#the way every character got massacred...................GOOD GOD

[vonlipvig]

just watched the lindsay ellis love never dies video and ??????? what kinda insane bad fanfiction was THAT????

[fanaticsnail]

Snail important question;

Of any line-up of characters of your choice-

Who do you think is attracted to competency,

Who is attracted to stupidity,

Who can go either way,

And who is attracted to both at the same time (imagine;

Reader: sorry I'm late I had to fight off two different ships

Them: is that how you got that bruise on your face?

Reader: oh... Actually, I wasn't looking and pulled a push door off its' hinges into my face

Them, kicking off their pants: god you're so fucking stupid, sit on my face

)

Also, I feel like there are different versions of competency and stupidity. Street smarts vs social obliviousness. Book smarts vs functionally illiterate. Strategic/battle smarts vs what-do-you-mean-flashing-the-enemy-isn't-a-valid-distraction?

(Zoro is completely math smart and dumb in every other way)

I could imagine Luffy would be attracted to hyper specific competency. If you're really into a specific thing and good at it and it's your dream he would absolutely love it even if it sounds like you're speaking gibberish to him. He wouldn't even think of it as weird - I mean, no more weird than any other dream he doesn't personally understand - he's certainly not the type to judge based on societal norms. You could talk his ear off about the reproductive habits of different animals and he wouldn't get why everyone else doesn't like to hear it when they're eating but hey more food for him.

Snail. Your asks always know how to get the better of me. Have a series of little drabbles, dear.

Competency, Stupidity, Duality

Masterlist here

Word Count: 410+, 510+, 580+

Synopsis: They can't help what attracted them to you. No matter what you did, they simply couldn't get enough of you. Their emotions finally catch up with them, and they confess their adoration for you.

Themes: variety x gn!reader, feelings, injury, mentions of battles, finally giving in, all different 'reader' inserts, confessions of love, kid x reader, zoro x reader, killer x reader, angst, fluff, sweetness.

Notes: I wasn't expecting to write this today, but I've been thinking about the big boys lately and I needed to give them some love. Something about trios lately.

Tag List: @sordidmusings @nerium-lil @feral-artistry @since-im-already-here @writingmysanity @indydonuts @gingernut1314 @i-am-vita @carrotsunshine @mfreedomstuff @daydreamer-in-training

Competency: Eustass Kid

When Eustass Kid noticed how quick and sharp you were to react in life or death circumstances, he was immediately smitten with you. Being a Straw-Hat, your ambitions and dreams were fostered by your playful captain as you sailed aboard the Thousand Sunny. Your ability to interact flawlessly by balancing the combined efforts of the three crews had him intrigued by your charisma. 

Fighting by your side was something he didn’t expect to affect him so much. The way you researched the strengths and weaknesses of all three crews sailing and fighting together was admirable. Asserting yourself by asking Law to push and pull you closer to the fight with the Ope-Ope no Mi ability, while fighting side-by-side with Massacre Soldier Killer in close quarters, had him left wordless.

After the battle finishes, he watched as you hastily aided your crew of their injuries while disregarding your own; putting others first while adding pressure to your hand-gash, hovering it over your head to slow the bleeding. He couldn’t get enough of you. 

He needed you to know how he felt about you, but being in the presence of Luffy and Law always seemed to bring out the more juvenile side of attitude. His simple attraction and infatuation with you had to be revealed to you in due time, but he couldn’t risk sounding like an idiot in front of you. He would have to simply wait until you were alone and unoccupied before he made his move to take care of you after taking care of others. 

Slowly approaching you as you sat down against the tangerine grove aboard the Thousand Sunny, his shadow shrouded your form and prompted you to gaze up into his scarred, sheepish face. Your smile caused his heart to beat harder and his head to swirl with a variety of "what-ifs". Gulping back his insecurities, he knelt down in front of you.

“Let me take care of that for you,” he offered with a soft smirk, “You’ve done so much for others, and I think your hand needs some seeing to.” 

“If you say so, Captain Kid,” you shrug, offering your injured hand delicately to him and listening to his every instruction as he treats you, “I wasn’t aware you had any medical training.” He straps your hand in a bandage, placing down the final ties before holding your injured hand in his.

“I don’t,” he shrugged with a smile atop his painted lips, “But I’ve lost an arm before, and I don’t want to see that happen to you.” 

“You’re-...” he stuttered over his words, gazing at your hand before softly drifting his tired eyes up, “...-You amaze me. Truly, amaze me.” You place your other hand on his, never once removing your eyes from his face as he offers you such kindness. 

“Thank you, sir,” you nod to him with a soft smile, “You amaze me, too.”

Stupidity: Roronoa Zoro

“Why would you do that?” Zoro roared at you, hovering his body over yours and caging your face-down body within a shield of his own. The gashes on your back were deep, your body weeping out the red essence and staining your clothes with it.

“C-Couldn’t risk yours,” you stuttered out with a soft smile, “H’was gonna g-get yours. Didn’t want you to wear the shame.” His eyes widened, filling with a steam of glossy tears that threatened to spill over the moment you stuttered out your confession. “That’s what you said, wasn’t it? Mark on the back is a swordsman’s greatest shame?” 

Drip. 

Drip.

Drip.

One after one, soft tears spilt down his cheeks and mixed with the fluids pooling at your back. He leaned down towards you, the heat of battle dying down with the swift, flaming kick of the blonde cook and giggling chuckles of your captain, Luffy. 

“You’re a fucking idiot,” he sniffed his sobs back as he leaned down to cage you, “Can’t you see? None of that fucking matters without you here.” He softly, tenderly moved you from your position on the floor to not disturb your wounds. He sat you up, cradling you against his broad chest and openly sobbed for you. 

“When you get better,” he growled into your shoulder, “I will repay you for this. I will pay my debt to you.” His sobs got more desperate, not halting in the slightest when Trafalgar D Water-Law approached the two of you in your embrace. 

“Let me get ‘em to the infirmary,” Law offered, gesturing for Bepo to ready the aid kit, “I’ll treat the wounds there-.” 

“-I won’t leave them,” Zoro barked over your shoulder, your soft smile tugging at your cheeks in your hazy daze. “Let me go with you, Traffy. I won’t say a damn word to distract you, on my honor.” Law nods, raising his hand and spreading his fingers and offers the two words to switch positions within the infirmary: “Room, Shambles.” 

As you drifted in and out of consciousness, you laughed each time Zoro chastised you for your stupidity. Echos of: “There were so many other things you could’ve done instead,” and “You stumbled into that blade like a moron and took that hit for me, idiot.” You giggled through the pain, barely feeling it as Law worked to stitch you together again. 

Upon regaining consciousness, you looked to your moss-haired crewmate and offered out your hand to his bicep. His head was bowed, arms crossed over his chest, and was assumed to be napping by your bedside. Feeling your touch, he was roused from his sleep and immediately leaned forward to bring his face beside yours. 

“You’re a fucking moron,” he huffed, smiling in a melancholy grin. You laughed at his insult, squeezing his muscle before retracting your hand. As you nearly drew it away to your side, he caught your hand and brought your palm up to his lips. 

“My fucking moron,” he confirmed, placing a soft kiss to your palm before using it to cup his face. “I love you.”

Duality: Massacre Soldier Killer

Staring up into your face while remaining silent, resting his masked face on the heel of his palm, he listened to your recount of a very specific childhood injury that left you with an interesting scar on your thigh. Killer’s eyes never left your face, his cheeks beginning to glow warm and vibrant beneath the shroud of his mask.

“So, let me get this straight,” Captain Eustass Kid held his hand in front of his face and gave it a gentle wave to halt your words, “That sick-looking scar wasn’t from any time you served with Luffy, but because you set off a fucking harpoon and speared yourself in the leg with it?” 

Killer felt himself swoon at the melody your laugh thrust into the atmosphere. He was ever thankful his blue and white mask disguised how much he was smiling beneath the shroud. 

“Yep,” you popped the ‘P’ afterwards, nodding in confirmation as you sat beside Usopp and drew your tankard up to your lips, “But I learnt from it, and it hasn’t happened since.” Killer sighed, his voice almost coming out in a soft moan to reveal his growing infatuation for you. Kid barked out a harsh gaggle of laughter, clapping you on the shoulder with his right hand and gestured for you to reveal it to them.

“Let me see it again, go on,” he chuckled, removing his hand and sitting back on his seat, “Use Killer’s thigh as a prop so we can see it properly. You don’t mind do you, big guy?” Killer absentmindedly and slowly shook his head, tapping his thigh twice with his hand for you to reveal your injury to the captain of the Victoria Punk, himself and your crewmate beside you. 

“Alright,” you shrugged, standing beside Usopp and Killer and gently placed your foot atop Killer’s thigh and began hiking up your shorts to your hip, “Feast your eyes, Captain.” Sure enough, an interesting looking scar was revealed on your inner thigh, clear as day and sure as the sea is salty. 

“Oh, fucking hells!” Kid gave you a hearty laugh, “You seeing this, big guy?” Kid turned his attention to his first mate, his smile only growing as he noticed the angle of Killer’s mask never left your face. Surprise was immediately thrust into Kid’s eyes, noticing the unwavering resolve in Killer’s posture. 

You turned your attention down to the silent and broody first-mate, your face puzzled and eyes searching his mask for any further thought or action. He slowly drew his hands up to clasp around your ankle and calf, holding it firmly as he leaned forward. 

“You’re perfect,” he offered in a breathy whisper, stroking your leg and gazing lovingly into your face, “Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise.” 

Your face flushed with a warmth at his words, eyes widening and looking down at his large hands as they held you so tenderly and delicately within his grasp. Smiling, you leaned forwards and placed your hand over his scarred left forearm with mischief in your eyes, asking him a simple question with a suggestive tone. 

“Like what you see then, big guy?” At your question, Usopp nearly choked on his drink. You had never been this bold before, and this came as a shock to your crew’s skilled sniper. He covered his choking with a soft cough, turning away with a downturned smile and stifling his growing laugh. 

“So much,” Killer confirmed, gently caressing your calf and looking up at you through half-hooded blonde lashes beneath his mask, “So, so much.”

[myhamartiaishubris]

Ben Hargreeves is the worst written best character and I can prove it

This is a poorly organized meta/essay about my baby boy who got massacred. Originally posted in the discord server so some of y'all have seen it already.

Let me be clear: this is a love letter to my favourite Hargreeves boy. I could write him better. I could fix him (narratively).

Here's why Ben is a great character who, paradoxically, was very badly written.

Umbrella Ben

Listen. Listen to me. Ben Hargreeves was, from the moment I saw him, my absolute favourite character. He's already dead? Doomed by the narrative before the narrative even begins? Also, an East Asian character in the year of our Lord 2018?? I was on board. And Brelly Ben gets a lot of good moments! You know that scene where Klaus is in the motel closet, tied up, and Ben says something like, "How does it feel being helpless? This is how I feel, watching my brother piss his life away." Um, hello?? That's such a delicious line.

Because up until this point Ben's been kind of quiet, in that dead broody way, or we saw his young self being soft and reluctant. But suddenly we realize, oh, Ben isn't nice. In fact, he's kind of nasty to his addict brother, and you get this kernel of a glimpse into his character. This is a character who might have been soft-spoken in life, but death and the years since have shredded him down to all his razor edges. He's still that bookish little Ben, except he's not little and he's frustrated, angry, traumatized, and in pain.

And season 2 builds on this! He's willing to violate Klaus's personal boundaries just for a taste of life again. Holy shit that's so delicious. My problem is that, especially in season 2, this isn't explored nearly as much as it could be. Ben's possession shenanigans are mostly played for comedy, when in fact we could be delving into the implications of Ben's character and his relationship with Klaus. You have this character who's kind, who (from what we know so far) represented the "good" of the academy, who loves his brother so so hard and it hurts him so bad to see Klaus hit rock bottom every time. The little "I missed you guys" in season 2? Devastating. And yet despite his goodness he is capable of being a bad person, and he repeatedly hurts those around him (namely Klaus).

