#story so upsetting even the developers fucked up abt it

[theropoda]

😭

[seventh-district]

in other news i cannot stop fucking listening to Brokenheartsville by Joe Nichols and i’m starting to annoy myself with it but. i cannot stop. it’s too good

[lesbiamano]

Hello hi I hope and pray you don't mind asks but YOUR POST ABOUT SUMIRE IS SO CORRECT while maruki is one of my favs because of how fucked up and well written he is, I hate what he did to Sumire KEEP YOUR DELUSION TO YOURSELF!!! bitch

Anyway that aside. The game did NOT treat Sumire right at all, I second you on that. She should've had time to be upset, to be unwell, to fucking beat Maruki's ass by herself instead of it being joker I think also. Atlus just wanted to insert a new Waifu into the game and completely fumbled the bag just to make her palatable to their male audience.

I could 100% go on but I'm blanking on words, I'm really passionate about her and I try appreciating the parts of her that we Did get but. Atlus learn to write women for a reason other than to be a love interest or advertisement challenge (failed)

YESS I AGREE. also something that forever bugs me is the way sumire reverts back to being “kasumi” after a certain point, and just having her basically be kasumi in the ending cutscene. what was the point of even having her put her hair down and start wearing glasses to show that she was no longer acting as someone else if you were going to erase all that development for the sake of the image the game’s “waifu” put up for most of the story,,, like i know she already had a big role in 3rd sem but it truly did not feel enough for her

i would rant about marukis treatment of her here but we all know i can’t control myself when it comes to hating on him so i’ll just leave that up for your imagination. but anyway, yea. there’s so much i can say but unfortunately everytime i sit down to write abt it i start blanking too😭😭atlus give us more well written female characters pls. sumire could’ve been SO GOOD

[strawberryseeded]

i wish we had gotten more of kugisaki nobara. i just watched dis vid and all my contained RAGE abt dis topic suddenly HIT ME LIKE A TRAIN GOD IM UPSET

ive talked like 32893882 times already (and its still NOT ENOUGH) abt how upset i was abt nobara's death cos she was such a good character, with so much potential!! i really REALLY liked her. she was funny, strong, confident and kind!!!! i loved her char design!! her cursed technique and weapon were cool as hell!!!!!!

and her (recently SOMEWHAT(?) confirmed(?)) death sucked so fucking much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

she was just. fucking fridged. as much as it pains me to admit it. from a narrative standpoint, she died so yuuji would get upset and further develop his character & then move the plot along. even mahito admits that he wants her to die to make yuuji suffer. like yeah he also recognizes her a strong opponent (ofc. cos she is) but at the end of the day he wanted to kill her just to wreck yuuji. and he succeded.

nobara has no say on the way she dies. she's just.. slapped, kinda. its so sudden. its so... weird. not that she's accepting of it (we already know that she knows she can die at any moment and she's ready for it (cos she's a freak like the rest of the sorcerers lol)), but its weird bc its like its not a personal moment for her. yeah we get a flashback & her speech about how, even tho she always was a person who refused to let other people affect the way she is and decides to live, there still are people who, by being accepting of her, managed to gain a place in her heart... and she's happy for that. its rly beautiful.

but its the impact her death has on yuuji what the story really cares about here.

and like. thats fine! im not even saying killing nobara is a bad choice or that its bad if her death also developed yuuji's character. but the way it was done, its like her death only had that purpose. its a way too transparent device, that's what i dislike abt it. i dont mind being upset bc a character i love dies? i like feeling strong emotions when i engage emotionally with art/stories.

but i think she was killed off too soon. we didn't get to properly say goodbye to her. both her character arc and her death were rushed.

she could have been developed so much more! it feels like she was taken away way too soon in the story. i wanted her to fight sukuna along the others. i wanted her to use her cool technique to help yuuji nail sukuna's soul. i wanted to see just how much stronger she could get. i wanted her to finally meet saori. I WANTED HER TO HAVE A COOL EYE PATCH!!!!!!!!!!!

why is she barely mentioned after she dies??? she was one of the 3 main, dude, are u kidding me? yuuji's the only one who mentions her but he's almost afraid of talking about her. its like the whole world forgot about her!!!!! and what about maki?????? werent they girlfriends?

what is nobara's LEGACY? why did gege not make her death matter in the narrative? even if she (for whatever reason) came back(??) at the end, id still be rly mad & sad abt it cos i wanted to see her DO STUFF!! i wanted to see her kick some ass!!!! i wanted to see her grow!!!!! to open up with others!!!!! I WANTED TO SEE MORE OF HER. IM SO UPSET I WANT OUT

[wof-reworked]

thoughts on the transfem winter hc??

OOOOOH it's never crossed my dash but I'm very intrigued :0

I've written a long post abt a possible transfem Turtle hc (lbr borderline au), so that's somewhat the lens I'm going thru for most of the jade winglet. I'm always hesitant abt trans aus that go against the canon genders of the characters for,,, semi obvious reasons of the implications??? but that hasn't stopped me before and it won't stop me again baybeeee

but Winter tho,,,, idk I think his story has A LOT of like. repression themes and self hate, but unlike Turtle I think you can see how much of it is more directed at like. his failure to be a Proper Icewing and how being a Proper Icewing basically stands in total opposition to his natural identity and beliefs (very much "good dragon born into bad society" kind of angle). I also really like the way Hailstorm and Winter are set up as foils so hrm,,,

I think for me it's 50/50 + has some funky nuances. I def love nonbinary Hailstorm a lot (gender identities informed partially by trauma woooooo !!!!) and I feel like that then gives me a fun leeway into transfem Winter and what about that hc does appeal to me. They have an underrated sibling dynamic tbh especially post-Pyrite bc like. Winter's always been the black sheep of his family next to Hailstorm and Icicle fall apart in their respective ways,,,, there's like a fascinating smugness and bitterness mixed in with like. feeling awful that his siblings are suffering and also guilt for being anything other than upset for them even though like. it's awful but for one precious moment HE isn't the fucked up one. HE'S the one that's going to win the day and prove to his family he isn't totally irredeemable. Their whole family is like so fucked up in such a real way it's actually wild to like pick apart. And then Hailstorm being the one to struggle to integrate back into Icewing society being what helps Winter realize the whole system is rotten and cruel, and how he's able to sort of develop empathy for himself thru the way that he recognizes when Hailstorm is being hurt and how that's not ok even if he can't quite recognize that it's not ok that he's also being hurt.

But like. I also think I like the way that ties into Winter being a boy. I feel like him being a prince specifically is important because it gives him even "less to give" to his family (especially compared to Hailstorm) and then makes his "redemption arc"/character growth even more compelling because he's learning to love himself wholly. I also recognize being transfem ≠ being a transwoman, and I do like the idea of like. bigender Winter tbh. give the boy a little he/she pronouns. as a treat. He's definitely got like some gender swag I'm always a little willing to get into, idk though I think it's not quite for me in how I view him n think about him.

I tend to settle on writing him as like. GNC. I do think by Icewing beauty standards he is a very androgynous/pretty dragon and I think it's funky if that's another thing between him n Hailstorm that's like. unspoken but relevant in how they're treated. He's just like a gay GNC man to me at the end of the day.

