#surprise surprise they're all one of it not my favourite character from their respective shows

[meg-noel-art]

I saw your post about The Arcane Discourse drowning out the fun discussions, and I can't promise any insightful or clever commentary of my own (my brain is still mostly melted from the emotional overload of that third arc, and I really need to watch the whole season one more time so that I can properly process it on an intellectual level, and not just an emotional one), but as someone who also sees fandom as a place for sharing ideas and enthusiasm rather than arguing over who's right, I'd love to hear what you though of it all!

If you feel like sharing, what was your favourite moment of season 2? Was there a moment that really took you by surprise, emotionally? An unexpected plot point that really worked for you, or a resolved plotline that your found particularly satisfying?

Personally, one of my favourite things about the show is the attention to detail with the body language and facial expressions -- the "performance" aspect of it blows me away, even if I don't always get all of the nuances of what's being conveyed right away. One thing that really struck me, thinking about it over the past week, is that Vi and Caitlyn register to me as having incredible chemistry in their scenes together, and how wild it is that that could be the case, given that they're basically very fancy, very expensive drawings.

It's just... one of the things I love about animation is that every moment onscreen is the result of a conscious decision on someone's part, and part of what makes Arcane so incredible to me is the sheer weight of so many little decisions, made so consciously. You can feel the love and passion and dedication of the entire creative team coming through in every frame, and it's honestly kind of overwhelming to consider, regardless of whether or not every single little decision they made fully works for me.

(Also, feel free to interpret this as a prompt / permission if you're looking for it to go on a spiel about any aspect of the show at all that stood out to you in any way... I'd be curious to read whatever you have to say about it.)

Oh thank you very kindly for sending such a thoughtful ask that allows me to babble!!! ;;; this is so sweet. I'd love to answer some of theeeese:

ARCANE S2 spoilers!!

"(my brain is still mostly melted from the emotional overload of that third arc, and I really need to watch the whole season one more time so that I can properly process it on an intellectual level, and not just an emotional one)"

- Absolutely so real and true. I'd personally love to do an entire series rewatch to see how it all flows back to back!

If you feel like sharing, what was your favourite moment of season 2?

- ngl and say I wasn't on the edge of my seat the entire time for Cativi development and resolution! I really like how it all rolled out personally. Their relationship has always been kinda messy and gritty but with a throughline of deep love and respect and I think them getting a domestic and happy ending was just my absolute favorite thing. Super insanely important for wlw representation in media, even if it wasn't folks favorite aspect.

Was there a moment that really took you by surprise, emotionally?

- I've never really been super invested in the Jayce and Viktor storyline personally, but their ending was also really touching. They ended what they started together, and their (deaths???) surprised me - but the theme of 'Sacrifice' for all the main characters was present, including them.

An unexpected plot point that really worked for you, or a resolved plotline that your found particularly satisfying?

- I am in LOVE with Jinx's ending. I wasn't entirely sure what they would do with her. (She's not dead, that's all but been confirmed at this point.) But the absolute power in her freeing herself from everything and everyone in Piltover and Zaun that kept her chained to trauma is an incredible writing choice. Her healing begins when she chooses to break the cycle and leave everything behind. I think that was a wonderful moment too to illustrate that she does love Vi, in a sincere and not controlling way. When she realized that Vi will never prioritize herself over Jinx, she made the decision to distance herself for her sister's health and happiness. Their roles of caregiver and caretaker were finally reversed. That's SUCH good arc, that's SO freaking good. I know Jinx fans wanted to see maybe something a bit more idealized, with her staying in Zaun. But like... Nah, that was perfect. That was a perfect Jinx ending.

Personally, one of my favourite things about the show is the attention to detail with the body language and facial expressions -- the "performance" aspect of it blows me away, even if I don't always get all of the nuances of what's being conveyed right away. One thing that really struck me, thinking about it over the past week, is that Vi and Caitlyn register to me as having incredible chemistry in their scenes together, and how wild it is that that could be the case, given that they're basically very fancy, very expensive drawings.

- THIS YEAH. People are really pressed about not having a lot of scenes with dialogue that spelled out the emotions or conflicts, but it's an animated medium, and not primarily using the medium to it's full potential to tell the story is a pretty silly expectation. I will admit I kinda wanted a verbal apology from Cait until I... didn't? Because it wasn't necessary to understand there was catharsis between them. (And also kinda bad faith to assume it didn't happen offscreen or that it hasn't happened YET, but will).

I went to school for animation (still the dream to work on a show like this) and it's so inspiring to me to see how many animators are also good ACTORS. Looks, touches, expressions, movements are all incredibly intentional. It's not human error from an IRL actor. That's why I find a lot of caitvi's scenes super touching from a touch (lol) standpoint alone. Ep 1 of s2 had some moments I'm STILL chewing on. Or like their first kiss when Vi gets visibly nervous, and her eyes dart back and forth between Cati's lips and eyes. RAH --!! Arcane animation choices they could never make me hate you. Even if you disliked the story or characters, if you dunk on the animation, your opinion is invalid there - it's all gorgeous.

I'm also incredibly flabbergasted by the kissing animation in this season. Crazy difficult to do all that without just clipping models through each other or making it look goofy. UNPARALLED team at Fortiche, I'm so serious.

It's just... one of the things I love about animation is that every moment onscreen is the result of a conscious decision on someone's part, and part of what makes Arcane so incredible to me is the sheer weight of so many little decisions, made so consciously.

- AGREE AGREE!

I wanna add on, I think being in a fandom hiatus for a long period of time (3 years between seasons) naturally creates some communal head canons and expectations that aren't realistic for the story being told? And that's fine! I love going crazy with theories and ideas in my fandoms. But as someone who kinda took a break from Arcane after watching s1, and never really stepped into the fandom, I didn't really HAVE any expectations besides "I wonder what direction the writers are ultimately taking this" - and when I came at it with "this is their story to tell and I am witnessing it" versus "I REALLY hope they cater to this thought I had" s2 was really satisfying. I'm wondering if some fandom members need to maybe reconsider their opinion on s2 through that lense? It's not a bad thing, we all do that. But I really do think some takes/opinions are incredibly bad faith right now and based on unrealistic expectations for a series that has always been rooted in bittersweet/gray/cliffhangery type resolutions. Like that's not at all new. S1 was rife with that.

Like I fully expected caitvi to have a vaguely "aww maybe they'll be together" ending at best. Blown away we got explicit relationship status at the end. I'm always gonna be grateful for that.

I do think S2 could have *benefitted* from more episodes. It was not BAD, and it wrapped up a lot of it's threads efficiently given the time allotted. People are giving Caitlyn a lot of shit for backtracking on her Evil Arc the NEXT episode after it started ;-; like I'm actually kinda disappointed in the lack of spiraling into manipulation jhdfgjdkf SOB. But I'm an Alicent Hightower girlie, so I could have devoured like 18 episodes of seeing that fr.

More time would have made S2 *better*. But for me it's still easily and 8 or 9 out of 10 as it is.

THANK YOUOUU, so fun to share my thoughts!! :D Would love to hear in replies what others thought as long as it remains respectful!

[forensicated]

What are some of your favourite episodes of the bill?

Oooh crikey, so many! Thank you for the question! These are in no particular order. Also apologies for the formatting, I'm on my phone trying to reply and remember which numbered episode is which and have to go check some of them to ensure they're right as I've bounced everywhere around timelines the last couple of years doing the recaps and they blurred.

* All Change, the millennium new years eve when cid became uniform for the night.

* Respect 1 and 2, the end episodes. I don't like the way some of the character storylines were wound up but those two episodes were an amazing tribute.

* The Chief Super's Party, June and Roy flirting at the bar, Brownlow deeply unimpressed by the company that Roy kept. Roy getting one over on the super without Brownlow even realising which allowed him to support Ted. Ted's drunk driving crash ending up with him sleeping on a boat overnight and solving a robbery to save his job whilst hungover.

* The Target Trilogy, June and Steve get shot at. It's thought that it's Steve being targeted but they soon realise how wrong they are. Poor Jo 😕

* An Honour To Serve, Gina's last episodes. Smithy's kiss on the cheek and how much he respects her 💔❤️ "Goodnight Ma'am" (RIP Roberta ❤️)

* Lullaby with Smithy going from reading Tim a bedtime story in a cell with absolutely no feeling in his voice through to him singing 5 little speckled frogs to try keep him calm and not worry him when they were kidnapped.

* Integrity, Nicks first episodes. The contrast of him and Smithy paired together is awesome. Especially when they unite.

* Gunrunner, Smithy and guns...

* Witness and the episodes featuring Carly in the run up. Smithy really became the paternal figure that he didn't want to initially and cared about her, Leanne and Brooke. (& laughing at Nate when he runs the wrong way after sending him to chase after her whilst he stands and has a nice little chat.)

* Righteous Kill 1 and 2, Max protecting the wife and son of a man he shot in S019.

