#so we have the dyed version and the regular version lol

[feral-mouse]

OC Kiss Week: Desperate

THE BOYS ARE MAKING OOOUUTT THE BOYS ARE KISSIIIIIING

I thought it would be fun to put the two most down-bad characters together 😏

Colin belongs to @derekgoffard

[beloveds-embrace]

Can we get that dark version of graves 💀. Sorry no hate to him but I like how this men operates lowkey like mafia in the dukedom au. Also is Konig still her personal guard in the regular au?

In the regular au, no, I don’t have König for her in there lol fyi i wrote this while spaced out during a lecture im sorry if it sounds rushed lol 😭

Referenced post

As for Graves: god, he is so smug. So, so smug, arrogance and pride growing each second he spends with you and over you. It shows in his gait when he walks, when he begins lording over the other servants and staff, when he begins latching to you, joining you on your free time when he checks beforehand that no one else is there with you. All of this even before you tell John your request.

After you do, and after you insist you really do want Graves, he becomes almost like a blown up balloon. He wants to monopolize all your time, all your interactions, and why would you say no when he gives you the love and affection you long for?

You don’t say no; but the same can’t be said for them.

It doesn’t matter if Graves truly loves you back. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t love you and only wants to desperately hold on to his one chance of rising in society. Nothing about Graves really matters to them except how to break his connection to you.

Graves thinks that the reason the rest of the staff slowly begin to distance themselves from him, ill-mannered towards him in general, is out of jealousy due to his closeness to you. He thinks that the reason John adds more stable hands is because you want to have others help him and who he can lord over. He thinks the reason bland and spoiled food he gets is because the cook is jealous of him, as well. Who wouldn’t be, knowing it’s only him who has your affection?

He thinks everything is done for him, due to you. It makes him latch all the more to you, and you love it even if you sometimes look confused by it.

When you send him a letter, askinh to meet him privately late at night in the woods behind the duchy, it’s the first time he’s considered saying no to you. But as it is, Graves thinks you are a spoiled thing, born with a silver spoon, and he doesn’t want to spoil his standing with you. The woods behind the duchy are a bit… unconventional. He’s heard rumors of servants sometimes dying in there, a long time ago, but there was no solid evidence of it ever.

Whatever it is, he can deal with it. His confidence builds when Kyle greets him formally, a little smile on his lips compared to the previous days. The food he’s presented with is delicious and warm, and Duke Riley even gives him a nod when passing by him. He gets called into John’s office to talk about a payrise, as well.

Everything’s well. Going into the woods, therefore, shouldn’t be a problem.

It shouldn’t have been a problem.

Stumbling through the dark woods in question, cradling his bleeding leg, Graves begins to realize that he’s made a horrific misjudgment.

Why would you, of all people, want to meet here? You, soft and delicate? You, who has never known what it feels like to have a single scratch on your body?

This place isn’t meant for you. You wouldn’t even consider this place.

You didn’t send him that letter.

And Graves is realizing it just now.

He lets out another pained shout when his foot catches onto a bear trap, falling forward. Hands and knees scratched, blood pooling under him, and covered with the dark canopy of the night sky with nothing to guide him except the dim light of the stars, Graves has never felt more hopeless.

The snapping of dead twigs and leaves, loud in the suffocating silence of the woods, makes his twist his neck to see-

Beasts. Snarling, deep dark beasts, gaping maws and rows of twisted, sharp teeth. They laugh and bark, snapping at him and there is nothing he can do to struggle back because the damned trap is still holding him down.

Behind those beasts, there is a figure. The eyes that peer at him in hatred are familiar, but Graves cannot recall their owner at this moment. Tall, blond hair, at the manor ever so often-

“You should not have touched what doesn’t belong to you, Graves.”

He is not granted enough time to think about how familiar the voice is.

And so, on a dark January night, Philip Graves disappears.

“Still no sign?” You ask, twisting your handkerchief between your hands again. Your days have been hard, lately, and grow harder the longer your lover remains missing. Though you aren’t even sure if he is truly missing. If he was, then how come the rest of the servants all said that they couldn’t find any of his personal belongings?

He had seemed so happy with you… you don’t understand.

“I’m afraid not,” Simon tells you softly, coming to stand beside you. He holds a hand out for you, and despite knowing it wouldn’t be proper, you do not stop him from drawing you into a hug. “The dogs didn’t find any traces of him, either.”

Your eyes move over to the two dogs curled on their respective pillows, one napping and the other chewing on a bone. You loved them; they were all over you the second Simon had brought them to you, rolling over to get stomach rubs from you. They provided a temporary retrieve from your dark and depressing thoughts, just simply holding them making you feel better.

“They are good hunters.” Simon had told you, his knuckles gently wiping away your tears. “If he is anywhere lost nearby, they will find him.”

But now, there wasn’t a trace of him. You hated to admit it, but perhaps Philip’s leave might have been his own choice…

“Do not cry.” Simon whispers softly when he hears you sniffling, arms warm around you. You melt against him, just clinging to this comfort. “John will still search, but you still have all of us to help you get through this, sweetheart.”

Get through this, and get over Graves. The rest of the staff all agreed that he wasn’t good for you, anyways, and the dogs had their fun.

And Simon now gets to hold and comfort you, after he’s already had quality time with the rest of his beloveds.

Your tears will dry, eventually, and your heart will open up again.

[befuddledcinnamonroll]

Episode 4! Let the unhingedness commence!

Aaaand this is why getting wasted before ropeplay is not the best idea.

Safety first, kiddos.

This house looks familiar - have we been in this interior for another series?

Love that the translators are familiar with American slang.

Fadel is just completely right, all the time. No wonder the poor dude is so tired and angry.

Poor Bison. He wants this to be real so badly.

The funny thing is, he's not actually in love yet. He just really really wants to be.

I do look forward to when all these idiots are insanely in love with each other, and acting accordingly.

Haha, one time and Style is totally hooked.

It's cute you can see he did get some of his personality from his dad.

Lol, Fadel, how's that whole "I'll fuck him once to get this over with" working out for you?

The costumer designers nailing it once again!

Lol, Style just lying back in the "take me!" pose. He wants another railing so badly.

Yeah, knew Fadel was just fucking with him. He's not ready to crack yet.

Fadel, change your gloves!!! This show and food safety, good grief.

I do like that Bison is more suspicious here. He's not stupid! Just wants love.

Oh no, is Babe getting beat up at school? Ooh, are we going to get Bison fucking up some bullies?

It feels like Bison has some first hand experience with this kind of thing at school. :(

Oh Style, you are already getting emotionally invested here.

Noooo, not the homophobic bullying. These poor babies.

The teacher? I'm not surprised, but damn. Oh please fuck this dude up.

I love them as a united front.

Before this show ends, I really need all four of them working together to take someone down.

Also still laughing about the janitor and PE teacher thing, cuz it does fit the outfits.

Ha, they brought it up again!

Beating up a pedophile with a toilet plunger, A+, no notes.

Yessss, love that Kant realizes this guy would be a repeat offender, and that beating him up isn't enough.

Oh Style... coming to the support group again is such a shitty thing to do. In character, but shitty. The man is 100% wounded pride at the moment.

Omg, dying.

There is a very different version of this show where Fadel literally has to murder this man to be left alone.

I love how First is playing Kant, where every once in a while there is just a slight hint of fear as he remembers what Bison is.

Gah, the cuteness! It doesn't matter which characters, when First & Khao get flirty, I get all giggly.

Heart-giving via burger pin, that's a new one.

Y'know I'm so used to thinking of First and Khaotung as GMMTV's top actors, but Joong is fucking blowing me away in this role. I think this is such proof of how many actors are often limited by the material they are given, and when they get the right script and director, they just soar. Joong is feasting on this material.

I do feel for Fadel, both for the loss of control, and the realization that "loudmouth dumbass" is his type.

One, this scene is amazing,

and two, I have to laugh that this is the least sexy place to be getting it on - which is of course probably why Fadel picked it, and yet he broke anyway.

Aww, I love sweet sibling moments.

Gah, having Style talk about the car just makes me think about how much Fadel's heart is going to break.

How is it that we have two men who murder people on a regular basis, and I want the two non-murdering ones to be the ones who eat all the crow later. Jojo you devious bastard.

