#the puppets we get are just bonkers

[xcziel]

i feel like tumblr would appreciate these new finger puppets we got in

who doesn't love a little isopod or nudibranch toy?

there's a snail too 🐌

[bennie0315]

I might be over thinking but there has been a lot of emphasis on mothers and fathers, or lack thereof, this season.

In the star beast we find Donna and Shaun are now parents to a daughter, Rose.

In Wild blue yonder the not things and Donna going on about Auntie iris and mummy and daddy.

In the giggle the orphan puppets are all alone with their mother, because the father puppet burned on TV. And the TV man who bought stooky bill the puppet said what would mummy think of me now, when he was turned into a puppet, and then Donna surviving because she passed on the metacrisis to her daughter.

In the church on ruby road, Ruby has an adoptive mother because she was abandoned by her real mother at the church and the doctor also talks about being an orphan, not knowing his real parents.

In space babies all the babies are abandoned by their mums and dads and they think ruby and the doctor are their mummy and daddy and again the doctor talks to them about being an orphan himself and the doctor says the machine was mother and father to the babies and the boogie monster because it created both.

In the devils chord Maestro sings a song about her daddy being mean or something, her father being the toymaker. Also Henry arbinger ("harbinger") calls the maestro his daddy 💀

In boom the little girls dad dies by the ambulance and she talks about how her mummy went to heaven.

In 73 yards ruby gets abandoned again but by Carla this time, her adoptive mother.

In Dot and bubble lindy pepper bean talks about her "mommy" who's susan twist.

In rogue the dukes late mother is the portrait on the wall. (also susan twist)

And then in the legend of Ruby Sunday the doctor mensions that he is a father (or not let anyway because wibbly wobbly time wimey) Kate also mensioning her father (the brigadier) telling her stories about the doctor when she was younger. Mel mensions losing her family and now they're investigating rubys birth mother and we uncover some sort of demon thing from a past episode, and then the thing starts naming gods and stuff then says...

"there is incensor, the god of disaster and her children called doubt and dread and standing on high is the mother and father and other of them all."

The Maybe I'm just crazy, yeah I think I'm losing my marbles, this is bonkers 😂even for me, but there is definitely a theme here.

[laitbanane]

Moon bullets straight to your heart. (Moon Knight x COD au / GHOSTSOAP)

Continuation of a head canon I wrote a week ago, the brainrot is unstoppable, I'm afraid.

TW: gaslighting, angst, mention of poor mental health, use of simon and ghost.

Simon had a hard time balancing his new lives. Being a lieutenant in the Task Force 141 and becoming an Egyptian's god avatar were surprisingly not compatible. When Khonshu wanted something from him, big or small, he had to immediately end whatever he was doing and it started to put his colleagues' lives in jeopardy. Especially Soap.

Ghost was starting to see through the diety, Khonshu had let it slip that's first choice was Johnny, which made the masked soldier's blood boil with anger and protectiveness. Was it all a tactic to make him behave ? Surely Khonshu could see through him, hell even read his mind and see his feelings towards his sergeant. To use such a vulnerability was really in character for such a childish vengeance-fulled god.

So he cornered the bird one day. Well, he happened to be alone in the rec room at an ungodly hour of the night so he started yelling insults to provoke his persecutor.

"Listen you old geezer, You seem to think that you can control me by threatening to hurt Johnny. There's one thing you don't know mate, I've been controlling you for my own benefits for a while."

A gust of wind made Khonshu's presence known to the lieutenant and Ghost turned on his heels to face the subject of his anger.

" You think you control a god, bug."

" You think you have it all under control Khonshu, that you have me tucked under your rotten wing."

The cupboard started to shake along with the vibrations caused by the deep laughter Khonshu allowed his hollow throat to give.

" I advise you to how more respect to a god, Simon Riley."

It was Ghost's turn to laugh, a laugh that could rival the god's. A laugh filled with sarcasm and disgust, one that expressed his current feeling with the precision he had when he handled a sniper rifle.

"What will you do if I misbehave ? Take back your powers ? Fine, go ahead. I'll be the same damn killing machine without your constant nagging in my fucking ears you bastard."

A staring contest ensued, no one daring to speak. Only frowning faces and eyes meeting hollow cavities.

"I have no feelings, romantic or whatever the hell you may think towards John MacTavish. He's just a subordinate, an annoyin' and clingy one. You need to find better leverage if you ever want me to listen like a good robot. I am not your past puppets. "

A gasp, then the sound of a cup exploding on the tiles near the entrance made Simon's head wipe toward the now opened door of the rec room. Soap, Johnny was standing mouth open in shock, his hands still in the shape of the cup he was holding mere seconds ago.

"Johnny-"

"Simon what the fuck is happening here, who the fucking hell are you talkin' to?"

Ghost marched quickly towards Soap but the sergeant made two steps back for every one Ghost made.

"Soap, please, I can explain."

"Explain what ? That you fucking fooled me into thinking we were close ? That you missed your psych eval again ? When did you start talking to things that aren't even real Si' ?"

Right, he can't see Khonshu. He just heard him said a bunch of bullshit about how he didn't care about him and how he was annoying. Fucking hell.

"Do not talk- I don't want to hear any of whatever you might say to convince me you're not going bonkers. I'm telling Price in the morning. You're fucked up mate."

With that, Soap left hurriedly. Simon sighed, hands on his chest. An anxiety attack, fucking perfect.

He would get discharged and Khonshu could have him as his slave. Speaking of, the god was above Simon's now kneeling figure, smiling.

He was getting what he wanted. A broken shell of a man, a perfect little ghost.