So surely this is part of his arc, right? This is going to be explored and resolved. Right?

The Season 2 Ending

So the thing is, I didn't immediately hate the way they had Ben move on / die to save Viktor. I was sad to see my favourite character go, but also excited to see where the writers would take that storyline. Because, obviously, it wasn't over. Right? Obviously Ben's arc isn't finished, he hasn't resolved his frustrations, his complicated relationship with Klaus is never fully untangled, plus the rest of the family never get a moment of real closure with him (except maybe Diego). So clearly, it wasn't over. Right?

Well, in light of season 4, I can confidently come back and say that killing Brelly Ben off here was a stupidass decision.

And here's why: you've effectively splintered his arc in half. Starting from season 3, Ben is an entirely different character, with an entirely different arc that needs to be built from the ground up. While everyone else gets 4 seasons of development, Ben only gets 2, both times. And I'm so not over the fact that his arc isn't over. We saw Ben do some reprehensible shit to Klaus, especially in season 2 with all that possession shit! And we just. Never hear from him again? That's bullshit.

But anyway, since we're here, let's make peace with being here. Hey, Justin H Min is still playing a version of Ben, and he seems interesting, if way different! Surely this will have some interesting implications.

Sparrow Ben

Oh god, Sparrow Ben. In terms of Ben's character writing, season 3 is... fine. Like I said, it suffers from effectively fracturing his arc in half and having to start over, and this isn't the complicated, kind but frustrated and prickly ghost Ben I originally fell in love with. But ok, I do like Justin, and EA rep is still a win to me, so let's go with the flow.

For the most part, season 3 does a solid job. We get some solid beats relating to Ben's ambition and inferiority complex being Number 2. There's a bit of overacting on Justin's part, but hey, that's camp. (I think. I have no idea if I'm using that word right. Am I hip with the kids?)

I really, really loved Ben's moment with Sloane as she's getting married, because it highlights the core of this Ben's character: someone who desperately yearns for family but has forced himself to be all hard shell and soldier. In a way, he's the other end of Brelly Ben's spectrum. (Like forsterite and fayalite - all Mg on one end, Fe on the other.) How much of this Ben is family softness, how much of it is defense mechanism and lashing out?

And then of course - the thing I've been craving so badly - the in-universe comparison to Brelly Ben. This was done... underwhelmingly, if I'm honest. I liked that Ben had a moment of crisis where he couldn't live up to the Umbrellas' dead version of himself, and his moment with Klaus was nice, but in light of season 4 it becomes clear that we could have had more. I wanted him to have an entire arc about it - after all, it's a pretty significant aspect of your character to be "the worse version of yourself from another timeline." (Refer to @vyther16's Gongye Jiwu fic.) I feel like there's a lot of meta you could pull from that, about how your siblings who aren't your siblings look at you and see someone different. Someone you won't be. Someone you can't be, even if you tried, so why bother trying? And they really don't dig through that at all, which is disappointing.

The tentacle samurai fight is badass, though.

Season 4

Oh buddy oh boy. There's so much dumpster fire here, but I'll start with the season 3 loose ends and then move on to season 4's own problems.

1) Sloane. Luther picks Ben up from prison, so I thought they might have an interesting bonding moment over Sloane - after all, they're the two people who cared most about her. But actually no, apparently Ben doesn't give a shit about the one real sister he actually had left at the end of s3.

2) The subway thing. Wasn't he in Korea? My grasping-at-straws ass truly thought that might have been Brelly Ben in the reset timeline, and we'd get a Ben-Ben confrontation or a battle in the minds thing. But I guess that doesn't matter.

3) The Jennifer Incident. So we all know that everyone forgetting about an incident they explicitly reference is stupid, right? Especially because the name Jennifer only exists because they reference it in s3. Ben obsessively draws Jennifer, and then he doesn't recognize or know her? Kill me.

The continuation of his arc is also just sloppy, if it even exists. No more identity crisis about being the worse Ben, no more secret yearning for family or inferiority complex about being a good soldier. Suddenly his arc amounts to, uh, being an asshole and getting hit with sex pollen so powerful it ends the world.

And look, there is a world where Sparrow Ben spiking everyone with marigold could parallel with Brelly Ben's consent problems with Klaus. There is a world where Sparrow Ben dying because of Jennifer could echo Brelly Ben's death in a haunting, tragic, destined kind of way.

But, uh, none of that happens. Here we are, finally getting a Ben-centric season, and it's this. Being relegated to a plot device in your own season. Looking back and realizing that you were always the plot device, even in season 2. Carrying all that tragedy in your little ghost body and being treated like Chekov's waterlogged gun.

And I can't help but look back at season 1, Klaus trying so desperately to prove Ben's existence, and contrast it with the literal next season where a single throwaway line from Klaus sidelines Ben for a whole season. And then he dies. And he dies again.

Fucking hell.

It feels like I'm being made a fool of. Oh, you cared about this East Asian character? You wanted him to have narrative weight and character presence instead of being a plot device for the benefit of his White brothers? Idiot.

Because you'll still be here anyway, right? You'll grasp onto your crumbs for a cool EA character, you'll let us run a character through a trash compactor and keep pretending he's a good character because you latched onto this one East Asian protagonist and you don't want to admit that maybe you should have let go years before.

[thecomfywriter]

What meaning does von doro have to you as the author? What insight would you like to share?

OOOO THIS IS INTERESTING. thank you for the ask, wyked! let's dive in!

day six of tcw's 12 days of askmas--the author's analysis of von doro [EXTREME SPOILERS TREAD WITH WARNING I HAVE NO FILTER RIGHT NOW]:

oh boy... i'm going to do one more disclaimer before i actually go on a tangent. it is past 12am, i'm listening to evan's playlist, and my filter is gone so let's see how yamble-y this gets.

DISLAIMER: I AM GOING TO BE GOING ON A TANGENT. BE WARNED FOR SPOILERS !!!

--

we're good? okay cool.

what does von doro mean to me as the author? there are so many ways i can interpret this question: her symbolism, her role in the narrative, the type of character she is, her archetype, her ending... everything. but if i had to summarize it into one word, i'd say this:

tragic.

von doro, in my opinion, is one of the biggest tragedies in the entire duology. more than alan. more than caramel. more than all of them. von doro was born and groomed from the very beginning to inherit a curse, and despite fulfilling her duties perfectly, she never got liberated from it in her lifespan. nothing about von doro's story is fair, to the point where it honestly pisses me off.

the more i think about her, especially the story from her perspective, the more AWFUL i feel for her. she was born for this role. locked away from society and trapped inside the volcano so she couldn't develop any attachments for anything, and she didn't accidentally disregulate her emotions. she had no social life. no forms of happiness. no family. no shot at ANYTHING. she just stayed locked away in the volcano for centuries. all with one task, which was to not let the volcano explode.

the smoke destroyed her lung and voice. the sounds of the gods in her head rattled her brain and made her lose her sense of reality. she forgot her own name at one point. she didn't see the sunset. didn't get to take a breath of fresh air. she didn't even get to see the kingdom she was born to protect. all the while, everyone curses her out as the "beast that threatens us with explosions".

and she does everything without complaint. she takes care of the cairoyas and the dragons. she raises those eggs and watches them from the distant shadows they cast over her den. occassionally, her jervees visit her, but no one ever stays. no one can.

that's why jer'vazir meant so much to her. he stayed. he visited. he helped her remember her name again. he helped her feel for once. and that was dangerous.

and then, the age of limiouses. it was glorious. it was a walk in the park. it was easy. life was getting easier. she was getting closer to liberation.

and then HILBERT.

THIS BRUIBIFNJF.

i can't even begin to describe how much of a villain i see hilbert as. because bro unravelled her entire life with his pride, arrogancy, and "ambition." he literally tore everything apart, brick by brick, piece by piece.

turned soilaila against her. caused riots and a civil war. don't even ask about the other limiouses. hunted down and massacred every single dragon. the last straw was killing the last dragon, then laughing in jer'vazir's face and telling him he did it "proudly".

she broke. the resolve of apathy she had mastered had been slowly crumbling with her new feelings, but the loss of all her dragons completely shattered her. and what was soilaila's response to her grief? to try and assasinate her.

CENTURIES of taking care of them. CENTURIES of protecting them. and the one goddamn time she breaks down, they freakin villainize her???

holy shit--the jervees and jer'vazir were the only people who tried to console her and show her compassion.

AND THEN HILBERT ATTACKS HER.

no wonder she snapped. i would have a long time prior.

AND THAT'S ONLY THE PRE-TOV LORE. HER ENDING UPSETS ME VISCERALLY.

i can't even say the ending of tov makes me happy. every thing that i thought i wanted from the ending just made me feel viscerally upset, dejected, and hollow, because that's the point. by the time you get to the point where you get the "aha! this person is finally getting punished," i no longer wanted her to be punished. at least, not like that?

i don't know bro... von doro's breakdown in sai really hurts my feelings. i can't tell you why. i just feel so deeply for her.

“So you think you can spear lightning at the beast who survived the volcano for three hundred years? Is that it, daara? You think the storms of the heavens hold a flame to the rage of the underworld?”

“Oh? And I am so selfish? [...] Three hundred years, daara! You say these pompous words now, but wait until the years tick by and you find an Apa you are willing to slaughter the world for! Wait until that curse steals them away from you and tortures you with isolation and betrayal! Wait until the clock ticks centuries by and you are stuck within the same walls, quelling the same voices that drive you insane, reaching for the same happiness you were never entitled to, [REDACTED]! [...] This place destroys you, daara. It turns you vile, and lonely, and desperate to leave. But no… You are so much more noble than I, that of course you would have just gambled away your freedom and your chance to live and rest in peace if I had just asked you to. Like you were not seeking out death to escape pain only an hour ago. [...] Oh please, daara. Give me a break.”

is this... a sai excerpt?

yes.

you're welcome.

--

as for insight as the author? i'll say this:

von doro represents the cyclic nature of vengeance. the entire curse reflects it, but also her entire cycle of revenge with hilbert.

hilbert was acting in revenge -> he attacks the dragons -> the dragons death cause von doro's grief -> the explosions -> hilbert attacks von doro for the explosions -> he triggers the full extent of her wrath -> the incident -> half of soilaila dies + magic ban -> alan seeking vengeance

and it just keeps continuing. she is a tragedy, but worse than that, she is the generational cycle of suffering passed onto the next. misery who wants company.

thanks for the ask, wyked!

-- the holiday limited-edition tag list --

@wyked-ao3 @an-indecisive-nerd @drchenquill

@paeliae-occasionally @theink-stainedfolk @inseasofgreen

@thelovelymachinery @the-letterbox-archives @illarian-rambling

@bunnymermaidwrites @the-golden-comet @sm-writes-chaos

@leahnardo-da-veggie @corinneglass

[please tell me if you don't wanna be tagged i promise i will stop 🥺]

[nicksolemnlyswears]

HOTD S2 EP3 THOUGHTS

SPOILERS AHEAD

Where do i fucking start? So much happened Im still reeling

Im laughing cause we were all expecting to see more of the Blackwoods at the beginning and we just got the trailer scene. So that left me cackling. Granted it was quickly wiped away by the massacre scene.

I truly love how Criston Cole is utterly clueless and regretting every decision he’s made. He’s way in too deep and everyone knows it.

Let’s give a big shout out to Rhaenys who keeps speaking the truth and honestly being a great Hand to Rhaenyra even if she doesn’t hold that title. She’s the OG

Was expecting more of Daemon and bloodshed and dragonfire but my dude was simply in a fever dream of sorts? maybe he did get poisoned or something? Maybe the dark haired lady is a witch? So many questions and not enough answers

Talking about that scene I was so happy to see Millie back if only for a scene. It was such a nice surprise! I thought it was Aemma when he entered the room.

There’s the bit of Aegon saying he can be feared and baby boy just wants to prove himself. I can’t blame him literally no one sees him capable. They only use him.

