characters still refer to Lily as her birth/dead name Rintaro and will still refer to her as he/him. They do this even when she is in their presence and she asks them not to. Even if she asks them nicely.

This has been since day one. This is not something that came out of nowhere. Lily shows up in the story fairly early on and she, as well as the other characters quickly introduce us to her, letting us know all we need to about how her character is treated in the story.

This brings us to today.

(I’m putting this under a cut because this whole post ended up getting much longer than I planned on it getting.)

As part of their April Fool’s Day prank, Voltage teased that Lily was going to be a route. They also teased that one of the endings Lily would end up with Kunihiko. Then we were shown the following gag character page for her 

Initially, a lot of people were ecstatic probably because they forgot that 1) it’s already April 1st in Japan (even though MFWP runs on UTC +0) and 2) not surprising a LOT of people are okay with the thought of being with Lily. You hear that? ALMOST EVERY PERSON I TALKED TO ABOUT THIS WERE 100% OKAY WITH MARRYING LILY.

But then the character card comes up and then the grimace forms.

And now we get to the part with my thoughts on this.

It’s well known that Japan has very problematic views when it comes to LGBT people. They are not as progressive as many other countries are on the matter, so, Lily being used, once again, as a joke doesn’t surprise me.

HOWEVER, what does surprise me is her birth/dead name being used in the joke because of how we know the character. She is no longer Rintaro. She hasn’t been Rintaro for a while. She is Lily. She is very insistent that she be called Lily and be referred to as she/her. So, putting Rintaro on her character sheet, for me, was the part that seemed very inappropriate and something Lily herself would be very angry about.

There are also people pointing out how messed up it is that they released this on International Transgender Day of Visibility. And while that is also not very cool, once again, April 1st in Japan. Not that this makes it okay, just pointing that out.

In the end, are LGBT people being used as jokes something going to change? Probably not. Will me having to have made a statement make these companies think twice? I think you all might think I have way more pull than I do. None of these companies care about my opinion. I’m just an American on the internet. Who cares.

I think Voltage’s fandom, who are huge, are already doing a good job of calling Voltage out on things like this. I really don’t think I need to add my voice to the pile when I have not hidden my thoughts on LGBT representation in not only otome games, but in the fandom as well.

We also have to remember, as I have to unfortunately remind everyone, these games aren’t made for us. They are made for a Japanese audience and then released internationally when they think they might be able to make some extra money. If there is any voice that matters, it’s the Japanese users’, not us. The Japanese users have to stand up and say that they are not okay with this and demand better.

That is when the stories that we get will start to change and be more inclusive.

[icefireeclipse]

Ice’s Annual Post for 2017

Below is a list of cool/important/interesting things that I did during 2017 in order of month. They’re mostly in order by when they happened but a few may be out of order. The list is long so I put a Read More underneath if you’re interested. Enjoy!

January

Played Home is Where One Starts on Steam

Started watching Sailor Moon Infinity Arc

Started playing Pokemon Moon

Finished Jumin’s Route on Mystic Messenger

Had to drive to work at 6am because I forgot to return a button

Finished Seven’s Route on Mystic Messenger

Started re-learning my French just in case I move to Europe

Started considering moving to Europe after I finish college

Started my 2nd semester of college

Saw Hidden Figures in theatres

Met the woman my father began dating (spoiler alert: I like her)

Helped my mom and sister with tearing out the carpeting in the living room so we can get new flooring

Got a Robin Amiibo for an early birthday present

Cooked something for the first time this year that wasn’t ramen or hot chocolate

February

Celebrated my 19th Birthday

Got locked out of my car for the 1st time, coincidentally on my birthday

Got Pokemon Sun as a birthday present as well as a water bottle and some gift cards

Ran into an old teacher of mine from elementary school

Visited the World Market for the 1st time

Tried a candy bar from Britain for the 1st time

Learned how to make coffee

Started rewatching Ben 10 Alien Force

Finished my training at my job

Went to a seminar about refugee’s for my Diversity class

Signed up for a college tour that I ended up not going to because of Mother Nature