Truth

Ha, Style's argument - "you can still jerk off, just do it with me in the room!"

Oh, is Kant finally going to tell Style?

Oooh, twist - were Fadel and Bison's parents targeted so they could be acquired, or was the murder the main plan, and the boys were a secondary prize? I mean, it was definitely Mother who was behind it, right? This guy is just a patsy?

Poor Style, as much of an annoying jerk as he is, this is a hard recontextualization of everything that he's done up to this point.

Kant, you are being such a dick to your friend! First for not telling him, and now for pressuring him to keep dating an assassin. Of course he wouldn't be able to quit Fadel anyway, but you don't know that!

And again, First nailing the uncertainty when Kant doesn't have anyone looking at him.

Oh, I am not going to survive flirty Fadel.

Well, Fadel did say he prefers being the pursuer... he's gonna get his chance.

Everything is so heightened by having two killers in the mix, Kant's ex better be careful.

Lol, Bison being all "I will get my romantic love, or you will suffer".

Rating - still unhinged, still super fun

[monstersinthecosmos]

Marius considers Armand the main mistake of his life

Do you think he would turn him into a vampire again if he could go back in time?

!!!!!!!!!! the easy answer to this is yes of course because he's a person trapped in a cycle who makes the same mistakes over and over 😂

but! the deeper answer here is that I don't agree that Marius considers Armand a mistake!!!!!!!!!

I think he regrets the way Armand was turned and regrets that he didn't take care of Santino when he had the chance. I think he spent 500 years feeling like he failed Armand, and so the content of the actual mistake is not Armand himself, but the circumstances around him and wishing things had been different in Venice.

This is the part in TVL where Marius says he fucked up with Armand -

"Whatever will happen will happen, but choose your companions with care. Choose them because you like to look at them and you like the sound of their voices, and they have profound secrets in them that you wish to know. In other words, choose them because you love them. Otherwise you will not be able to bear their company for very long. "

"I understand, " I said. "Make them in love. "

"Exactly, make them in love. And make certain they have had some lifetime before you make them; and never never make one as young as Armand. That is the worst crime I have ever committed against my own kind, the taking of the young boy child Armand. "

"But you didn't know the Children of Darkness would come when they did, and separate him from you. "

"No. But still, I should have waited. It was loneliness that drove me to it. And Armand's helplessness, that his mortal life was so completely in my hands. Remember, beware of that power, and the power you have over those who are dying. Loneliness in us, and that sense of power, can be as strong as the thirst for blood. “

So like obviously AR retconned Armand's backstory a bit over time, like this version of events doesn't say Marius did it because Armand got stabbed and was dying lol, but I think there's still a throughline between this and TVA and B&G about how Marius was trying to wait, and in waiting kept changing his mind until his hand was forced.

And don't forget that during the Venice era he was also painfully in love with both Botticelli and Bianca, and he used Armand as a rebound from them. He was going off of Eudoxia's advice to pick someone he could groom for vampirism, and he picked a traumatized teenager who could be a blank slate.

He changed his mind almost immediately though! He loved Armand! He knew he couldn't do this to him, but also began to realize he'd sort of ruined Armand for regular life anyway, and it was inevitable!

So I think like, in any version of events, or if he had the chance to do things differently, the common denominator of crushing loneliness would push him to it anyway, and he loved Armand anyway. He wanted to keep Armand. I just wonder if he'd try to prepare him better and let him live longer, and take care of the coven so that they wouldn't ruin Armand's life.

And the thing about time loops & time travel that we see in storytelling all the time is that things are sometimes inevitable. Like, Marius can go back in time and try to keep Armand from dating Harlech, but he can't do anything about it during the day, and Armand is going to do it anyway. Armand isn't going to listen!

And when I think about what parts of Armand's personality are innate and what's The Trauma it's like, we talk all the time about how they're immortal and have all the time in the world to heal, so who's to say that Armand won't be okay one day! And would the Marius of 2112 risk a change like this if Armand is happy and okay and their relationship is good?

Because even if he waited and turned Armand a little older and they had more time together, and eventually get to a good place, is it worth the risk to lose the GOOD things they've built together, or that have happened because of Armand? Like without Armand, would Marius have Daniel? Would he even have Lestat? Would he have ever been freed from TWMBK?

There's a fluffy version of time travel where you go back and fix something and everything is okay LOL so we ultimately come back to the classic topic of Marius loving selfishly vs selflessly--would he ever decide his loneliness is worth the 300 years of pain that Armand went through? Or are we dealing with the type of time travel that says some things are inevitable, and the lesson of the story is that you can't change it without losing something?

And how would ARMAND even feel about it? Armand takes his immortality like a champ and while he has big cosmic feelings about it sometimes, he doesn't complain. He feels love. He still fears death like everyone else. Is this a risk he'd even consent to? Would he turn in his own damnation for death? Is his death, and the gift of being freed from a curse worth missing out on his love of Lestat and Louis and Daniel and Benji & Sybelle?

THERE'S JUST SO MANY WAYS IT COULD GO WRONG LIKE IS IT EVEN WORTH IT IDK

JUST THE BRIEFEST OVERVIEW WITH A FEW SIMPLE OPTIONS, THIS HAS INFINITE SPACE TO GROW TBH

I love time travel as a topic LMAO I keep daydreaming about ways to write time travel VC fic!!!!! I love it for Sheith fandom but it's easier to incorporate because it's sci-fi. But I think as a storytelling vehicle it always tries to tell us to stick with the devil we know. I think I'm getting carried away with my nerd topic and straying from your question LMAO but this is how I'm pondering.

I'd also ask if SANTINO would do things differently. If he'd leave Armand alone!!!!!!!!! And I'll stop here because, like I said, the space on the chart is infinite and you could talk all day because what if Santino hadn't acted like a cunt, what if Marius didn't feel that TWMBK were threatened by cults, what if there had been even the slightest peace in the vampire community where Marius didn't have to feel like the sole keeper, how different would his life have been, would he have even still needed Armand, etc etc etc etc

So yeah I think he'd do it again. :)

And I mean.

He turned Benji.

Soooooooooooooo idk if he learned a lesson about turning children. SHRUG.

[minsu-the-cowardly-human]

LSOH x TADC AU designs!!

Ye ye some designs for my lsoh x tadc au I talked about a while back lol :3 btw I won't spoil but tadc ep 3 was pretty good IMO!! I can't guarantee I'll get back into tadc since I feel like the main reason I did after ep 2 was for Ribbun mostly lol but hey who knows? Speaking of, I don't ship them in this AU personally but idgaf what y'all ship with them, preferably not Pomni n Caine tho since this is going by the 1986 version of the movie where Mr. Mushnik acts more like a dad to Seymour.

First up, we have Pomni as Seymour and Queenie as Audrey 2!! I like to think she starts to abstract as she is "dying" of starvation :]

Next up we have Gangle as Audrey and Jax as Orin because OH BOY are they toxic...also added the bow cuz I didn't wanna give Gangle hair but I wanted to give her..something..so ye

Next up we have Bubble, Sun and Moon as the Chiffon girls cuz...idk. My only real thought is Bubble, Sun and Moon are all paired together for the Animiz figure & they're all just talking objects so..yeah

Then we got Caine as Mr. Mushnik and Ragatha as the radio host person thingy that Seymour talks to! For Caine, I decided to take more inspo from Mr. Mushnik's design from the cartoon Little Shop just to differnate this from regular Caine as much. For Ragatha, idk I wanted to make her look like a typical 80s' girl lol

Last, but not least, we got Kaufmo as Arthur Denton!! :3

Also, I didn't feel like drawing them cuz they would play such minor roles but I think Gummigoo would be the first guy to come in and notice Audrey 2 and buy a dozen roses(or two dozen..? i cant remember lol) since that guy already talks a bit like an NPC lol. And then Zooble would be the nurse that just wants to get the hell out of there during the Arthur Denton scene lol.

But yeah, lmk what y'all think!! :3 /nf

[ro-botany]

On the Characteristics of the Risen, and the Character of their King

The Risen King... Finally, a concept which once only existed in whispers and a single cipher 0 card, has made it into a Fire Emblem video game! Just the mobile game, sure, but it counts. And the Fell Exalt Chrom unit is so fascinating to me that I have not only this, but at least two other meta posts in the pipeline about it. I am so normal about him.