* Brittaniamania, Mickey undercover as a football hooligan and Debbie pretending to be his girlfriend with Dave and Paul his workmates though Paul being shit at plastering almost got them caught.

* Episode 154, the aftermath of Mickeys rape. The acting is incredible.

* Tinderbox, Brownlow, Conway and Meadows in an outward bounds team building course against Manion and his cocky cheating team.

* Conviction - particularly the riot training episode where Smithy and Callum end up having a physical fight to end their frustration over what happened with Devlin. The last episode of that is a bit frustrating though as I don't think Smithy could give his guilt over that quickly to accept a promotion when it was eating him alive. It made out he and Stevie had continued a thing from Gunrunner too that they hadn't. (the promotion thing bugged me so much I made a fic about it)

* First Impressions 1 and 2, purely for WUK (or "WUS!") and nick and uniform hiding in Diane's cupboard to watch Ben on cctv.

* Blurred Around The Edges, Smithy's army friend makes an appearance and turns his world upside down. (another I did a fic about!)

* Soft Talking, Smithy delivers a baby in the middle of a street and has to try and find the mother when she disappears and get her away from the abusive boyfriend and dad.

* When the snow lay roundabout, Danny the elf knowing what Matt secretly wished, Reg being the only copper out because of the snow (he'd only gone to get a Christmas tree) Rod trying to scam uniform, a cheeky kid outing him and helping polly and Gary trim the tree and the barbershop quartet!

* PC Smith, Needing to show himself in a good light, Smithy volunteers with Nick to look after a gay couple who are receiving homophobic threats. Everyone is surprised, not least Smithy himself.

*Episode 372, Cop The Lot "Simon Cowell eat your heart out!"

* Cowboy Country, Max ends up using his mother's priest to try track a Polish criminal down

*Game Plan, Max goes undercover with the Monks family.

* Tolerance, Smithy's C019 training and interview.

* Episode 69 and 70, cop idol and Cass being taken hostage and murdered by the serial killer 💔

* 117 and 118 Smithy's first 2 Sgt episodes including singing at the gay club.

* Good Cop Bad Cop , callum's first. Smithy leaps on him twice and Dan is NOT impressed when Callum acts all dodgy and tries to shut him out.

* 131 Smithy goes undercover in prison to try locate some expensive cars and Ken's son.

* 138 and 139 Smithy and Gina go out for a drink and end up in a drinking game. Smithy cheats! "You're a cab!" The next morning Gina had a little prang and all hell breaks loose.

* 162 the first live episode

* 205 206 Nicks last episodes before going into witness protection. I hate that they didn't make more of his and Sgt!smithy's past but at least they acknowledge it in this episode. It's just a shame that a lot of newer viewers would have been confused as hell at what was going on with their goodbye.

* 214 215 the start of Gina and Jonathan properly.

* Appropriate Force, Callum comes face to face with his ex and her criminal husband. Smithy has to literally pull him away from beating the husband into a pulp for attacking his wife.

* 237 Jim and June get married. For the cast dressed up, Smithy teasing Gina about settling down and shoving her forward to catch the bouquet and the beautiful Gina and Jonathan moments. Though sadly they do end up breaking up.

Killer On The Run, Ryan Jones blames Smithy for him killing his wife. (Smithy had let slip that Ryan was infatuated with a prostitute the episode before) and tries to take revenge, holding both Smithy and Pauline, Smithy's mother at gunpoint at various times

* 272 273 Gina taken hostage by Irene Radford and the story of their history and how alike they were falls out.

* 286 Dan's first appearance at the driving school with Amber and Leela. Amber's attempts to get in with the instructor once she finds out she's a lesbian is hilarious.

* 288 289 Andrea is found out and the station explodes in a fireball thanks to Colin Fairfax. Smithy and Ken's final scene is heartbreaking 💔

*298 Dan transfers and puts himself in danger rescuing a woman who is treated as a slave by those she works for as well as being raped by the father. Rosa is terrified but Dan tries to help, made harder by the fact she's deaf and doesn't speak English.

* 302 303 Mickey returns with MIT colleagues and arrests Neil. It's a heartbreaking look at what the rape had done to Mickey or "Michael" as he insists he is now and then something further breaks his heart....

* 327 Gina is found having collapsed at home by Smithy and Jonathan. Gina and Jonathan have a heart to heart and she almost tells him she wants to reunite... Right as he tells her he has a girlfriend. She forces herself to let him go for good 💔💔

* 349 second live episode and the end of Prosser.

* 360 and 361 Dan finally discovers who it is that has been blackmailing him about his affair and a lot is revealed about his history in these 2.

* 402 403 Smithy returns to work after the Larson debarkle to find Gina graffiting his welcome back posters and his first case involving his ex cellmate

* The Fat Lady Sings, Dave is approached by an opera singer who tells him she's being stalked. He ignores her and soon regrets it. Duncan arrives and arouses suspicions when the others realise he lives in a fancy penthouse apartment and has connections in the operatic world.

* Whose Side Are You On?, Dashers arranges a football match against a group of teens and lets Viv play in goal. (Vivs only experience being netball) so he doesn't have to let Bob Cryer play.

* Square Peg Round Hole, John Boulton is stuck with a needle during an arrest and worries he might have HIV but being John he won't stay at home.

*Wannabe, A young girl makes her attraction to Rod very obvious and he uses it to get her druggy parents.

* Team Play, Jack forces Duncan to take part in a compulsory training course with him. Duncan wants to skip it and work a sexual assault case with Liz. Poor Tom keeps being chucked off the case everyrime Duncan can slip out or take calls before he's dragged back in again to unwillingly participate in the exercise 😂

Badlands, the episode with Daves assault and those leading up to it (and after) with Boultons obsession with the Lovers and trying to nail Mick. The one where George loses it and goes for John when he goads him is perfect. Just a shame it leads the the Dave, Jenny, George, Polly mess.

* Trial Run, Rod calls in sick to Moonlight as a bodyguard. He thinks he's getting a female model but ends up with his hands full with two rich kids, one of which is a little shit.

* 427 Dan at the go kart center

* 481 It's Smithy's birthday, but noone will leave him alone.

* In The Know, Leon finds himself under suspicion when he's spotted being roughed up by a target of CID

* That's Love For You & Rescue Me, Leon struggles with a case where the parents of a baby he has bonded with are suspected of abusing her.

* The Truth Will Out, Smithy asks callum to apologise to a bloke who is accusing him of pushing him. He helps out unofficially when a young kid goes missing and panics when he thinks Smithy had gotten stuck during an underwater rescue. Their final scene is amazing.

* Hide and Seek, Leon finds a little girl hiding in a fireplace and they bond a she looks after her whilst they try to find her mother. They have tea parties and pretend to be invisible and all sorts ❤️ and then Tilly breaks his heart when she says "I thought you were my friend." he later risks his job doing something naughty that is seen by Rachel...

* Solace and The Calling. Dominic is incredible in these episodes, it's a real masterclass of how he can show every bit of what Leon is feeling with the slightest change of expression.

* Tombstone, Callum tries to deal with the death of his estranged father and the knowledge that he was a rapist.

Twanky, Sun Hill put on a panto and catch a criminal attempting to off an officer during it, hopefully without the audience realising.

Sorry, went a little overboard there! Interested to hear about yours (and everyone else's!), Anon!? Could have gone on all night naming eps.

[utilitycaster]

From all the TTRPG shows you've watched so far, do you have any favourite player character builds, or builds that you think were especially well suited to the campaign/setting that the character was in?

You'd have to narrow this down - there's a lot (I stopped keeping my massive spreadsheet of character races and classes in actual play updated bc it was getting ridiculous but it's at over 100) so I'm just going to call out a few players who consistently hit this mark in everything they do.

Surprising no one, Emily Axford. Truly one of the biggest reasons why I get annoyed at the "haha Emily will DESTROY this DM" is that Emily has an incredibly good eye towards party composition and collaboration with DMs while also pulling off some wild multiclasses. This serves her in NADDPod especially, since they're a small party and everyone needs to be versatile. I will say that while I love Callie's build and think it mechanically works very well and made sense for her background in Mothership, it feels like it needs more in-story explanation that we haven't quite gotten to, but I also trust that we will.

Surprising no one with taste, Travis Willingham. Even in cases where we know it was off-the-cuff (Grog) he did a lot of work establishing why Grog was the class he was and how he felt about it; and in cases where it was pre-planned, the amount of backstory and mechanics work he does before and during the story is admirable to the point of ridiculousness (updating Chet's backstory to accommodate what Matt said in a flashback sequence? bananas). His multiclass choices always fit both the base build and the story admirably, and always fit a niche within the party that is very much needed, and the choice to play someone like Cerrit in Calamity or Fjord in general would put him here on their strength alone.

Again surprising no one, Aabria Iyengar; DMs make the best players. Capable of some great optimization (Deanna, Laerryn, whatever the hell Antiope had going on) or just playing a character with a simple build but with a strong understanding of the setting (Myrtle the Bitch; Suvi). Really, Suvi alone puts her here in that Aabria maybe more than anyone (though she might be tied with Emily Axford) understands wizards and understands that your character is a part of the DM's worldbuilding and needs to reflect that, while also serving as your contribution to that world.

