#they did a good job of matching teen -> adult versions of characters even if some of the teen actors look like theyre 25 oop

[wetslug]

finally getting around to watching one of the shows on my huge list of shows to watch

[thedigitalpen]

My 10 favourite... beefcake animes!

Okay yes, I realise that this is a rather weird title. I had originally thought to call it something along the lines of my favourite martial arts or fighting animes, but because the animes don’t always fall into that category, I decided to call a spade, a spade (or a beefcake, a beefcake) and admit that, most times sometimes, I just enjoy animes with muscular guys in them. That’s not to forget the ladies though because some of these shows also feature some rather muscular ladies in the mix too. So there’s something for everyone!

So, in no particular order (because the genres are sometimes different so making comparisons wouldn’t be fair):

1. Street Fighter series.

Hardly a surprise considering that this is a series that has a legacy firmly placed in the gaming world. Although you don’t really need to know who’s who in order to watch these shows, it doesn’t hurt to know a little about the characters before you jump in - mainly because the creators assume that those who watch it are fans of the show. Expect a fair amount of fighting (the name gives that one away), lots of bromance (Ryu and Ken 4eva!) and the eternal fight of good vs. evil (which is usually the plot of every show/movie)! Even if you aren’t familiar with Ryu & co., the show won’t lead you astray so you can watch without worry. Oh and let me just say - Chun Li is ma gurl! If you want to see a woman that’s not only beautiful but can also kick your ass, then watch these shows - especially Street Fight II the movie! 

2. Hajime no Ippo.

One of my most favourite sports animes of all time which tells the tale of Makunouchi Ippo and his rise up the ranks of the boxing world. He starts off as a kid that just wants to get stronger so that he can fend off the bullies who harass him. Sick of his weak self (and after a couple of incidents here and there), Ippo joins a boxing gym, starting from scratch and going through basic training. His coach sees his potential and helps shape Ippo into a power boxer who fights head on and never backs down from the fight. Throughout the series, we get to know the other boxers in the gym as well as the competitors that they face, and we watch them battle it out in the ring. It’s a story with a great balance of sports, a sprinkling of slice of life (well, the life of a boxer) and comedy. And, of course, boxing boys come with boxing bodies... and I’m not complaining! And if you enjoy this and want more, try either “Ashita no Joe” (old school classic) or it’s more recent spin-off, “Megalo Box”. Oh and in terms of strong women - no one beats Ippo’s mom! She’s a powerhouse!

3. Baki the Grappler.

More of an MMA vibe with this one - it’s about a kid (he’s like 13 when we first meet him) who has been raised to be a fighter since he was born - his mother gets him the best trainers and equipment money can buy. He eventually feels like he’s outgrown the traditional training method and starts to find other ways to become a better fighter, which includes following his fathers footsteps - training the same way he did and with the people he did - and taking on some of the other fighters he meets along the way. After an altercation with his father (using that term rather lightly), Baki’s path eventually leads to the underground fight scene where challengers can test their strength and face off against each other in an anything-goes type of fight, using whatever techniques, power and skills they have at their disposal. And Baki’s ultimate goal? To defeat his father! It’s got some family drama as the foundation, but when it comes to beefcakes, there’s no shortage here - even if it is a 17-year old kid looking like a grown-ass man. Oh, best to be aware that (excluding the OVAs) there 3 seasons of Baki - the anime series from 2001 and the 2018 Netflix version which covers the "Most Evil Death Row Convicts" arc. 

4. Kengan Ashura.

When I first started watching this, the first thing I thought was - ahhh! this reminds me of Baki! And, indeed, there are quite a few elements that are similar. There isn’t any family drama here but there is an underground fight scene where anything goes in terms of fight style. However, the premise here is that the fighters don’t fight for themselves (well, not officially anyway) but that they fight for various companies who settle their business disputes via these types of organised “kengan” matches. It eventually reaches a situation where some of the other businessmen wish to get rid of the current Kengan chairman, and so this chairman organises a huge battle royale for any companies that wish to enter. The prize? The owner of the winning company gets to be the next chairman! This sets the stage for a number of one-on-one showdowns between the various fighter representatives. In terms of background stories, we have two main protagonists and their stories. The one is about a salaryman (turned “CEO”) and his life, as well his relationship with his son, and the other is about a fighter and the vendetta he holds against another fighter for a past incident. Personally, I love the way the fights are presented in this show - not only because of the eye-candy - but because it really does feel like you’re at a grand show! Oh, and unlike Baki, at least most of the fighers are adults.

5. Golden Kamuy.

Bring on the boys! Honestly one of the most entertaining shows I’ve watched in a while (and one where I demand that there be another season at least!) and also culturally/historically interesting too. It’s set around the time of the Russo-Japanese war and follows the story of Immortal Sugimoto - a soldier who left active service and finds out that there may be Ainu gold hidden somewhere in Hokkaido. The only problem is that the map has been tattooed in pieces, onto the torsos of various prisoners, most of whom have dispersed to different areas. Nevertheless, thus begins the hunt for the map! Along the way, Sugimoto meets various people along the way - making allies with some and enemies with others - all of whom are associated with each other in interconnecting ways. And all of whom are working toward one goal - get the gold! It’s a brilliant show that’s got some fighting, some mystery, some espionage vibes, some comedy (some of which is could be considered dark and/or weird) and some feels. It balances it all out and makes for an interesting and entertaining watch. Oh, and let’s not forget - a very enjoyable watch too! Mm mm mmm...

6. All Out!!

Another sport anime here, but this time it’s rugby! As someone from a country where rugby is a staple, national sport, this was totally up my ally! The premise is similar to most other school-based sports animes - a kid who’s self-conscious about his height joins the rugby team and learns to get along with the other boys as he trains and works together with them as part of the team. This is not only so that he can help the team improve, but to also prove his own worth. The team goes through training camps and they play against other schools, getting to know some of the opposing teams’ members and establishing some rivalries along the way. It’s pretty typical fare, but damn are these boys stacked! It’s pretty accurate though since rugby is a contact sport which requires some power (and apparently some short, tight shorts) to get the job done. It’s a light watch, but that eye candy is truly sweet!

7. Tiger Mask W.

From rugby to wrestling! This actually a continuation of sorts to the original Tiger Mask and Tiger Mask II series, building on the legacy and keeping related in the same sphere, but not directly incorporating the older characters. Unfortunately, the original series is hella hard to get hold of but even without it, you can watch Tiger Mask W without much of an issue. So the story is about a guy who had decided to join a wrestling gym and was pretty happy there until the gym was destroyed by another rival gym. Vowing to take that other gym down, he strikes out on his own and eventually joins one of the national wrestling associations, working in their match roster. But it’s all so that he can reach his goal of taking down that other gym by defeating the players supported by them. Enter into the ring various wrestling friends and both friendly and unfriendly rivals (including an old friend - bromance anyone?) and you get plenty of matches, plenty of muscles and some satisfying action! They also don’t forget the female wrestlers, which is a nice touch! Another one that’s light enough to enjoy at face value - much like how you’d enjoy real wrestling too.

8. Gifuu Doudou!! Kanetsugu to Keiji. 

A historical vibe with this one - it’s actually based on the spin-off of the original manga, “Keiji” which was created by Tetsuo Hara. And if that name doesn’t ring a bell, check number 10 on this list and you’ll know who I’m talking about - that’s right, it’s the guy who worked on Hokuto no Ken - and that should immediately give you an idea as to why this show is on the list. It’s a period piece about the friendship between Maeda Keiji and Naoe Kanetsugu - both of whom found their accomplishments on the battlefield. It’s told in hindsight, where they sit together, have a drink or three and reminisce about their younger days and what it took to get to where they are now. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but it was pretty entertaining - especially when you see just how clever these guys were when it came to political maneuvering as well as in a fight. Of course, they’re pretty high in the beefcake stakes so if you like your men manly, then you’ve come to the right era. 

9. Dragon Ball series.

I’m pretty sure that I don’t have to talk about this anime, but in the interest of completeness, let me give you the wiki breakdown about what this anime is about: “The series follows the adventures of the protagonist, Son Goku, from his childhood through adulthood as he trains in martial arts. He spents his life far from civilization, until he is found by Bloomer, a teen girl who encourages him to explore the world in search of the seven orbs known as the Dragon Balls, which summon a wish-granting dragon when gathered. Along his journey, Goku makes several friends and battles a wide variety of villains, many of whom also seek the Dragon Balls.” (source). Of course, this is continued throughout the various series that follow, where Goku has his own family etc. But when it comes to the muscle factor in this show, it’s got it where it counts - everywhere! It’s a classic for a reason so even if you aren’t into beefcake guys, you should still probably watch it if you haven’t already.

10. Hokuto no Ken.

It just wouldn’t feel right if I had to leave this off the list because when someone says “manly anime”, I’m betting that 99.9% of the time most people think about Hokuto no Ken / Fist of the North Star. It’s the post-apocalyptic era and times are tough, with everyone fighting to survive with what little there is on the planet. Some guys want to be rulers, some guys want to be thugs, but one guy just wants to find his fiancee and do what he can to right the wrongs of the world and make a difference to the people he meets. That one man is, of course, Kenshiro. It’s full-tilt action, usually incorporating martial arts through the various fighting styles of the characters - whether it’s Hokuto Shinken, Nanto Seiken or sometimes just brute force and good old hand-to-hand combat. There’s a few female characters here and there who also kick ass so it isn’t completely one-sided, but they usually end up getting saved by the dudes so take that with a pinch of salt. Post-apocalyptic world or not, these guys sure can maintain their physiques. And when it comes time for a fight, you best believe they pull no punches! If you like pure fighting animes where you get to see people explode each episode, followed by the most epic line ever said in anime, then this is the one! 

Honourable mentions.

...because, can we really do without more muscular men and women in our lives?

1. Terra Formars - if you’re looking specifically for that muscular vibe, then try season 1. While I enjoyed both, season 1 had better animation (for me) and they all looked badass when defeating those nasty roaches - both the men and the ladies! 2. Hinomaru Sumo - a sports anime that revolves around a newly formed high school sumo club and the career path of the main protagonist. Informative if you don’t know much about sumo and, as expected, loads of meaty guys aiming for victory and aiming for the position of yokozuna. 3. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure - another show that hardly requires an introduction and would probably take way too long to explain considering how many Jojo’s there are, but rest assured, the guys are packed, stacked and ready to attack! 4. One Punch Man - if only because there a few characters who fit the beefcake category perfectly, e.g. Suiryu (hello there!), Garou and Tanktop Master to name a few. An anime that’s some parts serious, some part hilarious but always flipping shounen tropes on its head. 5. Sengoku Basara - also, not completely beefed out, but there are a few characters who would make the grade, e.g. Maeda Keiji (dejavu from number 8?) and Oda Nobunaga. Another period anime, based on a Capcom game, that uses a lot of poetic licence to make it an exciting watch with very memorable characters. 6. Free! - “Make us free na Splash! Kasaneta... 👏 👏 !” Swimmers bodies - that is all. If you’ve ever seen a swimmer’s bodies in real life, you’ll know what I mean ‘cos they have muscles in all the right places. A slice-of-life sports anime that revolves around high school boys (who eventually become college boys) who engage in competitive swimming. 7. Air Master - The ladies take over in this one, which is a show that revolves around street fighting and the goal of those various street fighters and martial artists to become number 1 on the Fukamichi Rankings. It’s more of that underground fight scene vibe but the main protagonist is a gymnast-turned-street fighter who takes on anyone who’ll challenge her (man or woman) and usually kick their ass. It’s got a quirky/weird sense of humour to it, but that’s part of why I liked it.

Well, I’m pretty sure that there are other shows that I’ve missed, and mountains of characters who have that A-grade beef, but I tried to choose shows that specifically have that muscular aesthetic as a default setting in the show. Hopefully I hit the mark here, sharing my faves with you, but if there’s some show or character that I absolutely must see, feel free to let me know! Because just like Tanigaki’s shirt, I’m always open to suggestions.

[vermiculus-incipiens]

OOC INFORMATION:

What’s your name? ashlie

Preferred pronouns: she/her

Timezone: est

IC INFORMATION:

Character Name: Sirius Orion Black III

What’s a hobby or pastime that your character enjoys? Throughout Sirius’s teen years the thought of participating in school activities fell to the wayside. No matter how much his best friend may love the sport, the idea of Sirius in a little Quidditch uniform or chumming around with Old Sluggy went entirely against the bad boy image he had worked so hard to  curate for himself over his time in the castle. Besides, rebellion was a full time job in itself and when paired with his duties as a Marauder first and foremost… Well it was fair to say Sirius had thought up a whole slew of reasons he never participated in organized activities outside of his simple refusal to do anything that may link him to Slytherin house and by extension other members of the House of Black. He had however, transfigured himself a sketch pad during a detention with McGonagall his third year and art had become an outlet he never thought he would obtain. It was like a diary– his deepest thoughts and fears laid out in that book, including the things he was too afraid to even tell James. Sure, sometimes his forms would be lined with mindless doodles. Or notes past along during Order meetings held unfriendly caricatures of Alastor Moody and were hidden between his three people, followed by giggles as if they were nothing more than school-boys again. But lately that same sketchpad from his younger years became dark and full of images of the fears that plagued Sirius’s nightmares. He considers mischief making his main hobby, a final attempt to cling to what was and what could have been in a world not plagued by war. Practical jokes had never been his style, despite Sirius’s well known reputation as a prankster in his youth; his sense of humor had always been too dark for the simplicity of turning off his friends alarm or swapping Slytherins robes to rep the wonderful red and gold before a quidditch match. His idea of a prank had always toed the line of bullying and had been encouraged or at the very least pushed aside until he had managed to take things too far. He needs to be held back even still; as times continue to grow darker the fact that no one ever held Sirius accountable for his so called pranks and need to explore is only a hindrance to himself and everyone he loves.

Do you have any preferred ships or anti-ships? sirius/chemistry.

What do you think your character’s Boggart would be? If their greatest fear isn’t something that could easily take a solid form, what is it? Why? There is a difference between what Sirius expects to see when confronted with a Boggart and the form the creature actually takes and it is something that had changed more than once since the spider he came across at the age of seven in one of the rooms of Grimmauld Place. As a young adult, Sirius is not afraid of anything in this world more than what he would be if it were not for Gryffindor house. For the first time in his life he understood the difference between a house and a home. He made friends, felt cared for, and was free to be himself entirely without fear of extreme retributions. He always expects to see a version of himself just like the rest of the Most Noble and Ancient but deep down Sirius knows he had lost his family before he had been blown off the tree. He had found his true family in three boys who shared his dormitory. Still, after leaving home he was stuck up every night, waiting for that fear and pain of what was he going to do next? But Sirius already knew what he was doing from here and his family served no purpose in his life anymore. No part of him could ever be what they wanted to be, and his fears changed from what if he was one of them to what if he was still himself but never escaped his mother’s clutches. He would still see himself in the Boggart, but younger, that same fear in his eyes that haunted him every year at the end of term when he knew he had to return home to 12 Grimmauld Place.

What’s your character’s biggest pet peeve? Sirius claims his largest pet peeve is conformity, only because he cannot think of a more respectable way to say he can’t stand a kiss ass. After years of desperately trying to appease a mother who would never find him good enough, watching other people do the same grates on his nerves in  a way he hasn’t fully figured out just yet. If he could break free of his mother’s hold why couldn’t Regulus? Why couldn’t Peter simply express an opinion of his own? Sure Sirius could be ruthless in how he turns down the other Marauders lesser ideas, but he couldn’t be anything like his parents were, he was their friend.

What would you consider to be an eccentricity of your character? Sirius struggles to recall a time his blood status was not the focal point of his identity and the harder he pushed away, the stronger it clung to him. From the day he was born he was never Sirius– but the Black family heir. The one who would inherit the family fortune, carry on the name of the most noble and ancient. As he grew older he became the rebel, the disgrace to the 28 who was only headed for trouble and needed to be set straight. His own housemates saw him as nothing more than a overly-privileged pureblooded brat who wanted to play like he was one of them for a while. He had truly thought he escaped the stereotypes of a member of the Sacred 28 when he’d been disowned, forced to be a burden on his best friend and start an entirely new life, but even still he heard it. That Black kid got what was coming to him, nothing but a spoiled brat who didn’t know how good he had it until it was gone. His sense of entitlement is obvious to those who were raised differently than him, although maybe more difficult to spot by his fellow purebloods. Sirius has always been impulsive, when the stress and anxiety gets too much to bear he lashes out, acts up and can forget it isn’t always his own safety he is putting at risk. After that day at the willow- he’s refused to call it a prank since it happened- he has tried to put more thoughts into his actions but quite often even still, his racing thoughts take over. His entitlement doesn’t make him a bad person, it just takes a lot more effort to get Sirius to allow a person to see past the barriers he has put around himself. He wants the people around him to see a blank expression, an uncaring bad-boy, or the one with charming grin who was always quick to make you laugh because if he doesn’t care he can’t be hurt again. It takes a lot to get past those coping mechanisms.

What is/was your character’s favorite subject in school? Why? Defense Against the Dark Arts initially grabbed Sirius’s interest for the same reason he did anything else, he knew it would frustrate his mother.  As time passed Sirius realized he enjoyed the dark arts part of the class a little more than he felt comfortable admitting to anyone, even if he only enjoyed it through a lens of how to combat darker magic.

What time of day is your character’s favorite? What time of year? Sirius has always been an early riser, even as he grew older and clung to the idea of adolescent rebellion, waking before the sunrise was a habit he never seemed to shake. It still felt like his only moments of peace at times. It had always given him that same feeling he would get as the seasons changed from summer to fall; a cool breeze and leaves crunching below his feet bringing him back to fresh starts and finally reconnecting with his friends and found family. September first has yet to lose place as Sirius’s favorite day of the year, he’s determined to find a way to ensure the Marauders keep that day sacred, no matter what may come of them in the years to come. Just reliving the memories and knowing a new generation is making their own has always been able to pull him out of his own depressions, even if only for a few short hours.

What’s your character’s Patronus? If they can’t conjure one, what would it be if they could? Why? It’s become increasingly more difficult to pull the New Foundland ( only slightly altered from his own animagus form ) to front nowadays. Some days he can’t seem to manage it at all, a failure so strikingly different from the feeling of accomplishment when he had mastered the charm so young. He had expected the mixed breed he had grown so used to transfiguring into to blast from his wand so the purebred canine had felt like a slap in the face, especially since Sirius succeeded for the first time so soon after leaving home, but so much of himself was there, even if it hurt to admit it. Despite the popularity he held throughout his teen years and the confidence he displayed to anyone outside his closest circle, Sirius knew he was known to many as James Potter’s best friend. Man’s best friend- it was a title he oddly felt proud of, even if he would love to be seen more for his accomplishments than his dependency of his three best friends. For as cuddly and loving as Sirius is once he trusts you, he is also prone to lash out when threatened as well. Many have claimed his bark is worse than his bite and Sirius’s words can absolutely be cruel, but at the end of the day he will follow his instincts and attack if you threaten him or the people he loves.

What is your character’s biggest vice (bad habit or immoral craving)? Before things got where they are now, everyone had already begun to simply assume Sirius, the life of every party, would show up already with a buzz. Sometimes one of his friends will be laughing alongside him, matching glazed looks in their eyes; although as time passed the occurrences where Sirius was alone in his drunken state came more and more often. Orion had given him his first drink at fourteen as a reward for behaving through an important dinner and since then Sirius has held quite the taste for top shelf Scotches. He doesn’t often drink beer and he never drinks anything cheap, one of the few traits left over from a life he once lived.

Is your character an introvert or extrovert? How well do they handle social situations? Many tend to mistake introversion with shyness, and that is something Sirius has always been far from. He is one to thrive in a social setting, charming and witty, he has always held the ability to make others swoon in his presence. Sirius lights up a room simply by walking into it and the only downside is how hyper aware he is of the impact he has on those around him. At the end of the day however, he needs time to recharge. A night in with the Marauders will always hold priority over a boys night out at the club and large social settings get tiring after a few hours of making nice with people he can barely pretend to remember the names of. Being on all the time gets tiring, and at the end of the day like any introvert he needs time alone to reflect or more recently, wallow in self-pity.

What is your character’s diet like? What’s his or her favorite food? Food security has never been an issue in Sirius’s mind, even after leaving his childhood home, he never went hungry or even without a well balanced and well cooked meal. Now that he is no longer living under adult supervision however, home cooked meals have been replaced by a takeaway more nights than not, although certain meals have special meaning to him still. Chinese takeaway containers a reminder of the first few nights in his first apartment, or the roast he would eat every Christmas he had spent at Hogwarts his first few years in the castle.

How do you think your character’s psychological issues have manifested and changed your character up to this point?   Sirius’s first night at Hogwarts was confusing for him. These children were nothing like the dirty muggles from his bedtime stories, or the ignorant fools from the cautionary tales of his childhood. His mind was racing, trying to take in all this conflicting information while simultaneously seeking out ‘proper’ friends like he was told. It had been too much as he continued to wipe the sweat off his hands inside his pocket, breaths shallow as he tried to keep himself from being sick. He just wanted to sincerely have the courage he was pretending to possess and maybe he could calm down enough to figure out where to go from here. He was nothing more than some scared, pathetic little child who desperately needed to be brave enough to get through the day and put these puzzle pieces together. For a while having been sorted into Gryffindor was the worst thing that could ever happen to him. After his sorting he had immediately hidden under the covers of his bed, writing an apology letter to his parents. He completely blocked out his other roommates, was snippy and rude, even to the boy who had been so nice to him on the train, the one who would later become his brother in everything but blood. Everything Sirius had ever known was questioned when he was sorted into Gryffindor and while he had slowly been losing the affection of his family a bit more his entire life, truly separating himself like this was the scariest thing he had ever encountered. Something that kept him up at night for years was how terrified he was of losing the only family he ever knew. He needed to gain courage because of the house, he had never felt brave and had to work harder than anyone to fit in in the tower ‘where dwell the brave at heart’. He continued to try to blend in with the Blacks, even as he started growing his friendship with James, Remus, and Peter. He had been the heir to one of the oldest and most prominent families in Britain and no matter how much more appealing letting himself be a child with his friends seemed, he was not mature enough to know pulling away from his family’s teachings was an option. He had begun by toying with rebellion and facing the consequences whenever he had no choice but to come home, finding comfort and endearment in three boys he spent his free time attached to at the hip. Still, the transfer year after year from Gryffindor Tower to Grimmauld Place left Sirius uncertain, not only with the behaviors he was taught were proper, but over his family and their own individual morality when compared to how he was treated by others outside the elitist and abusive behaviors of the members of the Sacred 28. Walburga was unafraid of using an unforgivable on her eldest and indifference on his behalf eventually became determination to turn him into another clone of every Black before him. He had learned young the true meaning of the privileges of being born pure. It had never made them better than others, simply made it easier to get by doing whatever they wanted without facing the consequences those who didn’t have generations of connections would have to deal with. In turn that meant Sirius began to brush off his fears early, plaster a smile on his face and hope the people around him also cared little enough to pretend to believe it. The mischief maker never seen without a smile on his face doesn’t need the same resources as those openly weeping. Eventually Sirius learned to use that adreleline from causing caos to get him through the day to day. He became dependent on the pranks and adventures he had during his school days to keep his mind off of the realities of a family who hated him and whispers of a war where he knew he would end up fighting his own blood. After spending seven years as a close-knit gang of teenage boys, coming up with nicknames and wreaking havoc on Hogwarts’ ground and staff- Sirius had not been ready to give it up. The rush of the Marauders made him feel something for the first time and the Order seemed to be a bigger and better version of this, but this time with a purpose. Coming in Sirius got a kick out of the meetings, knowing how his mother would disapprove and putting his money where his mouth is to prove to every person who ever told him he would never be anything more than another privileged pureblood. When the realities of war started to hit it made Sirius wonder if he had ever truly been as progressive as he liked to think he was. He slowly began to realise the danger that the people he cares about are in, and just how wrong what is happening is and he’s starting to really fight for a cause rather than trying to cause as much trouble as he can while he’s young and alive. But it’s still all centered around himself and his own world. Sirius wants to fight for his friends’ safety. Get this war over with so he does not have to deal with any more loss. He cannot handle more loss, it would ruin him. Losing Regulus had pushed him over the edge in a way Sirius had refused to accept was a possibility when he signed on to join the Order. He knew he would be fighting the people he grew up alongside. Every duel he made sure to take in every feature he could piece behind the death eater masks, knowing if he had to come face to face with his brother he wouldn’t have the strength to follow through with it. But Reg dying so quickly, so young for a cause Sirius had warned him against so many times had destroyed him. The guilt eats him alive, if only he had sucked it up and stayed home. What if he hadn’t given him the choice and forced him to run away with him when Sirius escaped to the Potters. Things had started to become real, he would continue to lose the people he always thought as untouchable.

Give us a headcanon for your character. Anything is acceptable. Sirius hadn’t run off to the Potters on his own free will. Fights with his mother and father had only grown more intense that summer after a year of goofing around at school and thinking he could get away with behaving like a clown all year and not face the repercussions when he finally returned home. He had not been told the exacts words saying to leave 12 Grimmauld Place, but yelling he was no longer welcome in their family and the rush to blast Sirius’s name off the family tree had pretty heavily implied as such. James and his parents were the only people he ever told he was kicked out, that first night when he finally arrived on their front door. After that night it was only that he simply left home when anyone asked, even Remus and Peter while having more of the story than anyone else, do not have the entirety that Sirius explained that first night. The words run away didn’t leave his lips until after his graduation from Hogwarts when he needed to prove to the Order that his last name did not make him untrustworthy.

[ick25]

Top 5 worst Megaman Nt Warrior episodes.

(Only the first two seasons, not counting Axess)

I’ve been reviewing the original versions of the episodes from Megaman Nt Warrior AKA the Rockman.EXE anime. My reviews are just for fun because I love to talk about the things a like, but even my favorite anime isn’t without its flaws, so I want to talk about the worst episodes from the first two seasons of Rockman.EXE and why I think they are bad.

5. Episode 13, “Burning Hot Net Battle.”

Ah yeah, the episode were Netto almost dies from over exposure. This episode is about Rockman and Fireman’s tournament battle, where Hinoken cheats by infecting the dome’s computers with viruses to power up Fireman. 

The episode actually had good animation, the battle was well executed and interesting, but the real problem was in the writing. By focusing more on the battle, there was little effort put into the rest of the story, as in, having the story make sense. They ignore the fact that they are supposed to be in a tournament where millions of people are watching the battle. We know Hinoken and Fireman are dirty cheaters and they need to use tricks in order to defeat Rockman who was kicking their ass in the beginning of the episode, but here is the thing, NOBODY IN THE TOURNAMENT REALIZED HE WAS CHEATING WHEN IT WAS OBVIOUS!

True, very few people know the identity of the WWW members, but it was so obvious that Fireman was taking advantage of the situation to power up. Everyone just thought it was some random virus infecting the solar energy computer AND the environmental shutters causing the dome to turn into a giant sauna. 

Another problem was what the tournament did in that situation, NOTHING! They had no reason to have the match continue, if the people inside were in danger the tournament would’ve been held responsible for not doing anything about it, specially if the heat is worse in the battle arena where one of the competitors, who is a minor, loses consciousness. I get it, this was to make the episode more exciting, but it doesn’t feel like it when the world around them is incompetent, it just feels unrealistic and makes children believe that adults don’t know any better. Having Rockman almost deleted by someone cheating in front of millions of people who didn’t notice that is infuriating.