To kick things off... let’s talk about exactly what Risen King Chrom is, and also how he’s doing mentally. (Badly. He’s doing very badly.)

---

Real quick, we have to get one snag out of the way: the mechanism by which a Risen is made.

Shadows of Valentia introduced us to a prototypical version of the Risen created by Forneus, known as Death Masks. They’re made by fitting a dead body with a mask containing insects known as thanatophages. The thanatophages prevent the body’s decay and assert physical control over them in a manner not unlike certain real world parasites that control the muscular movements of their hosts.

I’ve seen a handful of my colleagues (lol) assume there are modern Risen made the same way. BUT. The Risen which exist during the events of Awakening are explicitly NOT Death Masks. During the xenologue Death’s Embrace, Brady states that “In the future, our wounded often turned to Risen just as we were tryin' to heal 'em.” This has to mean that Grima is transforming the dead and dying remotely, using some kind of magic; and at the height of their power, they may be either passively creating or deliberately casting an area of effect that turns dead bodies automatically. There’s nothing to suggest any Risen are manually created with thanatophages, or that Grima is manifesting thanatophages for that purpose.

Alas, we cannot do insect body horror with RK Chrom while also staying true to canon. But moving on...

---

Fell Chrom is, to make an understatement, very unique among the Risen. And to discuss why he’s unique, we first have to define what’s typical.

Behaviourally, typical Risen don’t appear to have sentience outside of their competency in wielding weapons and their tendency to form loose hierarchies based on individual strength. They’re incredibly aggressive by nature; it’s like their only innate drive is to fight and kill humans. Most of them are not capable of speech, though the stronger Risen Chiefs can grind out single words or even short phrases, which are usually just related to wanting to kill things. When being actively controlled through dark magic, they appear capable of basic tactics, though whether that comes from them or the person controlling them is unclear.

There’s no doubt that Fell Chrom is a Risen. He’s certainly got the appearance, the purple miasma, and the vocal distortion for it. Not to mention the giant glowing fatal wound in his side. Man certainly isn't alive.

He’s evidently still subject to control via dark magic too, if the fact that he was forced to war against his own country is anything to go by.

Fell Chrom also has the strong aggressive drive typical of Risen. Nearly all of his dialogue in battle situations suggests this. In order of increasing intensity: There’s the turn action quote “Find me an enemy”, which depending on your mood can read as either resignation or as chomping at the bit. There’s hostile level up quotes like “You shall count yourself...among the dead” and “You would...block my path”. His special trigger quotes are yet worse. He yells “This is your fate”, “No resistance”, and “Useless effort” with a fury you don’t expect from Chrom—and for the fourth one, he just shouts “DEATH”. And his voice clips for attacking aren’t words or even anywhere in the realm of a regular human noise, they're just distorted, monstrous growling.

But unlike with typical Risen, aggression is not all RK Chrom is. He can walk around the Askran castle and be around others without constantly trying to attack people. And in fact, he’s aware of and bothered by how violent being Risen makes him. One of his status page quotes is begging someone to “back away!” in a panic, as though he’s afraid of hurting them. It’s possible the violent instincts Risen have mainly only come into play for him in battle situations, or possibly when he’s in a state of heightened emotion.

And while RK Chrom displays the kind of difficulty with speech you would expect of a Risen, with his slow halting pace and gravelly tone, he speaks in complete, coherent sentences and displays remarkable clarity about who he is and what’s happening around him. He’s no husk. Chrom's mind is intact.

That is massive. That is completely unique among Risen, and deeply, deeply horrifying. Because even though he can think, he is by no means in control.

---

If the Forging Bonds supports are anything to go by, Chrom did try to resist Grima, at least in the beginning. From C through to A he moves from disbelief to outright despair at the very prospect of warring against Ylisse. But by the S support—which necessarily takes place years after the others due to how far Grima’s campaign has progressed—he’s given up. So much of his dialogue is mourning the past, or repeating Grima's belief that everyone is doomed and nothing can change. He’s not fighting it anymore. He's resigned to his fate as Grima’s executioner.

And why wouldn’t he be? After the initial confusion from being resurrected passed, he was lucid. He was fully mentally present when he was murdering his allies and slaughtering his own people. And between the deep, fundamental drive to kill and the direct influence of Grima on his actions... There wasn’t a damn thing he could do to stop himself. He couldn’t protect a thing.

Even now that he’s free of Grima’s influence in Askr, he doesn’t exactly do anything to avoid being an instrument of violence. Otherwise he wouldn’t be a playable unit. Everyone he’s ever cared about is dead, and he’s been nothing more than a monster and an instrument of violence for years. Why not fight. It’s the only thing he has left.

This Chrom is a deeply broken man. Angry and utterly hopeless. It’s no wonder after all he’s been through.

And yet... there’s still a spark there. For all his rigid insistence that Grima’s bleak outlook is the truth, his ally growth quote speaks volumes: “If this power were mine...back then...”

If fate is so immutable and hope is so pointless, why deal in what-ifs? Why wonder about what could have changed? And he’s still trying to protect people he cares about from himself; why else would he yell for others to “back away” when he feels he might attack them?

Through all the years of horror and the terrible curse of undeath... he’s still Chrom.

[dapperrokyuu]

Alright now that I’ve seen the end Slay the Princess, who’s your favorite princess?

Ill do you even better and give you my top 5/the ones Id love to get if I played the game, just to see their sequences in the end and how itd reflect on that version of the player (literally made a list for fun just before you sent this ask, hehe).

Admittedly, a lot of this is informed by aesthetic and then enjoyment of their routes because I came into (watching Manlybadasshero play) the game after some fandom osmosis–thus, understanding I wouldnt have all my thoughts together within one playthrough. So I cant say Ive devoted my satisfactory amount of attention to speak on the princesses’ narrative presence... But I did rewatch their routes and “Thoughts on this vessel?” sections a bit to formulate a stronger opinion. Here we go...! (Buckle in, fellas, haha ha h a…)

1. Adversary/Eye of the Needle

The Adversary and the Eye of the Needle are very hand in hand imo, and I love the progression into a dragon-like appearance for the latter, especially in combination with the cabin becoming akin to a dragon’s den. This (combination of) routes stands out the most to me (as far as Manly has played) because I personally feel its the one where the princess is the most active and engaged. Whether its being beaten to death or running for one’s life, the route was very exciting for me! And it was intriguing how the princess and player felt the most on equal ground because they are both intent on pursuing some objective. Its just that in this case–and this is how this princess exceeds and is an overwhelming presence compared to the player–the princess is set on a choice they dont care to deny and the player is a creature of the habit called “deliberation,” as narrator aside, in-universe reasons aside, the very structure of Slay the Princess has taught you to constantly pause and consider your choices.

It contributes to the tone of the routes so well! Even if you can sit forever in the Outside World, the game progresses like a split second decision and/or that any time given to you is at the princess’s turbulent discretion. In a game where your choices tend to matter most (which, frankly, they do, its kind of the whole point, but you may not know that your choices are what caused this situation yet, lol), the princess seeming to supercede you and the narrative and the concept of death is!!! Powerful and quite something, lol. And poignant, considering *gestures vaguely but particularly at the Narrator*.

Otherwise, I love how theres apparently many more and amusing divergences in this route (that Manly did not showcase) and the ending is pretty cathartic. And to keep this a bit short, yadda yadda, dragon dens is where they store and protect their treasure and in this case, the treasure is fighting you, yadda yadda, as the vessel of growth, the princess’s embracing of the cycle of violence between you two is her latching onto the only avenue of growth she can perceive (as opposed to escaping–since you didnt offer that option prior–and dying since thats tend to be the stop to the concept of growth), yadda yadda- 

2. Spectre

This princess’s voicework is probably my favorite! The whispering under the regular voice acting is just really neat, doing a great job setting a tone of something delicate, chilling, and unnerving. The princess’s design shifts between cute and scary very well too! Her personality is probably my fave overall; while her “thoughts on this vessel?” section highlights her embodying kindness and understanding, they only exist to an extent that is fair. Which is, well. Fair. And I think it extra emphasizes the understanding aspect, with how the princess is aware of her circumstances and the injustices that have occurred yet is willing to let bygones be bygones. Shes coy, sincere, and pragmatically deadly, which is a full spectrum of delight for me!

