#this is my crack ship and i won't stop loving them

[biggsodorcitystories]

One Year of BiggSodorCityStories!

So, one year ago today, I created this blog.

A year ago, I didn't really think very much would come of it. I'd been very upset with Deviantart's tone-deaf decision to try and force its entire userbase to "embrace" AI imagery and make their entire galleries ripe for the stealing, and created this blog to act as an image repository in case DA's stupid decision caused them to implode.

Honestly, I thought that I would lose interest and leave this blog to gather dust in a few months at most.

However, one year later, and this little blog has amassed over 100 followers (would have possibly been 200 or more if it wasn't for the pr0nbots, but they don't count) and my interest is still very high.

I have met some lovely people in the last year and gotten the chance to engage with them and other talented artists and storytellers, none of which would have happened if I hadn't bitten the bullet and joined this site.

I would like to take this chance to thank you all for your kind support over the last year, be that through likes, reblogs, asks or private messages (no matter how cheerfully I may or may not have received them at the time). Every single interaction has meant a great deal and been very welcome. I hope to see you all again over the next year of this little cracky blog.

[imavikingo]

One thing I'm TIRED of is ppl tagging Stucky to simply shit on Steve. (This happens a lot in AO3)

Idk why they need to tag the ship if they HATE Steve or treat him like shit.

You can ship whatever you want but what's the need to tag that ship if you only want to bash one character? I could understand if the tag is "minor relationship/past relationship" or other variations. But they're not.

Same happens with some posts I've seen on here now. I'm tired of ppl hating on my favorite character and treating him like crap just because it's convenient now and because the writers didn't make the ship "canon" and assassinated his character and fucked up Buckys.

I try to block some tags (mostly of other ships bc you know... ppl try to justify their ships with the Steve slander) to stop seeing that kind of posts. But those types of posts keep appearing and I'm done. I actually don't feel comfortable anymore lmao.

[raayllum]

a/n: set after 6x06 and heavily references 6x03 bc they were blessings

Sometime after they stop kissing — alright, they don't really stop, but languid silences, soft giggling, and sweet nothings fill some of the space in between kisses as they curl up together on his bed in the Starscraper — Callum asks, "So, what were you crying about on the Ray of Illumination?"

The sun is rising above the sea of clouds outside their bedroom window, and for a moment he regrets bringing up anything potentially sad, both of them happier than they've been in years, honestly. They have everything they need for her parents, his connection to Aaravos has been severed, the light and truth of her love filling the cracks in his heart, instead, and finally, finally she knows that his heart has always belonged to her. That it always will.

But he's always been curious, and he's always wanted to sooth whatever's troubling her, fix whatever is breaking her heart, and she'd had a good deal to cry over just a couple weeks ago — maybe even something from the last two years apart — and... he wants to know. He wants to help.

And, slowly, he thinks she's getting to a place where she wants him to be able to, where she'll let him.

"Oh, um..." Rayla averts her eyes, fingers tangled with his, but her smile doesn't dim. She sticks her tongue in her cheek. "It's a bit silly, really."

"Still." He uses his free hand to brush his thumb over the curve of her cheek, the blue bend of her marking, where he knows the tears would've fallen.

"Just an old diary written by the captain. Esme something. Stella pushed it open." Rayla scoots a bit closer and Callum lets go of her hand to wrap his arm around her, more than happy to give into her desire to be held; he never feels more at peace than when he's holding her, now more than ever.

The bump of the tip of his nose against hers as a gentle prod. "And?"

Rayla turns her face down, his lips brushing her brow, but he can still tell she's worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. He wants to angle his face down and kiss that worry away, draw her lips to his, but refrains. They have plenty of time, after all. To kiss, and rest, and prepare for their journey. It's close to dawn now, and Callum knows they won't leave till the day after tomorrow at least — they need supplies for the journey to the Nexus, recover from their trials, and to say goodbye to their new friends here.

Finally, Rayla explains, "She was writing during the last days of her life, on that ship I guess. About a man she left behind. Her one true love, Conrad."

"Oh." Callum pulls her further into a hug on instinct, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Just... resonated with me," she nearly sniffles, laughing weakly, but her smile is real and reaches her eyes when he glances down to check. "I'm sure you can imagine why."

"Lots of stuff about what she would've said if she saw him again?"

"Mmhm."

"Think I can relate to that too," he hums, giving her forehead another kiss. "I love you, Rayla," he repeats for what might be the millionth time that day, but he already knows he can never say it enough. He's always known that. "I'm so glad you came back."

She wraps her arms tighter around his torso, cuddling in closer, tension ebbing out of her and face half pressed to his scarf. "I'm so happy you're here, Callum," she sighs warmly.

"Always." He strokes her hair, wondering if she'll fall asleep like this—it always got her a little drowsy in the past—or if she'll let him weave her braid for her one of these days, musing, and then... "The Captain's name wasn't Esmerelda Skall, was it?"

Rayla lifts her head, brow furrowed adorably. "Er, yeah, it was. Why? How do you know that?"

"She was a famous explorer in the Human Kingdoms. Charted out a lot of our maps up north. My Dad—King Harrow—took me on a diplomatic mission once to Del Bar, where she's from, when I was eleven or twelve." There's a warm, content feeling blooming in his chest that he'll get to give her closure on this, too, somehow. "Conrad founded a town near the capitol and served as mayor. He named it after her. He loved her all his life—put a grave marker for her next to his when he died and everything."

Rayla's "Oh" comes out choked and small, but her smile is wide as she blinks back tears. "That's—that's beautiful. I guess he really—"

"—loved her?" Callum finishes, curling two fingers under her chin to lift her face for a moment. Then he brushes away the real tears trickling over, drawing her further into his snug embrace. Her breath is beautifully warm as it fans over his lips before he kisses her, soft and firm. "Yes. I really do."

[violetasteracademic]

I saw someone say they don't like Elriel simply because Azriel and Elain don't do it for them as a couple. They just aren't into the emo boy/flower girl dynamic. And truth be told? That's the most respectable anti take I've ever heard. Because there is no right or wrong, there's no points to argue. It's just like, hey, I see it, and I don't like it. Which is kind of how I feel about G*wynriel and E*lucien as well. So it's genuinely just a really fair and uncomplicated take.

I simply *don't like* forced proximity with the person that has already been assigned to you and eventually falling in love with them, then realizing it's for the best anyways because it will solve a bunch of conflicts as much as I *like* fuck fate and fuck politics and fuck the Gods, you are the person I want and I will burn the whole world down to be with you. If it goes against every rule, if it puts us in the front line of every danger, and tears at the very fabric of society, it still will be you for me and I'll do whatever it takes.

And that's just vibes, there's really not much more to say!

I *don't like* I was completely obsessed with two different women, but after being rejected by both of them I finally realized, thank goodness! I've had a mate this whole time! And I saved her from being r*ped by a bunch more men than just one years ago and then trained with her every day and now that I'm finally free of being in love with other women, I finally have noticed what is right in front of me as much as I *like* your mate is sleeping upstairs and if he catches us he will have every right to demand I fight to the death over you but I literally can't stop wanting you and needing you and questioning fate because I don't understand how we aren't meant to be together.

I know for a fact I won't like a G*wynriel or E*lucien book *as much* as Elriel because I have read those sorts of similar vibes or comparable plot points before, and it's just like, meh. Not for me. My least favorite trope is the guy who suddenly realizes his best gal pal is the one he should have been into all along after only going for beautiful women he thought were way out of his league. That's not romantic to me at all. But I respect that it is to others. I think it's perfectly okay to simply vibe with different things.

Do I think the books are quite clearly headed towards Elriel? Absolutely. But I think even if they weren't, I'd be crack shipping them anyways because I absolutely love what they have to offer plot, story, tone, aesthetic, style, and romance wise. They are the full package for me. Feysand was a full package for me. Nessian isn't my usual style or favorite trope or vibe, but I still enjoyed the hell out of it.

I think Sarah has given the sisters really distinct personalities and completely individual storylines. I personally still love every book. I adored ACOSF. Buuuuut I don't really need it rewritten a second time in a different font, which is what I think G*wynriel would be. Minus all of the "it's been you since the moment I laid eyes on you" swoon worthiness that I loved for Nesta and Cassian and introducing the "I can't believe I didn't notice my own mate standing right next to me and being harmed and put in mortal danger repeatedly for three years because I was in love with other women" element.