[quillkiller]

Hi, I love your blog, and please I would love to see you talk more about Walburga, I always found her a very interesting character, but there's almost nothing about her

hi!! thank you!! 💞

i love walburga so much, i think she’s so interesting. i think people forget that she was a woman in the 70s, and a girl in the 60s. to be clear, i don’t think she’s a redeemable character, especially not as an adult, but i do still think she’s a victim. <- two things can be true and everything isn’t as simple as black and white.

she’s painted as the main villain of the noble and most ancient house of black, but people forget she’s a woman. in the seventies!!! realistically, walburga held no power what so ever, was married off to orion against her will, and under orions control. she gave orion sons and an heir and did her duties as a wife. she’s a victim turned abuser. <- she simply didn’t break the cycle of abuse, tale old as time, etc. she’s been powerless her entire life, so she takes it out on her children.

me and kara talked about walburga a bit when we started talking about the bellareg marriage, and like, in the grand scheme of things, walburga isn’t really anything. she’s such a small pawn in such a large game, a game ruled by powerful pureblood men. she was born a daughter, something to be dealt with and bartered with, and ends up at the hands of a husband like her father. <- i wrote a bit about this in my bellareg oneshot. me and kara said that we think bellatrix grew up idolizing walburga, because despite being small in the grand scheme of things, she can appear so scary and violent. but as bellatrix gets older she loses more and more respect for walburga. she realises that she really is just a submissive and obedient wife, on a tight leash held by her husband. walburga doesn’t have ambitions that stray outiside being a wife and producing an heir. like, at the end of the day, walburga really is just a wife and a mother.

walburga’s abuse is allowerd because orion is the one to allow it. he’s the puppet master, the only one with an actual say-so in his family and with his sons. i’ve said it before when i’ve talked about how walburga is treated like the Main Villain, but a silent man (of the house) will always scare me more than a wife ’acting out’. orion is a man, and it’s bonkers to me that people don’t recognize that he’s the main villain and main abuser in the black household. he’s literally a massively powerful pureblood man in the seventies and people want to act like he’s somehow scared of walburga ??? (<- a take ive seen multiple times lmao). like genuinely, WHAT is walburga going to do to him. she’s powerless in her own marriage. even a disowned sirius is more powerful than she’ll ever be. even regulus, the spare, is more powerful than she’ll ever be. because they’re men.

to sirius, she’s a monster. he’s simply not able to humanize her (to me), and nor should he have to. she quite genuinely is his abuser and his own devil, and i don’t think he necessarily recognizes that the main villain of his upbringing is his father. <- not that he doesn’t hate his father too and thinks of him as his abuser. but to me, walburga is his actual devil. his monster under the bed, more frequent im his nightmares than his father. and like, yeah. that’s so understandable, and i don’t think that’s like the wrong opinion of him to have lmao. it’s never up to the abused to forgive and/or understand his abuser. like i said at the very top, walburga is irredeemable. when she becomes an adult the abuse becomes a choice, and she didn’t break the cycle. <- i wrote a bit about this, and how shocked sirius is to see walburga as a person with feelings, in my grief microfic.

reg, however, is able to humanize his mother. me and kara talked briefly about the spare & wife parallells and how that’s why he’s able to see her as a person. laurie @/itsjaywalkers reblogged a post a million years ago that said something like ’i wish they would invent a mother who wants to be saved’ <- and that’s how regulus sees his mother, i think. regulus knows what it’s like to be powerless, to be a shadow, to be less. but his mother doesn’t want to be saved, and so regulus doesn’t want to be saved. i’ve always thought that sirius is more like orion and regulus is more like walburga. <- and that’s also why walburga loves sirius more, and why she can’t stand regulus. it’s also part of a lot of conflict between the black brothers, the fact that sirius can’t humanize walburga and regulus can’t help but humanize her.

anyway! yeah, walburga is irredeemable & and abuser but at the same time she’s also a victim. people can be, and often are, both. it doesn’t mean she should be forgiven. i’ve talked lots here on quillkiller dot tumblr dot com how much it infuriates me when abusers are painted as evil heartless monsters that simply can’t help it because its ’in their nature’ or because they were ’born evil’ <- that’s simply just not how people and/or abuse works. abusers are people who chose to do that to you, who have feelings and lives and relationships and a past. it’s never as simple as black or white ! there’s nuance everywhere, babey

[north-noire]

What's your opinion on Lefty?

Ah, Lefty... I probably have a not-so-great take of Lefty (writing-wise) but I really don't like the way they were used narratively in canon. I don't hate Lefty in fanworks or AUs, in fact people who have them in their AUs generally write an actual good reason why Lefty is there and why Henry had to resort to using them (both for good or not-so-good reasons, it varies from AU to AU and how they write their Henry and Marionette/Charlie.), it's certainly better than the canon we have where it's super vague and conflicting at best. I love the way they go with Lefty's concepts, it's really cool to see how you can interpret Lefty like that!

I also love Lefty's design as well! They look so eerie in their own way, especially the sunken eyes.

Generally though, I don't see a good reason why Henry had to resort to using Lefty in canon other than of course, getting Charlie to him (then again I have my gripes with Henry in FFPS and how they inserted him in the franchise anyway - I swear I loved his speech there, but everything else... I have some issues with. Like I genuinely wished Michael had a speaking role in FFPS, or even had his own speech too + some idea of where Henry had been the whole time would've been nice to know because we're kind of left to interpret where he had been this whole time) - surely Henry was aware that his daughter is alive, but instead he forcibly traps her in this robot-machine thing, shocking her all around (whether that be to power the Puppet, or genuinely to shock her, we don't know, all we have are the blueprints for this and it's either a lesser evil Henry had to resort to, or Henry intentionally did it that way, either way, we don't know).

It conflicts with his speech where he clearly loved his daughter, but ends up trapping her like that anyway, like what's the purpose? Did they argue, did something between them that we don't know? Did Michael find nothing wrong with this?

Then again, this is Scott's writing we're talking about, when has that guy's writing ever not been bonkers or vague in the slightest? it's probably a blessing and a curse to have, because on one hand everyone is going crazy about the lack of answers, but on one hand, it's such an interesting playground to work with and has a lot of potential for creatives to do their take on FNAF with. (no wonder FNAF AUs are so common, really! it's so cool seeing the way people handle their version of the FNAF timeline and characters!)

TLDR; I don't hate Lefty, just mostly writing wise is what I have an issue with, just wished they made a lot more sense because we really barely know anything about Henry in the games (and I generally treat TSE as an alternate canon anyway) to really know if he built them out of desperation to find Charlie again, genuine sincerity to unite with her again, perhaps Charlie's had been far too gone and Lefty was there to stabilize her, or bad reasons as a whole (whatever those might be, we don't know. there's no concrete reason why he did it, to his own daughter no less.), so the concept ends up falling flat. We can only really interpret about it all day and it's kind of a bummer, really.