4. Episode 39, “Pretty Pretty Princess.”

This episode introduces Princess Pride from Creamland. The princess disguises herself as a boy named Poipu so she can go sightseeing in Japan without having her bodyguards catch her. 

The entire episode had a low budget animation with a lot of still images and slow action scenes compared to other episodes of the season. The writing wasn’t very good either; the first half of the episode has Poipu and Netto running away from her bodyguards, the amusement park scene has Netto and his friends helping her escape without asking any questions, which feels rush and absurd.

The worst part of the episode is near the end. Yes, I’m talking about the scene where Pride and Netto finally have their Net Battle at some weird location that had a giant crank game in the background that actually works. Even though I spend an entire paragraph talking about how that giant crank game didn’t make any sense, that is not my only problem with this part. The problem is the poor execution of the battles, one of the reasons I watch the show is because I want to see Rockman fight the bad guys. Since the action in the animation was lacking, the battle wasn’t satisfying.

The fight between Rockman and Knightman was pretty decent, but once Shadowman appeared, it all went downhill. First Shadowman gets Netto out of the way by using the crank machine, and then immobilizes Rockman very easily with his giant shuriken. Not only that, but instead of fighting Knightman, Shadowman summons some Ninjy viruses to attack him. This was part of three weird episodes were Shadowman returns to try to delete Rockman, and occasionally someone new he befriends, but has someone or something else to do the job for him. Why? When Shadowman first appeared in episode 33 we see that he is an actual threat, a very dangerous Navi that if it wasn’t for the rare Battle Chips Netto sent to Rockman, who knows what might’ve happen, but the way they defeat Shadowman in this episode was very easy, he just runs away after they delete the virus with “Team work.” They could’ve done a better job with the idea of a ninja hired to eliminate the hero and failing at the end, but instead they just make Shadowman look like a coward who can’t fight.

3. Episode 52, “Secret of the house of Ayanokouji.”

Though this episode had some funny parts, it was a huge waste of time. This was never aired outside of Japan, probably because it was just filler, it got boring after a while and we don’t get to see Rockman or any action scene until the end. 

The plot was that all of the PETs were stolen by a crazy automatic vacuum cleaner, and Netto and friends chase it around Yaito’s mansion while avoiding all of the ridiculous traps that have been set there for generations. It has always been a running gag that Yaito is stupidly rich to the point that she can buy almost every crazy thing in existence to help the group in their adventures, but this episode focuses on that and nothing else, they take a simple gag and make an entire episode around it.

Yaito is not the most likable character of the show and we certainly don’t care about her family’s history suddenly having a love hate relationship with the Ijuuin family. All that comes from this episode is the introduction to one of Yaito’s maids that looks a like a child but is probably an adult since that is a classic anime trope, and she isn’t even important, she was just the butt of a bad joke that is never mentioned again in future seasons. 

Rockman only gets a few lines and a short encounter with a security program and that’s it, the action in this part was non-existing, he just knocks the program out after avoiding his attacks. Even after this, Rockman’s scene didn’t even matter because the silly maid immediately activates the mother of all stupid gags, destroying any hope I had for this episode. 

2. Episode 48, “The cybernetic monster.”

This episode is the first appearance of the Gospel beast, a cybernetic monster that has been consuming Navis all over the world in order to grow and eventually destroy the cyberworld; but it has the worst pacing I have ever seen in an anime! Nearly 15 minutes of pointless filler before the plot kicks in. If it wasn’t for the first scene where Airman is absorbed by Gospel, and the title card, I would’ve thought that the episode was about Higure and Masa competing for Mariko-sensei’s affection. Their attempts have absolutely nothing to do with the plot and not only does it happen once, but twice. Thankfully, their second attempt was edited out of the american dub.

Not only the pacing, but the animation was terrible as well, it was so bad that it made some scenes confusing, you couldn’t really tell what happened or why it happened, and the action was slow and boring.

Introducing the Gospel Beast is a big deal, and they could’ve written something better instead of wasting so much time.

Some “honorable” mentions.

Episode 41, “The good dog Rush.”

This episode was very silly, Navis turning into cats was really weird to watch in the dub, but in Japanese, it is actually funny and cute. Excluding the parts with Rush and his new ability to materialize in the real world, seeing Rockman and his friends with their original voices saying Nya all the time wasn’t that bad. I guess we are just so use to hearing Iceman with an old man voice and Rockman as a surfer dude/teen hero that the cat puns feel embarrassing and out of place. Even though I hate Rush, I can’t include this episode just because of that, it actually made me laugh in some parts.

Episode 16, “Miracle Net Navis.”

I want to point out that this episode might have a slow animation and a lot of design mistakes- like the consistent one where they color Bombman’s eyes purple- but that doesn’t automatically make it a bad episode. This is an example of how using a slow pacing or animation can make an episode work. The episode introduces Bombman and Stoneman AKA the independent Net Navis, they claim to be invincible and they demonstrate this in their tag battle against Gutsman and Woodman. The pacing in the battle was nothing special, but that contributes to the main idea. Having Bombman and Stoneman barely move in the battle not only saves money in animation, but it also demonstrates how Woodman and Gutsman’s attacks are slow and weak against them since they couldn’t move their opponents only to have the very next episode increase the speed when it was Rockman and Sharkman’s turn to fight. The superior animation of episode 17 shows that Rockman and Sharkman are stronger than Woodman and Gutsman because they actually force the independent Navis to move during their battle, creating a good contrast between the two episodes.

Episode 8, “Fireman’s revenge.”

Meiru’s character in this season wasn’t the best, especially in this episode where she was very unlikable. Fireman seeks Rockman for revenge and creates a series of high temperature incidents around the city to get his attention, but this only results in Meiru having her hair ruined which led to Netto laughing at her. Netto laughing at her wan’t nice, but Meiru is the one who went too far by deleting his homework just because of that, something that can cost him school.  Roll also has a fight with Rockman but doesn’t do anything bad to him in return.

Fireman appears to give Roll a letter so she can deliver it to Rockman, but after reading it out of curiosity, she finds out that Fireman was responsible for ruining Meiru’s hair. She tells Meiru about this and they decide to take Netto’s place to get revenge on both of them.

Meiru’s pride in this episode made her unlikable and she never even apologizes to Netto afterwards, in fact, Netto doesn’t apologize either, they just end the episode arguing again because Netto doesn’t want to admit that he was worried about her and Meiru gets mad at this.

Just because a character is unlikable in an episode, doesn’t make it a bad one, Roll and Rockman’s relationship saves it. Roll understands that Rockman got hurt because of her being somewhere she wasn’t suppose to be, so she decides to do something about it, by defeating Fireman in a very unconventional and funny way.

1. Episode 19, “Horror! The Devil Chip!”

From the very beginning this episode felt out of place. It is suppose to start from where the previous episode ended but it felt like a big chunk of the story was taken out leaving us with a lot of questions.

The last episode was “World Three secret operation” where Mahajarama disguises himself as Higure-san and gives Meiru a rare chip called the Super Great White Angel chip. The Chip turns out to be some kind of hacking device that allows Count Elect to gain control over Roll who then changes her into an evil Elec-woman looking queen. The episode ended with the evil Roll about to attack Rockman with a sword, but in this episode the sword disappears and Rockman is like a mile away from Roll just staring at her. Even the background is different, changing from a blue and green area to a purple and black one. I believe a different person directed this episode with the animation being a downgrade from the previous one. 

The art style was unpleasant in some scenes and had to be replaced with better looking ones for the american dub and the DVD releases.

The worst offender of this episode is the writing. Just like in episode 13, the tournament proved to incompetent. Midorikawa, who never shuts up, had no clue why Roll suddenly changed and sided with the opposing team, but she doesn’t even question this and acts like it was something normal! It has been established that Midorikawa can see and or hear the teams, but she ignores that Meiru and Netto have been trying to pull out a chip and log out Roll with no luck. This could’ve raised a lot of red flags, since it looks like something is wrong with Meiru’s PET, it was clear that this was out of the operator’s control, so a competent tournament would have stop the battle to investigate and prevent another lawsuit! 

Another fail is when the “Loser squad” discover that Mahajarama was impersonating Higure to plant the corrupted chip, and had proof of it, but chose not to tell the judges of the tournament for some stupid reason, because once again, children have to take matters into their own hands.

And finally, the conclusion to this plot. Higure, after being accidentally woken up by Dekao and Tohru, casually walks into the arena and talks to Meiru and Netto. He tells them about the Devil chip and whispers how to get it out, BY LITERALLY JUST USING ANOTHER CHIP!  And that is not even a surprising reveal because back in episode 14 we clearly saw that Netto’s PET ejected a chip after sending in a third one, in fact, a chip can easily be push by another one and ejected later on. That solution was so stupid that it ruins the entire episode, and that’s why I think this is the worst episode of the first season of Rockman.EXE/ Megaman NT Warrior.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S3 Ep 31: Joey’s Dead (Again)

Ah, it is 5 billion degrees and working has been pretty much impossible, so, lets turn on Netflix and...

Thanks, Netflix.

Anyways, time to go see Joey get destroyed by a bird. On screen. This traumatic as hell kid’s show.

Now, usually this kid’s show is very...kid’s show in quality. The animation has exactly what it needs for most children and teens to feel satisfied--and that’s absolutely fine. You don’t have to make everything look like My Hero Academia, youknow? They were not looking for an award.

But this episode, the one where Joey freakin dies, they decided to bring out their A team. This is the best looking episode of Yugioh that I’ve seen so far, and it was freakin shocking how much better the quality was. Like, I dunno what weird blood sacrifice they did to make this episode looks so freakin good, but kudos to them, everything is more fluid, the shots are composed in a really interesting way, and for once, they actually spend the time to let these characters...react to stuff.

The big twist in Yugioh, at least for me, is when it randomly decides to be quality. It doesn’t happen all (most of) the time, but occasionally, Yugioh will just take a quality swing at me and it’s like “the hell was THAT?” Not that this episode is the best animated episode of anything ever made, it still doesn’t hold a candle to shows that are made in order to be beautiful--but for Yugioh, who’s purpose was never to be pretty (point of fact, Bakura’s hair) and who’s main purpose is to sell freakin playing cards...this is a damn pretty episode. 

They just loved Joey that much I guess.

Anyway, onward for what is also the most melodramatic episode of Yugioh I’ve seen. This episode is kind of a gem. I cannot believe I just watched an episode on this show about cards where 3/4 of it was just so many boys full on ugly sobbing into their friend’s comatose body.

(read more under the cut)

Serenity, this small dot in the next cap here, has only made it to.....this part of the island. She has to now run up like 2 miles of tower. Just remember this fact for later.

Yo so...this is a stupid adult question but like who is paying for the healthcare on all these kids in this tourney? Is it just Kaiba? Is Kaiba footing the bill? I mean, it’s a kid’s show so we’ll pretend that hospitals are free (and in Japan it’s like Universal but kinda inbetween, so I’ve heard, so this would be less of a deal) but as an adult American every time they’re in a hospital scene I’m just imagining how crazy that GoFundMe campaign page would look like.

But, as Serenity starts climbing up this monalith, on the roof of said tower, Joey is at max anime. For the first time ever, his hair is drawn as like separate hairs and not as just some weird backwards anteater tail he wears on his head. And youknow what? Joey has a hellton of hair. Your hair has to be realllly long and full to do an anteater and I don’t give him enough credit.

And so after all that, Joey’s like...still up.

(I mean this is as far as I know, I don’t have Jump Force)

Remember how Yugi stood in front of one single fireball so that Joey wouldn’t take one for Mai? Now that we’ve seen how Joey was still standing after bird fire tornado--he...probably would’ve been fine with the fireball. Just conjecture, but I feel like Joey, despite not having any connection to a millennium item, is some sort of escaped X-men.

And then, like everyone on this show is wont to do, he just randomly hallucinates Yugi. What’s great about this episode is that Joey will hallucinate Yugi not once, but twice. (which will come later)

Also, this “Oh yeaaaaaahhhhh” was a super fluid animation that I might just lift because it was so freakin wild. Like it was kind of terrifying how fluid it was. In anime they tend to freelance out different clips to different animators, so they aren’t really all working in the same studio (which is why often anime will have reallllly nice animation in some parts, and then less in others, while in US studios where everyone works on everything, there’s less of that) But whoever got the Joey saying “Oh yeaaaaaaahhhh” scene must’ve been like “this is it, this is my big break” and spent like half a day making it as fluid as they could compared to everything else going on.

They also had enough time for Yugi to partially disrobe for some reason. I guess it looked cool.

Please contrast the twinkly lights and the shimmer sound effect with what follows it:

It’s at this point that Seto Kaiba actually starts to doubt this whole tourney, but not for the reason a normal person would doubt a tourney that has had several apocalypses and mass-murderers involved in it.

Kaiba was Extremely Upset about this revelation.

Anyway, Since Joey is still standing, he pulls a card, realizes it can kill Marik, slaps it on the duel disk, the monster shows up on the field, and--Kaiba either has the fastest elevator in the world, or Serenity runs a 3 minute mile because, guess who made it to the top of this tower of Babel?

That’s right, supportive Sister, here to walk Joey through the hard arduous task of basically pressing “enter” on your keyboard.

RIP again, Joey, RIP again. I mean it’s hard to get too wrapped up in it because I know he already died...this morning...like two hours ago. Like basically he got turned into stone for a bit, and then after coming back to life, took a nap on the blimpjet and then arrived at this island to die yet again. Joey Wheeler has just had such a very intense couple of days and desperately needs a nap.

But, game wise, Joey played a monster, it was on the field--what else would he have done with it???

But because he didn’t say a word loud enough for other people to hear, this didn’t count???

This game is so weird about what rules it decides are binding and which are loosey goosey. There’s absolutely no time limit, you can strap the other person to a weird wall device and throw fireballs at their face, you can sap their life energy with weird fiber optic cables, but if you don’t say the word “Attack” although the monster card is in Attack position--it doesn’t count? There’s nothing else on the field to hit but Marik himself. There’s literally nothing else Joey would have done with that card. He totally won this match but whatever, it’s Yugioh.

And lets give it up for the one and only adult in the room, everybody. Good Job, Roland. Good freakin job.

I get that he’s a butler/pilot/card referee/bodyguard, but who else is freakin there to parent any of these teens? Ishizu? Is that all we have left?

Sorry, I’ve thought more about Roland and his mysterious dodgy character than the people who made this show.

Anyway, it’s at this point that Mokuba decided to climb stuff.

Again, this episode has so many weird animation details that say a lot about the characters--and I’m just not used to this much love and care.

So another wild thing about this episode--I didn’t realize that Joey was even Shadow Realmed when I watched it through. This episode is super vague when it comes to Joey. Everyone is mourning as if he had died, and so for me, the first time watcher (as well as my Bro who saw it once when he was 13), I just assumed this is because they finally got a completely different but very good animation team on this episode. I just figured this was someone high up saying “maybe you should have the characters realistically react to at least a single death on this show where 183 people have died”

But, turns out this is actually a translation error. Because, in the Japanese version, Joey just freakin stopped breathing or something? In the English version that we’re watching, Joey is just in a coma, and it’s a rather pleasant coma (yet still my definition of a death). But, the reason everyone is reacting like...how they should have reacted the previous 182 times, is because Joey was actually legally dead.

Something they censored out to keep the show mystifyingly Y-7 although...I think I’ve said this a million times, but don’t give this show to your 7 year old. Going off of what my Nephews and Nieces like, Yugioh is a pretty far cry from PJ Masks and Monster High.

Anyway, the show goes totally all out, and everyone does a 150% more than what is ever necessary grief cry, and I think the best cry goes to Tristan although Yugi attempted really hard to steal the gold. Thing about Yugi’s grieving is that he was going more for quantity over quality, but they did a really brutal close zoom on Tristan going through the stages of Grief (mostly anger) and it was like...unexpected for a Yugioh episode y’all. I’ve never seen Tristan go that hard...ever. Tristan is usually kind of tertiary but he just came out of nowhere to scream directly at my face and I was not expecting it.

And this episode does something that I like, although it was kind of unusual for Pharaoh and Yugi--and it shows us how they react in a completely opposite way to the same traumatic event. They’ll both get around to crying but Pharaoh will take his time.

Also, we’ve seen indication of Pharaoh’s inward grief before - and it’s something they usually say but don’t show - but this is the first time they’ve actually showed that Pharaoh tends to bottle everything deep, deep down. He’s got maybe a lot of feelings about being a ghost who doesn’t have a body or a history or...anything, and him bottling up Yugi (since Yugi isn’t going to come out for the rest of this episode) is sort of a proof that he’s used to bottling everything.

Cuz outwardly, he’s just like this (and kudos to the art team for leaving a spot where Yugi’s spirit is currently crying over the corpse/coma victim)

And then meanwhile, Kaiba just has no idea what planet he’s even on. Remember that in the Japanese version, Joey freakin died in Seto’s own tournament. This would be a PR disaster, but does Kaiba...know?

(Yes, I keep a draft file that is just every single death so I can keep track of them, and this is the 4th time that Joey has died)

Then this doctor shows up, which is surprising, because I figured Marik knocked this guy out and stuffed him in a broom closet last season. But nah, it’s the same doctor, he’s back. This poor doctor who keeps having to tend Shadow Realm patients while every single person on this blimp is in the same little hospital room with him, just breathing down his neck.

Speaking of, if this doctor has been here this entire time, then why did Serenity just stay directly by Mai’s side?

They have a doctor.

Anyway, originally I thought I’d make this two parts but like...nah, we’ll just have a really long post.

Lets see how Joey’s Shadow Realm is (which, again, it is super unclear if he is or isn’t, and from when I polled you guys it looked like it was sort of like a “don’t think about it” situation of whether this is a dream of Joey’s, or the Shadow Verse)

I’ve made the joke before that you can tell it’s a dream when they’re at school but...we’re back at school. It’s the only time we see Joey in his school uniform.

Thirsty preteens rejoice, they finally removed Joey from his baggy pajama shirt that he’s been stuck in for 2 seasons. Like, do you think when Kaiba was looking at public schools, he saw that this school had not only crazy card people, but also freakin nuts shoulder pads and he just slammed that “enroll” button?

So...does Yugi KNOW that everyone else dreams about him on a regular basis? Like, does he KNOW? I figure Yugi just has sort of a weird tick related to the puzzle that makes it so people are seeing him, but Yugi has no idea that he’s got an inception method ability, right? 

And especially since this is kind of a magic-onset dream, and Yugi really wants to save Joey, it sort of almost looks like Yugi is doing this maybe latently through the puzzle? But...probably not. I don’t really know what’s happening here, other than Joey’s just gonna go peace out and play this confusing card game for eternity.

That would be my Shadow Realm.

Back at our homeslice, Blimpjet, Seto has sent his little brother to deliver all of the bad news for him, knowing that Mokuba is too cute for anyone to do anything about it.

And so Mokuba decides to radio a helicopter to save him because he’s a Kaiba and doesn’t realize that planes/boats exist. Good to see that Mokuba has finally decided to embrace his job as Battle City Commissioner and figure out a solution to transporting/hiding all these bodies.

Honestly, I’m just shook that this blimpjet is not a blimpjetboat.

Bro told me that in the Japanese version, Tristan just straight up punches Joey right near this scene, and like...that’s probably true. Bro has a lot of spicy headcanons but I can see this show doing that. (bro note: that might have been an earlier Joey coma).

Knowing that, it makes this kind of more funny because Yugi is so absorbed in The Crying that I guess he didn’t notice that whole thing go down with Tristan.

I guess they wanted a throwback to S1, but this episode is so extra that Yugi very nearly stops playing cards. Nearly. He’s still gonna play cards, but I guess as a symbol to show that he’s starting to give into just not playing this game anymore, Pharaoh actually takes this weird contraption off his arm.

To do so he has to like remove the battery or something. I didn't even realize what he was doing because it was so un-intuitive, but you have to pull out this 4 inch battery from the back in order to remove the disk.

Can you imagine!???? Can you imagine wearing this thing in real life and shoving a 4 inch 2 lb battery in and out of this hulking thing every time you had to use the toilet?

Which...I guess they haven’t been, right? Like I shouldn’t go down that avenue but like...they haven’t been, right? There are just so many germs on this disk.

And so Pharaoh decides it’s finally time to lose it, maybe because Yugi wants to give up cards, or maybe because there’s no one else around so it’s finally fine for him to shed a masculine tear or two, but it took him I want to say like 20 more minutes than Yugi to finally react to all this.

And then this happens?

Anyway, remember Ishizu’s Millennium Necklace (not to be confused with the Millennium Puzzle with is also a Necklace, which Yugi also has, but he only wears one, because he just doesn’t feel like wearing 2 chokers at once, I guess)

Apparently the reason that Yugi was given the necklace was to get this one vision of the future. Get ready for it, the entire fate of the world rested on Pharaoh getting this one vision.

Yes, the answer was indeed, cards.

On the other end of the blimpjet, Mokuba I guess got tired of Roland’s poor radio skills and has decided to use the radio himself while Roland kind of just stands there and waves his arms around.

Straight up, does Mokuba have a Ham license? Are the Kaiba’s Hams? So like, Bro and I made Ham radio parts as a part time out of college and while I don’t have a license, it just really intrigues me that these boys do and I really wonder if they ever check into the emergency net and do Ham contesting when they aren’t throwing cards around. Ham people are like...really into their rigs so if you had Kaiba money, your rig would reach the curvature of the Earth.

Also, I kinda just assumed that they’re still in Japan, since Japan has a lot of islands connected to it, and the Kaiba Island does look man-made, but...is it not? Why place this factory in the middle of nowhere if you aren’t actually building a merc-for-hire program like Metal Gear? Like I know we just talked about how Gozobura Kaiba was basically Big Boss, but like...was this island made by Master Miller? Why is it in the middle of the ocean???

Big Boss had a reason to build in the sea, because he didn’t actually align with a country, so he had to be in international waters, but Gozobura Kaiba’s company is Japanese, so why go through all the trouble of--whatever I shouldn’t think about it.

So yeah, they’re too far away to radio to Japan although...that doesn’t make sense to me since why would you build a manufacturing plant so far away from your biggest buyer? But plot. Plot reasons, it had to happen this way.

And then this scene happened and it was...SO MUCH.

THIS WAS SO MUCH.

THIS SCENE WAS JUST SO FREAKIN AWKWARD.

Like it may not come through with the caps but this scene was made up to be extremely serious. The music was swelling, Pharaoh was pausing by Joey’s bedside as if to give a speech. The writers were expecting tears to come out of my face when Pharaoh did..........this

Wʜᴏ ᴡʀᴏᴛᴇ ᴛʜɪs.

Y’all I was DYING.

I had to stop the episode and just like...recover. We had to rewind so I could watch this scene twice. I could not stop laughing at the idea that the writers were like “lets take this very serious and heavy content and then make it super emotional and meaningful by SLAPPING A DUEL DISK ON IT.” 

And what makes this scene even better is that like--barely anyone said ANYTHING after Pharaoh did this. He waltzed in there, did this insane thing, and then just waltzed out as if this was completely normal.

What the hell!?!?

And so while I am kind of reeling from Pharaoh just slapping a duel disk onto Joey like it’s a badge of honor and Joey was shot in the line of duty, suddenly--out of nowhere--Tea felt like reminding us that many episodes ago it was super hinted that these two might actually be approaching a relationship.

And so Tea decides to beg Yugi to stop and stay behind as if she’s a wife watching her husband like march off to the front lines or something. It was so melodramatic and just came out of NO WHERE.

Thankfully, as is this show’s custom, every time it looks like this ship might happen, every other available boy on the show must appear out of nowhere to cockblock the situation.

This episode is a lot of watching Pharaoh try his best to navigate a bunch of very delicate and intense social situations and he does so with the elegance and sensitivity of a bologna sandwich.

This shot of Kaiba on top of the tower ps was so freakin rediculous. This show just knows what it is and goes for it. Completely unashamed. I think that’s what I like most about anime--it has absolutely no shame to just be...waaaay too much.

...why THIS episode? Who was it that worked overtime for months and months just to make this one Yugioh episode look so shiny and nice?

And so the episode ends there, and probably all the character development we’ll have for the rest of the season. I cannot believe they gave me that much content in one episode. Damn.

I’m assuming next episode will be entirely cards and I’ll have like 5 caps of content.

Anyway if you just got here, this is a handy link to read these from the beginning.

[roedusk]

Natsume FFXV Crossover Notes

I’m trying to organize my thoughts and figured an update might not be a bad idea for the people without access to my thoughts.  So here you go.

Let me know what you think?

(Will probably change as I write things, and I'm certain I forgot explanations and notes I was going to write because of tangents…  So sorry about any confusion.)

World Notes

General World Notes

- FFXV setting with Yokai/Ayakashi based on Natsume added.

- Plot of Natsume happened during his teen years and he and his friends are now adults, 21-26 ish so they’re around Noctis and Co.’s age.

- I'm classifying some yokai or yokai abilities as “divine” for lack of a better word.  This is yokai such as guardians of temples, and abilities such as Nyanko-sensei/Madara's purification ability.  Yokai with this classification are generally more powerful than equivalent non-divine yokai, and have power over the world in some way.  They so tend to be bound up in complicated rules most ayakashi don't have to deal with. In exchange Divine Yokai are generally not affected by yokai exorcism, or at least not to the same extent, it depends on the Yokai and situation, aka the plot.  Yokai with divine abilities are also usually powerful, and tend to be exceptions to rules that usually apply to all yokai.

Astrals

- The Astrals are the same type of creature as the deities Natsume bumped into in the Moon Splitting Festival, powerful on their own but regenerate their power (if they use it up doing things like making the land fertile) through worship of humans.  They all fall into the category of divine beings Madara can probably oppose and maybe manage a win, but it would probably get him cursed.

- Bahamut, Ramuh, and Leviathan are all at their original undamaged power percentage, having never taking a serious blow to cut their power.  They are about equal in power to Fuzuki from the Moon Splitting Festival, since he hasn’t been diminishing his power like Hozuki was.

- Titan, Shiva, and Ifrit are at post-damage power levels.  Titan however has a lot of worshipers and followers that he amassed while dormant, so his damaged power level is about equal to his non-damaged brethren.  Shiva and Ifrit are about equal in power to Houzuki (who is not as powerless as they appear in the Moon Splitting Festival episode).

- The Astrals are both powerful enough to be seen by humans and chose to be so.  The deities in the Moon Splitting Festival (unlike in Natsume canon!) can also make this choice, but generally chose not to.

- Each Astral has a realm of influence. Their influence changes the feeling of the area, such as how welcoming it feels or how prone its inhabitants tend to be towards settling in one place.  

- Bahamut's influence is over Insomnia, and his disapproval of yokai/ayakashi makes them less common, and the ones who stay in spite of the encouragement to leave tend to be stronger and less family/group based.  Insomnia tends not to be comforting, but has a feeling of purpose living there that generally feels lacking when moving away.  This feeling of purpose can also feel grating tho, like being forced to do things all the time can be draining.