But ACOSF is polarizing. I've seen people say it is either objectively the best book Sarah has ever written, or objectively the worst.

Elain is a unique sister, with a personality and powers that could not be more different from Feyre and Nesta. Everything about her book is not going to match what we have seen in the series so far. And I think that's a GOOD thing. ACOSF was a tone shift, and I think Elain's book will be a tone shift. But I think her book is probably going to be polarizing as well. And it will likely be my favorite.

Although the fandom has gotten a bit aggressive, I think it's really cool that people found their favorite in Nesta and ACOSF in a way that is really kind of deep and specific. I think Elain and Elriel will be that for me. That's what books are supposed to do. Humanity is not one size fits all. It makes perfect sense that people locked into Nessian (or just Nesta) in a way they didn't with Feyre/Feysand. And although there's a crop of anti ic people out there now, Feysand will always be a crowd pleaser. So I'm just hoping the girlies who get it will have their chance to connect that deeply with Elriel too!

I love each Archeron sister, and I for one love how different they are. I appreciate their stories for different reasons. But I am ACHING for Elain and Azriel to lean into their vibes and continue on their journey of questioning the system and deconstructing religion and battling the obstacles in their way. That will always be more interesting and way sexier and peak romance to me and will undoubtedly take spot number 1 in my heart.

[baileybeez]

My Top Ten Favorite Bumbleby Moments (My Opinion Obviously)

10. All Fight Scenes

I know I'm technically cheating on this one but whenever these two fight, I know I'm in for a good time. And all of them have been superb. These two are in sync without even communicating with each other. They know each other's abilities and know how to work together well in combat.

9. We're Protecting Each Other

This was a 'you had to be there' moment. It was insane. Even knowing these two would eventually confront Adam, the way they did it blew my mind. I loved seeing these two stand up together to confront Adam and become each other's strength's. They had each other's backs in this moment and were going to do it together.

8. We Were There For Each Other

This moment lived in my head rent free for months after the episode came out. They held hands before this to comfort each other during stressful times. Like Blake reaching out to apologize to Yang when she lost her arm and Blake reaching out when Yang's hand started to shake because of Adam. But this time, Yang reached for Blake in a moment of peace. After everything that happened, she forgave Blake and accepted her after everything they went through together. And all she wanted to do was just hold her hand again.

7. Volume 8 Reunion

The amount of gushing I and many others did during this moment was crazy. We were starved for Bumbleby interactions in Volume 8, especially after Volume 7 did so many with them both. After 24 hours of craziness, the two are at peace once again. Blake at first is worried since they did separate missions Yang might be mad that they didn't work together. But all Yang did to reassure her was smile and the two touched foreheads and later embraced each other. It was such a sweet moment.

6. Date Night

Volume 7 had so many good little bee moments that were adorable and I'm a sucker for fluff. Blake getting her new hair and Yang struggling to compliment it, the selfie, Blake falling asleep on Yang's lap with Yang holding her etc. But the two going to a club and off handedly mentioning they're gonna ignore Team FNKI just to have their own fun. You two can just call it a date, we won't judge lol. With Yang trying to teach Blake how to dance and Blake struggling to learn while laughing. I love how whenever Yang cracks a joke, she looks at Blake because she wants to make sure she see's Blake laughing. Not to mention Nora's comments later in the episode.

"Blake and Yang are off doing they're own thing again."

"Friends huh? Just friends?"

"Two people who have gone through that much? I think there's more going on."

And I will forever be mad RT didn't show us them at their date.

5. The Burning Candle

Ya'll this was the spark that ignited the ship. Not only is the Burning Candle just a great episode but it's an amazing moment for Blake and Yang. We get to see these two open up and communicate their wants and desires. With Yang telling Blake about her past and trying to help Blake so she doesn't push herself too far. And then of course at the end Yang gives her that wink and says 'I'll save you a dance'. Then we later see the two dancing. It was also the first time we saw Blake laughing and happy and it was all because of Yang. Yang who just asked for a dance in return for helping Blake and opening up about her past. I was sold on this ship when this episode came out.

4. How Disarming ~

The gay in my brain would not stop buzzing at this moment. It's amazing seeing how much Blake was the one openly flirting and initiating playful touch. There's a great post by @wixhing0nastar going over Blake's body language throughout the volumes. How a lot of the times Blake is more closed off in her posture, like how she holds herself. But here, she's leaning into to Yang's space and just playfully nudging her. She's not holding back. Also I swear I could hear Blake purr when she said 'How disarming'. Like my breath got caught in my throat. And then when Weiss said 'About time'. I knew this volume had to be the one where they finally get together.

3. Volume 9 Reunion

This is my favorite reunion of Bumbleby. Especially since we had to wait for so long for these two to be reunited. Blake was distraught last volume as she failed to save Yang and thought Yang died in front of her. Yang who had always been there to help her and fight by her side. And the first thing Blake does when she gets a free chance is to tackle hug Yang and hug her tightly. Softly whispering Yang in both disbelief and joy. And Yang simply holds her to reassure her like she did in Volume 8. Honestly, if Weiss and Ruby weren't there they would have probably stayed like that for hours lol.

2. I'm Not Gonna Break My Promise

This used to be my favorite Bumbleby moment of all time and for good reason. Blake and Yang had killed Adam. The first thing Blake does is weep and fall to her knees. She's gone through so much and much of it had to do with him. Her torment of him is over and the person she once knew was dead. And Yang wordlessly just holds her and lets Blake cry. Blake finally gets out that she won't break her promise and swears it. Earlier Adam had mockingly told Yang that Blake made a promise to him once and that she didn't follow through with it. And even earlier in the volume Blake had promised to be there if they faced him. Yang has seen Blake stood by her words with her actions. And just reassures Blake she knows Blake won't break her promise. No more words are exchanged as the two just hold each other and Blake just cries more.

The Confession and Kiss

Was anyone really surprised? I know I wasn't. I loved the number 2 moment on my list so much. But I knew as soon as we got the confession and kiss scene it would more than likely take my top spot. It was all a matter of how it was executed and it was done spectacularly. There's many essays and write ups on why this scene was so good so I apologize if I don't add much to the conversation.

But Blake and Yang are stuck in a punderstorm and are trying to figure out how to get out. With them eventually figuring out they need to say things about each other they've never said before. At this point the two have only really said cute things to each other and then Blake comes out with.

'I think....you're an extraordinary person.'

Honest to god I was already getting emotional from just that as Blake goes in some more. Talking about how Yang does what she says, she brightens others around her and is always brave even when she's scared. The looks and the song Worthy playing in the background only add to how monumental this moment was for me. With Yang talking about how she liked how Blake wasn't intimidated by her even back when they didn't get along. She also talks about how Blake doesn't give up on people even when other people hurt her and she never gives up because she knows what matters to her. Blake has tried to help others and has sometimes failed but she has tried to push through despite labeling herself as a coward. But Yang see's a person always trying to do what's best for the people she loves.

Then we get this moment.

These are my favorite expressions of the whole scene. It's so wholesome, pure and full of love in every detail. At this point the two know what needs to be said but Yang is at first hesitant and the bridge between them widens. Blake asks if Yang thought of something then didn't say it and Yang is so bashful as she is realizing she needs to say those three words. But Yang is scared, she compares it to a cliff and if she goes through with it she'll fall. I've always headcannoed that Yang's greatest fear is letting those she loves down. And that ties into how she fell at Beacon and fell in Volume 8. It can also tie to her with the aftermath of Mercury and feeling she let her team down. She's scared she won't be good enough and will lose it all. It also similarly ties into her abandonment issues.

But Blake points out, they're already falling. Their emotions aren't going to go away just because they're scared. They're already worried for each other when they're fighting to save the world and two thought they were dead last volume. With Blake thinking Yang died and she failed to save her. So Blake encourages Yang gently by telling her to say it.

And after a heavy sigh, Yang confesses with Blake jumping in before she can finish as the two say I love you. The bridge that separated them is gone and they're together. They look at each other with blushing cheeks with Worthy playing in the background. They pull into each other, Blake slowly smiling as they get closer and kiss each other. White lilies sprout from under them as the while lily symbolizes rebirth and rejuvenation of the soul. The flowers are also used at weddings and can also mean purity. It's such a perfect flower to fit this perfect this scene.