And finally, Lou Wilson. He often does fairly simple builds - Nydas and late-game Fabian are the only ones with significant multiclassing beyond barbarian/fighter level dips - but he always knows precisely what his character is here to do from the start and why, can adapt on a dime, and he has a fantastic eye for subclass choice.

Honorable mentions:

Zac Oyama tends not to go for incredibly complex mechanics, but he has a great understanding of building a character who fits into the world in a way that both reflects and expands upon it, and has a great sense of subtlety, restraint, negative space, and comedic timing. (I've been meaning to make a negative space/comedic timing post but honestly just watch Zac and Travis.)

Grouping Taliesin Jaffe and Siobhan Thompson together because they are both very strong mechanically and not afraid of a wild min-maxed triple multiclass on occasion, but more specifically because they've both made at least one character I really did not vibe with and also absolutely could not fault in any way other than "not my thing, personally." Related to that, both of them bring an "I'm a generous and skilled player and I don't really give a fuck what the audience thinks" vibe that I (the audience) respects the hell out of.

Jake Hurwitz is the rare player who 100% knows his wheelhouse and embraces it whole-heartedly, and he puts in the character and setting work to keep it interesting.

Justin McElroy is mechanically competent but nothing impressive, but he absolutely thinks about his characters and the setting and how they fit together in a deep and interesting way and which sets him apart in TAZ. Kind of with Jake in that he 100% writes what he knows; I think this kind of player is underrated and having played with some, they shouldn't be.

And on the rare chances Brennan Lee Mulligan gets to play, not only is he min-maxed to the hilt but he always is working with the DM in a truly admirable way, even as he builds a little guy who cannot roll below a 25 deception or who has somehow managed to get sneak attack twice per round or something wild like that.

[keldae]

Tagged by the incomparable @dingoat -- thank you! <3

3 ships

Right now, to nobody's surprise, Gale/Devi is eating my soul. On paper, they shouldn't work -- he's an educated, wealthy, powerful mage (who makes very poor life choices), and she's a much-younger-than-him thief who grew up as an urchin on the streets of Baldur's Gate, whose only "acceptable" skill is playing a violin (apparently pickpocketing and stabbing people aren't considered widely acceptable or desirable skills?). But in all the ways that really count, they are compatible -- they're protective of each other and their friends, and Devi's street-smarts balance out Gale's book/arcane knowledge, and her feisty-ness is another counter to his more balanced way of dealing with things (read: he's 90% of her impulse control). I suppose opposites DO attract! ;)

Theron/Xaja has lived in my brain ever since Shadow of Revan dropped, in canon-verse and in at least two AU's. Theron definitely brought out a side of Xaja that isn't necessarily a proper Jedi side to show, but it's definitely her -- she's also feisty, and protective, and she's got a snarky streak to her that sings to Theron's soul. And she loves Theron's devotion to the cause, and his intelligence, and his wit.

(also, looking at Xaja and Devi... apparently I've got a TYPE when it comes to my main characters in RPGs. You should take a look at my canon Warden from DAO sometime, Lynaen... who ALSO is a redheaded dual-wielding rogue with a healthy dose of snark. At least she was raised a Cousland and didn't spend time learning how to pickpocket on the streets like the other two? #roguelifeFTW)

And I gotta talk about Reanden/Mairen too. They started on a bit of a whim when @andveryginger and I decided to throw them together for a couple of one-off kiss prompts, annnnnd now they run a good chunk of our respective brains (Reanden likes to hang out in Ginger's head a lot). Mai (Ginger's) loves Reanden's intelligence, and his dedication to his kids and the Republic, and the compassionate, caring streak he has under his sociopathic facade. And he's got a type for snarky redheaded Corellian Jedi ladies -- the fact that Mai loves his kids like they're her own, and doesn't think less of him for his rare moments of vulnerability, means the galaxy to him.

First Ship

Oh man -- my very first OTP was Faramir/Eowyn from LOTR, ever since I first read the books at the ripe old age of 12 years old, and it's STILL one of my favourite ships. I think, even 20 years ago, I was seeing myself in Eowyn (as a female character, as one who wanted to fight and seek out renown, as one who, as I would discover later on in my own life, had a bucketload of mental health problems to the tune of depression), and wanted my own Faramir (gentle, noble, compassionate, intelligent). So a bit of projection there? ;) The first ship I wrote... well, I'd started a girl-falls-into-Middle-earth fic in high school, and the endgame goal was my OC with Legolas, but looking back on it now, I think my OC may have had more chemistry with Boromir. Either way, that fic has been abandoned for like 15 years -- I ain't bringing it back out to resurrect it. ;)

Last Song

According to Spotify, "Master Of Illusion" by Battle Beast! If/when I come up with a Gale playlist, that song's going on it.

Currently Reading

"Tress of the Emerald Sea" by Brandon Sanderson. I'm not too far into it, but so far I'm enjoying it! (Also, I LOVE Sanderson's writing style, and the little bits of snark he peppers in there. Current favourite line: "... he had a jaw so straight that it made other men question if they were.")

Last Film

In theatres -- "Argylle", which I enjoyed! I wouldn't class it as a "favourite" movie, but it was fun! At home (read: at Chez Boyfriend), it was "RED" -- that's one of my favourites. Bruce Willis and Karl Urban snarking at each other... =D (Karl is also my faceclaim for Reanden, and that movie was a big inspiration!)

Currently Craving

Nothing at the moment! I have my coffee and I have a big-ass Costco-sized muffin that I'm working on before I go for my tattoo appointment. (Also, Part 1 of my tax return came in last week... I could get ALL the groceries, thank God! Part 2 is dropping on Thursday, for all the backpay after the CRA applied the ADHD disability credit to my previous years... I legit cried when I saw that number. I can afford to get my car fixed, AND get this new tattoo, AND a haircut, AND maybe, I don't know, throw something into a retirement fund!)

Tagging, if you wish: @greyias @storyknitter @nayci @elveny @abysskeeper @auroraesmeraldarose

[pebblysand]

okay, you guys seemed to love these last season so here we go again: selling sunset hot takes, S7E1-5.

whoever is responsible for imposing that mansion tax has my utmost respect. tax the rich plz.

i don't think we talked enough about that basket ball that amanza was dragging around in ep 1.

talking about amanza: yes, she is a shit stirrer, i called it in s2 and i am baffled it took this long for the show to self-actualise on this issue.

i also don't think we talked enough about jason's baby powdered balls.

i was equally shocked by the fact that brett seems to have a tongue and a brain that together are capable of producing words.

having said that, talking about jason, he remains The Worst. i don't even know how to explain. that man is a walking red flag and the fact that he seems to have survived a life's worth of terrible professional, financial, and personal terrible decision-making is truly a wonder.

that said, we need to stop pretending their income at this stage comes from real estate. most of the money they get is from the show. which is why, i suppose, they're able to open new offices when all of their competitors are shutting down.

as someone who knows a little bit about real estate, the house they were in for the O Group anniversary dinner had real architectural value, which is notable because none of the houses ever do.

romaine-like-the-salad remains my favourite character in this show and i swear sometimes i can hear him think in french.

that said, he and mary being pregnant is the one good news of this season, although they totally knew before that test and their "surprise" was very poor acting.

i am also happy for mary that she stepped back from management. i think this is good for everyone, but mostly her.

now onto the hot stuff: i think when it comes to bre v. chelsea, they actually both have a fair point. i do think chelsea was trying to genuinely apologise, but what she was apologising for was exactly what she said: if you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing. she had nothing nice to say and still said things, and now recognises that she shouldn't have. having said that, her view on bre's situation is so clearly rooted in very personal christian beliefs that she's not going to intrinsically change her mind. and actually, this might be my hottest take to date but... i think that's fine. like, as chelsea said, "i don't agree with everything my friends do." she would have been fine being bre's friend but bre wants her to approve of her situation (which, imo, is because deep down, bre is a bit insecure about her situation) and that's never going to happen. my hot take last year was that chelsea had a point, and i think she still does.

this is a bit of a side point but i thought chelsea was at least 40. i'm 30 and i swear my friends and i don't look that old. proof that packing your face with plastic doesn't actually make you look younger.

which, another tangent but why did everyone make such a big deal of the accusation that nicole has had work done? THEY ARE ALL PACKED IN PLASTIC.

and onto the hotter stuff: the situation between nicole v everyone else is starting to bore me. nicole is clearly wrong. nicole has been wrong for two seasons now. let's move on. that said, i had to google what "social climber" meant because i don't think it means the same thing to me as it does to them.

and on chrishell v. marie-lou: so this is actually a hot take, i think, but i do reckon they both have a point. on the one hand, marie-lou is, it's true, rather young and insecure, but she also has reasons to be. they've all made fun of her age, and i feel like her age isn't her fault, and she doesn't seem to me particularly more immature than them. additionally, jason is clearly still in love with chrishell but because he is The Worst, she cannot have that conversation with him, she's turning to chrishell who, in fairness, has no power over that.