- Titan's influence is centered on his temple in Old Lestallum, but has also spread from his physical location at the Disk of Cauthess.  He appreciates life that thrives but especially the kind of life that can cooperate to do so, like early settlers of the area or yokai living among the forests and human settlements in symbiosis.  Titain's power is more attractive to those who are clannish and protective of their important people.  It also exudes the feeling of being guarded, since Titan was injured protecting the area and those in it.  This can be comforting or constraining depending on the individual and how they feel at the time.

- Ifrit's influence is lingering over Ravatogh, but is also present in the Meteor and it's shards.  His influence is both the creative inspiration he gave to Solheim and the impulse to act that can both lead to good decisions without hesitation and quick bad decisions based on anger or lack of forethought.  His anger at the war of the Astrals also lingers in the sphere of influence over Ravatogh making the area less friendly to living things that can feel it, but it has been largely tempered out of the Meteor by Titan's protective influence.  Lestallum started based on inspiration of those drawn to the Meteor and thrives on those working with the shards now.  Tempered by Titan's influence towards cooperation it's the most successful new settlement in a millennium.

- Shiva's influence is centered around her corpse, but is also present in Tenebrae where her messenger lived.  It tends to encourage self-possession, people who know what they want and go for it regardless of what anyone else might think. This helps people like Lunafreya keep their strength up in bad situations, and allows people like Versatile and Ravus to pursue their goals without worrying about the morality of them.  As the same time it also encourages self-restraint, not in matters of morality but in not revealing yourself too easily.  This can be armor but can also make it harder for the individual to understand their more “firey” emotions.

- Leviathan's influence is found deep in the ocean, and while certain things can bring it to the surface it's much weaker up there.  The strongest surface place is the Altar of the Tidemother, where she was worshiped and interested enough to look at humans in return.  Her influence is part of the strange feeling the Ocean has, where it's huge and vast and cares nothing for if you live or die.  If you want something you have to go after it yourself, there is no promise of divine intervention or idea that you may get ahead if you do things the right way.  There's no judgement from a higher power for doing something underhanded, and if you want rules you have to find a way to build and enforce them yourself. This attracts those with a drive to get ahead and play the angles, eventually leading to the founding of Altissia.  Leviathan herself takes interest in those who fight for what they want, but that's no guarantee she will respond to a plea for aid even from those she likes.

- I have no idea about Ramuh right now?

Starscourge

- ???

- As far as I can tell canon Starscourge is explained as a mutated malaria virus.  But it also drives people mad before vaporising them and the resulting Miasma somehow both eats sunlight preventing it from reaching the ground, and generates demons based on the remainders of the mad dead people's egos that die instantly in sunlight.  These vaporised egos can also apparently be used to power magitech armor but the ego in them makes them difficult to control??? And the "only"/prophesied cure to the disease is to kill Ardyn (who is neither the source or receptacle of the disease, nor the source of its recent resurgence, tho he did help it along in the last 30 years), then to die so we can kill his soul.  This somehow purges the Miasma. (And spoilers? depending on if the book is canon or not it may be the last part needed for a world killing wave Bahamut wants to use?)  I also can't figure out where in the game I bumped into the explanation that the Starscourge is from the meteor Titan is holding? Because it's something everyone in the fandom thinks is true now that I go looking but is apparently not canon?

- And a cure?? I have no idea, really??? But I have some thoughts???

- Has existed at least since Solheim, and was around long before Ardyn.

- It infects yokai/ayakashi as well as humans and animals.

- Is probably a miasma in the greek tragedy sense? (If my greek dramas seminar in college is to be believed) Miasma in greek tragedy apparently coincided with someone who was “to blame” and whose death was needed to stop the poison from killing people.  The King does bad and the whole kingdom suffers kind of thing.  But if they don’t kill themselves in penance then the person that kills them becomes the problem and the miasma continues.  Not sure where I’m going with this but it matches nicely with the Natsume system of problem solving being about emotions and experiences?

- Probably need the modern trope of a Panacea to cure it? Something everyone worked together to get/make (in true Natsume fashion) to give to Noctis after the 10 years???

- How do I cure this??

- Did this disease ever even make sense?

Character Notes

Natsume

- Born in Duscae, Natsume’s family is descended from people who settled Old Lestallum a thousand years ago, so most of his relatives (who he was passed between as a kid) were from the Lestallum/Old Lestallum offshoots area.  However he did have a few relatives in Insomnia he lived with as a child for a little bit.

- Natsume had never lived in Old Lestallum until the Fujiwaras took him to their home there.  He loves the town because of the good memories there and intends to live there the rest of his life if he can.

- Because of his unique heritage Natsume has the ability to help purify Yokai/Ayakashi and help them move on (in the psychopomp way or just therapy way) even when those difficulties are caused by infection by the Starscourge.  He’s unaware that he’s purifying the disease when he does this, thinking those cases are just more dramatic versions of what he deals with every day.

- Examples of the above are Shigure (the luck god trapped in the old school), Rokka (leader of the Masked Yokai), and Sui (the broken guardian and companion Gen was trying to save).  The Mirror Yokai’s ill friend also has the Starscourge which is why he disappeared on her, not wanting her to get hurt when his emotions were bad.

- Natsume still lives in the Fujiwara’s house, and is technically employed by Tanuma’s father.  He travels the area making sure the wards on the Havens are fully powered and has the rest of the time to devote to Ayakashi problems.

- Natsume feels like this should be a temporary thing rather than a lifelong job and that he’s taking advantage of Tanuma for employment, while Tanuma is worried they’re using Natsume for their safety the way others have tried to.  But he’s happy and Tanuma is happy to be working with him so they reassure each other it’s ok.

Tanuma

- Due to slightly different setting details Tanuma decided to follow in his father's footsteps as a priest.  He is currently his father's apprentice, but is mostly left to his own devices at their home temple while his father travels.

- The little used temple he and his father moved to in Old Lestallum is Titan's temple there.  It was once the main one, but as Old Lestallum wanted in population and importance it was abandoned in favor of temples elsewhere, most especially the temple/tourist attraction at the Disk of Cauthess in modern day.

- Several temples to Bahamut have also sprung up in the area, much more regimented and grander than Titan's newer temples due to the active ancestor worship of Lucis being mixed in.

- While people in Old Lestallum kept the main temple building and living areas more or less clean, they didn't take much care of the grounds.  Enough care to keep the wards up, but not much more (not that they were really aware of this, it was just muted respect and in case a new priest moved in).

- Since Tanuma and his father moved in the wards have strengthened.  At the same time Natsume has been incidentally expanding and strengthening the weak wards around the town his grandmother had created by living there.  This makes Old Lestallum a remarkably safe place compared to elsewhere in Lucis, and people have started attributing it to the temple's new care pleasing Titan.  (Hense how the temple's income can support 3 workers now.)

- As caretaker to the temple, Tanuma has gained some strength from growing up there.  He still has a weak constitution, which yokai/ayakashi can stress by being present, but his stamina/resistance is much better now.

Noctis

- Ever since he was little Noctis realized he could see things other people couldn't.  In his case, unlike most others who can see yokai, the ones he saw were few and far between due to living in the Citadel, the center of Bahamut's influence.  Pretty much the only one that interacted with him was Carbuncle, and they were a benevolent guardian spirit.

- After his injury, while in Tenebrae, he saw more “spirits”, but also learned Luna could sense them (but not see them) when she sensed Carbuncle with him.  This lead him to believe the ability to see/sense spirits was tied to him and her being chosen ones.

- He tries not to worry his friends by any weirdness with creatures other than Carbuncle, but he doesn't try to hide that he can see them either, assuming it's understandable, so they just accept his little comments as well.

- After leaving Insomnia and entering Titan's influence he starts seeing a lot more, and less refined ones and is getting overwhelmed.

Lunafreya

- As one of the line of the Oracle Luna has the ability to sense people, such as knowing where they are in space in relar to her, and if they're sick or injured.  This extends to yokai/ayakashi though she isn't able to see them unless they have the ability to make themselves visible to humans.

- Umbra and Pryna are yokai guardian dogs, what their divine abilities allowed them to assume a form visible to humans, which is how Lunafreya found them as puppies. They have since adopted her as their charge.  Gentiana has accepted them as her guardians due to them being divine, she wouldn't have allowed any other yokai near her charge.

- Gentiana is also ayakashi and has the ability, from Shiva's power, to become visible to humans, though she can be more seletive of who can see her than most can.

Taki

- Taki grew up wanting to be able to contribute something to helping her friends that they couldn't just do without her.  This lead her to joining the Hunters so she could keep them safe, and she has since become an expert marksman, (though she largely prefers the bigger guns hunters in the game use rather than pistols like Prompto).

- She generally sticks to Cauthess, because most of Natsume's travels are in the area, but she has become good enough at her job that she is asked to help further afield occasionally.

- She still remembers many things about yokai from her grandfather, and what she learned from growing up with Natsume, so she can sort of tell if ayakashi things are happening and ask for him to help.  She still tries not to draw her circle until he (or Tanuma or Natori lately) tell her it's ok with the yokai.

Reiko

- A woman yokai speak of in fear and respect and humans talk about in disdain if at all, but nobody really knows anything about.  She lived in Old Lestallum and in spite of bad experienced there saw the area as her home.  This was enough to take protective barriers around the town, but weak ones.

- More concentrated barriers were created around places she camped/spent the night because of her deliberately attempting to create a safe place to sleep.  These eventually became Havens once she realized she could do it deliberately.

- Unknown to her, or anyone else anymore, and independent of her ability to see yokai/strong spiritual power, she is descended from a bastard male child of the Oracle’s line.  This altered her powers just enough to make her unlike any other human's.

- Towards the end of her life she met Regis and company out in the wilderness around Old Lestallum.  A strange unapologetic woman who laughed at them and called them idiots before helping anyway.  She gave Regis specifically some pointed advice before sending them on their way.  (Not completely certain what it was yet but not sure if I need to know.)  When Regis went back to look for her later in life people were confused why he cared about that strange woman and he could only find out she wasn't well liked and had since passed away.

Regis

- Regis has no ability to see or sense yokai, but he was best friends with Aulea, who could but kept it a secret.  On his road trip to Accordo in his youth he bumped into Reiko, now an adult.  She was unconcerned with who he was, and unthreatened by his retinue.  She didn't want anything from him either, but gave him some pointed advice on the world being more than what he could see that stuck with him through his trip.

- When he returned home he realized Aulea could see things he could not, and managed to broach the subject with her.  After convincing her to believe him, and that he believed her, this brought the closer, lessening a bit the stress being able to see yokai had put on her.  He respected her wish for it not to be known, even to his friends, until after her death, when he explained a little to Clarus (and maybe Cor) in relation to Noctis.

Aulea

- Per Word of God she's Regis’ childhood friend.

- Born into a low ranking Noble house in Insomnia she was the first in generations to be able to see yokai. However it wasn't unknown to happen, and her family had been on the lookout for it since implications of collusion with any spirit other than Bahamut needed to be carefully repressed.  She grew up learning her ability to see strange things was to be entirely ignored, trained in composure and people reading (to determine what other could see).

- She also grew up responsible for the family's guardian spirit, Carbuncle.  They were the only yokai she was allowed to talk to and then only in private.

- As an adult this composure training made her known as someone impossible to startle, and she gave up trying to fake alarm at things other really did see because it was a good reputation to have.  (Those close to her learned to read her microexpressions and she was comfortable enough with them to drop the full mask to her more normal reserved self.  Deadpan is her favorite I joke.)

- Either way, as a child she stumbled on Regis out alone, and ignored him entirely because there wasn't anyone else around for her to realize he was human instead of a yokai.  This intrigued him, and when they were next introduced (at a public event her family had been invited too) he insisted on talking with her.

- Regis spent a lot of time with her as a child, so he saw her eyes flicker to things that weren't there, picking up on it because of his own training to avoid threats to the royal heir.  He noticed her aborted movements and how she would look over at him for context, but didn't realize what it all was.  Instead he dismissed it as a child can as just how the other was.

- After meeting Reiko something she said made him think about what his friend acted like, and he eventually concluded he should just ask her.  Tho she was startled, Aulea was able to avoid an overt reaction but also decided to just agree he was right, startling him and herself.

- Since them the two of them sorted out how to discreetly hint something was up and Aulea allowed Regis to ask about yokai she saw in private if she indicated no yokai were nearby to hear.  This is how Regis learned about the dragon yokai that lived in the throne room but just watched, and about his family's new guardian spirit, Carbuncle.

- After Noctis’ birth Aulea was able to tell Regis he had the ability to see Yokai since he would play with Carbuncle.  She passed away soon after but not before making a Carbuncle statue to help the guardian protect her family.

Nyx

- As a child in Galahd, Nyx grew up in the shadow of an old temple, still maintained out of respect for the protective spirit (no one said deity out of superstition the Astrals might get offended) that lived there and their followers.  Unlike most, tho, Nyx had a little sister who swore she could see them.

- Nyx still isn't sure if he believes Selena when she told him about the Coeurl guarding the temple, and he regrets that she died knowing he wasn't sure if he could believe her. He doesn't realize him trying to believe her and standing up to the people who insulted her “stories” was more than enough for her. He even walked with her the second time, when they were very young and she was scared of the wild cats everywhere but wanted to pay her respects at the temple.

- Selena befriended one of the guardians at the temple, and he lead some of the others down to try and help (without permission) when Nifelheim attacked.  The temple was destroyed in the attack and the guardian was unable to save Selena.  Unlike the rest who stayed to try and find those who flead the temple's destruction, this guardian attached themself to Nyx out of regret, and has been protecting him since.  This is at least part of his ridiculous luck.

Libertus

- Libertus doesn't believe in spirits or guardians, because wouldn't they have protected Galahd if they existed?  He respects Nyx's wish to respect Selena's superstitions but privately thinks he needs to let go of the little rituals to move past her death.

- On the other hand, he took in Crowe when they first met because she reminded him of Selena (tho he keeps looking out for her because of who she is now), so he's not coping with her loss as well as he thinks he is either.

Crowe

- When she mentions she was driven out of her hometown, Crowe lets other people assume it was by the empire. She doesn't mention that fearful villagers drove out what they thought was a cursed orphan before they could be cursed in turn. She's still seen the evil of the empire and wants to stop them, but she didn't have the personal stake people assume she has until she heard what happened to her new family.

- In her travels before being picked up by other refugees headed to Lucis, Crowe ended up giving in and yelling at a yokai to leave her alone.  A crow yokai, Yatagarasu, heard her and their flock took pity on her, driving the yokai away. Yatagarasu took it on themself to help Crowe navigate the world of yokai, since they had gotten involved already.  They and a few of the crows from their recent flock accompanied her in her travels, becoming her signature talent and inspiring many people to point out her name.

- Crowe is able to blame most of her jumpiness on the crows, because they get between her and yokai all the time, and hasn't told anyone she can see yokai.  She doesn't want to get driven away again.

Pelna

- Pelna is from one of the smaller islands in Accordo which was mostly evacuated during Regis’ attempt to oppose the empire there.  He spent most of his young life as a poor refugee along the Lucian coast, eventually moving to Insomnia when he proved compatible for Kingsglaive.

- Family superstitions that he grew up with require an offering of thanks in return for actions above and beyond the expected response to a situation.  The superstition started as something similar to a temple offering you give to the helpful stranger to make sure if they're a spirit it knows you acknowledge its help so it doesn't throw a fit.  Also decent advice for dealing with Exorcists.  But the specific reasons have been lost to tradition.  Now it's just the difficult to explain idea that if someone goes above and beyond for you, you owe them a well thought out thank you gesture, so they won't think you put less effort into coming up with the gesture than they did helping you out.

- If someone is close enough to be considered family it's mostly moot tho, just give them the consideration and care family is due, and that will repay their care for you.

Matoba

- The Matoba clan is a wealthy family in Accordo which also happens to be secretly Exorcists.  They do own an old house in Duscae but it hasn't been used for more than a staging ground in generations.

- When Regis came to Altissia to oppose the empire the Matoba family took interest.  Hunting yokai and yokai turned demons in secret was tiring and difficult.  If they could get involved with Lucis they could have an excuse to be at many more locations, and armed.  So the family inserted several of their members into the resistance, and once they fled to Lucis afterwards some of them were able to enter the newly formed Kingsglaive.

- Over the years multiple Matoba family members were able to infiltrate the Kingsglaive, including Matoba himself.  They have no loyalty to Lucis, but are definitely anti-empire.

Natori

- An actor who grew up in Old Lestallum, Natori is really an exorcist whose cover job was surprisingly successful.  Probably mostly famous in Insomnia unless Nifelheim and Insomnia share movies.

- He moved out when he was of age, fleeing his family mostly, but came back to deal with an exorcist request in his old neighborhood.  Since meeting Natsume he has been spending more time in the area.

- I think he lived in Accordo and has recently bought a place in Lestallum instead maybe?

- Was in Altissia when the signing ceremony happened, probably waiting to meet with his agent or at a shoot.  He's been trying to get news of what happened since then, worried for Natsume and co in Old Lestallum more than the city tho. He's most worried Natsume somehow got involved because he does that a lot.

Plot Summary

Crowe's Path

- I know the least about this path right now, but it insists on being a separate one from the other two, so I'm going to try to honor that.

- This path starts first, ish, with Crowe's mission from the Kingsglaive movie.  For those not in the know, spoilers, this is a mission assigned by Regis to rescue Luna from house arrest in Tenebrae and get her safely to Noctis in Altissia.  Only she's attacked and killed on the way.

- In this fic she is on her bike with the black van coming around the corner at her when the crows start going nuts, but not because of the van.  Nope, there's a rogue behemoth that just came out from behind the nearby stone structure and has seen her.  It charges her, body checking the van as it attacks her.  She loses her hand and watch to its teeth and is thrown from her bike by the force of it.  The bike is pretty totaled and she's struggling to get away when she blacks out.  The glaives in the van open fire drawing it's attention, and are too busy fleeing the behemoth to keep track of her.

- Dave (the hunter from FFXV) was nearby tracking the behemoth for Hunter tags, and his dog drags Crowe to safety for him.  He gets her into the van with a tourniquet and rushes her to medical attention.  Once she's safe to be moved she's transferred to Meldacio HQ for the monster attack specialists there.

- Because of her mission, when Crowe wakes up she doesn't ask to send a message to the capital of what happened.  She tries sending Yatagarasu back but they aren't able to talk to anyone but Nyx's guardian and just presence alone isn't able to get the message across.   Someone will know when she doesn't make a checkpoint but not soon enough.

- Note here: I'm making her leaving the city earlier, to give her more than 2 days to pull off an infiltration rescue, especially when the empire probably had Luna traveling for at least one of those days.

- With the help of a post surgery potion Crowe's wound and bad bruises heal up enough to move around in a little under a week.  But she still has to do physical therapy and learn to move around with only one hand (The amputation to clean up the injury is under the elbow but she did lose the hand and at least half her lower arm).  So she can't head back to report in then either, much to her annoyance.

- To keep her cover she had a physically present gun for protection, as anyone traveling beyond the wall would have had some sort of physical weapon the lack of one would be strange.  Only now most of her fighting ability with it is diminished due to needing to somehow use it with only one hand.  Dave asks Taki to stick around for a few days and see if she can work with Crowe on adapting her style to one-handed.  Taki agrees and tho Crowe is generally untrusting and frustrated she is thankful for the assistance.

- Once she can fire and reload the gun, if not all that well in the latter case, Crowe insists on heading back to Insomnia even though she's not done with her recovery or used to the loss of her hand yet.  Taki is resistant to clear her, but really the say is Crowe's.  So instead she offers herself as a driver, and Crowe a place in her truck on the way there.  Crowe grudgingly agrees, since she can't be sure she'll be able to drive herself back even if she could get her hands on a vehicle.

- The make it almost all the way back before Dave calls them to pull I et and turn on the radio.  Insomnia has fallen, and the empire has it blocked off do they can't even get inside.  Crowe is determined to try anyway, her family is in there, but Taki refuses to let her and Yatagarasu promises to scout and report back if she waits here.  So she caves and the duo stop at the local hunter station to rest and wait for news.

- Yatagarasu returns with a report. Not sure exactly what they found or didn't.  Crowe is unable to either locate or join Luna's group, and isn't aware any of the royals survived.

- Somewhere around here Taki realises Crowe can see yokai because she's doing similar things to Natsume. She tells Crowe a this, and about the circle she can draw to make yokai visible and her experiences with Natsume.  Crowe is skeptical and alarmed but Taki refuses when she offers to just have the other drop her off somewhere and go about her business.

- Not sure what Crowe's plan is at the time or ends up being (other than learning to use firearms and other weapons one handed)?  I know most of the flexibility in solving the main plot comes from her trip, since she's a completely new element to the story.

- Since I was unoriginal and went looking for crow yokai, then ended up with Yatagarasu instead of Tengu, Crowe's arc probably has something sun related to do, not sure what.  Is it Solhiem related or is that too much of a deus ex machina?

- No matter the plot they have the support of Dave.  If they need a boat to get to Altissia/the other continent he's probably the one who finds them one

Luna's Path

- Luna's plot starts with Kingsglaive. She's in Lucis as a pawn of the empire and the Kingsglaive is sent to rescue her.  Pelna is able to locate her on the ship as in the movie, and gets her out just in time to be snatched by an Ultros demon. Iltros drags him away around the corner as Nyx gets to Luna, and he's forced to leave Pelna to get Luna to safety. (I have to assume he's struggling with this somewhat, because it's so against his established character to never mention it again.)

- Ultros is a yokai based demon, so when Matoba catches sight of it he's able to kill it with one of his exorcist arrows in one shot.  When he comes over and finds out it's Peln who was injured he decides to use Pelna as assurance against them pro-king factor, proof that he is not on the empire's side in the coup attempt.  In the interest of this he protects the inured Pelna from the other Glaives, helps him survive the airship exploding and crashing, then helps him escape the city when it would really have been a better idea to leave him behind.  Even when their powers fail he steals them a car and gets them to the exit, where Pelna is able to reunite with the others, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

- Back with Nyx and Luna, the Glaive who was stabbed in the back still manages to explode most of the ship, and Nyx and Luna manage to escape onto another before Luna jumps on to the Citadel and Nyx goes after her.  They intervene in the battle with Glauca and escape with the King and Clarus when the Mist Dragon (and Nyx until the last minute) keep Glauca busy.

- Regis still gives Luna the ring for safekeeping and puts up a barrier to force them to go on without him and Clarus.

- Before he dies Glauca is able to get Nyx's call for backup and direct him to the trap with Luche.  He also gets the call from Libertus on the revolutionaries’ line, and incidentally reveals himself through his wording.  This is around the time that the Glaives’ power from the king cuts out, signifying his death.  Libertus arrives at the location given to find it's a trap for Nyx and Luna, and is able to apologize to Nyx, and reveal Glauca is Drautos.  The three of them get in Libertus’ car and escape through the battles raging in the city.

- At the outskirts of the city they stop to find a change of clothes (less Kingsglaive) and a way to escape the city.  This is when they regroup with Pelna and Matoba joins the team.

- After escaping Luna insists she needs to fulfill her calling rather than heading to Altissia immediately. Pelna points out the empire is probably blocading the sea as well and they need a place to lie low and plan.  Matoba recommends a compromise, and suggests they seek sanctuary at the temple of Titan in Old Lestallum.  It's not where the empire would expect her to go due to it being neglected in favor of the Disk of Cauthess these days, and he can vouch for the priest taking them in secret.  Pelna backs him up, saying it's a reasonable idea, and with no other options this becomes the plan.

- Matoba wanted to be able to try to bug Natsume again, and also knew Natsume and Tanuma would take them in and wouldn't betray them, so a win for him either way.  (Pelna had been having trouble reading him and eventually asked what he would take as a thank you gesture, which surprised Matoba.  He was disappointed to find that Pelna was traditional instead of from an exorcist family tho, and informed him that he wanted to head to Old Lestallum to seek sanctuary with a friend and asking Pelna to back him up if they ask where to go.)

- Once they get to the temple and Tanuma agrees to hide them from the empire there the party meets Natsume.  They don't get to talk much but he is aware Luna is the Oracle and was there to make a covenant with Titan.  He also helped the others get things from town that they needed.  (Luna calls Nyanko-sensei cute which he approves of.)

- Matoba tries to get Natsume to agree to join his clan for protection, but is turned down, and Pelna interrupts, feeling guilty about helping get Natsume into this position.  Matoba is entertained by this rather than upset tho.

- Once Titan awakens Luna heads to the Disk with her guards to talk with him.  Then she announces she needs to get to Angelgard to awaken Ramuh.  This is a bit more difficult but eventually they are able to haggle a trip over out of a fisherman willing to do a favor for the Oracle.  They hide below deck until arrival, when Luna gets out and awakens Ramuh.  On their way back they're flagged down by a larger vessel with Nanase on board (Matoba's clanswomsn with the spectacles) asking for him.  She got is message and is here to take them to Altissia.  Since they need to go anyway they accept his offer to accompany him, even if it is suspicious.

- It turns out Matoba is part of a major Altissian family, and they're able to enter the city unnoticed at his private dock.  However Luna needs access to the Altar of the Tidemother, which requires her to negotiate with the government, essentially turning herself in to them.  Matoba leaves the party but the other three all insist on accompanying her to be her guards even while they're on house arrest pending the First Secretary's decision.

- Once Noctis arrives and negotiates successfully with the First Secretary she comes to lay out her terms to Luna.  She is to send her guards to help in the evacuation of the citizens, same as Noctis, and in exchange they will be allowed access to the Altar.  However, Ravus is threatening war if she is not released into his care, so Luna needs to convince him to let her do it herself.  He is asking for a private audience first, to keep her safe from Ardyn, and Claustra intends to turn Luna over to prevent this if she can't convince him.  Luna agrees.

- The Glaive refuse to leave Luna alone with the enemy commander, so Ravus and Luna have their talk but now with an audience.  They argue and Ravus threatens but eventually he says something that gets Nyx to interject.  They argue about trusting the magictech troopers Ravus has to ensure her safety if the Chancellor countermands his orders, and about losing little sisters to the empire.  Luna takes back the conversation at this point and is somehow able to convince Ravus to let her go through with the covenant?  He places the burden of her safety on Nyx before storming out, and when Luna tries to protest she promised Claustra their help in evacuation Libertus says the Secretary is just going to have to deal, she can spare their best to guard their Oracle.

- Lunafreya still gives a speech, but it might be a radio address instead of in person?  And it's a better speech.

- Luna and Nyx are on the altar when Leviathan responds to the summoning, and Nyx is later able to prevent Luna from getting stabbed by Ardyn long enough for her to summon Knights of the Round power-up for Noctis of it's still needed, and not from hp this time.

- Natsume arrives on Madara's back in the middle of the fight between Astrals and is able to help Carbuncle heal Luna after she nearly kills herself healing Noctis.  All of this adds up to Luna surviving and being alive when Ravis and Ignis arrive.

- Ardyn really wants to know how Natsume can fly.

- Elsewhere Matoba petitions Leviathan for power to fight the demon hunting him.  She is impressed enough by how strong he is fighting that fate to not kill him immediately and says she might even consider it before disappearing.

- After a group effort manages to drive away Ardyn again Luna and Noctis’ groups combine into one, and end up staying at Matoba's Manor until they're well enough to be on their way.

- Not married to this flow of the fight scene, so there are other ideas floating around about Misuzu or Sasafune from Natsume showing up…  Much thinking to do.