It was so hilarious when the white cloaks where talking about one of the younger ones having never bed a woman and he was like 🤔 didn’t you swore celibacy. It seemed very innocent at the moment but that clearly went to hell later.

Fuck Larys Strong is all I gotta say. One manipulative motherfucker. Not even his house wants him.

I lowkey really like Mysaria. She’s an interesting character.

Rhaena baby I know you want a role in war but literally get that ticket out of the bloodshed and thank me later.

Rhaenyra is such a good mom protecting her children from the ugliness of war.

Were those Daenerys eggs? 👀 I really want there to be a cameo about them.

Jacaerys is so impatient. I can feel him shaking. He wants to fight he wants a purpose but he respects his mama at least.

Jacaerys hugging Joffrey? My heart ached.

Can’t fucking believe Criston Cole took the time to get a fucking haircut. Looks so stupid on him too. Good for me though it’s easier to hate him.

…does Alicents brother seem fruity to you? or just me? 👀👀 Guess it runs in the family

A dragonseed at last? But where’s the blonde hair? I thought the blonde was like a dominant gene? The dude was so invested in his family history. Bless his heart. Looks like he supports the Blacks so I’m all for that.

Okay the brothel scene. I got pikachu’d like three times. First, when he opens the first curtain and there’s a woman giving it her all. She was gagged (almost literally). Second, AEGON FINDING AEMON. I was so shook I really didn’t think it could get worse from there. But then Aemond stands and it’s like shocked pikachu x3. Respectfully Aemond looking good.

Aemond really put that mask on so fast. He was like “eh fuck her see if i care” baby boy…you care very much.

Moving on! Baela! How the fuck can she see anything from so high up! My miopía could never!

Alicent and her fucking candles. She needs a lighter.

I’ve been pikachued once more! I can’t believe Rhaenyra went through with the plan! It’s so odd seeing them together once more!

Our mothers are together once more!!! I had to laugh they were so awkward at first. Rhaenyra didn’t know what to do with herself. She even admits knowing she went about it all wrong. Peak Comedy.

You guys don’t know the joy I felt when Alicent realized it’s about Aegon the Conqueror and not her son. OMG.

At the same time I wa so sad for Rhaenyra cause for a moment she really though Viserys had changed his mind but suck on that Alicent.

She went to being a bitch so quickly. God I hate her. Rhaenyra is trying to make peace and she refuses. Fuck her. Can’t stand her. Even knowing Viserys never meant for Aegon to be king.

Overall, another great episode although I expected more from Daemon.

[lynxfrost13]

Tagged by @beanthazar for this :]

5 comfort characters

1. Tyrande Whisperwind (World of Warcraft)

I’ve loved Tyrande basically since I’ve loved Warcraft, she’s such a badass character in so many ways, she’s thousands of years old and has been through so much. She’s the leader of her people and the high priestess of her goddess, she’s married and has an adopted kid and they’re the world to her (and in the Stormrage novel she literally goes the the nightmare realm to get her man back, that’s love). I’m forever going to be a little bit salty about how her anger over the massacre of her people was handled during shadowlands but getting to see her help bring a new world tree into existence and then being able to pass the mantle of leadership onto her daughter so she can finally rest is so good to see. I love her she’s great <3

2. James Kirk (Star Trek TOS)

He is such a little shit SPECIFICALLY TOS Kirk. This man gets into shenanigans and meets alien love interests like no one else, he’s just a funny lil guye to me in the best way (and I have a fondness for TOS anyway bc it’s so damn dramatic and over the top)

3. Ariane Yeong (Signalis)

OFFICER YEONG MY FUCKING BELOVED I think about her every day… when you grow up trapped and choose another trap that dooms you because it’s the choice that’ll give you at least a few years of happiness… and you fall in love and finally thrive… only to then suffer horrifically and through forces beyond your comprehension essentially become a god who only wants release from her pain…

4. Chrisjen Avasarala (The Expanse)

This woman is so awfully delightful she’s such a ruthless person with her “earth must come first” mentality and then seeing her soften a bit and being more willing to work with Mars and the Belt was so cool!!! I also just love her excessive swearing and bratty/demanding attitude bc she really does whatever the hell she wants, mean ass grandma who I’m scared of <3

5. Beckett Mariner (Lower Decks)

MARINERRRR she’s such good fun, I love her loud and obnoxious personality but also getting to see her more vulnerable side as the show progressed. She’s just some guy who’s very content with her place in life so long as she’s got her people!!

Taggin but no pressure @star-ar512 @zazanyanya @kestrel-wylde @bi-pan-whiteout @yaoi-goth @uneclipsing @creativebrainrot @foxholemonster @thewrldlooksred @edmunderson and anyone else who wants to ^^

[kneelingshadowsalome]

I promised, promised myself that I wouldn’t read the Roman König x Fee fic until it was completed because I knew i would get absolutely drawn in, wrapped up in your exquisite prose, then get addicted and suffer from withdrawals. Unneeded to say I broke said promise and welp here I am 🤡

Thing that surprised me was how quickly he endeared himself to me? A cock swinging village massacring brute that I was FULLY prepared to hate had me sighing by then end of chapter 3 with the “you care about my head?” ✋😩 YES I worry for your stupid head you adorable monster.

It’s uncanny how similarly Fee and I felt as the plot progressed. I know this is a self insert and though I made an OC for fee, you were able to capture the feeling of hate to curiousity to distrust to budding emotions on the readers side so beautifully and in only three chapters?? What sorcery is this?? I could go on and on about how I’m just… in awe of your writing skills.

It’s the small things too. The effort he went through to understand Fee, learning her language like he desperately wants to be a part of her. It’s just his delight in the simple things like having a woman and buying her pretty things. I AM GOING TO GNAW OFF MY ARM THIS IS SO GOOD!! I don’t know if you’ve watched HBOs Rome, but they remind me of Pullo and Eirene so much! Like you can’t tell me König doesn’t fit that goofy brawdy soldier who’s only hobbies are drinking and fucking and fighting to a T!

Then it got me thinking…. If König is Pullo then Simon is Vorenus. He has that straight laced, no bs aura about him. Now I’m imagining them both in this universe and please excuse me while I melt in a puddle 🫠

This is perhaps the best piece of fiction I’ve read in a while. I can’t wait for part 4, I have no doubt it will be wonderful as usual. Please accept my maladaptive daydream interpretation of Fee (first she was supposed to be a wood nymph, then the earth goddess then a fairy queen?? I’m not sure anymore. There was so much great imagery couldn’t settle on one. Your honor, we lost the plot.)

Oh my goodness OH MY GOODNESS ❤️❤️❤️

You shower me with praise and I’m over here like aaahh... for me? 🥺❤️

And yes I’ve watched Rome like four times at least! Every time I watch it just gets better, the producers and crew really outdid themselves with all the details in that series. I consider it one of the best TV shows ever made and excuse me but you opened a Pandora’s box here, I'm just so pleased you brought this up...

It took so much time for Pullo to grow on me, I was so frustrated with his character but when he killed Eirene’s man because he was so in love with her and was just like: “Oh there's something in the way of our love? Oh well. *there*, solved.” Gosh I was IN LOVE. I’m sorry, I’m a horrible person, but I fell in love with Pullo right that second. And yeah König is kinda like Pullo in that sense! Eirene wails at the corpse of her ex-lover and Pullo is just like “Um, yeah nasty business but… why are you crying? Oh, oh yeah, oops. But hey, we could be together? Oh, you don’t want me? Damn. How come?” I wanted to shake and kiss him for being so dumb and adorable.

And Ghost is Vorenus YES, you get it 100 %! And the tragic love story of Vorenus & Niobe, oh god, took me about a month to get over it. And Vorenus being under the protection of Mars first and then literally becoming Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld… The mythology nerd in me is swooning over here. The only thing about Vorenus that's slightly König coded to me was when Pullo had to explain to him what a clitoris is, and Vorenus is like “How do you know this about my wife?!?!” and almost kills him :D That’s so so Roman!König.

But AHHH let me squeal about your maladaptive daydream adaption next: she’s the most gorgeous Fee ever, so lovely and feminine and yet, strong and possessing that earthly power in her. I love the color of her dress too!! There’s a lot of earth & water elements linked to Fee so that color (green to turquoise?) is the most perfect combination of earth and sea, while König is more like fire & air, coming from the mountains and slow to anger but when the fire rises, no one is safe...

This was so lovely, thank you so much! I hope you enjoy the rest of the story 🩷💋

[stevethehairington]

okay so. overall review:

actually not as bad as i expected it to be! and not as bad as i thought it was going to turn out while i was in the trenches there lol. i still wished it focused a little more on eddie's home life/relationship with his dad and uncle AND his friends, and had way less of the romance stuff (read: none), BUT i will admit that there ended up being a lot less of the romance stuff than i initially expected and a lot less than it seemed like there would be while still in the middle of the book.

the paige stuff still made me uncomfy bc i didn't like the power dynamics there (paige had something eddie wanted desperately, and i don't like the idea that that could have had something to do with his "feelings" for her/why he engaged with them ((esp bc let's be real — he didn't seem super torn up over not getting to be with her in the end)) or that she used that to her advantage bc there was ALSO something in it for her) BUT i will say they did make it slightly less skeezy than i expected bc she was only a couple years older than him instead of like. significantly older like i expected.

i do wish there was more about eddie's friends and their fallout and reconciliation. his friends were super important to him and he just. dropped them. like that. and there was BARELY any blowback. like yeah there was a fight with ronnie, but we never actually got to see the reactions of any of the other hellfire/corroded coffin guys, and i would've liked to see that. same with the reconciliation, it felt very minimal — i would've liked to see more of how that played out too.

I LOVED EVERY SINGLE GODDAMN SECOND OF WAYNE MUNSON CONTENT, THAT MAN IS A GIFT HE IS AN ANGEL I ADORE HIM WITH EVERYTHING IN ME. IF THERE IS ONE THING THIS BOOK HAS DONE IT HAS SOLIDIFIED MY STANCE THAT WAYNE MUNSON IS THE BEST GOD DAMN CHARACTER AND I WOULD DIE FOR HIM.

as for eddie — i think the author did an alright job finding his voice. there were times where i thought she really nailed it, but there were also A LOT of times where i thought "he would never say that!!" "he would never do that!!". it wasn't very consistent, but overall it wasn't awful and there were some good parts!

the other characters we know and love that made cameos — VERY fun to see them (gareth, chrissy, jason, hopper, will, jonathan!!!) gareth was ESPECIALLY fun to see because they really embraced that feral chihuahua boy energy we love to assign to him. BUT. i am SO incredibly upset with how badly they massacred my boy tommy h (whOSE LAST NAME THEY COULDNT EVEN GET RIGHT I MEAN W H A T!?) they fucking. got his characterization SO BAD. it was awful. i am. personally offended by it (joking, mostly rhsjsi). (as a tommy lover i am. devastated tho. HE WOULD NOT DO THAT!!!)

OH ALSO — reefer rick. WHAT a fun dude. hes out here in his robe and bunny slippers drinking darjeeling tea, living it up. what a guy.

id like to give a huge FUCK YOU to principal higgins too! they made that dude a straight up MONSTER. he was unnecessarily CRUEL and some of the things he said straight up to eddies face,,,,,,, sir what the FUCK. i know the 80s was a different time but jesus fucking cHRIST was casual cruelty and bullying from grown ass ADULTS commonplace? i sure hope not.