[tender-hearteddd]

when aot was just abt to end, there were leaks ofc as there always are lol abt eren not really achieving any of his plans. and so much of the aot fandom, who have never lived through war, were genuinely upset over this. eren literally commits global genocide, he and his plan doesn’t deserve to achieve anything. especially not anything that would benefit him.

eren wasn’t one of my favorites until season 4 because of how utterly fucked up he is. he was a tragic MC who started off as a hero and as the story progressed, became a monster. even though we know what leads to his corruption, genocide is still wrong actually and having a characters worst fear come to life due to their own actions is the sort of tragic irony isayama loves. we’ve already seen isayama do this with reiner, zeke and grisha. it’s satisfying yet devastating at the same time how harsh the story is on them.

and the story should’ve been a lot more harsher to eren instead of the positive reaffirmation he got in 139 and from most of the fandom. eren claims the rumbling was for paradis, like thst shit didn’t kill off most of paradis’ population, and than he claims that it was for his friends (like pieck, who he has never even had a conversation with) but than he admits it was for himself - and it wasn’t satisfying at all because isayama wanted us to feel bad for eren and it worked. never mind the fact that eren killed his own mom, that he manipulated his own father for taking the FT for his own gain, that he annihilated 80% of the world - he did it for his friends 😊 so it’s okay! friendship >>>> genocide 😝

aot taking a very strong stance against eren’s actions and plan, denouncing them as wrong (bc they are) and showing them that nothing good comes out of them is wayyyyyy better the woobification and the mini redemption arc we got from him in the last chapter.

this is why i hate it when aot fans talk abt aot like it’s the greatest anti-war anime ever made. i think majority of aot fans are westerners or come from developed countries. it’s easier to understand war when ur watching cartoons of it instead of actually living through it. a huge part of the fandom justifies eren’s genocide, even with characters explicitly condemning him. do you really think it’s clear with its anti-war message when all we got was a few sad faces and a huge thank you from the main cast? one of the main themes in aot is the moral grayness of the world. the warriors did what they did because they were child soldiers trying to protect their families, EMA would’ve done the same. the scouts raided liberio (and were heavily against it). and masses of innocent people died in the name of other groups interests. there were literally no winners in this at all.

but why have characters that should’ve narratively and thematically been against eren suddenly forgive and praise him?

why break all the characterization, break all those different point of views, for the warriors specifically, if not for the final woobification of eren?

eren could’ve had one of the most extraordinary corruption arcs in all of anime just for that to be ruined and i will forever be mad abt it

[bloomingdead]

"your fanservice should not be as important to you as getting a well-written third game,"

sure because forbidden west and burning shores are peak writing and good development right? the pacing isnt a mess, the rushed relationships arent a mess, the villains are underdeveloped as fuck.... what the fuck you are talking about a "well written third game" over a bad written and rushed ship that would also be fanservice? just please. thanks to people like you who defend that shitty writing of seyloy we are going to have a big mess for the third game

“shitty writing” you either have never had a girlfriend that you didn’t meet through an app or you’re not sapphic. my girlfriend and i played the whole dlc together and felt it was such a natural development of the crush. especially between two ~20 year olds (seyka seems like she might be a lil bit older than aloy bc of her status as an officer). the worst part of the DLC was londra tbh. his “cult” felt underdeveloped and confusing. but sure, go off abt how seyloy ruined it instead of how it actually added something of more value. londra felt like he was just there to force gameplay while aloy and seyka’s relationship felt like the true focus imo.

who knows?? seyka could have been written for the third game before they decided to introduce her sooner in the dlc. forbidden west was actually really good and i don’t understand why you’re searching through the tags if you actually thought it and the dlc was bad. i haven’t defended seyloy or talked abt it in the tags in over a month. and tbh i’m getting tired of defending it because interacting with y’all is exhausting. you try to sprinkle in opinions with no foundation/proof about the main story to act like you’re not just upset about seyka. the true supporters and fans of guerrilla can peer through your thinly veiled bullshit to see that you and the others are just upset cuz you’re obsessed with your fav/kin ship and NOTHING else can compete with/replace it. just look at the quote you chose to reference. struck a nerve, did i?

you sound like a bunch of middle-schoolers with all the whining and bitching about something you don’t get to, NEVER WILL get to control. because it’s not your fucking story. and it’s not mine either. i’m not writing that shit! i’m just part of a vast audience of plenty of other people who don’t agree with you weirdo little diehard talanah/erend fuckers. don’t buy the games if you hate them so much, don’t pick up horizon 3 when it comes out. leave guerrilla (especially the writers), kylie, and ashly the fuck alone. you’re making those of us who ACTUALLY feel normally about this game look deranged. there’s so many things to be excited about that already exist in the games, so much to look forward to, and so much positive shit you could be focusing on. but you waste your time complaining about a 9/10 game. find something better to do with your time cuz even while hiding behind anon you’re embarrassing yourself.

[the-midnight-cow]

it's going to be a long time until i'm able to write a post abt the barry finale, but i do want to talk about some of my favorite things about the show as a whole. no spoilers here :)

-> THE ACTORS!!! especially sarah goldberg who has literally changed my life <3 the range of emotion, nuance, and passion with which they all acted made it so fucking compelling and as both an actor and a fan of barry, i couldn't have asked for a better cast -> the character arcs- they're messy, they're imperfect, they're not tied up, no one is ever fully redeemed. and I find that beautiful. in the most "good" characters, there is darkness and flaws, in the most "evil" characters, there are humane desires and care. so many of the characters are objectively unlikeable, objectively extremely screwed up, and yet, we remained watching to see how their character arcs developed, week after week because of the brilliant way they were written. -> the cinematography. i think i could write an entire thesis on the nuances with which the creators used cinematic tactics to further their story tbh but i will keep it minimal. one of my favorite things about this show is their use of sound (or, non-use). in the most intimate moments in the show, there is not background music (in fact, sometimes there's not even sound). you are forced to remain intimately within the moment, almost uncomfortably so. hearing the characters cry, breathe, struggle, die... whatever it may be, you are forced to remain immersed in the scene until it feels unnerving, creating that trademark tense mood barry uses so frequently. i also continuously admired the usage of the classic "show don't tell" technique, in that we aren't shown many of the extremely important moments (i'll probably elaborate on this in another post) this story, while messy and upsetting, is so very intentional, and genuinely one of the best created shows i have ever seen. from watching the first three seasons in less than 7 days to following along with each new episode for these past weeks, it's been a wild ride. bill hader, you're insane, and thank you.

[i3utterflyeffect]

I know absolutely nothing abt Wandersong so I can't ask any specific questions (;;-o-) BUT!!!!!!! take this ask as blanket permission to talk about any thoughts u have on the game that u want to, canon or AU

if u want some prompting, I saw ur MRD crossover and went 👀👀 I'm curious what ur AU changes from the game(s)!

oh!! okay so basically im going to split this into parts hang on

BUT. YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO PLAY WANDERSONG ITS SUCH A GOOD GAME. ITS SO FUN AND YOU WOULD LOVE MIRIAM AND BARD THEY'RE SO LOVABLE

ANYWAY!!!!!!! godbard au will be under the cut in case its not way too horribly late for you to not be spoilered sfdgklgslg

Mad Rat Miriam

ok aside from this post basically. the combo means that miriam has a much longer time period that mad rat and instead of the entire world ending it's just her. audrey is basically herding her towards a cat and i feel like she's actually pretty violent before bard is like 'NOOO STOP IT'

bard may have been a cat but they're very nice and would not kill anyone. because that is mean and they are NOT mean. they may have been a stray but they'd always just beg for scraps from humans instead and give them the wettest eyes if they try to feed them a mouse.

mim is also still very distant from other people bc yeah she's still a lab rat and she's learned to not be too attached to other ppl and beside she's already alienated bc she's Weird. so bard is really the first time she's been friends with someone and the fact that she's going to die upsets her deeply. but she's glad she got to meet this stupidly nice little heart because god they're too nice but also they're so friendly and kind to her despite everything.

audrey is very much a beastie of instinct and instead of describing herself as a 'rat god' she more describes about as miriam's 'hero', 'guardian angel', whatever fits the bill for that sort of thing. even tho she very much is not and is scaring miriam into going where she wants since mim is not really a huge fan of the wish thing

a lot of the cities of wandersong is just a bunch of stray rats living and Fucking Chilling. and rat god is still a sort of legend thing but it's kind of a horror story where people go wandering into nowhere and never return.

ALSO. the heart battle is so fucking insane i bet. like bard HATES the idea of fighting miriam but they have to do SOMETHING because clearly mim isn't in her right mind. a lot of the fight is a test of patience i bet bc of this

also also! another counterpart of jack is dream king but he DOESN'T CARE about eating mim at all. lazy guy. audrey is not happy about this.

king of hearts is the main one tho since he starts drowning in place of jack and mim decides to save him!!!!!!!!

most of the monsters in general are just hallucinations

anyway miriam and bard have just this strangely similar dynamic to mad rat and heart. violence and 'be nice to people please :)' + Provider Of Beats

plus it's interesting to explore something where the person with their head on straight is bard bc you don't really equate someone happy-go-lucky like that to be the most realistic between the two! usually it's the pessimist but nah its bard this time <3

godbard au

anyway so basically i want to talk about audrey here bc she's been accused of killing bard and since she's basically forced to come along with miriam and bard she's very upset.

