#some of the best copaganda i ever did see

[hopeinthebox]

easy mistake to make

[kocch]

this is a rambling post no one is gonna read but I GOTTA WRITE IT because i've watched the whole 911 show in the past five months and never really talked about it, so i gotta say some things that are important to me (some might be unpopular opinions idk i don't really know the fandom, i've only checked the tag in the past weeks for s8 and all i can see is mostly annoying fanwars about which ship is better)

my dash could be biased and tumblr itself could be biased for mlm ships BUT WHY DID I NOT KNOW THIS SHOW HAS LESBIANS. like. i'm gonna use the few screencaps i posted here on tumblr while i was binge-watching the show buT

they're everything they're the best they're all i've ever wanted and they're not talked about enough, i don't know if it's because they're a wlw ship and they're a BLACK wlw ship or it's just that they're an enstablished couple and all, but damn i wish i saw them more in my dash and here on the freaking gay website because they have given me so many emotions through the seasons and they're SOLID and i just love them so much :( of course i know karen is not always present because it's a procedural show and sometimes the characters disappear for episodes, but they've solidified 911 in my heart . because damn this show is QUEER and it has been queer since day 1

my top faves are chim maddie hen and buck ok i don't make the rules they're the best but I LOVE THEM ALL and i think one of the best things of this show is the found family concept. you just gotta love them all. even if sometimes they have crazy writing moments through the seasons (like when buck tried to sue 118 or when eddie left 118 jfefhrf)

i love LOVE LOVE 911 because of all the feelings, the found family, how inclusive it feels with all the queer storylines and how diverse the main cast is (but also the case-of-the-day cast too... i'm a fan of another procedural like fringe, it was the 2010 and it was the whitest thing ever, (and the production was racist too) things have changed) BUT IT'S still copaganda. athena grant is a lot of copaganda. the two things can coexist i can love her and despise her story at times ok.

i hope we get a great henren/madney storyline in season 8 because (they're literally my faves) they're the best. i kinda wish for chim and maddie to long for a second children, now that they have mara in their lives? I'm not sure, i just know i need more of them. they're literally . so good to me. they've captivated my heart in s2 and they never left. the potential chim and maddie had was so great, but timing, trauma, depression, many things were keeping them apart, and every win felt EARNED. i just think sometimes straights have rights and that's madney's case.

i love buck like anyone in the fandom, but i think part of the craze on tumblr is due to his bisexual storyline and i gotta say... i do enjoy bucktommy. atm they're cute. being silly and in the honeymoon phase. do i ship buddie? i do, there are so many GREAT things through the seasons that make you feel - wow they could be perfect together - but that doesn't mean i will hate on bucktommy for now (yeah, i know, tommy was horrible in the past, yeah he was closeted and repressed, yeah he could have been better, he was racist and homophobic, i know, but i guess he got better since the characters are ok with him? sometimes we'll never get that resolution on screen) (i think all of them had their bad moments as characters, i mean, i could open a whole file about athena being a bad cop and still she's everyone's faves)

getting back to buck i did love his bisexuality storyline and i love him BEING BISEXUAL, it's not about tommy or about eddie or about anyone it's about him being bisexual. in his early 30s. BUT I gotta say, for how writers have written these characters, for me it made so much more sense for eddie to turn out gay than buck having his bi moment (and it's because of the writing). it makes sense for buck to be bisexual because he has always loved women and he's tried to make his relationships work, unlike eddie, but then he found out he also like men. he had soo many queer hints around him and it's just. fitting. i love him to bits. i wish s7 was longer so we could get things a bit slower, the pace was fast but i loved it. AND DAMN buck was jealous of eddie because of tommy? or of tommy because of eddie? I wonder.

i'm not sure 100% they'll go with buddie for now, but maybe it's just i am not an optimistic per se and i wanna see where they go with eddie's personal growth BUT eddie is gay. he gotta be gay. that man only had one love in his life, shannon, and that love is an idea he has. he thinks they had a great love story, but the truth is that they met when they were young, she got pregnant, he ran away from her for years with the military stuff, then he came back and she ran away, then they got together but still she asked for divorce and then she died. he denies her leaving him because of an idea of something that never really existed. even if he loved her, i'm sure he did love her but, it wasn't something perfect or functioning like bathena henren and madney. eddie is a terrible romantic partner (he's a good dad, but a terrible guy to date lbr) and it's because he's gay. i know everyone in the fandom agrees but i gotta write it down ok. when he's forced to date he feels like he has to perform? he self-sabotage all his relationships with women?? his love stories always end because of him? he had panic attack because of committing to ana??? come on ? the marisol storyline?? That shit is insane if he isn't gay

and that's why i'm asking for eddie to come to terms with who HE REALLY IS without christopher in his life. he's not just chris dad. he gotta stop running away. they have the possibility to make a great storyline for him, after several weird seasons for the poor guy. he gotta understand and accept himself and then maybe he'll work out the things with his son. this is one of the most exciting storylines for s8 and i really hope we get it. if we don't we need a PROPER story that makes sense with all of that tbh.

i'm ok with buddie happening in another season tbh i just want eddie to come to terms with his sexuality. i just love good writing and this show has its great moments with characters and that's why i love it, because it has heart. it has incredible characters i love.

i do love bathena and bobby and athena even if it might not be obvious in this post hahah and i wish we could get back may and henry, i miss athena having actually children

[pinkestpurple]

Show so good i'm threatening to kill myself

1;2

So this is my season 3 of 911 reaction. I tweet this in spanish and then i translate here, if something dosen't make sense, dont worry, i also dont make sense in spanish.

I dont have a mateo live reaction of the first 3 episode because i was to entertaining. 3x01 is a meh episode, but the other two are such good episodes theres a reason they are iconic in the fandom and i knew about them before i saw them. At the end of 3x03 i was like: "ooh, Buddie angst!" and when Eddie walk into Buck's aparment like nothing happen i put the same face that Buck had. Like Eddie loves Buck so much is insane. There is no way they arent gay!

3x04

"My god this is the biggest fire i ever seen" Chimney you are too funny!

Buck being a stickler of the rules?? i never though i see it

This is episode about sibiling?? They are the worst but also the best

??? Excuse me, Chim and Hen where expecting Buck to get jealous bc of lena?? GIME A NO GAY EXPLANATION

Omg, i love chris and eddie. Eddie is such a good dad!

Why is Maddie thinking she is CW Arrow?? Pls go to a therapist

Buckley sibiling making bad decisions is the theme of this episode

3x05 "Rage" is going to be such a chill episode

Buck cararota, how are you sitting there? Even if you get your job back, do you think you are going to work with them?? They will hate you

oh no! if something happens to Athena's family bc of the racist policeman and Athena keeps being a policeofficer I'm going to be so mad

my god, what i am watching, Athena stop defending the police you more than anyone knows that is a very corrupt institution

Ah! no! why they put this trope in this episode? It makes it look like the police anger and Michael's are both wrong? No, Michael is justified!

Okay please tell me that Lena is not a romantic interest, that's Buck as a girl, AND you put rebel girl as one of her songs?? The only way this works if they are eachother beards

KJJJJ the way they edit the song so is not a lesbian song

In the reaction to season 1 i mention a dimension 20 character and this season is Lou Wilson Pinochio from neverafter, that interpretation of Pinochio blow my mind, bc it is such an injustice that this boy does exactly what every one boy does but he is punished for it

Michael is such a good father, this show is making me sad

"You know how much Christopher misses you?" AAAAH Eddie you are a mastermind. How you babytrap Buck with YOUR son!? Insane

Eddie cantandole las cuarenta to Buck in the grocery store, how is two are not married if this is cleary a divorce?

Lena and Buck are the same person, i could love to see their dimanic (spoilers: they dont talk once)

3x06 Baby supertation!! I love the songs of this show

"And theres seven different kind of beaked goods in our kitchen" Bobby and Buck stress bake, they are literally father and son

Hen buying Buck a cake that bleeds when you cut it, she is just a little shit i love her

Maddie please ask for help, even if you are rigth, this is not normal

"I'm cat" is such a millennial "im not like the other girls" costume. I'm talking about Maddie or Sam Riegel, we will never know

Hen comparing herself and denny with bobby and buck, literally father and son

Eddie is that bad haircut something to do with your divorce with Buck or this a bad decision you did by yourself?

They are so cute together

3x07

No, Athena and Maddie going trough some archives and messing them up is so stress full, poor archivist, i hope you know how to get them back in order

ACAB absolutely counts for Athena because what do you mean you are arresting a guy that reforms himself (something that he could have never done in prision) and he is taking care of kids that now dont have a safety net and will end 100% back on the street, and as adults in prision?? This is revenge not justice, this is horrifying, i hate that this show is acting like Athena is in the rigth, fuck copaganda.

3x08

Okay, i have only did figure skating in rollers not ice but can a sequin do that??

Well i belive the lost fingers thing, even with rollers, that is not something fun

??? Excuse me what do you mean you dont have 3 pairs of socks in your skate? are you insane? no one that makes this show has ever skate in their life

Bobby skater?? like figure skater?? KKKJJJJ i love it

ooh, lena pull a the bard lament card, "what is my mothers name?"

Eddie i think you are a bad friend, i am with her, please apologize i like Lena

I spend the last 30 minutes trying to figure out what is the girl playing, is bach, is like the most know piece, i'm so bad at music

If hen lose her job i swear to god

3x09

meteorites? what dosen't happen in LA? is going to be aliens in future seasons?

Is a lie that no one undestands the refence of "it belongs in a museum", how all of them didnt watch indiana jones? They must be doing on propuse to bother Chim

Eddie doing eveything in his power so Chris grows up to be better than him? im going to cry, he is such a good dad

My god, Athena i hate you, dont you see that your kid is a teenager, that sees you as a figure to rebel against, bc she is a teenager, plus you are a cop, of course she sees you as her enemy, SHE IS A TEENAGER

I love every time they change Hen glasses and earings bc is such a cool way to express individuality when most of the show all of them wear uniforms

This is the buddie kitchen scene??