And there you have it, my top ten Bumbleby moments. There were lots of moments to choose from and so many of the ones I love unfortunately didn't make it on this list. So here are some honorable mentions down below.

[darknoverse]

I need to stop jumping between fandoms and rediscovering my love for them oof

Anyways WOY oc/Sona their name is eeny-meeny-miny-moo . And they're idiots .

They're a chimera and Miny is the only one with braincells . The rest crack stupid jokes 24/7.

I won't tell which character I'm shipping her with but but but but- you take a guess till I draw.

[technicallyfurrydetective]

Hey people I am one of the trolls who stir some shit up and no not the one who sends death threats or stuff but the one who stirs shit up,

ABOUT ME

Interestingly opposite to popular belief i actually do have a life, a husband and 3 girls who are teens now, i started working again 8 years ago after my youngest started 5th grade and yeah i live a cozy homey life but sometimes i just find stirring shit up for no reason at all so amusing & interesting, like irl no one could guess it would be me, my kids teachers praises me for being a god mom and supporting not just my girls but donating and helping her friends who need it, my girls love me and i love them too, i do don't drink or anything i work, spend time with my friends/children/ hubby and that's about it,

WHY I DO IT

But since last year I posted a post where unintentionally people got heated and the arguments got passionate, and I love watching it unfold and sometimes I can't help but post some stuff on other's tags/anons to stir shit up, i am guilty but sometimes i can't help it,

HOW I DO IT

Takes two minutes to make a new ID with an email which doesn't exist.

HONEST OPINION

It so funny how down bad you are for your ships and honestly a little pathetic as well, like i spent some time on both sides of the shipping fandom and it's so pathetic watching you guys fight tooth and nail to prove your imaginary friends will make it in the book and the other side are disgusting rats with no reading comprehension, especially elriels, like sometimes i make stuff up and send them anons that gwynriels said this or that and they get so triggered like most of the time they won't even fact check, with gwynriels i think they are more pathetic because they generally keep their pro tags clean and pretend to not care but you can tell that they hate elriels to death but will pretend otherwise like to me being a two faced cunt is more pathetic,

Like i can't decide which side is worse because elriel on one side makes it clear that they stalk the other tags and openly posts stuff from others tags on their tags, like i have seen too many "tell me why i saw this EL/GA theory/art?" and care about GA/EL opinions too much, they will fight to death to prove how the other side is crack ship, idiots to see any sort of romance in two characters which they can't see, will follow and support elriel blindly and many more but i don't like typing anymore,

Proof in the comments

WHY GWYNRIELS ARE PIECE OF SHITS

They romanticize and choose the weirdest hill to stand on, like they will die defending tamlin X nyx and tamlin X anyone, they hate the main characters to death why the fuck are you still reading the books and sitting here if you hate the main people so much?

They will romanticize the wierdest shits "GA having sex where most women feel comfortable after being raped, Gwyn felt the bond and the love after she was actively raped,

As a survivor myself i think these people need to be more mindful and intelligent,

And the whole elain gate thing, dude who posted tamlain? like they whine for no reason at all,

Cry bout minor stuff and are the reason for the threats trolling like if they kept quite and ignored the trolling would've stopped,

Hate elriel and also think they are idiots for not seeing sparks and glows but will act like a two faced cunt and pretend they don't

Proof in comments:

So really both sides are pathetic and i am too but honestly life is getting too busy so maybe i won't be here,

And i wanted to say this before i left,

You guys are the real ones who need a life and i need a psychopath assessment, i'll get it done soon or go to therapy but for now BYE,

Hope you all love and hope you guys understand that you are all the same people

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

fave evermore lyrics for it's anniversary?

where do I begin when I am in fact on waves out being tossed by how much I love this album????

And I was catching my breath, floors of a cabin creaking under my step / And I couldn't be sure, I had a feeling so peculiar this pain wouldn't be forevermore

OK I'm going to go song by song for the rest haha

I'm like the water when your ship rolled in that night / Rough on the surface but you cut through like a knife

Your Midas touch on the Chevy door, November flush and your flannel cure / "This dorm was once a madhouse," I made a joke, "Well, it's made for me" / How evergreen, our group of friends, Don't think we'll say that word again / And soon they'll have the nerve to deck the halls that we once walked through

ETA how could I have forgotten!!! "She would have made such a lovely bride, what a shame she's fucked in the head," they said

I don't like that falling feels like flying 'til the bone crush

I won't ask you to wait if you don't ask me to stay

I made you my temple, my mural, my sky / Now I'm begging for footnotes in the story of your life

You assume I'm fine, but what would you do if I break free and leave us in ruins / Took this dagger in me and removed it / Gain the weight of you then lose it / Believe me, I could do it

Her husband's acting different and it smells like infidelity

She says, "That ain't my Merlot on his mouth, that ain't my jewelry on our joint account"

But now I'm right down in it, all the years I've given is just shit we're dividin' up

Showed you all of my hiding spots, I was dancing when the music stopped / And in the disbelief, I can't face reinvention

Haunted by the look in my eyes that would've loved you for a lifetime

When did all our lessons start to look like weapons pointed at my deepest hurt?

It's never too late to come back to my side / The stars in your eyes shined brighter in Tupelo

If I can't relate to you anymore then who am I related to? / And if this is the long haul how'd we get here so soon?

And the old widow goes to the stone every day / But I don't, I just sit here and wait / Grieving for the living

I can't stop you putting roots in my dreamland

Spring breaks loose, but so does fear

So yeah, it's a fire, it's a goddamn blaze in the dark and you started it

Now you hang from my lips like the Gardens of Babylon / With your boots beneath my bed, forever is the sweetest con

Actually I always felt I must look better in the rear view

The autumn chill that wakes me up, you loved the amber skies so much / Long limbs and frozen swims, you'd always go past where our feet could touch

Should've kept every grocery store receipt 'cause every scrap of you would be taken from me / Watched as you signed your name Marjorie, all your closets of backlogged dreams and how you left them all to me

Don't treat me like some situation that needs to be handled / I'm fine with my spite and my tears and my beers and my candles

um all of evermore but

I replay my footsteps on each stepping stone trying to find the one where I went wrong / Writing letters addressed to the fire

I rewind the tape but all it does is pause on the very moment all was lost / Sending signals to be double-crossed

In the cracks of light I dreamed of you / It was real enough to get me through

Matches burn after the other, pages turn and stick to each other / Wages earned and lessons learned but I'm right where you left me

I swear you could hear a hair pin drop right when I felt the moment stop / Glass shattered on the white cloth / Everybody moved on, I stayed there

When the words of a sister come back in whispers that prove she was not in fact what she seemed / not a twin from your dreams /She's a crook who was caught

That old familiar body ache, the snaps from the same little breaks in your soul / You know when it's time to go

He's got my past frozen behind glass, but I've got me

[mathcat7]

2024 Gaming Retrospections

What a year huh. I won't repeat the opening spiel I did with last year's post (although much of it still applies), but this time around I'm armed with a few harder curveballs for things I've played this year that were new to me. In fact, I do need to warn now that two of the titles in this mix are visual novels that contain explicit sexual content. I'll be more specific with both when I get to them, but y'know, fair warning and all that. Additionally, while I'll try to keep the spoilers light, some of these games will inevitably cross that line, so again fair warning.

Let's get rolling:

Mice Tea

Cinnamon Switch

(Content Warning: This is porn vn 1 of 2 and contains some, albeit optional, kink delving into hypnosis, voyuerism, bondage, etc. Also it's at its core a furry transformation story.)

Yeah, this year I did make it somewhat of personal goal to stop acting as inwardly prudish towards the both the art I want to experience and want to support, and this visual novel was a great opener to that, especially with our point-of-view character Margaret.