BUT. something very important: i feel like she believes in thought crimes.

she's always prided herself on heroism and she never really thought about it before but after some time around Normal People as a Normal Person she starts to get fucked up over her new thought patterns that she developed by being a hero

this gets even worse when bard and miriam start treating her with genuine concern and kindness because she hates them, and she's certainly thought about killing them

as people start talking abt her she becomes more self conscious and it eventually comes to a climax as she is found out and people go on a full-on witch hunt over her

she's very very prone to violence and as she realizes how fucked up her destiny to end the world is she goes into a downwards spiral as she begins to think about awful things more and more and about if she HAD killed them and watched the life drain from their eyes (and she wouldn't have even felt bad)

and if she finds her sword she only gets worse as the intrusive thoughts get worse and more within reach of being completed and she can't take it

and. um

basically i gave her ocd hours. and i feel like i'm correct <3

[jackienautism]

i rant about resident evil and their writing / inclusion of the girls.

i jsut want 2 girls to go on their fucked up little adventures together is that too much to ask

i finally got to the halfway point of code veronica X and GODDDD i fucking knew they were gonna do this goddamn shit w/ steve and claire. i knew from the goddamn beginning even if i didnt want to admoit it...... residetn evil just cant be normal w/ a girl being paired w/ a guy. they just fucking cant

i understand that this is seen more among the older games (ashley + leon from re4 as well) and i cant speak for the og re3 nemesis but the way they wrote carlos and jill? its just.... why make these male characters say such bizarre and degrading and just ? nasty comments towards the female protag? do you really expecvt us to root for them? i just dont fcuking undeerstand, and this occurs in a remake too! they didnt bother to maybe just maaaybe take that bulllshit out. because jill's uncomfortable. IM uncomfortable. its just. godddd who the fuck caaaares STOP THIS TROPE

you see this same thing w/ steve and claire.... not oonly is steve incredibly fucking annoying the first second we meet him, he also continually acts as a nuisance towards her for a good quarter of the game. yeah sure theyre just building up to the Ground Breaking Emo backstory drop later, but. you already made me fucking hate this loser so goddamn much meaning im not gonna give a single shit about his development later. I JUST DONT CARE FOR HIM !!!!!! THEM MAKING HIM SO ANNOYINH RUINED ANY CHANCE OF ME CHANGING MY MIDN LATER.......

and GOD havent even mentioned this yet but. when i saw the little preview thing w/ the 3 characters w/ claire + chris i saw [steve] and went.... [eyeballs] hello whos this? long story short i thoiught he was a butch lesbian and i got SO excite d b c residtn ebil has yet to pair a girl up w/ anothner girl around the same age but noooooo instead i got this pathetic loser of a man (derogatory). the closest we have to 2 girls being fucked up together is mia and zoe in re7. but thats like. mainly a side thing. and mia isnt even the protag so

which leads me to the next thng i wanted to talk about. i think mnmen are super cool ofc and i hate to be that Bitch and pull that Card but good freaking god why must there be a man FOR EVERY SINGLE FEMALE CHARACTER IN THIS GOD FORSAKEN SERIES...... andit woudlnt be huge deal if they were noraml w/ these pairings but theyre NOT..... THEY MAKE IT WEIRD EVERY SINGLE TIME..... STEVE LITERALLY ALMOST KISSES CLAIRE WHILE SHE'S ASLEEP........ CARLOS CONSISTENTLY MAKES UNNECESSARILY WEIRD COMMENTS TOWARD JILL......... ASHLEY RANDOMLY AWSKS FOR SEX AT THE END OF RE4............ WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT AOBUT? good for ashley for shooting her shot i guess though but considering yhe game's previous comments towards ashleu and her figure.... it was blatantly put in to sexualize her furtyher

maybe its thr lesbian in me popping out maybe its the aromantic in me popping out WHO KNOWS all i know is that. resident evil makes me very upset sometimes dflkgnjg i love the games i love the characters (esp the girls big surprise i know) but jesus christ. somethings i just can't ignore. and this is cerrtainly one of them. a girl just can't exist out of a guy according to capcom. and that sort of idea is suuuper evident in how they portray and include their women. you could have a girl protag (re3, recv etc) but theres always a 99% chance theres gonna be a man tagging along + continually saving their asses and theres almost alwaysa an even HIGHER chance that theyre meant to be seen as a romantic interest! and its exhausting@!!!!!

long story short . i get im not resident evil's target audience . but im still gonna be pissed and annoyed . the girls deserve better .

im def gonna have to go more in depth abt resident evil and their writing of relationships (or lack thereof) some other time but just for now. the best written ones are claire + sherry and mia + ethan goodbye

[kazumasougi]

ranting abt some problems i had with gowr in a needlessly long format below. warning for major gow2018 end-of spoilers below as well

i think like the biggest problem with gowr is like. they spent so much time trying to add new shit that they fell flat on delivering their most prominent plot point. which is deeply deeply upsetting to me honestly. like the entire plot of god of war is that atreus wants to start a war (bring on ragnarok) and he starts recruiting people to help him fight it. while kratos is like you dont know what it means to start a war (coming from the . god of war. lol). all the while atreus is unaware that the jotunheim prophecy states kratos is going to die while atreus takes odin’s side. and like this is an excellent setup because it gives you a conflict and potential consequences. and constantly the buildup is kratos and mimir talking about how he is going to die and how kratos doesnt want to have any regrets so he sets atreus on a good path forward while atreus finds out in another way that kratos will die. the entirety of that culminates in kratos and atreus agreeing that they will forge their own path forward. which is a lovely sentiment

however throughout the game it kind of feels like an empty promise. to be completely honest. like there is not a single point in the game where it feels like kratos’ life is genuinely being threatened. there is no singular event that says “This is the part where he’s supposed to die”, nor is there any follow-through on HOW exactly atreus and kratos avoid their own fate. like. the buildup is completely for nothing. granted there is a point where atreus works under odin and is so convinced that hes maybe doing the right thing and that odin isnt so bad. which is where you would expect the story to go narratively. but the other half of the prophecy is so fully ignored that it feels like all of it was honestly for nothing

not to mention like the game generally just feels… rushed??? like the parts of the story where youre attempting to recruit people to help you doesnt feel very complete. ESPECIALLY when you have to go to surtr to ask him to become ragnarok. like the myth is he and sinmara combine to become ragnarok. reasonably surtr does not want this because that is his wife and they forced themselves to be in separate realms for the sake of not creating Big Scary Monster. and it would inevitably end in both of their deaths. and if i recall correctly in the files of the game there is an unfinished sinmara model so they mustve originally intended for her to be in the game as part of atreus’ quest. but what actually happens is surtr is like “oh your blades are made of primordial fire just stab me with them and ragnarok is good to go without needing my wife” (?????????? YOU ARE IN THE. PLANE OF PRIMORDIAL FIRE. THAT IS WHAT MUSPELHEIM IS. IF THAT MADE SENSE THIS WOULDVE ALREADY TRIGGERED RAGNAROK ANYWAYwhatever who cares) and then he becomes ragnarok without his wife. alright sure. what the fuck. you do not ever visit sinmara until you go to niflheim and you hear crying from some arbitrary direction because she does not have a character model. you just hear her sobbing. its sad but like ok.