I scream KISS HIM to my monitor like 3 times now

Buck you should be offer him to fuck insted of fight

"You want to go for the tittle" how is the next scene NOT them fucking???

Like i KNOW they are still not cannon and even knowing it I got excited

This is evil

Radiation? SOMETHING MORE WANTS TO HAPPEN IN LOS ANGELES

Poor bobby, he is like a wet cat of a man

Desmond, Constatine ex, i know you! You go in the list with Finn's Mom, Karofsky of people i recognize

Hen didnt go to work for a few days and everything happend. Really the you didnt went to school and Messi show up

3x10

Buck telling the kids Santa is not real feels so out of character

Eddie's face when he sees Buck with Chris and Denny, please impregnate him

Buck knowing random shit like how marrie currie die, your adhd is showing

Maddie finally getting up from the ice after a year, i love her

noo, dont you care to kill Michael show!

Buck being a sunshine with everyone, jsjsjs, you still feel guilty for the lawsuit?

I knew it, you want to kill Michael, dont do it, he is one of the best dads of the show, this is homofobia

3x11

Eddie and Buck trying to catch a guy hanging from a airplane with spirit of the sky in the backgroung and you want to tell me this show is not a comedy??

Chim you could be an amazing dad, and you are such a good role model, your brother is going to be fine

I dont know what instrument hen said she play, but is traslates to "faggot" in spanish jsjsjsj

Chim:

Omg, i love the relationship of May and Michael, please dont kill him

I wanted to Michael find love but noo, lets just give him CANCER

"I'm not really a guest" we Buck, we now you two sleep in the same bed

3x12

This is 100% a set up that go wrong, Maddie knows something that Buck dosen't

I can't believe that i am saying this to Eddie and not Buck, but please Eddie dont fuck your son's teacher, is a bad idea

Calloway.. i'm still calling you Desmond, sorry

Eddie, this teacher has so many kids all with differents needs, give her a break!

I undestand Buck a yapper with adhd but him just telling everyone Eddie's problems? kind of weird

Noooo, why those this show hate gay man??

I undestand, that they put the scene of the two neighbors like a "valentine's day is for all kind of love" kind of thing so people like me dosen't get their hopes up when they show to the buddie scene but c'mon, why is buck there, could be a scene with carla and eddie but noo

3x13

Show i am having breakfast why are you showing me a woman getting her arm chop by a bowling machine

If they kill Michael is episode i'm going to stop watching this show

Please Michael, i need you to take better care of yourself

"I can say it for the both of us" OMG I LOVE THEM, Chim and Maddie are THE PERFECT COUPLE, i can't

Michael is always the one to put the other cheek, let him be angry, i love that he is compation as a guy but makes sense for him to be angry!

MICHAEL TELLING BOBBY TO KEEP HIM ALIVE, I AM CRYING SO HARD, WHAT A STUPID SHOW

Maddie is very smart, i love that for her, at the same time, what the fuck is going on??

3x14

Chimney overthinking everything instead of calling someone is so me

Are they trying to steal a museum?

I love the chaos of this ep

"She has everything she needs" Buck i could kick you

I don't love how they tell everything at the end but is a good episode

3x15

I'm finally in Eddie beggings!!

Of course Eddie story beings when Chris is born 😭

"¿Por que no me avisaste?" EDDIE DIAZ TALKING IN SPANISH, i love it

Buck loves Chris so much, everytime he goes to the station Buck glues to the kid, never beating the other dad allegations

Oh yes, a story for four graders: how i survive the war

I could not be a firefighter, i couldn't go into the ground for any kid that reminds me of my son

God Eddie was only i little older than me, he should be at the club

I undestand Eddies traumas but Sharon should have castrated him

BUCKS REACTION, I AM GOING KILL MYSELF

Eddie defending Sharon to his parents! I didn't say anything

"He belongs with us" oh hell no! You are not Chris parents, don't you fucking dare! You pieces of shit

"Don't drag him down" pero que hijos de re mil puta!!!

Of course the first person he thinks about when he is dying is Buck

God how much i love Chris and Eddie, their relationship reminds me of how someone (don't remember who) talks about a child being their parents heart, and thats so true Christopher is Eddie's heart. And thats why is weird when someone eliminates Chris in fanfics like that's an integral part of Eddie

3x16

"You wanna do a rope rescue? Of course you do!" Kjjj Eddie don't say it like you didn't cut your own rope last episode and almost die, my brother in christ you two are a disaster

"Our best boys" 😭😭

Buck with the old firefigther thinking he wants a family, if this season Eddie puts him in his will i wll punch my computer bc it means that Buck HAS everything he wants but he dosent realize yet

I'm going to chew cement

Why is Buck talking like he dosen't live with Eddie and Bobby is his old man?? Like babe that's your family

Jeff Blim??

IT IS Jeff Blim

What is this a crossover episode?

Nooo, Jeff Blim don't die

They save Jeff Blim :)

"You are never going to be left behind" "You promise?" I will kill myself

3x17

Why the first plot of this episode, literally Manuelita?

If i invite you, my wife, Chim is going to invite his parther, his parther is going to invite her brother, and her brother is going to invite his... bestie? Okay...

Michael guilty tripping May to do what he wants, classic dad

I know Athena is going to be fine because 911 is never letting go of Angela Bassett, at this point i don't know why Angela Bassett didn't let 911 go

Chim and Karen's friendship is something i didn't know i need it

I love the friendship between Michael and Bobby!!!! They are what homophobes want Buddie to be

Abby?? Omg Abby, Hi!!

Welcome back baby!! I was a little suspicious about Buck mention you again

3x18

I love Abby, I'm so happy she is back

WELL, Abby telling someone Buck stop waiting for her and cutting to Eddie and Buck talking about Chris, C'MON, HOW I TAKE THIS OTHER THAN EDDIE BEING THE NEW LOVE IN BUCK'S LIFE? LOOK AT ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU!

Nooo, Chim being sad about Hen leaving him, nnooo

Athena being such a mother and not resting for a second

EDIES FACES WHEN HE MEETS ABBY

Omg bobby how are you still climbing? You are fifty something please

"I'm not Athena" Bobby slap him

Situación tenza como pelo de chancho

YES!! THEY GIVE MICHAEL AN HOT DOCTOR YES! I LOVE THIS SHOW

Buck goofing around with Eddie, Maddie and Chris i love this family

Yes! Maddie pregnant! I can't wait to meet Jee!!

Oh no, what do you mean next season is the 2020 pandemic season, noooooo

I still don't want to watch season 4 even when twitter says is a good season.

Anyways here are my reactions to season 1 and season 2

[walrus150915]

I AM DEEPLY SORRY BUT

I thought about Goldenheart fankids for a while so I've decided to make my own!

Now, it's important to acknowledge that I honestly believe that they wouldn't have kids post-movie. That makes sense thematically and it's kind of poetic if you think about it (a gay man being the end of his bloodline which started all this copaganda n stuff) but I😭😭 I couldn't stop thinking about this!!

I present to you:

THEIR KIDDO YUPIEEEEE

Some fun facts abt them:

- Aquila is a gender neutral name which means "eagle". I thought it'd be funny to keep the tradition of their weird medieval names. Eagle Braveman, a child of Godsfood Goodatsex and Staircase Braveman, gotta love that💅

- also yea. I gave them Bal's surname bc there's no way in the world Ambrosius would want to give them his surname. His bloodline ends with him in an good old gay tradition😎😎

- I think they'd be a happy accident tbh (if we're talking about seahorse dad situation shfjj)

- Nimona didn't expect to love them as much as she did but now they're literally her favorite person😭 siblings are REAL (although I think Nimona is like- sibling-uncle-aunt-family friend figure sorta kinda)

- About their personality? Well, they're reserved, not much of a talker, kinda socially awkward and overthinks a lot (just like their papas)

- They hate sports of all kinds like they CAN'T stand it. Also they don't know those knight traditions n stuff and have never held a sword in their life- I think that's a good "f u" to the system which expected children to become weapons bc Ballister, Ambrosius and especially Nimona would never let this child repeat all the stuff they all came through

- I don't think they even talked about their knightly upbringing to Aquila, and when Aquila asked about it they tried to avoid answering so bad

- About parenting btw- Ambrosius and Ballister both beat the "emotionally detached Asian father" allegations. These two are WAY too attached I'd say😭 they can be overprotective (cough cough Ballister) or overbearing (I see ya Ambrosius) sometimes (although Ambrosius is overprotective as well, if not more than Bal)

- Ambrosius tries his best to not repeat his parents' mistakes and let Aquila live a happy, relaxed childhood, but he slips from time to time. "Why did I have to work so hard to achieve even a little bit of acknowledgement from my parents and now this kid expects me to praise them even for the smallest of things" kind of deal. He slowly learns to relearn this way of thinking but- yeah, bro still has those good ol' Asian dad quirks

- I think Ballister had loving parents yet they couldn't provide for him or care for him properly because of poverty and social injustice. So now he makes sure Aquila has everything they need and are loved enough. It's really hard not to be overprotective of your child when you and your husband had an upbringing like theirs😭😭

- Aquila is kind of embarrassed by them because I think they both would be the type of dad who drives them to high school and makes them say "I love you too, dad" in front of their peers (like that into the spiderverse scene)

- With that said, they three all love each other despite all the hardships and stuff bc they're a FAMILYYYYY

- Nimona would be THE best person in the world for Aquila, she's their role model of sorts, I even think she'd be what helped them to realize they're enby in the first place

- Nimona would always be there for Aquila and would always be on their side even when they're in a fight with their dads

- They're the best buddies ever - Ballister expected Nimona to be jealous ("older kids of the fam" deal) but she wasn't in the slightest!