Each of the main branches in the story sees her accidentally transformed into an anthropomorphic mouse (and/or other animal) and it's fun seeing her thrust out of her comfort zone in such a way where she confronts both that and all the other issues in her life (low self-esteem, being a doormat at her job). I had originally gotten this to play after a little in-joke with my friend, but the game is just genuinely kind about everything it tackles. Sure it's having fun putting Margaret in all these situationships with her boss, coworker, and other friends (and trust me on this its really good porn), but it also gives time to let all these people both grow on her and create some really compelling friction. Margaret's genuine distress about learning that Gavin's a furry in his route and that nearly creating a wedge in their budding relationship, was an incredibly strong hook for me. Which is wild given that by the end of it, I thought his route was the weakest of the bunch. By comparison, route that I've head anecdotally to be the general favorite by other fans is the one's with Margaret's boss, "Felix"; the magical properties of the tea are not just anthropomorphic, but also some extreme tier of HRT, and turns him into a catgirl. This leads into, among other shenanigans, a rather fast egg-cracking moment, as Margaret helps the now-Felicia navigate this new facet of her life. It's a super sweet and lovely storyline, and I love how much this route highlights the overlap between furry/therian and trans experiences. Oddly enough, what I find best about this is Felicia isn't even a token trans girl among the main cast; you get to see how much she contrasts to the more forwardly confident Sylvia, and some of the ways her route explores those aforementioned themes that a recent egg crack that Felicia can't.

I won't talk too deeply on the sex scenes themselves, but I found each of the scenarios well described, and (barring some oddities with Gavin's) well illustrated. Plus, even if I'm not into every kink Mice Tea provides, I do have to give the team at Cinnamon Switch props for how wide they throw that net; Margaret is an incredibly convincing vers, and I have a lot of fun reading her have fun.

This was a great opener to my year, and I would easily recommend this as a beginner piece for both people just starting out in furry culture or trying to get into more explicit pieces of media. (Heck, the game even has a SFW mode for the scenes that might turn you off, which is a nice boon.)

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor

Ghost Ship Publishing - Funday Games

This is gonna be a short coverage because I haven't touched it since February, despite it being an extension of one of my favorite co-op titles of all time. Promising take on what Vampire Survivors popularized, but given how early of an early access it was at the time I initially played, and that I don't think I was as into this genre as I'd initially hoped (I like more hands-on rogue approaches), I might have to wait a bit before I give this another go. (Ngl, I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder about this getting to publicly playable state a lot faster than the other DRG spinoff in Rogue Core, but that's really neither here nor there.)

Persona 5 Strikers

Atlus - Koei Tecmo

I think it's really funny that I'm now 2 out of 4 for playing spinoffs that involved Persona 5 without actually playing the main game. Beyond that though, I think this was a really fun Musou game for someone whose exposure to the genre thus far has only been through spinoffs (Hyrule Warriors, both the OG Fire Emblem Warriors and Three Hopes). The part I think it especially shines in is using P5's exploration-and-combat loop as the gameplay core, as opposed to being a full musou with Persona paint. It certainly fits the setting and the smaller cast of the Phantom Thieves (relative to those other spinoffs), and at least for me resulted in a lot less long-session fatigue trying to use everyone equally. If there's only one major complaint in terms of gameplay, is that Joker himself feels rather awkward to use at times due to how his wildcard mechanics are adapted here. I'm not even talking about how different personas contribute to his combo routing (though that is a factor), but the lack of deeper fusion mechanics such as arcana burst makes fused personas a lot harder to utilize as they will inevitably always be behind the experience curve. His starter Persona Arsene gets some unique bonuses in his later levels but it is straight up a herculean test to get him there. And while the game does have a catch-up system in Persona Points, you never gain enough points to where you can use it beyond sparingly.

Story wise, I think it makes for a rather well constructed continuation of where P5 left off (ignoring the elephant in the room of Royal's continuity). It's nice seeing how the Phantom Theives are continuing their lives—the former third years prepping for college, Futaba properly re-entering school—while also grappling with and re-interrogating their convictions with the new threats.

Also, the new characters in this story are amazing. Sophia, the A.I. designed to be humanity's companion, is equal parts adorable and heartfelt. Her sort of "robot learning to become human" arc has been done before with P3's anti-shadow suppression weapons, but it still takes that arc in very interesting ways, especially once her newfound outlook on life puts her at odds with her creator, culminating in a reinforcement P5's rebellious themes. And while I don't care as much for Zenkichi's arc concluding in the same sort of reformist slop that Makoto had in P5, the way his opposition of their methods giving way to mutual understanding, and the way his much more seasoned, fatherly life creates push-and-pull with the rest of the cast makes for a very welcome addition the Phantom Thieves.

Don't have much more to say since Persona isn't really my wheelhouse, but I for the most part enjoyed my time here, and am willing to bet anyone who loved P5 and hasn't gotten to any of its auxiliary media will love to see Joker and co. return to action.

Balatro

LocalThunk

Holy shit, this game. I'm honestly amazed to see how much this game blew up, given I was one of the early fans of it, back when it just a well constructed Steam NextFest demo in Aliensrock's wheelhouse near the end of last year. I don't know if there's much I can say here that does this game enough justice, but I would definitely argue for its GOTY contender status. It flips the script on what one would typically expect of a deckbuilder roguelike, much to its favor. Rather than utilize turn-based combat cards to defeat waves of enemies, it's a much more of an arcade-y score attack; match the required score with good poker hands to proceed. This is both a boon in accessibility of both appeal and mechanics; everyone knows what playing cards are, and you don't need to already have some foreknowledge in rpg/tcg style gaming to understand the core gameplay loop. Beyond that, the game is just oozing with strong design; the sound effects of gaining mult, flames burning on the scorecard whenever your hand one-shots the score requirement, a singular music track (with variations) that give a very zenlike sensation as you play, the lava lamp-esque backgrounds, even down to the gorgeous pixel card arts... the game just *feels* good to play. Additonally, since this game is a score-attack, this creates additional lines of play beyond the typical deckbuildrogue "beat the game with harder enemies, player penalties, etc." Some people just enjoy playing the game to see how high they can get the number to go, even to the point of where it becomes incalculable by IEEE 754 standards, and/or to see how many more blinds they can last in the game's Endless Mode (whose required score can also hit the IEEE 754 limit). I adore this game, and I hope that the waves it creates does foster new innovations within its subgenre.

Xenoblade Chronicles (Definitive Edition)

Monolith Soft

I don't think there's much I could say about this game (and its respective trilogy) that hasn't been said more eloquently or deeply. Anyone else with a relatively deep enough RPG repertoire can gush about the game's deep community systems, the story's powerful twists and turns, the close knit main cast, the jaw-dropping environments and music, or how sexy Dunban is. There's not really anything I could add to that really, and even then, it would feel incomplete given I had a plan to play the trilogy in whole, DLCs included.

But if anything, I'd like to recount one of my favorite moments, deep into the plot. That moment where Shulk stays the Monado mere moments before he would have slain Egil and gotten the revenge this whole journey was originally building towards. It's a perfect character moment, and I particularly love that it isn't just Shulk plainly laying down his arms.

"I can't kill you, but I can stop your blade. And I'll do it. Over and over again, until… we understand each other."

This, coming off of his questioning why the conflict even originally started is amazing to me. And combined with the visual of him just sitting on the shoulder of the giant that is Egil's Yaldabaoth, it's the near-perfect realization of how much bigger the world has become beyond what now feels like a petty dispute at the end of it all, which makes the subsequent betrayal by Zanza and his co-conspirator all the more compelling when you take a step deeper; it was already out of shulk's hands the moment he stepped into the Mechonis.

But of course, this is one amazing moment in a series known for these. So I look forward to when I eventually return to XC2 and so-on.

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year-Door (Switch Remake)

Intelligent Systems

The original TTYD still stands as one of my favorite games of all time. "Baby's first rpg" sort of deal, sure, but still holding a few key mechanics that I'm still surprised haven't been utilized in other modern rpgs (biggest example being the audience system). The remake is still grand in the way that most remakes/remasters are (which is to say, mostly unnecessary if porting to modern systems was the ideal standard), but still brought some nice surprises that made me fall in love with the game all over again. All of the main areas gaining new renditions of the battle theme, relocalizing the english script to affirm that Vivian is a trans woman (and making her mini-arc directly related to that fact) are both nice new details among other QoL improvements. There's even two *new* superbosses unique to this game that are both welcome additions. It was very nice to return to this old gem, I'll say that much.