i will also say that as a european who's lived in the US, i think what she is holding against chrishell is more of a cultural difference, than it is anything else. what she's basically saying is that chrishell is "american-fake," meaning that she is nice and enthusiastic on the surface but doesn't actually "care." which to marie-lou reads as fake and rude, but to chrishell reads as polite. standards of politeness and casual social interactions are some of the biggest cultural differences between europeans and americans, and i think that's where you'll find that most of the issue is.

i also thought that chrishell, in that scene, used her language superiority to overpower marie-lou. chrishell is someone who speaks a bit fast and is very good at arguing. which is fine when she's with other americans but with marie-lou who is german, whose english is clearly not great, it very quickly feels like bullying. i don't think she meant it as such but marie-lou was taking a bit of time, trying to find her words to get her point across, and chrishell didn't have the patience and kept badgering her. i do believe that had she let marie-lou talk, they would have realised 1) my point above about cultural differences and 2) that the source of all their problem is jason's toxicity and lack of accountability, and that he should be locked in a safe room for the rest of his miserable life.

the way he was trying to hang up the phone during that fight had me in TEARS, like: do i need to be in this conversation? YES. YES. YOU CREATED THIS MESS. you are the weakest, most pathetic little man on the planet.

having said the above, obviously, chrishell has attenuating circumstances for her snapping and bullying of marie-lou and i'm glad she's feeling better now. we are still #teamchrishell in this house, we just need to acknowledge that sometimes our girl makes mistakes.

lastly, did anyone else think the reveal that amanza was molested as a child was a bit random? like, i'm sorry for her but also it felt a bit like it didn't have anything to do with anything. i wonder if it was just there to reconcile she and chelsea.

i will come back with more hot takes whenever i have time to watch the rest of the season lol.

[least-carpet]

If you still want to do the shipping meme: chengning? (or any other jiang cheng related ship, I love him)

Chengning, my beloved!! I'm also going to stick Wangxian in here, since @add1ctedt0you asked me about it in a comment.

Chengning: Ship It

Currently my main Jiang Cheng ship, which sucks because they're a rarepair. Although apparently Yu Bin also ships it? So us five whole chengning shippers are in good company.

What made you ship it?

Honestly, I kind of incepted myself into it.

They're narrative foils. Both younger brothers with somewhat opposing temperaments from the outside, since Jiang Cheng is sharp-tongued, blunt, and pragmatic, while Wen Ning is timid, shy, and somewhat idealistic. They both orbit Wei Wuxian, who, although he loves them and is deeply protective of them, doesn't seem to particularly respect either of them. I also think that they're more similar than they seem to be on the surface, since Wen Ning's secret resentment is so strong that it makes him an especially strong fierce corpse after he dies.

I'm really interested in Wen Ning's decision to rescue Jiang Cheng in order to... bring him to Wei Wuxian? He drugged a bunch of his sect members and smuggled a whole enemy sect heir out because Wei Wuxian was nice to him once? It's heroic but, like, baffling, especially since he doesn't defect from the Wen afterwards. (There are a lot of reasons for him not to want to defect from his family's sect, but then why betray the sect at all? It's not like his cousins have any intention to stop torturing, slaughtering, etc. Why save this one guy?) It also weirdly is a rescue that doesn't seem to have a lot to do with Jiang Cheng himself. I'm not sure what to make of it. Compels me, though.

Wen Ning's hero-worship of Wei Wuxian means that the one person he'll actually be mean to is Jiang Cheng. While normally "he's only mean to this one guy, so they're in love" is not really my thing, this interests me because Wen Ning is otherwise not a very honest person when it comes to his feelings. He is the King of Repression. It is literally the source of his fierce corpse powers. So, while I also don't think the scene where he yells at Jiang Cheng about the core transfer is a great display of honesty either (I think he says a lot of shit that he knows isn't accurate but will hurt Jiang Cheng's feelings), he's at least showing him his real feelings.

What are your favourite things about the ship?

I like it because I think it forces Wen Ning out of his holding pattern. I want to see Wen Ning grapple with what Wen Qing and Wei Wuxian did to him, which he aggressively does not want to think about, but which Jiang Cheng's situation ensures he can't escape.

I also think, if they were able to get past the anger and resentment, that they'd be cute together. They're both capable of tremendous love and devotion, and wouldn't it be nice for that to be directed at someone who can reciprocate wholeheartedly (rather than at Wei Wuxian who like... definitely loves them... but is also a lot more willing to walk away than either of them are, generally, in life).

Also I think it would really freak Wei Wuxian out, which is very funny to me.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Making Wen Ning the "nice one" and Jiang Cheng the "mean one" is missing the point, which is that this is an angryboy4angryboy relationship. One of them is just better at hiding it.

Wangxian: Don't Ship It

I'm sure this comes as no surprise at all!

Why don’t you ship it?

I'm not particularly interested in it, and that's partly because I only like Lan Wangji when the person writing him is aware of his flaws. Number one thing guaranteed to get my back up is when a writer is like, behold my character, who is a perfect gentleman, and then the character walks by and kicks a puppy (or bullies a teenager to get back at the teenager's guardian). Stop buying into his hype! He's a spoiled second son who has never had to be nice to anyone he didn't like!

What would have made you like it?

I like it sometimes! I'm just a little picky about it. I want everyone to be reasonably flawed and Jiang Cheng to be treated with some complexity. (I get that sometimes you just want a convenient bad guy, but if that convenient bad guy is Jiang Cheng, I am simply not your desired audience! And that happens semi-often with wangxian fic because it's the fandom juggernaut pairing. I gotta sift aggressively.)

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

There's a lot of great lesbian wangxian. I may also just like Lan Wangji a lot more when she's a woman. (This is because I love when women are assholes.)

[satancopilotsmytardis]

I really enjoy "Say Something Nice", I've reread it so many times now!

You mostly write Dabi's POV (though it has gotten more mixed lately) so the Shigaraki POV is nice.

Magne's death has a pretty huge influence on the League dynamic in your fics and this is one where it's very obvious. I love how you always manage to show them struggling with it while also showing how it brings them closer.

And Shigaraki is always so perceptive! I love how you point out all the small details he notices in different members of the League.

All of them need stability and positive reinforcements from someone they trust and look up to. Especially Toga, since she's still a teen. And they're looking at Shigaraki to give that because they trust and respect him as a leader and love him as a friend ;-;

"his people" my heart <3

Dabi / Cat comparison spotted! I mean, Shig isn't wrong. Also, Dabi's big brother instincts are kicking in :). Shigaraki recognizes it, too.

It kind of hurts how happy everyone is at a simple "good work". No wonder they're villains.

Shigaraki seeing Dabi care about Toga and immediately putting it onto his mental list of "positive things about Dabi" that he totally doesn't keep (even if he doesn't like Dabi like that yet).

And the blushing starts :)

"Dabi being good at his job, being capable enough to think on his feet and find solutions for problems that might arise that will best serve their interests, is their biggest asset right now." Your version of Shigaraki is so, so whipped. Hopelessly so. That man is disgustingly in love with his second in command and Dabi's adaptability and capability.

I adore how you always make sure to show how capable everyone in the League is. Sure, it's mainly Shigaraki and Dabi, but that's because they're the main characters. With the cipher here, or with mentioning missions they managed to pull of, or even just having the narrator mention something off-handedly, in their own head. It's why I enjoy your characterization so much, I think.

I agree, Shigaraki, Dabi really is pretty when he is working and showing how capable he is. Or when he is confident. Or when he is blushing. You know, I'm starting to see a pattern here.

Oh, Dabi definitely notices that he is attracted to Shigaraki and he is absolutely mortified by it.

Shigaraki sure does think aboit Dabi often ;)

It's interesting how in sexual situations, when Dabi gets upset, his temperature doesn't rise with his quirk, it drops.

Shigaraki, you may be surprise how utterly gone you are for Dabi, but I don't think anyone in the audience is. You are literally always thinking about him, aboit his behaviour, about how he reacts to different things. You called him pretty by accident. This guy is so in love.

Dabi, I think your reaction to Shigaraki's compliments is very understandable. For multiple reasons.

Shigaraki is so, so careful because he does not want to hurt Dabi. The guy who was raised to hate everything, to want nothing but to destroy, is holding Dabi and all he can think about it not breaking him, not losing him.

Dabi bites :3

Shigaraki "wouldn't even complain if Dabi burned both of them out". You are such a sap. What, if you both die, would you want your bodies to be cremated? Would you want your ashes to be kept on the same urn, spread over the same spots, burried together so that you may stay entwined even after death? Such a sap.

Them fucking for the first tome somewhere that is decidedly not a bed comes up more often than you'd expect. Just shows how utterly desperate they are for each other :)

I think the scene where Dabi sits one the floor next to Shig's chair is the reason why this is one of my favourite fics from you. I'm not even sure why, I just really enjoy the level of trust in that scene. It's the same reason I love it when you write aftercare.

