#the key players if you will

[shuuenka]

full character spread

[gnomeantics]

i was watching the new quinton reviews video and this computer immediately stuck out to me because ??? so i stuck it into MS paint and i've discovered that the computers of mid-late icarly are on a whole other level & i want whatever this OS has going on. it is a gender to me

[gentrigger]

Friend was talking to her student about our upcoming ttrpg game where we were going to do a murder mystery. The student, who was used to playing D&D asked how she planned to soft railroad us into contributing to the mystery instead of going off and doing something else and she had a hard time understanding that we all got together and agreed upon the social contract of "we want to do a murder mystery and will abide by the fictional and in-character limitations of the scenario"

[lolapinta]

Happy Pride 2024!!!

I hc strelitzia as pan and my oc key kid is lesbian. I wish these lovely GFs a wonderful pride month. 🏳️‍🌈

[boinin]

I've been thinking about where everybody sleeps in the German wing. We know Kurona, Isagi, Hiori and Yukimiya share a dorm room.

This seems harmonious. With the exception of Yukimiya and Isagi's tiff between the Barcha and Manshine matches, this group of four get on quite well. They're all well-mannered and respectful individuals (off the pitch). Perhaps they all agreed to bunk together.

If four to a room is standard, my headcanon is that the next room is occupied by these guys:

Raichi, Igaguri and Gagamaru are a package deal at this point. They're used to each other's quirks. Neru's cheerful enough to fit in with their clique. I can see him agreeing to room with the other three.

It seems likely that the German players may sleep separately to the Blue Lock players. While there's no evidence for this, we also don't see co-mingling between the two cohorts outside of matches, besides Kaiser barging into the locker-room or using communal areas like the training/AV rooms. Dorming separately also gives everyone a chance to take out the translators during rest periods.

If the German dorms are separate from the Blue Lock ones, then that leaves these two:

Bringing us to the point of this post.

An elaborate ploy to make you imagine these two as the world's most anti-social roommates.

[marybeatriceofmodena]

I love how whenever you mention Satan to the POTO or the Les Mis fandom, they're all like: "Ah, yes. Cameron Mackintosh."

[legionofpotatoes]

funny how the more dramatically clear and thematically sound and just generally well put-together a story is, the sillier bioware's dialogue system looks in the middle of it. what do you mean I get to make that choice in harding's personal quest lmao are you fucking joking haha

[dreadedender]

Why do people still ship this with the same flavor of their original dynamic when they've had SUCH a BAD breakup???

WHAT DO YOU MEAN, NAGI?!? WHAT SELFISH BULLSHITTERY IS THIS???? I GET IT, THEY'RE ALL MEANT TO BE EGOISTS BUT MAN LITERALLY BUILT YOU UP AND GAVE YOU SOCCER AND LOOK AT THE LEVEL OF DISRESPECT YOU HANDED HIM OMF.

THIS IS LIKE STRAIGHT OUT OF A TELENOVELA. BLAMING HIM FOR 'NOT EXCITING YOU ANYMORE'? JESUS I DON'T THINK I CAN LIKE THIS MAN.

funnily enough i was wondering how people shipped Nagi and Isagi when they were both in such solid ships already (Reonagi, Bachisagi) but I guess I got my answer. Nagi chose Isagi. Got damn.

Still prefer Bachisagi.

[shineemoon]

Q: What will you say to yourself if you are able to meet him on the night prior your debut, 15 years ago? 🐰 : Too nervous! Take a calming pill! 🐹 : You will still look the same whether you eat or you don’t so just eat ~ 🐿️ : Stop thinking & sleep. 🐥 : The best choice I made in my life

Q: If I were to describe myself with a SHINee song? 🐰 : JoJo 🐹 : CODE 🐿️ : Like A Fire 🐥 : 1 of 1 🐥 : I shall decide on the songs for hyungs too 🎵🎵🎵 🐰 : Wish Upon a Star 🐹 : Lucifer 🐿️ : Woof Woof

Q: If he did not debut as SHINee, what occupation will he be having?

(© trans: iheartshinee_)

[moongothic]

Hey so also have Sir Crocodile brainrot and have recently reread Impel Down. This is probably nothing at all but it made me question the artistic choice made. Like we dont see Crocodiles full face until Luffy recognizes him. Before that tho he joins in on Jinbei & Ace's convo about Whitebeard and is shown to (non-)react to Boa Hancocks visit. But we only get his face in shadows or see the hook. Which. Why. Oda we know what he looks like and who the guy with the stitches on his face and the hook is. WHY OBSCURE HIM.