[shadedheart138]

I snatched a headcanon from @shitposting-puppet on the LU Discord server and went absolutely bonkers. It made more sense in my brain but then again it's like four am and I haven't written in a while. Hope you enjoy the little thing that grabbed me by the throat and shook me until I put exhausted fingers to work. I behold- The headcanon of Four having an oral fixation on putting metal in his mouth to chew on.

XXX

They noticed immediately that Four was a little different. Then again, they all were different. Whether it be gender, tics, mannerisms, you name it. Everyone was a bit different. Some more than most. Four was a little more noticeable than the others.

Four specifically had a habit with chewing metal, and anything at all metal that they could get their hands on.

Legend had gone off on them one time because she found dents in one of her rings after Four had got a hold of them. Four had also freaked Sky out when they were caught chewing on a small dagger. (It wasn't sharp, Four had tried to explain, but no one listened.)

Warriors had given Four an old key, after a while of this, and had tied it to a chord. "Just chew on this, instead of taking a dagger or a ring to your mouth? We've all got the little stims, the little actions that comfort. If you need to chew on metal, we want it to be safe, yeah?" Four had agreed, perfectly content with their new key. Before the night was over they'd already started working dents into the surface of it. It stayed around their neck always, when it wasn't in their mouth.

XXX

By the time they'd reached Four's Hyrule again, the key had been worn to bits. Harsh dents, and slightly sharp sides were not at all pleasing to be chewing on anymore. Four had been using the key less and less, and had gone back to stealing Legend's rings- he really had too many- and some of the metal spoons.

No matter how good it was to be home, Four wanted to get into the workshop. They could make themselves something better than a key! Something less dangerous and more appealing. After socializing with their grandpa for a good while, Four went off to the workshop, donning an apron when they got inside and pulling out the Four Sword.

They always got stuff done faster when there were four.

As always, Vio tried grabbing the nearest metal object- a drill bit- and before it could get to their mouth Red had put a firm metal sheet the size of their palm in Vio's hands. The sheet was already covered in teeth marks.

Green got to work as soon as he figured out what to do. He donned glasses- he was the only one who needed reading glasses- and started going through metal sheets.

Blue started going through molds right next to Green, while Red started firing up the furnace. Seemed like lots of work for such a small object.

The mold was eventually settled on, as was the metal. They all got to work on it, Vio doing a few engravings and Red braiding the chord it would rest on.

XXX

When it was done, and Four was merged again, they were quite impressed with themself.

It was a small, circular thing. A few texture bumps across the surface, and it was the size of Four's palm. It would keep them occupied for a while.

Four left the smithy satisfied, with his creation firmly between his teeth.

[mrsfrecklesmarauders]

CW: Mentions of self harm and suicide.

Sirius was miserable. And that was a gentle word for what he was going through.

Yeah, it was true that he had been prepared for this. From a young age, Sirius knew he had to be the heir and take the company after his father, who would take it from his grandfather.

He was chosen, some said. He was lucky, others complained. Because everyone wanted to be in his position. And not only Black Family Members. But The Lestranges, and the Malfoys and the stupid group of old white shake holder men he met the other day.

Sirius understood it was about power and money. Fame as well, for being a public figure.

But God! It was bloody awful.

Now that Sirius was seventeen and turned eighteen this November, he had to start getting familiar with the company and the businesses.

His Grandfather wanted everyone to meet him. To know he would be their future boss.

Sirius never questioned his destiny. Mostly because he wasn't interested in anything else. Not an alternative career or future plan. Only having fun and being able to do as he wished.

But right now, he was understanding what his life would actually mean. He would be his Grandfather's puppet. He would be the key for Walburga and Orion to have the company to themselves. And he would be the enemy of everyone else.

Why was he standing this bullshit, you might be asking...

For his little brother.

"I'm doing all this for you, Reggie"

Sirius had been extra nice and extra gentle with Regulus after that fatal night. Not only Sirius had cried on the way to the hospital. But also Walburga and Orion. They understood what it would mean to lose Regulus. And Sirius had seen real feelings in his parents. That's why they agreed to be better and get along. For Regulus.

"You don't have to do anything for me just because I am depressed"

That was exactly what Sirius was doing.

"I promised to be nice, didn't I?" Sirius chuckled "Who knows? It can be fun working with all our family..." he added sarcastically "Pissing Bellatrix every day. Watching Lucius cry and call Cissy for comfort. Be the boss of Uncle Cygnus and tell him what to do. Hire a new cute assistant each week..." he winked to emphasize.

Regulus giggled even if he knew Sirius was lying.

"Fucking hell, it would make you miserable, doesn't it?"

Sirius shrugged "Ending up the same as Grandfather? Having people around me only because of fear but talking bullshit behind my back? Yeah, my dream life"

Regulus twisted "I don't think you have an alternative"

"What if I don't want to do what everyone else does? What if I want to be free?"

Regulus looked at him as if he was bonkers "And what would you do?"

"I don't know. I don't care. I'll figure it on the way" Sirius grinned.

"Sirius, you can't..."

"Why not?"

"Because if you don't do it then I'll have to replace you!"

Sirius was taken aback by the how scared Regulus sounded. He was grabbing his arm, where the bandage was.

Maybe all this pressure had made Regulus hurt himself. The stupid Heir thing. It wasn't the bloody crown. Though it felt like it.

"Regulus," Sirius turned to his brother. And held his hand so he won't squeeze his wound until it bleed again "Let's run away then"

Regulus swallowed.

"Are you insane?"

Sirius knew his brother would be reluctant.

"Why do we have to do everything they say?" Sirius snapped, letting his brother's hands go "Do  you want to work in that bloody company for the rest of your life? Marry someone you don't even love and have children just because you oath to give an heir?"

Regulus shook his head slowly.

"Then why do you have to do it!! Why is that the only alternative for your life?"

"We are not like other people, we have a duty. We are part of the House of Black"

Regulus was playing with the fabric of his sweater.

Sirius groaned openly "Regulus..."

"Who will be the heir if we leave?"

"Who the fuck cares?"

"We can't just leave everything behind" Regulus began to be nervous "They are our family after all, Sirius... We have to stay and try..."

"For what? So you can do this??" Sirius grabbed Regulus's wounded arm.

Regulus was immediately angry and he pulled away.

Sirius regretted talking about it and claiming him about his mental health. It wasn't fair.

"Reg..."