but the worst part of this is like Ragnarok shows up at the war on asgard and he is the fucking opposite of helpful. like he is destroying everything of atreus’ forces, which already are so few, and ends up killing one of the more well-developed characters in a twist that does like zero justice to him and anyone. now this isnt me saying freyr shouldnt have died bc this is what happens in the myth. its right for him to. but it was executed SO poorly it hardly left any impact at all. like why bother with the ragnarok plotline if theres no followthrough whatsoever… you dont even see freya mourn the loss of her brother, who we saw was like. incredibly important to her throughout the game

and i think ragnarok’s biggest problem is that while it was clearly made with so much love and care for both mythology and alternative storytelling, it seems like they wanted to focus on. More more more. more mechanics more menus more shitty uis that are genuinely HARDER to navigate than 2018. what the fuck is with the 20 complicated skill trees. it did not need that many moves like whatsoever. i dont even use like 70% of them because they arent practical to use in combat anyway. they changed the way armor works with the fucking. yggdrasil amulet??? what is that. it took several days to figure out what the menuing even was because they made it so much more confusing for no reason. why are there different skill trees for different companions that you have for five minutes total in the game. there was no reason for that. and like it was awesome seeing atreus have a specific skillset for when you play as him as well as his own rage meter but he doesnt use any of these skills when hes kratos’ companion so like…????? what was the point of upgrading him for like 3 short sections of the game

i also fucking hate the use of sigil arrows theyre stupidly finicky and near useless in combat. sorry. force arrows feel like a cheap rebrand of light arrows from 2018 and thats FINE, but i think they shouldve just kept light and shock arrows. the mechanics for the new ones are absolutely awful i did not like them at all. sometimes you know exactly how to solve a puzzle with atreus’ (or freya’s) arrows but you cant get the placement of them right because the way sigil arrows work is ridiculously unclear with its current visuals. i hated using them and i hated trying to play out the puzzles for the nornir chests because the mechanics are straight up bad.

additionally they introduced the spear weapon because you need it to defeat one enemy. now listen i liked the storyline behind this one a lot. some good cutscenes with that one. I HATE USING IT THOUGH… I guess they were like “we need a weapon thats specifically for the ranged combat playstyle!!” which i can understand but isnt that the entire fucking point of having the axe. like. with the recall. the draupnir spear feels unbelievably lacking as one of the main weapons you can have and if im honest IT MAKES SWITCHING WEAPONS UNBEARABLE DUDE. the response time to trying to change weapons has a delay so if you try changing to another one mid combat sometimes it straight up ignores you. which makes fights with enemies that require being hit by different certain weapons all the more annoying. additionally it takes up the same button as bare-handed/shield attacks so its fucking impossible to go barehanded mid combat when you actually need it (which, admittedly, is not as necessary if you dont care about stun or knockback. but i *do* so like…) also it doesnt really do much damage it just does stun. again a fun weapon for people who want to do stun damage long ranged but that kind of defeats the purpose of being able to go barehanded.

also i think the addition of 20 differwnt shields is deeply unnecessary and while i liked the stone wall shield (what a name 💀) the reason kratos uses the one he has at default is like. “it was a gift from my wife!!” which is sweet. and then theyre like “um no actually kratos you can use some of ours because yours broke” (it makes no fucking sense that his shield broke. what do you mean it Broke. you used it for all of 2018) like i definitely enjoyed them more than i enjoyed using the spear but. they didnt need to add so many. they just didnt.

and then they added more types of rage too. and im like jesus christ ENOUGH with the options ??? please???? i dont want this many. they also made the selections of armor deeply underwhelming and i didnt feel satisfied with using any of them other than like. sols spaulders. which didnt even matter because they nerfed the fuck out of every enemy and boss in this game that was actually supposed to be hard. the spiritual successor to sigrun, gna, was like. nothing. it was nothing im sorry that shit was leagues easier than battling sigrun on the same difficulty. and then they introduced the berserkers which is like. ok. the same shit 20 times in a row. whereas you could tell each of the valkyries had their own distinct fighting style, the berserkers are just like. fight this guy! now fight him again. now fight two of them at the same time. i never even killed king hrolf because i didnt give enough of a fuck to continue and i LOVE 100%ing a good challenge. its bad game design its like they just took one of the base berserkers and gave him a substantially longer health bar. maybe this is supposed to be a callback to the travelers from 2018 but those werent made as full bossfights. nor were they interesting enough to be such. comparatively the draugr holes (…) were ok i guess. like they were fine. theyre short challenges that you can very easily encounter way way WAY too soon in your playthrough though

whats more is for gowr it introduces realms that you knew of in 2018 but never got to visit. and they were mostly executed beautifully like i adored seeing all of svartalfheim and i really liked seeing the fimbulwintr versions of realms they let you visit originally, like how niflheim is no longer some fucked up foggy area from ivaldis workshop and how midgard is all snow and ice. but again whenever i visited these areas for optional quests it just felt like More More More…

idk i did very much enjoy playing ragnarok but some aspects of it were just. i didnt like them. and it took up time and effort that probably would have been better spent developing the story further. meeting sinmara was definitely needed to compliment the story arc about atreus acting reckless about the war and its really disappointing that you dont get to. i kind of wish they let this one cook for an extra year or two

[luvlycup1d]

WHOLE HEARTEDLY AGREE and it broke my heart that there were literally ZERO filler episodes it was just all story..💔 the tales (hah) were cool but like…GIVE ME FILLER PLEEEEAASE GIVE ME FILLER I NEED IT NOT JUST BECAUSE ITS FUN AND SILLY BUT BECAUSE IT ALSOHELPS TO TELL US MORE AB THE CHARACTERS 💔💔💔

not just that but the no high school thing GENUINELY IRKS ME because this is as far as I know one of the first versions where they actually have that opportunity??! BUT THEY JUST DON’T SHOW IT AND IT MAKES ME SO UPSET SOME1 PLEASE GIVE THESE TURTLES AN EDUCATION THREE OUT OF THE FOUR DEFINITELY NEED IT 🙏 fanfic isn’t enough IT NEEDS TO HAPPEN IN THE SHOW. like it would be so cool to see their relationships with their peers, see how they’d go about making friends, SEE THEM INTERACT WITH LITERALLY ANYPNE ELSE THEIR AGE WHO ISNT APRIL AND/OR CASEY (when he inevitably/hopefully shows up) the purple dragons don’t count because I’m pretty sure they’re all like adults I think…

also Splinter…god……..splinter…………it felt like they couldn’t get another VA for him so they just….told one of the VA’s they had on deck to handle it……I was so pressed about it that I could barley even sit through the episodes where he and April were the MC’s i literally almost just skipped that episode entirely because WHYY DID THEY THINK THAT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA??

also I’m also talking abt bishop because she also kinda…made me upset WHY DID RHEY MAKE HER TURN TO THE BAD SIDE AGAIN. SHE LITERALLU HAD CHARACTEE DEVELOPMENT, SO MUCH OF IT, HAD A WHOLLEEE CHANGE OF HEART AND THEY JUST….threw it out the window?? WHATATATATTATTTTTT!??!? I was genuinely so peed off by that because WHY. WOULD THEY DO THAT

I hate to hate on the show esp since it basically just came out (mostly cuz I don’t want another ROTTMNT situation where they don’t even get to flesh it out fully) but also like?? They didn’t even really have much to work with considering it only got TWELVE FUCKING EPISDOES. what the freak happened to my 20-30 episode seasons COMPANY….have you given up on it before it’s even started…what the flip……

anyways sorry for adding on so much I just couldn’t not share my thoughts and it’s 11 at night so 🫶 sorry if my ramblings don’t make sense I needa sleep goodnight

My feelings about Tales of the TMNT!

Lmk ur thoughts, especially if you disagree! I would love to hear about it! I, personally, have A LOT of thoughts. Starting with:

I kinda hate the premise.

No, no LISTEN

I LOVE the idea of a series with these characters! I love them and their dynamic, plus with the animation style and cool writing from the movie I was really looking forward to the new series!

I was picturing what I feel like a lot of people were: a story about the tmnt balancing their hero stuff with school, something we haven't really seen before! This also will give them a chance to develop as individuals, something that was touched on in the movie. Awesome! Sounds great!

I hear you cry, 'Wait, so you don't like the series because school isn't a main plot point?' NO

I DONT LIKE THE SERIES BECAUSE NONE OF IT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING!!!!