Noctis's Path

- This plot starts 99% the same, only Carbuncle is a companion character who texts Noct's phone to talk in texts that people who can't see yokai can't see.  The others sort of realize he's Noct's guardian but not that he's physically present.

- Until Titan's covenant is complete it also goes almost exactly the same, maybe with a bit of dialogue about about seeing more yokai as they get to Duscae or some conversations with Carbuncle from time to time.

- Unknown to Noctis and co, Titan vanished in the crater to retreat to his Temple to recover (he knew the basic size of the temple and shrunk to a taller than human but still small form to not crush it).  Natsume panics at the bleeding yokai (since Titan chose to hide himself while recovering) and Tanuma and him bandage all his injuries and tuck him into a bed in the temple, only later finding out he's Titan himself.

- Not sure if they realize who he is only after Noctis shows up (because he's unconscious until then) or if he wakes up earlier than that.  Nyanko-sensei can speak astral tho, so that should help (since we don't have Luna or Ardyn to translate).

- I still have no idea where the Meteor ended up??

- In the trial with Ramuh the revelations aren't just scenes from the past to teach the audience context.  They're actually something helpful to Noctis himself.  I have no idea what yet.

- Noctis and co retrieve the regalia, but ping into Ravus (and Ardyn), then head back to Lestallum to find Jared dead.  Iris leaves the city with them to get her to safety, but the guys decide to stop at Old Lestallum and head to the nearby Imperial base to get vengeance for Jared.

- Somehow this ends up with them deciding to visit the temple of Titan before moving on.  At the Temple Noctis sees Titan injured and is startled to realize the gods he's been calling on are people too.  Should be obvious in hindsight but it's hard to wrap your head around.  He also meets Natsume, who startles him by being able to see Carbuncle too and realizing Noct can see Carbuncle as well.

- This leads to Noct having to adapt to the revelation that seeing these creatures isn't a chosen one exclusive thing.  Natsume is also struggling with meeting a child as clueless about yokai as he was as a kid and being able to help with that but unsure if he can handle it.  With some encouragement from his friends he decides to go for it and he and Noctis have awkward conversation together.

- This somehow (how ??? For future creativity to figure out) ends up with Noctis and co coming back to visit on their way up to the Vesperpool.  Natsume is glad to see them but on his way out, explaining he's headed to Meldacio HQ to look into a request from there and check on the nearby Havens.  Noct offers for him to come with them, since they're headed that way themselves, and Natsume is startled but appreciates it.  (Noctis preens a little at being able to help his new friend.)

- Because of this new unknown being there, Gladio hesitates for a bit to leave Noct instead of protecting him, but his need to prove himself better than both Ravus and his father wins out and he leaves the party here, meeting Cor at the Crow's Nest instead.

- Natsume worries his presence drove Gladio away, but tells himself it's a silly thought.

- Natsume separates from them at Hunter HQ and they go into the dungeon with Aranea.  Staggering out with their prize they bump into him staying in the caravan at HQ.  He offers to share since they look exhausted and they're tired enough to agree.  The trio bond with Natsume a little independently, and the next morning Noct asks if he'd like a ride back.  Natsume admits his job ran longer than he was expecting so he still needs to check out the havens before he can head back.  The guys surprise him by suggesting they accompany him then.  They see him safely to the Vesperpool and Myrlwood havens and Noct even gets to do some fishing.

- After dropping Natsume off back in Old Lestallum they head to the cape, only to be sent to Lestallum to refine the mythril. (Gladio rejoins party like main game but maybe Noct recognized his voice at least?)

- Meanwhile Natsume is worried about the party and startled by the impulse to go after them.  (Probably because he's realized who they are and that they're going to leave to get put in danger again.).  Nyanko-sensei tells him something along the lines of if he wants to he should just do it, and Natsume decides he’ll at least offer to help however he can.  He heads to Caem to try and find them, is startled by the dragon, has to stop a fight with Madara and the dragon, and is almost treated as a threat to the people there before Iris speaks up for him.  Then he gets to hear the first person who remembers his grandmother fondly when Regis mistook him for her for a second.

- Noct and co return to find Natsume waiting for them, wanting to help.  They're flattered but not sure they want to put him through that, but he insists he wants to help the people important to him instead of waiting and wondering if he could have helped.  (Something along those lines.). In the end they're convinced to bring him because Noct could use some help figuring out the yokai thing and no one else they know can help with that.  Plus everyone but Gladio thinks he's a good guy from traveling together a bit.  (Mild personal conflict between him and Gladio as a recurring plot point.). And of course Nyanko-sensei is going too.

- (Back in Old Lestallum Tanuma ends up telling the Dogs’ Circle that Natsume went on a trip, which ends up being spread around to everyone it might concern as gossip pretty quickly.)

- Natsume heads with the party to Altissia, where Natsume bumps into Natori, who is oberjoued that he survived the Imperial Invasion alright and horrified to realize he's gotten dragged into things again (tho he's ok at hiding this).  The party is suspicious of him, but Natsume is clearly happy to see him so they decide he's trustworthy.  Natori offers himself as tour guide for their first time in Altissia and they accept.

- Then they bump into Matoba on the street.  The party are unimpressed with yet another Ardyn type character, and neither Natori's or Natsume's body language reassures them.  Matoba offers for them to stay at his Manor while in town, since he's a part of a powerful family they would have greater protection and more leeway in Altissian politics than staying at the hotel.  They agree to think about it and get his business card before he leaves them to it.

- Natori is able to bring them to Maagho where Weskham is able to give them information on the people they've bumped into.  (He's interested in the fact that Natsume, someone he knows nothing about, is somehow connected to one of Altissia's oldest families and a famous actor known as a bit of a loner.)  He advises them to take up Matoba's offer, since he can provide protection, but they're still hesitant about what he might ask Natsume for in exchange.

- Natori is willing to out them all up in the Leville, but Natsume wants them to accept Matoba's offer, so he insists on going with them instead.  Matoba's perfectly happy to have him staying at his house too.

- The party is startled to learn Matoba knows where Luna is, since she stayed with him when they all got to Altissia.  Information that she had 3 Kingsglaive members with her is appreciated as well, tho his own background as former Kingsglaive doesn't help their suspicion.  Matoba is, of course, unsympathetic.

- Natsume is among the currently undecided factors that help keep Luna alive.  I have at least one possible scene of Natsume bring carried by Madara through the Titan vs Imperial Army battle, then helping Carbuncle heal Luna while Nyx, Ravus, and Ignis face down Ardyn.  So might use that or it might change.

- After the battle the combined parties bump into Matoba, who offers to let them stay at his family home again, they accept because once again he's a non political option and theoretically a bit safer.

- I have no idea of they manage to convince Ravis to join the party here, but that is a possibility.

- And… this is where I know very little about how things are going to go.

- The party is still interested in getting the Crystal and probably all insist on going.

- If Gladio has anything similar to his macho episode on the train it needs to be better written so he's not just being an asshole and is going to have several people vocally angry with him.  Not sure if Ignis blinds himself tho.

- If Prompto gets knocked off the train Pryna goes after him.  No idea if other helpful yokai are involved yet and if so how he'd tell.

- Also, does Ardyn have illusion powers or not?  If so I need him to use them earlier and have limits/specifics.  If not I need to rewite those scenes.

- Noctis meets a Phoenix yokai in Tenebrae.  No idea if he's important later or just a handy visual metaphor.

- Not even sure if Noctis gets sucked into the Crystal, but I think he probably has to be?

- Somehow at this point, Noctis or no, the main problem is the Starscourge, and between Prompto and Noctis we should have enough notes to make a guess as to what it is, a disease instead of an unknown.  So we do the Natsume thing and everyone starts working together to find a way to solve this without needing the Prophecy because that requires Noct to die (which we now know how…?  Luna maybe?  Does she even know?).  By the time Noct returns (if we lost him) we have a solution.

- No I don't know what that solution is yet.  My current best guess is a magically quest created Panacea. Are we going to throw it at Ardyn? Is it a spell like Holy in 7?

- Somewhere in here Noct does fight Ifrit.  He's learned that Astrals are people too and wants know why Ifrit is so angry.  The Astral is able to describe what happened in Solheim (need to figure out what I want this to be for this fic) and afterwards, and is able to let go of anger at humanity.  He was mostly holding onto it because he felt betrayed by his fellow Astrals.  The fact that Lestallum managed to use the power he left to make hope is helpful.  So he contracts with Noctis after Noctis cures him of the Scourge (with help).  

- Ifrit's purification removed his empathetic link with Ardyn.  Ardyn loses most of his rage.  Not uis feelings of betrayal, just the burning rage he had absorbed from Ifrit.  Usually he absorbs the fill echo of the killed person but Ifrit was alive still, so purifying him took the emotions away again. This may or may not be important in curing the Starscourge…?

- Details for the future as I get there I suppose?  But really, how and when does Crowe get involved???

Side Path: Regis

- This one is a plot point I've had for later reveal, but basically essential to Nyx's survival, so I guess I'm ruining the surprise now.

- I mentioned in Aulea's entry that there was a dragon yokai in the throne room.  She's based on the blue guardian dragon from Natsume more or less, but much larger, and her abilities are inspired by (liberal interpretation of) the Mist Dragon.  She arrived in Lucis somewhere in the middle of the 2000 years it has existed, and settled in the throne room to watch.  She doesn't move around the Citadel, and mostly treats it like an interesting that show she enjoys watching and piecing together.

- This got more complicated when Aulea married into the royal family and told Regis she was there.  The show started to address her own presence as a watcher, if only two of the characters.  Made it slightly more personal, especially when Regis started complaining about things under his breath while sitting on the throne and idlu asking her opinion tho he know she couldn't respond.

- When Aulea died outside of the throne room, Regis came privately to tell her before the royal announcement of her death, crying and unable to share with anyone else the secrets Aulea held but let him see.  The dragon responded by summoning a light mist in the throne room in mourning, which made everything look very ethereal for weeks.  People talked about an I'll omen, while other conjectured the crystal was mourning.  Regis appreciated it tho, and took it as a sign she cared, so he extended a formal invitation to the funeral. And for the first time in centuries the dragon left the throne room to attend, summoning a similar mist over the event.

- Regis still spoke to her now, and she sometimes even showed she was listening by summoning a wash of mist that swept through the room.  Mostly she still just watched tho, ignoring the little prince who could see her too.  Regis didn't invite her anywhere else, but did ask her to look after the kingdom while he rushed to Tenebrae with his son.  Then they both witnessed Nifelheim's demands for the peace, and Regis spoke long into the air about his misgivings.  The dragon settled in to watch what unfolded, but feeling angrier than she had in situations like this before.

- On the day of the signing, whole lingering in the throne room after speaking with Nyx, Regis told the dragon (uncaring of Clarus’ presence) that they were going to have the signing in a different room, because the Emperor would be slighted if only Regis has a throne, so she's welcome to come.  And so she goes.

- She's angry when the battle starts, how dare the empire try to end her watch?  Mist swirls around ankles, and then Glauca appears.  And she's not about to let the rule of Lucis end in such a way.

- She uses the power she's never felt a need to before, summoning a physically present form out of the mist. She snatches Clarus out of the air as he's thrown, the sword thrown after him passing harmlessly through her Misty neck.  And then the Mist Dragon engages Glauca alongside Clarus and Regis.

- When Nyx and Luna arrive she fights alongside the Glaive, buying time for everyone to escape down the elevator, then disappears to arrive after them.  Regis puts up the shield and she stays with him and Clarus as Nux and Luna escape.

- Glauca is not used to the opponent having as cheap an ability as he does to reduce damage, and this battle is much more even.  At the end he disengages and escapes back up the elevator shaft, where he has time to receive Nyx and Libertus’ calls before the dragon finds him.  She able to deliver a final blow to his already severely injured self and he dies early.

- She returns to Regis and Clarus who are trying to figure out what to do now.  Regis insists on heading back to the throne room to summon the Old Wall, but Clarus isn't going to let him warp up the elevator alone.  The dragon ends up taking them.

- ? Not sure what the cost of summoning them is this time, but there has to be one.  It's just not deadly.

- Afterwards Clarus insists Regis disappear, cut off the surviving Glaives so it looks like he died and focus on getting out of the city alive.  Regis isn't happy with that idea, because it would require him not to help anyone they came across as they left.  And Clarus doesn't like their odds of surviving even without a fight.  They kind of decide their only real option is to make a last stand here.

- Clarus asks if the dragon could take the king to safety while he made a last stand, which Regis objects to.  The dragon says she could carry both if them to safety, but why should she?  Regis asks her to, please, because he doesn't want Clarus to die for him.  She agrees on the condition that he do as Clarus says and fake his death, cut off anyone who could claim otherwise beyond Clarus himself, and stay where the two of them decide he is safe.  Regis isn't happy but agrees.

- Clarus suggests they head to the hideout in Cape Caem, and agrees to give the dragon directions.  So she grabs them both and flies them away in the night, using the battles and darkness as cover for them to escape unseen.  Once at Cape Caem Regis and Claris switch to everyday clothes and live in the ship bay. (If she can assume human form like Nyanko-sensei the dragon is probably the one to buy food, if not Clarus is.)  They aren't discovered alive until Iris and co. come to Cape Caem, and it's Cid who discovers them (and nearly gets attacked by Clarus).

- When Noctis arrives in Cape Caem there's an unseasonable mist, and above the cape is the dragon from the throne room back home.  She sees him and goes to circle the top of the lighthouse, which is enough for him to sprint over and warp up to the ladder rather than wait for the elevator or anyone yelling after him.  Up too he finds Clarus and his dad and they have a reunion.

- Regis’ friends refuse to let him go with Noctis to Altissia.  Not willing to let him reveal himself just yet.  So Weskham doesn't know he's alive, and Noctis isn't supposed to tell him.   Not sure how that will end up.

- And not sure how Regis changes the plot yet either.  But he's there at least?

[bigskydreaming]

Whats Nightwing and Deathstroke's dynamic? Why does it make you wince? Im not very familiar with it.

Nightwing and Slade actually have a really interesting and compelling dynamic in a lot of ways, that can be really good when written well and really terrible when not. My biggest issue is it is that its not sexual in the comics (Slade is a good thirty years older than him) or in other adaptations that have a version of it, like the Teen Titans cartoon. But fandom being fandom, Dick/Slade is a bigger ship than like, half his actual canon ships, so any new take on it always comes with a big sigh at all the new Dick/Slade shipping that’s gonna crop up or have a resurgence cuz of it. And I’m annoyed enough with YJ right now that I’m not giving them the benefit of the doubt that they’ll do anything new or interesting with it that’s worth having to wade through pages of new Dick/Slade noncon in the months afterwards. Its a ship that generates a lot of non-con fic in particular, or at least my old favorite, ‘dubcon’, with the dubious part of the consent referring to the fact that it usually involves mind control or brainwashing, both tropes that show up a lot in their interactions anyway. (Not that there’s anything dubious about this NOT allowing for consensual anything, just that people love to call it dubcon because….fuck if I know).

But anyway….in the comics, Deathstroke is a mercenary who’s one of the Titans’ earliest and most iconic enemies. Though at various times and depending on who’s writing him, he’s sometimes an antihero and even a semi-trusted ally of the Titans (usually with Dick specifically), other times a villain but with his own personal code of honor that means he won’t help the Titans or other heroes but he’ll refuse to take jobs that would pit him against them, and other times he’s full on remorseless and sadistic villain who hates them all and wants them all dead.

He also had three kids, his son Grant (the first Ravager), his younger son Joseph (Jericho) and his youngest, their half-sister Rose (the second Ravager). Basically, the first time he interacted with the Titans was when the supervillain group HIVE put out a contract to have the Titans all killed. Slade turned them down cuz of his personal honor code and how young the Titans were, but his son Grant accepted the contract in exchange for HIVE giving him superpowers to help him fulfill it. The process didn’t work right though, and when fighting the Titans, Grant’s powers overloaded and killed him.

Slade blamed the Titans for this, and vowed to finish the contract and kill them as some twisted way of honoring Grant. He doesn’t do Logic so good, well no, its more like he doesn’t really do parenting so good, as in he tends to have fuck all to do with his kids 364 days of the year, but then something bad happens to one of them and suddenly he thinks he’s Dad of the Year and going 0 to Homicidal in six seconds flat is the way to make up for all the times he’s let them down or screwed them over, instead of just…not Doing That.

So Slade recruited a young meta named Tara Markov (yup, that one) and trained her as his apprentice specifically to help him get revenge on the Titans. At his prompting, she joined the Titans as a spy for him, feeding him intel and plotting against them in one of the best known comicbook storylines of all time, The Judas Contract. It was up there with some of the X-Men’s best known stories like the Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past. (In the 80s actually, the Titans comic book was almost as popular as Uncanny X-Men at the time. Like way more than the Justice League. They were DC’s big hitters, popularity wise - specifically the lineup that for the most part was centered around Dick, Donna, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg and Raven, with other members like the original Titans and later ones like Pantha and Wildebeest coming and going at various points in the 80s too).

Ultimately, Tara made her move and betrayed the Titans, enabling Slade to kidnap each of them one by one and turn them over to the HIVE….all except for Dick. In the meanwhile, he was approached by Slade’s ex-wife Adeline Kane - who has an equally all over the place dynamic with Slade, like sometimes she’s his worst enemy and other times she’s manipulating events behind the scenes to help him without him knowing, because she still loves him…it basically just depends on who’s writing her, same as with Slade. Also, Kane is Adeline’s maiden name, she’s distantly related to Kate Kane aka Batwoman in some extremely complicated manner I can never remember, but that’s mostly just trivia. I can’t remember a time its ever been relevant to a story, and it has nothing to do with Slade’s interactions with Dick.

ANYWAY. Point being, so Adeline, who blames and hates Slade at this time for their son Grant’s death, along with their other son Joey, seek out Dick and offer their help rescuing the Titans and defeating Slade. Joey is a metahuman as a result of Slade’s altered DNA (he has regenerative powers and is actually immortal, due to experiments the army did on him while he was a soldier). So Joey was born with powers although they didn’t activate until he was a young adult. His codename was Jericho and his power lets him possess peoples’ bodies. He’s also mute, and I’m half expecting him to show up in YJ fairly soon. If not this season then hinted at by the end of it. Also wouldn’t surprise me if they had plans to have him be gay in the YJ universe. He’s a character who was coded as gay practically from his debut. Joey/Dick is actually probably Dick’s oldest and most enduring slash ship, for the record.

So Joey works with Dick to rescue the Titans and defeat Slade, who’s captured and goes on trial for kidnapping the Titans. Joey ends up joining the Titans in the aftermath, and Adeline’s yay good, this was my Sekrit Plan all along, I did all this solely in the hopes that you would end up a superhero and have positive influences and not end up a murdering douchebag of flexible morality like your dad cuz fuck that guy, am I right Titans?

Did Adeline really just do all of that because she wanted her son to have more friends? Like…idk honestly it could go either way. Like….it IS the kind of thing she would do, tbh, so its as likely she was telling the truth as it is she just wanted to screw Slade one last time to avenge Grant and then was like hey if I take credit for my kid ending up a Titan now, I could probably play the “you owe me one” card later if I ever need to. Addy does like handing out “you owe me one” cards, just to be safe. Never know when you might need one.

The thing all this has to do with Dick is like, so it basically ended up being Dick versus Slade in the big finale, while Joey was rescuing the others and helping them face off against Tara. And for whatever reason - with multiple takes on this offered by multiple writers in the decades since - something about Dick just stuck with Slade and he’s had a kinda fascination with him ever since. Like he’s always talking about how much more he could teach Dick than what he already learned from Bruce, trying to convince him he’s got a killer instinct that Bruce just suppressed and its holding him back, blah blah, like saying he’s good, but Slade could make him great, so he surpasses both Bruce and Slade. TBH, he spends WAY more time obsessing about Dick and getting Dick to join him than he bothers paying attention to his own kids. 

It really isn’t inherently sexual though, its a weird kinda pseudo father/son, pseudo mentor/mentee type thing. And its not entirely one-sided, because Dick at various times IS…tempted? Kinda? Like whenever Dick’s having some kind of crisis of conscience, or he’s pissed at Bruce or is questioning the effectiveness of superheroes or why they do the things they do or what does it all matter blah blah blah like omg I love you Dick, I really do, but sometimes you are such a drama queen, my god, blast some My Chemical Romance, experiment with drugs and chill out already, its not that deep. (LOL I kid. Well mostly). But point being, every once in awhile something happens that puts Dick in a funk and makes him second guess himself, and he spends like….a month being convinced he should reinvent himself as the anti-Bruce, that’s the solution, and this usually sends him in search of Slade except he’s always like ‘OH FANCY MEETING YOU HERE, THIS IS TOTALLY RANDOM AND NOT ON PURPOSE’. 

And Slade likes to take any opportunity to try and convince him like BE A BAD GUY DICK, KILL PEOPLE FOR MONEY, ALL THE COOL KIDS ARE DOING IT. Except inevitably Slade does something that pisses Dick off and Dick snaps out of it and is like NO, IM A HERO AND THIS IS BAD, I REMEMBER NOW AND I’LL NEVER JOIN YOU, YOU’RE NOT MY REAL DAD I HATE YOU! And then they fight again, but with swords, not words, and then they’re like crap, we’re too well matched, this is going nowhere, you’re a worthy opponent, the only one I can truly respect, blah blah and then they call a breather and Slade’s like hey kid, wanna grab a beer and Dick’s like yeah but only if you promise not to kill anyone. And Slade’s like ugh fine.

And then Slade’s all, look kid, its been fun but its time you went home to your real family and your real life, this isn’t you, you’re a hero, I can’t try and turn you into something you’re not, its Wrong. And Dick’s like….umm yeah, I know, I literally JUST said that, how hard did I hit you? And Slade’s like NO SHHH, DONT TRY AND ARGUE, GO, YOU GO NOW, GO ON, LIVE YOUR LIFE, YOU DONT BELONG HERE IN THE DARK WITH ME, YOU’RE ONE OF THE GOOD ONES, GO BACK TO YOUR OWN KIND.

And Dick’s like no seriously dude, I already called my dad to come pick me up, what are you even on right now, are we having the same conversation?

Slade, sobbing paternally: I HAVE TO LET YOU GO, ALL I EVER DO IS HURT MY KIDS, I’M A TERRIBLE FATHER, ITS NO WONDER JOEY HATES ME.

And then Dick awkwardly slips out while Slade’s mid monologue, with his head thrown back yelling up at the sky and shaking his fists like WHY GOD WHY IS THIS THE WORLD WE LIVE IN WHY - because the thing about Slade is he’s actually even MORE of a drama queen than Dick, he just hides it better. Most of the time. But seriously tho.

Anyway yeah, this is like…a pattern with them basically. And Slade’s like, you’ve inspired me, I see in you the man I could’ve become, maybe even that I can still be, and he like doubles down on his personal honor code and becomes a Mercenary With A Heart for a couple years and even helps out the Titans every now and then (basically just whenever Dick’s in trouble and he goes on a killing spree, like NOBODY IS ALLOWED TO MURDER MY KIDS BUT ME - also by this point in time, Joey had died because Slade literally killed him, I forget why, it was a dumb story, but its okay Joey came back, its not like his name is Uncle Ben. But yeah, killing his kids is kinda a thing with Slade too, and he’s very proprietary about it).

And then he falls off the wagon and is like fuck, I forgot how much I like murder, ugh, you should have never tried to make me change, THIS IS WHO I AM, and Dick’s just like….I literally do not know where you’re getting these conversations from, like am I there when you think we’re having them, am I just blacking out…do I need to see a doctor??? And Slade’s like YOU WILL RUE THE DAY YOU EVER MET ME, GRAYSON, FROM NOW ON I AM THE TITANS’ MORTAL ENEMY and runs off all dramatically while Dick’s like…..wut, and all the other Titans are like srsly, dude, what is WITH you too, and Dick’s all I DON’T EVEN KNOW, HE’S JUST LIKE THAT.

In all seriousness though, ultimately my take on their dynamic is that for Slade, Dick’s a combination of seeing himself and Grant in Bruce and Dick’s dynamic, and its like….all about his regret and missed opportunities. Like, he tends to be super judgey of Bruce and critical of how he trains (and raises Dick) and passive aggressively like *I* would never do that and Dick just kinda lifts an eyebrow and is all, you’ve literally killed two of your three kids. 

But like, Slade kinda views himself as the anti-Batman and thus Dick is inadvertently cast as Grant, but its like Slade can never decide if he thinks Bruce is actually holding Dick back from his full potential and he wants to push Dick the way he thinks Bruce refuses to, or if like, he blames Bruce for getting Dick involved in this life, the same life that got Grant killed, and wants to protect Dick from Bruce and from the same thing happening to him. So its this weird mix of Slade manipulating Dick sometimes and pushing him way further than even Bruce ever does and saying its for his own good, but also randomly mixed in there are these bouts of extreme protectiveness, and there’s like zero rhyme or reason to which he is on any given day and there’s never any way to predict where Slade will land and so it always fucks with Dick’s head in a big way, he’s like…I’m getting whiplash.

And then on Dick’s end, like, the thing about Dick like I’ve mentioned before is he’s a huge people pleaser? Like he’s a very empathetic caretaker type personality who sinks a huge amount of his identity into being everything for everyone, to the extent that he tends to lose sight of himself in the process, sometimes. And he’s also a perfectionist who was raised with the most demanding father of all demanding fathers ever, and has a lot of abandonment issues and insecurities that Bruce’s mutant power is to trip over and set off in the worst possible ways.

And so I think the reason Dick keeps seeking Slade out every now and then is not because he ACTUALLY wants to ever take Slade up on his offer and genuinely become his apprentice or partner and like, turn his back on how he was raised. I think the point of it for Dick is the fact that each and every time he ends up affirming for himself no, wait, this ISN’T actually what I want, I just needed to be reminded of that, to remember that. That he always pulls himself back before going too far. And at the same time, I do think on some level he likes that Slade is this kinda constant in his life, that at the end of the day Slade is like…so fixated on his potential and his achievements and his worth as a fighter and a hero, because like….Dick Grayson is a person who craves validation but will never ask for it ever. 

And he’s one of those people who everyone is just so USED to liking without even thinking about it that it never occurs to them when talking amongst themselves about how great he is, that they forget to say this to his actual face? And so he never hears it? And never asks for it, because gasp, then people might think he’s needy, and that would be bad, so he mostly just goes and sulks in his apartment about how nobody likes him and he’s terribad. Except for Slade. Slade always compliments him on what a good fighter and what a good planner and what a good leader he is, so hmm wonder what he’s doing. He hasn’t committed any crimes in six months and I can’t find any reason to track him down and bring him in? Ugh, that asshole. Okay, ummm, I guess I could tell him I’m thinking of turning evil again, I haven’t done that in a couple years, he’d probably buy it.

And then later Bruce is pacing around the Batcave wrathfully shaking his fist, like “Damn that man and his sick hold over my son, if only I knew how he keeps getting his hooks into you!”

And Dick basically shrugs and plays games on his phone. “He mostly just tells me I’m special, and that’s nice to hear.”

Bruce, still pacing and ranting and fist shaking: “What kind of evil genius is he, how master a manipulator he must be to be able to get inside your head and upend your normal views of right and wrong, to make you entertain these ideas of working with him, learning from him…”

Dick: No its seriously just the saying nice things about me bit. I like that.