It might also be the oral sex.

Love the detail about Shigaraki going just a little bit feral over seeing Dabi on his knees and crying. The dracyphilia (?) is a really nice touch. Lol.

Also really cool how jobs that the League chooses for themselves tend to go over fairly well (or at least okay), while every time Ujiko is involved, things tend to turn to shit.

Dabi coming to Shigaraki when he needs help means a lot to me. As does him forcing Shig in turn to accept his help.

Of course Toga is the one to figure them out. She's such a menace (but she also brought Shigaraki coffee which is incredibly sweet).

They're a family <3

Aw thank you so much! I'm so glad that you enjoy that story! Oh man, I may have officially crossed the threshold of having written too much Shigadabi, cause I could not remember this one at all until I got deeper into this ask lol! This was the rise of the praise kink and subspace Dabi tho, and I do also love the kneeling scene, there's just something so soft about that one.

Thank you so much for the ask!

[asexualreptile]

For @ashcroft-writes (who else at this point <3)

You might have seen me yelling at you in your comments in ao3 already but if not:

Have an illustration of the absolute beast of an image of Bane eating planet-shaped sweets. Ever since that chapter came out last year, this image has refused to leave me alone until I finally sat down to draw it. And then in the latest chapter it came back?! If I tell you I nearly started screaming at my screen ...! The red planet at the front is Coruscant as the image search suggested, I hadn't expected it to be so vividly red and yellow but I'm sure that made for a tasty looking candy. The colour for the other two planets was determined by what I thought looked nice lol.

If you're looking at this and think 'hold in, Bane is blue though', true.

I don't do realism or accurate copies well and I've seen depictions of Bane floating around that were more concerned with vibes than sticking close to the character design we see in the show, so I let myself be loosely inspired. There was one drawing in particular that used a hmm (body) horror approach with really strong colours and distortion but I can't find it anymore else I'd tag the artist :/

What I used as basis for this design was the skull of my favourite reptile since I can remember: the Komodo Dragon. There really wasn't a ton of thought behind that decision, I just thought it would be sick xD

If you've never heard of these friends, here a link:

Some facts about the Komodo Dragon that floated around in my head as I was drawing:

They're the coolest and I love them <3

I'm wearing a necklace from the protected area of the Komodo island with a Komodo Dragon's tooth right now because they're endangered and the nature park needs money to keep protecting them.

That's it.

...

Just kidding^^

The way that Komodo Dragon's hunt is really fascinating; they're the defintion of 'Work smart Not hard' and only need to get one bite in to kill: For a long time it was believed that the bacteria in their saliva turned the bite wound gangrenous and slowly killed prey but scientists found actual venom glans in their lower jaws that distribute really complex venom. To my knowledge there is no anti venom and unlike most snake who only really attack humans when they feel threatened, K Ds regularly hunt Prey Like horses and water buffalos, they are /not/ scared of humans and though they're somewhat used to our presence, you should keep a very respectful distance at all times.

They reach a length of 10.3 feet (3.13 meters) and even though they look pretty heavy, they can absolutely sprint short distances and hunt a human down.

They're cannibals and young K Ds need to be fast and good climbers to stay alive.

They're covered in body armour. That a reptile is scaly is no real surprise but K Ds are covered in osteoderms which are bone fragments (how metal is that??). Other lizards have them as well but usually only patches K Ds simply have more. And they only get them once they're adults and get out of the trees again. Another link because this is really turning into an Info dump lmao:

Still here? :P

K D have serrated, backwards-facing teeth; what are they for? Cutting really well and leaving gaping wounds; the serration means that snatches of meat are torn out of the wound even when the prey initially gets away. And if I'm getting it right, the wounds themselves aren't cleanly cut which creates an ideal foundation for infection over the next days. The teeth also break off pretty often and grow right back.

Like snakes they have forked tongues and a really keen sense of smell. They also lay eggs and females can apparently reproduce via parthogenesis which is a type of asexual reproduction (diversity win! Haha)

If it hasn't been clear yet, K Ds are apex predators and apart from adult animals they have no known predators in their natural habitat; even humans can't really do anything with their dead bodies as their skin is unsuitable to being turned into leather.

So why have I told you all of this? Yes, because I got excited about an animal that I first learned about when I must have been maybe six at most and have loved ever since. But also because I do think it's a pretty cool spirit animal for our friend Cad Bane. not in every aspect maybe; I do think overall they look a little to heavy for him but the hunting strategy? Once this animal has its eyes (or vomeronasal organ) on you, there is no escaping. A K D paired with actual sapience and a more stable body temperature would be stupidly terrifying. They don't have to run you down, why would they when both you and it know that you can't outrun it. One bite and it's game over and I think that's how being hunted by Cad Bane would feel like.

[12th-shavie]

So I've been playing Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology lately and I have many thoughts that plague me

Spoilers under the cut

All of this is from reaching both basic and true ending, the PC ending with the singularity, all side quests, possible history quests and no second run with clear data for the extra ending. Also I played it on friendly difficulty and it's a good thing I touch at the end of my thoughts.

I mostly want to ramble about the different characters in the game, in somewhat of an order so I'll start with my dear boy Stocke.

I really liked Stocke. He's not particularly chatty, but we get to see a lot of what's going on his mind through the story, including every decision he has to make that can lead to a bad ending and he ends up very well-rounded by the time of the ending. He clearly grows to care a lot about everyone around him, which makes his fate particularly cruel when it's only because he made all these connections that he can be the sacrifice, but it's also the reason why his sacrifice is such a heavy blow for the others. His status as a man whose soul hasn't been his for a long time unbeknownst to him heightens the value of his growth as a person and as a friend, showing how he could still grasp the opportunity to see value in the world beyond himself and his own lifespan (that was technically over since quite some time). He's willing to use the power at his disposal to try to get the best outcome for anyone he can help, even when it seemingly doesn't do much for the world at large, he's just really helpful. Stocke is also very funny to me in the many ways he deals with his time travel. Especially in the ways he casually transports a bunch of items through the timelines, and never explains how he knows information he has absolutely no way of knowing at the point in time he's in. He also doesn't seem to question the fact that there's a big part of his life missing, or at least that's what I understand the Ernst memory wipe as, and seems to just adapt to whatever the timeline has in store for him at any given time. But he's also a Sad boy™ and deserves the world for everything he's been put through. Especially having to kill Rosch that one time.

Ah, Rosch. My poor sweet bulky boy whom I really tried to use every time he was available but it seems it was never enough and even in post-ending he's not quite caught up. The mana spring dlc also shows just how big his armor truly compared to his actual body and I respect the huge suit of armor that makes his silhouette a little silly. I wasn't a big fan of his romance with Sonja at first until the alternate history in Celestia and his bigger arc, where we get to see some more of them that made me appreciate them more (and Sonja upgrading his Gauntlet has to be some of my favourite interactions between her, Rosch and Stocke).

Raynie and Marco are cute as characters Stocke is close to but I really couldn't care less about Raynie's romantic subplot, or her in general. My interest in her never rose higher than my interest in her gameplay, which is thankfully fun to me so it doesn't feel like she's wasting my time. Marco was a little better, especially with the Mimel sidequest where he shows another facette of himself in the bad ending where he goes nuts and I respect that. But ultimately, they're only involved at first because Heiss made it so, and neither their past not their relationship to Stocke or the others was delved into all that much, which is kind of a shame given how present they are during the game.

Which bring me to Heiss. Heiss' first appearance just threw me in a loop of "wow, this guy is so obviously evil but he called Stocke his best boy so now I really want the game to surprise me with a turn of events where he's not one of the Big Bad™. I really wish I could trust this guy in the slightest but that character design is screaming EVIL very loudly". He then proceeds to turn out to be the main villain. Except he still very much cares about Stocke, and always has, even when his other intentions are very nefarious. And even at the very end he still cares about his favourite nephew. And I'm a sucker for that kind of character development, so needless to say Heiss now lives rent-free in one of my mental tabs that run in the background on my thoughts. He does have one portrait where he looks down, in a content but sad way, as if reminiscing of a happier past and it really gets me every time. I did not expect to care so much about the guy, yet his character arc really did it for me. From the bitterness cranked up to eleven by the Black Chronicle's past owners and his huge soft spot for Stocke to his own actions of granting Stocke a chance at a non-royal, non-sacrifice life that he himself never got as Heinrich being the key to the only positive future there was for the world ? Gorgeous arc ! Until the true end where he just never gives up on the only thing he truly cared about, Stocke's future. The PC ending where he joins forces with Stocke, Nemesia and the others was also a satisfying moment, seeing how he's reminded of when he went on adventures with Ernst (again with that softer portrait I am very weak to), along with one of the possible histories where you get the key to his desk (which had plagued me from the moment I tried to snoop around his office much earlier in the game) and it contains an old portrait of Heinrich and Ernst, probably the only trace had kept from that part of his past, showing that despite all the scheming and lack of remorse on other fronts as the main villain, he's still an old man whose life was never completely his own, and who tries to break the cycle for the one person he cared about who was condemned to the same fate. In other words, Heiss is absolutely a magnificent bastard but also very human underneath and I am not immune to that.