I understand 1 DnD episode. I understand a filler episode that is discounted from cannon later. What I DONT understand is entire 6 EPISODE ARCS that CANNONICALLY DONT EXIST!!!!

Inventing characters that apparently don't exist in cannon?? And more important to me, spending entire episodes on a specific turtles development, before finding out that IT DIDNT HAPPEN!

And the worst part is.. im not sure? Its wildly unclear how much of these arcs are true, if anything is true, if these are just embellished stories or what. Its wildly confusing and discouraging when all this is happening but JK ITS NOT REAL LOL.

Like none of this is wildly outlandish either? I found the plot pretty realistic to tmnt (I have problems with bishops character, but that's a rant for another post) and super enjoyable! I loved it! Which makes me even more mad because IT APARENTLY NEVER HAPPENED??? I THINK???

The first was out of Leo's comic book, but it was unclear whether this happened and he was just writing it down, or if the whole thing was his writing (which like. It would make sense if Bishop was written by a 15 year old bc of the inconsistencies in her development- AH IM GETTING OFF TRACK AGAIN). For Raphs story (which i liked so much better) it was ABUNDENTLY clear he was pulling the tale out of his ass.

This kind of thing, for one random filler episode, would be fun! Raph telling a super action packed adventure, or Leo's comic book story would be cool!

But. Idk. I love these characters. Why do all of this cool stuff for them when none of it is real?

Anyway, if you disagree please let me know! I would LOVE to hear about it!!!

[whoahoney]

hi ml, I’m not sure if you’re taking requests! but I’ve seen a few people request work from you. if not that’s totally fine and I’m sorry for the inconvenience! but I have this imagine in my head😭

eddie x best friend, they get tickets to some rock/metal concert (you pick:)) & she gets insanely jealous when she finds him making out with some chick in the pit, so then she finds a random guy to flirt with in the pit, and it all goes downhill from there, then he finally confronts her abt it & they both sorta confess mid arguement😭 I feel like that’s such an Eddie thing to do. “I love you you stupid ass fucking bitch”💀

You’re so lovely, thank you for this!! 😭 this helped my writers block 💖 I’m a sucker for friends to lovers!

Eddie Munson x Best Friend!Reader

Summary: Eddie and Y/n face difficulties and repressed feelings in the pit of a Judas Priest concert.

Content Warnings: 18+ (Minors DNI), fem!reader, drug use (they high asf), toxic friends to lovers, language, angst/comfort, reader pushes Eddie around a lot out of anger but nothing wild, PDA in the pit, groping

Part 2

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Eddie and Y/n had spent the last 3 1/2 hours in the freezing cold, waiting in line for the pit to open at the Judas Priest Concert in Indianapolis. The friends had saved for months to be able to purchase tickets, Priest being apart of the foundation of their friendship.

The two met at the beginning of high school; both outcast for their shared love of a darker aesthetic and louder music, and soon finding solace within one another one rainy day when Jason Carver broke her tape and Eddie happened to notice it was Judas Priest. He quickly offered to give her his own copy, which she happily accepted.

It wasn’t long before the two developed feelings for each other; sneaking glances, hiding the dirtiest thoughts that floated around in their brains when they were alone together in each other’s rooms, not to mention the jealousy they’d feel when seeing the other pay any attention to a member of the opposite sex.

Y/n had gotten used to Eddie’s easy way with words around the girls at the bars in the city they frequented, both of them having their ways to combat the green monster. Eddie had yet to get used to guys offering to buy drinks for his crazy beautiful and dorky best friend and wrap their arms around her front to keep her close to their chests; the way he’d wanted to forever.

Most times they went out resulted in bickering and tension for unknown or unspoken reasons; Eddie getting upset about creepy dudes touching his friend and loudly breaking it up, or Y/n seething in the corner with a whiskey in hand as Eddie leaned closer to some blonde at the bar, only noticing his friends displeasure when she paid her tab and obnoxiously reached into his pants pocket for his keys without a word to him or a glance to the girl he was entertaining.

Of course he’d always go after her, but not without exchanging words.

‘What is your fuckin problem?’

‘Every time we go out you always gotta—‘

‘So you like weird dudes looking at you like that? You think they wanna take you home to mom, really? Think again!’

‘You and sluts, Eddie, what the fuck is up with that?’

‘You could do so much better!’

Always ending with

‘I’m sorry…’

‘I just wanna protect you’

‘You only deserve the best.’

‘I wouldn’t be with anyone that had a problem with our friendship’

‘You’re my best friend’

So the last couple months consisted mostly of the two staying in at their own places, ordering take out, watching movies, and of course smoking and drinking. The evenings they didn’t get together they typically shared a phone call after work, most of the time during dinner.

Y/n would giggle at Eddie’s garbled speech over the phone as he shoveled Chinese noodles into his mouth, ranting about the disappointing ending of his latest novel and listing the ways he could’ve made it better.

Eddie enjoyed hearing Y/n’s stories of her days spent taking classes at the community college, slowly but surely crawling her way to a degree while only doing part time. He enjoyed hearing her spill endlessly about her major, learning from her the more she spoke and reveling in the passionate way she described it all.

They hadn’t been able to hang out in a couple weeks, phone calls coming by more frequently than their physical beings, but this meant the time spent together the day of the concert would be even more fun and special.

Until the cold front moved in.

The two didn’t mind getting closer, playing thumb war as a poor excuse to hold hands. It wasn’t long after that until the doors opened and the two held onto each other tightly, heading through security just fine until they hit the pit.

They bumped and cursed their way through as rogue fans went in hard with elbows. They got about midway before the wiggle room ended, though they were satisfied with their view of the middle of the stage. Eddie looked down at his best friend and smiled fondly at her.

Her eye makeup tonight reminded him of the way she used to do it when they first became friends, thick and dark on the top and bottom lash line, a little smokey on the edges.

She caught his stare and blushed a deep pink before averting her eyes, “What is it? Is my makeup already fucked? Lipstick on my teeth?” She flashed her front teeth as he chuckled and shook his head.

She quickly ran her tongue over her teeth and crinkled her brow in confusion. “Did you take your edible already?” She giggled as they shuffled forward.

“Pfft, no.” He lied.

Y/n rolled her eyes, knowingly.

“If we’re playing that game, I didn’t either.” She stuck out her blue tinted tongue from the gummies they shared. Eddie chuckled and stuck his own out, the matching blue patch sitting in the middle of his tongue.

Y/n shivered at the thought of his mouth tasting the exact same as hers did at this moment. She saw the couples surrounding them, guys holding their girls to their sides or fronts protectively, the way she wanted to be held by Eddie so badly. There was a couple times the instances occurred though it was always after drinks and under jealous pretenses.

It wasn’t real.

Eddie was just protective. Maybe a little territorial. But Y/n didn’t mind it. If anything she wished he would indulge in it more.

By the time the show started, the lights began flashing brilliant purple, blue, and yellow, the crowd was roaring so loud the space between Eddie and Y/n was quiet enough to speak.

“C’mon, follow me, we’ll get closer.” He nodded, spotting a way through a couple gaps. He stepped quickly without grabbing her hand properly—used to her being hot on his heels, when suddenly a girl cut her off midway, following Eddie through the gaps and disappearing as the crowd closed in.

“Eddie! Eddie Munson!” She called, jumping up to try to spot the usually easy to find mop of curls, but lamented when she realized there were a million of them now. She went the way she last saw him go, calling for him the whole way and searching for him in a sea of people who held no interest in her personal space or search for her friend.

“Eddie Munson, you fucking bastard!” She cursed, ducking through wandering hands and bitchy looks while their favorite songs played. She felt tears prickling at her eyes as her limbs became heavy from swimming against the current and groaned when she reached a dead end without finding him.

She leaned against the railing for a breather, a stray tear escaping before she gathered her bearings and decided to continue in a new direction. With a breath she turned to look at the stage and spotted the Dio backed vest just a few feet ahead.

Her heart soared, a laugh of relief coming from her as she took a step towards him, when suddenly a woman’s leg wrapped around his side. Y/n now noticed the fingers tangled in his hair as he stumbled backwards towards the railing. The blonde from before attached to his mouth like a sucker fish, though he seemed to be enjoying it.