"Get out of my room!" Regulus spat. Great. He had tears in his eyes now.

Sirius had been trying. He had been trying really hard to be nice with his brother and do everything for him. So that he would be at peace. But it was hard when Sirius was bloody miserable in that house, in that company, in that family.

Regulus practically pushed Sirius to the door of his room.

"Reg, I'm sorry!"

"It's okay, you can leave me alone" he snapped "I'm not going to kill myself if that's what you are worried about!"

And with that, he closed the door on his brother's face.

Sirius groaned loudly again. Life was so freaking hard. Would he be able to get out of this cycle and be happy?

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

Alright Gravity Falls fandom, we need to talk.

MASSIVE tw for (not always particularly kind) fictional depictions of mental illness, psychosis and hallucinations. General unreality tw, also tw for heavy/realistic gore. This post goes into possible GF crossover/meta content within a fairly graphic live-action tv show.

I’m sure everyone has seen Jason Ritter’s recent monthlong, Book Of Bill -fueled twt roleplay stint where he acted, loudly, as though he was possessed by Bill Cipher.

One problem: I already knew it was Jason Ritter that was possessed, NOT Alex Hirsch… since last fall. And I think y’all need to know why, because… well, you’ll see.

(Disclaimer: I have not seen 99.9% of Gravity Falls, and have never been in the fandom. I have only watched/read the necessary material to make this post.)

The relevant episode here is “Sock Opera”. First of all, this episode establishes that may have been another viable vessel for Bill left behind after the series finale, albeit a charred and torn one.

Puppet Dipper.

Why the fuck does this matter? Well, last fall (premiering on the night of the Harvest Moon no less), edgy meme fodder superhero show The Boys released a spinoff, Gen V, focusing on superheroes in college. One character, named Sam Riordan (don’t get me started on the Riordan thing. His brother’s name was Luke), suffers from vivid hallucinations, and that’s where things get really strange.

Final tw for live-action depiction of psychosis/hallucinations

So… yeah. Jason Ritter, on The Boys*, playing HIMSELF, playing a deranged puppet show host who appears in a boy’s mind to convince him to go on murder sprees.

*the puppets and larger in-universe puppet tv show associated with Jason Ritter’s character have since appeared in the mainstream The Boys universe, so it can be concluded that Jason Ritter exists there as well.

Oh, and when Sam does give into Jason Ritter’s influence (wtf am I even writing rn) this happens:

Realistic gore warning, especially at the end of the clip. Seriously.

THATS. CONCERNING

Making all this even weirder, this entire show predates the Book Of Bill’s announcement by two whole months, and Jason Ritter’s recent Hot Triangle Summer by almost nine months.

It also predates Matpat’s ICONIC penultimate theory video by seven months. In that video, Matpat (jokingly, mostly) lays out a “final theory” that Bill

1) Survived (confirmed by Book of Bill)

2) is looking for a way into “our” dimension (also confirmed)

3) has found a new human puppet in…. Alex Hirsch. Now, that’s where I don’t agree. Due to the above clips, I always assumed that if Bill was hiding among the GF crew, it was in Jason’s head.

Also in this video, Matpat attempts to explain the Bill Cipher Zodiac thing (??? as I said I don’t actually watch this show)

…this thing. Matpat attempted to explain That Thing by linking each symbol to a project Alex has since worked on, saying that together, these easter eggs would spell out “the way to defeat Bill for good”. However, there is one symbol that Matpat couldn’t figure out.

The “llama”. Except it’s not a llama. It’s an alpaca.

A seemingly (ie, hopefully) sentient alpaca named Sloane, who just happens to be one of the most baffling, non-sequitor gags in Gen V.

So, this is as bizarre as it gets, right? All this goes down, Book of Bill comes out, Jason has his Bill roleplay month and we’re all done, can shut the proverbial and literal book on this specific vein of Cipher shenanigans. …Right?

fUCK NO ITS NOT OVER.

On June 4th, 2024, Gen V’s official twt and insta pages announced their newest character, Cipher, with the show’s second season being confirmed for 2025 in a post dated July 26th.

That’s all the updates on this situation for now. A quick reality check to finish up: Obviously Bill Cipher isn’t real and these writers, actors etc aren’t actually possessed. However, I would take Matpat’s own thoughts one: Alex Hirsch absolutely being the type of person to build this bonkers metanarrative, and add that this is far from the only absolute gut punch of a late-2000s-fandom-specific easter egg to be found in Gen V. Other examples include the characters of Luke Riordan, Annabeth (yes seriously), and ofc the tragic/antihero psychic girl with mind control abilities whose eyes turn red with blood when she overuses her powers, and who loses her hand in a climactic season-ending battle…. If You Know, You Know. TLDR someone in Gen V’s writers’ room is both young enough, savvy enough and unhinged(complimentary) enough to 10000% do this on purpose.

Anyway yeah. Just coming over from The Boys fandom to let yall know that Bill has already made the jump to 3d, via puppets of all things. Hope this was helpful or just vaguely ominous.

[heartslobbf]

Hm.

Nanami and Juri are girl princes. Maybe Kozoue too... Shiroi maybe?

Saionji and Miki are boy princesses.

more complicated than this imho but thats just because im weird and transsexual. i have rambled underneath about my feelings about boy-princess- and girl-prince-isms, and the general bullshit of ohtori’s rigid categorisation because it’s something that compels me to no end.

juri is a girl prince but everyone forgets that she's a girl until she actually tries to act like a boy, and then they punish her for it. nanami is like a calf-shaped prince. ive said this before, but it's genuinely how i feel. she's not a girl, she's a farm animal (to ohtori; and admittedly, there isn't much difference in ohtori, but it's explicitly said about nanami when it isnt for other girls).

now. ive never really got the 'miki is a boy princess' thing because like.... sure miki is a 13 year old androgynous little boy with short hair and he doesnt exactly ooze masculinity in everyones eyes but um. two things. one is that he actually commands more respect than saionji as a male and therefore princely figure (saionji isnt princely whatsoever and never tries to be bc his ideas about masculinity are in contradiction with akio's all-american bullshit) and the other is that he is, hilariously in my opinion, the only character other than akio shown to drive the car in the series. like, it's a dream sequence/projector illusion (?) but the fact that we see miki in the driver's seat, hands on the wheel, is kind of a huge deal for the show where they loveeeeeee to refuse to show you stuff that destabilises ohtori's artifice. miki has a very conventional and straightforward desire to be a prince to anthy (you know, if you ignore everything with kozue; but arguably his displacement and warping of his feelings in that way is typically ohtori) and he could totally pull that off imho. he's just a little too young for the moment, and unwilling to manipulate and coerce others like, say, touga is. this isn't to say there's no gender fuckery going on with miki because there 100% is, as there is with all rgu characters, i just wouldnt describe him as a boy princess.