Bruce: If only I had a code word or phrase I could use to snap you out of whatever brainwashing he seems to be able to affect you with any time you come near him, perhaps some kind of alien tech….

Dick: You could try “I’m proud of you, son.” I mean if you’re taking suggestions.

Bruce: There’s also the possibility of a magical component to consider, blast, I hate working with magic so of course he WOULD do something like that, ugh I suppose I could ask Zatanna or Jason Blood for help there…

Dick: Cool cool, well this has been a fun and productive chat as always, so you keep doing…all that…and meanwhile I’m gonna go ponder my fixation on father figures who are 100% more committed to obsessing over their failures as a parent than like…actual parenting of their actual kids.

Bruce, ten minutes later: Dick? Where are you? DID SLADE GET TO YOU AGAIN? RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE? CURSE THAT MAN AND HIS UNNATURAL SKILLS, HOW DOES HE DO IT??!?

Anyway, that’s Slade and Dick. There’s also the whole Renegade thing, when Dick asked for Slade’s help in infiltrating the Society of Super Villains in his fake villain identity as Renegade, with you know, lots of Slade trying to corrupt him and also trying to murder any supervillains who looked as his not!son the wrong way. 

And then there was the time Slade brought his daughter Rose to Dick to train and said he couldn’t teach her himself because his track record with training his kids and them not ending up dead is like, not good, and he’s superstitious or something? Idk, I forget his logic, it was probably bad though.

And Slade was like, I only trust you to be a competent teacher for my daughter, I want you to teach her everything you know! Except for like, being a hero. None of that nonsense. I FORBID you from trying to make my daughter into a hero or the deal is off. (The deal being that if Dick did this, Slade would not do crime in Dick’s city for a year).

And Dick was like, you got a deal. I will train Rose but there will be NO trying to make her a hero, I swear. /he said while crossing his fingers behind his back because duh.

And Slade was like okay, fine, you got a deal, I will absolutely still do crime and be villainous but only in every place except for Bludhaven specifically. /he said while crossing his fingers behind his back because duh.

And then Dick tried to make Rose a hero and then Slade blew up Bludhaven and that was definitely a thing, so…yeah.

In summation, Slade and Dick are weird but also very interesting but also if we get another rehash of the Renegade/apprentice arc aka the Teen Titans cartoon adaptation of that story aka the single most popular Dick Grayson fic trope of all time, like….I swear I will probably get a brain bleed.

[bethhxrmon]

All I Ask of You Pt. 32

“No other road, no other way, no day but today” - “Another Day” from Rent

Pairing: Peter Parker x Female OC

Word Count: 2.9k

Summary: It’s kind of a sleepover

Warnings: My hand slipped so there’s some angst???

A/N: So I kept up today, but I really don’t think I’ll have a chapter go out next week. I’m super sorry about that, just please bear with me because this month is long as heck! As always, I love feedback and the masterlist is in my bio!

“Wait you wanna what now?” Ned asked, raising an eyebrow at Harper.

Harper sighed, “Okay, I’m just saying it would be super fun to pull an all-nighter with everyone.”

“But we’ve already been having a huge long-term sleepover, why do we need to stay up all night?” he shook his head.

Harper pursed their lips, “It boosts morale, and I barely know you and Peter. And you two barely know me. The only one who would probably not be surprised by all our shenanigans would be Annie.”

“Don’t overestimate me,” Annie piped up, stirring her lemonade with a straw, “Besides, it would be super fun!”

Peter chuckled, “You’re just saying that ‘cause you already pull all-nighters.”

“Actually, I’ve been sleeping a little bit more lately, not a whole lot, but it’s better,” she said, shrugging.

Harper nodded, “See? We already have one person who’s just gonna be up regardless. And it’s sounding like Peter’s game. So, Ned, what’re you gonna do?”

“Okay, fine, but shouldn’t this just happen naturally?”

“Maybe, but I don’t think any of us would do this very well naturally. No offense,” Harper replied.

“So, how’s it starting?”

Harper looked around the small kitchen, biting their lip in thought, “We could have a fire and roast marshmallows for a few hours.”

“No!” Annie exclaimed, “S-sorry, I just… I don’t do too well around smoke at the moment. I wouldn’t wanna screw everything up.”

Peter reached over, holding her hand, “Hey, it’s okay. We just won’t do that, we can do a lot of other stuff.”

“Exactly, that was just me pulling something out of my ass. No one said I had great ideas in the first place,” Harper pointed out with a small laugh, “We could watch some movies or something.”

“We could try to make some snacks too, make them s’mores themed or something,” Ned suggested.

Harper nodded, “Yeah! That’s brilliant, see, I should have you do the planning and stuff.”

“I mean, the real goal is to just stay up all night, right?” Peter asked, “That’s easy enough, Mr. Stark’s giving us all of tomorrow off.”

“Well, I’d hope so, I think if we work on that webbing fluid any longer I’m gonna bash my head into a wall,” Annie claimed, taking a sip of her drink.

Harper grinned, “Can’t say the same, the new suit’s coming along great. And I have Ned working on another possible idea, but it’s a little bit different than the original ideas.”

“It’s been awesome, I’ve also been working on an AI because Peter has one. It’s just a matter of making it compatible, which is a piece of cake,” Ned explained.

Over the couple of weeks they had been in the middle of the woods, so much had gotten done. Yet, there was also so much that still needed to be looked at. There was also the fact that Annie didn’t want to leave. Everything was so easy and calm. If something got to be too much for her, she had the time to work through it.

Still, that didn’t mean things were perfect. Annie was still petrified by the smell of smoke, and she still hadn’t quite explained what happened in that burning building in the first place. Quite frankly, she didn’t see a point in reliving it.

Except, her subconscious still loved to bring it up. Two therapy sessions didn’t fix all her problems. Not that Annie had expected such a miracle to happen. Though, she did figure out how to stop herself from throwing up and nearly passing out.

Breathing exercises were more helpful than she thought they were going to be. Actually, she ended up enjoying therapy more than she had originally counted on. It wasn’t like it was the highlight of her day or anything, but she didn’t hate it. In reality, it was her chance to realize whether or not her problems were that bad.

Much to her surprise, they sort of were.

“Anywho, aside from the suit, I’ve also just been noodling around with some new designs in general. You know, just some fun portfolio stuff. I doubt you’d wear anything like this to school. I mean, I would, but no one can really match my energy,” Harper added, passing Annie their sketchbook.

Annie took it, looking through the wildly colored suits and ball gowns, “This is awesome! I think I’d wear one of those dresses to a dance or something.”

“You serious? Yo, Peter, would you wear one of the matching suits?”

Peter looked over Annie’s shoulder and shrugged, “I mean, I think so, I just… I don’t know, I don’t really like sticking out too much.”

“Okay, Peter, but you’re literally Spider-Man! One of the coolest dudes on the planet!” Ned exclaimed, “If you won’t wear one, I definitely will.”

Harper grinned, “Really?”

“Yeah, I’ve been watching you sketch them out, they’re fucking awesome!” Ned responded, “You should just make a cool hat to go with one of those and it would be, like, ten times cooler.”

“Oh jeez, I’ve been trying to figure out hats, but they haven’t been super high on my priority list. But, there’s still time.”

Peter looked at Harper, “You know we need that suit as soon as possible, right?”

“You do know that I would drive myself crazy working on one project at a time, right?” Harper retorted, “And like I said, I’ve got a couple ideas up my sleeve there too.”

The four teens kept talking about what they were working on until Annie saw her phone light up with an email notification. It could have been anything from one of her parents to a coupon from the Hershey’s Store. Still, she was going to err on the cautious side and check it anyways.

It was from Ms. Salazar and she quickly opened it on her phone. Only for it to be followed by her standing up from her chair and jumping up and down.

“This is awesome! You guys will never guess what happened!” Annie exclaimed, beaming.

Peter bit his lip, thinking, “Um… you got into an acting school?”

“Nope. But it is related to acting.”

Harper smirked, “You’re such a noob at this, let the best friend try. It’s got something to do with a future production, doesn’t it?”

“We’re doing Rent! Do you guys know how awesome that is?!” Annie asked, looking at the others.

Harper’s jaw dropped, “What do I have to do to be put in charge of costume design? Come on, I would make killer costumes and you know it!”

“I don’t know, but she did me a solid because I might have, maybe, possibly, blackmailed her before school got out? But it’s no biggie. I already know who I’m gonna audition for, but what about you guys?” Annie asked, looking at Ned and Peter.

Peter chuckled nervously, “I got enough of being in front of people. I think I could help publicize? Maybe, I mean, I really like working with cameras, actually.”

“If I don’t get a part this time, I’m gonna riot!” Ned exclaimed, “I wanna be Collins. His part’s awesome!”

Annie grinned, “That’s the spirit, my dude! I’m gonna audition for Mimi, and with this summer ahead of us, you can bet your ass I’m getting it.”

“Yeah, I saw the movie on Netflix when it was on there for, like, a month,” Ned explained.

Harper smirked, “Oh, you don’t even know all the good shit then. We gotta show him the actual full musical! It’s way better, trust me!”

“Yes! And we can get it totally legally, and it’ll be super awesome! Let’s do it tonight!” Annie suggested, smiling.

Peter shrugged, “I mean, I wanna see what character you’re gonna audition for. You’ll kill it though, you always do.”

“Oh shut it, you’ve only see me do one character where my main job was to fall for you. Which, I clearly didn’t have any trouble with.”

They didn’t have to do much convincing to get Tony to agree to letting all four teens stay in their cabin and have some pizza for the night. It was also easy enough to get a hold of the youtube video of the full-filmed version of Rent on Broadway.

Actually, Tony seemed more than happy to leave all of them so he could have a fancy dinner with Pepper. He claimed that it was just going to be boring adult stuff, but Annie could tell that those two were probably going to have a little bit too much fun. Especially with a day off planned for the next day. It was something that was none of her business, and she wasn’t about to make it her business either.

“Alrighty, who’s ready for one of the best musicals of all time?” asked Harper, “What? It’s fucking legendary, it covers AIDS, gay people, people who aren’t cis, and drug abuse. Larson was ahead of his time and his death is nothing short of an artistic tragedy.”

Annie sighed, nodding, “You’re right. Now let’s get this show on the road! We’ve got a ton of junk food that needs to be eaten and songs that need to be sung.”

“It’s always a sing-a-long with you, isn’t it?” Peter asked teasingly.

She quickly nodded, “Yep, glad you caught on, Babe.”

And it was definitely a sing-a-long. Not one where every pitch was hit perfectly, but one where there was a lot of energy. Especially with Harper and Annie getting into it, trying to pull off all the choreography.

Though, Ned got pretty into it at the parts he could remember well enough. Peter tried, but it was hard when he clearly didn’t know the lyrics. Annie had no trouble pretending like Peter was Roger. And it was all fun and games until the second act started.

“Maybe we could just call it good here,” Annie suggested, “Who needs to know how it ends anyways?”

Harper nodded, “I agree, I don’t wanna see the last part.”

“Oh, come on, how bad could it be?” Peter questioned, “I’ve never seen this before, it’ll be fun!”

Annie frowned, “You don’t know what you’re getting into here.”

“I mean, she’s not wrong,” Ned said.

“Please?” Peter pleaded, looking at Annie with his sweet brown eyes.

Annie glared at him, “You’re lucky you’re cute. Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Of course, as anyone who has seen Rent before knows, the second act was short, but also filled with nothing but tears. There wasn’t a whole lot of singing along aside from a killer rendition of “Take Me Or Leave Me” from Annie and Harper, something they had definitely worked on a long time before.

Instead, Annie and Peter were cuddled up to each other, crying. While Harper and Ned sat in front of the screen, crying and then eventually hugging each other.

“Oh, thank fuck, I thought she was gonna die,” Peter commented, breathing a sigh of relief.

Annie nodded, “Yep, but I’m still not over Angel dying. I’ve never gotten over that, honestly.”

“Yeah, me neither. It’s bull, but I get it, but it’s still bull,” Harper said, wiping tears from their eyes.

Ned smiled a bit, “Yep, that’s why I wanna be Collins because I can be sad for the rest of the musical and it’s totally normal!”

“Depends on who Angel is… oh! What if Flash is Angel?” Annie murmured, getting up to pace around, “No, that wouldn’t be a thing. He’s too… transphobic for that? Yeah, that’s the word.”

Ned shook his head, “No, Flash would drop if he got Angel… I think he’d be Benny. But, I do know that you’d kill it as Mimi.”

“She reminds me a lot of Tina,” Peter said softly, looking at the ground.

“Yeah… yeah, she does, doesn’t she? Not that that’s why I’d try out as her for that, I mean, that’d be silly. That’s totally not a coping strategy I’d use.”

Harper got up on the couch, putting an arm around Annie, “If you did, that’s okay too. You said you were gonna do some kind of drama therapy thing. That would play right into it, right?”

“Maybe? I don’t know… just, maybe it would get me over all this stuff, you know?”

Peter looked at her, “That’s good. You should at least try to see what you can do. And I doubt it would be a bad thing either way.”

“It’s the only thing I can really think of, you know?”

Ned shrugged, “Maybe if you talked about what happened with Tina, that could help, right?”

“Maybe… I don’t know, that would be like reliving it, wouldn’t it?”

Peter frowned, “No different than most nights, right?”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about. The worst of the nightmares are way behind me. I don’t wake up screaming. I-I’m not reliving anything and I don’t want to.”

Harper rolled their eyes, “You’re being full of shit, Annie. We all literally know that’s not true.”

“Okay, you guys really wanna know what happened? Fine. I’ll tell you exactly what happened. I went up into that apartment like a dumbass, right? Of course, you all know that-”

“Annie, you don’t need to-”

Annie cut off Peter, “No, clearly I do because none of you seem to get it, okay? Okay, where was I? Oh, right, Tina was trapped, you wanna know why? Because I convinced her to speak up and to testify against Dar- that awful man. And he got angry and him and some other guys were around. A-at least I think that was the case. Because he already knew what you were doing, Peter. Okay? That was fucking scary! And I thought it was just some normal shit where I’d block some bullets and get everyone out safe and sound. But he had… he had some kind of bullet that… it went right through whatever I put up. So I was scared, okay? I-I didn’t know what to do, so I blew up an electrical outlet, a-and I got thrown so hard I passed out.”

“Seriously, if you don’t wanna talk-”

“No. You’re all pushing me to do it, have been since the whole thing happened. You don’t get to chicken out just because it’s too much to handle! So, where was I? Oh, right, I passed out. When I came to, the building was burning, a-and Tina was there… she must’ve lost a lot of blood by then. I-I couldn’t tell, I was just trying to get us out, but the building was collapsing and I couldn’t breathe. B-but I had to get her out. So I tried anyways. B-but it was too late and she was dead before I got her out. So forgive me for not being able to get over it. Forgive me for trying to keep you guys from all the shit I’ve been going through. Y-you know what, fuck it! I’ve been having all kinds of nightmares about it. I-I hate going to sleep because I can’t stop them. A-and I would keep throwing up and having panic attacks. Sorry for not being able to handle some of the shit I’ve been through.”

Annie held her face in her hands, trying to keep herself from crying. When she felt Peter reaching to pull her in, she put up a barrier to keep anyone from touching her.

Peter frowned, “Hey, you’re right… I don’t understand. But I can try to. I mean, y-you know about the whole deal with almost being crushed by a building, and my uncle… it takes time to get through. Even then, you don’t really get over it, but you try to.”

“It’s been awhile, but I kinda get it. At least, that whole feeling of being alone,” Harper started.

Annie looked at Harper, “Is this about your parents sucking?”

“Well, more about them literally not giving a shit about me. Remember the Stark Expo? Well, my parents are super rich, so we went. We went a lot, actually. And of all the days we could’ve gone. We went on that one night when all hell broke loose. So… I freaked because before I could figure out something was happening, my parents ran off. Scared of dying I guess… well, so am I. This one family picked me up in the middle of it. I never figured out who they were, but I remember the kid had an Iron Man mask on,” they finished, tears brimming in their eyes.

Peter’s jaw dropped, “I think that was my aunt and uncle! You had longer hair.”

“Holy shit, really?!” Harper exclaimed, smiling a bit.

He nodded, “Y-yeah, I think so!”

Ned looked up and the others, “I don’t know if this really fits, but my dad was abusive… it was a long time ago, so I don’t remember much of it. But sometimes I get really anxious at weird things and I wonder if it had to do with him. My mom won’t talk about him at all, which is probably for the best, but it really makes me think sometimes.”

Annie got rid of the barrier, tears streaming down her face as she found herself in the middle of a group hug. It felt like a wave of pressure was lifted from her shoulders.

“Sorry, I-I shouldn’t have snapped like that… just… sorry,” Annie murmured.

Harper chuckled, “It’d take a lot more than that to get rid of any of us. You’re good, I think we all kinda needed this.”

Taglist: @flushings-here / @parkerpuffwrites / @gaypanda / @twilightparker / @ganseysblues / @lionsfandomsandbearsohmy / @ijustdontknowsometimes / @moonstruckholland / @lcy-thot / @dolphinsarecuteandstuff / @buzzinglee

[clownmoontoon]

I'm interested in watching Osomatsu-san, but I have a few questions, if that's ok. 1. Sub or dub? 2. How do I know who's who? I already know some of the easy ones, thanks to you. Thank you in advance! (P.s. Thanks for telling me about BNHA!)

ITS A REALLY GREAT ANIME AND IT HAS SOME OF THE BEST CHARACTER WRITING I HAVE EVER SEEN. IT IS ABSOLUTELY ONE OF MY TOP FAVE ANIMES EVER

HOWEVER

idk how old you are (or the age of anyone possibly reading this) so i feel i should say Osomatsu-san has a lot of mature themes and is CLEARLY meant for a more mature audience of the adult/college age/MAYBE later teen variety

all the main and most important side characters in the show are at least in their 20′s.

im not recommending this show to kids is what im saying haha

its nowhere near as wholesome as hero aca

ANYWAY ONTO YOUR QUESTIONS

1. Sub or Dub?

as of right now there is no dub Viz Media, who most recently did the redub of sailor moon (AND ITS FANTASTIC BTW SO IT GIVES ME HIGH HOPES FOR MATSUS), had sent out a tweet saying that the dub was going to be released some time in October of this year but …nothing happened?? my buddy @arr-jim-lad even contacted them about it, and they responded that there were no updates to mention. ://///SO right now sub is all we got haha

ITS REALLY GOOD THO SO ITS NOT LIKE A NEGATIVE OR ANYTHING BC THESE VOICE ACTORS ARE AMAZINGdef my fave voice actors of any sub ive watched (and ive watched quite a few)

2. How do I know who’s who? I already know some of the easy ones, thanks to you.

one of my fave aspects of this show is that after a few eps, despite them all having the same face, it becomes VERY EASY to tell them apart haha this is part of why the character writing is so strong imo!

but here’s a few tips and tricks to look for just in case you cant tell right away!

🌈COLORS!!!🌈

❤️Osomatsu -  the eldest of the sextuplets and the show’s namesake - RED

💙Karamatsu - 2nd eldest - BLUE

💚Choromatsu - 3rd eldest - GREEN

💜Ichimatsu - 4th brother - PURPLE

💛Jyushimatsu - 5th brother - YELLOW

💖Todomatsu - 6th and youngest brother - PINK

the easiest thing to get the hang of first when it comes to noticing the matsus is def their designated colors! Even when theyre not in their trademark hoodies they can usually be seen wearing their colors somewhere on themselves so if you cant tell who’s who right away LOOK FOR THE COLORS!!

if theyre all wearing matching outfits you can look at their hair shinies bc they’ll usually be their color when nothing else is! (tho those are a bit more subtle in coloring bc ..well..shinies haha)

😄EXPRESSIONS and QUIRKS😎

each of the bros has a standard neutral expression, and some of them have fun quirks that make it very easy to tell who’s who! lets start backwards this time \(ouo)/ (mostly bc from the start the youngest bros are def easiest to recognize…besides karamatsu ofc)

this got quite long so check under the cut for all the bro details and fun collages i made for each bro bc i love this show too much! \(>u

💖Todomatsu (pinky boi)💖

he’s the designated “cute” boy, and the worst/best self-centered millennial stereotype. actually a total mean girl in disguise, and (according to his bros) a “vile monster”. i love him and he’s a cute demon. not the worst bro but pretty darn close.

neutral expression: :3voice: highest pitch of the bros and often whiny quirks: - can usually be seen w his smartphone - acts the most feminine (covers his chest if naked or topless)- always has eye shinies - two hairs sticking out on the top of his head - calls all his bros “niisan” since he’s the youngest

next up MY BOOOYYYYY

💛Jyushimatsu (YELLOW SUNSHINE LIGHT OF MY LIFE)💛

the hyper-active, forever smiling, incredibly powerful, baseball boy! if something weird and crazy is going on jyushimatsu is either directly involved or about to be. he’s always laughing, smiling and making weird jokes/noises. a very sweet boy who is entirely too powerful. He often dresses as animals, and is used as an “attack dog” to torture whichever brother he’s commanded to (usually oso). A very unpredictable boy to say the least. Its hard to imagine an ooc version of him bc there isnt much he would not do or say.HE IS MY FAVE BEST SUNSHINE BOY

neutral expression: 8Dvoice: lowest pitch of the bros but also the loudest, often making weird/nonsensical sounds/noises such as: BBBBOEHBA!! 8Dquirks: - often goes cross eyed - is incredibly strong, can lift and throw his adult brothers like nbd - never has eye shinies in the anime unless he’s about to cry - wears shorts when everyone else is wearing pants, also some times wears a traffic cone on his head- wiggly arms and sleeves too long (even when its not the hoodie, usually his sleeves are always too long haha)- only one hair sticking out on the top of his head

((MANY THANKS TO @arr-jim-lad​ FOR THE TILTED PIC IDEA ITS ADORABLE))

next up my second fave, NEKOMATSU

💜Ichimatsu (purple cat man)💜

the designated darkmatsu, ichi is the slow moving, constantly slouching, quietest boy who thinks cats are way better than people. the least motivated matsu, even going out to do fun things (like drinking or gambling) is some times too much trouble. for him a good time is laying on the floor and thinking about death (and also cats). a fan of torture, if the situation calls for causing trauma he’s suddenly very talkative and plays w his voice a lot. he is the second brother (after my boy jyushi) that is often called upon when one of the other brothers (or anyone) needs to be tortured. i love this boy and he is good to my fave boy god bless suujimatsu

neutral expression: B(voice: usually very low, slow and monotone quirks: - eyes always half lidded, no shinies - always slouched- messy hair (some times w cat ears)- only bro to wear track pants (w the line on the side)- has a diff cat in his lap almost every ep, but does not actually own one- two hairs sticking out on the top of his head

up next everyone’s fave otaku,

💚Choromatsu (green frog weeb man)💚

the resident brother mom and a total idol otaku, choromatsu isnt concerned w much else besides his idol obsession and proving he’s way more responsible than his brothers. he often walks todomatsu to the bathroom at night and waits for him to finish since youngest bro is scared of the dark (reminder theyre both grown men in their 20′s). he thinks he’s better suited to be the oldest brother and leader rather than osomatsu and even points it out once, with agreements from both todomatsu and ichimatsu.if anything crazy happens choro is the first to scream about it not being ok. he’s got the strongest will of all the brothers and can never be persuaded to change his mind about a situation. he’s not a fighter at all and usually chooses to stay on the sidelines even if he agrees w whatever the bros are fighting about (killing god for instance).he’s under constant stress bc he’s pretending to do his best while his brothers are terrible i love him give this poor green man a vacation

neutral expression: :voice: higher pitched, not as high as todo but still higher among the bros, and usually using it to yell @ brosquirks: - smallest pupils, no shinies (in the anime)- usually has a worried expression- wears plaid a lot- is irritated almost all the time - wont look for a job bc he’s determined to be an idol manager- no hairs sticking out on top of his head

AND NEXT MY THIRD FAVE AND EASILY THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MATSU

💙 KARAMATSU 💙

LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL MAN, THIS PAINFUL ADONIS OF MATSUS!! IS THAT A GLITTER CROP TOP THAT DOESNT COVER THE CHEST?? IT SURE IS!! ARE THOSE JEAN BOOTY SHORTS?? YOURE DAMN RIGHT THEY ARE!!!

karamatsu is EASILY the most recognizable matsu. w those amazing eyebrows, constant use and abuse of anime eyes, wild variety of glittery, revealing, and leather clothing its no wonder he’s called painful oh my god i love this man DID I MENTION HE SPEAKS RANDOM ENGLISH FOR NO REASON AND ITS GREATalso he’s probably the most caring brother who genuinely wants his brothers to be happy and know theyre loved very much by him ;;

if you cant immediately spot this matsu i dont know what to say to you tbqh

neutral expression: >:Dvoice: he makes his voice deep to sound cool p much all the time but its actually higher pitched than it seems quirks: - wears sunglasses, skulls, a leather jacket, sparkly everything, and p much anything he thinks is “cool”- easily the most expressive matsu just look for those eyebrows haha- puts his finger under his chin a lot - “BURAZAHS” - "heh!”- two hairs sticking out on the top of his head

and now on to the final, the oldest, and arguably the worst matsu

💔Osomatsu💔

THERE HE IS!!!! THE TRASH KING BROTHER!!!!i kid, i kid sort ofimplying that the matsus are not all trash boys is just a joke tbqhfor me osomatsu was absolutely the hardest bro to recognize when i first watched the show, and i think the biggest tip i can give for him is just to look for the red boy scratching under his nose. also the boy who looks like he would buy and sell you. he’s a pretty brilliant con man and a good fighter too, but his laziness outweighs anything that he could possibly achieve in. he’s absolute trash but in a way still lovable?? OH ACTUALLY if youre familiar w the anime Lupin the Third just look for the brother that makes the most Lupin-esque faces he’s got that classic-anime-comedy-male-lead look more than any of the other bros so that might help you recognize him!

could literally be lupin’s little bro haha

neutral expression: its like a stretched version of this :3 w teeth showingvoice: higher pitched, he plays w his voice almost as much as jyushimatsu, very playful and teasing, hardly ever serious sounding quirks: - scratching under his noise- obsessed w money and women (and never has either)- the most addicted to gambling of all the bros (this is sounding less like quirks and more like serious problems omg), favors horse races and pachinko- the “leader”, usually the one telling the others what to do (even if they rarely listen)- calls no one “niisan” since he’s the oldest - two hairs sticking out on top of his head

WOW THIS CAME OUT MUCH LONGER THAN I MEANT IT TO!! if im not careful people might think i love these trash neets or smth oh no

but ye! i hope this helps! or was at least an entertaining read haha❤️💙💚💜💛💖

[the-barrens-are-ours]

Okay, but what about

An IT AU where Pennywise doesn’t exist, and all the Losers are child actors and meet each other on the set of a movie they’re staring in together

Richie is obviously the comedic star who was in a hit sitcom and has recently started doing movies

Bill tends to star in more dramatic movies, and since he learned ASL when he was younger to help communicate when his stutter got really bad, he’s also been in a few roles where he only signs

Bev’s a mix between being a horror star and some tough teen rebel in the movies she acts in

Eddie usually doesn’t star in big roles but has worked as a side or minor characters in many adult movies with big-name stars. He’s usually a pretty soft and funny boy in his roles, most commonly being the son of the star of whatever romantic comedy he’s in