The moment that really gets me regarding her character is when you say youre gonna leave her. Other decisions lead you to working together or demonstrating you have no intention to with some form of violence–both resulting in the Spectre just responding fairly. But the “leave” option truly shows that the Spectre doesnt/never intends to act out in malice, since Spectre responds out of desperation to avoid perpetual loneliness, pain, and emptiness. Theres an aspect of “fairness” here too (youre abandoning and hurting her more after having murdered her), but the choice comes after a breakdown and deliberation as opposed to an immediate retaliation. Even then, Spectre laments that she didnt want things to be this way but youve made her worse. Other stand out moments are when Spectre goes, “Youre funny when youre confused. But I didnt give you permission to touch me,” and the player’s moment of patheticness, lol. 

This route really hints onto the meta aspects of Slay the Princess too, which is neat! The whole “want to end the world” convo, Spectre just wanting to go home, reality being what is in front of us vs. static truth/objectivity, whether destruction being one thing leading into another vs. the same thing reborn, glass on the floor, and the narrator being like Spectre as a memory of a person…I dont have much to say here currently–still need to ponder, itd be a whole other conversation, Im a bit tired, lol–but its tons of food for thought that I enjoy! Yay, Spectre!

3. Prisoner

Fun fact: this is a rewriting of the extreme word vomit that was me lamenting over how I was kind of confused about the Prisoner but chose her for the sake of a 5th (note the placing change) and then discovering the absolute genius she is!!! Basically, my only exposure to the Prisoner I had was Manly’s recent playthrough, which contained (what Ill call) the Chained Together variation and didnt even have her “thoughts on this vessel?” section due to the game going into the final sequence immediately after. The Prisoner’s section in that final sequence befuddled me because I couldnt connect much other than a theme of “inevitable change,” and even when I dug up the Prisoner’s “thoughts on this vessel?” elsewhere, I couldnt put it all together…until I watched (what Ill call) the Head Trophy variation in the middle of my initial writeup.

Regarding what I enjoyed prior to recognizing genius, I really enjoyed how the Prisoner conducted herself–her curtness and resignation was very unique. Her form was created as a result of the player cutting off her arm, instilling a matter of fact-ness to her that allows her to slit the player’s throat later (got this from the Wiki, Manly didnt show this part). Upon waking up once again chained and chained even more, I interpreted the cleverness aspect from the Prisoner’s “thoughts on this vessel?” section as being able to come to terms with her situation, play along, and bid her time in hopes that her patience (that she emphasizes) would eventually reward her. After all, the Prisoner was willing to pretend she and the player met for the first time until the player prompts otherwise, even saying they dropped “playing the game”--very meta of her! Thus, I interpreted the Prisoner as the princess completely embodying/accepting her role in the game; she couldnt leave when she defied her role last time, so she was fine continuing to wait this time. As a character who realized they were a character and systematically changed their behavior to attempt a new avenue of escape, I thought that was the extent of the Prisoner’s cleverness and was satisfied…enough.

AND I WAS WRONG. DELIGHTFULLY WRONG. I assumed the Prisoner was completely fine with her potentially only means of escape becoming not one, since she didnt seem upset or disappointed. Which was frankly incorrect, as her rude curtness is a result of her being miffed with you. Why? Because her cleverness actually alludes to the fact she had a plan for escape the entire time, and you utterly fucked it up! Which, tbf, she shouldve shown more reaction than curiosity to dissuade the player, but I digress- During the Head Trophy variation, you realize that the Prisoner had a plan this entire time to deceive the Narrator and she succeeds so well because she also got me and got the player. How often do I get got? It was amazing! From the stare as the Prisoner takes the knife away from the player, to the smile before That All Happens, to the wink as it occurs and after, it may speak to an underestimation thats set up due to the Prisoner’s appearance and behavior, but reflecting on all the signs that She Planned This dismantles that perception and reaffirms that the Prisoner is a person with depth beyond what you expect from her and those in her role. As I viewed the Prisoner as a caricature of the princess’s role in the first place (the whole point is that the Prisoner is exactly like the princess in appearance except the chained/locked up aspect is exaggerated), this route is so striking for me with its interrogation of victimhood, how victims are treated/viewed, and how that may be unintentionally stripped of their personhood and reduced (into a caricature of solely “a victim”). The Prisoner puts it quite nicely when the player attacks and she “suddenly” has a ton of fight in her, stating, “Im not a damsel to be helplessly murdered!” …Im not sure if I put it into words the best, but I hope this is understandable. To top off the topic of Prisoner’s cleverness, its a neat detail (I dont know if this is intentional) that the Prisoner does the opposite of what her prior princess form did: the player cut her arm to free her last time, she cut herself out this time and the player “died” the last time, she “died” this time. Beyond recognizing there was a Narrator beyond them she should fool, the Prisoner also reasoned that since having the player kill her is likely not favorable, dying by her own hand might just be fine! The Head Trophy variation is just more poignant when you note that her “thoughts on this vessel?” section talks about how the Prisoner protected herself when others could not but for her plan to work, she has to put complete faith in another.

As 1000% better the Head Trophy variation is in the Prisoner’s route, I do have a soft spot for the Chained Together variation since, from both the Prisoner and the Narrator’s perspective, it must be a hilarious emotional rollercoaster. The Prisoner’s plan failed and shes now stuck with the loser who made it so…for potentially forever! The Narrator probably oscillates between an uneasy concession that while both gods are not dead, they are locked up forever and an utter dread that things may fall apart at any time and thus, the world is practically doomed with no way to change that. The Prisoner doesnt have to decapitate herself, which makes her freedom extra cathartic in the relief she likely felt and didnt expect…and also extra sad in how she found it was nothing but cold and is quickly taken away. Theres also something to be said about how the player joins the princess in her perspective by chaining himself up and that they both inform each other’s perspective, leading to their escape together: (1) since the princess isnt starving to death, the player also doesnt, which is a surprise to the Voices and (2) the player showing up again signaled that change is indeed possible to the princess, perhaps causing the ability for the world to erode around them. Maybe the latter is the Voices informing the player, causing the change…? But I like to think its the initial thought since the cabin could and shouldve have eroded prior to the player’s arrival, assuming the Prisoner understands the concept of erosion…which, I assume she does- Anyways, the route is as emotional as it is kind of wacky, which is up my alley!

4. Witch

This princess is the one I enjoy the most aesthetically. Im a sucker for both witches and cats, what can I say? The allusion to the fable The Scorpion and the Frog really tickles me, and ultimately, whatever decisions made in this chapter are some form of hilarious. Whether we’re both dying on the floor with broken backs or handing a blade to someone who immediately stabs you, its great. I do enjoy the progression into the Thorn chapter, especially with the immediate regret from the Witch and the following reconciliation in Thorn’s chapter, but Thorn is not as funny and aesthetically pleasing as Witch princess for me, which is why she is not here, haha.

Her “Thoughts on this vessel?” section adds a lot of depth to her, since the way the Witch presents herself is very superficial and guarded. Particularly the statement about the Witch making for a “righteous” heart, in combination with her ability to just slip out of her chains. She couldve freed herself at any time, but chose to stay and confront you. Which I feel speaks to the bitterness aspect, as the Witch feels its only “right” to pursue an answer to her pain–whether it be the player’s penance or punishment. The game’s thoughts on bitterness are made even more poignant when you realize the Witch’s ends are either death (hers and/or yours) or a transformation into another state.

5. Tower

This route is just incredibly cool in how she takes over the narrator and the little divergences of the narration’s phrasing to be in her perspective in the voiceover. The progression into that route was amusing for me to think about because I think the shift of perspective that transforms the princess boils down to either “the princess had the might of a god to have defeated you,” “your sudden stop during the fight was a blessing from god to the princess,” and/or “your sudden stop was because your recognized the value of the princess’s life as larger than your own (‘larger than life,’ referring to her bigger form as the Tower and godhood itself).” The Tower calling you disappointing is funny, but what also sticks out is how she said she wanted company before turning into the Tower. Even as the Tower with the ability to just free herself, she chose to wait for you because thats what she wanted, and I think that plays on the relational idea of “What is a god without a believer?” since she’s willing to have the player as a priest or pet, lol.