Played Awkward Dimensions Redux for the 1st time

Finally got into the main story for Mass Effect

March

Went to see Logan in theaters

Saw Finding Dory and Sausage Party for the 1st time

Got my dad a jar of herring for his birthday

Finally made a playlist on Youtube just for music

Started playing Penumbra Overture

Got my first $2 bill this year, and frankly first one in Many years

Continued to play Mass Effect

Bought a hot chocolate at a gas station for the 1st time

Purchased Mass Effect 3 off of Origin

Got a Origin account just to get this game

Spent the 1st day of spring getting a car wash

Rediscovered my love for Halestorm

Started listening to more music by Set it Off (instead of just 1 song)

Pre-registered for KitsuneKon 2017

Went to a Transgender rally for the 1st time

Went to a rally of any kind for the 1st time

Wacked a pinata for the 1st time in a few years

Played field hockey in a college room

Attended a girl choir concert for the 1st as a member of the audience

April

Finished Penumbra Overture

Started watching Season 2 of Shingeki no Kyojin

Came out as Queer to my Diversity Class (1st time I came out in public not to friends or family)

Decided to minor in Political Science along with my History Major

Joined Reddit

Downloaded  We Were Here and Medusa’s Labyrinth on Steam

Finished Mass Effect for the 1st time

Played through Mass Effect a 2nd time as a Renegade Sentinel

Attempted to use my debit card for the 1st time

Finally visited my great grandma’s grave after 7 years

Started watching Clannad

Got a gift card for Easter

Got free food at work because of Employee Appreciation Day

Started a test draft for The Fire Underground

May

Finally finished Huniepop

Started playing Serena but didn’t like it

For the 1st time, I have a friend of mine who works at the same job as me :)

Finished my (technically) 1st year of college

Played Super Smash Bros in order from 64 to Wii U for the 1st time this year

Redid the floors and got the kitchen walls painted at my mom’s house

Started working on painting and adding new floors in the living room too

Purchased Alan Wake on Steam during it’s Sunset Sale

Watched Tom Holland’s Lip Sync Battle (Yes that’s important)

Stepped into a Spencer’s for the 1st time (though it was only at the very front of the store to look at posters)

Started planning for my new Yarny cosplay for Kitsune Kon

Watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 twice in theatres

Bought a bikini for the 1st time (I usually only wear a tankini while swimming so wearing a bikini is huge for me)

Watched Steven Universe: Wanted and fell in love with Lars all over again

Worked during Memorial Day, but got paid more because holiday :D

Got my 2nd smartphone ever, a Samsung Galaxy S7

Ate a sandwich with a square bun for the 1st time

Updated my blog theme for the 1st time this year

June

Witnessed a felony traffic stop with arrests and everything for the 1st time

Celebrated my cat’s birthdays by giving them catnip

My parent’s divorce was finalized, same day as my cat’s birthday

Played Emily is Away for the 1st time

Returned to Mirai Nikki, an anime I never finished

Only just figured out Patrick Swayze died via a documentary (oops)

Attended my friend’s graduation party

Finished my 2nd and 3rd simultaneous playthroughs of Mass Effect

Started playing Mass Effect 2 and Life is Strange

Finished Episodes 1 and 2 of Life is Strange

Found out what the Grapefruit Technique is for some reason

Donated to Markiplier’s Charity Live Stream for Ablegamers

Kathryn mentioned my name (Icefire), my comment and thanked me for donating! :D

Purchased over $59 worth of games during Steam’s summer sale including Bioshock, Mirror’s Edge & Dragon Age Origins Ultimate Edition

Finished Life is Strange Episodes 3, 4 and 5 in the span of a few days

July

Played Blade Ballet for the 1st time

Played Monopoly and hung out at irl friend’s house for 3rd of July

Purchased Gone in November on Steam

Started watching Big Brother with my sister

Made a Yarny doll for the 1st time

Used an ATM for the 1st time

Attended Kitsune Kon for the 7th year

Almost didn’t make it to the con because I had stomach issues the morning of the con

Bought a lot of buttons, posters and dvd’s, etc from the con

Debuted my Yarny cosplay at the con

Went swimming for the 1st time this year

Continued unpacking things from my dad’s apartment before he moves

Toured the college I’m attending in January for the 1st time

Had to redo my financial aid application

Learned how to transfer funds from savings account to debit card. Horray for adulting!