Mike, being a total book nerd and lover, made his name as a child actor being the lead in a popular movie adaptation of a book series that he loved as a kid and totally killed acting in

Stan is known for being one of the main characters in a rather dark and seriously popular murder mystery series, which despite how it may seem, does not match who Stan is as a person at all. He’s rather silly and light heart, he’s just also really awkward and mature when talking to others so it leaves him with a warped public image

Ben’s stared in a few music videos and has had quite a few minor roles and appearances in very popular fantasy and sci-fi movies and tv shows. He loves playing geeky nerdy kids because it’s who he really is as a person

(Georgie hasn’t really had much in terms of an acting career, but since he was so in awe by his big brother’s acting abilities, he went to an acting camp and was the star of a small play that did surprisingly well)

Anyways

These seven stars all get hired on together to do this big summer blockbuster that’s expected to be a huge hit in box offices

They’ve never met each other before but have heard of one another

Ben’s a huge fan of practically everyone, and Richie, while not much of a fan exactly, is super pumped to meet everyone

Everyone also kinda figured Richie really acts up his hyperactive and comedic personality in his roles, but they were all taken back when they realized his on-stage persona is actually a toned down version of his real personality

One day when Bev gets annoyed by Richie’s non-stop talking during a shoot she turns and yells “BEEP BEEP, RICHIE” at him because she takes her acting very seriously and he’s way too distracting

Everyone’s silent because for once in his life, Richie is speechless and flustered

Then everyone bursts out laughing and all the kids start saying “Beep Beep, Richie,” when they need him to stop talking

Mike always brings gifts for the cast and crew

He always starts by doing simple things like flowers or small gift baskets or whatever but when he starts to get to know people better he makes them more personal

And he gets to know as many people as he can, editors, sounds guys, light dudes, caterers, everyone. Not just the director and co-stars, he wants to befriend as many people as possible

He also always remembers everyone’s birthday

Eddie’s B-day happened only like two weeks after they started working together and he was sure no one was going to do anything about his birthday but nope he was wrong

He shows up on set and there is a birthday banner and a cake and everything and Mike was 97% to blame for everything

They wrapped for the day early and had a party and it was a great time

Speaking of great times Bill and Stan always have a great time together

Even though their personalities don’t totally match, they’re both the more awkward and shy and quiet two so they both became close friends while they were busy being wallflowers

They have all sorts of in-jokes together and some of them concern other people

One day Bill arrived on set and saw Stan drinking a glass bottle of Coke and just goes “Don’t do it, Stan”

Stan just stares wide-eyed at Bill and breaks the Coke bottle and sprints away with Bill close after

No one understood what happened but it happened nevertheless

They also keep slipping in-jokes into their lines and the director is endlessly annoyed by it

He’s still not nearly as annoyed by them as he is by Richie who always makes faces during takes when the camera’s not on him and it makes everyone else laugh and ruins the scene

Ben is totally in awe of being able to work on a big huge movie set with all these big name people

At one point Ben was feeling insecure because he couldn’t get his scene just right and he said maybe he shouldn’t work on the movie because he’s just a nobody who shouldn’t be working with all these stars

His co-stars shut down that train of thought real fast because just because he wasn’t as well known a name didn’t make him any less of a good actor

In fact Ben is a FUCKING TERRIFIC ACTOR, he’s just never had the chance to really show it off

In one scene Ben is supposed to give off a dramatic speech in order to motive everyone into not giving up and he did such a wonderful job everyone was crying and no one gave their next line correctly

Richie was supposed to crack a joke but he was once again completely speechless

Even though it wasn’t exactly what they wanted the director still left it in the final cut of the movie as is. The emotions were very true and raw and that’s what you want

When they finally finish shooting the kids are all sad they won’t be able to work with each other anymore

But when they get reunited when the film's about to come out it’s the most joyous of times

Beverly’s literally crying from happiness when she gets to see her best friends again

Richie and Eddie try and act like they’re just mediocrely excited to see each other even though they’re both fucking ecstatic 

Everyone watches Bill and Stan reunite because it’s clear that they keep in very good contact with each other after shooting ended

They have a secret handshake that they did not have when they were last all together and it’s so well rehearsed it’s evident that they were together in person at some point

(They all also notice how they hold hands when they think no one’s looking)

The premiere of the movie was a smashing success 

Everyone loved it

Though at one point Eddie forgot that there was supposed to be a jump scared and he gets so freaked out by it he turns and grabs onto Richie who is sitting next to him

Richie was going to make a joke but he gets so flustered he can’t

Bev, who’s sitting on Richie’s other side, notices this and smirks at him

Richie kicks her foot

A few weeks after the movie comes out the kids are all told that they’re making a sequel and they’ll all be back together once again and they all couldn’t be happier

[snarkysim]

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Legacy

A modified Differences in the Family Tree challenge.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Legacy (MBDTL) is a challenge for The Sims 4. It’s named after Kanye West’s 2010 album of almost the same name (please don’t sue me). There’s no deep reason for this; I was just trying to look for quotes to match each generation’s theme and I came across one of Kanye’s lyrics that perfectly encapsulated the Performer/Musician generation. “I am God’s vessel. But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.” That inspired me to use more of Kanye’s amusing quotes -- sometimes brilliant, and sometimes head-scratching -- for all 15(!) generations. Don’t worry. You can always play a condensed version of this challenge if the thought of 15 generations makes you sweat. Like the original DITFT legacy challenge, there are a number of objectives. I’ve incorporated a number of objectives from the original challenge, but I’ve come up with tons of new ones! Everything from skills, careers, and aspirations down to midlife crises and Sunday dinner traditions. If you’re curious, click below the cut and prepare yourself for the longest text post of your life.

BASIC CONCEPT

The full version of this legacy challenge can be played for a full 15 generations. Each generation has a theme with its matching career(s), aspiration(s), objectives, and Kanye West quote. In the original form of the challenge created by ArrowLeaf, generations were completed in a specified order, which is still totally fine. However, generations can also be played in random order, and it’ll be up to you to make sense of it for your game/story. To determine the theme and corresponding objectives for each generation, use Google’s random number generator. Or just google ‘random number generator’ and it’s the first thing that pops up under the search field. Allow it to randomly select a number between 1 and 15. The first number generated will correspond to the type of generation played for the legacy founder. Once the founder has a child, the player may randomly generate the next number in order to start preparing for the next generation’s objectives. If the same number is generated within a legacy, the player may choose to use the consecutive number or roll again. 

The condensed version of the challenge can either be played as a 10-legacy or 5-legacy challenge (for those of us with less success completing legacy-style gameplay). Similar to the full version, it can be played in order, starting at any point on the list, or through the random generation of numbers. 

 NOMADIC GAMEPLAY OR CLASSIC LEGACY CHALLENGE RULES 

Once a theme is chosen for the first generation, create a character and move them into whatever lot or pre-built house you want as long as there are no money cheats involved. There are optional objectives that will make this choice more favourable to the challenge. 

 You may also choose to play according to classic Legacy Challenge rules, where you choose the largest lot in the the chosen neighbourhood and purchase the Knight of Octagon table decoration costing $8200 and place it in the family inventory. If you are choosing a 64x64 lot, you can buy two Points of Enmity for $2100 and one Von-Windenburg’s Trap for $2000. Place those three items in the family inventory. Either way, the challenge must begin with the sim having $1800. 

 RULES (ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN)

Have fun and don’t take anything too seriously, including these rules. No money, mood, motive, or skills cheats. Story progression mods are allowed, but nothing that gives your household an advantage over any other sim in its community. 

Life span set to normal 

Randomly generated traits for heirs unless there is a specified trait they must have for their generation. Use a random trait and aspiration generator for this one. 

 Randomly generated traits and aspirations for known non-heirs. If you’re unsure about which of the children will be heir, you can choose the traits up until they become teens. 

 Choose the heir by any means you want (e.g., random, firstborn, matriarchy, popular vote, etc.) Try to stick to one succession law for the entire legacy. 

Spouses can have jobs and teens can have part-time jobs. 

 When moving sims into the family, you may not keep any funds they bring in with them 

The next generation starts when the heir chosen hits YA. At this point, other family members, including parents, can be moved out; or the heir can move and get a place of their own. If the heir moves to a different lot, he/she cannot take any family funds with them. 

 If you are keeping the legacy within the largest lot in the neighbourhood, the family must stay and build on that lot throughout the legacy. 

THE GENERATIONS:

 GENERATION ONE - THE CREATOR 

“If I were to write my title like going through the airport and you have to put down what you do? I would literally write ‘creative genius’ except for two reasons: Sometimes it takes too long to write that and sometimes I spell the word ‘genius’ wrong. The irony.” 

You begin with a blank slate. Weave together the origin story of your legacy by stringing words along the page, or brushing paints across the canvas. You’re not starting out with much in your pocket, but that’s okay, because there’s never been a time in history when it’s been this cool to be a poor, hungry hipster. 

 OBJECTIVES: 

Have and complete a Creative Aspiration 

Master the writing and/or painting skill 

If the sim chooses to be a writer, join the Author career branch and reach level 10 

If the sim chooses to be an artist, join the Artist career branch and reach level 10 

Write at least 10 books and/or paint at least 5 masterpieces 

Keep at least 5 books in your household’s bookshelves and/or display at least 5 paintings in your house 

Marry, woohoo, have at least two kids 

Go to an Arts Centre, Museum, or Library once a week 

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES: 

Get 10,000 in book royalties 

Sell 10,000 in paintings 

Be good friends with all members of the immediate family 

Influence at least one child/teen to reach level 5 in painting and/or writing skill before they age up to YA 

Complete two murals 

Decorate an entire wall of your house with a collage of original paintings 

Write at least one book of each genre/type

Provide original titles to all of your books 

If your sim is experiencing an extreme emotion while in the household lot, they must start an emotional painting or start a book in the specialized genre 

Build a painter’s studio or a writer’s office on your lot 

GENERATION TWO - THE PERFORMER 

“I am God’s vessel. But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.” 

Self-expression has been deeply ingrained in your psyche since the moment you came clawing out into this world, screaming death metal out of the womb. It’s pushed you into pursuing a musical dream that has yet to be explored. You’re not exactly sure about the fame and notoriety, but you’d sacrifice your privacy for a chance to play your song. 

 OBJECTIVES: 

Have and complete a Creative Aspiration 

Master at least two from the following list of skills: piano, guitar, violin, and/or singing 

Get to the top of the Entertainer career in the Musician branch 

Have at least three kids 

Get married to someone with a music lover or creative trait 

Learn all songs 

License at least two songs 

Go to a karaoke bar at least once a week 

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES: 

Play for tips at all community lots 

Attend and win three karaoke contests 

Serenade other sims or lull other sims at least once a week 

If the sim needs a shower and the current mood is either happy or confident, the sim must select ‘sing in shower’ 

 Influence at least one child/teen to play an instrument and have that child reach level 5 by the time they age up to YA 

Change your sim’s hair colour halfway into young adulthood; you may switch it back when they age up 

Get a tattoo before becoming an adult 

Have an affair with a groupie (or a stranger who just watched you perform) 

Have a child out of wedlock 

Build a music studio with one of each type of instrument in the room 

GENERATION THREE - THE STAY-AT-HOME PARENT 

“I’ve known my mom since I was zero years old. She is quite dope.” 

You’ve always wanted more stability in your life. Some would even criticize you for craving the normalcy of a nuclear family standing on a freshly mowed lawn surrounded by a white picket fence. It might be eerily traditional, but you swear it’s only because you’ve always fancied that slower pace. 

 OBJECTIVES: 

Have and complete the Super Parent, Successful Lineage, Happy Family, or Soulmate aspiration 

You must be a stay-at-home parent but you may make money at home by gardening, painting, hacking, etc. 

Try for twins until you win, or until your household has reached max capacity. If you have a mod that allows more than eight sims in a household, then you’re SOL. 

Read a story to children at least once a week 

Attend at least two children’s weddings (you may switch household in order to achieve this) 

All children and teens must have straight As before aging up No maids or butlers No divorce 

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES: 

Marry your highschool sweetheart 

Have at least five kids of your own Help kids with homework every night and assist with every kid’s school project 

Adopt at least one child 

Complete at least one parenting interaction with each child everyday until they age up to YA 

Have every child complete a child aspiration before becoming a teen 

Have every child earn at least two positive character values when aging up to YA 

Throw every child a birthday party 

 Make a sacked lunch for each child every Monday 

Have Sunday dinners with each member of the household in attendance and seated around the same dining table

GENERATION FOUR - THE ONE-PERCENT 

“If everything I did failed - which it doesn’t, it actually succeeds - just the fact that I’m willing to fail is an inspiration.” 

You know what you want and you already have plan A, B, and C on how to get what you want. You’re always rushing forward with your eyes focused on accomplishing your goals. Ambition is the first step to success and you need to act fast if you want to destroy your competition and make it to the top of the ladder. 

OBJECTIVES: 

Have and complete the Fabulously Wealthy, Mansion Baron, City Native or Renaissance Sim aspiration 

Get to level 10 in the Business and/or Politics career 

Max the charisma skill 

Max the logic skill 

Earn over 50,000 in family funds 

Get married and throw a big wedding with more than 10 guests, a caterer, mixologist, and entertainer 

Have at least one child 

Move to San Myshuno on your own and live in an apartment that needs TLC until you save enough for a nicer place; then move back into your old home when one of your parents die in order to take care of the survivor. OR Stay in your current lot and renovate the entire house or build a new extension. 

 OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES: 

Donate to charity every Wednesday and then update your social media status 

As an adult, volunteer with your family every Saturday. When you return, upload an image to social media 

Become enemies with your parent(s), particularly the previous heir, before entering your career 

Attend every festival you can unless you are at work or engaged in a social event. 

Meet at least four new people while on the festival grounds 

Successfully ask for a small loan or a donation of 1000 from a sim you just met 

Purchase a gift worth more than 500 for your children when it’s their birthdays 

Have 10 good friends 

 Have one rival from your workplace 

 Send flirty texts to someone who isn’t your spouse 

Have a midlife crisis during adulthood and either buy $20,000 worth of decorative objects and/or electronics, or have an affair with a sim younger than your spouse 

GENERATION FIVE - THE REBEL 

“The plan was to drink until the pain is over. But what’s worse, the pain or hangover?” 

Sticking it to the man has been your motto throughout childhood. You’re the true definition of chaotic neutral, representing the freedom from society’s norms and the do-gooder’s expectations. So what if you’re in a club on a Thursday? You’re only here for your girl’s birthday.

 OBJECTIVES:

Have and complete the Serial Romantic, Master Mixologist, Friend of the World, Leader of the Pack, or Party Animal aspiration 

Join the Mixologist branch of the Culinary career 

Have the noncommittal trait 

Kiss six sims 

Be the boyfriend/girlfriend to two sims then break their hearts (you can be married to one and be dating the other) 

Get married and have kid(s) 

Kill or divorce the first spouse, then get married and have kid(s) 

Throw a party (in any location) at least once a week 

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES: 

Get at least one tattoo 

Host a gold-rated house party 

Have a gold-rated date 

Go on at least 10 dates 

Public woohoo at least two times with two different sims 

Max the DJ mixing skill 

DJ at a nightclub or party on a community lot once a week 

Max the Dance skill and win three dance battles 

Accept any invitations to a nightclub or party unless it conflicts with work 

Create a club of fellow noncommittal sims and meet at least once a week at a location with a bed and a hot tub 

GENERATION SIX - THE SODBUSTER 

 “Being fresh is more important than having money.” 

 A life of vice is not for you. You’ve seen what it can do to the body, so you’ve decided to return back to the simple purity of the earth. There’s an honesty and organicness in having your hands digging in the dirt, growing food that nourishes the bowels and the soul. 

 OBJECTIVES: 

Have and complete a Nature aspiration 

 Grow a starter garden using the starter packets from the store 

Grow a garden with Blue Bells, Chrysanthemum, Daisy, Apple, grapes, Plantain, Basil, Parsley, Carrot, Mushroom, and Spinach 

Get married, but no woohoo before marriage 

Have a boy and a girl, and keep trying until you do 

Max the gardening skill 

Max the herbalism and/or fishing skill 

No gardeners 

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES: 

Complete at least one collection 

Have and maintain a bonsai tree 

Obtain and plant every type of plant 

Grow a cow plant 

Make a death flower 

Go camping in Granite Falls at least once, or go camping in your own backyard during the weekends 

Brew a herbalism concoction while on vacation at Granite Falls 

Marry a sim with the “Loves Outdoors” trait 

Unlock Sylvan Glade and the Forgotten Grotto 

Care for community lot gardens at least once a week 

GENERATION SEVEN - THE FOODIE 

 “What she order? Fish filet.” 

 Your senses are keenly attuned sights, smells, and tastes of fresh ingredients; but your passion burns in the kitchen. You might have a refined palate, but you’ll need to work on those knife skills if you want to get at the same level as the screaming chefs on TV. 

 OBJECTIVES: 

Have and complete the Master Chef aspiration 

Join the Chef branch of the Culinary career and/or open up a restaurant 

Reach level 10 as a chef and/or reach five-star restaurant ratings 

Max cooking skill 

Max gourmet cooking skill 

Always attend the Spice Festival, unless the sim is at work or already at another social event 

Receive the Chopsticks Savvy and the Spice Hound food mastery traits 

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES: 

Cook all meals for the family 

Sample at least one item from each cuisine or type of food vendor at all festivals 

Max creativity skill 

Max the baking, mixology, and/or gardening skill 

Take your sims out on dates by taking them to a restaurant or inviting them over for a home-cooked meal 

Serve steak to random sims at a barbecue in the park 

Have Sunday dinners with each member of the household in attendance and seated around the same dining table

 Invite at least four friends over for a dinner party featuring a homemade appetizer, main course, and dessert 

Build a chef’s dream kitchen complete with every type of large and small appliance available 

Cook Ambrosia 

GENERATION EIGHT - THE COUCH POTATO 

“My greatest award is what I’m about to do.” 

You had your cake and you ate it all, too! All the food you could ever dream of was available for you to sample and devour. Not going to lie, you’ve gotten used to an unsustainable lifestyle. Now, you could get up, work on yourself, and make a change for the better. Otherwise, you’re going to be the forgotten one in the family tree. 

OBJECTIVES: 

Have an aspiration of your choice but do everything in your power not to complete it 

Do not get a job (the spouse can have a job but the heir cannot) 

Marry a sim of your choice, but elope immediately 

Have as many children as you want while you’re still YA 

Do not teach the toddlers any skills or change their diaper/bathe them 

Do not help the kids with homework or read them books 

Spend your family fortune. Strive to get it just above what the bills are 

Order pizza once a week 

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES: 

Don’t change dirty diapers 

No dish cleaning or cleaning out spoiled food from the fridge 

No skill that lowers fun is to be learned 

Read 15 books 

Max video gaming skill 

 Watch TV or use the computer for at least four hours everyday 

Flirt with three sims in town (before or after you’re married) 

Complete a post card collection 

No woohoo or ‘try for baby’ with your spouse as an adult 

Wear your pajama outfit(s) every time you are within the household lot, unless there is a social event taking place on the lot 

GENERATION NINE - THE JOCK 

 “Nike told me, 'We can't give you royalties because you're not a professional athlete.' I told them 'I'll go to the Garden and play one-on-no-one.' I'm a performance athlete!” 

Laziness doesn’t exist in your dictionary; not that you’d know because you don’t even know if you own one. You’re the person at the gym pushing beyond your limits. Your eye is on the prize, and it looks like gold medals and eight-pack abs. 

OBJECTIVES: 

Have and complete the Bodybuilder aspiration 

Join the Athletics career and reach level 10 in either branch 

Max the fitness skill 

Max the charisma skill 

Go to a gym venue once a week, even if you have your own home gym. 

Have at least one biological child (being married is optional) 

Adopt a toddler or child sim

Have 10 good friends

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES: 

Max the wellness skill 

Take a weekly gym selfie 

If you ever feel Sad or Bored, take a brisk shower 

If you become Energized, you must energize at least one other sim on the lot 

Go jogging in your neighbourhood every morning, or swim laps in your pool every morning 

Take your sims to dates in the gym or on a lot with a basketball court 

Challenge sim(s) to a basketball competition 

Use either the massage table or chair and/or the sauna once a week 

As soon as you are able to mentor a sim at the gym, choose the most out of shape sim in the gym and offer to mentor them. Frequently invite them to go to the gym just like a personal trainer would 

No eating baked treats, not even birthday cake 

GENERATION TEN - THE INFLUENCER 

 “My Caps Lock Key Is Loud!” 

 Who wants to move around all day when there’s so much to see and so much to do on the internet? The computer might be a mind-boggling machine to most, but to you, it’s the only way you process the world around you. Programming is your language and memes are your fine arts. 

 OBJECTIVES: 

Have and complete a Computer Whiz aspiration 

Join the Tech Guru or Social Media career and reach level 10 in the chosen career 

Once you meet a sim, you may only socialize with them through the computer or through text (the exception is other sims in your household) until you become friends with them. Once friends, you may travel with and invite over that/those specific sims 

Have at least two children 

Start a social media network and have over 10,000 followers 

Max the programming skill 

If taking the Tech Guru career route, max the video gaming skill 

If taking the Social Media career route, max the photography skill 

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES: 

Win three professional gaming tournaments 

Earn 10,000 via livestreams / social media sites / apps 

Join the GeekCon hackathon 

Do some freelance work on the computer on top of your current career 

Update your social media status and share an image at least once a week 

Marry a sim you met through chatting on the computer 

Max the handiness skill 

Perform upgrades on your computer 

Host an incognito costume party and dress up as if you and your guests were cosplaying 

Build a futuristic tech room with at least one computer, television, and video game

GENERATION ELEVEN - THE EXPERIMENTER 

 “My favorite unit of measurement is ‘a shit load’.” 

You’ve seen the endless pages of code, but now you’re itching to crack the code of the universe. Utilizing all the advances of science and technology, you want to figure out if there’s life beyond the stars. Some people might think you’re kind of a dweeb, but you’d like to think you’re a trailblazer in uncharted territory. 

OBJECTIVES: 

Have and complete the Nerd Brain aspiration 

Join the Astronaut or Scientist career and reach level 10 in the chosen career 

Max the logic skill 

Max the handiness skill 

Max the rocket science skill and build a rocket 

Have at least two children 

Read and finish the the first volume of a Skill Book for each skill that can be learned 

Have a small garden 

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES: 

Get married in an unconventional location (i.e., not a park or traditional wedding venue). You may add a wedding arch to the wedding location 

Influence children to complete their homework and to raise logic skill 

Go to a community location with a chess table and challenge other sims to play against you 

Upgrade at least one object in the house every week 

Collect plant, fossil, and/or crystal samples and analyze under microscope 

Make and use every invention and serum 

Use the SimRay to transform a sim Travel to Sixam in the rocket ship 

Complete the alien collection 

Grow the UFO plant 

GENERATION TWELVE - THE LAWLESS 

 “Why everything that’s supposed to be bad make me feel so good?”

Knowledge is not to be used to benefit humankind; it’s to be used for your personal gain. Through nefarious schemes and acts of vengeance, you plan to hold all those who ever hurt you and your family at your mercy. You hold grudges with a deathly grip, so that kid that flicked your nose that one time in daycare better watch his back. 

 OBJECTIVES:

 Have and complete a Deviance aspiration 

Join the Criminal career 

Max the athletic skill 

Max the logic skill 

Max the charisma skill 

Marry as an adult after at least two failed relationships 

Have one child (you want the perfect evil child) 

Have more enemies than friends 

 OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES:

Perform at least one mean interaction everyday, even to members of your own household 

Win five fights 

Pull pranks on family and neighbours at least once a week 

Marry a sim in the Detective, Secret Agent, or Politics career track 

Have more than two affairs going on at one time 

Have your child earn at least two negative character values when aging up to YA 

When disciplining your child’s behaviour, always choose the punish option if available 

Kill your spouse, either by accident or by your own elaborate plan 

Have one of your enemies be the previous generation’s heir 

 Create an evil lair in your basement 

GENERATION THIRTEEN - THE SAVIOUR 

 “Man… ninjas are kind of cool… I just don’t know any personally.” 

That chip on your shoulder is a result of your parent being the second coming of the devil. You want to take the script and flip it, and remind your neighbours that you’re good people. You stand bravely for the rule of law. And nothing - not even family - will stop you from seeking out justice or saving a kitty from a burning building. 

OBJECTIVES: 

Have and complete an aspiration of your choice apart from any Deviance aspiration 

Join the Secret Agent, Detective, or Journalist career and reach level 10 in the chosen career 

Max logic skill 

Max athletic skill if you choose to be a Secret Agent or Detective; Max writing skill if you choose to be a Journalist 

Marry a sim with an evil, hates children, hot headed, and/or kleptomaniac trait. Try to influence them not to exhibit these traits as much as possible��

Have at least two children while a young adult 

Donate to charity every Sunday 

 Have a best friend / sidekick, preferably someone you met through work 

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES: 

Have 10 good friends 

Calm down at least one angry sim encountered in every newly visited community lot 

If going the Secret Agent route, host a Black and White Bash and Incognito Costume Party at lots outside the main household 

If going the Detective or Journalist route, host a Dinner Party and a Weenie Roast, and invite co-workers 

Max photography skill 

Have another baby in the second half of adulthood 

Set curfew at 7pm 

Become enemies with the previous heir and win a fight against them 

Get to know at least two traits of a sim before initiating any romantic interactions 

Have a serious romantic interest while married, but never kiss or woohoo them; maintain that relationship until the end of the generation or until your spouse finds out 

GENERATION FOURTEEN - THE CLOWN 

 “So I hope that there are people out there laughing. Laugh loud, please. Laugh until your lungs give out because I will have the last laugh.” 

 Everything was always so serious and by the book, so you never failed to take it as an opportunity to light up the room with your quick wit and irreverent sense of humour. You just want everyone to relax and have a good time; because if you’re external world is happy, then maybe you can forget about what you’re going through beneath your plastered smile. 

 OBJECTIVES: 

Have and complete a Popularity aspiration 

Join the Comedian branch of the Entertainer career and reach level 10 

Max comedic skill 

Max charisma skill 

Be best friends with siblings and parents 

Write at least one comedy book on the computer 

Become partners in crime with your spouse Improvise a routine on the microphone 

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES: 

Convince four sims to streak in the middle of the day 

Use the Voodoo to poke and/or tickle a sim 

Write 10 comedy routines 

Max mischief skill 

Keep a journal 

Have 10 friends, not including those inside the household 

Never discipline your kids; always encourage their behaviour even when the behaviour may be negative 

Plan a prank during work or school hours 

Use the Cuddle Voodoo interaction to lure a sim to commit infidelity against their significant other 

Get a sim to die laughing during one of your performances 

GENERATION FIFTEEN - THE HEALER 

 “Drug dealin’ jus to get by. Stack ya’ money til it gets sky high.” 

 Laughter may be the best medicine, but not if you’re actually sick. Jokes aren’t going to help you when the Grim Reaper’s right around the corner, popping in to say “omw”. You’re going to need the needles and the drugs STAT!