ALSO FUCK AL MUNSON LIVES ALL MY HOMIES HATE AL MUNSON LIVES. that man was AWFUL, TRULY HONESTLY GENUINELY THE WORST. neglectful and cruel and downright AWFUL. NOT ONLY DID HE CONSISTENTLY ABANDON EDDIE THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE BUT THEN HE DREW EDDIE INTO HIS SCHEMES, CONNED HIM, FUCKED UP REAL BIG, AND THEN LEFT EDDIE IN THE ASHES OF THEIR — OF HIS — HOME AS THE ONLY PERSON LEFT WITH THE COP WHO GOT SHOT AND IS LIKE SLOWLY BLEEDING OUT. TALK ABOUT FUCKING TRAUMA WHAT THE FUCK. i hope he got flayed ALIVE by charlie greene lmao it would serve him right that absolute twat waffle.

also, im gonna be real. the end of that book was actually INSANELY depressing. like, it tried to be positive because you gotta end on a positive note right? but it just fell. COMPLETELY flat. bc we all know what happens to eddie in canon. he's sitting there reenrolling in school, peacoking around about how he's GOING to finish high school and he's GOING to graduate and he's GOING to show principal higgins that he CAN do it and that he ISNT the fuckup deliquent he's convinced he is. BUT WE ALL KNOW HE DOESNT FUCKING GET THAT IN CANON. he's taking waynes advice and fully embracing who he is and he's learning to be comfortable in his own skin and to rise above all the noise of people who don't like him and think he's a freak. ONLY WE KNOW HE NEVER TRULY GETS TO DO THAT EITHER BECAUSE WE ALL KNOW HOW IT ENDS IN CANON. so yeah it just ends up being a REALLY fucking BLEAK ending because all of that "positivity" is absolutely tainted. it's fucking soured. and i am once again INSANELY INFURIATED about eddies death. so fuck the duffers, again.

also, eddie munson literally never caught a fucking break. not one fucking break. his ENTIRE life was just one series of tragedies after the other and it truly just continued on that way until he fucking died. honestly, its a goddamn MIRACLE that he has ANY ounce of positivity and optimism and hope left in his life when we get to him in s4. thatd how utter dogshit a hand he has been dealt in life. and it only.got worse from there. and i will NEVER forgive ANYONE involved in his creation for that.

so yeah! that concludes my journey reading flight of icarus. it was a wild ride lol.

[jackal-heart]

Creature Commandos ending spoilers (rant)

No clue if anyone else has been watching this show, but I just finished the season finale and have some complaints

Overall, main characters are all great. They are all engaging and interesting and Gunn does well with the main cast. That’s basically my only compliment of the show. Except maybe the animation.

Using every episode to half tell the backstory of each character was SO not needed, especially with how short the episodes are, and I felt like the story was SO rushed. Except for Bride, no other characters backstory was relevant. Don’t get me wrong, I like all there backstories well enough (esp weasel) but it felt completely unnecessary. “Heres a robot from WW2 he hates nazis” yeah that’s pretty self explanatory, what did the whole meeting with the neo nazis have to do with the story. The flashbacks were fine by themselves, but without any relevances or connection they just felt wasteful. Like all of their backstories could have been summed up in a sentence? Just do it through dialogue or a single brief flashback if directly relevant at Most.

AND what was the point of Frank!! We spend so much time with him, only to show up and immediately get taken down. He had literally no impact on the story! It should have at least been like oh he stalled and weakened the team and that gave Waller time to call, but nope! Useless expect for a few gags.

And the villains were just so Lazy. We are given 0 motivation to why they want to end the world. And I’m still so confused by the clay face plan? Like it’s one thing if you purposely planted him to give Flag the lead, but clay face nearly killed flag! If he hadn’t woken up at the perfect time to teller Waller, you would have still been assassinated!

And god the going swimming scene is so dumb. You know they have a fishwoman! If that was the twist where the princess was leading Nina into an underwater trap, then I could excuse it, but come on? I’m supposed to expect her to be smart enough to end the world, but not expect a water attack? And then to just let them walk around freely and meet with you alone after they just tried to kill you? And how did no one hear the gunshot, or have guards posted outside the princess door? Or how they walk out of there no problem? And did they just not look in the office for however long to took for the team to get on a plane and leave? And if this is a country capable of ending the world, shouldn’t they have weapons capable of shooting it down?

There is just so many things that should have been included rather than pointless backstories (showing not telling doesn’t matter if it’s wasting the watchers time). For example:

- when literally any of the monsters are sneaking around in the city, they should have come across subtle hints about them amassing an army, or some sort of secret weapon that would make them capable of killing the entire justice league?

- literally any hints in the villains behavior before the reveal! The best we got is the princesses eyes gleaming after she kills Nina. Surely her generals are in on this world ending plan? I wasn’t watching super closely but surely I didn’t miss too much??

- Nina having any skills beyond being a damsel or a “good” person. Like come on have her hack something or at least make her a competent fighter in the water? The first episode you said she was a beast? There has been nothing to back up that claim?? I had expected her to massacre the star city people after her dad died, but nope. The closest she got was instigating the fight at the brothel. Her dad mentioned she spoke a languages, make it so she could have spoken the native dialect and picked up clues along the way?

- the future vision showed the princess with a scar- thought for SURE weasel was gonna give it to her

- I’m sorry THE Amanda Waller just believing Circe? Just like that? At least make it so it was an actual Amazonian who came to detain her and bring her back to Themyscria who confirmed the truth. Would also explain why Circe just disappears after that. But that would throw off their stupid clayface plan ig

- instead of just conveniently finding security camera video of the truth, maybe actually have the monsters have some agency and figure it out! Have Nina and the Bride realize the class disparity issues or police brutality that suggests the country’s darker side? Have Dr. Phosphorous figure out that there laser weapons actually suggest they have harnessed some super powerful dark energy or something? Have weasel find a secret stache of military equipment he can’t tell the others about? Have GI be really insistent on if their soldiers are nazis cause he’s picking up facist vibes? Have Nina either use her brains to figure out something, or while in the water have a fake out death using like an underwater bunker or have something to give the princess an explanation on how a mere human could beat her? Have bride find a final clue in that bookshelf, maybe a classic hidden passage for the final nail in the evil coffin to confirm their suspicious? And don’t just let the assassination be a single bullet? How am I to expect someone who would end the world to die so easily? Have it be a FIGHT, and a FIGHT to escape where Dr destroys their macGuffin so their plans fail. What’s stopping the general from just taking the princesses place and leading the war now? Especially now they know Americans just assassinated her? Have Frank actually have some sort of purpose!! Make him and Brides fight that we have been gearing up for the entire season, just wreak absolute havoc! Have them destroy their plane hanger to explain why they can’t go after them! Have them be so embroiled in their fight they don’t even realize they are destroying the army as mere collateral!

And lastly maybe DONT kill of Nina for no reason?? It serves no other purpose than giving bride another reason to angst, of which she has plenty!?

God this all is infuriating there is just so much I have issues with when it comes to this show, and it’s only more annoying that I love the characters so I have to deal with the horrid story!

[lady-of-ocs]

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE GUESS WHO FINISHED SEASON 3 LAST NIGHT

AND LET ME TELL YOU, BABE. THIS SEASON WAS A WHOLE ROLLERCOASTER OF EMOTIONS.

I'm gonna go down in order of the episodes, I guess. Alright, FROM THE TOP!

...Right after the cut because god knows I have a lot to say

In case you hadn't noticed in my past few posts, I like Daisuga a lot. That being said, Michimiya's whole crush on Daichi is not only adorable, but very relatable. Like, Daichi is such a sweetheart. How could you not have a crush on him? Michimiya giving him the little good luck charm before the game was pretty cute. Anyway, back to the regularly programmed homosexuality-

Actually, scratch that. We love to see Nishinoya and Tanaka chanting "do it for the babes" and screaming in the middle of the hallway. My dudes, you'd get way more girls if you took a chill pill.

ALSO HINATA'S MIDDLE SCHOOL FRIENDS COMING TO WATCH HIM PLAY AND SUPPORT HIM!!!!!!! I'M GONNA CRY, YOU GUYS. Also Kageyama not remembering them lmao- "Do you remember every bug you squish?" is WILD in the context that he's comparing beating Hinata's middle school team to that. SO tactful there, Kags. AND HINATA WITH THE FINGER GUN "this is why no one likes you" COMBO. THAT IS MY SON RIGHT THERE. I LOVE HIM

Obviously it was good to see the school start to support them at the end of season 2, but the vice principal and a bunch of the student body showing up was so great to see! I had to look Shimada and Takinoue up on the Haikyuu wiki because I cannot for the life of me remember their names, though. I'm out here calling them "glasses guy" and "the blond one." But it was good to see them there to support the boys as well! As someone who was in a not very popular sport during high school, any support at all feels great, so I'm very happy for the boys. That being said, THEY WERE NOT CONFIDENT AT THE START OF THIS GAME. HALF THE TEAM LOOKS EITHER DEAD OR LIKE THEY'RE GONNA VOMIT. Hinata, Asahi, and Yamaguchi my anxious, beloved boys- Meanwhile Nishinoya and Tanaka having a girl related breakdown. Oh and the Shiratorizawa crowd was wild. It was just bigger than Karasuno's, for one, but they also had some fucking cheerleaders and at one point they broke into song- It was just a crazy difference. You could tell that a lot of these guys regularly went to games, unlike the Karasuno crowd who didn't know the chants very well.

AND SPEAKING OF THE CROWD: AKITERU!!!! I honestly just love Kei in general, but seeing his relationship with his big brother is one of my favorite things (that and his relationship with Yamaguchi, obviously). I loved every moment of Akiteru being on screen. His surprise that Kei might have more friends than just Tadashi, his pride in his brother's performance, and him rushing down after Kei's hand got injured- Whoa, whoa, getting ahead of myself. All that to say that Akiteru was delightful during this season and he does genuinely seem like a good big brother.

Just as a warning, you're gonna see me gush about Tendō a lot in this post because that's my boy and I love him (as if I don't say that about half the characters who appear on my screen). I screamed when he arrived.

The first set just stressed me out. Somehow I remembered that Ushiwaka was a lefty well enough that I wasn't surprised when Noya said it, but it didn't quite register in my brain when I watched the ball getting hit. We love to see Suga screaming at the team and telling them to get their heads out of their "big dumb asses." Love you so much, Suga. Keep being the team mom we all love to see. I was watching this first set and just going "they're getting absolutely steamrolled holy shit-" but eyyyy Tanaka got the first point! That being said, the set ended and I was like "girl that was an absolute MASSACRE." P.S. thank you to whoever decided to write actual explanations about certain volleyball rules, plays, strategies, etc. into the show (and I'd guess they were also in the manga?). Yachi explained the technical timeout and I was like ohhhhh. I get it now.

Tsukki's hand got BEAT UP this season. He's got one finger sprained or something in the first set and then his hand manages to get cut open or something on a ROUND BALL and his pinkie finger gets fucking DISLOCATED. Ushiwaka, your spikes are lethal, dude. Keep doing what you're doing but good god please don't kill someone

Tendō and his fucking blocks are just- HE'S GENUINELY SO FUCKING COOL AND KINDA SILLY AND I LOVE HIM??? BUT LIKE. OBVIOUSLY I WANT KARASUNO TO WIN SO I'M JUST LIKE "oh that was so awesome but AHHHHH FUCKING TENDŌ AT IT AGAIN"

Shiratorizawa is a scary opponent. Obviously you have Ushiwaka and Tendō, but they're all pretty good players. Even though I already knew that Karasuno won at the end (even if I hadn't seen things from the end of the match, obviously they win since there's literally a season 4), I was still on the edge of my seat because oh, hey, this is really intense and you really sit there and wonder "how the hell are they going to win?" sometimes.

LISTEN. I WAS SAT HERE LIKE "Tsukki, you're such a brat but SUCH A FUCKING CUTIE PATOOTIE." I LOVE THIS BOY. I'LL FIGHT SOMEONE FOR THIS BOY. GET TENDŌ'S ASS, HONEY

Love that Yamaguchi is no longer nervous about serving and just wants to get in the game so that he can serve.