My friend, this is what we call a "cocktease"

Okay jokes aside, yes it was an artistic choise. More specifically, a storytelling technique Oda masterfully used to build up hype and excitement to Crocodile's eventual reveal and re-introduction into the story.

So thanks to Ms Goldenweek's cover story (which ran back during Water 7/Enies Lobby) we already knew Crocodile along with Daz, Bon-chan and Galdino had all been sent to Impel Down, when we also learned about Impel Down, Marineford and the Gates of Justice (+ the giant whirlpool between the three locations) to some extent. ((Now of course, if you were an anime-only then you would've had no idea about the former BW members being in Impel Down. And even if you had read the manga you still would've had to actually pay attention to the cover story and its lore, and not forgotten all about it))

So even before Luffy decides he's going to head to Impel Down to save Ace, we know Crocodile's going to be somewhere down there. The second Luffy arrives there, we are immidiately reminded of the fact when Domino mentions Crocodile taking the traditional "bath" new inmates take at the entrance. And as we descend deeper and deeper into Impel Down, with those cuts to what's happening down at Level 6 every now and then, as well as with the Baroque Works Countdown, Oda time and time again keeps on reminding of us of Crocodile's looming presence in the background. This is all absolutely deliberate. Crocodile was arguably the most iconic (maybe not most popular but iconic) One Piece villian at the time, if given an opportunity of course the readers wanted to see him again. But just letting us see him right away would be anti-climactic, and distracting from what's actually important (Ace, and Luffy getting to him as fast as possible). So keeping him hidden could serve multiple purposes:

For one, Crocodile doesn't get to steal the spotlight from the other characters (at least not too early). We can focus on Luffy, Ace, all the new Impel Down characters and the other returning characters in peace, while Crocodile waits for his turn. Another thing is that Crocodile's presence being downplayed gives off the impression that perhaps him being there isn't that important to the story. Thus, him teaming up with Luffy to break out isn't such an obvious twist (and so when that happens, it's ever more hype as a result)

But indeed, the most important part is that by teasing us constantly through out Impel Down, Oda creates hype. He makes us the readers excited if/when we might get to see the bastard, even if it was just a quick little cameo. So when Luffy finally reaches Level 6 and we finally do get that reveal, everyone loses their fucking marbles over the HISASHIBURI DANA MUGIWARA when we finally get to see The Motherfucker Himself. (And indeed, then getting to see him fight alongside Luffy is cool as fucking hell, completely unexpected and absolutely delightful)

But there's also another thing building up to Crocodile's reveal does. Compare his original introduction to the re-introduction

Compare Crocodile at the height of his power and influence, to the absolute rock bottom he has hit. No longer happily laughing while looking down on people (literally), he's filthy, he has given up on life, with sunken eyes and a hollow look on his face, only moved by a thirst for petty revenge (/an opportunity to go out with a bang). He doesn't even get the whole page for his grand reveal anymore, he's been shuffled to the side so the plot can progress on the same page.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

And to some degree, this is kind of meant to be a shocking realization to the readers. That this is not the same Crocodile we remember from Alabasta, that Crocodile died when Luffy defeated him. This is just the husk that remains, a shadow of what was once there. It's a sad sight, and probably not what the readers who loved Crocodile The Villian wanted to see. It's not the epic Return of the (Evil) King they wanted. And that juxtaposition helps, because Crocodile doesn't return into the story as a villian, but as a frenemy/ally-on-thin-ice. And that idea is easier to signal to the readers in a lowkey manner when you do his re-introduction like this.