- Imagine Ballister and Ambrosius trying to make Aquila say "abba" or "appa", but the first thing they mumble is "Nim!" oh Nimona would DIE FROM LAUGHTERRR😭😭

Some general hcs:

- Ambrosius would read bedtime stories to Aquila when they were a kid and would miss this horribly as they grew up

- Ballister would make them clockwork toys

- Aquila loves sewing and customizing things

- Idk their sexuality honestly but I know that they love girls💅

- Ambrosius would distance himself from his family so much that Aquila barely knows them

- I think Aquila is aware of the whole Gloreth situation but doesn't care that much for her - after all, they know that it was some random kid 1000+ years ago whom everyone took as a hero when she wasn't

Some sketches of them shshwjne!!

Please don't ask me why Ballister looks like my grandpa😭

(Speaking of Ballister- I think at some point of Aquila's toddlerhood him and Ambrosius laid in their bed and Ambrosius was like: "Babe, what do you think of getting a second kid?"

Then Aquila immediately started crying in another room and Ambrosius signed heavily, standing up from the bed: "Yknow what? Forget what I said")

[cannibalismyuri]

coming out as a passive jopper hater bc the insane level of capitalist pandering they did with s3 (with ERICA who is like. one of the worst, stereotyped portrayals of a black girl ive ever seen, bless her heart) was truly crazy. combine that with the copaganda and the general attitude of hopper in s3 which was played off as 'awkward loser guy doesnt know what to do with Feelings more at 8' was a bit .... Eh :/ to me. because it is so obviously a fictional character and show but like. disliking hopper/jopper bc of the ideals st is perpetuating and the fact that they arent compatible at All in s3 (to me, atleast) is valid. some ppl might just think that jopper is unhealthy and/or 'overrated'. because they do sort of pay a disproportionate amount of attention to jopper, compared to the other canon romantic ships (afaik, bc of the screen time counter) and that can be Weird, esp with the... how should i say this? balancer/savior role hopper takes in the relationship (we constantly see him placating joyce, sometimes even being slightly patronizing, and also they place a lot of importance on him saving joyce from a lot of stuff, which is cool and sick if it wasnt for the fact that it directly correlates with him being a cop, yk). and the general power imbalance bc he's a Cop and abuses his position of power constantly, and that is exactly Why anything that joyce does is seen as a #insane girlboss category 5 woman moment because she simply has the short stick in the power race and when she does manage to make an impact DESPITE her economic/social/'general uselessness in say in Major decision-making when it comes to authorities' shortcomings it is seen as an amazing win. hopper on his own is extremely fleshed out as well, because we get to see his arc play out with his relationships with his daughter and ex-wife and el and re-learning how to be a parent and how to not let love allude him, and that is lovely! it's so great to see the adults in the show being focused on! but joyce is absolutely disregarded and underdeveloped as a character of her own right outside of her relationships with hopper or her kids. we see that she is determined and a force to be reckoned with and that she cares very deeply for the people she loves and would go to insane lengths for them but all that doesn't Mean anything, because we never see a backstory for her. we never figure out who she is without her family or hopper, or what her motives and aspirations and emotional shortcomings and stumbles and mistakes are. for a character to be fully fleshed out, they need to be an interesting, refreshing and palatable character On Their Own without their relationships with other characters, and we just don't see that with joyce. like u have Thee winona ryder on ur show, and u forsake developing her character in favor of developing hopper's character with /not the best taste/ and causing her to be a blank slate of a mother, lover, woman and friend, but not a PERSON. all she's been reduced to is a Mother and Hopper's Girlfriend, and honestly, that's the worst decision they could've made in relation to her and her relationship with hopper.

anyway, all this to say; these are my thoughts on the matter, but i'm definitely not hating on people who enjoy jopper passively and DEFINITELY not any by/ler (the most predominant fandom im part of in the parent fandom of st) who enjoys them as a ship with their own dynamic separate from canon. because the by/ler fandom is NOT a monolith and nobody is obligated to agree with me or change their opinion if it doesn't align with mine or be forced to look at my opinion and feel bad for shipping anything. im not going to act Holier Than Thou for expressing my opinion and u should definitely continue shipping jopper if it makes u happy! as long everybody recognizes the copaganda and capitalist mindset grind propaganda shit in st (which is Pretty Obvious) and respects that while shipping what they want, i have no problem with it. all that is to say; peace and fucking love. can we (the by/ler fandom) stop fighting abt jopper we all have our own opinions this is bc we are Not a hivemind or a monolith and not obligated to have the same opinions relating to all aspects of st just because we happen to ship one thing. i am a hater and a lover

[diodellet]

hiya dio!! tossing in 3 (honkai star rail? 👀), 5, and 15!!

hiya ian! thanks for shooting me an ask!!

3.) Go to the [honkai star rail] tag and reblog some art you like that has under 100 notes

aight i gotchu oomfie, ill search for stuff to queue up 😤😤

5.) What genre do you like reading the best?

angst and hurt/comfort 🔛🔝!!!

it's painful, it's good, and it makes emotional processing so much easier and less burdensome because the difficulty goes into finding an okay sentence and stringing together ok-ish dialogue (but at least those can be solved with a banger ass playlist, ykw?)

augh special mention to one of my formative twst fics i love that grim has such a big role in this

15.) Worst fanfic tropes ever?

NOO!!!! U CANT MAKE ME SAY BAD THINGS ABT FANFIC!!! ALL FANFIC IS GOOD WHEN IT IS MADE WITH HEART!!!

(did i say bridal carry? ill just say it again for funsies HAHAHA i dont like bridal carries, it doesn't spark any joy, please just carry me like this🤧👇👇)

i'm usually really open-minded with reading fanfics... so aside from the obvious fanfic writing sins (using generative AI, plagiarism, not doing enough careful research for sensitive topics) OH WAIT--

(this is probably specific to genshin/hyv) but i Reaaaaally don't like it when fandom infantilizes characters that use the teenage model. like, there is such a thing as short adults! (me. i am one of them!) one time i saw someone say that lynette was probably a year younger than lyney and i was confused bcs aren't they twins??? like, are we forgetting that lynette was the primary "errand-goer" for the house of hearth upon getting her vision? girlie's probably seen more shit than lyney did.

^^semi-related to infantilizing characters, i dont like how some obm fics treat luke as a literal toddler. like, yes he's immature but he's got a good head on his shoulders and even if he's a low-ranked angel he probably has sm powers that he can make use of to protect MC. and i esp see how he gets left out even in gen/platonic fics and hcs. smtimes i feel compelled to look at the game's shitty pop quiz events for fanfic fuel (i mean, the luke tag has more ppl saying not to sexualize him than actual writing and that bugs me ://)

There used to be this really good obm fanfic (Nightmare by StarsEncrusted) and it had a plot point of helping luke get his wings, but it++the author's orig account got deleted from ao3. thankfully some fans had the foresight to archive it, so heres a wayback link to the fic and the accompanying side stories

i guess to expound more on my aversion to marriage in fanfic, it icks me when the characterization stops feeling like the characters themselves and the fic starts feeling heteronormative (also sometimes the writing comes across as if the marriage/childbirth "fixes" all those issues, which, it doesn't) and, well, i already kind of deal with the idea of "getting settled down" shoved in my face. it's really not for me. but i do understand why it's comforting to people, smtimes i can indulge in reading in it. but on a bad day, nah, i can't.

anyway, also special shout out to chat fics, they can be fun but idk it reads to me as a way to regurgitate overused incorrect quotes. (please some vines need to be laid to rest. also, can we stop quoting that one copaganda show oh my god)

(art appreciation ask questions, please bug me to rb some underrated fic and art)

[lesbianwithchainsaws]

hi, i’m getting into the community side of tumblr (i’ve been a fan of the show for a while but im only just now following community blogs) and i just followed your page! i saw your ao3 and your trobed fics, which im definitely gonna be reading, but i also saw your daredevil ones and!!!!! omg!!!! i can’t believe you’re the same account!!! i love those fics so much and i can’t believe you’re the same person!!! :D i love the way you portray him, it’s very relatable, 10/10!!!!

anyway, i saw that you wanted fic prompts and idk, this is kinda specific, but have you watched psych? it’s another 2000s sitcom, and if you wanted to write a crossover i think it’d be so good. i just think shawn and gus’ friendship is really similar to troy and abed’s relationship bc they’re all silly4silly and unconditionally supportive and also soulmates :3. (i do interpret shawn and gus platonically tho, but that’s just personal opinion) (also psych is somewhat copaganda tho, so there is that :/ )

if you did want to write this, tho you totally have zero obligation, i think it could go something like: the santa barbara police have a suspect flee to colorado and pursue them/shawn and gus take a case about a missing person or something (star burns??), and shawn and gus maybe go under cover at greendale? i think they’d fit in pretty well, but shawn would definitely fuck w jeff’s ego lol. i think troy and abed would think shawn and gus were super cool, but i think that at some point abed maybe realizes shawn isn’t psychic? i don’t think he’d say anything about it tho, just sort of keep quiet about it bc it’s more fun to pretend and go w it. but things can go from there!

and if you haven’t watched it you can disregard the previous two paragraphs😅

something else that would be just community would be a collective queer awakening for the study group! like, trobed happens, and something about it makes annie realize she’s a lesbian, and talks to shirley about it. shirley is like “everyone has those (gay) thoughts about women, you just need to pray about it” and annie points out that no, she’s been informed that not everyone has those thoughts, and asks if prayer has ever worked? and shirley realizes that no, it hasn’t, and annie and shirley go on that adventure together. and jeff and britta act as queer mentors, bc they’re both practically bisexuals (and dating?). at some point i think shirley would apologize to the dean for some of the things she’s said about him, he forgives her, and they go to brunch. eventually, jeff joins them and they have a nice little weekly brunch thing where they gossip :). this is all happening while troy and abed are being soulmates, and maybe shirley gets past some internalized homophobia by seeing them so happy and realizing there’s nothing wrong w them. maybe annie does, too, bc she wants to be that happy/also realizes that there’s nothing wrong w her for liking women,, etc. but trobed heal the study group. and maybe pierce either doesn’t exist, has a different personality and is supportive, or is kicked out for being homophobic

anyway this is extremely long, but i just wanna say that i love your work!!! whatever you write will be great, even if you don’t write anything!! <3 <3

First of all, welcome to the Community tumblr! The blogs here are lovely!!!