The World Ends With You

Square Enix

(Sorry if this sections a bit half-assed, was the last section written for the year)

Yeah there's... quite a few rpg classics in this bunch, but this one was a huge reccomendation by one of my friends. I could wax poetic about how much the game utilizes the Nintendo DS as a console to its fullest extent (including a wireless feature that would be the spiritual predecessor to the 3DS’s Streetpass functionality), but really as a piece of media, it’s probably one of the best at folding a narrative into itself. Early on in the game’s first week, the faux-mentor figure to Neku Sakuraba in Mr. Hanekoma poses him the words of advice that make up this game’s title:

"The world ends with you. If you want to enjoy life, expand your world. You gotta push your horizons out as far as they'll go."

This tenet is so deeply intertwined with both the game and story. I'm gonna skip ahead to the ending for this, Neku ends up inadvertently saving the city because he's gained the ability to trust even in someone who has just proven his betrayal. It's a powerful moment, but it's incredibly powerful that Neku was chosen to be someone meant to rig the game against this outcome; from the outset we see him incredibly rude and untrustful of the world around him, and tries to shut out everyone and everything. But through the three weeks we see him, we also get to see him slowly expand his world beyond himself, begin to empathize with his game partners and even strangers. I especially love the way this dynamic is flipped by midway through week 3; Neku fighting through for the sake of everyone else at this point, having to remind Beat that there's more than his life on the line.

This also reflects so well in aspects like shopping and food. The best gear isn't just found in a shop, but properly mingling and bartering with the storeowners reveals new shit bit by bit in a very cool way. Food's a lot more direct, obviously it helps to increase stats but I love that the most effective way to do it is as a team. But I also love that game encourages slowing down in ways beyond what the game is directly. Letting real time pass on a DS frees up space for food, and the pins that Neku uses to fight passively gain strength while the game isn't played. It's a really strong ludonarrative reinforcement: It wants you to spend time outside its world too.

It's a clever and thoughtful game and also influential in ways I don't think it gets proper credit for. Certainly something worth interrogating over and over.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vegeance

Atlus

There is probably an argument to be made about the potential anti-consumer practice that comes from Atlus doing revised releases of their major titles, thus making fans pay twice for full experiences, as often as they have, but honestly I’m quite glad they revisited SMTV of all things. While I’m not of the opinion that the original was a “glorified demo” and this is the real game, it was certainly evident that its development was less-than stellar in several aspects: nearly nonexistent dungeon design, weak story and characters, and being locked to a weak console with poor optimization. Even the gameplay loop itself, the game’s strongest factor, was being marred by a harsh level-scaling formula in its damage calculations, an issue that has rarely ever been a problem for modern megaten titles. Between it, the more disappointing release of Soul Hackers 2, and the still frequent milking of Persona 5 as a brand, there was a lot of sentiment that the franchise’s best days were behind them.

Vengeance, and Atlus’s other big hits this year (one of which I will touch on later), did a lot to assuage those fears. While it doesn’t try to fix the original story, now dubbed the “Canon of Creation”, the new “Canon of Vegenace” gives us a lot more focused plot and characters, and even the structure itself does the Creation Canon a boon by informing on their more distant personalities in that story. Yoko Hiromine is the closest thing to a dueteragonist this tale has, and her combination of pessimism, lack of faith in others, and vindictiveness bounces very strongly on the rest of the human cast, especially when it frames her as a foil to the Creation Canon’s most intriguing character in Tao Isonokami. Even once she does her grand betrayal and leaves the party before the game’s final arc, she never feels truly “absent” from them, and it still left me rather interested to see her goal in all this. The more focused plot also benefits the new antagonistic faction in the Qadištu. I love how cool and calculated they are as a group, and in true megaten fashion, I like that their motivations speak more to the world’s larger structure, and why the Mandala System that Lucifer struggles to break exists in the first place. I would be remiss not to also mention the reintroduction of demon conversations in the new demon haunts, in which there are a lot more lore and story tidbits to chew on, especially with our protag’s ever constant companion in the proto-fiend Aogami. Hearing him mull on the story developments, and his growing concern for the Nahobino endears me to him quite a lot, and his loss in the party kicking off the final arc hits with the weight it needs.

In terms of gameplay, while dungeon design is still nothing too special, navigating the world feels a lot better to do with the introduction of the magatsuhi rails, which serve as useful shortcuts or expansions into less traversed areas from the original release. I didn't care much for the original's traversal, but romping around the ruins of japan in this run feels a lot more fun. But that's a bucket in the water compared to how much the combat loop was improved from the first game. I've already mention the og SMTV's issue with level scaling, and it's removal from the calcs is already a fine improvement, but the first real big win was the addition of demon traits (a carryover from a mechanic first toyed around in Persona 5 Royal). It's a continuation of the efforts first started in SMTIVA to make demons have more definitive identities, but the traits in this game really do take it to another level. Of the megatens with fusion that I've played up to now, Vegeance actually made me want to pay attention to the deeper mechanics in demon fusing, because now it felt like I was playing to make demons synergize with each other and the Nahobino rather than purely making a team that counters the next major boss. Some of the traits also make good use of the base system mechanics of press turn; Vengeful Might is one of the best passive power boosts in the game, tied to a few select demons, but makes you play a rather vulnerable team since that boost is tied to the number of exposed weaknesses on the team. It's a rather clever reversal on what the game implicitly teaches you, and I love the risk and reward built into that sort of design. I also love that Atlus is willing to play more into the volatility of the press turns themselves. Several passives and Innates grant more icons when triggered, but I think the coolest adjustment is in another new addition of the virtual trainer, the tech that lets you rematch bosses with the twist that they now gain an extra turn and may sometimes gain the ability to piece resistances if an attack is nullified. It's a simplistic addition, but I love that it leads to deeper strategization without resorting to the megido rage spam of games past.

Oh and the music. Ryota Kozuka was already proven to be an amazing musician after the banger that was Battle B2 in SMTIV a decade ago, but he continues to push the bar with his contributions to Vegeance's OST. Like I'd be hard pressed to name a game with this much level of variety in its boss themes for the dozens of bosses between both canons, and every track is a banger. The head bopping Battle -bounce and roll-, to the goes-hardism of Battle -The Adversary-. Not a day has gone by since the drop of soundtrack that I don't have the urge to jam to it.

Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers

Kart Krew Dev

If TWEWY and XC1 were the result of my friends heavy recommendations, this one was going against the grain of my friends' complaints about this title. I never touched its predecessor, SRB2Kart, but my impression from the videos I watched of it were that it was a rather creative and impressive Mariokart-like, using Sonic and Sega as the baseline for it. Apparently the version 2.0 sequel, Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers, was a lot more divisive, with a complete overhaul to many of the game's systems mechanics, and layering a lot more complex tech into the game's code and identity. This had turned off many casual fans, and when I decided to give the game a go, early on I could understand those complaints. The game's deceptively hard, no doubt about that; you think you're doing nothing wrong, and yet you end up in the back of the pack for most of your online sessions. I even got my another of my friends in Eve to join me along for playing this game and a lot of our sessions would just be struggles. I was ready to just write it off plainly as a fangame of wild disparity in its quality.

But then one night I had joked, after reading how fighting games inspired a lot of the design choices in this game, that losing in the game gives the same defeatist feeling of going 0-2 in locals. And in saying that, something just clicked for me. I stopped just throwing myself at the game, and instead did some studying up. I watched how other people tackled the game. I watched other people's time trials and even ran a few of my own in this game's alternative trial mode, SPB Attack (which is overall a lot slower and you're chased by this game's take on the Blue Shell in the Super-Propelled Bomb). It became less about playing the game, and more about grinding it, and what do I have to show for it? Well... I'm not winning races outright, but I'm also no longer struggling to climb out of the lower half of the pack, and I'm having so much fun just being in the scrap.

Setting aside gameplay, this is a really outstanding fangame. There are so many loving recreations of Sega's history in the game's ~150 tracks and ~60 battle stages (even when they're complete dogshit to play in like Carnival Night, lmao). Even the courses that are from titles well after the Sonic series’ jump to 3D look and feel like effective backports (see: Savannah Citadel). Other aspects of the art design, the clean as hell pixel art for the various kart racers and items, the repurposing of old favorite SFX from the classic era of sonic, as well as how visceral the kart explosion is in all its glory; It's the sort of game I daydream about returning to when I'm bored at work.