Discovered the joys of Etsy

Toured my dad’s new house for the 1st time

Attempted to expand my storage on my Mac as I’m starting to run outd

August

Discovered StoreEnvy

Finished Mass Effect 2 for the 1st time

Began my application for transferring to a 4 year college

Finally put my posters up in my room at my dad’s house

Went Up North with my mom’s family for a weekend

Wore a bikini in public for the 1st time

Purchased VIP tickets to the Evanescence Concert

Bought VIP tickets for the 1st time

Found out my dad got engaged

Found and caught my 1st ever Shiny Pokemon (Shiny Haunter in Moon)

Tried VR for the 1st time

Went camping with my dad, his girlfriend and her family for a weekend

Started my 3rd and last semester at the technical college I’m at

Purchased Layers of Fear, Bioshock 2 and Remember Me on Steam

September

Met my dad and his fiancee’s new cats Ying and Yang

Officially got Accepted into the 4 year college I applied to

Finished Mass Effect 2 for the 2nd time

Started Mass Effect 3

Downloaded Origin

Bought tickets to see Diavolo from America’s Got Talent

Suffered from allergies for most of September

October

Attended an Employee appreciation day at my job

Visited a Counselor regarding my transfer to a 4 year college

Ordered a Christmas gift from my job

Finished Mass Effect 3 for the 1st time

Pre-registered for Kitsunekon 2018

Ate a fried egg sandwich for the 1st time

Submited my AP scores to my new college

Found a spring jacket that I lost back in Spring

Found over $20 in said jacket

Got an unofficial tour of the campus I’m going to in January by friend

Went to see Diavolo on tour 

Played The Old City: Leviathan on Steam

My job got a bunch of renovations (paint, appliances, new products, etc)

Purchased Soma, realMyst, Plague Inc, Undertale and other walking simulators during Steam Halloween Sale

Attempted to play Penumbra Black Plague but dealt with screen resolution issues

Started playing Layers of Fear on Steam

Caught Primal Kyogre with just one quick ball in Pokemon Alpha Sapphire

Finally beat Pokemon Alpha Sapphire after over a year of not touching the game

November

Turned in my “final” report for my Technical Reporting class

Went back to playing Pokemon Moon

Signed up for my classes for January

Finally got to see Thor Ragnarok in theaters after 4 years of waiting!

Got my “final” report graded, 96%!

Got back into the Thor fandom

Got my mom some bubble wrap and salt water taffy for her birthday (she loved it)

Started playing Overwatch for the 1st time

Discovered You Suck at Cooking Youtube Channel

Purchased a bunch of games for Black Friday (Overwatch, Dragon Age II and Inquisition, indie games, etc)

December

Had my annual review at the Gas Station I worked at and got a raise!

Went to see Evanescence in Concert for the 1st time since 2011!

Went to Madison for the 1st time in about 4 years (last time was just a few days before I started my Tumblr account)

Tried sweet Sauerkraut for the 1st time, it tasted okay but it was kind of strange eating sweet sauerkraut

Got my best friend some bubble wrap as a gag gift for his birthday

Went to my sister’s holiday choir concert

Finished a final and got a 90% on it (Ethics Class)

Procrastinated on said final and other final project

Got introduced to Round Planet by BBC

Finished Season 7 of Overwatch Competitive with Silver Rank

Started getting invested in Yugioh (abridged and the manga) 

Got the Synthesis (Evanescence) album for Christmas

Also got Pokemon Ultra Sun AND Ultra Moon for Christmas

My dad officially got married so I now have a step-family as of this month

Didn’t get to go to their wedding (it’s a long story)

Worked in Receiving at my job for the 1st time