Second, oh my god??? Thank you so so much!!!!!!!! aaaaa, that's so sweet!!! I have a Daredevil fic I still need to finish and this might just motivate me to finish it. I absolutely love writing Matt and projecting onto him lmao!!!! Thank you <3 and I hope you like the trobed fics too!!! Those two consume my brain 24/7

I've never watched Psych so I don't think I can write a crossover fic anytime soon. But I will keep the other idea in mind! Writing everything and everyone to be queer is always the best, and we can just pretend Pierce doesn't exist.

And genuinely thank you so so much!!! It means so much to me to that you like my writing and I think I might have to go cry about it (in a positive way like happy tears). Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!! 💕💕💕

[kitchensunflowers]

9-1-1 lone star 4x04 thoughts! this took a bit to write up in part because i'm busy and ill lol, and in part bc i get nervous about 'writing about ableism' being my main contribution to fandom sometimes

The positives:

-- ronen and rafael were both phenomenal in this episode. ronen portraying the different stages of tk's panic, worry, desparation. rafael, as carlos dealt with injury in a scary and life-threatening situation, trying to keep control, staying ever polite as he did his best to handle his captors and find a way out. amazing physicality and characterisation on both accounts.

-- even though we saw less of the rest of cast (looking forward to you, future eps, even if the promos are stressful!), I'm really grateful, in season four, for how embodied these characters are. We only got what, two lines? maybe? from marjan and nancy but still within that totally got that marjan kind of has a big sister role to tk while nancy, like tk, is one of the kids (specifically tommy's kids, missed you tommy!); we saw a nod to grace's friendship with carlos, too which was great. (and again, can't wait to watch them have their own storylines in future eps!)

-- I mention the owen storyline below, but even though it's not my favourite, rob lowe's comedy beats as owen are great. 'Our codes are... fire' - ngl, I exhaled through my nose

-- and ofc carlos' love declarations... 'she will be at the wedding... i think she's sending her love through me' truly so emotional

i have hope for the future that there will be more mentions/memories of gwyn, more tk interacting with the reyeses (they were so excited to see him!), and more delving into tk and owen's relationship (i liked that they showed that owen's trying, but he hasn't gotten it quite right yet, and that it is impacting tk... 4x08 here we come!)

The not-so-positives (below the cut; content is mainly discussions of ableism, but also includes brief mentions of scenes from when carlos was captured, including mention of the drugging/overdose, and of the nazis and copaganda in owen's storyline):

-- the 9-1-1 cinematic universe has always had a bit of an ableism problem, which, yeah, its a mainstream procedural from hollywood, ft. regular doses of copaganda, what do i expect? i guess i hope its still worth talking about and acknowledging within fandom? idk. in any case iris mentioning that her captor had some kind of burn marks on his hand in 4x03 immediately signalled: the writers room has made a disabled/disfigured villain -- if you're unsure as to why this might be an issue, disfigurement has a long history of being used to signify evil in media (as a harmful trope), and means that a significant portion of the already highly limited representation of disfigurement on tv is as villains. disability and disfigurement are practically only allowed to exist on screen when they exist as either plot devices or as a representation of internal flaws/brokenness/villainy/evil. And this is a problem, because disabled people and people with scars or other forms of disfigurement are not metaphors. To quote disability and disfigurement activist (and author and YouTuber) Jen Campbell, "It is clear that producers are not thinking critically about disability at all. We are not metaphors; we are people." actually Jen Campbell has a video overview of this topic that I recommend watching (though content note for discussion of the h*rry potter series from the apprximately 11 through 14 minute mark), and has other great videos related to this topic as well. Or if you're more into reading an academic paper, disability scholar Paul K. Longmore's essay, 'Screening Stereotypes' (Temple University Press, 2003) is a classic.

-- so yeah, needless to say i wasn't a fan of the close up on the guy's scars to identify him as the evil man, or the discussion of how his mom believed he became villainous (framed as 'a monster' in the show) after the accident that scarred his hand. this is also not the first time lone star has linked scarring/disfigurement to villainy

-- anyway, some of the parallels in the episode also didn't work for me - the baking cookies and use of retro music parallel to the coma dream in particular. some of them did work! - i did think the narcan post-overdose parallel was meaningful in terms of TK's arc from s1 to s4, and the 2x08 parallels were fun (in the stressful storyline, notable moments kind of way) - but i feel like we've had so many parallels to significant tarlos moments within the first 4 eps and a not insignificant number of them have not landed with me personally, which ig is a little disappointing.

-- and last but not least, still not a fan of the owen storyline - the copaganda of it all, for one, and the fact that the show has yet to address that owen associating with nazis (even if his goal is to ultimately take them down) could put those around him in danger? his son, his future son in law and in-laws, the majority of his staff/colleagues at his work... we have yet to see any indication that he has taken them into consideration at all.

that all being said, i am looking forward to storylines for the rest of the 126 now! tk is forever my baby, but as much as i am here for tarlos and excited for more storylines related to tk and carlos this season, i'm not here for sidelining the rest of this amazing cast/characters, and glad to have indication from the cast that they all have interesting stories in the work.

overall, very much looking forward to what this season brings next!

[sylvermidnight]

You mentioned possibly a post of your opinions on TMA as a podcast? I would be very interested.

Oh! Sure! I won’t be maintagging this because I just got out of some drama and don’t want to go starting more. But essentially I don’t have a problem with the concept of TMA I think it’s really good and I listened to four seasons of it. I just think….Of Jonny Sims’ work it’s not the best?

To me the writing falls a little flat especially with the character work. A lot of the conflict doesn’t make sense to me as it boils down to people being angry at Jon…Just because he’s the easiest target for their anger? You get things like Tim telling him to just stop being paranoid and Georgie telling him it would have been better if he died. Melanie seeming to dislike him…For no reason? I mean of course all of the characters have reasons but they’re not great ones usually (I think Tim is maybe an exception but barely). Jon is just as much a victim as they are. I’m not a defender I just fail to see what else he personally was supposed to do when it’s clear he started the series already at a disadvantage.

On top of that there’s just. The concept of Daisy and Basira as a whole for me. Daisy canonically killed some innocent people in her tenure as a cop and if that were something Elias were lying about it wouldn’t have been effective blackmail. She commits an act of violence against Jon very early on that mostly goes undiscussed and Basira just. Virtually never stops making excuses for her. There was that awkward portion after the Buried where Daisy even? Befriends Jon? Which is very odd to me? It’s not technically copaganda at all but I just don’t think either of them should have been permanent fixture characters in the way they were. I won’t mention here the S5 police brutality episode because it has been addressed by the creators but it is very much a thing that happened.

Thirdly and this is a personal thing, I just. Did not like s5. I found it to be disjointed, uncomfortable, and an altogether different feel than the rest of the series that felt confusing and rushed and less “oh this is spooky! Fun!” And more “this has ceased to be escapism and is more uncomfortable than anything”. The ending of “maybe they lived but maybe they didn’t” is just. Too much for a series that ran for five seasons. You can have tragedy that feels fulfilling too is the thing. Jonny (and crew) have written many good examples in their time as the mechanisms. (UDAD, TBI, even HNOC is more satisfying than this) An audience can accept the heroes dying if it’s done properly and TMA just doesn’t leave me with that feeling it feels more like a bad marvel film where you go through all this build up for no payoff. They’re not at rest. They’re not alive. We get nothing. We are left. With nothing.

Finally? Rusty Quill as a company just. Seems eh? To me? I’m concerned about their business practices, how much they may or may not be inserting themselves into the production and distribution of unrelated podcasts they host, how they’ve been treating their employees including pay respect and the recent layoffs. I wish people would be more critical and realize that it is indeed a capitalist company and not just “those silly guys that made TMA”. They should be held to standards that I’m not entirely certain are being met. I have no proof just general observations and feelings.

But uh. Yeah? That’s about it. Love TMA it’s fun and I like to make oc content for it and poke at headcanons and lore. But idk if I’d ever actively relisten.

[o0anapher0o]

The thing about 911 is it’s not a particularly outstanding show generally speaking; the concept is pretty basic and it’s exactly as tropey and over the top as you’d expect a network procedural to be. But it very causally does a lot of things right that similar shows often struggle with:

Representation. I love the way the show goes we have queer/POC/disabled characters and it’s not a thing. Except for when it is. It is a defining feature but not the defining feature.

Copaganda. I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to shoot a show like this without significant police cooperation and it’s fascinating to see how they handle that need to stay on the cops good side without falling into the mythologisaton trap. On the one hand you have the very obvious upfront following of the party line, i.e. when Athena pretty much directly says bad cops are just ‘a few bad apples’ and at the same time there are constant hints that there is something rotten in the state of Denmark, like how it’s repeatedly implied Athena became a cop (and spend her life as a cop) to fight the system from within, which indicates that it is in fact a systemic problem not just ‘a few bad apples’.

By far my favourite, though less political, aspect is the world building though. It’s very subtle, but incredibly well done. With a lot of these procedurals you (intentionally) get the sense that the characters exist only within the episode. You get your case of the week and unless there is some overarching plot every episode exists in isolation, once it’s over what happens is rarely ever mentioned again. In 911 you get call backs, not just in relation to the personal plots, but to the individual rescues; a comment about that time someone did a stupid thing/that neat thing someone did to safe a life, or a rescueé finding themselves in trouble again/ a side character who showed up in a b- or c-plotline showing up again. All things that give you the impression that this is in fact a real world and these are the characters actual lives and experiences that impact them beyond the character-growth-lesson of the given episode.