How this route differs from the Adversary route is interesting, as the Tower is indeed also an overwhelming presence whose decisions matter more than yours not because her single minded relentless pursuit of it but because of the power to overwrite yours. Its a twist on the player’s and princess’s roles until now, but instead of making them equal like in the Adversary, the roles were reversed on who decides and who is forcefully changed as a result of that decision. Of course, you cant take the ability to choose from us, as a player completely, but its about the best you can do, I imagine. And not to mention the “defiling” aspect when you slay the Tower, dragging her down from godhood to an equal (humanity?) or perhaps her original state of someone who responds to your decision as usual… I think this route connects deeply to the meta aspect of Slay the Princess, since this state is where the princess is closest to the “concept of change” and the concept of their true self as a god. It makes the “thoughts on this vessel?” section very poignant because change in itself is indeed a constantly dominant, terrifying, and arguably divine force in its inevitability.

Honorable Mention to...the Damsel!

I really like the deconstruction of her concept, but that also means I feel that liking her is completely counterintuitive to that very deconstruction, lol. Her route is very straightforward in what it does, but it kind of has to be. Meaning it does what it set out to do very well.

This took a bit and is so much more than you asked for, so thank you for your patience and acceptance. Im just bonkers and bananas, so if I have it partially done, I might as well go all the way instead of going in depth on only one, lol. It was a fun exercise in pondering deeper about the princesses and dipping my toes in the ~meta~, but I will also readily say that Im not at all nearly deep enough into Slay the Princess as a whole to be confident on my takes, so this may have just been a session of Talking Out Of My Booty. Nonetheless, I hope this was enjoyable and thank you for prompting me to think about it! The order of the princesses changed throughout this answer, and it may be fun to guess what order they were written in, lol. Id love to hear about your fave/faves if youre interested in sharing as well~! And please, have a lovely day too!!! c:

[fleshandwires]

thinking about Sparkglow, it's been awhile since he's been on my brain, my first tfa fankid sigh..

sort of changing his story, I was never fully satisfied with the first version I made back in idk 2022??? maybe I don't know anymore,

anyways. Sparkglow started as a bio shockbee kid, I vaguely remember mentioning spark merging in the first version.

I still like the interpretation of sparklings I made lol, they originate from spark merging between two bots, however they're the equivalent of a parasite, being "sparked" means having a little spark growing closely to yours, slowly consuming your energy and resources, if they aren't transferred to a protoform or removed they will eventually fully consume the host's spark, which nobody wants to go through obviously, so if you run a scan and there's an extra spark there, remove it immediately.

Sparkglow is the result of a spark merge between Longarm and Bee, sometime before Bee leaves for repair duty that little spark emerges next to Longarm's. But now Longarm has three problems:

1. Sparkling growing in his spark, not that worrisome he'll transfer it to a protoform soon

2. MEGATRON ISN'T ANSWERING HIS CALLS. IS HE DEAD??

3. Husband gone too, why is everyone dying

Cut to Longarm having to raise that kid on his own for a long time, he over protects Sparkglow because of her illness (I never named this specific illness but know that her spark doesn't produce enough energy for her frame, so she will go into emergency stasis at any given time + faulty t-cog, she can't transform properly without it being painful), because of this Sparkglow isn't the most social bot ever, most of the bots she knows are medical staff she regularly sees for checkups.

She does have an outside friend however, a young courier bot named Retrowave who's about her age and regularity delivers packages of energon (goodies, refined, sticks, etc) to her hab suite. Retro is normally the one to go to Sparkglow's to hang out. Never fully developed their relationship, hopefully I'll do it when I do a full rewrite.

Time skip to the Earth bot's pretty much announcing that "hey we aren't dead and neither is Megs haha, help". Longarm is so happy about it, his leader and boyfriend are alive??? fuck yeah. He goes with Sparkglow to visit, Bee finally meets Sparkglow, yay!! Bee's and Sparkglow's relationship grows quickly, he lets her wander around Detroit and isn't as overprotective as Longarm, obviously still tries his best at taking care of his daughter. Eventually Longarm has to return to Cybertron because well. he's the head of intelligence he can't take random vacations, Sparkglow stays behind with Bee because she wants to grow closer to her other dad.

ANOTHER TIME SKIP - This is during the Longarm is a spy reveal, Sparkglow is devastated at the thought of Longarm not fully existing, she doesn't hate the man, she's conflicted on what she should feel, Bee's pretty devastated but mostly mad. With the other parent being a war criminal and wanted by the Elite Guard, Sparkglow is left under Bee's full care.

Sparkglow visits Shockwave's cell whenever she can, she doesn't say much so it's pretty awkward to have Shockwave stare and do most of the talking, he really tries his best to relieve her worries. Bee doesn't like these visits, fuck you I'm taking our daughter away (even though I barely know her and kind of just entered in her life LOL).

Then during Megatron's Trial during the Decepticons' escape Shockwave just. grabs Sparkglow and takes her with him, canon divergence here, the Decepticons don't go to Detroit, they escape and hide in some part of the galaxy and eventually reunite with the rest of the army.

Shockwave is happy to have Sparkglow back, however Sparkglow isn't very enthusiastic about all these sudden life changes. Being busy filling any other data he grabbed from the Autobots, Shockwave finds himself too busy to look after Sparkglow so she's around the shop just wandering around alone or staying in their room doing nothing. She befriends a young seeker around this time, Frightwing (who I'm pretty sure I've never posted here), their relationship isn't the best, Fright is far too brutish with her, yanking Sparkglow around or pushing her to do things she isn't quite sure about and usually applying emotional pressure on Sparkglow.

Sparkglow grows tired of this dynamic quickly but with no one else to talk with she bears with it. Her relationship with Shockwave continues to strain, so she starts to rely solely on Frightwing. Frightwing dealing with her own problems with her sister decides to run away in the next neutral colony their ship is making a stop at, she drags Sparkglow along, she's equally as alone as Sparkglow is.

Runway arc - Two teens who have no fucking idea on what they're doing, surely nothing can go wrong!

Frightwing and Sparkglow begin living together, living off whatever shanix they can get from random gigs, Sparkglow being the one suffering the most since her options shorten because of her t-cog problems. Frightwing is still pretty mean and too explosive around Sparkglow, the latter just swallows her pride and ignores most of the insults going her way.

But one can only keep up for so long, Sparkglow starts secretly saving up credits and eventually leaves to another colony outside but still close to the Cybertronian Commonwealth. Things don't go right and she ends up lost, stranded in a sector where Cybertronian is not a spoken language.

There's more but it's like 4am lmao, I'm gonna go rest

[bonkers-behavior]

Oh boy. If you’re keeping regular organ locations, then that looks like she’s either been stabbed in the large intestine and the small intestine or the stomach and the small intestine (two in either scenario since there are two blades), neither combo good. This is a thinker, on how to live.

What stage Gwen is this, in terms of what she can do? Could she think herself and Laura away to a hospital? Drag in a past version of herself as part of the basically bi-generated (‘Doctor Who’ style of independent existence) GwenHive to serve as a transplant donor before said GwenHive runs away since they could still actually die, being immune to paradox? Can she think herself doing something she doesn’t know how to do? Drag herself into the Gutter to try and ‘draw herself better’ from her drawing desk, like how she unkilled MODOK in ‘Head Games’? Or do all of these somehow, in order, barely being successful, if she is, Laura along for the ride? You have a lot of options open to you.

An interesting thought experiment. One partial solution along the road may be for Gwen to think it so that what we saw was in a mirror, and that she was actually stabbed in the liver and kidney, which would help a little with the replacement organ possibility but still be pretty bad.

Looking forward to seeing what your follow-up is, or whether you go the route of her dying and another member of the GwenHive showing up for the funeral (because of the whole paradox-immune thing).

I…. Was not thinking about organ placement tbh, so THANK YOU smart anon for reminding me about that lol. To answer a couple questions, the Gwen in my au entered this universe after her appearance in Marvel Voices and before her appearance in Venom Wars: it’s Jeff but somehow during Christmas, so she’s a pretty fully realized Gwen. I might have to steal that mirror idea from you bc that’s really cool, feels like an actual Gwenpool plot. I could do something cool with the gutter space Head Games thing, but I wanna keep this one pretty simple, also the fact that Gwen’s control of the gutter is much worse when she’s injured (GSB) makes that tricky.