Please enjoy this snippet taken directly from my google doc: IT’S YAMS’ TIME TO SHINE PLEASE LET MY BABY SHINE PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY- “It’s all you.” FUCKING TSUKKI ABOUT TO MAKE ME EMOTIONAL OVER A GODDAMN SERVE. HE’S MORE SUPPORTIVE THAN HE GETS CREDIT FOR AND I’M GOING TO THROTTLE HIM Immediately followed by: FUCKING USHIWAKA I HATE YOU /hj

Brief commercial break from our regularly programmed rambling- THE WIKI JUST TOLD ME THAT KAGEYAMA'S GRANDPA WENT TO SHIRATORIZAWA AND WHAT. WHAT DO YOU MEAN. THIS INFORMATION CANNOT BE SPRUNG ON ME THREE DAYS INTO 2025

"NEXT EPISODE IS CALLED FULL MOON AND TSUKKI IS LITERALLY CONSIDERED THE MOON IT’S ABOUT TO BE THE TSUKKI KICKS ASS EPISODE WOOOOOOOO"

I'm glad I wrote a little note down about Yachi's mobbing metaphor because I kind of forgot about it, but that same mobbing mindset was ultimately what won Karasuno the game. Their last attack was a synchronized attack, and it overwhelmed Shiratorizawa and ultimately lost them the point and won Karasuno the game. So, yeah! Amazing metaphor, Yachi! And great foreshadowing, show!

I cannot remember the context for all of these but here are some random reactions from this section:

SERVICE ACE ASAHI! SERVICE ACE ASAHI! WOOOOOO! THIS MAN IS MY FAVORITE EVER

Tsukki I swear to god YOU CANNOT DO THIS TO ME. HE’S SO SMART. SMARTEST FUCKING COOKIE.

Hinata is such a talented little decoyyyyy. I’M SO PROUD OF HIM!!!!

He’s so fucking good at that quick I’m so proud of him

Tsukki has gotten so much more into the game and it makes me so happy. He’s so fun to watch and listen to the inner monologues of. He’s a genuinely amazing blocker and player and I loooove this

ASAHI IS SUCH A GOOD, SUPPORTIVE UPPERCLASSMAN SIR CAN YOU PLEASE STOP BEING SO KISSABLE

"I’ll never forgive them for what they do to you baby 😭"

I have seen season 4 Asahi and I just. I'm not as attached to season 4's design but it doesn't seem like many people like season 4's animation style, so I feel like I can say that. Season 1 Asahi, you will always be my one true love. But season 2 and 3 Asahi is also very good (I love his little headband).

"TSUKKIIIIIIIII HOLY SHIT HE BLOCKED USHIWAKA HOLY FUCK THAT’S MY FUCKING BOY HOLY FUCKING SHIT THEY GOT THE SET BECAUSE OF TSUKKI AHHHHHHH." So, obviously, I was very excited. There is a screenshot of Tsukki in my google doc. I screamed some more. "YOU ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICENT MOTHERFUCKER I ADORE YOU AND I NEED TO FUCKING SQUEEZE YOU" I was just having a grand old time gushing about Tsukki. AND I LOVED THAT HE WAS SO PUMPED UP BY HIS BLOCK TOO. HIM CLENCHING HIS FIST AND YELLING SHOT RIGHT THROUGH ME, MAN. UKAI CALLED HIM THE MVP AT THE END OF THE GAME AND GIRL HE WAS SO RIGHT.

Damn, I didn’t even get to see them lose that set, they just fucking lost. Like, almost by 10 (25-18). I don’t even know what to say to that, babe

Shiratorizawa’s coach is so mean but also so funny (“Do I need to call child protective services? Because you look like a lost kid at the mall!” SIR PLEASE YOU AREN’T ALLOWED TO BE THIS FUNNY). And he was consistently funny the entire time. Like, so many comments and threats just had me like "SIR I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO LIKE YOU THIS MUCH." “Keep playing like bums and I’ll have you run home while I wave to you from the bus!” PLEASE MR. COACH MAN YOU ARE SO FUCKING FUNNY HELP- THE FACT THAT TENDŌ SAYS HE’S LEGITIMATELY DONE THAT TOO OH MY GOD

TENDŌ SATORI I AM IN YOUR FUCKING WALLS THAT PLAY WAS SO GOOD AND YOU JUST SHUT TANAKA DOWN AHHHHH.

IWA AND OIKAWA ARE HEREEEEEEE!!!! I like them a lot. I like them a lot a lot. I love how we got to see them banter and they gave commentary on the game and specifically Kageyama and Hinata. And the fact that Iwa showed up, too. Like, come on, babe, as if you didn't come here specifically because you knew Oikawa would. Don't play stupid with me. Side note: Oikawa you fucking NERD

Cue me gushing about the third years as little baby first years (my dog sat on my mouse while I was trying to write that sentence):

ASAHI IS SOMEHOW AN EVEN MORE ANXIOUS BOY AND DAICHI’S VOICE IS SO HIGH. BABY HAS NOT HIT PUBERTY YET LMAO

I’M GONNA CRY LOOK AT THEM I LOVE THEM I CANNOT DEAL- "I don’t know if I can watch this entire episode if I’m gonna keep getting fucking cuteness aggression every time I see these three babies on screen. I’m gonna squish them. I must" Look at my boyssssss. They worked so hard and for WHAT “I guess that means our crows have fallen” SHUT UP OLD MAN YOU’RE GIVING THESE CHILDREN TRAUMA

I don't remember the context for this picture but I just want to put in another picture of Asahi tbh.

That's the love of my life right there, people. He's pretty, anxious (he's just like me), and a sweetheart. My ideal man fr fr

Again, do not remember the context for this, but: TENDŌ YOU LITTLE SHIT-

"Aaaand Ushijima’s serving somebody hold my hand-" Tendou being Ushijima’s fucking hype man is everything I needed to see today lmao

Okay but genuine question. So Suga goes in and serves, they get the point. But now Kageyama is serving. Where the fuck did Suga go??? Don’t they usually keep serving??? Unless they lost a point that I missed but ????????

SO DOWN FOR SUGA STARTING THE FINAL SET. GET THEIR ASSES SUGA BABY. Aww Suga’s stressed. Can’t blame him. IT’S THE KIYOKO PART! She’s genuinely so kind, though. Like, she noticed he was trying to warm up his hands and tried to help. Kiyoko, you’ve grown on me! We also love to see Asahi being supportive to Suga. The third years have my entire heart and soul dedicated to them, I fear

JESUS CHRIST USHIJIMA YOU’RE GOING TO HURT THE FUCKING SPECTATORS

SUGA LOOKS SO SMALL NEXT TO THOSE SHIRATORIZAWA GUYS MY GOD Granted, Suga isn’t the tallest guy on the team, but dude, these guys look like giants next to him AIN’T NO WAY TENDŌ CALLED SUGA “easy to read, like a kids book.” YOU TAKE THAT BACK. LEAVE SUGA MAMA ALONE

Asahi’s serve! OH MY GOD AND NISHI DOING THE SET FOR A FULL TEAM ATTACK AND SUGA IS THE ONE WHO FUCKING SPIKES IT AND GETS THE POINT THAT WAS FUCKING EPIC.

So. Tendō's tragic backstory. I was already attached to him at this point but the whole thing about him being ostracized for his entire fucking life (and for what? He's just a baby, leave him alone) just hit me right in the heart and buried itself there. I need to squeeze this precious little baby because ain't no way I'm letting him get treated like that. I'm glad that his teammates and coaches don't treat him like that, at least. Ushijima had better have been the best fucking friend to him I swear to god-

AND THEY MADE ME LIKE USHIJIMA IN TWO FUCKING SECONDS. LOOK AT THAT BABY. LOOK HOW MUCH THIS BOY LOOKS UP TO HIS DAD. SOMEONE FUCKING HOLD ME

That was a hella gay thing to say, Tendō “now isn’t that a beautiful sight” while staring directly at Ushijima. WHO WROTE THIS

“In Tendō’s words, I am excited.” YOU KNOW WHAT? I’M HAPPY FOR HIM. GLAD THIS BOY IS HAVING FUN

TSUKKI YOU ARE SUCH A LITTLE SHIT I LOVE YOU

LOOK AT THIS ABSOLUTE PUNK OF A BOY

See, I knew Tsukishima got injured during this game but somehow I still didn't expect it when it happened. AND I DIDN'T KNOW HE STARTED BLEEDING HOLY SHIT. AND WHAT DO YOU FUCKING MEAN HIS PINKIE IS DISLOCATED??? AND HIM TRYING TO ACT ALL TOUGH LIKE THE PAIN DOESN'T BOTHERING HIM. TSUKISHIMA KEI I AM SHAKING YOU LIKE A WET NOODLE.

DO NOT FUCKING TOUCH ME LOOK AT HOW WORRIED TADASHI IS

Akiteru being a good big brother and running down to check on Tsukki I- TSUKISHIMA PLAYING OFF HIS PAIN BUT HE’S ABSOLUTELY FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE RIGHT NOW. Good on Akiteru for reminding Tsukki that he has a good team and doesn’t need to tough it out.

CAN WE PLEASE APPRECIATE SAEKO?? The guys were so dejected and tired and Saeko woke up the crowd and started leading the chants and cheering. I love her. Tanaka has a good big sister.

AND AT THE LAST MOMENTS OF ONE HELL OF A SET, TSUKISHIMA KEI RETURNS TO THE FUCKING COURT LET’S GO!!!!! Everyone is so happy/surprised to see Tsukishima back and I’m so happy too! Let’s go, babe! BLESS HINATA HONESTLY “I bought you some time, Tsukki…But honestly, it was mostly Yamaguchi." I AM ON THE FLOOR.

DAWWWW LOOK AT USHIJIMA SILENTLY APOLOGIZING TO TSUKKI FOR THE INJURY. He’s not a bad egg, he’s just competitive

NOT THE BALL HITTING TSUKKI’S BAD HAND RIGHT AFTER HE GETS BACK IN THE GAME. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP THAT BOY-

Hinata gets a point, Tendō blocks his next point and we’re back at Duce, WHEN DOES IT END

NISHINOYA YOU’RE MY FUCKING HERO!!!!!!!

HOLY SHIT THIS IS THE MOST INTENSE THING I’VE EVER WATCHED. HINATA GOT HIT IN THE FUCKING FACE. LOOK AT HOW INTO THIS SHIT TSUKKI IS. USHIWAKA LOOKS LIKE HE’S GOING TO FUCKING KILL SOMEONE. BABYGIRL I AM SHAKING

Ohhhhh the visual of Ushijima shoving Tsukishima and Hinata down and then Daichi, Asahi, and Tanaka coming to push him off and help them is just AHHHHHHH. THEY’RE SO FUCKING AWESOME. I LOVE THESE UPPERCLASSMEN SO FUCKING MUCH. SOMEONE PLEASE SEDATE ME.

AND THEY FUCKING WIN. LET'S GO KARASUNO!!!!!!!!! I had to get up and take two laps to get myself to calm down enough to actually watch this part because I was so excited for them.

These three are fucking crushing me please hold-

Nah but the way that Daichi instantly just turned to Asahi and they hugged each other and then Suga immediately came to join them and they just hugged and screamed and cried- I was emotional. They deserve the world. I'm so happy for them AND THEY AREN'T EVEN REAL

“Farewell, my paradise” TENDŌ I DO NOT NEED TO CRY RIGHT NOW STOP IT-

Bawling my eyes out.

Takeda fucking sobbing that he’s proud of them is so real of him. And Ukai putting his hands on shoulders and praising the boys (TSUKKI IS 100% THE MVP OF THE GAME TODAY WOOOOOOO)

*cue chanting* USHITEN RIGHTS! USHITEN RIGHTS! Them just laying there stretching together is just. I don't know. I just had emotions about it. Someone has a whole analysis on what Tendō is saying (acting like Ushiwaka is going to just leave and forget about him), so I won't go into that territory, but just. I like them a lot. Shiratorizawa grew on me and I got all sad when they started crying from their loss. I'm really glad that Ushiwaka and Tendō remain friends (I've seen that "we're also best friends" panel from the manga and it fuels my life force, actually).

*continued chanting* TSUKKIYAMA RIGHTS! TSUKKIYAMA RIGHTS! I just love them so much. -> This is about the Tsukki calling himself worthless and Yamaguchi yelling at him about it scene, by the way. I love them.