On the other hand, a character I had to warm up to gradually was Eruca (I've seen her design from the DS version and I feel robbed, that little sprite had so much more personality !). She starts out kinda generic, as the princess stuck under the terrible reign of her stepmother who secretly leads her dead brother's rebel group, and I only started garnering interest when she joined the party and was armed with a gun. I had gotten a gun before but had no idea they were for her, and it was extremely refreshing to see how she fared in combat despite her lower availability. Her relationship with Stocke was also made so much better by that one moment around the end where it goes back to their first time meeting in standard history and shows exactly what she was dealing with when interacting with Stocke, knowing full that he not only was her dead brother living with a borrowed soul, but also had yet to be aware of his role in the grand scheme of things. I was afraid the whole ritual bit would get in the way of her character development but it didn't and she ended up being one of my favourite characters in both story and gameplay. Ice magic nukes are very nice.

Aht is adorable and I knew she'd be in my top three from the moment I saw her in the animated opening in which she gave me some Just a little guy™ vibe which is sufficient for me to be interested. Her voice acting was also very endearing (then again all of the voice acting worked really for me) and she was just as fun in gameplay with her trap set-ups and big combo potential. And then the story dropped all sorts of hints that she clearly was aware of something very big and plot-relevant and that really makes her go from Babsie™ to Tell me your secrets you adorable little scoundrel™ and that's absolutely my jam.

I wish I had a stronger opinion on Gafka. He's pretty neat, I like the combos he brings to the tables, the way he learns additional skills with Bergas makes sense to me and is cool, but I wish his character spoke to me more. The one thing I would say about him is that he has this trait where he has a hard time distinguishing humans and uses nicknames based on other visible parts of them, but does eventually come to recognize Stocke with his name instead of "Red One" and that's a new bit of development he got there.

I wish Viola was playable. Girl's got so much potential with a title like the Valkyrie but only gets so little story presence, but she's a highlight of every scene she's in and that's fine by me. I find her design very soft yet powerful and inspiring, as befits a character with her renown and charisma.

I can also say I really appreciate Raul, he's not the most appealing character at first, but the genuine effort he clearly puts in supporting however he can from the back lines and devising all of the larger scale tactics and stuff really elevates him as guy who's trying to make the best out of a bad situation where he can't turn his back on people who need help he can provide after not opposing Hugo more directly even though he suspected him to be up to no good.

Speaking of Hugo, he has me a little confused on what exactly his motives were, where his loyalty lied and what he was really trying to accomplish, especially regarding Noah and the possible histories surrounding him. I'm not a fan of letting him around with Noah and not facing more consequences for his actions. Noah himself is also a little weird, being both this mysterious prophet who just wants what's best for his people and this calm guy who seems to know more than he lets on but hasn't really tried to stop Hugo or find another way to reach the people without his name being exploited. I wonder how he could've affected the timeline if he didn't just vanish from the public eye after the possible history that saves his life in the alternate history.

Dias and Selvan are most definitely meant to be read as an evil power couple. You can't throw in a sidequest where it is shown they get a hotel room in the middle of the day and Selvan immediately resorting to threatening to kill a little girl the instant he sees Stocke menacing Dias, and not tell they're not in some kind of very close relationship that is never described as friendship, not even once. Also they'd seemingly betray anyone in a heartbeat except each other and I will read the subtext as I please. There is also that one line from Selvan in alternate history when Dias is dead and he says something along the lines of "But now Dias is slain, and I am broken". And that's without mentioning the possible history where they didn't set Protea up as queen but Dias directly, and an NPC says that "Dias wears the crown, but Selvan might as well sit on the throne" and I'll gladly interpret it as Selvan sitting on the throne with Dias on his lap. Moving on.

Friendly difficulty is a godsend that should be in many other games. I love being able to progress rapidly through the combat heavy parts of the story and only be forced into important fights which I can appreciate without wearing down my gameplay experience. I cannot show grateful I am to be able to enjoy the story to the fullest with no downsides in my opinion. It even gives me a reason to someday try out the DS version to experiment with combat a little more, and also see the game in all its original stylized glory (mostly Stocke's grittier self, Eruca's pixie cut, Heiss balding forehead that makes him less magnificent of a bastard and Dias looking less evil for some reason)

I also intend to finish RHPC with my clear data to see that final final ending, just to see what it brings to the table.

[www-librarytearoom-com]

the family going on disney trips has my entire heart and the mario v gaston fic quite literally hasn’t left my mind. aside from the ‘luigi grew up wanting to be a prince’/cast members love him stuff, do you have any other disney hcs for them?

- @luigisghosts / dittyel (ao3)

Hi again! Lovely to see you ^^

I HAVE SO MANY! I don't even know where to get started.

The first time they ventured out and went to Disney was because good old Uncle Spike saw that Luigi was having a hard time with everything going on with Mario, and wanted to do something for him. One day, Spike was going over to help Mario set up some furniture for Luigi's new bedroom (they had moved houses again) and walked in on Luigi watching Lilo and Stitch, he knew then what he could do to cheer him up.

He and Pauline went all out to make sure that Luigi had the best possible experience, and so that Mario didn't have to worry too much. Well, he did anyway, but Spike insisted it was diluted worry!

Due to Luigi's neurodivergency and health conditions, the staff at the park were made aware of him in order to make the stay more magical despite his differences. This made it all the more magical for him as he could talk to his favourite characters, and they knew his name!

To Mario's surprise, he found out he really enjoyed going to Disney. He learnt how to unwind there and simply just be a fun dad to Luigi instead of constantly worrying. It became their safe place, where they could go to just relax and be a family with no worries of what happens outside of Disney.

This is why they all decided to start going as much as they could. It became a tradition, and never got old for them.

Spike and Mario loved to attend those adult evenings where you can dress up whilst Pauline stayed at the hotel with Luigi. They went as Jedi once, because they both absolutely love star wars and will hear no bad things about it. Especially whilst dressed as Obi-Wan and Anakin.

Side note, whenever Spike and Mario are on different levels of ground, without fail they always go 'it's over Anakin! I have the high ground!' 'You underestimate my power' - it never fails to embarrass Pauline and Luigi but honestly they don't care they find it too funny

During the fireworks shows: Mario, with Luigi on his shoulders, alongside Spike and Pauline, are all happily singing along to the music, clapping, and then always, always go for drinks afterwards where they will then talk about how amazing it was.

It's normally Spike and Pauline who go on the rollercoasters as Mario always got paranoid about Luigi going on them, but one day they eventually convinced him to ride with them, and they all have the picture framed somewhere in their respective houses. The image of Mario clinging to Pauline's arm whilst Luigi and Spike had their hands thrown up in the air. Mario does not like rollercoasters.

A mild inconvenience? Spike, Pauline and Mario all look at each other, and give each other the look. The 'should we go to Disney?' Look and then within a few weeks they're back there.

Luigi likes to dress up as his favourite characters but he's very, very shy so Mario, Spike and Pauline all walk around the park with mouse ears and face paint on to bring the focus to them and not Luigi.

They're remembered at Disney for being called 'the crazy family' because of how amazingly chaotic they are when there. (This is actually inspiration from my family because we go to Blackpool every year, and all the staff there remember us as 'crazy family' HAHA)

Spike has a picture with every single Disney Princess.

Mario has beef with Gaston.

Pauline likes to complain with the Evil Queen about how annoying Spike and Mario are.

Luigi only eats at one specific restaurant so it's always a battle to get a reservation there.

Their houses are all full with Disney artifacts.

All in all, they love Disney HAHA. If you have any more questions about it feel free to ask ^^

[anakinsafterlife]

So in addition to re-watching Forever Knight, I'm also watching Highlander: The Series again. They're basically companion shows because they were on TV at about the same time and address many of the same themes, in addition to both being urban fantasies. Their fandoms were also populated by many of the same people.

I was hugely into Highlander for years and wrote fanfic and was in the fandom and was basically crazy for it, mostly because of Methos, the oldest immortal, but I was also watching it in a time pre-You Tube, pre-torrents, pre-everything. We all taped our favourite eps from tv, but most of us didn't tape the complete shows because that just wasn't feasible in terms of time, space, etc. But obviously at least a few people did, because the shows are online now even though they were never released on DVD (edit: FK was released much later, but as far as I know HL was not).

Anyway, one of the peculiar things about watching Highlander in the late nineties was that, although the show had just finished its original run, for some kind of licensing reason that was never entirely clear to me at the time, season one was never played in Canada. It might have originally been, but every replay of the show started with season 2, and I came in right around the time the show was wrapping up or just slightly after, so I never actually saw season one. This was frustrating to me, but since my favourite characters all come in after season 2 starts I didn't get too worked up about it or go to great lengths to view it. But it was a kind of itch that was was never scratched.