Another thing, pretty sure hospitals are off the table because Gwen is a mutant, she at least wouldn’t want to risk being turned away while bleeding out. Not to worry tho bc they’re literally in the X mansion and if my memory serves me correctly they still have a med bay and a very fuzzy doctor (thank you Marvels end credit scene, idk if that’s in universe 10005 but I’ll pretend). But the main thing I wanted to use to save Gwen is actually something featured in The Unbelievable Gwenpool issue 8:

Megatony’s plot convenient healing gun! I don’t think it could heal her immediately - too easy - because it takes roughly a minute to heal Gwen’s subway induced bruising. I do think it could at least stop the blood loss while medical attention is being acquired. I was also thinking about Laura being able to play a more active role in saving Gwen, and the fact that she would have Logan’s E type blood :]

Anywho, thank you so much anon for making me think about my plot and being invested! And reminding me that specific organs exist lol. This comic might end up being a three parter what have I gotten myself into

[cerealandchoccymilk]

Trigun Bookclub: Trigun Vol.1, Chapter #06

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I’m doing a deep-read of the Japanese original print (reread) and Overhaul 1.0 (first read) side-by-side, and writing down everything I notice from small details, version differences, translation differences, etc.

Here are the non-analysis meow meow panels (only 2 today, sorry 😔)

And the rest is under the cut.

[link for if the images aren’t in horizontal rows]

I really love the "train conductor/bus driver/etc puts themself in danger to protect the passengers" trope- NOOOOOOOOOO COOL CONDUCTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Small correction: These first onomatopoea are actually...flesh sounds...... And I wasn't really thinking about corrections for this one, more just for nuance, but Neon says something like "it's unfortunate, but..." in this line.

A small difference here: in my version it's actually CO2, not oxygen that's being supplied to the Heat Plant. However, considering that O2 is a fuel for combustion and CO2 is a byproduct, it may be an error on Nightow's part.

This is one of the first indications of who Kaito actually is. He knows all of this off the top of his head, which catches the Captain by surprise.

It also provides information about Plants. This could either mean that all Plants require some kind of fuel, or that the Plants can utilize those resources in some other way to help the Sandsteamer.

Get graphited idiot.

We also get to see more of Kaito's attachment to this Sandsteamer.

Here, the original line is more like "Why would Brilliant Dynamites Neon have to listen to you when this treasure—the prey I've been hunting—is right in front of me!?"

This is where I notice that Neon has a sort of obsession with "beauty," not just in the regular sense but also in his own way. He obviously values visuals—his over-the-top fashion and desire to go out with a bang—but to him, it's also a question of dignity. (this will be on the exam yall)

Even the gang member is getting worried about what Neon might do to Kaito... And here's where we find out why Kaito knows so much and wants to protect the Sandsteamer!

Notes on the original phrasing of this line, since I saw a few posts comparing the Dark Horse and Overhaul versions.

The Japanese line is「パッと散りな　小僧」 パッ(pa') is an onomatopoea for "pop," "poof," or a release (e.g. letting go of an object). 散る(chiru, used here in command form) means "scatter," most commonly associated with falling cherry blossom petals. From that, it's also a euphemism for dying. i can go on for another paragraph on the association of cherry blossoms with Japanese views on life/death but you can figure that out. or google it idk

I think this line is another excellent representation of Neon's values on beauty and death.

I love this page so much!! The flow comes to a complete stop, and the tension that has been building throughout the last few pages is at its peak here. The composition is also excellent. The art is symmetrical, and Neon's giant outfit follows the lines leading from the bottom corners of the page up to Vash's gun, where they intersect right in the middle. I JUST LOVE THESE KINDS OF COMPOSITIONS SO MUCH.....

can't remember why i wrote "sike" there

It took a while to figure out what happened here, but I think Vash either sensed danger or actually dodged a bullet, and chose to jump back out. Love the way he's firmly holding Kaito's overalls while Kaito doesn't understand anything that's going on lol

The silly goofies... theyre screaming crying shitting themselves out there....

It's a bit hard to see, but Kaito is screaming "AAAHHH PULL ME UPPP" in the middle panel.

This exchange after the two get to safety is also so silly... There's a missing "whrrrr drill drill" SFX for Vash's drill hand (?). I saw a photo of the Dark Horse version which was missing it in the same way, with the leftover ン on Vash's cheek.

I forgot to highlight it, but this note pertains to Vash's second speech bubble about death and destruction. The Japanese version of the line is something like "I swear!! I have at least 2 digits' worth of death-gods(死神) or poverty-gods(貧乏神) haunting me!!" Death-gods/shinigami are already well-known in the West so I won't explain that here. The second one, poverty-god/binbōgami, is a similar kind of thing, except it brings poverty to whoever it clings onto (instead of death). Fun fact: Binbōgami are said to like yakimiso (grilled miso paste).

VASH'S SOUPY BRAIN!!! The mystery has been solved!!!

But first, in order... Vash's first line is more like "We can't be worrying about all this right now." It could keep the original phrasing, but the main idea is to change "me" to "us."

The next (most important) line is actually "We gotta save brainpower [for the matter at hand]." The confusion lies in the word 脳みそ, which literally translates to "brain miso," but is actually the word for brain tissue, and thus brainpower. It has nothing to do with miso soup! The origin I wrote in the middle-left of the image is...dubious.... I told my mom about this just now, and she mentioned that it might be called that because みそ(miso) also means the center or key aspect of something. Weblio also says it signifies innards (like from crab or shrimp), similar to what I wrote in the annotation at first. I'll fix it in the document later

Also, I would phrase the last line as "I mean, we're gonna stop this ship, right!?"

Kaito's skills are actually insane. What do you mean you just copied the entire blueprint... Mistranslation: The respect is directed towards his dad, so it should be "You must really look up to your dad."

I didn't know his name was spelled Kaite in this version. My Japanese version copy has that bottom part in a regular speech bubble, and with the font for the boxes. It's most likely just a version-exclusive error. He also says that his dad "found" the ship, but I'm not sure if that's another error or not since this translation makes more sense.

This line is phrased more like "Just for a little bit of cash, I'm now taking advantage of you for a deal with a crook."

I really loved the execution of this scene in the '98 anime. get hammered into the ground boy The final line is from Kaito, not Vash, and should be "...Yeah!!"