Girl, the chaos 4 and Takeda are fucking passed out over there. Honestly, they all deserve it but Tanaka especially. He really played his ass off for all five sets. He, Asahi, and Daichi were clearly exhausted by the end but they kept fighting (and so did everyone else, to be fair!)

OOOOH IT’S THE JUMPING THING. THE ONE WHERE THEY’RE ALL JUMPING TO MEASURE HOW HIGH EVERYONE CAN JUMP. I love that Asahi's all salty about Hinata being able to jump as high as him. We don't get salty Asahi enough.

AND THAT’S SEASON 3 BABYGIRL!!! NEXT TIME: SEASON 4 (featuring the animation change that nobody likes)

I'm probably going to do more consistent reactions again now that I have a functioning laptop again. So, look forward to that, I guess!

[skaruresonic]

Even ignoring that, Oshima doesn't write the games, nor has been in the franchise for decades. His opinions have also definitely changed as well (from being annoyed by the Harmony Calendar art by other artists overly mascotting/cutifying Sonic, to blanket "they good" now cuz fondness of all 90s)

He's a good resource for dev of stuff in the initial games and inspiration for char designs, but is generally unaware of char writing besides basic traits

Though his view on Eggman being not evil evil might be cuz Sonic 1 dev Eggman being the main villain was an afterthought. And people pressure him to prioritize remembering Sonic 1/CD dev over others

But hey, took him 30 years to forget things. I can't say the same for certain writers...

And people pressure him to prioritize remembering Sonic 1/CD dev over others

Bruh I can barely remember my mindset when making OaS and it got published only a year ago. Demanding a dev recall their initial impressions of a character they helped create 30 years ago is insane.

...Anyway, I had to go find the original quote because unfortunately, people tend to misrepresent Ohshima's statements. Can't really take anyone else's word for it.

And, uh, yeah. Like the SonAmy tweet, there's quite a bit here that I have to disagree with.

First, we have the problem of thinking that villains who aim to destroy the world are automatically worse than Eggman, who "only" wants to conquer it.

Conquest under Eggman's rule would be absolutely horrible. In some instances, I wouldn't be sure if total annihilation wouldn't be a more preferable fate.

You could argue that Eggman conquering the world would end up destroying it anyway, thus rendering the comparison moot. But since that gives ground to the idea that instant destruction is worse than subjugation which results in destruction over time, I'm not going to lean too hard into it. Destruction is destruction.

The underlying assumption weakens even more when you consider the fact that not every non-Eggman villain wants to destroy the world in the first place.

Fueled by pain and rage, Chaos massacred the Knuckles clan. Regardless, it didn't destroy the entire clan, never mind the world.

Neo Metal wanted to build a robot kingdom. Not a far cry from his creator's aims.

Black Doom wanted to turn humanity into fuel and a food source. To which I must say, how is that qualitatively any different than Eggman turning animals into robot batteries?

---

Second, "Eggman protects the world" as part of his own self-interests when necessity demands. Yeah, obviously there's going to be nothing to rule if he allows the world to be destroyed and he doesn't want that. But he's not going out of his way to "protect" the world unless he has a personal stake in it and there's no other alternative. At which point, he can only be said to be pragmatic at best.

He's not doing it because he thinks he can outperform Mother Nature. I feel like Ohshima is taking Eggman's god complex too literally and thinking Eggman feels he can replace nature. Science is the means, not the objective:

He doesn't really want to replace anything; he wants to conquer and have all bend to his will, and he doesn't care if things fall into disrepair.

If he was interested in supplanting nature with his own version, why is everything falling apart in CD's Bad Futures? Where are the forests full of mechanized trees? Why are the waters polluted and not replaced with Mega Mack? This argument would imply that Eggman is also responsible for the beneficial technology seen in CD's Good Futures, and that's just backwards.

Just because he wants to slap his face on every available surface doesn't mean he has some pseudo-philosophical reason for doing so.

---

"Humans are enemies for animals."

Mr. Ohshima, I respect you, but no. Not every culture believes this. Mine doesn't. Humans have the potential to be harmful or helpful, but we are not inherently one or the other.

I think maybe what he meant to say here is that humanity's greed is the driving force behind environmental destruction, which would be a valid take in keeping with the series' overall message. Eggman does represent industry, humanity's potential for great scientific achievement and for great harm.

"Eggman wants to make the world beautiful with science and technology."

Source? No seriously, source?

This might be hair-splitting to the Nth degree, but the sense I get from this particular bit is that Eggman finds science inherently beautiful and seeks to enhance the world with it, rather than finding his own creations beautiful out of a sense of ego.

---

"He is not evil in Sonic Adventure" does not mean Ohshima is necessarily saying Eggman isn't evil in other games. And even then, it's a bit of a stretch to say he isn't evil in Adventure.

Not sure why Ohshima is bringing up SA1 as if it's particularly relevant... Although I'm vaguely reminded of a manual entry that describes Eggman as possessing no real sense of right or wrong, so he may be remembering that.

The problem with Mr. Ohshima's statements is that they are not corroborated by what the games show us. Every time Eggman has displayed remorse, it was part of a ruse - which would imply that he needs to know what contrition looks like in order to imitate it. He wouldn't brutally mock Emerl's mercy as a sign of weakness if he didn't understand it. He's not lacking in comprehension; he's actively rejecting the concept. There's a difference.

Also, this interpretation inadvertently paints Sonic in a darker light than intended given his callous disregard of Eggman, and I don't think Ohshima realizes it.

It's significant that Sonic has never looked at the camera and lamented: "Alas, poor Eggman, he knows not the error of his ways." In fact, it'd be pretty fucked-up if he thought Eggman was simply walking down a bad path, and still chose to leave him behind in explosions and ignored the guy's pleas for rescue/mercy.

The games make it clear that Eggman knows what he's doing and he just doesn't care. He calls himself "evil" in Sonic Battle. He absolutely is capable of distinguishing right from wrong, and it borders on discrediting his intelligence to imply otherwise.

Eggman has a 300 IQ and is capable of self-reflection, if we're buying the whole "muh humanizing moments" bullshit SA2 and Frontiers are selling us. It therefore strips him of his agency and infantilizes him to insist that he knows no better, even in this roundabout "oh, he's only misguided" kind of way.

Shadow was misguided in SA2. We can argue about whether he heel-face turned too quickly, but the point remains that he eventually came around.

Eggman's actions, on the other hand, have proven that even if he is misguided, he's too entrenched in his goals to consider turning the car around. So there's no real point in emphasizing the "misguided" part.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't say "Eggman's finally becoming A Real Human Being(tm) through self-reflection" in one breath and "he just doesn't know right from wrong" in the next. Those two ideas are incompatible. Either Eggman knows that what he does is wrong or he doesn't. And considering how he was able to recognize his grandfather's greatness as a child, my bets are on the former.

[otakween]

Digimon World 4 - Final Thoughts

Whelp, that was...something. This game is objectively bad, but I still had a good, brain rotting time. It falls into the "game to zone out on the couch to" category. The lack of much story, characters or dialogue means I got in some quality podcast/music time as well. It's pretty similar to Digimon World 2 in its crappiness, but I found DW4's gameplay more satisfying. I think DW2 has the more appealing art style though, so they even out to the same rank basically. Full thoughts below!

Notes:

So this is loosely based on the Digimon X-Evolution CG film I posted about before. I was disappointed to see that the opening credits are just a hodge podge of scenes from said movie. That's pretty boring and lazy if you ask me. I picked Dorumon to control in honor of the film's protag (and since it would be a more novel experience).

I found any weapon aside from the guns to be a colossal pain to use, so I just used guns and guns alone for the entire game lol. At least I was able to get tech points quickly that way!

This game has the most unbalanced difficulty levels ever. It's either stupid hard or stupid easy. Luckily, the stupid easy moments are far more frequent. Every time I fought a boss I braced myself only to just button mash my way to the end in like a few minutes. Most of them were jokes. On the other end of the spectrum, the beginning of the game was weirdly hard because I would get mobbed by enemies and massacred in like two seconds (this is when I realized I should be using the guns lol). It's hard to have much strategy because most battle moves you can do (spin attack, charged attack, block) suck control-wise. My strat for most of the game was either the ole "shoot and run" or just to get up on a high ground where I was invincible. The latter move kinda felt broken and was part of what made the game stupid easy.

Thank God I emulated this game. Although it's mostly easy, there are definitely moments where it's easy to die. Some dungeons will lock you into the tightest corners and then just spawn like a jillion enemies out of nowhere (the Otamamon and Infermon were the WORST). Some of the harder bosses had some pretty cheap moves too. Save states were the VIP, as usual.

The plot of the game is really basic and the writing is just as wonky as DW2. Basically all you need to know is that there's a virus that's bad and you need to get rid of it. It doesn't get any deeper than that and there are no twists or turns. Ophanimon, Seraphimon, and Leomon are the only characters with significant dialogue (none of the bosses talk) and they really don't have anything interesting to say (I did like Ophanimon and Seraphimon's models tho)

The dungeons were definitely better than DW2 in terms of visuals/layout, but the enemies felt super repetitive. You get maybe 3 types of enemies per dungeon and then you just fight those same 3 again and again and again.

The dungeons are unreasonably long slogs with no way to save in the middle of them. I had save states so I was okay, but sometimes a dungeon would take me over two hours?? Like wtf. I know kids have a lot of free time but some of them aren't even allowed to game for 2 hours straight!

Of course, I played this single player. I actually think it'd be really fun as a multiplayer game? Like, that's probably what it was actually built for. There are actually some moments where you can't go to certain parts of dungeons without a buddy :'(

The bosses were mostly big bads from the series/movies which was fun. Made it awkward when I defeated them so easily though lol

All of the walkthroughs for this game suck lol. The one I used for the majority of the game the guy literally kept writing "I don't remember what happens in this dungeon. Just go through it." LOL thanks for nothing, bud. He said "I don't remember" sooo many times it was comical.

I poked around on the internet looking for info for this game and it seems the general consensus in the fandom is that it's pretty abysmal. Still, there are people like me that got enjoyment out of it regardless.

The little noises Dorumon made when attacked were very cute

I never bothered with digivolution. You don't get digivolution until late in the game and if you digivolve it reverts you to levl 1. Nuts to that!

I also didn't bother with any side quests because they sounded extremely not worth it (some of them don't even have a reward?)

I was pretty under-leveled at the end of the game (barely scraping level 30) but I felt like I had infinite healing basically because I had so much MP. That's another aspect of the game that felt broken.

The ending of this game was SO anti-climactic. I defeated the boss, returned to the hub world expecting a cutscene, and then it went straight to credits. No dialogue, no thank you, nothing. I had to go around and talk to people to get some thank yous but they didn't sound that appreciative really lol. Where are my flowers!? 😭 This took me over a month of tedium!

One part of the game that I did find pretty hard was the Storm Train where you have to get to the end of a train track while hitting the right levers while simultaneously fighting of a ton of enemies. If I had to do that without save states, I probably would have given up lol

I never really regret beating a video game, even if it kinda sucked. It's especially nice to check off another game in a series (even though the World series isn't really connected). I give Digimon World 4 a 5 out of 10.

[actuallyidontgiveadamn]

Really out of nowhere but I rewatched some of fma03 eps and im gonna rant

I'm just so done with smiling politely saying that fma03 and fmab are both great sorry i cant anymore. Just no

So if you in love with fmab im warning you it probably won't be a good read for you, so feel free to ignore this, block me or idk read this and give it a thought

0. I really dont understand the glorification of manga over anime adaptations. Like people who are making the adaptation are not artists and creators themselves? What makes mangaka better than others and absolutely indisputable, seriously?

1. 'Oh no long introduction and fillers' that actually allowed for Hughes' character development before his death. Seriously if i mention his death among my homies I'll get lots of faces clearly going through some ptsd level flashbacks, it was that impactful. I still need to take a breather when im rewatching before diving into that ep.