anyway <3 kozue deffo has princely qualities but i would probably box hers in with anthy's. they are both princes repackaged as witches because their genders destabilise the ideal of the prince and its artifice. this is something that happens to all of ohtori's little sisters, because they demonstrate utmostly princeliness towards their brothers, but nanami gets special calf-shaped prince privileges because i have kiryuu sibling brain worms. anthy and kozue are very conscious of their witchification as they are conscious of their sexuality, and how that impacts their relationships with their brothers. nanami is not.

shiori is also an interesting case because she and ruka are. well. theyre just fucking bonkers arent they. everything they say about each other is also equally applicable to themselves. i think that out of our three roles (prince, princess, witch/rose bride), some combination of witch and princess seems most fitting? like shiori is 100% a witch, and ruka was the perfect prince until he got sock-puppeted by akio in such a way that. well ruka's complicated and frankly i dont have time to get into it right now (know, however, that i hate his reanimated guts). shiori wants to be a princess and she wants to be pursued hopelessly but in having that desire, she is a witch. there is perhaps a perverse princeliness to her desire, but id argue that that's just what being a witch is. slayyyyyyy

now in regards to saionji. he's a boy princess but also it's complicated. saionji doesnt want to be a prince and saionji doesnt have any interest in princehood because, fundamentally, he doesnt care for it. princehood is built upon these americanised ideals and aesthetics that dont resonate with his very traditionally japanese understanding and performance of masculinity, and he just feels kind of disillusioned and defensive and all-around miserable that he's being 'left behind' in this 'old world' without any fucking chevys in it. like he doesnt want a chevy but everyone else has massive hardons for chevys and all his male peers think thats the only way to attain true masculinity and it makes him sooooooo mad, and frankly, even though he's a misogynist freak, i get that. maybe i am just an american car hater, who knows.

anyway saionji's inclination to the princess role (it's a bit more of a bride role than a princess role, but these distinctions are muddy; i'd argue a princess is entirely passive, but a bride actively wills the outcome of a duel) is deeply sad to me because it's just like this guy has absolutely no idea what the hell he's supposed to do to have a place in this world, attain specialness, command respect and attention. like he was repeatedly mocked for and excluded from attempting masculinity and he certainly cant be a princess (wow isnt this an interesting idea i wonder if it relates to the transfem reading haha what) and he doesnt feel any inclination towards either gender presentation particularly. he likes woodcarving and cooking, is artistic and earnest and expressive, but he's also a devoted kendoka whose sense of masculinity is closely tied to that practice. his gender is, by ohtori's rules, desperately confused and inconclusive. thus he forms part of the trifecta that is himself, utena and nanami, or as i like to call them: transgender freaks and cowgirl. good lord have they slipped through the cracks of this evil bastard system and attempted to fit all the same, understanding absolutely nothing about the impossible spaces they try to fill.

anyway whatevs. now im gonna talk about anthy and touga because my blog is the anthytouga show in my mind despite rarely talking about them and mainly just reblogging deranged art (affectionate) of them. anthy and touga are bonkers to me because they ARE the norm, but also no they arent. and that's the whole thing. like they embody the ideal so perfectly (prince and princess respectively), but anthy's also a witch, and the rose bride, and touga isn't really a prince. theyre unable to join as a prince and princess should, unable to be virtuous and perfect due to their knowledge and awareness. like, theyre both aware of the artifice of their existences and performances, but neither of them can really artiulate that awareness because doing so would jepoardise the positions theyre currently in. for touga, that's a very valuable one that has him close to 'escaping' (read: getting the key to the birdcage and holding it over everyone else's heads). for anthy, it's also valuable but not for herself, not really. it's valuable because it's a position from which she can help akio, and akio needs her, and she is indebted to akio and obliged to sacrifice herself eternally for him. etc etc etc. god i hate this man. you get what im saying with this. it’s about the precarious position that you are placed in as a victim, the power dynamics of it all. you have the knowledge that could crack the world’s shell easily, but you have been caught in such a way that you believe sharing it would kill you (again). it wouldn’t be worth anything. all it does is highlight how disgusting and awful you really are, and you can’t let anyone know that (the objective truth) because then they will stop loving the idealised you you’ve been performing and see the real you (evil and monstrous). ohhhhh what’s that Judith herman quote about being filled with black slime that pours out of your mouth when you open it. anthytouga hours (i am inconsolable rn)

sorry about this rant! i simply have too much to say about this goddamn show and merely wish to discourage people from 'girl prince' and 'boy princess'-ing characters into boxes. you know, utena's whole girl prince thing is actively critiqued by the show because there's nothing revolutionary about assimilation. every character in this show's cast is androgynous and it's up to us to determine what we think those unique expressions of androgyny mean. there are certainly girl prince-isms and boy princess-isms to characters, some more so than others, but you know. the ambiguity and freedom of the transsexual or whatever

[eyenaku]

woe pantomime au summary be upon ye

Y/N in this AU serves the role of Columbine/Columbina!

Moon is Pierrot and Sun is Harlequin.

They’re all very large life sized puppets in a very famous theatre (fazco), used to put on full shows in place of people, typically harlequinaides. They’re just like human performers, gaining followings and having “signatures”, and meet and greets, etc.

Anyhow, they’re puppets and not sentient… until Columbine becomes sentient and realizes they can just…. Leave. So they do! Of course being one of the most popular characters, this is noticed immediately but quickly covered up by the theatre.

Sentience is triggered by feeling a strong emotion for the first time. Columbina's was *drumroll* the annoyance of being viewed as a "woman" when ur literally just a puppet chilling- made them snap out of it, almost like a trance.

Columbine leaving makes Moon sad, which makes Moon sentient. Moon being sad pisses off Sun, which makes Sun sentient.