And that’s it for Chapter #06! Sorry for the wait, I couldn't work on this as much as I'd liked because of the smoke and rainstorm, combined with weekend responsibilities. Feeling better now though 💪 As always, the Japanese annotations are in the reblogs.

~~~

Bonus: reactions to the soupy-brained Vash post

[estbela]

The thing is I love all versions of serbro!!!! They're all awesome

And by that I mean:

Regular serbro: hell yeah. Two bros who are best friends and weirdly wholesome!!! They get along like a house on fire (and might have set a couple houses on fire too). + morally questionable men dying(and killing) for eachoter.

Nyo serbro: chaotic women being morally questionable and in love!!! We love to see it!!! No thoughts head empty I just need them...

Nyo romania × serbia: Childhood best friends who have been pining and both would rather gnaw their legs off rather than actually admit they do love eachoter. Also a chaotic duo!!! (they would also totally commit arson together). In my hetaverse I do use the Nyo version of Romania so like. I could write more about their relationship but I am not gonna do it rn lol

Nyo serbia × romania: weird magic guy × his terrible girlfriend/wife whom he loves so much!!! Ro would totally help Serb get away with stuff like murder or hiding a body (although all versions of themselves would so theyre not special haha)

[feuqueerfire]

4 Minutes Ep 5 - 6 Live Blogging

Ep 5 (Aug 23)

Coincidentally this started airing on iQiyi the same week I'm on my VIP trial. Downloading it to watch on my phone during lunch (while outside lol not in the office) but I can only get the regular version, not sultrier.

im watching this on my lunch break outside where it is very sunny + on my phone so im ngl that entire first part was just pretty much a dark screen for me.

i still cannot quite comprehend the Great and Tyme relationship.

i also don’t get how Tyme’s parents ended up killed but ok

ah, so Nan was not the female doctor. She was in this and decided to team up with Tyme

Watching Sultrier version: okay Nan's friend Mon did die at the gambling place! I was wondering if we weren't gonna see something happening to Mon that was gonna turn Nan against the gambling place even more.

20 minutes in, gonna watch rest while on the subway home bc the lighting will be fine at least.

Spoilers from twitter: Great is dying, Tyme is possibly dying (smth about them dying after e/o? idk), a screenshot where the user was saying Tonkla killed Title, everything was fake from great’s mind?

Sultrier version: the parents trying to figure out what to do about Great helping Nan get away

ah, he took the money because the company owner greats father was there as was Tyme's grandma

rewatched pre-credit scene and ohh it’s how tonkla got Title in a vulnerable position to probably kill him

Nan went ahead on live and is trying to expose the illegal gambling business

as expected, it seems like the woman who tried to kill herself’s son likely was involved in that gambling pool

lol Fah knew about Korn seeing Tonkla and now wants to put an end to it so that they can get married

what’s even going on with the woman giving away her entire life savings to that guy and premonitions of death

wait, misstress son… so Great is related to the dad but out of wedlock and while he had a different wife?

Also, the treatment of Korn and Great is so different. Korn got slapped by the dad like 2 sentences in, right after he spoke harshly to Great's mom about Great. Great on the other hand is allowed to be rude and confrontational.

oh, the woman sent the killer after Great's mom/the company leaders

why did the 4 minutes thing just happen immediately? Like shouldn’t the guy have shot the gun 4 minutes later?

ah, she died anyway

We're at 11:03 this episode, the time is back after not really appearing in ep 4. On the other hand, barely any Tonkla, just that cold open. More and more curious when and how Tonkla and Great's stories will converge (in bigger ways than just Title and Dome)

The watching experience of this episode left a lot to be desired since I was fr just watching on my screen, barely able to make anything out in the darker scenes because of the sun. Maybe I should rewatch but don't really feel like it.

3 more weeks before it all (hopefully) makes sense, oh man.

Ep 6 (Aug 28)

Using data during my walk outside on lunch break but I barely have any data left so probably won’t be able to watch much hmmm

So what’s the timeline, Win found out about Tonkla being a suspect, slept with him again (after finding out he was cheating), then came to catch him? Or is this in a different timeline? Or is the order of events incorrect? But also lowkey why does it feel like Win kinda gave Tonkla a heads up or something to get him outta there.

Oh, we’re starting from the very beginning but presumably seeing the original timeline events

Ah, Tyme’s elusive ex girlfriend

The shots of Great at the end of the table is so beautiful

god Great is such a dick

no like in DFF Great would have been part of the shitty friend group that bullied Non and got him killed, except it’s even worse because Great killed some woman with his car and helped Title hide a body (and he watched as Title first killed the guy)

ah, Great and Tyme’s original meeting

bro I really can’t see shit in the dark scenes

okay back at home

oh I remember some people saying they probably had a one night stand the first timeline and stuff instead of pursuing a relationship

Tyme bugging Great's room?

oh we are Seeing the lube, that's crazy

oh that's crazy, the camera captured them fucking?

girl what, Tyme is gonna post revenge porn of Great?

he really did post it woah. TymeGreat are truly horrible4horrible

Great's dad is saying that Tyme's parents were the ones who originally started this gambling business (+ that he didn't kill them hmm)

Great's conversation at the dinner with Tyme after the clip... he's crazy fr

The way Great said "Wanna hook up?" is so funny, I actually lol-ed aloud. and what a character he is, asking this after knowing the Tyme initially had sex with him to post that clip bc he's beefing with his dad

Oh, in this timeline, is Korn crueller?

In the original timeline, Great pulls down Tyme's mask after he attacks Korn, rather than Tyme pulling it down himself

Aw man, Nan just died in this timeline and Tyme's has to come to terms with that. I get that Tyme's gonna be grieving and such and he does have a point about Great being able to do something because they wouldn't have shot him but... Tyme knew this was a possibility from the start, right?

Great's mother must die in this version too, right? Or wait actually I guess not because the lady who sent the assassin was actually killed by Great. saved his own mother's life in a round about, killer sort of way actually

Ohh, Tonkla shot Great in the original timeline, the reason he's in the hospital.

Okayyyy interesting episode to get the original ep 1 - 5 events! I wonder what this means for the last two episodes. I think if we were going for a "and nothing was changed, Great dies, Tyme dies" after the changed timeline storyline, then we wouldn't have gotten this episode today. Feels like the next 2 episodes are gonna try to tie original and redo timeline together somehow?

I'm curious and excited, this might've been one of my favourite episodes.

The Great and Tyme dynamic feels so much more grounded and realistic this time around, the way Great wants to hook up while Tyme's like wtf... ?? The rosy original timeline was clearly not quite right. But it again brings into question what even is going on with their romance in the redo timeline because they're not in love here + Tyme kinda hates Great right now, so what's up with such a cutesy romance in their redo thing? I can see it from Great's end but Tyme?

Also Great truly is suchhh a piece of shit. Not even in a bad way. well like bad way obviously because he's a bad person but as a viewer, it's extremely entertaining and compelling.

I think I should rewatch this show on my laptop because there are definitely moments esp last week where I was watching on my phone while outside and it was just too dark to truly see stuff. And maybe I'll notice stuff on a rewatch. Dunno if I should do it this weekend or wait until the week of ep 8 and rewatch in preparation for the finale.

[asyastudieskorean]

1.07.2024 — Another long study day. I ended up having to work from 7 AM to early afternoon, so I'm finishing up studying pretty late (it's now 6:30 PM). When I will have a free weekend again, let alone a free day, I honestly don’t know. 😭✋🏻

One thing we covered this chapter is how when ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅅ, ㅈ are positioned after the final consonant ㄱ, they are pronounced as double consonants (so, ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ). Examples would be 학교 (school) or 학생 (student). This is all fine and dandy, but I frankly cannot tell the different when saying these words or hearing them. To me, they just sound like regular consonants. I guess I have yet to master that fine difference, or maybe it isn't a big deal so long as I understand and can be understood.

Watching study with me videos while I study gives me motivation and makes me feel less lonely, lol. I tend to watch Just B's DY. If you haven't heard their music yet, I recommend "Damage" and "RE=LOAD," preferably the Studio Choom versions because those hit different. Notable mention also goes out to Sang Woo's cover of D.O's "That's Okay." Anyway, I'll be taking the vocab and chapter quizzes first thing Monday. I really don't have the mental strength to do them today.

[ananke-xiii]

i think you were being facetious about the osiris coffin myth but what do you think about that being called back to in season 14 with the michael coffin plan. im curious what your thoughts on that are.

Hello!

Oh, no I wasn't being facetious (I think you're referring to this post, right?)! As I've said there, this isn't my primary reading of those episodes and I definitely don't think the Osiris myth was planned in advance, not the way I've put it in my post.

But I do know that resurrection is too much of a big theme in s13 to be discarded as a "regular" SPN thing. Specifically, Cas' resurrection spans over 6 episodes (7 if you count his death in s12) where we actually see the steps of his resurrection, so I think it's safe to say that the writers revisited some resurrection myths to come up with ideas (I'm pretty sure every screenwriter has a copy of "The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers" at home, which hopefully means they also have a copy of "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" which also means that they have a copy of "The Golden Bough" and Frazer was pretty keen on dying and rising gods).

Now, about the Malak Box which means the Angel Box. I have perhaps too many thoughts about it so I'll try to be brief and only share the most salient points.