I won't recommend this to you if balk at the idea of "grinding" a multiplayer game. It's certainly not the sort of party play experience that modern mariokart is. But if you can enjoy a good ass-kicking and a race that makes you actively think about every state of the game, Ring Racers is fuckin' perfect.

Class of ‘09, Class of ‘09: The Re-Up

SBN3

Now, while I will touch on what I got out of these two VNs, I also want to mention why I never went on to do the series’s third installment in C09: The Flipside despite its release this year, and to juxtapose it with a phenomenon F.D. Signifier noted in his great video about edgelord-centric media. Me and a few friends were rather grabbed by the leading lady, Nicole, and the several plights she finds herself in. Beset by classmates and teachers alike who all want to use and abuse her for sex, her own poor mental well-being and coping mechanisms, and living in a political climate so deep into the wars on terror and drugs, her vicious reversals on her school life revealed some rather surprising relatability for Nicole's plight, and some interesting introspections to our own pasts in high school. Sure, a large chunk of this game's dark humor does still rely heavily on punching down on racial minorities, and the creator posturing C09 as an “Anti-Visual Novel” was always gonna be an eyeroll for me, but at its core I really thought for a time that Class of ‘09 was a well made period piece about the underbelly of urban-suburban schooling that could sometimes be serious about the interiority denied to girls living through that, and those moments were good enough to let me look past SBN3’s dodgy politics and the more egregious shit.

Come around the Flipside’s release, and I learn through word of mouth that it is terrible. SBN3 makes a huge point within one of the ending messages to disparage the series’ budding popularity with newer fans giving the minimal amount of critical pushback. Another of the endings makes the anti-arab sentiments espoused by the characters explicitly about Palestine, which feels equal parts gross given the year-long genocide the country now faces and rather out-of-place given the previous two game’s focus on a more nebulous “The Taliban” brand of xenophobia. Which brings me to why I mentioned FD’s video; he makes the point that trying to course-correct a piece of media’s audience by making the politics more direct is more likely to do more harm to the work’s overall quality than keeping said politics ambiguous. His examples were all media trying to push a progressive message, but I think the Flipside is a perfect example of this phenomenon in a conservative vector. Even beyond the political scope, there’s a lot of signs showing that SBN3 was phoning it in: smallest number of endings in the series with very few dialogue prompts, all major routes repeating an already used prostitution plot thread. Really the whole crash-out killed a lot of the motivation I had interrogating this series, and I can't in good faith recommend spending any time on a story that's gonna childishly call you a pedophile for enjoying it.

Peglin

Red Nexus Games

“What if Roguelike Peggle?” is an incredible sell of a game. This is another instance of something whose existence I learned of through Aliensrock, and I think on paper it’s another neat subversion on the deckbuilder subgenre. Rather than some deck you're given a set of orbs you shoot down a board, and every peg you hit contributes to the damage dealt. It's a simple loop, and oftentimes a lot more engaging to play through than your Griftlands or other standard deckbuilder.

That being said, the game's hampered greatly by its take on the difficulty climb. The Cruciball levels aren't much different from something like Slay the Spire's Ascensions (bulkier stronger enemies & less access to heals, etc.) but because it's hard to get a good read on an orb's trajectory beyond maybe the third peg bounce, and because the Cruciball penalties are insistent on both weakening the base power level and access to the special pegs in criticals, refreshes, and bombs, runs feel wildly inconsistent because enemies don't get cleared fast enough (or at least, that's how I felt using my favorite class in the Spinventor). There's even possibility that one of the first floor bat enemies just regularly outheals the damage you deal because the singular refresh peg is barely out of discernible reach.

Generally, the base game and concept are cool and fun, but I think its still rather rough around the edges in terms of difficulty balance.

Hopeless Junction

NadiaNova

(Content Warning: This is porn VN 2 of 2 and this one contains scenes of dubious consent involving alcohol, a little unsanitary kink, and while not definitively incestuous, some scenes lean into the idea.)

In some of the NSFW circles I lurk in on Tumblr (iykyk), I was made privy to Nadia’s body of visual novel works through fanart of this title. I was curious (and horny) enough one day in the late summer/early fall to give it a proper look over. I think it's fairly effective on the smut it sells, watching our main girl Kalinda pushed well into humiliation by her "love" interest Zarina, up to a surprisingly hilarious moment where drunken sex gets entirely wrecked by Kalinda barfing out the cheap beer she was goaded into drinking. But take it a step above and I think this story paints some rather sweet pictures about sapphic sisterhood. I won't spoil the why, but beyond Zarina's abrasiveness is a woman ready to give up on life, and despite Kalinda never really being able to be her match to that abrasive personality, it's quite sweet seeing her keep making that effort in this short tale. There's also a fauxcestual side-plot between Kalinda and her "little sister" Chandra, where Zarina's antics force the pair to reevaluate the status of their relationship, and while I don't have larger thoughts on the -cest part of this dynamic, I did enjoy the deeper conversation being had here, especially given the fact that it is two trans women giving retrospection to their sense of sisterhood.

Nice work all-in-all. I'm looking forward to reading Nadia's other previous works, especially given how much work I've heard go into her most recent venture in Malcatras' Maiden.

Marfusha: Sentinel Girls

Hinyari9

Pretty simplistic rouge-y shmup that a friend really wanted me to play. It’s a pretty small game and there’s not a whole lot for me to sink my teeth into, but I think it’s core loop is quite easy to settle into a rhythm with. (Heck, the day before this post is supposed to go live I ended up doing 5 or so runs back-to-back with no issue.) There’s also some neat tension between the story and gameplay; in order to learn about Marfusha’s relationships with the other girls in her squad, you’ll likely have to play to cover the weakness in her partner’s weapon type, but that gets compounded by the fact that Marfusha’s guns don’t last forever and that you’ll likely have to cycle towards other weapons throughout the many waves you’re expected to outlast. Again, simplistic stuff, but not bad by any means and it’s all-around a fun game to just play. And the artwork does a good job of selling the military state aesthetic.

Metaphor: ReFantazio

Atlus

Incredible game for me to close the year out with, and an incredible release for Atlus to close their bonkers year of fantastic rpgs with, both celebrating everything that came before it while also aiming to sprout new ideas into the fold. I think the easiest thing for me to point out from the get-go is the battle and game systems, those being a melting pot of modern megaten’s press turn systems, combined with Persona 3’s take on the phys/mag split, with a little touch of Etrian Odyssey’s usage of frontline/backline and aggro mechanics. Even the Archetypes function a lot more akin to Digital Devil Saga 2’s mantra grid, albeit trading in pure skill trees for more of an EO-esque job system. It’s a fun system to play around with, even if it’s incredibly prone to getting broken open once you’re in the late-game (let’s just say you can stack a lot of damage boosts together really easily to one-shot bosses). Even older megaten gets a little love with both direct callbacks to the devil summoner titles, and several of the skillnames being reverted to their Megami Tensei iterations. I was just excited to have a press turn game with proper party members again, but the way the other mechanics with Archetypes ebb and flow give it an even more unique edge than the "Digital Devil Saga 3" I was memeing it out to be pre-release.

Visually speaking, the game is equally stunning. The painted skies, the handrawn UI portraits, the particle effects (especially with the weapons, oh my god). It really does make you feel like you’re walking through a fantasy novel at times. Obviously an artstyle as strong as this game ‘s shouldn’t be too surprising given this is something the P-Studio team is well known for at this point, but is still worth stating (god I need more artbooks and design works books).