Sun is really into the theatre, and rules, and whatnot bc they get to be silly there!! and everything is Perfect (Sun is lying to himself).

Anyways Moon gets sick of it, yanks off their strings and goes to leave, but sees a poster of Columbina and is too sad about it so he stays, makin Sun and Moon to be super irritable.

When a new stagehand shows up, they’re terrible and temperamental to them. Sun is just super aggressive (barely passive aggressive) and Moon is depressed in a way that just. sucks for everyone involved.

They're so blinded by their own problems that they dont realize the stagehand is fkn Y/N, who missed them and so came back only to come back to whatever tf that is. Y/N gets frustrated with the situation as well.

Everybody sucks and nobody wins because they're all so melodramatic that none of them communicate!

Then management comes in like “you, stagehand. you're weirdly tall. we need more actors” (since Columbina left) and they have to put on a play together! wahoo! horrible.

Imagine seeing someone in the role of the person you lost, who everyone in the audience thinks is them, but being so blinded you just get horribly upset and spiteful bc you think it's a stranger trying to take on their role. Harlequin Sun moment! This certainly won't lead to any violence (sarcasm).

Imagine the confusion of Y/N being regarded with such contempt on stage when it's literally them. Why dont Sun and Moon recognize them?! Their dumbass never SAID IT WAS THEM BECAUSE THEY ASSUMED!!

Idiots, the lot of them. Everyone sucks <3 Nobody talks and everyone makes bad decisions and assumptions. Puppets going bonkers AU <3

Sun’s gonna get violent n Columbina’s gonna get hurt n Moon’s gonna get sad^2.

[twistedroseytoesy]

Jamils darkside

A potion accident leads the Mc to see the inside of Jamil's head. Shortly after the events of book 4. There's still remnants of the blott.

At this point mc really needed to ask crewel to not do so many dream based potions or things that could show a more vulnerable side of their classmates. It was the second week back learning after the winter break. Todays class was a special first and second year work day. To create a “dream walker” potion. Then to do class discussion in a dream world to ensure they had all the time they needed to go over the different effected etc.

As always with the poor prefects luck, things didn’t go to well due to their troublesome cat companion. Grim grew bored and let his minion take care of their potion with the scarabia vice dorm leader. But grim hated being still and surrounded by strong smells. But one scent did catch his attention. So as Jamil was carefully adding a few drops of mind root concentrate, grim leaped and reached into jamils coat pocket. He pulled out a small bag of spicy homemade chips with a victorious “ah-ha!”. Unfortunetly his victory was short lived as Jamil was lurched forward by grims weight suddenly on his front. He spilled a large amount of the consent rate and glared down at grim. He looked over to the mc and back down to the potion. Nothing started to happen luckily. Jamil just growled and kicked grim as he scurried away from both of the students.

They continued as if nothing had happened. The potion ended a much deeper blue than the other potions around them but other than that it seemed fine. They both should have known better than to assume a bit of an extra ingredient in a potion wouldn’t do anything. The class all summoned some soft chairs or pillows or blankets and drank their potion together at crewels command. The class quickly fell into a deep sleep and arrived in a shared dream space for discussion. All except for 2 students.

They both found themselves in what seemed to be a dark void. Mc groaned as a spotlight was casted on Jamil. “Oh no not again… sorry Jamil. Looks like we’ve got a musical number here.” They said remembering the incident with riddle a while ago. “what do you mean musical number??” Jamil looked downright flabbergasted at the idea of singing at a time like this. “We should try to wake ourselves up. We failed to connect with the other group.” He said. Trying to focus on feeling his body to try and wake up. “we will wake up after it’s over.” Mc said now sitting on the “ground” Jamil started to walk over to them with a deep frown at how nonchalant they were being. Suddenly he felt his limbs freeze and his mind cloud a bit as he started to sway to some dark drums and a deep growling voice that started to play.

“Do you want to meet all my monsters? Think you're tough, I know they'll drive you bonkers Meet them once and they'll forever haunt ya" He started to sing different images of shadows and jealousy moving in and out of the darkness around the two. Mc watched on, realizing this was going to be going deep into jamils darker, hidden thoughts.

"There's no heroes or villains in this place" He motioned toward his overblotted self as he sat on a throne and how he was cast down. "Just shadows that dance in my headspace Leaving nothing but phantoms in their wake (their wake)" He disappears as the blot phantom takes his place. Mc looks around worriedly.

"There's parts of me I cannot hide (cannot hide)" Jamil in his overblot form appears next to them and grabs their chin as he makes them turn toward him. "I've tried and tried a million times (ooh)" he smirks down at them as they try to break away from his grasp. They look to his eyes for a moment and they find themselves dancing like a puppet and singing as he laughs in front of them.

La-da-da-di-da La-da-da-di-da La-da-da-di-da-da

"Cross my heart and hope to die Welcome to my darkside" He sang as he released his hold on them, Mc reached out to jamil trying to get him back to normal but without magic, there wasn't much they could do. He elegantly danced around them as he sang, like a snake wrapping around his prey. His voice echoes around the two.

"to my da-da-darkside Ooh, to my da-da-darkside Ooh, to my da-da-darkside Ooh, to my da-da-darkside"

"Take a step into the havoc" They find themselves in the scarabia dorm, with the dorm students yelling at Kalim and Jamil. "Look around, this ain't even the half of it!" the kitchens burnt and there's garbage and confetti everywhere. "Walking the line between panic and losing my mind" He pulls on his hair and grips the side of his face. "Embracing the madness" His eye ignites as his hair curls back into the snakes. "My devils they whisper in my ear" The phantom looms close to jamils head as its viscus ink drips onto Jamils shoulder. "Deafening me with all my fears" The phantom creates puppets of his parents berating him on his shoulders. "I'm living in a nightmare!" He screamed.

"There's parts of me I cannot hide" Jamil is normal again but looking down at a broken dish on the floor his hands trembling. "I've tried and tried a million times (million times)" Images of good grades are burned, and a few other things are swept under a rug.

La-da-da-di-da La-da-da-di-da La-da-da-di-da-da

Jamil is now further away from Mc, looking over the edge of a balcony. as a faint voice continues the music.

"Cross my heart and hope to die Welcome to my darkside" He starts to tip over the edge as the words come from his mouth. Mc reaches out and the world fractures around them like a broken mirror.