Fast-forward to 2022 and I found HL online, the complete series, including season one. I'm actually enjoying it a lot. MacLeod is a lot less of a pain in the ass, quite a bit more relaxed and less sanctimonious, not to mention not quite so 1 BILLION XP INVINCIBLE. Tessa is actually a lovely character. And Richie is very funny in his younger incarnation, with a lot of his rough edges still there.

The show itself still has some rough edges too, as the writers worked out exactly what the mythos was going to be. For example, the Gathering appears to be happening at the beginning of the show, and MacLeod is convinced that no immortal has long left to live, but that convinction appears to have faded even by season two, since it isn't mentioned again, to my recollection.

But my biggest surprise has been Darius, because Darius is a lot like Methos. He's a priest and Methos isn't, but Methos is a researcher hiding in a secret organization, which is quite similar. Darius, like Methos, is a very old man with a young face, not to mention a former warlord who converts to peace (via Light Quickening, which is very interesting, and I do wonder if that's why Duncan is quicker to forgive Darius his past than he was Methos, because Darius is in some ways an entirely different person, while Methos changed the hard way. That actually makes it more commendable, but the blame still belongs to him as well, and you know Duncan...).

Additionally, Darius is a mentor who can predict Duncan's failings before they happen (although less openly cynical than Methos, he clearly understands the way of the world) exactly as happens on multiple occasions with Methos. Both are people that Duncan looks up to and respects intensely. The only thing missing in the Duncan-Darius relationship is the more casual element of friendship (Methos works very hard to dispel Mac's initial awe, which really backfires later), and that homoerotic tension that was always present between MacLeod and Methos, but other than that... I get the feeling that the show was missing a mentor for Duncan and Methos fit the bill. But while he was clearly conceived as a Darius-remix, Methos is a lot more fun, and seemingly far more of a chameleon than Darius was, in terms of how much he changed over the centuries, as well as a kind of fluid gender identity that was never clearly stated but which was easy to perceive. And because of the nature of his own paradigm shift, which was not a supernatural event, you can still see many elements of darkness in Methos that are seemingly absent in Darius.

[ishaslife]

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf or Dragon Age: Dreadful?

Everything in this post is an opinion and a rant.

I'm going to get straight to the point. I don't think it's a surprise that BioWare's promotion and marketing for Dreadwolf has been horrible. First of all, the title itself is a massive spoiler for people who are probably just getting into the series, and secondly; the drip-feeding of "content" for the new game is just plain infuriating. The in-game cinematic released on Dragon Age Day last year is an example. It gave no extra information whatsoever and was basically just a rundown of things we already know from Inquisition. I don't have any issues with the game releasing late, I just wish they'd stop talking about it until they have a proper trailer or release date in mind.

There have been big comparisons made with Baldur's Gate 3 and Dragon Age and I can understand why. Probably because Bioware has worked on Baldur's Gate before but most likely because both of those games have been highly anticipated for some time and resemble each other in many ways. They both have a party and romance system which allows people to get to know the characters better and makes the plot much more interesting. I'm hoping that the new DA game will continue this like its predecessors but that's all I can do, hope. One can only hope when it comes to Dragon Age whereas Larian Studios (the studio that's making Baldur's Gate 3) has had the game available for early access since October of 2020 and constantly takes critique and suggestions on the game and how to go forth with it. Its steady development and polishing (at least steadier compared to DA) have led to its release being finally being announced which is in August this year along with a trailer to boot. Dragon Age: Dreadwolf on the other has been in development for nearly 7 years or more and we have close to no content on it other than some side stories, a behind-the-scenes reel that is 2 years old now, a spin-off Netflix show which was decent at best. And its teasers are now 4 years and 2 years old respectively. Most of this recent "content" doesn't even have anything to do with Solas or the plot of the game. And while I love The Missing comics that have just come out, they are not being marketed as well as they should be.

Trust me, I don't want to have doubts but BioWare isn't making things easy. With so many people leaving the studio and the date being pushed further and further, it's quite hard to stay positive. I absolutely love this world, Dragon Age: Origins and the entire series is my favourite and most likely always will be but I'm starting to lose faith in the developers. I don't want the final game to be ruined and what they don't realise is that their constant drip-feeding is only racking more pressure for their game to be a great success as people except a great deal when the game finally comes out given how we have gotten close to nothing on its story, characters etc. They're making the same mistake that CDPR did for Cyberpunk 2077, hyping up the game with nothing for a while only for it to be a massive disappointment when it came out.

I just hope that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, whenever it comes out, is truly THE game that everyone has been waiting for, in terms of something that BioWare has always been known for; story. DA games have always had great stories and I hope for nothing else with Dreadwolf. Even if the gameplay sucks and the game doesn't look that good, at this point all I care about is the story. Please BioWare, by the maker, don't fuck up your characters and your own reputation.

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is truly a game that can either make or break BioWare.

[nintooner]

I finally watched the Mario movie 😭 The drive-in we went to was a little bit crappy (the audio had this crackling in the background), and there was a little bit of rain in the middle of the movie but none of that ruined the experience

(Obviously this post contains Mario movie spoilers, if you haven't seen it yet)

As a lifelong Mario fan, I was literally smiling like an idiot throughout the whole thing, because of course I was 😆

I kinda wish I had some Mario fan friends to watch it with so we could have gushed about all the references together haha (I watched it with my parents, and they're Mario fans too, but not as intensely as me, so they only picked up on some of the references)

Let me tell you I internally popped off when they had the Captain Toad theme playing during Toad's introduction scene. My boy Captain Toad got a reference 😎

Also Gusty Garden in the credits had me humming along, I always can't help but sing along to that song (If I was in the car by myself, I would have been singing it out loud lol)

My favourite part of the movie was just the brotherly love between Mario and Luigi, that shit was so wholesome 😭 It really reminded me of their bond in the Mario & Luigi games

Peach was a bit of a girlboss as I feared, but I feel it ended up being justified since she's been living in this world her whole life, while Mario is brand new to it and has no clue what's going on at first. And by the end she and Mario (and the rest of the gang) are working together as a team

Speaking of, I was pleasantly surprised to see a tiny bit of Peach backstory 😳 The implication that she's from the "real world" too... I feel like they could explore that more in a sequel. Also I loved how protective she was of the Toads, since they pretty much raised her... More wholesome shit

And it was bizarre but cool to see Mario and Luigi's family! I knew going into the movie that their dad was voiced by Charles Martinet, and I could immediately tell when I heard his voice. Eternal respect to the absolute chad Charles 🫡

Obviously Bowser slapped, but you don't need me to tell you that, you already know it 😆 He was the perfect combination of intimidating and goofy. And the wedding outfit from Odyssey...! The king of fashion... And that Peach love song... He's so multitalented!

And of course, since my favourite Mario character is... well, Mario himself, I just loved him throughout the whole movie. They portrayed him pretty much perfectly. He's so funny and cute and determined and just a loveable everyman. That's kinda the whole appeal of his character; that he's a regular working man in this crazy fantasy setting, and despite his ordinary-ness he always gives it his all and saves the day! And Chris Pratt did a really good job on the voice, contrary to what we all feared upon hearing the voice cast announcement – it's obviously different to what we're used to, but a great alternate take on Mario imo

I really liked the bickering relationship between Mario and Donkey Kong, that was really funny 😆

I also popped off a little when they had that quick Diddy, Dixie & Chunky Kong cameo. Just completely unexpected lol (Sad Kiddy wasn't there though 😔 They left him at home 😔😔😔)

This movie was a love letter to Mario fans! And apparently kids really love it too from what I've heard, so it hit the mark for both of its main target audiences: kids and Mario fans

My mum had but a single complaint: No Waluigi (He's her favourite character)

I assured her that he'll probably show up in one of the inevitable sequels 😆

[dimdiamond]

i came across your blog just today and i loved going through it, it's so nice to see someone who loves the stories as much as i do!! 6, 12, 16, 20 and 36 for the tintin ask please, thank you 💜

Oh my gosh thank you so much 🥺 my love for the series is too obvious at this point to be hidden but I'm very glad that you enjoyed your trip in my brainrot and I'm always grateful for all of you and your support 💖

Alright let's go to the asks!

6. Least favorite villain and why?

The villains are a very fascinating aspect of the series because, although the stories aren't villain centric, the characters show some interesting aspects (and they have done AWFUL things alright). So the least favourite villain for me is someone who barely made any impression like the mafia bosses in Tintin in America I guess?

12. Which media do you prefer and why?

The comics because I simply ADORE comics but also because I can't help be fascinated by how Herge and his team managed to narrate such stories with such efficiency and clarity and still allowing the reader to make a more in depth reading.

However I must admit that the movie of 2011 and the cartoon series are such comfort shows for me and I am impressed with them despite not following 100% the original stories because I can just feel the love for the original behind them, you know, and you can't but respect that.