The show is in fact incredibly good at using elements from previous episodes. Often a comment or a scene, you can tell wasn’t originally written to be a hook, is still used as one which ties the show together in a really nice way. A throwaway comment about an estranged relative turns into said relative showing up at the doorstep two seasons later, a low key decision that didn’t seem more than a bit of episode cool down has unexpected long term consequences etc. And probably my favourite thing: They explain absences. So many times in TV shows you see characters experience Big Life EventsTM and the only people who are there for them are the other characters in the show. There is of course glaringly obvious practical reasons for that irl, but in universe it’s always a bit weird when parents/siblings/old friends that canonically exist don’t show up to weddings/funerals and the like. Usually we just accept that as TV reality, maybe file it under found family superiority, and ignore it, but 911 does actually often provide explanations. Granted in 9 out of 10 cases that explanation is shitty parenting, but it is an explanation and an acknowledgement that that significant person should have been there and wasn’t, and that again gives it a sense of groundedness and realism.

What’s so brilliant about all of this is that most of it is incredibly low effort. Most of these things require only a sentence thrown in here or there as well a decent awareness of your own canon. That’s all. It’s a dead simple way of creating a coherent show universe that feels very real and spares you the tropes like ‘surprise sibling’ or ‘best friend who has never been mentioned before nor ever will be again’ and instead makes you feel like the characters actually live in their own time line. It is so easy that the fact that it’s remarkable when a show does do this is honestly a bit mind-blowing.

[itsjellybone]

I’m watching True Detective because I remember how beloved it was when it came out. I am not enjoying it. It’s certainly a well-made show; beautifully shot, great performances. But.

I feel like it doesn’t realize that it hates women as much as the characters themselves do? Looking at thinkpieces I keep seeing “the point is that they are depicting misogyny, flawed characters don’t mean they’re condoned by the writers!” But I’ve seen no talk about the way women are framed by the camera, the kind of women cast in lead roles, the function of women in the narrative. The few recurring roles for women are all very conventionally beautiful women. They barely ever show agency, and the only time they do it’s through sexual manipulation. Men don’t seem to have any agency in the decision to fuck them either, their seduction is just too powerful I guess. Maybe that would be something if the sex scenes showed the male characters’ emotional vulnerability, but they’re barely even in frame. Every sex scene is textbook for male gaze, whether it suits the scenario or not. The way Wife Woman is treated is like. She has sex to get back at her shitty horrible husband, but it’s still framed like what she did is in any way comparable to what he did. Even Daughter 1’s only act of agency to get back at her shitty dad is to go fuck some guys. It goes on and on. None of these women are people. Philosophy Cop is supposed to be alienating people, but the woman he briefly dates doesn’t even get a single line I think? (no wait she has 1, she says something about Philosophy Cop.) They don’t need to show them breaking up or anything but she’s just gone like, the next episode. The women in this show just…don’t exist. Except to be used and thrown away. But at least the writing shows and tells us repeatedly, textually that they are incredible in the sack. Wow, they are just sooo good at the fuck. These ladies, they just can’t resist. Oh but Macho Cop alienates his family so misogyny is bad.

Watching a cop show is always making a compromise for how much copaganda you can stomach, but this one has been so weird. The whole premise of the show seems to be (paraphrased) “we may be bad guys, but you need some bad guys to get the worse guys.” Which is a stupid and embarrassing thesis that I got sick of reading in edgy books when I was 16. I think the show would be more interesting if it concluded with them actually not catching anybody because they suck so bad, but I’m not sure if it would make up for all the times so far they HAVE caught the horrible guys while being super shitty and unethical. So far the show has just shown that they’re right; being shitty does yield results bc at least they caught that one child murderer. You can say the show doesn’t condone Philosophy Cop for coercing confessions out of people, but the woman he tells to kill herself is a complete throwaway who caused the death of 3 babies. She’s just a hurdle to trip him up as he saunters into the darkness, she’s not a character or a person. Even the way they frame that interrogation: it starts sympathetic to the woman, then implies that she’s a stupid rube that hypocritically follows religious doctrine with the “twist” that she actually killed her kids. The impact seems to be that “oh Philosophy Cop is losing it” but the actual beats functionally put him in the right. At best he’s a tortured genius.

And this isn’t even getting into its depiction of Black people because holy shit. Who knew there were only 2 Black people in Louisiana. (Oh no, I forgot about the gangbangers in the ghetto episode.)

oh great just got to this obviously queer coded character who is the only one in the show and they are a survivor of the child sexual abuse ring. and a sex worker. awesome great

[monkeyartfiend]

ok

so this week I saw 4 movies because my spouse and I are insane and decided to go to drive in theaters and I got the dates wrong so we went to a different one that was closed on thursday but then still wanted to go to the other one so we just did them both one night after another. in order of how good the films were here's reviews no one wants:

1 the popes exorcist - whoooooooo I was quaking in my car. this horror film knows that the best strange bedfellows are horror and comedy and knew how to balance it to make a truly impactful horror. implied that the Spanish inquision wasn't the church's fault bc it was actually Satan's fault. hilarious. great acting. I'm obsessed with exorcists being possessed so like yes all the way down. the trailer is a bad rep of the movie btw

2 (yallr gonna hate me for this but) Fast X - ok. hear me out. I have literally never seen any f&f movies. not a one. but Jason Momoa SERVED in this film. "what should we blow up? the Vatican? lmao. *ok*.. but yall are going to hell :)" this film was a series of one liners but somehow like actually made me laugh. somehow effectively used one liners. the women in the movie were so fucking fierce. the fights had truly gorgeous choreography. the bomb was stupid big. just a fun movie to watch.

3 john wick 4 - I don't have much to say, I *like John wick* , John wick has an extremely personal place in my heart, love him. it just didn't impress me, felt like I was just watching all the previous JW films cut and paste together? had its moments! choreography of course was amazing. eh?

4. Renfield- I have so much to say about renfield. again, horror and comedy are strange bedfellows but opposed to popes exorcist which had a balance 60/40 horror comedy, this film was imbalanced like 90/10 comedy horror. this was the movie we originally set out to watch (knowing it wasn't going to be great but hoping it would be worth it) when the weekend took a turn and then we watched 3 other movies also. what I will sum up about renfield to you, my followers, is that it was copaganda!!!.??????? hello???? insane!!!! it was about the myth of the one good cop fighting corruption and busting the criminals :) but for some reason used music from my chemical romance and made jokes about tumblr. in a copaganda film. that for some reason nic cage was in. here's the thing. nic cage as Dracula. is *everything*. he is nasty he is hot he is terror and anger and style. he served a Dracula you have never seen before. petty and immortal. it was amazing. and it was juxtaposed with a pathetic white boy who would have appealed to the lorax era tumblr. i am at a loss for words??? this film was riddled with #Irony and such incredibly dumbed down and straight forward story telling (ironic boy voice:"I get my power from eating bugs!") that it was clearly made for Teens. and through, *all of this.* Nic Cage was serving the cuntiest Dracula I have ever seen. like I would say if you're a cage fan, go ahead and watch it, but beware, you're about to see one of the dumbest films cage has ever been in. and I've seen Zandalee on laser disc, and that FNAF knock off he did. I get why some 20 year old tumblrinas are a fan of renfield. yall probably like Brooklyn99 too. but I'm promising you it's such a bad movie with bad story telling, and somehow, great acting.

[haleigh-sloth]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime, books, movies or tv series)? Thanks....

Omg.....EVER????? Also, generally speaking, nobody minds getting these asks LOL. Most people enjoy talking about their favorite anything. I am very happy to receive something like this lol

Uhhh okay so disclosure, MOST of these will be characters from manga, because honestly that's MOST of the media I consume ever since I was in middle school. BUT I will do my best to turn off my weeb brain for a second because I do have other things I enjoy lol. I'm gonna go on little rants about each person too so....yeah. I'm also gonna put a cut under the first two because it's gonna get long.

1. Tomura Shigaraki from My Hero Academia

This may just be because of the timing, seeing as how I'm deeply invested in this series right now, but he seriously took the top spot SO fast. He took the top spot before I even got to his backstory. There's just something about his character that is just, unlike any other. Before getting the details on what's going on inside his heart during MVA, I was sucked in by how immature and bratty he was in the beginning. I was like "ooh baby let me give you a hug, please calm down and don't scratch, here's some hot coffee" LOL. Just, the way Horikoshi managed to make people (who pay attention) see just how stuck in his past he is, how strangled he is by his pain and how obviously desperate he is to have someone notice that deep hidden pain, I don't know how Horikoshi did it honestly. Obviously this character has been in the works for years, and it shows. I think what got me attached to him so quickly was me immediately wondering what he would be like if he was happy. The mall scene with Midoriya just SOLD me on him so fast. I was like "oh yeah, these two are gonna get along great, and this guy is gonna be happy at some point, he's got to be". Okay moving on lol

2. Yuu Kanda from D.Gray-Man

Kanda was in Shigaraki's spot before I got into BNHA lol. He is also another horribly sad character, who hides his pain and doesn't let it show on the surface. He's one of those characters where once you get his backstory, you look back on his actions and words throughout the story before finding out, and you can see how he's mangled by his emotions (very much like Shigaraki's character). D.Gray-Man as a manga alone is almost flawless, and Kanda is also damn near flawless as a character. What got me attached to Kanda immediately was when I watched the FIRST anime and Travis Willingham (Roy Mustang's english VA) voiced him LOL. Not a great reason to get attached, but once I got further into the story I was like "oh, this guy has Problems™️, he's just my type". But seriously, Kanda is one of the greatest characters. He's very layered, and he fools readers easily. He comes across as a copaganda-type character in the manga, and then you find out later that's not the case. I don't know, he's just fantastic all around.

3. Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist

Roy is great because he embodies being a "good guy" (a protagonist) while also being a "bad guy", someone who commits unforgivable sins that the main protagonists can't look past, that other people can't look past, that even Roy himself can't forgive himself for. I love him because he wants change, but struggles to make it happen. He stands by his decisions but feels like he can never redeem himself for the things he's done. He loves his comrades, and he supports the Elric brothers even if he doesn't act like it. And he's quick to accept the idea of enemies working together, because he was quick to learn that everyone is everyone's enemy in their world, somehow. He's great. I love him.

4. Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist

Idk what to say for Ed, beyond he is just a great character. He honestly doesn't change much throughout the entire story? He sticks to his ideals of "people are people", even when it makes his life harder. He's immature but also has seen way too much for someone his age. His story has everything in it: love, forgiveness, hate, family, friends, all of that shounen shit. He makes the biggest sacrifice at the end to save his brother. He's amazing. I love him. He's one of the first manga characters I've ever gotten super attached to so, he holds a special place in my heart.

5. Kyo Sohma from Fruits Basket

I think he is THE first manga character I've ever gotten super attached to. Fruits Basket is the manga that sucked me into the manga/anime world in the first place (fuck Furuba actually lol). Kyo is another sad boy, ofcourse. He's super bratty and cringe in the beginning. He's basically Bakugo. Which is how when I first saw Bakugo I was like "oh yeah I know where this is going lmao". But Kyo is the best character in Fruits Basket, he makes the story. One of my first favs ever, so he also holds a special place in my heart.

6. Tamaki Suoh from Ouran High School Host Club

Again, this is probably nostalgia keeping him on this list. I read this manga in high school and have not stopped loving it since. It's one of the ones I re-read all the time. I love Tamaki because he's so embarrassing but he kind of fits in with that "rich guy with a super cool attitude with a lot of baggage" trope, but he also kind of kills that trope too. He's a rich guy who's popular with girls and can be cool on the surface, but when it comes to anything even remotely real he becomes a stupid ridiculous mess that gives readers and ME serious second hand embarrassment reading it, and all coolness goes out the window. He's so dumb and he makes me smile.

Leaving the weeb shit now:

7. Carlton Lassiter from Psych

Okay, so random from my blog's usual content. But Psych is just....easily one of the greatest shows of all time. It's hilarious, it's something you can just watch for the sake of it, it's not super linear in plot, but there are some relationship dynamics that are linear and develop throughout the show, regardless of lack of linear story line. Lassiter is one of the best characters. He's definitely a Cop™️, but it's a detective show so yeah. Lassiter is the stereotypical cop. He's gun happy (and gets called out on it), he's absorbed in his job and makes it his entire personality, and he shuts everyone out which results in him being a super lonely asshole. But what makes him so great is his relationships with everyone in the show. The main characters, Shawn and Gus, are class clowns and step on Lassiter's territory in the police department, show him up a lot, irritate him on purpose, the usual "goofy character and overly serious character butt heads constantly" trope. But what's great about Lassiter is that his real self shows in little actions here and there. He does nice things for Shawn without being asked to (who is honestly a walking disaster of a human being and burns bridges left and right), he has a huge heart but just doesn't show it. He changes so much throughout the show and his relationship with the main cast just becomes so soooo entertaining, and heart warming. He is like, the heart of the found family that the cast forms. Shawn and Gus are the glue that hold everyone together, and Lassiter is the heart that everyone could never live without. He's just all around great and he makes the series stick its landing.

8. Shawn Spencer from Psych

Another from Psych. He's the main character and he's a disaster. He burns his bridges but people stick with him regardless. He and his best friend Gus play straight into the Sherlock Holmes dynamic. He screws up a lot and other people (namely Gus) have to clean up his messes. But Shawn also has other things going on in his head. He has major daddy issues lol and it's one of the most focused-on relationships in the show, as his dad is his biggest critic and biggest support. He and Lassiter ^^^ have the best development ever. Shawn is a selfish asshole, but despite the fact that Lassiter constantly puts him down and insults him and tries to make him feel unwelcome, Shawn goes out of his way multiple times to help Lassie and make his life easier. Probably because Shawn can read people and that's his heart showing through. Him and Lassie end up really close later on anyway.

9. Adrian Monk from Monk

AHHH this show is similar to Psych except it's more linear (there is an endgame goal), and it's more dramatic and sad. Monk, another detective show, is a very sad character. I used him for an assignment when I was in undergrad and we were learning about personality disorders once LOL, we had to pick a character from any media who depicted characteristics of a personality disorder of our choise (obsessive compulsive personality disorder is the one here). Anyway, Monk depicts mental illness really well. He's deeply sad and always in pain, and he's a genius detective who was discharged from the force because of his psychiatric issues. He lost his wife in a murder and it's the one murder he can't solve, which is the end-game of the series. But what makes him great is that he's kinda unlikable and frustrating at first, but his true colors show here and there. And he's one of those characters that frustrates people around him, and because of his mental illness he burns bridges and tests his relationships a lot (which is very realistic), but people stick by him and he genuinely tries to do right by the people who try for him. Again, it's a show that you can just sit back and watch to pass time. It's not rooted with overarching themes or anything, it's just a mystery show with a new murder to solve every episode, but the characters go through development and change and it's great watching their relationships grow.

10. Gregory House from House M.D.

I saved him for last because his description was the longest. Ugh. House. Okay. Another Sherlock Holmes dynamic in this show. Disaster person with a well put-together partner. The best way I can describe House is like, a reverse-tragedy. House is the protagonist that is hurting (both physically and mentally), and because of that he hurts others via emotional manipulation and very harsh personal attacks. He's a genius doctor who is a workaholic, but in a twisted way and his workaholic tendencies often times come at other peoples' expense. He pushes away everyone who cares about him (and a lot lot lot of people genuinely do care about and love him). He just lashes out and hurts and hurts until it backfires on him, and then instead of growing and developing, he rinses and repeats. He's one of the few characters that actually ends his story basically in the same spot that he was in at the beginning. He does develop and change, but he always reverts back to his old tragic self. His selfishness causes him to lose his best friend (Wilson) on several occasions. One of the best things in the series imo is House and Wilson together. I don't ship them romantically but I see why people do LOL. House's other major flaw is being very obsessive and codependent on his friend. So back to the "reverse-tragedy" thing---House does not die. In fact, in true Sherlock Holmes fashion, he fakes his death. He fakes his death because that best friend he's super obsessed and codependent on, gets diagnosed with cancer (and it's ironic because Wilson is an oncologist) and has 5 months to live. And once again, House's selfishness lands him in a position where he is gonna go to jail for six months, meaning he won't be there for Wilson when he dies. So what does he do? He fakes his death. Tragic! But not traditionally. He fakes his death because he has literally lost every other option to live a normal life. He loses everyone in his life who cares about him, the one person he cares about the most dies before him, he is left with basically nothing. He refuses to cling to his redeemable qualities (people loving and caring about him unconditionally). He can never be a doctor again, he basically dies in the sense that his life is over, and everything and everyone around him dies. Also, this is one of the very few series I've ever read fanfiction for, and I read one really good one that covers Wilson's death and it wrecked me so. Good job fic writer.

Also I'm realizing all of these are men. How tragic. I do have fav female characters but not favored enough to make my top ten of like, everything though. Oof.

Again--THANK YOU FOR THIS I loved doing this a lot. I definitely welcome asks like this

[littlespoonevan]

I'm honestly so tired of the bashing of this season... It's not perfect, far from it, and I definitely have things to say too, but people are acting like it's the worst thing ever made and this constant negativity is making it hard to enjoy it at all and it's killing all the fun for me. It's one thing to have expectations, it's another thing to say it's shit when they don't happen. It's just my opinion, but yeah, I wish people would just calm down a bit.

ahh i know what you mean, anon. as much as i absolutely love the experience of watching a show week to week and getting to deep dive into the ep and theorise about what's coming next, it's also a lot more stressful than binge-watching.

i think it's easy to spiral sometimes when watching a season live because for example, if you're whole dash is liveblogging and ten people all complain about one thing well then those ten people will probably rile each other up about the thing even more. in contrast, if i'm bingewatching, that thing either won't register with me or that part of the storyline will be over like two hours later so i won't bother posting about it.

it does frustrate me sometimes when people can't just wait and see. like there's a different between not liking something very specific eg. the copaganda in 5x03 vs just not having the whole story yet???? so i've always tried my best to withhold judgement on certain storylines until we reach season finales. like, i could complain about eddie not facing the trauma of the shooting yet but i'm also holding out hope that'll happen in upcoming eps. so unless we reach 5x18 without that being addressed i don't think it's fair for me to be annoyed???

season 5 in general though is not bad at all. i think it's suffered from some inconsistencies with the changes in production and not having two mains present but it's still a good season. i absolutely loved 5x01, 5x02 and 5x04. i really enjoyed 5x06 also (tbh the only reason i'm not like, omg god tier is bc seeing people's reactions beforehand sort of raised the bar too high for me? but that's no one's fault except whoever leaked the ep lol). 5x03 was its own beast and 5x05 and 5x07 did feel off. the thing about 5x05 though is that it's hard to know if that was intentional or not given the themes of the ep and that we were primarily viewing things through buck's eyes.

but like, in terms of 5x07 as an example. the things i didn't like about it are the same things i didn't like about 4x08 or 4x11 which was that too much of the focus was on side characters i didn't have an interest in. hell, i thought 4x01 and 4x02 were Incredibly boring, especially when compared to the tsunami the previous season. so idk if it's just that a lot of us are watching live for the first time now and that's why people are getting more frustrated but quality-wise i'm not all that worried rn.

the best advice i could give is to curate your dash and blacklist what you need to. i follow 20 911 blogs which tbh is a lot for me. and that's not to say there aren't lots of amazing people whose posts/gfisets i regularly reblog who i don't follow but i personally have always preferred to follow just enough people to keep up to date on everything i want to. i find it easier to maintain my dash that way and i rarely, if ever, see complaining unless i go looking for it. i've done the whole, follow everyone thing in previous fandoms and it's absolutely exhausting and generally not good for your enjoyment of the show

i don't want this to come off as preachy or holier-than-thou because i absolutely don't mean it to be and at the end of the day, if people want to complain leave them to it! i'm just saying that in my own experience following less blogs and blacklisting discourse tags has always made my fandom life much more enjoyable!!