2. Nina. Yet again got more time to grow on us and thus aquired higher trauma inducing levels.

3. Ishval massacre and aftermath are WAY MORE VISIBLE in fma03. First of all Ishvalans are depicted as human beings, and not some background, and we get lots more on their sufferings, raids on camps, racism towards them, etc etc etc

4. Scar. Oh boi how do i even go about this. So without raging much about that beefy obviously wrong dude who got 'sense' bitten into him and started working with the oppressing gov in fmab, we have a wronged and tormented survivor of a genocide, who was justified in his vengeance and rage, was depicted as an attractive person of color despite his antagonistic role and was seriously almost cheered on in his actions by the narrartive. His interactions with his people and his moral dilemmas made his character possibly the deepest and most thought out one in the series.

5. The Rockbell doctors being killed by their own government. That's a waaaaay more interesting and damning detail on our government affiliated protagonists than just dumping their murder on a delirious patient.

6. Homunculi had their own will and desires and a way more developed story arc that had a huge impact on protagonists' morals. Being created by the humans who were desperate to bring back their loved ones and both parties are getting tormented by it?? Characters strongly driven by their own goals and staggered by their relations to their creators vs some indifferent goons in fmab. Just compare Sloths and their impact on the stories and protags.

7. Final conflict being a fight with god and his intricate plans in fmab, versus final battle vs a selfish pretty much usual person who had thrown everyone under the bus in pursuit of immortality. Adds so much more desperation flavor. Suddenly your hero journey doesn't end in epic battle for the sake of the mankind, as you would like it to be. It's just to oppose one awful person with too much power and zero care about anyone else. That's raw and that's way more plausible and relatable in our mundane lives.

8. Overall darker tone and themes of the fma03.

9. MUSIC. I dont remember a single track from fmab, but i went really out of my way in my teenage years to find internet access and pirate fma soundtrack and cry listening to it

10. ART. Sorry but don't tell me fmabs flat colors are anything to 03's soft tones and lighting

So yeah sorry, but I'll take the dark and gritty tragedy over just another shounen with doubtful messages each and every time

[nobodysdaydreams]

My Reaction to the First Six Episodes of Wolf 359 (Because my mutuals have enticed me)

@sophieswundergarten @oflightningandstars @acollectionofcuriousreblogs

My curiosity got the better of me. Will I do these for every episode? Will I listen to the full podcast? Who knows, but I hope you like this💕

My Live Reaction to Episode 1:

At first, an ad played for a way more upbeat story podcast involving Greek gods, rainbow magic, and teenagers, and I was very confused because none of this was mentioned in any of your posts.

Yes, yes, Eiffel. Hera forgets what's necessary to sustain human life and accidently made the cabin too cold, hahahaha...foreshadowing.

"Whatever you're up to Dr. Hilbert, best of luck!" Dude is your whole job ominous foreshadowing? Sorry guys, I get half the characters from your posts confused, I just know that Hera is the AI, but Eiffel dude, there's no way Hilbert's not up to something.

"It's not like if she let me have a cigarette, I'd light it and set the station's air supply on fire" Bro, stop.

"The people on the station have serious trust issues." I mean, fair. You knocked over acid, you're lighting cigarette willy-nilly, I still don't know what your job is man.

"Let's see if we can actually get some work done." -Well I know I'm not.

Ooohh... they're looking for intelligent life! 👀 This sounds like a good plot.

Dude I don't think coffee will solve your problem. I'd focus on getting rid of the ominous piano music.

Oh good at least he got his coffee. Oh ew never mind.

Oh no more on the Doctor. I don't trust him.

Wow Eiffel is a terrible employee and now I gotta listen to his training.

1,001 survival tips? That's actually a pretty low amount for space. These tips are also some wonderful foreshadowing though, and very cheerful too. "Failing to remain calm could result in your ✨😍 grisly 🌈💖gruesome🍭 🦋death🥰!" I love that.

Hilbert. Dude.

"A man's life is at risk". Are we sure it's just one man's life?

Okay Douglas. That's his first name.

Wait...is that....the Entertainer? Is the alien transmitting the Entertainer? Something about old timey music...I think that's also the song they play in Westfield after a massacre in the old west (I stopped watching after a while).

Well that was a musical transition. Oh wow the same guy did Douglas and Hilbert? Good voice acting. Yes it was the Entertainer! Alright not sure if the episodes have post credit scenes, but I might just skip to the next episode.

My thoughts on Episodes 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 (semi-live reaction because I'm listening to these while I'm working now, but it's really good. Let me know if you want me to split up by episodes or include time stamps in the future):

Okay. They can't shut Hera off. That seems ominous. I'm not sure if it's ominous because the time will come when they want to shut her off, or ominous because the time will come when a bad guy finally figures out how to shut her off. Either way not good.

This also seems like a lot of effort for toothpaste. How did Douglas get hired? He seems like a huge liability. Also, why are they running out of supplies? Shouldn't they have a ship coming to restock them at some point or a return date? They mention "Earth", but so far I don't think anyone has mention loved ones they left behind, a return date, or anything like that.

I like the captain though (I can't spell her name, I'm so sorry).

Why does Douglas (and apparently everyone) hate physical examinations? They're in space. It's not like they can force them to run a mile...right?

I love Hera. "The report was a fabrication! 🥰". "You place too much judgement on the concept of lies... it's only sticks and stones that can break a human's feeble delicate flesh." I love how everyone just accepts this is how she talks.

Big plant? Roots? What is this Little Shop of Horrors now?

Um... what on earth is this physical examination? Why is there so much pain? Why can't it be stopped once it starts? Is this a meta thing where this is the physical examination?

Nah, the one thing I agree with Douglas on is that Hilbert is up to stuff.

Okay. Don't like it. Don't like the plant. It's either a crisis or a lie that's going to eventually be a very appropriate metaphor.

Oh my gosh why does Hilbert want their spinal fluid? Like...why do they need to do this? I get that they're in space but normalize providing reasons for serious medical examinations.

Kill it? What if it's not hostile? But then again what if it is? How does it have an eye? Teeth? Oh never mind it is hostile.

Oh it's still on the loose...Douglas what the heck. A good day? A plant wants to kill you. Have you seen the musical?

...wait. Is that a theme? First the Entertainer plays, now we got Little Shop of Horrors references...is this a theme of season 1? Space musicals?

And...now Douglas is in space. What happened to the plant? Why is that not a priority?

I do love the commander's "No Tomfoolery" clause.

Hey! More music! 🎶It sounds faster and more urgent now. You can probably use music to send coded information. A shame there seems to be no codebreaker on board.

I wonder if Hera understands what it means.

Oh dear. Here goes Douglas. Well, he was a nice character while he lasted. 🫡 And by nice, I mean he was entertaining, but very underqualified for his position. Scarily underqualified in fact, in terms of his ability to cooperate and work with a team. How did he even get this job?

He was blinded by the flare? So is he blind the rest of the show or can they fix it?

Oh dear...Hera...drown in space? Of all the ways to go. And still nothing about that killer plant. Did I listen out of order or something? I feel like I might have.

I like the Commander. Hilbert on the other hand? The worst.

I'm also wondering when/if other characters show up. Are there really just four characters? I swear I saw people posting about more.

I still want to know why they are in space. If this is a research mission, then why isn't anyone giving them supplies? Why don't they have a return date? If it's a survival mission, why aren't they acting more urgent?

Also does...does Douglas or another character nearly die at the end of every episode?

Hera: "Because I missed you."

Also Hera: "I lie 🥰"

And...more ominously cheerful piano music🎶🎹🎵🎹🎶. Which honestly fits Hera's aesthetic pretty well.

Okay Douglas has a clear nicotine problem.

Also. While he deals with his illness, I just gotta add something I noticed: the AI on the ship is called Hera. The ship is called Hephaestus. Isn't... isn't there a Greek Myth about Hephaestus being the son of Hera that she rejects and throws off Mount Olympus? Don't like how that sounds...

Hilbert. Hilbert. Why have you tied him to the bed and left him with nothing but his nicotine? That sounds like a major consent and health code violation. He's not violent or at risk of hurting anyone! Well, I mean, at least not any more than he normally is.

Huh. Hera's not here. And yet she said she couldn't be shut off "even if they wanted to". Weird.

Well at least Hilbert is feeding him. Oh my gosh Douglas is fake taking the pills? I'm not saying taking them is a good idea, but not taking them isn't great either. Why do they have this one guy doing all science stuff? Like he's the medical doctor, but he's also the guy running all the technology and experiments. They couldn't have a different guy to be their medical doctor? Maybe someone slightly less crazy?

Hilbert. Once again, he might trust you more if you didn't tie him to a bed, drug him in his sleep, and say things like "some people need to be dragged kicking and screaming towards improvement".

Yeah what on earth does "Big Day Tomorrow" mean? I'm not sure, but once again does Douglas nearly die during most episodes?

Also tying someone to a bed with a killer plant on the loose seems like a pretty bad idea.

WHY DO THEY HAVE TROPICAL FLU ON BOARD?

What sort of ship is this? And why do I feel like Hilbert might be a supervillain?

500th day around Wolf395 you say Douglas? Okay, so they've been in space for about a year and a half. Still not sure what they're doing up there. Also Hera's "I don't know what I want, but I know how to get it" quote. Very ominous coming from an AI.

I don't like the way Hilbert talks to Hera. Apparently Hera doesn't either...oh dear.

Hilbert you foolish liability, what did you do?

PFFT- Douglas imitating the captain.😂

Ooohhh...mysterious audio recordings!

Uh. Why can only Douglas hear the mysterious sounds? I don't like that.

Ah yes heading down to Engineering. Does the ship have an engineer?

Ugh I wish I could make out what the audio is saying. And I wish it would get louder Douglas. Then maybe I could hear it.

Oh now this is interesting! Wonder what the voices mean?

Have these voyages or experiments happened before?

I suppose we'll find out. Oh that is not a solid explanation from Hera. And again, why are Douglas, Minkowski and Hilbert the only people on the ship? Don't they need anyone else? And what happened to the killer plant? Did I skip an episode? Are we suppose to just pretend that never happened? Is it gonna come back later? Find out I guess.

Anyway, great podcast, thank you for recommending, I had fun listening. I might do more of these later if you enjoyed this.

[baldy-wan-kenobi]

Okay people, here we go:

Baldy's Book Club

Episode 1: "Into the Storm"

By Taylor Anderson, Book 1 of the Destroyermen series.

Okay, so, on the recommendation of my most esteemed mutual @frogblast-the-ventcore , I have been coerced to read the Destroyermen series, and post my thoughts about them as I do.

So, for part 1, here we go. I'm going to assume those of you reading have read the book, cause if you haven't, you should be going to buy it, right now. I mean it.

First and foremost, this book was written by a ww2 nerd, for ww2 nerds, and by god does it show. Taylor Anderson is a professor of history, and it shines through in every part of the book. From the technical details of the USS Walker, to the shortcomings of the Mk. 14 torpedo, to the attitudes, lives, and habits (both good and bad) of a 1942 Asiatic fleet destroyerman. Speaking of which, call me Dean Kamen, cause that's a perfect segway to talk about

The Characters

To begin with, do not expect a normal person's assessment of these characters. Expect a Normal™ person's view of them.

First: Captain Matthew Reddy. Oh my lord this man. He's an absolute mess, knows it, and yet cannot let that show, because, well he's stranded in an alternate universe with humanoid lemurs and sapient velociraptors. In my head, he's got total divorced dad energy going on, 30-something going on 50 because of stress, greying at the temples but still hot in a DILF kind of way, not overly muscular, and with one hell of a voice. (I'll admit the audio book colored my perception, but it's a fantastic audio book so I don't care.)

Next, Chack-Sab-At, the biggest and most baddass guyfailure to ever live. "Oh, I'm a pacifist" then the very second that an enemy without moral repercussions comes along he's all "I love violence and killing and murder and death and injuring people and blood and biting and cutting and-" like, seriously, dude says he's a pacifist before turning around and becoming Furry Doomguy.