16. Rank your order: Tintin media

Aaaa this is hard! I'll rank them by what I enjoyed more, without taking into account if they're faithful to the canon or whatever criteria so please, it's just personal taste, no effort to be objective (and I include only those I have read/seen).

Comics

2011 movie

Cartoon series

60's movies

The lake of sharks

Damn I want to look at the other adaptations too!

20. A character you don’t understand the hype over?

Hmmm that's tough... Besides the main cast there's not enough discussion about the other characters and therefore not that much hype? And I can't say the main characters because I am too so hyped 😂

Alright I'm gonna say that at the beginning I was surprised by how much Tintin fans love Chang since he didn't appear that much or Alcazar even! But I like these characters too and I do believe we need more of them so yeah you keep up the work, guys!

All of you guys continue hype over every character, no matter if they appeared once or all the time 👏

36. Which version of Tintin is your favourite?

@bleubeurre 's Petitintin

Kaskdmdm alright seriously speaking my favourite Tintin and the one I usually take into consideration when I create something with him is a hybrid of Tintin from the late comics and Tintin from the 2011 movie. You might find my answer weird but for me even Tintin in the comics is not the same throughout all the books. If you tell me you like comic!Tintin be prepared to ask you which phase, the pre Blue Lotus, pre The Crab with the Golden Claws, pre Explorers on the Moon, pre Tibet, after Tibet? That's why I also don't understand how people say Tintin from 2011 movie is out of character since he resembles very much a side of the character that it was shown in a degree throughout all the series, the "bastard" side of Tintin let's say, the one who is open to his negative emotions and this close to punch you.

[venusmelody]

kinnporsche s1 impressions (with spoilers)

Ok, so, I was told to watch for hot boys, but I was finally convinced to watch by the amazing Runs in the Family video. Why didn't everyone recommend this for the TERRIBLE MESSY FAMILY?? Messy families = my catnip. The only thing it was missing was terrible mothers to match the terrible fathers, ambiguously terrible mothers being one of my favourite tropes in fiction. Holy cow the Theerapanyakun bros loving each other deep down while being estranged, resentful, strained, in a cycle of families being pitted against each other, was perfect. Add in the entire minor family drama and Gun and Korn being terrible fathers in different veins was just amazing. It could have made the entire series to me, such that the sex felt like a distraction away from it.

CONSEQUENTLY, and it's embarrassing to say, but Kim remains my secret favourite, alongside Vegas. Two psychotic serial killers, who, by virtue of position in their respective families, ended up in such different positions in the mafia hierarchy! (I've always been a card-carrying member of the fictional serial killers fan club, so no surprises there). Kim, nominally escaped from mafia life; Vegas who probably couldn't even perceive of it. I don't even understand it when Kim has, probably, the most obscure characterization of the main characters who aren't Chay, and yet!

And all of them are so terrible at relationships!! (Kinn included, for sure). It's fascinating to me that Kinn, for all his apparent warm openness towards Porsche, still keeps him at arm's length about his worries, while stomping beyond Porsche's boundaries; same with Kim and Chay, in a much more SFW way. They're both cute with underlying tension, but I think that Kim and Chay, amazingly, actually do hit the nail on the head about the issues in their relationship, whereas Kinn and Porsche have sidestepped it a LOT. Vegas's entire thing with Pete, OTOH, is that he's gone so far beyond boundaries that it's not even a question. Vegas and Porsche, OTOH, are supremely attractive for at least mutually manipulating each other while still having this theme and kinship they don't really have with others, that could probably have been the healthiest relationship in the show if things had been different.

And Vegas somehow having ended up as Pete's poor little meow meow???? His "he's terrible and yet I love him???" Man, I can't believe how into this ship I am! Second favourite part of the show aside from Theerapanyakun + Kittisawasd family woes. Vegas fights for the boundaries he has, because he doesn't have a choice about so much when it comes to his life, but to see is to be seen, to know is to be known, to cross Pete's boundaries, for him, was to have his own walls come down. He crossed Pete's boundaries so far that it became an actual existential threat to both their own self-images and sense of self, and then he and Pete both face building themselves up again. Pete's tattoo about honesty ends up being what saves the relationship, because it's the only one in the show that starts off in such a dark place, and by 25% of the way through has become about raw honesty without manipulation, and that hurts but heals. The on the nose symbolism. I kind of like that it went so fast, because what better way to portray the intensity that kind of relationship demands, but I could also have used another 10 episodes of their safehouse demands.

The theme of cycles of abusive; the sharp swerve at the end where we're never exactly sure what happened between Gun, Korn, and Namphueng, but the despair that breaking away ended up getting Namphueng trapped for longer than she knew her sons; the implications of this going back to their grandparents' or beyond; Kinn and Kim and Porchay all being sucked in at the end into this spiral; totally glorious.

I'm sad there won't be an S2, but it was also beyond perfect where it ended.

Now someone show me where that Vegas/Pete bath scenes was supposed to happen, because I never saw that scene!

[rangedreign]

ohhh my favourite part of ask games, (harmless) petty fandom drama. i know these are a lot so ofc feel free to pick and choose but im nosy and love gossip so if you feel like it *eyes emoji*:

1 2 (just for the drama lol) 6 (feel free to ignore i understand u completely but i live for drama lol) 7 (MORE) 8 12 (<3) 16 (*eyes emoji*) 21 22 (for some final positivity)

1 - the character everyone gets wrong cedric the sorcerer. he deserves respect as a person, and the royal family was wrong to deny him that, but he does little to earn respect as royal sorcerer. 'oh he has such a good and relatable arc' whup tee doo his grand finale was... *checks notes* doing his job correctly. the one he's been training for his whole life. color me unimpressed by a character that should have either left that job YEARS ago or put a little effort into anticipating what he'd be asked to do and practicing instead of trying to prove his worth through stunts and domination.

2 - a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom can't do it lol, everyone's a verse in my mind

6 - which ship fans are the most annoying? shoutout to the time i went through the snape/lily tag and couldn't scroll 3 posts without a james/lily shipper trying to pull moral rank. however i think 75% of the hp fandom has ship rabies.

7 - what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them? eh, none, i don't let fandom influence my interpretations of characters that way. cedric is closest but the fandom misinterpretation is just an additional annoyance, rather than a driving force

8 - common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about 'cedric and sofia have a good relationship'. shipping or not, they're completely one-sided. what does cedric provide sofia with? he doesn't even listen to her particularly well.

12 - the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them to no one's surprise, my first pick here is wormwood from sofia the first. he was created as a joke, ha ha the pet is smarter than the human master, but then the show makes you judge him by human moral standards as the foil to cedric's 'deserving of second chances'. the show itself asks you to view a character that cannot leave servitude as human, and wants you to believe that his station is right. it's so deeply unfair. i care him. i respect him. i want to see him take the power of humanity for himself, abuse it, naturally, because that's all humans have ever done to him, then grow into a complete person when he realizes he cares despite it all. knowing that, i feel like mentioning areelu should come as no surprise. doing great evil in response to evil that was done to you? that's so up my alley. up my pussy even. making her bond with daeran of all people is such a great idea, someone who cannot forgive her, but must move on and work with her regardless. it seems like most people write her off as too evil to live, but she's still a super genius. there's a lot to be gained by befriending her. the gold dragon ""redemption"" happens so absurdly fast though. 'oh shit guess this is pretty fucked up, so glad you're a piss-colored lizard bc that's the only way i'd ever listen to you' wrath's writing in general has a bit of a quantity over quality issue. a lacking-logic issue. no way my azata would sacrifice herself just cuz without knowing what areelu will do once she's gone.

16 - you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc) - hero-type main characters in general. idk exactly what it is but i find most of them very dull, and often irritating. a lack of desires beyond duty? can't often be described as freaks? they just never have any footholds for interesting ideas to me. - gold aasimar cum. if you want something golden to come out of daeran's dick, you can just make him piss XD also does that imply his hair is naturally white? - daeran x chill/lawful/'boring' kcs - i can tell that on some level he wants the stability from people like that, but i can't see him actually bonding with them. esp not towards the start of the game. - truly, utterly pathetic meow meows. like, listen, i love shoving a character into a Situation and watching them flounder around, but they've gotta be proficient at something!

21 - part of canon you think is overhyped for just about everything: the worldbuilding. i think people get impressed by the mere existence of worldbuilding, rather than the quality of it. pf surprised me when i looked deeper into stuff and found it gave me the same 'this is a hot mess and i have to make shit up for it to make sense' feeling as stf. i expected better from a massive ttrpg but ok. for wrath, also the characters and the music. the characters rely on one-note personalities with maybe a ~hint~ of spice, with one extremely notable exception of daeran. the degree to which he beats out every other character in complexity is stunning, really. the music is... just fine? it's not amazing, it does exactly what you'd expect a track for that purpose to do. I think most of the tracks have muddy orchestration, too much focus on harmony/vibes and not enough on rhythm and melody. the one track i really love is 'a drink before the battle', it has a great flow and dynamics and i wish it played more often.

22 - your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores the villains/antagonists, best part of literally any media ever