[1llusionmachine]

I've been tagged by @elorianna to do the writing tag game! Thank you very much 💖💖 For those of you who don't know, I actually write Fanfic!

How many works do you have on Ao3?

I've written a mere 6 fics 😳 I still have to grow my collection! I also write for a couple of fandoms aside from Milex - Finn and Poe from Star Wars, and I have one Gorillaz 2Doc fanfic.

What’s your total Ao3 word count?

10,634 - not many at all! I mostly post oneshots. Maybe one day I'll post a work that's that amount alone. The only public document I've written that was that long was my dissertation😂

What’re your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. All We Are

2. Into Place

3. Why Not?

4. Of the Morning

5. The Element of Surprise

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I don't get many comments so I try to reply to them all as they mean a lot to me! Thank you commenters! 🥰

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Oh definitely 'All We Are' - it's my only Gorillaz fanfic so far and I think the nature of Gorillaz as a franchise demands that it has darker undertones, especially the themes of the history of how Murdoc has treated 2D in the past. Spoiler alert but I kind of like that Murdoc doesn't pursue his feelings and cuts it off - it feels very in character.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Literally all of my others tend to have happier conclusions - I just like to see my ships get together haha! I would say 'The Element of Surprise' has the happiest ending - I just wanted Al to have his death ramps ring back so it was purely self-indulgent😂

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

None yet! I did have an idea to pair Finn and Poe with Inside Llewyn Davis, although it's probably more of an AU than a crossover - perhaps Poe (in the starving artist role of Llewyn) meets Finn at one of the Gorfiend's dinner parties and it continues from there? Who knows bro🤷🏻‍♀️

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not really, everyone's been very kind!

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do write smut but I've only ever published one piece, 'Not Safe For Comms' - it took a lot of courage to post that one because even though writing's writing at the end of the day, smut does have a reputation per-se and, lets be honest, no one wants to read bad smut, so I had to make sure it was just right - it takes a lot to really build it up and make a reader feel excited about it and believe it. Maybe more is to come (har har) if I get any more ideas 👀

Tbh I just prefer to read it (who said that?)

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so?

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge!

What’s your all time favourite ship?

That is a huge question!

I LOVE Milex but I'm currently only really reading it and not writing it - no particular reason aside from a general lack of content and inspiration atm but this could change with Miles' new album and potential AM7? 👀

Can't lie, I'm really digging FinnPoe/Stormpilot the most atm. I have so many thoughts and feelings about them but I'm just upset that disney didn't go for it and put them together - it's literally tangible: their whirlwind meeting where they saved each others' lives and Poe gave Finn his NAME, the lip bite™ at the end of Force Awakens, the dynamic of the dashing flyboy pilot falling HARD for a rebel stormtrooper he just met, the way they bicker like a married couple, god I love it. It's also no secret that I'm currently on an Oscar Isaac hype and the fact that both he AND John Boyega were actively rooting for them to get together (even saying they played the roles romantic) just makes me love them even more. We were ROBBED!

I also ship the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler(my TRUE otp since 2006) Cassian and Jyn from Rogue One(why they gotta die like that) and The Eleventh Doctor and Clara (they're just cute alright!) as well as many more!

What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I also tend to also scrap things that just aren't working. I had a Milex one where the lads played a flirty game of pool set in 2005 but I was wrestling with it for so long that I just let it go. I also wrote around 10k of a fic where Alex was undercover and Miles was a crime boss😂 but I felt icky about it cause even though I made Alex an independent detective in a noir style it still felt a bit copaganda-esque and I didn't like that. The only WIP I currently have is a very basic FinnPoe one(inspired by Oscar dancing in Ex Machina cause I am what? Basic x) but I think I only like it for how I've written the ending so I need to find a way to get that to work 'cause I really like it!

What are your writing strengths?

I'm not the best out there - I mostly write for myself haha but I think I'm pretty good at description and scene setting, as well as some exposition.

What are your writing weaknesses?

A lot of things tbh, even though I did creative writing at A Level 🙃 I struggle with plot a lot(hence the oneshots), and sometimes dialogue stumps me. It's all a learning process!

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I've never had a reason to, but I'd have to get it translated accurately if I did. I think it's also important not to alienate a reader as sometimes I read stuff and it's a bit jarring if you're not sure on the meaning.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Milex is my first published fic, but I think I wrote for maybe Doctor Who back in the day? I've been reading fanfic for years, though.

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

I have so few that I like them all! I do like my Gorillaz one which is surprising as that one took me the least time to write and I didn't even expect to write it at all - it's somehow my most popular fic(maybe the gorillaz fandom is just super active?) and I think the more angsty ending gave me a lot more to play with.

[kareofbears]

persona 5 strikers thoughts and feelings

This is going to be a long post. Like, the type of post you’d only really have time to read when you’re trying to sleep but you’re not ready to be unconscious yet so you’re just looking for something to do to spend your time with minimal effort. 

So in 2018, a masterpiece was born into the world: Into the Spider-verse was released and it was amazing—it’s honestly the best spiderman movie we have without a doubt, and it’ll be very far into the future before Spider-verse is beaten as the best spiderman movie. Them’s the facts. Then in 2019, Spider-man: Far From Home was dropped. It’s a great movie! Great characters, great continuation of who these characters are and works fantastic as a continuation of a story. It’s really hard trying to take the torch of a previous movie (or in Marvel’s case, juggling twenty something movies) and come up with a new movie that both works on its own, as well as being the next step in this series of films. Thus, with that idea in mind, I think it’s kind of unfair to judge into the spiderverse and far from home, because these are two movies with two completely different objectives in mind. 

Okay, so this is still a persona 5 strikers post, I promise, but the idea is the same: Persona 5 could basically do whatever it wanted—new story, new characters, new everything, and it’s just plain old awesome. However, Persona 5 strikers did not have that sort of freedom. It was bound to the original game, and it had its own rules and stuff it had to keep intact, characters they had to work with, and on top of that, it had to justify its existence as a sequel (lets pretend money doesnt exist lmfao). 

SO, the big question is: did it do that? Did it justify its existence? 

And my answer: holy fuck did it ever do that

I came into this game knowing the extreme bare minimum. I knew there was someone named Sophia, and i knew there was roadtrip, and i knew there were Personas. That’s my knowledge of it before i played it on the Switch.  I should also clarify like, early on, that i was not expecting anything from this game. At all. I was the world’s biggest cynic of this game—if you scroll down my p5s tag far enough, youll just see me complaining about a game that hasn’t even come out yet. I was fully expecting to have this be a Waifu show, and any male character that isn’t Akira to just be shoved aside like some kind of nerd in a high school hallway, and i have never been more pleased to be wrong. In fact, i actually owe it an apology, because of how fucking rude i was for no reason!!! Because this game deserves everything to be honest. 

Persona 5 strikers is, frankly, insane. Insane in the sense that it got to pull shit off that just would never have existed in the original game, because the original game is scared. It had to be as impressive as possible and garner as much attention as possible. Strikers does not have that problem—every single person who bought that game does not need to be convinced that persona 5 is a good game. They already played it. That means Atlus can just fuck around and have a good time, and man did they have a good time. There’s still scenes that still shock me if i think about it too hard, because i’m used to atlus having to follow this sort of rule set when it comes to persona 5 (or any of the main games im assuming, but i havent played them.) And on top of that, there’s still shit that’s Atlus Trademarked Branded in a good way. The style of story of story telling, and revealing the mystery that is so integral to what p5 is, is still there. 

So, to make this even a little bit comprehensible, i will make a list! 

First of all, What is this game?

In short, this game is an OVA of an anime. It’s bonus side content that has one thing in mind: to showcase these lovable characters more by putting them in fun situations. That’s it, and it is just phenomenal. That was the main point of, i’d say, like forty hours of the game. It’s just fun times with fun characters. 

But to get deeper of what i think is happening, or what they were thinking during the development, is that this is a second opportunity. Persona 5 (as we all know) had a lot of problems, and we were not quiet about those problems. We yelled it all out, made posts, made complaints on every social media platform ever. And Atlus heard all of them, and Strikers is a way to mitigate those mistakes. Aside from being a fun OVA, Strikers also works to be a deeper exploration of these characters—more specifically, the characters that did not receive much in the original game. Creating this sequel is having the ability to redo what they felt (or to be more specific, we felt) in the original game while adding new ones. I will get to that in a second.  

The format of the game 

Absolutely brilliant to throw them on a road trip. P5V already forced us to experience Shibuya for 200+ hours, and im so glad that they didn’t do that again. Going from town to town, making us experience these new places alongside our favorite characters is so good, and it just makes sense. It’s fun, it’s lighthearted, and it’s actually shockingly good. But one thing i do want to talk about early on is the way the story unfolds and the villains that they use, and what they do with it because it’s very interesting. 

So as we explore japan and stuff, we encounter jails, and with those jails comes an antagonist. This antagonist works to be a parallel to one of our characters. That character will find it in their hearts to feel bad for the antagonist, because the antagonist could have been them had the original game not happen. At first I thought all of the thieves were gonna get an antagonist, and i was really hyped for the ryuji one. And then came to hour forty of the game where i realized “yeah that’s not gonna happen. There’s just not enough time.” And i was right, and the game ended. But i am not salty at all, honestly, because the people who got a direct antagonist were: Ann, Yusuke, and Haru. (we wont count zen and sophie). 