Next, Dennis Silva, he-who-was-told-not-to-fuck-the-monkey-cats-but-did-it-anyway. Moving on,

There's literally more I love about the characters than I want to sit here and type out, so I'm going to cut it short, but Oh My God these characters are A+.

Next, I just want to touch on something these books made me feel. A lot of times, as an USAmerican with an actual brain, I can get bogged down in the fucked-up shit my country has done and feel like I can't celebrate what makes the US cool without making it sound like I'm excusing all the bad stuff, but this book kinda made me stop for a minute and go "man, the US is kinda fucking rad, when you think about it." Because, you know what? It is. Yeah, we've done fucked up shit, but we've also done some pretty awesome stuff. For every My Lai Massacre, there's a moon landing. For every Trail of Tears, there's a Berlin Airlift. Sometimes, it's okay to take a moment and just go "Fuck yeah, guys. Were pretty cool." Because this book really makes you feel that, at least it did to me, but I'll get off my red, white and blue high horse and keep going.

Alright, now we come to the part that I need to get out...

THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY

Literally everywhere in my life, I am haunted and stalked by the specter of a long-dead megacorporation. In every piece of media, in every topic I research, no matter what, they're there. As the Frogman quoted from me in a meme a while back "I'm being haunted by the ghost of English imperialism". What the fuck? Anyway, if you wanna chat about the book, please do, because I am at terminal levels of Fandom.

Anyway, if you want to read along for the next Baldy's Book Club, we'll be reading Crusade, the next book in the Destroyermen series.

(P.S. Frogman, I know this review isn't very good, but my brain is soup rn so this is whatchu get.

[tsarisfanfiction]

Before and After

Fandom: One Piece Rating: Teen Genre: Family Characters: Law, Penguin, Shachi, Heart Pirates

Law’s life was divided into Befores and Afters.

Whew, it's been a while since I last wrote any Heart Pirates (or One Piece at all) but clearly these characters are still embedded in my muses because finding their characters again wasn't any challenge at all (which was a relief).  In fact, it's been so long that Hakugan's name hadn't been revealed yet, so I've now got to figure out where to place him in my version of the crew's dynamics...

I joined @stereden's Winter Exchange this year for the first (but hopefully not the last!) time, and my match was Castled_Rook, whose prompt options included some Heart Pirates found family (which is, hopefully obviously, what I went for), which has always been my favourite thing to write in this fandom, so that was a perfect match as far as I was concerned :D   Hoping they agree after seeing this fic!

There's a warning for this fic but I'm not entirely sure how to word it, so hopefully this will suffice: a character considering if they would have wanted to live if they'd had the time to think in a life-threatening situation.

Law’s life was divided into Befores and Afters.

Before the Flevance massacre.  After the Flevance massacre.

Before Cora-san. After Cora-san.

Aged thirteen, those two Befores and Afters had encompassed everything he was, with the underlying weight of white lead cloying in his body, destroying him from the inside out.

Losing his family had destroyed him.  Losing Cora-san had obliterated him from existence.

Law had never thought he’d outlive the clumsy idiot who meant well but screamed incompetence with every blunder.  In hindsight, when his thoughts were clear from ever-present fevers and resignation paired with desperation, Law realised he hadn’t wanted to outlive Cora-san, hadn’t wanted to lose and grieve a man that meant so much to him.

He’d already outlived his family once.

Then he outlived his family again.

Law could acknowledge that it was a good thing he hadn’t realised he’d felt that way back on Minion Island.  If his mind had been – not clearer, but sharper, more self-aware, he might not have followed Cora-san’s last wishes.

He might not have lived.

Law loved Cora-san, but did he love him enough to live for him when he’d left him without a family again?  Evidence pointed to yes, because that was exactly what he’d done, but Law was aware, with the cold, harsh truths of hindsight, that if he’d focused on a different emotion, on losing family rather than destroy the world (destroy Doflamingo)… the answer may not have been yes.

It was a good thing the cards had fallen in the order they did.

Not to say Law was glad Cora-san was dead – that was so far from the truth even a liar like him couldn’t even begin to try and say it; the clumsy idiot had no right to leave him like that, no right to go and die to save him when he should have lived for him – but Law would forever be eternally grateful that he had lived. That Cora-san had saved him.

If he had died, he would never have met his crew.  His nakama. His third (and final) family.

Law had no way of knowing if he would outlive this family, too.  The pattern in his life suggested that it was a possibility, but also Law was no helpless child any more.  He was a Captain, a Supernova, a feared member of the Worst Generation, powerful enough to rub shoulders with some of the greatest on the seas (or go toe to toe with them in battle).

He was a doctor.  A surgeon.  And he had the Ultimate Devil Fruit to back him up.

He was no god, but he could play at being a god, play with lives and who lives and who died for as long as he drew breath – and his crew?  His nakama, his family?

Law refused to outlive them, too.

“You’re brooding again.”

Penguin slid onto the bench next to him, pushing a fresh mug of steaming coffee in front of him and taking a loud drink of his own.  “Beri for your thoughts?”

Law ignored him, wrapping his fingers around the mug and watching the letters EATH stand out on his fingers while the D of the thumb opposed them.  The metal transmitted the heat straight into his skin, almost hot enough to burn.

“Law?”

“It’s nothing,” he told his nakama.  Penguin made a disbelieving noise, but something must have convinced him to drop it because he didn’t push any further – although the next slurp of his own drink was obnoxiously loud in a way that Law was more used to hearing from Shachi.

They’d grown up together. Penguin had been Shachi’s older brother the younger’s entire life – not by blood, but Law had learned twice over that blood wasn’t the rule of family (look at the Donquixote brothers, look at Cora-san and Law, look at his nakama).  Shared habits and obnoxious traits were hardly a surprise.

Law didn’t let himself wonder what shared habits he and Lami might have developed, in time.  Didn’t let himself remember the ones that had started planting their seeds already, before being suffocated out by white lead and a blaze of fire.

(Didn’t let himself dwell on the fact that her face had long since faded from his mind, and that all he remembered was her big, gap-toothed smile, and I love you, nii-san! echoing in the depths of his ears.)

As if summoned by Law’s stray mental observation, or perhaps Penguin’s mimic of his own drinking habits, Shachi materialised on his other side, throwing himself onto the bench with aplomb and almost spilling his own mug of dark bliss.  The smell rising from his own coffee was tinted with something else, and Law knew the news his nakama had for him before he even opened his mouth.

“Bepo says we’re coming up on the island,” the ginger reported, taking a slurp loud enough to rival Penguin’s and smacking his lips together obscenely.  “We’ll reach it in a few hours at our current speed.”

It wasn’t an island that held any real significance for them – it was just the next one on the route to Laugh Tale, although the fact that it was on the route at all, the fact that it was a New World island, meant it was one to be approached with caution. Law – and Penguin, Shachi, Bepo, all his nakama – had read up what they could find on the islands of the New World and thought they knew which one they were coming up on (and, more importantly, who it was currently in control, which Yonkou’s territory they were encroaching on this time).

An island on the horizon meant more conflict, and if nothing else, Law could plan for those, at least.

“I want everyone in the infirmary between now and then,” he said, and Shachi hummed, draining his mug and letting it hit the table with more force than strictly necessary.

“Already spread the word,” he said, and once upon a time Law would have hated that Shachi knew and shared his orders before he even alerted Law, but it had been thirteen years since Swallow Island, and two older teenagers with makeshift weapons and a cowering mink cub.

Thirteen years.

He’d had ten years in Flevance.  Three with one or other Donquixote brother.

He’d spent those two lengths of time combined with the three of them, and despite his thirteen year old self’s attempts not to let anyone in ever again, that had been a battle he’d lost before it’d even begun, and Law was glad for it.

There was no-one in all four Blues, no-one in the Grand Line, no-one in the world, that knew him better than the trio he’d founded the Heart Pirates with, and once upon a time Law would have recoiled violently at the idea of being known.

Now, as he gave a nod of acknowledgement, it was a fact of life, a safety net to catch him when he needed it.

(And it went both ways; they knew him but he knew them, knew the little tics and habits that lurked beneath the concealing hat, behind the dark shades, beyond the thick white fur. He knew Shachi had spread the order because he, too, worried about their nakama and the fact it only took a stroke of bad luck to take someone away forever.  He’d known they were coming up on the island before the ginger had even opened his mouth by the smell of mocha because Shachi only indulged in that particular mix of caffeine and comfort when there was an expectation of conflict in their near future.  He knew, already, that Penguin would be the last into the infirmary, letting Law remove his vital organs only once the rest of the crew had undergone the same surgery because he knew his armament was the best in the crew and if they were caught early, he had the best chance of protecting his own body.)

He drained his own mug and stood up, gesturing wordlessly for Shachi to follow him while Penguin gathered up their mugs with a mutter he didn’t mean about it not being his job to clean up after them.  Penguin would be last, but Shachi was always first.

(If Law didn’t fear long term consequences of keeping his nakama’s vital organs out of their bodies, Shachi’s would never be in his body, not with his non-existent armament.)

The procedure was quick and painless.  Shachi had been through it so many times he didn’t even react when the gelatinous cubes erupted from his body and Law Shambles’d them into their allocated place with the secure vault deep within the Tang, not even taking a moment to readjust before hopping off the bed and pulling his tank top back on – Law didn’t need his nakama to take their tops off to get at their organs, but the less in the way, the less potential there was for something to go awry, and Law was a big fan of minimising risks to his nakama.  The shades were next, covering closed eyes, before Shachi threaded his arms back through the sleeves of his boiler suit and yanked the zip up with a familiar zzzhp, snapping the covering flap into place.

“Thanks, Law,” he grinned, clapping him on the shoulder before tugging his hat onto his head.

Law didn’t need thanks, not when the action was always inherently selfish – he wouldn’t outlive his nakama if his nakama didn’t die – but Shachi had taken to thanking him every time and Law had never admitted his selfishness out loud, even though he knew Shachi knew him well enough to understand why he did it.

(There was also the fact that Shachi seemed to lose all self-regard once his organs were removed, revelling in the pseudo-immortality it gave him and taking risks that made Law’s own heart want to leap out of his chest because he knew he could, trusted Law to put him back together whatever befell him.  Law didn’t particularly want thanks for enabling that streak of Shachi’s either, but his single-minded ferocity in battle had saved other nakama more than once, so it was something Law just had to live with. Shachi wouldn’t stop anyway, no matter what he ordered, asked, or begged.  It wasn’t in the ginger’s nature to hold back when his loved ones were in danger – it was a trait they shared.  A trait the whole crew shared, for better or worse.)

“Send Bepo and Hakugan in,” he said instead, because while Bepo was one of the less fragile members of the crew and per breakable hierarchy should be near-last, he needed Bepo on navigation and battle ready as early as possible, and Hakugan had a way with the Tang’s helm that necessitated him there at the first signs of trouble, so he needed to be ready early.

Shachi flicked him a lazy salute, carefree and disrespectful of the origin because Shachi hated pirates the most but he hated marines, too, and disappeared as Ikkaku poked her head around the door, oil streaked through her hair and splattered across her boiler suit.

“Reporting for organ removal duties, Captain!” she chirped, and Law waved her to take a seat.  After her came Bepo and Hakugan, as requested, then the rest of the crew filed in, some alone and others in groups, with Jean Bart and then, finally, Penguin rounding off the crew.

This was not a new routine; his crew knew how to work around their organ removals and their island ahead duties with ease of practice, and Law trusted Penguin and Shachi to keep everything running smoothly from the command room as he went through the motions of making each of his nakama, his family, just that little bit harder to kill.

Law’s life had been a series of Befores and Afters.

Before Swallow Island.  After Swallow Island.

Before the Heart Pirates.

There would not be an After the Heart Pirates.  Jack, and Zou, had come closer than Law ever wanted to come (the only time in years his nakama had faced a battle with their organs in their chests, vulnerable to not just injury but poison) but for as long as Law could do something about it, it would not happen.

There would be no After his family.  Not this one.