So yes, Oda refusing to show Crocodile's face until Luffy found him was 100% a deliberate artistic choise. This is fantastic storytelling

[tysonfurybattlepass]

lancer hot take GO

1. CRIMINALLY underrated as a key player in the narrative. so often in fan content, he’s relegated to comic relief when in reality his character arc is the fucking CO-FOCAL POINT of ch1 (alongside susie’s)

but where susie learns that opposition isn’t always the answer, and it can lead to her hurting people she loves, lancer learns that the authority figure in his life isn’t omnipotent and perfect and he can stand up for what he knows is just. he can question the adult in his life he can BE HIS OWN PERSON and he doesn’t have to feel like he’s not good enough. fuck. not personal or anything prommy (lying)

2. i think he should be allowed to KILL. queen will livestream it. shit would be funny as fuck

[quantomeno]

I was looking over the stardew valley wiki's page about the jojamart store and I noticed in the trivia it says there's no music in there, which I'd noticed before but didn't think much of

and although I can see the thematic reasons for the lack of sound, it's kind of funny because supermarkets are always playing the most obnoxious music or some song you've heard 100 times 10 years ago which has now faded from popularity. A completely silent store would actually be quite a relief

[serenedash]

I made a new ref sheet for my khux player!!!!!!! Last time I made one was in 2021 and he needed a serious update, yes that was my level when the game ended and my party!!

[DO NOT REPOST/REMOVE COMMENT]

[herenvibing]

cr3 is gonna end and the pc’s still feel like the same people to me :|

(crcritical content in the tags feel free to skip)

[significant-narratives]

listen i know the vibes suck rn but honestly if i was the cats i’d be sooo embarrassed. you’re steam rolling the toronto marlies?? it took playing a team missing several of their top players to break your losing streak?? wow what an achievement. should we clap. should we throw a parade.

[seriousbrat]

quidditch and class

Okay originally this was a tangent in the tags of my last post but I started thinking about it more and it got too complex haha.

While thinking about quidditch as a sport, we see many very prominent, very talented female players like Ginny, the other Gryffindor Chasers, Gwenog Jones/the Holyhead Harpies, Mullet, Moran. (Notably, Katie, Ginny, and Demelza are all explicitly better than Seamus and Dean. And Ron haha.) As as a sport it's seemingly equal between genders and therefore played in mixed-gender teams, and this is likely explained by the fact that speed is controlled by an external object, the broom. So while what we value in sport and athleticism in the real world has been heavily predicated on what we consider the biological 'advantages' of (cis) men, in Quidditch this is not so much the case.

It may be that certain positions (Beater) are generally more suited to cis men, but it may also be that women excel specifically as Chasers and Seekers, which are after all the key positions on a Quidditch team. If everyone is capable of achieving the same speed (and therefore force) on a broomstick, other factors might come into play, such as flexibility, dexterity, endurance, strategy.

However, the importance of the humble broomstick also means that the sport would be strongly influenced by class. Who can afford the best broom, basically.

It's wild that broom choice in pro quidditch isn't (as far as we know) standardised, but essentially a wealthy team/nation like I guess Ireland lol would have an advantage against a less wealthy team or nation, who couldn't supply Firebolts to all its players. In the case of Ireland I suppose the British Ministry of Magic also possibly governs them (I think? rip? ?) so Ireland would have funding from Britain, presumably.

And to be clear this happens irl too, less obviously perhaps, but wealthier nations will be able to dedicate more resources, better equipment, and better training to their athletes. This is why the US wins so many Olympic medals, not because its people are inherently better or more athletic than other countries with comparable populations, whatever American Exceptionalism would have you believe.

Harry's good without his Firebolt but also it's a little unfair haha. To be fair Ginny's just as good, maybe better than him, with whatever the Weasleys can afford for her. And it's also true that in CoS Malfoy/the Slytherins are still worse than Harry and the Gryffindors, even with better brooms, as I think Wood points out. So it could be that broom choice doesn't matter quite as much as it seems, in the sense that at least the talent of the athlete is the predominant factor in how well any given broom functions. In the flying lesson in PS we see that brooms do respond to some sort of innate talent in the user, so this would make some sense.

Still, in a situation with two equally matched players in terms of talent, the determining factor would likely be broom quality. So it is still important. I assume that JKR just didn't think about this lmao. Which whatever, maybe if HP was a series about sport, not delving into this question would matter more (and by her own admission she designed Quidditch to not make sense.) I'd have to reread Quidditch Through the Ages but it really should have been mentioned there lol. Oh well, not sure how realistic it is for 'Kennilworthy Whisp' to have a class-based analysis of his favourite sport anyway lmao.

For the purposes of worldbuilding I think it's fine for this to be the case, since the WW is not supposed to be a fair, perfect utopia, and like I said this very much happens in real life too. It's interesting to think about though.