 OBJECTIVES: 

Have and complete an aspiration of your choice 

Join the Doctor or Veterinarian career and reach level 10 

Max the logic skill 

Max the handiness skill 

Complete at least five house calls (if in the Doctor career) 

Deliver at least three babies (if in the Doctor career) 

Get married and have at least two children but only after the sim becomes an adult 

Go to work with the sim for an entire week’s shifts 

OPTIONAL OBJECTIVES: 

Get married with someone you met at work - either a co-worker or a former patient 

Public woohoo somewhere in the hospital (build an on-call room or a closet if you have to) 

Treat diseases within the household within the hour of the sim presenting symptoms 

Upgrade at least one object in the house every week 

Adopt a pet or a child while still a YA 

Have 10 friends 

Decline any invitations to social events and festivals if your energy bar is not green. You need your sleep.

 Tell the gender of three unborn babies 

Give medical advice to five sims 

Earn the Sickness Resistance trait

[briangroth27]

Riverdale Season 1 Review

I’m not usually into teen dramas that don’t have a genre bent, but I do love a good murder mystery. Some of the first mysteries I remember really engaging with and trying to solve were on soap operas when I was home from school for summer as a kid, so perhaps the teen soap-with-a-killer Riverdale was always going to be right up my alley. I've liked what I've read of Afterlife with Archie (also by Riverdale’s creator, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa) and the old Archie's Weird Mysteries cartoon was a lot of fun too, so apparently I dig a darker side of Archie Comics. With engaging characters and a compelling mystery, Riverdale certainly delivered on that front! I’m not well-versed in Archie lore, so the changes this show made to the characters didn’t bother me and I wasn’t worried about sullying the wholesome Archie image; as Cole Sprouse (Jughead) pointed out during a Critics’ Association panel, Archie’s met Predator before! Clearly, everything is on the table. The cast, cleverly comprised of newcomers and teen heartthrobs from 20 years ago, was solid all-around and most of the characters seemed just like their counterparts from other versions of Archie (though I can't speak to the adults’ accuracy and I know Chuck was drastically altered), so it's impressive how versatile these characters are even with a radically different tone.

I loved the world of Riverdale. The town felt real and there was a sense of true, dense history between everyone, kids and adults alike. You could tell these people had known each other for a long time and their lives were intimately entangled. It never felt like there were connections just for the sake of whatever plot points needed to connect in the moment. Nods to the comics, like Jughead’s Classic Archie dream and Jughead's burger-shaped birthday cake, were perfect and I hope they do more. The pilot's scene with Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Jughead sitting in a booth at Pop Tate's was iconic. I also loved that they included what I assume are the Archie Comics stand-ins for real brands, like Veronica’s “American Excess” credit cards. The show did a great job of at least touching on relevant issues like classism, slut-shaming, and white guys telling minority women’s stories for them. I love the implied supernatural darkness this season—I totally believe Clifford did see a ghost and the Blossoms have been involved in dark rituals (what's up with their cult-like board of directors?)—and hope they open those floodgates next year. Like Jughead asked, is Riverdale a good place, or is it full of (supernatural) darkness?

 Full Season Spoilers…

My biggest issue was the Fake Miss Grundy (Sarah Habel)/Archie (K.J. Apa) fling: it wasn’t portrayed as some forbidden true love—Grundy shot that down when Archie asked what they had—but all the sex scenes and their picnic were shot so dreamily that it wasn't depicted as a bad thing either. Even though Grundy was forced to leave town in (secret) disgrace, the final scene of her creepily scoping out other teen guys seemed like a twist to show her true nature—and that Archie got played—rather than an indictment of their relationship. Fred Andrews’ (Luke Perry) almost total lack of response to the news his son had been sleeping with a teacher also felt way off and minimized the seriousness of the situation (which was implied to have also gone on between Grundy and Jason Blossom). While it’s true Grundy clearly hurt Archie and he didn’t see their relationship as “scoring with the hot teacher”—it was never something to brag about—they should’ve explored the illegality more, particularly as this show is so steeped in film noir. I wasn’t satisfied with Grundy getting off so easily and Archie dealing with nothing more than heartache. They could’ve gotten a strong arc out of Archie dealing with the clear statutory rape of it all instead of playing it like any other failed teenage romance. I wouldn’t necessarily want Archie’s life blown up by the news (though it came out later among the students and no one really cared), but a bigger deal should’ve been made of it. Had it been Betty or Veronica sleeping with a male teacher it would’ve been a much larger issue and probably would’ve destroyed their reputations, so at the very least exploring that double standard would’ve been appreciated. Riverdale subverted other clichés, like dismissing the Betty/Veronica kiss in the pilot as a dated way to appear “hot and edgy” (which in retrospect is even funnier, given The CW marketed the show with that kiss in all the trailers), but I feel like they could've found a way to subvert expectations with the Archie/Grundy relationship too.

The show’s biggest surprise was how likable and three-dimensional Veronica (Camila Mendes) is. That this is her first professional acting credit (at least according to IMDB) is astonishing, and Mendes is going to have a bright future. I was constantly impressed with Veronica’s ability to cut to the point and bring people together or make things happen. She and Jughead quickly became my favorite characters, something I never would’ve thought having seen the spoiled Veronica in Weird Mysteries. Like I saw pointed out in an early review, it was very smart of them to make Veronica and Betty (Lili Reinhart) friends first before the love triangle with Archie takes effect. In fact, Betty and Veronica’s friendship was the strongest part of the show. I'm glad Veronica provided Betty with "sometimes they just don't like you" advice about Archie rather than the usual "hang in there and win them over/they'll see what they're missing" plan. I didn’t exactly buy all of the power structure in the Lodge family—Veronica making demands to know things and Hermione (Marisol Nichols) caving and telling her felt a little “TV kids have more power than they should”—but otherwise I found the Lodge family dynamic interesting and entertaining, especially given a third of it never appeared onscreen. Veronica’s “negotiations” with Hermione were not what I’d imagine normal people do, but they were certainly fun to watch. I was surprised at the depths they continued to give Veronica as the season went on: not only did she go about atoning for her past spoiled behavior, but she went out of her way to make up for the damage her father left in his wake as well. I thought Veronica and Archie finally getting together worked—she seemed to understand him (and he her) better than Val did—but it did result in the one part of Veronica’s arc I didn’t feel was entirely in-character. Not telling Betty that she and Archie were dating felt off, especially since she told Betty about their kiss in the pilot almost immediately and they were much better friends by the end of the season. Fortunately, the eventual reveal of Veronica and Archie’s relationship didn’t come with the clichéd jealous fireworks; instead, their friends were simply happy for them (a welcome departure from the norm!).

Jughead was my other favorite character and I loved that the series was framed through his true crime novel. While I do think some of his narration was a little too melodramatic even for teen angst, like him describing himself as not a person (although it’s led me to wonder whether there’s actual dark weirdness going on), it always matched the heightened reality of the show. My sister wants his narration to wrap up an episode with “…in a little town called Riverdale” as an homage to the Weird Mysteries cartoon, and I’d love that next year! The one bit of his character that I had a hard time connecting with was his rift with Archie: it seemed like one missed camping trip shouldn’t have ended their friendship and I thought there must’ve been something else to it, but nothing ever surfaced. On the other hand, Jughead and Betty coming together as school paper reporters investigating Jason’s murder felt like a natural and well-crafted development of their friendship, as did their romance. I would’ve liked to see the show incorporate the current Archie Comics’ asexual Jughead to increase representation, but Sprouse and Reinhardt’s chemistry has made me a Betty/Jughead shipper. As the show peeled back more layers to Jughead and Betty’s lives, their relationship made even more sense and I loved the support they found in each other. Riverdale’s writers also found some great comedy between Betty and Jughead, like when creepy Grandma Blossom emerged from the shadows of Jason’s room and Jug hid behind Betty like she was a human shield! I also enjoyed him referring to her singing happy birthday as "haunting," because as good as her voice is, it definitely was. When the show drove wedges between the couple, it never felt like unearned or random drama. I felt sorry for Jughead when Betty’s mom tried to use a “family dinner” between the Coopers and Jones’ to interrogate his dad and was glad Jughead reasonably didn’t blame Betty for it for too long, since she was aware of some of her mom’s plans but didn’t know about the larger plan (and didn’t know Archie and Veronica were using it as an opportunity to search the Jones house). I really liked the low-key exploration of class differences between the Jones’ and Coopers; there was a strong thread running through the season about how Jughead didn’t feel he fully belonged in the middle-class Riverdale. I didn’t expect Jughead to start out living at the town’s drive-in theater, and his subsequent moving in with Archie worked well to help rebuild their friendship (even if Jughead was often sarcastic about sharing their feelings). The Jones family proved an excellent source of drama and Sprouse knocked scenes like FP Jones (Skeet Ulrich) telling him to get lost from a jail cell and Jughead’s mom heartbreakingly telling him not to come live with her and his sister in Ohio, even when he had nowhere else to go, out of the park. FP’s criminal past and present, Jughead’s resulting move to the south side school, and his later induction into the South Side Serpents certainly dealt major blows to his connections to the rest of the cast (though we are getting Hot Dog out of it!), and I’m interested to see how those connections are maintained and rebuilt. I wonder if he accepted the Serpents jacket (and his seduction to the dark side as he put it on was palpable!) to be/feel closer to FP, since he knew his dad’s attempt to push him away was done to protect him. Might we see dark Jughead next season? Whatever his affiliation with the Serpents brings, I can’t wait to see where Sprouse and the writers take Jughead!

Betty Cooper was initially presented as the good girl next door, but the show quickly dispelled that notion. Not only is she repressing her anger to the point of digging her fingernails into her palms until they bleed and going beyond standing up for herself to threatening people like Cheryl when things escalate too much, but she has some sort of dissociative disorder where she has no memory of taking on a different, much darker persona. Going by “Polly,” she nearly killed Chuck (Jordan Calloway) when she and Veronica were trying to get him to admit he’d slut-shamed several high school girls. I loved this darker side—and the fact that it hasn’t been resolved yet—and it definitely felt in line with the show’s Twin Peaks lineage. Those “Polly” moments could’ve easily been way over the top, but Reinhart made them real, and really dangerous. I liked the implied reason for her Dark Betty persona: she needed comfort and support from her big sister Polly (Tiera Skovbye) as a kid, and now she needs “Polly” to deal as a young adult. While the show started with Betty being eternally smitten with Archie and touched on the classic Betty/Archie/Veronica love triangle in the pilot, I’m glad they largely avoided it. Both through the beautifully-written Betty/Veronica friendship and the well-developed Betty/Jughead romance, any sort of triangle with Archie was sidestepped, and frankly the show didn’t need that added layer of drama. I'm also happy they let Archie and Betty be friends without ignoring how hard that can be when one person likes the other. Of course, Archie was more involved with Fake Miss Grundy this year, and Betty and Veronica’s reaction to finding out about it was surprisingly understanding and well-handled. In fact, Betty’s empathy in general was a standout part of her character, and I loved the concern she showed for all her friends, particularly Jughead (again, their issues are very compatible and I’m glad they’ve found each other). Betty’s empathy was put to great use as she delivered her “We are All Riverdale” speech, reminding the people that Riverdale isn’t just a clean-cut “town with pep!” but it’s also the lower class people who the rich would rather forget and write off as criminals. It would’ve been easy to write Betty as a naïve, somewhat helpless girl to counter Veronica being so driven and present, but instead they had Betty pursing the murder case even moreso than anyone except Jughead. Reinhart handled the range inherent in this Betty’s characterization with ease. I’m interested to see where Betty goes now that Jughead is joining the Serpents and it seems like her opinions on class differences—and more pressingly, Jughead’s inner goodness—are going to be tested.

I liked Archie, though I have to say he didn’t have as exciting an arc as the other main characters this year. Once he was free of the Grundy mess his material improved a lot, though I still think we needed to see more fallout: digging deeper than just his pain inspiring his music would’ve fueled his arc much better. On the other hand, as one of my friends pointed out, it was refreshing to have a central character just trying to figure out who he is and what he wants to be; Archie (and Apa, who like Reinhart is a relative newcomer to acting) felt like a normal, genuine, all-American kid. Sure he displayed some of the classic Archie obliviousness like not realizing Betty was into him, but he also showed some great maturity, like when he gave up his football team captain spot, knowing he couldn’t handle the time commitment, and when he immediately gathered a group of guys to help out with his father’s construction project when his crew got better offers and left. I really enjoyed his music sessions with Josie (Ashleigh Murray) and Val (Hayley Law); he seemed to get much more out of them than he did working with Grundy, both in terms of musical application and some social awareness when he broached the subject of writing songs for them to sing, rather than them giving a more accurate depiction of their own experiences by writing their own music. As with the show’s handling of the classic triangle, I’m relieved there was no cliché jealousy over Archie’s friendship with Veronica or Betty from Val or from Veronica over Archie and Val dating (something I’m told is drawn from the recent Mark Waid Archie comics; good to know they’re pulling from all eras!). Almost across the board, the teens in Riverdale seemed to respect and trust each other in a way that a lot of TV teens don’t. I was impressed. Archie’s best qualities came out when the show got into how much he cared about his friends, particularly Jughead—offering up his house as a home for Jones—and, surprisingly, Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch). Even after he realized Cheryl’s parents were manipulating him through her, he didn’t stop caring about her well-being. The frozen lake rescue scene was incredibly intense (Apa even broke his hand in real life!) and seemed like a moment that will bond the kids tightly for a long time to come. One (extremely minor) aspect of Archie’s life I thought was random was part of the set: he’s got multiple Justice League posters up in his room. The Warner Brothers/Greg Berlanti connection aside, I’m pretty sure Archie—and no one else, in fact—has ever mentioned being into comic books or superheroes even once on the show. He didn’t strike me as a superhero fan at all, so having posters that aren’t even of the movie adaptations felt like awkward product placement. I’d also like to know what was up with the werewolf mask he had in his room and why he hallucinated the jocks wearing similar masks while he sang on stage. What was that about? I liked Archie finally finding happiness with Veronica—they seem to complement each other well—though I can’t imagine what possibly losing his father is going to do to him…particularly if one of the Lodges was behind the hired gun.

Cheryl Blossom was a fun minor villain who revealed hidden depths over the course of the season and I was surprised by how sympathetic she was by the end. The writers and Petsch (another very talented newcomer) found a great balance between Cheryl’s genuine humanity, like when she was forced to confront the fact that her brother wasn’t always a great guy and when she genuinely seemed to accept Polly as a sister, and her more toxic mean girl side as queen bee of Riverdale High. Cheryl embodied the heightened reality of the show more than anyone with her often campy (but never out of place) vibe, and I loved it. I wouldn’t want the show to be pitch black noir anyway, so her character’s brand of high school villainy struck the perfect semi-comedic balance to the darkness. Her reaction to finding out her father killed her brother—confronting him at dinner, rather than getting out of the house like Betty warned her—was so perfectly Cheryl! It was an excellent use of the melodramatic nature of her character to reveal which of the Blossoms was the murderer. Petsch also did a great job in her melodramatic frozen lake suicide attempt and I really thought they might kill her off, but I’m glad they didn’t. Cheryl burning down the Blossom mansion was great and I can’t wait to see where she goes from here!

The parents of Riverdale were, on the whole, far from the best parents you could find. The Andrews were the best of them, though again I would’ve liked some more parenting from Fred when the Grundy affair was revealed. Otherwise, Fred Andrews was the upstanding, salt-of-the-Earth dad who’d made bad choices in his youth but was a better man in spite of them; he reminded me a lot of Smallville’s Jonathan Kent. I liked his relationship with Archie and Jughead and I hope he survives his shooting. Archie’s mom Mary (Molly Ringwald) was likable too; I enjoyed the fact that she was simply above all the drama the rest of the parents in Riverdale came at her with and I was surprised she didn’t show up with a boatload of issues of her own. Another one of the best parents was Sheriff Keller (Martin Cummins), who despite some classism blinders showed surprising support for his son Kevin (Casey Cott): instead of being stereotypically ashamed of his gay son, he wanted him to date safer guys than Southside Serpents. I hadn’t considered it until I heard it pointed out, but this allowed the show to dodge a lot of cliché “gay kid in a small town” plotlines. He also seemed level-headed, if not the most effective criminal investigator.

While the rest of the parents weren’t the best role models, they certainly fit the film noir leanings of the show and proved that not only is no one perfect, but your past can and probably will come back to bite you. The moral grayness got to the point where I was surprised all the adults reacted like real parents after Archie told them they'd broken into FP's house: I expected at least one of them to congratulate them and cheer them on. Alice Cooper (Madchen Amick) made for a subversive, overbearing, and serious villain to contrast with Cheryl early on (and a cool shout-out to the show's dual inspirations in that she was on both Twin Peaks and Dawson’s Creek), before revealing that her heart really is in the right place. Though the Cooper’s reasons for locking Polly away were extremely flimsy, they still sounded like something a real parent would say; I was impressed by that. I liked that Alice was the one leading the charge against Fake Grundy and Amick showed us Alice’s deeper caring side as the season went on, particularly after she threw Hal out of the house. I ended the season thinking she needs to back down and let her daughters live their lives, but overall liking her (and Amick was consistently great!). Perhaps we’ve already seen a bit of mellowing on Alice’s part, like when Betty was hungover and Alice barely said a thing. I liked the dynamic she brought to the school paper and I’d like to see more of her mentor side come out as Betty and Jughead (and Veronica?) continue their investigations (not that they needed much help!). I wonder if further exploration into Betty’s dissociative disorder is going to cast Alice back into a darker light, though; it seemed like she was trying to keep Betty away from things that got Polly “into trouble”—“bad girls” like Veronica/Cheryl and redheads like Archie/Jason—and she’s certainly encouraging her daughter’s medication, so how far will she go to protect Betty once she knows the truth?

Much like Alice, FP Jones initially came off as a terrible parent, but Ulrich and the show did a great job of peeling back layers to draw a more complex picture of him. While Skeet Ulrich playing a dad made me feel old, since I remember him as a teen in Scream (Jughead climbing into Betty’s room through her window was a cool homage to that movie, BTW), he was great as Jughead’s criminal-yet-caring father. We didn’t get much of FP as a caring man, but I liked what we did see (allowing a houseful of teens to drink and play a terrible secrets game notwithstanding) and believed he was truly trying to put his life together for his son…right to the point of blowing it up to protect him. I also liked that the bad blood between Fred and FP wasn’t made out to be entirely either man’s fault and they were both to blame. 

Hal Cooper (Locklyn Munro) had much the opposite arc; going from a guy who I figured had no backbone at all to one of the most despicable parents on the show. I knew he was the one to steal Sheriff Keller’s murder board, but I thought he’d done it under Alice’s orders. Once Betty started questioning whether he was behind Jason’s death, he started showing some shadiness and when they revealed he’d tried to force Alice to have an abortion and intended to do the same to Polly, I hated him. Even the reveal that he’d stolen the murder board to protect Polly in case there was evidence against her was too little, too late; it was nice to give him dimension, but wasn’t enough to redeem him in my eyes. I certainly wasn’t expecting him to be carrying on a hundred-year blood feud with the Blossoms—or for the Coopers to be Blossoms!!! I also wonder how he’s going to react to Polly’s incestuous twins once they’re born and to the son Alice didn’t abort when he inevitably resurfaces…whether Chic Cooper is Hal’s kid or not.

Ah, the Blossoms. Penelope Blossom (Nathalie Boltt) makes Alice and Hal look sane, Grandma Rose (Barbara Wallace) is super creepy, and Clifford (Barclay Hope) is a straight-up murderer who is fully willing to hurt teenagers. Then there’s all those rumors of dark magic and occult dealings in the family. If Grandma Rose has “gypsy blood” (and she totally does, given her predictive abilities) so do Betty and the rest of the “Coopers,” BTW. It’s great that there’s this town mythology about the Blossoms: it gave the whole family a mystique that would’ve been sorely missed if they were just a rich old miserly family. I wanted to believe they truly cared about Polly, but they’re the Blossoms and I know it was just the twins…speaking of, Clifford and Penelope’s “incest, whatevs!” reaction to Polly and Jason’s relationship was so gross, yet I laughed at how perfect it was for them. Aguirre-Sacasa had Cheryl and Jason in a maybe-incestuous relationship in Afterlife with Archie, but I never thought The CW would go there, even if Polly and Jason were third cousins. Penelope seems to be losing it in the wake of her husband killing her son, and I hope that brings some dimension to her, because while I believed her sorrow and wrath, I never came around on her like with Alice and FP. I thought they played Clifford very well, keeping him a certainly compromised parental figure but not really tipping their hand about how evil he was until late in the season. I did figure out he was the killer before they revealed it, but it took a long time to disabuse me of my initial theory. Looking back, there’s more than enough evidence of how little he cared about Jason (he often seemed more disappointed, to be honest) to fully buy him as the murderer; the most satisfying mysteries are unexpected but inevitable in hindsight, and this one certainly was that. Cheryl raised a good question, though:  if Clifford didn’t care about the incest or the drugs, why’d he need to kill Jason? I’m excited to see more of Clifford in flashbacks (I assume) next year to get those answers. And did he really hang himself? I think he did, but I think it’d be fitting if Polly did it. I could also see it being Cheryl, but not Penelope. What's going to happen to those two now that their house is gone? Are the Blossoms not as rich as they claim? Just how lucrative is the Blossoms' maple syrup company and how much of their wealth is from heroin?

I liked Hermione Lodge and appreciated how her connection to her husband Hiram (Mark Consuelos) adversely affected her attempts to get a stable job, but as the series wore on I became more and more convinced that she’s the real schemer in the family. She’s the one forging her daughter’s name on contracts, after all. Since the Blossoms made it sound like they had their choice of who to send to jail, I wonder if Hiram’s really guilty of anything at all. Either that or Hermione was guilty too, but Clifford didn’t think she’d be a problem. I still think the payments the Blossoms were sending the Lodges for the past several decades were repayment for the Lodges getting them out of legal trouble when Great-grandpa “Cooper” was killed, but I’d like to find out exactly what went down back then. I’m excited to meet Hiram next year and I hope he’s much more honest than the Clifford-lite we’ve been led to believe he is. Seeing him on the legal rebound, genuinely trying to rebuild his reputation, would be a cool twist after we’ve been told for so long that he’s a terrible man. Still, he seems like the logical guess as to who put the hit on Fred, but I don’t think Hermione is any less capable.

Fake Miss Grundy stealing the classic Geraldine Grundy’s ID is a classic move for Greg Berlanti when it comes to adapting comic book characters. Regardless of how I felt about Fake Grundy, I appreciated the respect he gave the source material while doing something fresh. Unless she comes back to bring feelings of being used to the surface in Archie and to fully play out the implications of a student-teacher relationship, I won’t miss her, however. 

Like many of the parents, I appreciated that what we thought we knew about Polly Cooper didn’t turn out to be true at all. I thought for a brief moment after she escaped and went missing that Jason’s death had snapped Polly, but I’m glad she was never the crazy girl her parents made her out to be. I was surprised Hermione was able to take her in—albeit briefly—when they apparently couldn’t afford Veronica going clubbing, but that was the most minor of quibbles. I was even more surprised Polly chose the Blossoms over going home to her family, even though her parents had tried to force an abortion on her and shipped her off to a nunnery, but I loved the twist that she’d gone to be a spy. I wish she had found out more vital information about Jason’s death, though. I did think Polly just going back to school like nothing was a bit of a stretch, but the season finale also featured a lengthy school escape and Archie, Veronica, and Betty waltzing into the Southside Hell School, so I guess late enrollment isn’t that big a deal. Haha I liked what we saw of Polly this year, and I’m interested to see what she’s like after fully processing Jason’s death. I can’t imagine life is going to be easy once word gets out that her twins are the product of incest.

I wish we’d gotten to know Jason Blossom (Trevor Stines) better to sympathize with his loss more, but I was impressed that we got enough to paint him as an imperfect, complex person rather than either a saint or a secret scumbag. My sister called him faking his death (and someone else subsequently killing him), and I liked that the dreamy storybook quality to his and Cheryl's boat trip was a subtle indicator that it wasn't real. I wonder if he’ll keep popping up in his zombie visage next year.

I was sure the Southside Serpents were a red herring for Jason’s death, so I was surprised they were as involved as they were. I knew they’d burned his car, though. They were well-utilized as both the town threat and as a representation of the “wrong kind of citizen” classism going on in Riverdale. I can’t wait to get to know more about their softer side as Jughead is inducted into their ranks…if they have one, that is. We know Alice is from the South Side; could she have been a Serpent at some point in her youth too?

I liked Kevin Keller and his love of drama, but even though it’s understandable they don’t have time to showcase everyone, I hope he gets some meatier material next year. Hopefully that’ll be the case, as Cott’s been made a series regular for season 2. His relationship with Joaquin (Rob Raco) didn’t feel very tragic when the latter skipped town (to San Junipero, of all places…uh oh) because we didn’t get to see them building their bond as much as we could have. I liked that Kevin got to play a role in resolving Jason’s murder, even if “I��m asking you as the Sheriff’s son” was a little melodramatic.

Josie and the Pussycats were fun local celebrities and their rendition of “Sugar, Sugar” was playful and catchy enough for me to forgive it being their song and not Archie’s (though in truth, I was familiar with the original version, but never knew that The Archies were THE Archies haha). I like that Josie’s focus on branding herself and the rest of the Pussycats, even in highschool, allowed for the iconic cat ears to be ever-present without being over the top. Murray brought a strong drive and focus to Josie that made me believe she’s going places, if she can get out of Riverdale. It was also great to get to see Josie’s family life and the pressure her parents, Mayor Sierra McCoy (Robin Givens) and Myles McCoy (Reese Alexander), put on her to excel; chalk up a couple more well-meaning but problematic adults! I hope the second season has Josie and/or Val mentoring Archie more; again, he seemed to get a lot out of working with them. I also liked that Val was levelheaded and straightforward the whole season and I’d like to get a glimpse into her home life next year. I wasn’t expecting her to dump Archie, but she was totally right to do so. I didn’t dislike their relationship, but her unwillingness to put up with his or the Blossoms’ foolishness—from a place of self-respect rather than jealousy, no less—felt so fresh and mature; definitely not something you’d get on run of the mill teen soaps. Like Kevin, I hope Josie and Val get more screentime next year, along with Melody (Asha Bromfield), whom we know nothing about thus far.

The rest of the kids got minimal screentime. Ethel (Shannon Purser) was an interesting addition with the biggest arc of the supporting students, going from slut-shamed quiet girl to gleefully watching Betty almost murder Chuck to finding confidence through her friendship with Betty and Veronica. I enjoyed her interaction with Veronica when it became clear what the Lodges had done to her family and I’m glad she forgave Ronnie instead of holding a grudge. It felt like a cleverer and more reasonable choice to forgive the innocent kid instead of blaming her for her father’s actions. Again and again, the teens on this show actually seem better-adjusted than their parents. Well, not Reggie (Ross Butler), who’ll be recast next year due to scheduling conflicts. Butler was fun as the stereotypical jock jerk with just a hint of a heart, though I hope having an actor who’s more available will give Reggie greater dimension next year. Moose (Cody Kearsley) being gay felt like it was going to be a bigger storyline, but by Episode 2 it seemed like an open secret and it (and he) were barely mentioned again; only popping up to get beaten up by Clifford’s hired thugs at Fred’s construction site. Dilton Doily (Major Curda) came off like Dwight Shrute, Jr. and I want to know what drove him to become a survivalist (which I suppose is the noir equivalent of a science brainiac). At least he’s comfortable being a self-proclaimed weirdo. You do you, Dilton. The one really egregious one-dimensional character was Chuck Clayton, who was unapologetically 100% evil. This was an unfortunate choice, given he is so out of line with the character in the comics. Chuck was Archie Comics’ first prominent black character, in fact, making the change an even more questionable decision. I wish he had more layers, but I’m not sure they can bring him around at this point.