Ooh, to my da-da-darkside Ooh, to my da-da-darkside Ooh, to my da-da-darkside Ooh, to my da-da-darkside

Images of A knife being thrown, Jamil crying in a corner, many dark figures glaring down at them, and many more flashed around them as the voice along with jamils voice continued to sing.

Darkside

Cross my heart and hope to die Welcome to my darkside

Despite falling through horrible fears and doubts Mc didn't stop trying to reach Jamil. Knowing that getting to him was going to be the only way to help him out of this mess. They even noticed the dark presence of blott around them as they continued through the different mirror fragments.

Ooh, to my da-da-darkside Ooh, to my da-da-darkside (to my darkside) Ooh, to my da-da-darkside (to my darkside) Ooh, to my da-da-darkside

They Finaly were able to wrap their arms around Jamil as they both plummeted over the edge into the darkness of a sea of blott. (welcome to my darkside)

[trashboatprince]

SO!

THE GIGGLE!

DW spoilers under the cut:

MY FACES THROUGHOUT THIS! HOLY SHIT!

-I FUCKING LOVE THIS SPECIAL I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS THIS WAS AMAZING SHUT UP LET ME HAVE THIS! LET ME HAVE THIS!

-Anyway, let's get on with the actual stuff

-The opening punched me in the face. Of course the fruity-ass villain, The Toymaker, would set up shop in SoHo. Aziraphale would be pissed. Only one Southern Pansy is allowed to have a physic defying shop and that's him.

-The chaos, so much chaos. But hey! We heard Wilf! We didn't really see him, but we got one last line in with him, thank goodness!

-UNIT is not subtle anymore, but at this point it would make sense that they're more well-known.

-I dunno who Mel is, but she seems like a fun person! :O Which era was she, Five's?

-The shit with the giggle and how it affected Kate... yikes. :|

-I do want to point out how awesome Donna is throughout this episode, from the music notes, to defending the Doctor, to standing by their side. She's the best, love her. <3

-The Toymaker is fuck, NPH was an excellent choice, honestly.

-His dimension is fuckin' bonkers. I already knew that his world was basically a game to begin with, so I feel really bad for Donna and the Doctor as they go through the halls. Also, fucking puppets! UHG!

-Best two outta three, who didn't see that one coming?

-THE REGENERATION!

-Let's talk about that!

-Let's fucking talk about the insanity that is the regeneration! (And fuck you Disney+ for using Tenth Doctor in the subtitles, that's still Fourteen to me).

-Fourteen's last words were interesting, including the allons-y, kinda had a feeling we'd get an old Ten quote in there, but the fact that they said they felt weird, it's like. Wait... WAIT! HOLD UP???

-THE SPLIT! Fourteen's shock, Fifteen's excitement! Fifteen! I love you! I love you!

-Two Doctors for the price of one, another weird regeneration! A bi-regeneration! A myth! So that means that there was talk about it before, a possibility, unlike the meta-crisis!

-Please take note that Fourteen lost their underpants and went commando through the last half of the special because... WOW. That's gotta be uncomfortable.

-Fifteen, Fifteen, I fucking love you~

-Fifteen is going to be a caring, emotional Doctor and I'm here for that. <3 And how he held Fourteen... hhhhhh.... my little heart <3

-I know, I know, cheesy to have two Doctors and now two TARDIS's, but I don't fucking care. I don't fucking care at all. I love it. I love that Fourteen can rest, Fifteen can still fly off and have adventures. Which means that there is a chance that they can meet again, and maybe we'll have another fun adventure with them.

-Donna working for UNIT sounds like a good idea. I wonder if Fourteen will as well, and probably cause so much trouble, just like Three and Four did. :D

-Fourteen and Tentoo, the Doctors who can rest and enjoy the little things. That's all I need in life.

-Also, the adorable line about Rose being their niece!

-I have so many more thoughts, but it's hard to put them all down. Over all, I fucking loved this, I get more Fourteen in my life, and now I also get to enjoy Fifteen at the same time! Two Doctors for the price of one!

LET.

ME.

HAVE.

THIS!

[agentnico]

Hundreds of Beavers (2024) review

This is cinema.

Plot: A drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America's greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate the greatness that is this film’s poster! Very reminiscent of the poster for the 1963 epic comedy It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, it truly encompasses the full scale cartoonish madness of the movie, and honestly is a piece of art in itself. As for the movie itself? Yeah, it’s fricking awesome!

This comes to us from director Mike Cheslik and co-writer Ryland Brickson Cole Tews (by the way holy Moses what a cool name that is!), the pair who gave us the Tews-directed Lake Michigan Monster, a bonkers little indie film that’s a mix of Life Aquatic and The Lighthouse and is immensely entertaining and stupid. What I like about these guys is how they fill their micro-budget productions with so much creativity, humour and visual inventiveness, and it really puts a lot of modern day Hollywood pictures to shame. These guys are great and so when Hundreds of Beavers popped up on my Letterboxd recommendations, it was a no brainer - I had to seek out this movie!

Hundreds of Beavers echoes the structure of video games, especially RPGs. The central character starts out as an absolutely numpty loser, and then as the film progresses he by trial and error improves his craft to become a skilful and talented trapper. This is reminiscent of how in a video game when your first start you’re essentially useless and crap at everything, but as you level up you become an utter boss. Take Resident Evil for example. In the beginning you struggle to defeat a single zombie. Chances are on your first few playthroughs you’ll die like a little b**ch. Talking from experience here, I remember that first village fight in Resident Evil 4! Then by the end you’re drilling through hordes with unlimited ammo and rocket launchers with super high HP and literally nothing can stop you. With Hundreds of Beavers it’s the same. The first part of the film the poor chap can’t even kill a single animal, let alone a beaver. By the end though he’s engaging in an impressive battle of fisticuffs with crowds upon crowds of beavers. I mean, not really a spoiler to say that there are loads of beavers in this film. Not just a hundred, we’re talking thousands!

That brings me to one of the biggest surprises of this film - there’s actually a fully fledged story here. Like yes the narrative exists entirely for the purpose of throwing as many ridiculously nuts slapstick gags in our faces at a rapid speed of a joke every second, but they are held together by a cohesive narrative. The main character Jean Kayak (brought to life by a superbly committed performance from Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, again, love the name) goes through a significant growth throughout the movie, and his mission to get the girl is as timely and charming as ever. I must say it took me about 20 minutes to properly get into the movie, but once I got to the level of whackiness it was going for I was engaged throughout.