I think if there was one thing everyone was concerned about prior to release, it was the way the game would handle its writing. One of Katsura Hashino’s biggest directorial weakness as seen in his previous ventures with both Persona and Catherine was his handling of minorities and women. (Persona 3’s oddly transphobic beach scene, Persona 4… just in general, to name some examples.) Given the early information that this story would deal with issues surrounding race gave a lot of people pause, myself included, and the early stretches of the game’s prologue hadn’t done much to persuade me either way (really only made it more evident that whatever would happen would likely be heavy-handed). But I stuck around, and was pleasantly surprised by this game's political musings. It takes time to properly cultivate Euchronia's history and how a populist figure like Louis Guiabern rose to the prominence he did. I eyerolled a little bit that the fantasy races fell in the usual fantasy pitfall of definitive physical differences, but this is really only a footnote and many aspects of the racism depicted in Metaphor highlight how much the divides are struggles of class. My jaw dropped when I learned that a race war was really a coverup for the church's misdeeds on experimenting on the underclass. Speaking of the Sanctist Church, the other major faction in this game, I love that their motivations for evil aren't out of some love for a problem dragon (ily Fire Emblem but lol), but rather the calculated moves of an institution trying to cling to ever corrupting power. There is no grand conspiracy, just a power struggle. The supporting cast is also amazing: Brigitta is a banger of a class-traitor throughout her entire arc, and while I have some complicated thoughts about her framing of the matter, I did enjoy Catherina's arc culminating in her trying to educate her people instead of clinging to leftist vagueries. I won't say all of the game's writing is perfect by all means (despite its best efforts to the contrary, it does dangerously tow the line of political adventurism at times, and the big late-game twist does give echoes of FE Echoes in ways that nags at me a little), but I do think this was by all accounts a well thought-out and made metaphor on the moments of ever-destabilizing governmental rule.

There's so much more I could talk about here, how much I love the gauntlet runners as a concept, how amazing each of the party members are (Heismay's speech against the boss of his introduction arc is a top character moment of all time, hands down), but if I kept going I would not be able to finish this post before midnight. I'll say this much though: Metaphor deserves its larger consensus as a GOTY contender, and I am very hopeful about this marking Atlus's return to prominence as a developer of RPGs.

In close

What a great year for me, huh. I didn't even get into any of the books I read here either (This is How You Lose the Time War was amazing omg). But I dunno, part of writing this year's lineup made me feel like this was an unsustainable method of talking about games. I had plenty to say in 2023's lineup, wheras here I ran out of time even accounting for games I know I wouldn't have super deep or well written thoughts on. Maybe I should start writing about these things as separate entities, or something like that.

That being said, I do want to strive for even nicher titles. Mice Tea and Hopeless Junction were good starts, but I still don't have the committal to the idea that I want to have, especially as I get more and more frustrated with the current state of mainstream and even upper-echelon indie gaming. (Rahhhh I hate that all the good yuri fanartists talents are wasted on gacha slop rahhhhh)

Also some things I didn't get into were the games and VNs I played made by my friend r0mbuffer. I didn't want to weigh too heavily in on the stuff I had a hand in helping in (even if it was just proofreads and some QA), but you should check their shit out, I swear!

Here's to 2025, the year that Royals of the Tempest will no longer be a copium title!

[mrpuzzlessimp420]

Mario Simulator (Joke Fic)

Chapter 4

Warnings: Attempted Murder/Murder, Brainwashing, Kidnapping

Ships: Marware, BatteryAcid (Mr Puzzles x Orange Juice)

Tomorrow is another day,

and the day after that is another day, and the day after that is another day, and the day after that is another day.

SMG3 repeated this to himself as the days went by, trying to real himself out of going insane, but it only further contributed to his insanity.

What started as a couple of failures of plans led to thousands, no billions. Why was he even doing this in the first place? He honestly couldn't ever remember due to how long it had been since that fateful kidnapping and blackmailing.

At some point, they tried matchmaking Orange Juice to someone else but unlucky to them, they chose that Box Club Leader which did not end up well. He still had nightmares from that piece of cardboard sealed in a jar of orange juice. That club leader was a freak... and not in a good way.

They also tried framing the object head for theft but turns out trying to find the correct bag to place it in in a flood of the same black bags was extremely difficult and they ended up getting Boopkins suspended for it. Eh, he was annoying anyway.

He glanced over to his partner in crime, who was violently stabbing a photograph of Orange Juice, his face getting more and more deranged and ecstatic. The bed underneath him was scarred due to the slashes and stabbing.

They were in SMG3's bedroom right now, which acted as their plotting room as they couldn't risk going in the broom closet in fear of being caught.

He sighed, he hoped this would have ended by now. There wasn't much else to try to plan except...

"Hey, Mario?" Mario turned to face SMG3, his face quickly changing from murderous to curious. "What if we try brainwashing?"

"Oooh that sounds very good! But how would we be able to do that?" Mario asked, using his singular brain cell for once.

"Hmmm... I think I have just the thing..." SMG3 said, searching his bedroom until he found a singular remote.

"The YouTube Remote?" Mario asked, tilting his head.

"No, you silly, it's a different remote. I bought it on the black market once. I think the seller called it the "Edit" remote or something like that, I don't know the seller was extremely sketchy and I couldn't even see their face." SMG3 explained, showing off the object in his hand which was black with yellow accents.

"It can basically edit things so I can presume it can overwrite people's memories". He tossed the remote in the air, trying to act cool but missed catching it, leading to it falling on the ground. Luckily, it didn't break.

"Can I use it, pretty please? I swear I won't mess up!" Mario battered his long eyelashes as he went into puppy eye mode.

"Fine. But only after I explain to you how we're going to do it." SMG3 stated, picking up the remote once again and dusting it off.

"Okie dokie!" Mario said, his face excited as he hoped this plan would actually work this time.

"First of all, since it's the whole school assembly tomorrow we'll hack into the school computers and create a live stream of you using the remote and saying what you will overwrite. After that, we will stop the live stream and erase all evidence that we hacked into the school system!"

"Before that, we'll lock Orange Juice somewhere so he can't go to assembly so he can feel so much pain when he finds out everyone hates him"

"And after that, I finally get to be with my true love!" Mario added on, dreaming of his future.

"Yup, and I don't have to do this anymore." SMG3 sighed, grateful that this might end soon

"Thank you so much S-M-G-3!! I wouldn't have done it without you!!" Mario exclaimed, hugging SMG3 a bit too tightly as SMG3 felt his bones crack inside of him.

"Yeah, you wouldn't have" SMG3 patted Mario's head as he ignored how much pain he was in right now.

"All we need to do now is wait for tomorrow," SMG3 said as he lay on his bed, Mario still stuck to him as he felt himself fall into a soft slumber.

The sun beamed on Mario and the Mario recolour as the day approached forward. With both of them waking up shortly after, SMG3 ran down the plan to Mario again, knowing that he probably forgot again.

After they both got ready for the day, they rushed out to the school entrance, earlier than usual as they needed the time to get this done right. They could not deal with another failure.

The first step was getting Orange Juice locked somewhere. The best choice was the Broom Closet as it was soundproof so he couldn't scream for help. Not many students were in the school right now which helped with not getting caught and one of those students was Orange Juice himself as he liked helping get the teachers ready for the school day.

What a goody-two-shoes, Mario thought as he walked in the direction of the object head in question who was right now talking to one of the science teachers, Dr Robotnik. Or was it Dr Eggman? Mario could never remember any of the teachers' names, let alone this one.

"Excuse me Orange Juice," Mario said, butting into the two's conversation, putting on his best innocent act. "I was told by one of the maths teachers that you were needed in her classroom to help out away new supplies with her."

"Oh really? Well, why don't you show me the way? Sorry about this Dr Robotnik, I need to deal with this first" Orange Juice politely said, his charisma and charm leaking out of him like a disgusting pest. He disgusted Mario with how nice and kind he was. As if he was perfect.

Mario, still having his act of sweet innocence on, led the object-headed teenager to his doom, the broom closet. The door was already open and all he needed to do was to push Orange Juice in and lock the door with the only keys it had.

"I don't remember the Broom Closet being open at this tim-" Before Orange Juice could finish his sentence, Mario shoved him in and locked the door quickly before he skipped off to find where SMG3 was.

The second step was hacking into the school computers which SMG3 had already done by the time Mario had found where he was, in the empty classroom Meggy was forced to be in during her Catering classes.

Now all they had to do was wait for assembly.

30 minutes had passed and assembly had just started. SMG3 pressed the record button and Mario got in place ready to say his lines. The spaghetti-loving man pressed the overwrite button on the remote before anyone could do anything about the hacking attack.

"Orange Juice is a horrible horrible person. He has cheated on Mr Puzzles countless of times and kicks puppies for fun. He enjoys content farms and has made several in the past. He also doesn't like Chappell Roan which is very homophobic of him."

The live stream then quickly ended as SMG3 erased any evidence of them tapering with the school system.

They both hoped this worked as if it didn't, they would be in so much trouble.