Y/n stood gaping and cemented as Beyond the Realms of Death played, the song she had hoped to hear the most. She saw the way her fingers curled around his arm, how his roamed down her back and pulled her closer by her leg. Her chest ached when she saw him practically melt against the girl, his rings digging into her bare flesh.

Y/n choked out a sob when the girl moved to his neck, probably sucking a hickey at the crook of it where Y/n had rested her head many times. Eddie cracked his eyes open as he sighed blissfully, meeting her broken gaze as her makeup ran and ran and ran.

His eyes widened, dropping the girls leg from his waist and taking a step towards his friend. “Y/n!” He called as her eyes turned from hurt to pain and then anger within a second. She marched forward, the blonde’s confusion going unnoticed by Eddie as he took bounding steps away.

“Y/n—“His words were silenced with a shove to his chest and a mighty grunt from his friend, directing him into the pit where she originally wanted to be.

“Fuck you!” She spat on her way past him. He caught her arm and spun to her to face him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to lose you! Are you okay?”

“Oh yeah, you looked so concerned with your tongue down that bitch’s throat. Save it.” She shrugged away from him.

“Is that what this is about? Oh, come ON. What is your problem? We’re friends, right? Friends help friends get laid, why can’t you just be my friend? Why can’t you let me have anyone?” He cried.

Y/n’s eyes widened as the fucks fled her body, biting back an unhinged smile stretching on her face at his words. To be fair, she probably looked horrifying, but inside of her a switch had flipped and she suddenly felt eerily calm.

“Y’know what, Ed? Don’t worry about me. Have a good fucking show.” She said with a seemingly earnest smile on her face as she wiped the last falling tears and mascara streaks from her cheeks. Before Eddie could manage a response she turned on her heel and made her way deeper into the crowd, tuning into the noise and choosing to deal with her crumbling heart later.

Eddie followed after her, watching the top of her head swerve through the crowd for almost a whole song until he realized the person he’d spotted wasn’t even her to begin with. Worry began to set in as soon as his edible did. “Y/n?” He called, turning in circles as people chastised his tall figure for obstructing the view.

Before he could finish calling her name again, he heard her giggle. He turned, almost sighing in relief at the thought of her just trying to mess with him by playing a short lived game of hide and seek, when he spotted her under the arm of some punk with a head of fiery curls, the two practically touching noses as they sang Love Bites to one another, making daring little touches against one another’s face and hands.

Eddie seethed as the guys arm slipped from her shoulder to her ass, using his other index finger to tilt her chin to meet his lips. Eddie grabbed her hand that was poised to cup the guy’s cheek right before their lips could meet, and jerked her away and into him, barreling towards the back of the pit and ready to leave.

He could hear her shouts of protest though he wasn’t met with any resistance from her as he guided her through the crowd. He led her out of the arena and into the deserted hallway, the roar of the crowd and the muffled wailing of the guitar sounded through the stone walls.

Eddies face was hard with anger, his jaw clenched tightly as he ran a hand down his face. Y/n finally ripped her wrist away and shoved Eddie again, his back hitting the wall—a stifled groan rippled from his chest as he did.

“You’re such a goddamn hypocrite, you know that?” She barked. Eddie scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Who’s the real hypocrite here? I can’t have the same reaction you did? You just had to try to—“

“You call that the same reaction? I didn’t even kiss the guy and you made us leave the entire concert but you were almost swallowed by a human goldfish and I can’t be a little upset?” She cried, her eyes betraying her anger by glossing over.

Eddie swallowed thickly. “We were just talking, and-and the crowd made us get really close—She grabbed me, I just didn’t—“

“I don’t care to hear about it.” She dead panned, wiping her face and turning to either walk back into the concert or leave the place entirely, she hadn’t decided.

“Oh my god, yes you fucking do!” He cried, hot tears prickling behind his eyes as his throat closed up, the sight of her walking away from him unbearable.

She spotted the exit at the end of the hall and turned to yell to him. “Yeah, I do, Eddie, just not the way you do!” She shoved through the door carelessly marching into the freezing cold.

She ended up in an ally, a couple dumpsters on either side. Y/n groaned and turned in worried circles as she tried to fight the choking sobs that threatened to escape her. Streams of hot tears poured from her eyes as she crouched down by the trash and pressed her fists into her forehead to relieve the pressure of the heartbreak beating into her head as she heaved.

Suddenly the door shoved open and Eddie stomped out, ready to go down swinging if she fought riding home with him, when his face softened at her broken form on the ground in front of him. She peaked up at him, shooting him a glare right before he yanked her up and pushed her against the wall this time.

“Eddie—“

“No. My turn.” He almost spat, the breath of his words hitting her mouth and nose as he spoke. His hands planted on either side of her head as he caged her in. “I have spent so long trying to show you. Trying to get you to decide—that maybe if we did our own things it’d help. I’m—Every time, Y/n. Every time someone shows interest in me, the first thing I do is compare them to you—to my best friend. My… my perfect best friend.” His voice weakened.

“For a while it felt like-like you were just trying to protect me, like you felt I could do better, but now it’s like you just don’t want anyone to have me, and—and I just can’t understand why??” His voice cracked. “Every time I think we’re going somewhere I hit dead ends and I’m okay with being friends, I’d die before giving that up, but if we’re only friends you can’t—“

“What??” Is all she managed. “What do you-what do you mean—Eddie, you’ve practically kept me at an arms length since you started dating people! But lately, it’s like—ugh!” She exclaimed in exasperation. “It’s felt like maybe you might see me differently—but then you just jump on the first chance you get. At our concert?” She hiccuped and looked to the ground when her vision became too blurry.

“Sweetheart…” He cooed.

“Stop it! I do wanna be friends but it hurts every time we—“

“I love you, you stupid fucking bitch!” He took her face in his hands and spoke over her loudly, gently shaking her with urgency.

Y/n’s eyes widened, a soft gasp leaving her at the confession. Her throat closed a as her brain short circuited, her tears spilling down her cheeks. “I—wha—“

He scoffed and crashed his lips against hers, mouthing at her stunned lips until they melted and moved against him. She let out a whine of relief, perhaps all the years of longing pouring out of her when he opened the floodgates.

She leaned back against the wall, his hands cradling her jaw while his fingers wrap around the nape of her neck, gently clenching the roots of her hair.

Her hands started the same, quickly moving down his neck and roaming his chest. His breath caught noticeably when she wrapped her arms around his torso and pulled him flush against her, raking her nails down his back gently and pulling a sigh from him.

They finally pulled away, though Y/n pressed her head into the side of his neck, the opposite side of where the blonde had spent her time. The two sat in silence, holding one another and trying to form whole sentences and figure out where to go next.

“I love you too… I always have..” She whispered, not missing the sharp inhale of surprise he drew in. “You stupid fucking asshole.” She giggled before pressing a long open mouthed kiss to the side of his neck. Eddies eyes rolled back in his head when she began sucking softly.

He was ripped from his trance when she shoved him away towards the door, grabbing his hand on her way past in his dazed state and tugging him back inside. “But we’ve waited too long for Judas fucking Priest to miss it just for you to fuck me behind a dumpster.” Eddie cackled madly and ran after her.

Part 2

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Taglist 🤍

@loving-and-dreaming

[ordinaryxtreme]

Blue Lock Thoughts(tm) Post

So I read Blue Lock up to the U-20 match and let me just say that having a lot of thoughts about it is an understatement. These are not Smart(tm) thoughts at all, just me screaming into the void. I'll mostly be talking abt third selection up to U-20 match so spoilers for up to ch 148!!

Chigiri and Kunigami

MY SHIP... The third selection truly made them so Spicy. They could've been the dynamic duo that perseveres together all the way through the selection, but they got separated and Kunigami didn't even make it PAST the third selection, at least, not in the normal way. I was upset at the reveal (I was very embarrassingly yelling to my friend in voice chat while reading) because I missed their banter. But now that I think about it, we now have the knight/hero rising up from the ashes to meet his princess again and I'm now so glad this was the outcome. As my friend so eloquently put it, it's super cool that Blue Lock isn't afraid to separate their duos. Which brings me to the next duo...