So the visuals. Filtered throughout with a surreal black-and-white grainy filter, this plays out like a live-action cartoon in the vain of Looney Tunes or Tom & Jerry. The stylistic choice that really makes this movie so unique is that the overwhelming majority of animals that Jean comes across are played by actors in full sizes costumes. Yep, it’s a bunch furries alright. Smaller animals such as birds and fish appear as little puppets, but all the larger animals are indeed played by actors in suits. You’d expect a gimmick like this to lose steam after a while, however the funny thing about Hundreds of Beavers is that it manages to consistently stay hilarious throughout, and in fact gets progressively crazier as it goes on. The final 20 minutes are truly fantastic, with the creators throwing every creative idea and visual gag they could possibly whip out of their books in your face. This movie could have easily ended up feeling like a stretched out SNL sketch, but luckily the creators share so much ambition to allow this movie to flourish in its endless creativity. Charlie Chaplin would be proud.

Hundreds of Beavers is one of the most creative, inventive and entertaining comedies of the last decade, and I had a smile on my face from start to finish. From the punchy editing, funny music cues, well-timed cutaway gags, goofy costumes or the endlessly creative deaths, this thing has so much unhinged energy it’s unreal. I can see this not being for everyone, but then again silent slapstick comedy nowadays can be definitely classed as an acquired taste, but I truly believe that everyone would find at least some part of this film amusing. In my eyes, this is a comedic marvel. Yeah, f*** those beavers!

Overall score: 9/10

[one-with-the-tree]

My relationship with The Lion Guard is that I don't think that it's good but I do think it's fun and interesting.

Like from a writing perspective I think the show is very lacking in some areas and it just goes completely bonkers introducing actual magic powers and deeper lore to the Lion King world. Not to mention Bunga who is a mortal sin in and of himself just by existing.

But there's also so much fun stuff to engage with. The new characters. The expansion of the lore. Traveling beyond the Pride Lands. Seeing Scar return. Good hyenas, for the first time (Asante doesn't count she's not canon). Canon Scar backstory. New species we never saw before in the actual TLK movies. Some good songs and impressive puppet animation. Getting to know more stuff about TLK characters we already knew.

So yeah while I think this objectively is not a very good show I still have fun with it.

[tamashiiraiden]

Reign over me.

Y/N AND ITTO'S VOICELINES ABOUT EACHOTHER

Y/n's voicelines on Itto:

"He is interesting, he peaks my interest than most oni's and especially him rebelling to my mother, Raiden Ei. and he calls me 'bro' so why not?''

Itto's Birthday:

''So where were we traveler?. what? its his birthday? I never knew this day was such a special occasion to him, no wonder why he ignored me yesterday when he asked me about what I'd get him for his birthday, and to my response I said "It's your birthday?"

''Traveler.. wanna go catch some beetles with me now your thinking about it?"

Itto's voiclines about Y/n

"Tho she is a prototype of the Shogunate. She is bonkers! if someone asked me who is the most beautiful puppet of all time, it would be her. no yokai or oni has dared to step in her way, I've sparred with her once and I don't think I'll ever match to her level!. Just amazing if you must say."

Y/n's Birthday;

"I can't believe she forgot about my birthday! no one forgets hers because 'everyone loves their next archon' but.. come on! But I'll let it slide she gave me a rare onikabuto that she captured in the forest with Traveler I still have the beetle today so.. Wanna go get some silk flowers? I know a place in Liyue! lets go!''

[busybussinbee]

DRAGONCON DAY 2

first of all i think it’s notable that “wonderland” by neoni was going through my head the entire day and i think all of the lyrics are Very Accurate to how i felt: “hello, come in, welcome to the freak show…” /pos

i cosplayed as glamrock chica on this day!

Stuff and Things that Happened:

-forgot to put on foundation (it was fine)

-dipper pines liked my cosplay

-various more instances of “hi barbie!” (and one said it back to me :D)

-actually many people mistook me for barbie and i was told i had barbie energy

-two guys passed me and one went “hi barbie” and the other one said “no that’s chica”

-we saw a withered bonnie that was yellow?? we saw it again later and I think it was maybe a cross between bonnie and chica or bonnie and springtrap

-saw a korok that i screamed “GOOD LUCK FINDING YOUR FRIEND” at and their handler went “that’s where we’re taking him right now!”

-there was a cuphead show panel and the voice actors spent the entire time dodging around character names cause of the strike and it was HILARIOUS

-the staff was all super nice

-met a super sweet young fnaf puppet cosplayer who got so excited to see me and i got to take a photo with her :D

-my dad actually got recognized and asked for photos twice despite cosplaying from an obscure 80s miniseries

-tiny child came to give Many Thoughts at a Star Wars panel—the panelists said and i quote “he kicked our butts last panel”

-there was an incomplete circle of rocks outside and when i completed it a little girl dressed as a korok popped out from behind a statue and gave me a mini snickers wrapped like a korok seed!

-there was a fnaf panel! a bunch of people complimented my cosplay and i got photos with some cool people! fan interactions are so much fun :D

-squEEEEE LITTLE TINY CHILD CAME UP TO ASK IF I WAS GLAMROCK CHICA AND SHE WAS LIKE “i can tell you’re glamrock chica cause i played that game—well i didn’t play that game but i’ve seen it. and chica is super fast.” SHE WAS SO CUTE MY HEART

quotes from the day:

“that is a lovely staff.”

“thank you, my mother gave it to me.”

“can i give you my email address and have her give me one?”

“shipping might be a bit much”

“i forgot my fruit snacks at home but I live in atlanta so they’re like twenty minutes away”

“ILL TAKE THE DORITOS THANK YOU”

“i guess what I’m trying to say is BURN THE SYSTEM TO THE GROUND” *crowd cheers*

“didn’t the emperor die like five times already”

(to me): “how do you feel about eating garbage?”

“please don’t leave your garbage in here”

zero, pointing at me: “we have a garbage disposal”

“how do you feel about the timeline” *exasperated sigh*

“i think we can all agree the story we have right now with the games is just bonkers”

(if anyone can guess the fandom the last two are related to you get a cookie)