The central murder mystery was very well-crafted. I loved how it unfolded and even though I’d pieced it together before the reveal (though possibly not the motive and I didn’t expect such deep Serpent involvement; my final theories can be found here), it was still emotionally satisfying. I wasn't expecting so quick a wrap-up of the penultimate episode’s cliffhanger (great pun, Jug!), but I liked that it allowed the characters to deal with the fallout in the season finale. While I always wanted the show to veer into supernatural Lovecraftian horror (and it could so easily!), it’s smarter that they resolved Jason’s murder within the mortal realm instead of pulling the rug out from under everyone in the last episode of the season. At one point, I thought they could bring Sabrina the Teenage Witch in as a "psychic" to help the cops investigate Jason's murder, but again, that may’ve been too much for season 1. The only point that didn’t make sense to me was why neither Archie nor Fake Miss Grundy thought to say they were at the lake by themselves; either one of them could’ve just said they heard the gunshot while camping on their own. It seemed like that generated a lot of unnecessary drama between the two of them, but since it was a red herring all along, it didn’t bother me in terms of the mystery. Besides Clifford’s motive and the Blossom/Lodge payments, the big red herring that still hasn’t been addressed is why Jughead asked for a lawyer when questioned about his whereabouts the week Jason died. Fred went so far as to create an alibi for him, no questions asked, and the tie-in comic doesn’t indicate any criminal behavior, so what was Jughead doing? Did he just not want to answer, feeling the classism working against him? Was his way of bucking the system? It felt a little odd for the show not to follow up on this, even with a line explaining it away, and I hope it does next season.

Riverdale had a great first season and I can’t wait to see how much crazier they’ll go next year. If they do go supernatural, I have no doubt that the well-drawn characters, strong actors, and more-than-capable writers will ground it enough to keep things relatable and fresh, no matter how crazy things get. If you haven't checked out Riverdale yet or want to hook your friends, the first season is streaming on Netflix now! Until it returns in October, we have the Riverdale tie-in comic for a glimpse before the series and between episodes. I'm not sure how groundbreaking it can be, but I'm glad to have it.

I can’t wait for season 2!

[her-culture]

There's an Animation Revolution Coming and We Need to Pay Attention

There is an animation revolution coming and we really need to start paying more attention to it. If you were born during the 1990’s, you experienced what I like to call the “Golden Age” of cartoon series in America. This was when Cartoon Network actually had a huge set list of cartoons for children, as well as provided exposure to Japanese animation (i.e. Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and Pokémon), before Spongebob was the face of Nickelodeon, and you didn't have to go to some other channel to enjoy quality cartoons from Disney.

We may not have noticed it when we were young, but a lot of these cartoons actually had depth in the sense of the lessons we should be applying to our lives. The Powerpuff Girls taught to us all that you should always fight for justice, no matter what kind of person you are; Kim Possible showed us that you could be a girly girl and still kick some ass; Pokémon stimulated our imaginations, and motivated our sense of adventure. Those are just a few examples, but for each person, it was different.

Unfortunately, after the early 2000’s, there was a decline in quality animated shows for kids. For the longest time, if you weren’t into anime (Japanese animation) then all you really had to choose from were shows like Dora the Explorer or Family Guy. There was no good in-between, until now.

Like I said, Cartoon Network used to have a huge set list of cartoons until recently. They were the cartoon elitists. It is literally a network for cartoons. And it’s not like they haven’t noticed. Whenever Cartoon Network does a movie special, there is a segment where all their cartoon characters gather in an imaginary movie theater to “watch” with us. During my childhood, the theater was always full. But that was in the early 2000’s. In 2012, there was a photo going around on the internet showing that they brought this segment back, However, instead of an imaginary theater with a huge crowd full of a variety of characters, there were about ten characters. The photo compared the 2002 version to the 2012 version, and it was very depressing. Most of the characters in the 2002 version are now found on Cartoon Network’s sister channel Boomerang, a channel meant to show Cartoon Network originals that are 10+ years old.

Cartoon humor in the 90’s was arguably crude but not necessarily in a negative way. It was full of a lot of sarcasm (to say the least) or poking fun at real life social issues going on. Some cartoons like The Proud Family were explicit about these issues, whereas cartoons like The Powerpuff Girls would touch on issues without explicitly saying which ones they were talking about.

Suddenly, the only cartoons that actually related to real life issues were featured on adult cartoons channels, leaving children with  no real exposure on how to actually deal with real life social issues. I found this to be a real issue. Media is very influential, and most kids watch cartoons. People seemed to forget that cartoons can be educational, as well as entertaining, and sometimes can be a lot easier for children to retain information from them because it sparks their imaginations.

The only cartoon that seemed to still be doing this during this period of animated decline was Avatar: The Last Airbender. When the series ended in 2008, there seemed to be an uproar. People were craving a good plot filled with life lessons. Then in 2010, Adventure Time debuted, a new and satisfactory aesthetic of cartoon expectations began to arise.

We are in a time where the values of diversity and relatability are targeted more often by audiences, especially by us millennials. This is because we want future generations to feel as included as possible, because despite the great shows we watched while growing up, there was still a lack of diversity from race to sexuality. We also, as a society, seem to ignore the age group of eight- to twelve-year-olds who are not quite young enough that they need cartoons to learn how to count, but also should not be exposed to the crudeness of Family Guy and the like. It is when Adventure Time debuted that this age group started to actually receive attention. This period of development between ages eight and twelve is so important, because this is the stage when kids develop prime social skills and do so through what they see, especially on TV.

However, sometimes kids don’t want to watch actual people on TV. I know, because I was one of those kids. So we need to have a little something for everybody. Adventure Time definitely started out as something that seemed like 15 to 20 minutes of nonsense, but as it gained popularity, it also gained more depth.

The series follows the adventures of Finn, the last human on earth, and Jake, his adoptive brother who is a magical dog, in the Land of Ooo. As the series progressed, it sparked several conspiracy theories from fans and the creators of the show went off of those theories, created storylines for episodes that either validated or invalidated them. The episodes would provide life lessons about being who you want to be, having trust in others and yourself, not letting people take advantage of you, and much more. The show also grew with the audience. The voice of Finn has admitted that as Finn got older, he would change the pitch of his voice to match the time that has passed.

This show paved the way for more shows with solid plot lines filled with life lessons like Gravity Falls, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, and–my personal favorite–Steven Universe to make an impact. All of these shows have a complex story line and/or diverse and relatable characters. In their own unique ways, they teach kids life lessons in similar ways as cartoons in the 90’s did.

A lot of these shows are very popular with millennials, which is not a bad thing. Millennials are arguably the most nostalgic generation. Growing up happened in a blink of an eye to a lot of us. To get the feeling of being a kid again is something that drives us, to some degree. It is the diversity of these cartoons that is attractive to us. Star vs. the Forces of Evil features a Latino main protagonist; Steven Universe fights the stigma of hyper-masculinity with a cast of mostly people of color and several strong female characters; Gravity Falls features an eccentric, strong, and girly main character and emphasizes the importance of healthy familial relationships. When we see something that remotely relates to our childhood, we try to hold onto it and keep it as pure as possible. Thus, our interest in these cartoons keeps views up without us asking to alter in any way to make it seem more “adult”. With millennials being interested in these kinds of animated shows, it leads to a “trickle down” theory in a way. Let me explain.

For the most part, cartoons for adults really only include crude, insensitive humor. The Simpsons was the only adult cartoon that had some kind of depth to it until recently and somehow, Seth MacFarlane managed to dominate the adult animation game. Even so, the same trope was followed: dumb, unattractive father; attractive housewife who is either equally dumb or slightly smarter, and is secretly unhappy in some aspect of her marriage, which is tested constantly; daughter who does not fit in, and is ridiculed either by the rest of the family and/or the society around her (or daughter who is slut-shamed for being sexually active); dumb, reckless son; and baby who is secretly smarter than everyone in the house. This can only be entertaining for so long, and Seth MacFarlane managed to make three shows (Family Guy, American Dad, and The Cleveland Show) with these exact same tropes, making them get older even faster.

Then in 2011, Bob’s Burgers debuted. It was another animated sitcom about a family living their everyday life. However, the difference was that the tropes had a little bit of a spin. You have Bob and Linda who are actually happily married. When they fight, it is never serious enough where the plot is focused on it. They encourage each other, and neither of them are smarter than the other per se. Then there are their children Tina, Gene,and Louise. Tina is a very confident, socially awkward teen whose means for going about things is never attacked for it by her family. When she is attacked for how she is by people in the society around her, her family comes to her rescue without hesitation. Gene, the only boy, is arguably very genderfluid but again, never attacked for it. This aspect of Gene is also never used as a means of tension between him and his father. Louise is very eccentric and, you guessed it, never attacked for it. Instead, the whole family accepts the kind of person she is. Also, all of the children act as they would in their respective age groups despite the jokes that are made and the audience is definitely reminded. As a collective, the family is weird but they are all super supportive of each other, something that was only really seen on The Simpsons. But even then, the supportiveness was usually seen  after they were encouraged to suppress it, or after a family member  was ridiculed by another . Bob’s Burgers  has also demonstrated  respect to pronouns with a recurring character named Marshmallow: a transwoman for whom the family always makes sure to use the pronouns “she” and “her”. Bob’s Burgers has been running for a good six years now and has been very successful. The show is still has some adult humor, but it is not as crass as that of any of Seth MacFarlane’s past creations.

We are entering a new age of cartoons that needs all the attention it can get. We need to make sure that kids of all ages have access to life lessons no matter what form of media they decide to look at. It is our job as millennials, and also the duty of parents, to make sure access to these shows is readily available. I love cartoons and I really think you should too.

[madethisforclasstim-blog]

Feature #1: Animation With Foundation w/ Reflection

Timothy Geard is discovered by Walt Disney Concert Hall for his character inspiration makeup looks.

By Timothy Heath

When you grow up watching cartoon versions of heroes, you tend to start to look up to them and replicate their character. Timothy Geard’s main source of makeup inspiration came from his interest in animation. Instead of trying to be more like another live action figure, he tried connecting to the vision of animations and how the hues correspond the mood of each show and character to deeply understand that character. 

His concept of taking a regular person and morphing the basic base with many other exaggerated features for visual illusions takes you more in depth into Geard’s fantasy world. The transformations can range from a kawaii perspective of becoming “Sailor Moon” to the exaggerated evil in transforming a human face into a more modern version of Hades from Hercules. 

The makeup community has a comedic phrase “beating your face” that can also be described as “painting,” more generally used in the drag queen community to describe the process of applying your makeup, that would also be compared to the arts of famous painters. “My face is a canvas so that I can make my look a masterpiece. I’m driven by the story of these fictional characters,” Geard said.

In his young adult years, Geard had always been the vibrant figure in his group of friends. He knew all about the top skin care, makeup reviews, and anything cosmetic and in his field of play. “Just like theatre, if you want to be good at something you enjoy a lot, you have to practice.” 

Geard said he has always been inspired by animated television shows, as he explains, “I’ve always grown up watching shows like Teen Titans and I was intrigued by the distinction of colors associated with character. It gives each character their own story if you ask me.”

He learned a lot of information from social media like Instagram and YouTube. Many other aspiring makeup artists share their unique skills on these apps in hope of business inquires or strictly for entertainment.

After quickly learning how to apply a basic coat of base foundation through attending courses at Stephen F. Austin State University, Geard’s makeup inspiration led his potential straight to California soon after he graduated in 2008. While attending courses as a graduate student at UCLA, Geard continued to expand his makeup abilities by matching corresponding makeup with different themes for school events (i.e. Homecoming, awareness months, etc.). 

Growing up in the suburbs of north Texas near the DFW area is only a part of the colorful personality of Geard. He always dreamed of moving away from his hometown in hope to move somewhere with more open views and opportunities for men who do makeup.

“I mean come on, we all know Texas is mostly a conservative state and I am a man doing my makeup … but that’s why we have ‘H-Town hotties’ like Megan Thee Stallion to inspire ‘hot girls/boys’ like me to do what I want to do with my life and grind my way to the top! She has always inspired me to never stop trying to achieve my goals,” Geard said.

Megan Thee Stallion is a rising new female rap artist that also does her own makeup and has her own trademark, “Hot Girl Summer” where those followers are known as “hot girls/hot boys.” Being a “hot girl/boy” is all about empowerment, confidence, and dedication.

Moving to the west coast for Geard has been a dream he is always awake for. The change of scenery, the vibes, even the possibilities to encounter another one of his idols. “Being in this state just allows me to open up more than I could in the past.” 

Geard opens up about his experiences with bullying for being considered more feminine than most of the other men in his life. He has always felt isolated from social norms and lived a private life, as he was afraid of any forms of criticism. “To add the cherry on top, I am also in love with theatre, so I am training myself to take that criticism and run with it!” Geard expresses. His theatre experiences through high school give him his charismatic and creative drive. His high school theatre teacher, Mrs. Brittany Gonzalez, has been one of his personal connections in his career. “She should definitely be taking this position for the concert hall in my opinion. She’s the best one to push my creative boundaries when projects seem too easy.” 

Geard eventually got his name out to cosmetic companies such as Sephora and Mac, holding at least three to four years of experience from each position held. Many people in the L.A. area request Geard by popular demand.

“I absolutely LOVE seeing all of my regulars. It’s like another one of my friends coming to talk about your day with. I love what I do and so do they!” 

- Timothy Geard

As his experience grew, Geard felt more at home with his fellow aspiring makeup artists around him, but he also began to miss the theatre. “L.A. has a lot of opportunities inside of it. I can do as many of them as I really want,” Geard explains as he then broadens his job field out to bigger companies.

Geard expresses his happiness upon the offer from Walt Disney Concert Hall as the Head MUA (makeup artist) as “the biggest achievement [he’s] made,” working his way up in his career. Geard is excited to someday work on some of his favorite musicals while employed, including “Aladdin,” and he hopes that he can “do a bomb cherry blossom eye shadow look to convince the production team to choose Mulan!”

Geard continues to regularly post more of his animation inspired makeup looks. His great imagination has taken him across states and given him a source of income with an activity he enjoys. His one wish that he hopes to keep is that he will have enough time to catch up with his animated television shows because “how else am I supposed to be inspired without a little creativity time? I also want to simply watch TV.”

As I worked on the first feature assignment from the rough draft to the final draft, I have learned that my writing can include many patted words to ensure word count, failure to fully connect the flow of my paragraphs, and GSP errors. Reading the many handouts we received in class definitely helped inspire my writing since this assignment was to be made up of our future career. I ran into issues prior to the due date of the rough draft from having far too many ideas. I did not know how to naturally connect all of my similar ideas without sounding too repetitive. My corrections were mainly GSP related, but I also think I can work on separating my paragraphs without causing confusion.

[indiehangover]

Cinderella is an incredibly well-known story: a poor girl gets stuck living with her awful stepmother and stepsisters who treat her like a maid until one day she wows the prince at a masquerade ball and they live happily ever after. But what if Cinderella just wanted to escape, or she wanted to take back the home that was left to her stepmother and make it her own? What if the stepmother had her reasons for being awful, and the stepsisters did as well?

Cinders is a visual novel that allows players to explore these possibilities and more. Choose your own fate and chase your dreams, but be careful you don’t turn out just as rotten as your stepmother… or worse!

Title: Cinders Developer: MoaCube / Crunching Koalas Publisher: Crunching Koalas Platform: Nintendo Switch Game Version: Final Review Copy: Provided by publisher Interface: Handheld Switch console Available on Switch and Steam

Cinders is a witty young woman living with an overbearing stepmother and her two daughters, as if she was reenacting a certain well-known fairy tale. But unlike its protagonist, Cinders is not afraid of taking fate into her own hands. Even if it means breaking the rules…

The game takes a look at four women and what made them who they are. It’s a story about freedom, dreams, sisterhood, and finding your own Happily Ever After that may not exactly agree with the stale morals of classic fairytales.

With multiple endings, 120 decision points, and over 300 choices, Cinders gives you total control over the main character’s personality and how her story unfolds.

I love story-driven games, but I’d never played a visual novel until Cinders (not counting Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception, but I never want to think about that game again). I loved the idea of taking a very basic, simple fairytale and expanding upon it, and I figured it would be a great starting point into the world of visual novels. Heck, my “day job” is as a book reviewer, so combining gaming and books sounded like a dream come true.

Cinders ended up being pretty much exactly what I expected, but slightly better in almost every way. The game begins a week before the prince’s ball, but Cinders doesn’t know anything about that yet. Instead, her life is pretty much exactly as you’d expect it: she cooks, she cleans, and she gets berated, insulted, and mocked. Heck, even her name is a mockery of her existence. In fact, the explanation of the title was one of my favorite things about the game: she was nicknamed Cinders by her father because of the color of her hair, but her new family decided that it would be funny if she lived amongst the cinders in their home.

Despite her crappy existence, you’re given choices of how to interact with your family and what to do right from the start. You can treat your stepsisters just as badly as they treat you and rebel against your stepmother’s wishes, or you can suck it up and be the better person. There are additional, unique characters added to the story as well, such as a childhood friend who has become a merchant, a “witch” with a mysterious link to your family, and the prince’s right-hand man with an unshakable sense of duty. These characters have some real depth to them, and you’ll only get to see a little of that depth with each playthrough, depending on your choices.

The gameplay of Cinders is incredibly straightforward: you read dialogue, you get presented with choices, and you make said choices. That’s basically it! There’s no movement (aside from selecting from a map at specified moments), there are no puzzles (aside from figuring out how to get the endings you want), and there are no minigames to play. You don’t have to worry about stats or inventory or anything aside from choices, and you’re given an unlimited amount of time to make each choice. That isn’t to say the game is simple by any means; according to the developers, there are 155,000 words in the game, 135 scenes, and 120 choices to make. The game contains 50 profile variables to track how you relate to different characters and what kind of ending you’ll get. None of this is voiced, mind you, but I’d say that’s fair given how many lines of dialogue there are. I play the vast majority of my games muted anyway, and I read far faster than people speak, so I really didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything.

The first playthrough took a bit over 3 hours, but there was still loads to do. In fact, I spent about as much time with subsequent playthroughs as I did with the first, despite my heavy use of skip mode that allows players to get through a run in less than half an hour. Skip mode is a brilliant feature, and it’s one I almost missed entirely. Pressing the skip mode button sets things in fast forward, automatically continuing on until you exit skip mode, you’re given a choice to make, or you’re presented with dialogue you haven’t seen yet. This is amazing since there are four completely different endings to unlock, and when you include all of the potential possibilities of each ending, there are over 300! For example, if you end up with the fairytale ending (as queen), you can be one of four types of queens, you can have one of four love interests (you heard right, being married to the prince doesn’t mean he’s necessarily the one you love, or that he loves you!), and you can have one of four advisers (including none at all). These are all decided by the choices you make, and every time you play through the game you unlock those individual attributes in the Endings section. As you unlock more, you can mix and match them, although you’ll only see the last several screens of the ending if you make up an ending this way. The game shows you what percentage of the variants are found, and completionists will be incredibly busy unlocking them all. With all of my experimenting and messing around, I’ve only found about 60% of all of the variants, and it would’ve taken me far longer to figure out the fourth type of ending without help from the developer’s wiki. Without spoiling anything, I really wish there was a fifth major type of ending though. There’s a specific element in the game that seemed like it should have far bigger repercussions, but instead, it has minimal effect on the story. This would be a big deal if the other endings weren’t so terrific; the slightest changes in endings could lead to learning more about the world of Cinders. I was frequently blown away that the 5th, 7th, 10th, etc. times I played through the game I was still finding out more about various characters and seeing people in a new light.

I loved the themes Cinders explores. For one, the concept of choice itself is shown not only for Cinders (as you can see in the image above) but for everyone else in her life. The whole premise of Cinderella is that the titular heroine is trapped, unable to live her own life until magic intervenes. Even then, how does the story end? She marries a prince she knows almost nothing about, all to escape her former life. But in Cinders, you’re able to choose from all sorts of possibilities, and merely the fact that Cinders is making choices for herself is miraculous to her. But that’s the thing about starting to make choices for yourself: when you feel trapped for so long, every choice seems better than your current life, no matter where it leads. Who hasn’t blown a bunch of money after getting their first job, or eaten way more than they should the first time they have spending money at a fast food place? For Cinders, there are plenty of bad choices too. Then there are the other characters, who have gotten exactly where they are in life due to the choices they’ve made, or the lack thereof. Numerous characters are doing what their parents did, and feel just as trapped or indebted to their families as Cinders does, although they find themselves happier about it because of their attitudes. Even Cinders’ stepmother has made choices for reasons that make more and more sense as you discover her secrets, although she could still be less of a jerk.

The game does a terrific job with other topics and themes as well. The writers make light of the idea of Cinders settling down with the prince without really knowing anything about him, among other things. I appreciated the way that nearly every character is likable, even the ones that shouldn’t be. One of Cinders’ stepsisters, for example, is as sarcastic and bitter as I’d be in her position. The romanceable characters are likable, cool dudes, and I personally think Cinders would be happy with any of them (depending on how you play it). The “fairytale ending” of becoming queen is even deeper than just fairytale love, and if you play things wrong (or right, depending on your point of view) you can take control of the entire kingdom with an iron fist.

Cinders is terrific for fans of visual novels or “mature fairytales”, and folks who love twists on stories they already know well will especially get a kick out of it. However, this doesn’t limit who can enjoy the game – while the developers call this “a mature take on Cinderella,” it has a teen rating for a reason. While some adult things can happen, there are no sordid details and things never get any kind of gory or overly naughty. But if you’re the type of person who skips through dialogue, you’re definitely in the wrong place.

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Cinders from #indiedev @TomGrochowiak and @CrunchingKoalas is an #indiegame visual novel where you help Cinderella make her own fate, for good or bad, with the prince or not. Check out our review! Cinderella is an incredibly well-known story: a poor girl gets stuck living with her awful stepmother and stepsisters who treat her like a maid until one day she wows the prince at a masquerade ball and they live happily ever after.

[neptunesdaughtr]

We saw “A Bronx Tale” on Broadway. It didn’t replace Jersey Boys in my ❤️, but I definitely enjoyed it. I will have to watch the movie now. A review on the play: Well, why not? A Bronx Tale began as a one-man show that launched the career of actor Chazz Palminteri. It was one of those rare cases where friends probably told him time and time again he should turn the stories of his youth into a show, he did, and it actually worked! That in turn became a movie marking the directorial debut of Robert De Niro. Like Sylvester Stallone, Palminteri wisely sold the rights on the condition he be cast in it, in this case the magnetic supporting role of the mobster Sonny. And now De Niro has co-directed with Jerry Zaks yet another incarnation of this coming-of-age tale. This time, it’s a musical. Unfortunately, by and large they forgot the songs, not to mention any distinctive choreography or movement. As one would expect, De Niro and Zaks have done a good job of bringing out solid performances from the cast. Certainly the book (penned by Palminteri) isn’t the problem. This story of a young kid becoming enamored of the tough guy who lords if over their street and rebelling by calling his hard-working dad a sucker is familiar territory...and not just because we’ve seen it on film and stage. But too many squandered opportunities keep A Bronx Tale: The Musical” from taking flight as a musical. It starts with a couple of guys singing doo-wop under a streetlamp as the grown-up young man Calogero (Jason Gotay) launches the show with “Belmont Avenue.” The show sets up the doo-wop singers as a potential Greek chorus (and who doesn’t love good doo-wop) but that idea is mostly squandered. (The guys become friends of Calogero and sometimes break out the doo-wop but it’s not really a consistent thread.) Further, Gotay is at his most appealing vocally thanks to a melody that sits comfortably in his upper register. Unfortunately, most of his other numbers have melodies that sit much lower on the scale and fail to show off Gotay to his best advantage. Since an upper register also suggests the innocence of youth here, that’s a shame for several reasons. This launches into the words of advice from the bus-driving dad of Calogero to his pre-teen son (Joshua Colley). Unfortunately, it’s called “Look To Your Heart,” sentimental clap-trap that pushes against the increasingly grim world that the story depicts. In fact, “look to your heart” becomes the show’s mantra and oft-repeated refrain, a Hallmark style slogan that lands flat. Worse, Calogero’s dad (Richard H. Blake) is a frustrated sax player, though a love for soul or jazz or big band never comes into things, another missed opportunity to be specific and give characters some link to the music they’re singing. The lyrics by Glenn Slater and music by Alan Menken rarely get better. Yet for a moment they do. Topping the modestly pleasing opener is “I Like It.” The young Calogero has sung a few earlier bits, but as with the adult actor, the melodies he’s given don’t suit his voice. But suddenly Colley is given a song that expresses the giddy pleasure this kid finds in receiving the attention of the mobbed-up Sonny (Nick Cordero). Once everyone knows he’s a favorite of the feared gangster, Calogero gets free soda, free comic books, friendly smiles from one and all and cash in his pocket. No wonder he likes it! This number is a genuine winner, pushing the story forward and letting Colley shine with a melody and lyrics he nails gleefully, receiving by far the biggest applause of the night. It’s all downhill from there. The young Calogero is replaced by the teenage version (Gotay) and the songs and story quickly become generic. He fights with his dad, he works for Sonny and yes he loses his way. We suddenly discover there are black people in New York City, (before, his world was strictly Italian-American) and in about two minutes we get rising racial tension and Calogero falling for a sweet, friendly black girl named Jane (Coco Jones) in his high school. It’s too much too fast, though Jones manages to be winning even in a truncated part and with about half a song she gets to sing. Jones works at a record store, but any thought that the show might use that for musical inspiration is also lost; she might as well work in a library. Only Sonny’s song of how to survive on the streets dubbed “Nicky Machiavelli” has any personality to come close to matching “I Like It,” thanks in no small measure to Cordero’s turn. But that’s also in Act One, leaving Act Two devoid of any memorable songs. Cordero’s magnetism and genuine presence give this show much needed gravitas. Gotay is a capable and amiable lead, but the songs and story feel so anonymous he never really comes alive. Frankly, events mostly seem to swirl around Calogero, so it’s hard to make this passive role feel vibrant. The choreography is by Sergio Trujillo but this show never really feels like one that moves. The scenic design by Beowulf Boritt runs out of steam; eventually large walls simply block off parts of the stage to create more intimate moments, a tactic that feels intrusive and unimaginative. Paper MIll often boasts an excellent orchestra. But here it’s smaller than usual (perhaps to go for a more rock and roll vibe?) and the arrangements by Ron Melrose include a lot of very mechanical drumming that makes it feel tinnier than usual. Palminteri’s heartfelt ode to his childhood and tribute to his dad has an innate appeal. A Bronx Tale proves Tony nominee Cordero has the chops to succeed in drama as easily as he has in comedy. And it offers a showcase number for Colley that any kid would kill for. But what surely was imagined as the next Jersey Boys is more likely to make you wish Palminteri would hold the music and just bring back the one-man show that made his name