2. Reo and Nagi

Reo's separation from Nagi is honestly the best thing to happen to both of their characters. Reo didn't really interest me as a character until Nagi left him and he was all gunning for revenge. I thought they were going for some sort of villain arc with him, but what they did was SO much better. Yes, Reo was understandably bitter for some time, but he changed stances and saw it from a different point of view really quickly. We literally watched him go through the 5 stages of grief.

And then come back stronger after his acceptance. Even finding a crazy ability to call his own.

And he OWNS it too. That moment when Shidou made fun of him for being a copy-cat, he DOUBLED DOWN ON IT and taunted him for not even being able to beat a copy-cat. Now that's the ultimate power move.

My favorite favorite FAVORITE thing is... he is still a duo with Nagi. They still sync perfectly well. They still know each other the best. Reo turned his spite on its head and came back to Nagi at full force.

What can I say except NAGIREO REAL!!!!! OK next point.

3. Bachira & Isagi

Honestly, I kinda didn't expect Bachira and Isagi to develop almost like a parallel to Nagi and Reo. I love how Bachira is portrayed. He obviously has some mental disorder (I'm guessing ASD or adjacent) and the way it's portrayed as a monster which Bachira eventually hones into his own... At first he just wanted friends, he wanted people who play just like him, to accept him as he is and that was what Isagi was to him. But in the end having others accepting him wasn't enough. He had to accept HIMSELF, his monster. And because of that he came in SEVENTH after the third selection!!!

Honestly, it was one of the most satisfying character development moments.

And again, after that, his and Isagi's duo play just comes out stronger.

Just Dynamic Duo Things.

3. Barou and Rin

I put these two together because they feel like the ultimate sports trope subversion. It's almost BLASPHEMOUS how they essentially become the egotistical "villains" of the field.

I love Barou as a character too, he is SO GAP MOE. Who would've thought that he was a malewife that was obsessed with keeping things neat? I want to destroy his ass. Ahem.

Anyway, Rin. He literally went fucking BONKERS at the idea that he has a team behind him. HE WANTS IT ALL TO HIMSELF.

THIS SHIT WOULD LITERALLY NEVER FLY IN A NORMAL SPORTS STORY. Which brings me to my favorite thing about Blue Lock

4. It is simultaneously a love letter AND a blasphemy to the sports genre.

I had a Kuroko no Basket phase years ago and I KNOW a KnB inspired story when I see one. Of course there's references and concepts that Blue Lock obviously borrowed from KnB. I could easily list all of them like the concept of "Flow" that is totally not KnB's "zone", the copy guy, the "emperor style", Aryuu Juubei who is totally not a homage to Murasakibara... References and concepts are easy to insert into any story. The important part is the Utter Unhingedness. They took KnB's barely believable superpowers and high school drama and all these high stakes that are totally just made up in the characters heads... and turned it up to 11.

KnB was a level of "skirting the boundary of what's humanly possible" that is still acceptable. Yeah, people thought it was insane and were laughing about it, but it didn't really have "haters". It's still just regular sports. But Blue Lock said fuck that, they're going to be straight up CONTROVERSIAL. There's no point if it doesn't have passionate haters. This isn't sports as you know it. And I respect that so much honestly. (If you've been on anitwt recently, you'll know that fans of conventional sports stories DESPISE Blue Lock).

I think with the sports genre becoming this Big Thing(tm) and the market somewhat becoming saturated over the years, this kind of blasphemy is exactly what the genre needs right now.

Speaking of blasphemy...

5. Itoshi Sae vs. Itoshi Rin

I love the whole angel vs demon thing going on with them. I love Sae's beautiful perfection and Rin's feral animal-like approach

(short digression, as a STEM major nerd I fucking LOVE the numbers in the visualization of Sae's abilities. I'm betting that it's the golden ratio because you won't get a number more perfect anywhere else!!)

I love their entire silent sequence against each other. No dialogue, no SFX. They were silently communicating with their bodies and with their eyes the way only brothers could. In a way, this is brotherly bonding :D

I love that Rin, and the Blue Lock team, is painted as the "villains" of the sports scene. And they won against U-20, the "heroes". They changed sports forever.

6. The unseriousness of it all (my lovehate letter to Isagi Yoichi)

In the end this is a manga about SOCCER. The characters take it WAY too seriously because they're dumbasses who literally only have soccer in their brains. It's honestly hilarious at times. But damn, if I'm not invested in this unreal, unserious, BFFR shit!!! Every time Isagi realizes something that is common sense (like when he "discovered" that luck also plays a part in games) I die a little bit inside.

BOY YOU ARE STUPID AND DRAMATIC AND GAY AND I LOVE YOU. Blue Lock would not be the same if Isagi wasn't the protagonist. If you think about it, every insane visualization of everyone's abilities is how ISAGI sees their abilities. This shit we are seeing, all the puzzle pieces, the fire, the thunder... is all in Isagi's head. And once he gets out of the game, he's literally just an awkward high school boy.

I guess he can be cute sometimes.

8. (For now) I don't think Blue Lock will end the way Ego says it will. (A love letter to Ego)

Muneyuki Kaneshiro you did it again. If you haven't read his other work, Kamisama no Iutoori and Kamisama no Iutoori ni, please do so. Having read those, I'm half-convinced that he'll pull an Akashi on us and give Isagi a canon love interest by the end AHAHA.

Digression aside, Ego said that by the end, there will be 1 striker to stand above all 299 "corpses" as he so elegantly put it. But I honestly don't think that'd happen. I have no basis for this other than the fact that it would just feel WRONG to end it like that. They wanted the sport to evolve by "creating soccer from zero", playing different positions with the ego of a striker. Honestly, I wouldn't see the point in all that when there's only 1 striker to survive in the end, you feel me?

Ego may have only said that to rile the boys up. He's playing the role of the ultimate "villain" for the boys to conquer. Now that's a very questionable approach to coaching but it sure fucking works!!! I really really love it.

And he KNOWS his methods are questionable at best, enough to get him banned from the world of soccer forever. He didn't care about himself if it meant these boys will evolve and play the ultimate soccer.

He really knows how to cultivate the perfect little "villains". Sure, it involved literally isolating them from the outside world in what is the equivalent of Soccer Jail, but you gotta do what you gotta do! :D

Honestly my wishful thinking is they end up with 11 top Blue Lock players (maybe a few more for the bench) and they get to compete internationally or something. Go beyond the scope and scale of regular sports manga... But I guess I'll just have to see what happens next!

OK. Alright. I think I'm done now. If you read this all, thank you for coming to my TED Talk!!!!

[miraculousmaladys]

TFP If You Ship...

Starscream Edition

Updated: KOSS added, Starcee revised

Starop: you just want Starscream to be happy, you want Optimus to be selfish for fucking ONCE PLEASE. Usually a ship based around character development/un-development and positivity. Also its funny watching Starscream absolutely refuse any of Optimus's advice only to watch him either accidentally take it or use it.

Megastar: you either really hate Starscream, or you really hate Megatron, or you hate them both. You may also just really like the thought of these two being an absolute POWER COUPLE with major issues. This ship is riddled with character development possibilities, and MULTIPLE plot ideas; this ship could go several ways and I'm here for it.

Starwave: shut the fuck up, this can't exist..... it does? Holy fuck- uh well honestly, it seems like y'all just wanna lowkey see Soundwave DO more. Especially in TFP. Take charge and be selfish. This could also be a plot thing, as some have the HC that in TFP Soundwave is a victim of slavecoding. You just wanna be watched over by a lowkey unstoppable force and I’m here for it.

Stardown n'out/ BreakStarOut/ etc.: this ship could have multiple names and I'm upset at the gays for not coming up with something. You probably just want them all to find SOME kind of comfort with each other on the Nemesis, but some of you absolutely wanna see them all Manipulate, Girlboss, and Malewife their way outta shit.

StarShock: you bitch. You pretentious whore. I love you. They fit together really well physically given the fact that Shockwave thick as fuck and Starscream is a literal twig. I can see one-sided pining from either side with this one. Y'all just wanna be chased huh.