Is there a trend??? Yes. these are all characters in the original game that have received the worst treatment by atlus. The three of them are basically cast aside the minute they finished their original arc, and its horrible! BUT that’s why this is the path that atlus chose for them—to give them more depth, and screentime, and a way to show their inner self. That isn’t to say that the ones who aren’t those three (makoto, futaba, mona, akira, ryuji) didn’t get anything. Futaba still has her thing at the end with ichinose, and she was very prevalent and animated during the rest of the game. Mona and Akira have to be a focal points, that’s just the nature of the game. The other two though, I will talk about in depth in a second.  

Makoto

Y’all i poke fun at shumako fans sometimes cause its kind of easy and fun, but i honestly love makoto. In my very first playthrough of p5 (my first ever jrpg game, first persona game, i had no idea what i was doing), i had only maxed out two characters: ryuji and makoto. And i know she had a lot of screentime and love in the original game which is great, but i truly felt like she was dissed in this game. Her only roles were

A driver

Someone to tell them “we don’t have a choice. Let’s keep going and see where this takes us.” (seriously, if you replay this game, you will see how much she does this)

Idk, i just wish she had more to do, especially compared to how much love they gave the other characters. 

But let’s talk about some of the new characters! 

Zenkichi

Damn you atlus. Damn you and your insistence at bringing in cop characters. I was fully on board with hating zenkichi, i was fucking ready for it. I was convinced that there was nothing they could do convince to like zenkichi. I was immune to their copaganda. 

And then i ended up loving him, which makes me sad a little bit. I didn’t realize how desperate i was to have an adult who has a persona. Someone who wants the world to change just as much as they do, while still having that aspect of them that makes them adult. Like??? As someone who is technically an adult, its a breath of fresh air. An adult. Who fights. For justice. Using a persona. And god i love akane so much, and her obsession with the thieves (that scene is probably in my top ten fave scenes of the game). Also what i loved about zenkichi is that he fucking hates the cops!! He hates the system of the cops!! And thats why i actually really started to love him!! Because i thought it was atlus saying that the systematic problem of the police cannot be solved by one person, and zenkichi threw away his badge. I actually cried at that part!! 

But then he became a cop again, and i was just :/ but as a character, i really love him to bits and would love to do a study on him, or at least use him as an outside pov. But! i absolutely love his persona, since im a les miserables fan hehe

Sophia 

she’s probably my favorite new aspect of the game. I was ready to not like her—again, i just suck like that, lmfao—and when i saw her, i was scared that she was just another waifu. I mean, she was very cute after all. But then as the game went on, i thought she was a little too cute. And even further into the game, i finally slapped myself in the face and realized oh my god shes not a waifu. Shes a sister. 

That blew my mind, im ngl to you. A female character that isn’t supposed to be romanced? By jove, what a miracle! 

And she…is an amazing character. Im sorry, i just love her so much. I love her so much that she  probably ranks as my fifth or sixth favorite character which is surprising even to me. Everything about her is delightful and invigorating. She’s funny??? Her comedic timing is amazing, and she has such chemistry with the rest of the team. She’s actually useful to the plot, and while her character design is a little too on the nose for me in terms of cuteness (i mean, good god she’s wearing oversized sweater to show how cute and tiny she is, and her hair has literal hearts in it), she is absolutely lovable. 

But what i actually really wanna gush about for a second is sophia at the last stage of the game. You get the idea, i dont really like to get excited over things, so at this point i figured that there was nothing this game could do to shock me. 

And then sophia had a persona awakening. 

Like. holy fuck did i yell. I didnt realize what was happening until the music had already kicked in. and its just so fucking smart!!! Sophia??? The ai?? With no heart?? gOT A PERSONA???? AWAKENING??? BECAUSE SHE LEARNED WHAT THE HEART IS AND THE PASSION THAT YOU NEED IN ORDER TO GET A PERSONA??? I started crying honestly, because it was just so smart. And looking back on it now, its obvious!! Of course it would lead to this, it only made sense that the culmination of her character arc leads to her getting a persona, nothing else would have been as good. Also, her voice actor is just amazing?? When she was talking to ichinose at the end, i actually got incredibly emotional because of the line reads. Its just so spot on and it really captures the essence of sophia.

Muah. five stars Atlus. You got me. 

Ryuji <3!!!!

Oh man. Oh boy. Okay. so where do i start. 

Yall know i love him. Hes probably my favorite fictional male character of all time, and he is the one i was the absolute most cynical about in this game. I was expecting literally nothing. Nothing. Like. nothing. I thought he was just gonna keep being used as a joke, or a gag, and he’s gonna be super horny all the time for the other girls and it was gonna make me mad and there was gonna be some insane homophobic/queerphobic jokes in every other scene and i know i was being unfair, but i cant help it. 

And then i played the first two hours of the game, and i cried the entire time. Because ryuji has never been better than he is in this game. Its crazy. 

The ryuji in persona 5 strikers is who ryuji should have been/how he should have been treated this entire time. From the actual funny jokes (for example, the gold bar joke + his reaction to it in the beginning of the game), defending his female friends instead of being the one people need to defend from (natsume arc), and the fact that he was the one to be there with morgana and akira in the very beginning of the game. Its such a small thing that they didnt even need to do, but it was such an integral part of the original game for me, that i just was convinced that nothing like this was going to happen. But then it happened. Its just small stuff like that that could have been overlooked but it wasn’t because this game? Persona 5 strikers? Fucking loves ryuji. 

The actual respect they gave this boy is insane and i wasn't ready for it. Like, they gave the shujin trio lunch, they gave the little charm of the katana when they were in natsume’s jail, and, in my opinion this is the second-best thing that they could have given ryuji is sophia. Ryuji and sophia are the pinnacle of a brother & sister bonding relationship in the game that isn’t akira & futaba. And its really prevalent too?? Small stuff from the beginning of the game (pulling her out of a jail, calling her shorty), but then you have the iconic “shut the fuck up” scene, and that scene was so well characterized and written and voice acted, that somehow him saying “fuck” was the least exciting part of that scene to me. Ryuji is an older brother to her, like its undoubtable, and its only further cemented at the end of the game where Ryuji helps out ichinose because he knows how much sophia cares about her. This game. Love ryuji. And i love. This game. 

You know what else i love? Akiryu. 

Guys. i was fully prepared to starve in terms of akiryu. But theres just. So much of it. I wont get too deep into it, because i think this aspect of the game for me still needs marinate a little bit. Like, what was that last shot when EMMA died and Ryuji walked to approach Akira so they could relish in their victory together?? And the smile from both of them??? What the fuck. That was amazing. Also Joker being saved by Ryuji when he was about to fall from the cliff to save sophia??? WHAT. The LEADER AND HIS RIGHT HAND MAN? WHAT. anyway. If theres anything i want to keep for myself in my own brain, its the akiryu aspect of this game, so i wont talk too much about that part of things (instead, itll probably manifest in fic lmfaooo). 

Sure, there’s tidbits of stuff i dont like that they gave ryuji: sexualizing ann in that one cut scene and making him touch the jails even though it hurts, and i recognize those and frown at them, but for the most part, i am blown away with how they treated him.

Basically, Ryuji has never been better. From the opening of the game with him being the first text message and the one to sling his arm around akira, to the very last cut scene where it was ryuji wordlessly leaving because he’s so confident that they would never be separated for long, this game adores Ryuji and i am so so happy to say that.

The Royal aspect of things

Yeah, i had to talk about this, but itll be a short thing i just wanted to point out. Because the last part of this game...is persona 5 royal. Which is curious. Like taking reality and giving that power to someone else so you dont have to experience suffering anymore? And even like, the final section just looked a lot like the top half of maruki’s palace?? And whats even crazier is that we had a boss fight with sophia, just like how we had a boss fight with sumire? Royal and Strikers have like, the same thesis statement. It’s kind of uncanny.It’s interesting, it’s like atlus came up with these two ideas, and then just decided they liked both of them so much that they just did it twice. I don’t mind though—actually, in terms of how the last Palace/Jails go, i probably like them both about equally. 

Though i did love the final battle in this one more than i did in royal. Splitting into teams?? Thats cool as fuck, and really innovative and i didnt see it coming. It also kicked my ass. A lot. 

Now for the last stretch: the small stuff!

The music — bomb as fuck. In my heart, Daredevil is ranked the same as Rivers. Axe to grind is also amazing, but Daredevil owns me

Akechi — i really debated whether or not to talk about him, but i figured a bullet point should be enough. Im really shocked that he wasnt in this at all. Like not even a name drop. If this is an OVA, and the point of the game is to please the fans, and akechi is arguably the fan favorite character, i was really ready for something. But there was nothing, except for the pancake hallway if that even counts as a reference. Thats it. Thats all i wanted to say about him.

The humour — FUCKING HILARIOUS im convinced that in my fifty hour playtime, five of that is dedicated to me laughing and unable to continue the game 

Akira — so much personality! His lines of dialogue are crazy sometimes (like. Whats up with him saying Ryuji has ‘nice abs’ when they were in bath? Im crazy and even i dont know what the fuck that could mean) 

Battle system — oh my god i almost forgot to talk about this. I love it! I kind of miss the turn based aspect just because i found it very comforting for some reason, but this hack and slash style of gameplay is so invigorating because i do feel like it justifies shit like the baton pass and huge attacks.  This battle system fully encompases how the Phantom Thieves are supposed to fight, you know what i mean?

Anyway, thats my thoughts on strikers. Loved it. Amazing. 9.3/10, wouldve been higher but Konoe’s Jail almost bored me to death. Also im a monster and i didnt do any requests that isn’t a fun one, teehee. As if i play persona 5 for the persona aspect of things.