The tl;dr version is that I personally think that the meaning of characters who (want to) bury things in the water is two-sided: they want to efface the proof of their actions but they also doom themselves in the process because water is the universal symbol of life, therefore the things we hide in the water won't stay dead and are bound to resurface.

Michael was trapped by Dean in an icebox which was all a big symbolic way to say that Dean trapped Michael deep down his subconscious. What's the most famous symbol connected to the subconscious? Water. So of course the icebox thingy doesn't work because see above: the things we bury in the water will resurface whether we like it or not.

Dean understands that and this is why he builds a box for himself: because he contains Michael in his mind but it's not enough and, since Michael will take control over his mind, Dean thinks that if he puts his own body into a box and hides it deep down the ocean the problem will be solved.

Per its usual, the show removes its characters from making real decisions so we don't know what would have happened if Dean had gone through with his plan. What I personally do know is that Dean's plan was doomed to fail because see above again: water=subconscious=things will resurface.

I also know it wouldn't have worked because previously on Supernatural other things buried deep in the ocean somehow found their way back home: the First Blade in s10 and Lucifer himself in s12.

What do the First Blade, Lucifer and Michael have in common? Well, according to SPN they are evil. So we go back to the idea that evil things can be kept apart if you manage to stuff them deep down the earth/water and far away from civilization. Which, again, doesn't work.

Interestingly, it's usually Michael the one who binds Lucifer to the "Abyss", therefore in SPN we have an inversion of the myth: Dean wants to cast Michael into the ocean while Nick wants to resurrect Lucifer from the Empty. Power to the vessels, yeah! (I think "Damaged Goods" went heavy on the metaphor 'cause we have Dean and the Malak box and Nick and that box thingy where Abraxas was caged).

Now I've written "Abyss" in quote/unquote because abyss, per se, means "bottomless" and it's not exclusively related to waters and oceans but it also very much is. Dean says he wants to bury himself in the Pacific Ocean so, to me, this means the Mariana Trench which might as well be the "personification" of the concept of the abyss.

So we have a very interesting thing here in that Dean is even more Michael-like than Michael himself because he wants to bury the both of them into the abyss. LOL.

Finally, since Malak means "angel" and Dean wants to bury himself in the ocean/Abyss I cannot not think of the "angel of the abyss" found in the Book of Revelation, aka Abaddon/Apollyon.

So we go back to the beginning of my reply: one thing Supernatural is not given enough credit for is that it made full use of both ancient and more modern myths and stories, sometimes not in a respectful way but some other times they were pretty clever with symbolism.

Besides the main characters being conventionally attractive white dudes, the show's success is, imo, due to the fact that it's about this stuff, you know? Once you start playing around with myths you'll always find people willing to listen.

[rewatching-sam-and-dean]

Canadian + Supernatural Things

Just have to get something off my chest.

I just saw this list about if Supernatural took place in Canada. And like, some of the points are kinda funny: the first blade made out of a moose antler made me laugh (but it’s stupid given the story of Cain killing Abel with a donkey jawbone-pretty sure they weren’t in Canada), or Sam and Dean saying “Fuck it” if a case required them to drive across Saskatchewan (because, come on. It’s Saskatchewan, lol), or people definitely dying by the time the boys drive across Canada to get to them since, unless you’re in a big centre, towns can be very far-spread. But, the rest are so much typical Canadian “These are the Only a things We are known For” items thst it just makes me nuts. Tim Hortons is a coffee shop/fast food chain. It is not the equivalent to a Gas ‘n Sip. That would be like a 7Eleven. Dean would not preferr butter tarts over pie. First, butter tarts are gross. Second, pie is not an inherently American thing. Canadians eat pie! Dean would NOT order poutine instead of a burger all the time. That’s just fries, cheese curds and gravy, people! No meat content, unless it’s fancy poutine. Also, how many Canadians even eat poutine on a regular basis? I’ve probably had it like 10 times in my whole life, maybe. We eat burgers here, too! Nobody actually says “hoser.” And Sam and Dean being Canadian wouldn’t make Crowley Canadian, so his catch phrase of, “hello boys,” wouldn’t change. At all. Worst of all, despite what this list says, Dean and Cas would not be married if SPN took place in Canada because straight people exist here, too. And Dean still wouldn’t be in love with Cas, even if he were Canadian. 🙄

List here, if you’re interested (X)

Look, I get it. This is just supposed to be fun/funny. But, it’s lists like this thst make Canadians sound stupid. We clown on ourselves more than Americans do in sitcoms. It’s as if, we only understand the world in Canadian stereotypes or something. And this list in particular doesn’t use one-for-one comparisons. Rather, it uses bizarre comparisons, like saying Sam and Dean would ride around on a polar bear instead of in a ‘67 Impala (my example, not the list’s). Most American cars are also available in Canada. Most American music we also listen to in Canada. A lot of American food is also eaten in Canada, especially more midwestern or northern food. I mean, I live about an hour from the US border, and have even lived there, and the biggest differences I’ve noticed is people being allowed to own handguns, wider shoulders on their roads, way better road conditions in the US, more frequent small town, and much cheaper alcohol (on a simple level).

We aren’t that different on a person-to-person or product/consumption level. I’m not saying there aren’t some big differences in terms of social norms, idiocies, politics and social structures, but those can differ wildly state-to-state alone.

But the things we consume … those are very similar. So lists trying to compare an American Sam and Dean to a Canadian version just don’t make sense and they rely hugely on basic Canadian stereotypes.

The points about driving distances, lack of frequent small towns, Sam and Dean needing health cards for each province, the weapons they could access, these things make sense to comment on. And these would definitely make the show feel different. Goodbye Americana. But, good lord, can we stop pretending all Chadians only have like 10 products, foods, locations thst we all eat, use and patronize all the time? Ugh!

Okay rant over. (And likely to be deleted later).

[luridce]

my dummy headcanons for the yee yee ass haircut man, that I want to get off my chest:

✩ his real name is Ido - created this from his hero name pronunciation "Nīdorusutā".

✩ before joining and getting kicked out of the Blizzard Group, and becoming a professional hero on his own, he definitely was involved in some gang (the delinquent vibes?). Inevitably did a 180 and became a hero... because our man is good deep down inside🖤

✩ maybe worked in security? or like a chauffeur for a gang boss at some point? Anyways, any job he did was cut short because of "disciplinary issues" a.k.a. him not being able to take orders and listen to his superiors if he thinks it's not the right thing.

✩ chews bubblegum when he feels like smoking (wants to quit smoking). Get's lowkey annoyed when working with other heroes who smoke right in front of him (lmao Zombieman pls it's not healthy for you, sweetheart!).

✩ kept the suit he got from the Blizzard Group. Had to return it after being kicked out, but didn't because he's a little shit lol.

✩ wears safety pins as earrings to show solidarity with those who are marginalized, believes in "all lives are equally valuable". So I think most of his attitude/arguments with others stem from seeing people treated badly (e.g. probably wasn't a fan of newbie-crushing that the Blizzard Group did).

✩ thinks he's a smartass, but probably barely finished school lol. Maybe has street smarts? A little bit of physics knowledge, because he has to estimate the trajectory of his mace?

✩ idk but I think he has like... a million tattoos under that suit. Overall, he's very into the punk look, looking alternative and having a "no rules" style. Wears a lot of dark clothing, ripped clothing, boots, maybe has a few t-shirts in 'weirder' colors (e.g. hot pink? lol). Likes studded and spiked jewelry, has a few killer leather jackets. But only wears everything casually, tones it down for hero work.

✩ I think that his good guy side stems from either: 1) growing up on the streets and witnessing poor, weaker people being treated badly (maybe similar mindset to Garou, reacting to the injustice of the world, but choosing to be better); 2) not growing up on the streets, having a good support system and family that helped him form his values (maybe a good, but strict mom? a younger sibling he kinda wants to be a role models for?); 3) no big reasoning behind that, just him being a decent human being.

✩ pierced his own ears with safety pins when he was a teen to impress his delinquent friends. Pierced his ears unevenly though lmao.

✩ is a total tsundere about it, but secretly enjoys working in/belonging to a team. I wanna believe that him and the others (Mizuki, One Shotter, Gearsper) form some sort of a friendship after the MA raid, maybe go out for drinks or something. I love them all so much... I just want them to interact again in the manga 🖤

✩ maybe has some resentment towards the Blizzard Group, but is mainly focused on his own path as a hero. Not the one to badmouth the group or Fubuki behind their backs.

✩ is a regular in one barber shop and goes like once a week lmao like a lot. Keeping his zig zag haircut looking fresh is his top priority. Probably dyed his hair at some point too. Wishing we got a colored version of him in the manga.

✩ keeps his mace and chain next to his bed when sleeping. Curses a lot (says "damn" and "holy crap" in the manga), will call you a dumbass.

✩ and a super dumb last one: sings while driving. Like he's a decent driver, but a horrible singer (thinks he's good though lmao). Telling him to stop will just make him sing louder. Maybe that's the reason he lost his chauffeuring job lmao.

THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY LONG ASS TED TALK OF DUMB HEADCANONS. I AM SORRY I AM OBSESSED WITH A MINOR CHARACTER AND YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS. MAYBE SOME GOOD OPM ART WILL COME OUT OF THIS OBSESSION.