Starbee: yall just wanna soil the UwU babu thing Bee has going on, tbh I can live with that. Bee taking charge and being his own leader and Starscream learning to be a little more positive to himself and others. This ship is very similar to StarOp but Bee's getting more than just 'learning to put himself first' out of it which is cute.

Starchet: TWO CRUSTY OLD MEN BAKING ENERGON COOKIES AND COMPLAINING ABOUT THEIR CO-WORKERS. TWO CRUSTY OLD MEN DRINKING HOT ENER-T IN THEIR LITTLE COTTAGE IN THE WOO-

Starjack: I have never seen a more crackhead ass ship. What the fuck was y'all thinking. Pretty sure your answer would be "why the fuck would we think?" This is what happens when you pair that one kid who barked and bit people on the playground with the know it all kid who took up class time kissing the teachers ass. We all hate them with a passion but their relationships been going strong for 20 years and they are highschool sweet hearts. Good for them.

Starscreen: you are horny, in a take care of me I take care of you and we cuddle afterwards but also love me kinda way

*Starcee: you are horny, in a "dominate me mommy" kinda way. BOTH ways. Switch huh? Switch who? Arcee definitely tops most of the time. This ship argues as foreplay. This ship also has the smaller one running things, but both fucking SLAY when it comes down to the deep shit. This ship could be angsty as fuck, but could also be the most therapeutic fucking hurt/comfort thing anyone has ever SEEN.

Starbulk/ Bulkstar/ Bulkscream/ idk the names don’t mesh well: .....holy fuck this is a thing? This is a thing and no one told me?? Hang on...ok so I found like 7 stories on archiveofourown. Y'all are definitely starving I'm so fucking sorry. This is probably one of the only mentions of your ship you will ever find that isn't a porn without plot/some plot fanfiction.

Star.....magnus??/ MagnusStar: ok hear me out I can totally see this being a thing. Both are SiC and....honestly babes BDSM?? All of it. Dominant Stars and body worshipping Magnus??? You don't know WHERE this ship could go. Could be absolutely filthy or an exploration of both their characters given that they are sort of two sides of the same coin.

Shattered Glass Starscream/ literally anyone: tbh you a hoe and I hate you and you probably just want to be loved. You ain't fooling no fuckin' body he is your self insert.

*KOSS: This ship has red bottom energy, a look that screams parada and a mouth that turns words into knives that kills peoples self esteem. This ship uses spinal struts as accessories to go along with its new finish. Honestly these two could be such a power couple but they’re both...pretty fucking scared. Like all the time. I wanna make jokes about this ship but given what happens in the show- bro this ship is just fluff/comfort because the hurt is implied. Ain’t even gotta put it in the tags- anyway the people that ship this as their top ship scare me but I know y’all to hurt to actually do anything. You probably come to this ship to live vicariously through either character or your kinning one of these bitches. I say this as a feminine guy who sees themself in knockout.

//Good morning lovelies, I'm serving you violence wrapped in kindness today. Don’t be afraid to msg me abt spelling/grammar errors, or if you want you can send me a ship to add lol. 

[teenyjellyfishy]

This is honestly really interesting to me as someone who tries really hard to look at media from a bunch of directions. Because I really get where you're coming from with this! But I also don't think ppl ARE invalid to be upset with Aerith's character changes because it's really hard to divorce the intentional misogyny from interpreting the work bc it's like. Are we giving the writers more credit where it's due? Are we digging deep into the kiddie pool out of denial and thanking the writers for the diving board? Is all the watsonian explanation in the world meaningful when the doylism is there to embitter it? Is THAT fanon?

I really like your insights on Aerith as a character during the cc period, because it feels real for her character! But... i feel like I can't blame people for being upset when so much of the meaning you can talk about isn't something CC wanted to actually engage with in its narrative. How are we meant to talk about the meaning of Aerith undergoing changes when we know that the changes weren't made for HER as a character but for the perception of her? When a writer decided Aerith couldn’t be bold and flippant, couldn’t wear pink or wear a bow or have the idea to sell flowers by herself, and so instead have Zack initiate it- because that's why it happened. Is it then... a failure to be unable to view the story in a vacuum?

This wouldn't be a conversation if Aerith had had significantly more screentime in CC, nor if we hadn't had flashes of the child Aerith of OG. Like at all. If Aerith had had conversations with Zack about the bad of Shinra and what he as a SOLDIER represents to her, if Zack had grappled with that as something closer to home now that he had Aerith, perhaps the idea that he really doesn't think abt things until they affect ppl he knows, that would have made Aerith feel... there. Like she was written, yknow. She knows how evil Shinra is, how much they fuck over the world and ppl, and she’s RIGHT. Maybe once she gets comfortable with Zack, she's willing to argue with him, be upfront and upset like she did to Cloud at certain times. If less of the defining characteristics she had were kicked off then and there (the flower selling idea and PINK from Zack felt particularly egregious), if she was ducking away from the Turks and Zack used his power as 1st to protect her. Her portrayal didn't need to be the specific way it was in order to have her grow as a person; for a character so important she shouldn't have been shunted so much.

It's defo a problem that people aren't willing to engage with female characters' own given stories though. We're so used to sexy lamp portrayals of women that it's so easy to wary. Recently i think abt Jill ff16 who i think IS a good character but suffers so deeply from being so deeply underutilized in the actual game. I think a lot abt that one "fandom be like i can't enjoy female characters they're always so badly written anyway i love this male character whose personality is 3 tropes here's my 10k character analysis fanfic" tweet bc it's so real. Women need 10k character analysis fanfic too, frankly. I also think perhaps my relationship with the word "canon" when it comes to character and narrative interpretation has been deeply soured by (ct/ca) shipper twitter, king of Just Saying Things. But when it comes to trying to talk about CC, a lot ends up feeling like Just Saying Things, and I think it might also be telling that a lot cc-era fics hardly even want to PLAY with Aerith's development and the mess going on with her life. As she's presented in the game, nothing is ABOUT her, and I don't know if I blame ppl for not wanting it.

The most canonical misogyny in the compilation i can think of is the treatment of aerith in cc and the explicitly stated by nojima aim to attribute as much of her character to Zack as possible bc they were afraid she was dislikable. What am i missing

i mean there is misogyny in canon, this is a game made in the 90s. i would be more surprised if there wasn't

the main thing is that people are so ready to take everything in bad faith that it shuts out any room for meaningful discussion. in fact aerith is a prime example

it's shitty that the devs felt aerith wouldn't be likable if she wasn't directly tied to zack as much as possible, but that doesn't automatically preclude her characterization in cc as something that should be taken into consideration, because it actually does say a lot about her and her growth

she's not some uwu delicate flower damsel just because she's afraid of soldiers and the sky. she's afraid of soldier because they literally represent shinra's willingness to use brute force and exploit things they don't understand for their own benefit. she grew up in captivity under shinra. her mom died because of shinra. obviously she wants nothing to do with them; zack is the one who shows her that there are still people who want to do good in an inherently evil institution

her statement about the sky is always the one taken the worst out of context. but like. the planet speaks to her. presumably it speaks to her more when she's surrounded by nature and shit. she barely knows what her heritage represents. she is fifteen years old and the planet is screaming at her. this is terrifying

and her character arc in og has always centered around her learning about her identity and coming to accept the unique role she has-- something that only she can do. she actively expresses her discomfort with facing it alone after she learns more about it in cosmo canyon, but she musters her courage because she cares about her friends and their future. her being afraid of the sky and what it represents as a starting point ties in perfectly with this, actually

except people are more willing to yell about how her character in cc is butchered and isn't the "real" aerith because ~misogyny~ than actually think about what her change means for her. it doesn't help that there's also a ton of people who are totally willing to lean into the mystical delicate flower plot device girl trope, and it's ubiquitous enough people start confusing fanon for canon

and so in reaction people get angry about her "canon" characterization and just copy/paste her personality from disc 1 or give her an entirely new personality and say they've "fixed" canon, with zero regard for her motivations or character growth. gee i wonder if that's misogynistic too