It has worked. Everyone hated Orange Juice. He was the talk of the school gossip. Mr Puzzles, dramatically broke up with the object head as he cursed the ever-living shit out of the confused man.

But Mario wasn't finished. No. Sure, he could just be with Mr Puzzles now but that wasn't enough for him. He needed to kill that disgusting glass of orange juice and show him that he should have never messed with the Mario. Ever.

So he waited until the day was over and everyone had gone home, even the teachers. Expect for Orange Juice who was in detention for the entire day, even the night.

Freshly sharpened knife in hand, he walked in a stalker-like motion to the door of the detention room. His prey sitting nervously at a lone desk.

His heart beat loudly as he slowly turned the handle of the door, knife behind his back.

"Hello Orange Juice~" Mario said sinisterly, which actually did sound sinister for once as the writer could afford a voice actor. Though since it's in text, you can't tell.

"Oh uh hi? Um, is my detention over?" The teenager asked, looking as if this was his first experience of detention ever.

"Hmm... I'm not sure..." Mario stated, his free hand pointing to his cheek. "Your life sure will be soon" He revealed the knife from his back, his free hand stroking it masochistically.

"W-What?" Orange Juice said, startled and afraid as Mario walked slowly closer to him, menacingly.

"G-get away from me you... You psycho!" The object-headed teenager exclaimed as he pushed the table in front of him to the ground in an attempt to distract Mario and ran towards the door of the detention room and into the halls.

"Oh how I love the ones that run, they give such a thrilling chase..." Mario stated lovingly, as he started stalking the halls, waiting until Orange Juice had run out of energy or into a dead end so he could do the final blow.

Orange Juice ran, ran for his life. His day was not going great so far, to say the least. Firstly he was locked into a broom closet, then everyone started hating him for no reason and he got detention. Now he's getting chased by a sociopath. What's next? Is he going to get indoctrinated into a cult? Wouldn't surprise him at this point!

He turned the corner, his breath rapid and uneven. He had to find an exit. Why was this school so big? It was like hell trying to find a decent exit at this rate.

He suddenly tripped on a shard of glass while running, what would be his left cheek shattered as he fell. Glitch, now he was losing blood? This was not a good time to do so! Especially since that rapid animal is chasing after him.

Picking himself up quickly, he ran and ran, his left hand stopping the orange juice from spilling onto the floor any longer.

Back to Mario, he was drooling like a dog with rabies, his excitement and anger increasing by the second as he searched and searched for that man stealing man.

He dug his knife into the walls of the building, the scratchiness making him feel even more alive. By the Glitch Productions above, this made him feel so much more alive than ever before. The adrenaline, the prey versus hunter mentality, the chase. It felt all so good.

After so long, Mario finally caught up to Orange Juice who had locked himself into a corner with nowhere to run to.

"Looks like the mouse has nowhere to go? Hm?" He asked, his knife glistening in the singular light illuminating this area.

"What do you want from me? Why are you doing this?" Orange Juice's voice was full of panic and prey instincts.

"You don't know? How naïve.." He pushed Orange Juice further into the corner, knife pointing to the throat of the fellow teenager whose breath hitched at the action.

"Maybe I'll be your saint this time and tell you myself." The knife dug into the object-head's throat slightly, the sour blood peeking itself through and onto the floor.

Mario kicked Orange Juice into the wall, his foot firmly planted and keeping the teenager in place. While doing this he took his knife away from the other's throat and grabbed both of his hands on it.

"This wouldn't have ended this way if you had never stepped in the way of me being with my one true love, Mr Puzzles"

He made a downward motion with the knife towards Orange Juice's heart and...

KILL HIM [SUCCESS]

KILL HIM [FAILURE]

KILL HIM [SUCCESS?]

[kaeso4ka]

Optimus is taking drastic measures and you're looking for support

Pairing: yandere! Optimus Prime x human! reader

You listened to the cannonade of explosions overhead. The shelter shook slightly, and small stones fell from the ceiling onto her head. The cracks darkened menacingly with small gaps above her head.

It was... Uncomfortable. The realization that only earth and concrete separated you from the unbridled fire of war was uncomfortable.

Whoever had ordered the carpet bombing was clearly having a blast on Jasper. The unfortunate city was being wiped off the face of the planet, turning it into a desolate wasteland.

There was no military necessity in this: there were no military bases near the city... Except for one. There was something strange in this whole story: was Megatron so mad that he decided to start a total genocide? He shouldn't...

Yes, there was something odd about the story. Something illogical.

There was an ear-splitting bang upstairs that made you cringe. Maybe she should have taken Optimus up on his offer and gone with him to Cybertron. If only to avoid dying in the endless flames of carnage.

The wait for the silence stretched on for dozens of minutes that felt like hours. When the restless silence descended to the ground, you ventured out.

And immediately regretted it: the surroundings were incredibly hot; the air was soaked with cinders, dust, and the smell of death. And the smell of burning energon.

You looked up at the sky. Behind the black clouds of fire, the silhouette of a ship was visible. Cybertronian, of course.

Chuckling, you climbed back into the bunker. It seemed a second round was expected.

***

“I don't think Earth is being bombed by the Decepticons,” you said, as it were, ”I'll even say more: the planet is being bombed by the Autobots.”

Agent Fowler leaned back in his chair. He didn't look shocked or questioning your mental state. On the contrary, he was extremely serious.

“A statement like that has to be based on something. Simply saying that our allies are committing a war crime against us is not enough.”

“Let's say,” you pitched forward a little, ”first of all, things are looking very strange. Second, the Decepticons have no military reason to do something so stupid. Third, the Autobots have a history of destroying peaceful cities. Fourth, Optimus once threatened me that if I... Didn't agree to his terms, others would suffer. Oh, yeah. “Five,” you pulled out your phone, ”right after the bombing, a ship with an Autobot insignia appeared in the sky. The photo is in the gallery.”

Fowler was silent. He studied the photos for long minutes, then concluded:

“If you're right, we're in very big trouble. You should talk to Prime.”

“I won't sell my ass for the safety of other people's lives,” you snickered, ”if you feel like it, declare war on the Cybertronians. All of them. Let force of arms decide who lives and who doesn't.”

“That's the easiest thing for you to talk about,” the agent sounded obscenely calm, ”I'll contact Prime. Do what you want, but get him to stop this love hysteria.”

[biggsodorcitystories]

A Zebward Reunion

A little comfort ship drawing of Edward and Zebedee's reaction every time they see one another.

[lunarriviera]

the year in fic: 2024

So every January, @programmedradly and I go through the @ficwip list of year in review questions and pick 5 we want to answer, and 5 for the other person. This saves us having to answer all of them, and saves you having to read it! You’re welcome! Plus it’s more fun.

This year she picked these for me:

8. What fic meant the most to you to write? 9. What fic made you feel the happiest to work on? 16. What’s your favorite title of the year? 23. If you had to choose one, what was the most satisfying writing moment of your year? 30. What would you like to write next year?

And I picked these for myself:

5. What ships captured your heart? 11. What fic was the most difficult to write? 19. Share your favorite piece of dialogue. 20. Share your funniest line. 21. What’s something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?

Without further ado! Endless palaver behind the cut!

5. What ships captured your heart?

Oh my god [swoons a little bit]. Since I read Mo Du I’ve been absolutely shattered about Luo Wenzhou/Fei Du and I’m starting to think that’s never going to change. The grumpy one and the sunshine one? Red oni/blue oni? The lion and the raven? Oh please, spare me. Try “the one with the unwavering moral compass who will throw himself unhesitatingly into the line of fire for you, even though you’re a lying liar who lies and you’re constantly yanking his chain but you have his whole heart anyway,” paired with “the one for whom it’s still sort of up in the air whether he's a sociopath or just traumatized to the point of insanity, but he's also clearly a genius and has been crafting this plan his entire life so I guess his new cop boyfriend will help him carry it out, oh and by the way guess what he's now falling in love with the cop's innate compassion and goodness, haha you didn’t see that coming did you Fei Du, SURPRISE.”

Honestly I’ve never read anything else like it.

In raw word count I wrote the most for Du Cheng/Shen Yi (something that also feels like it will never change, because they’re so similar to Zhoudu). But I got truly blindsided by Ruan Nanzhu/Lin Qiushi, who took me out at the knees—I’d never read infinite flow before and I had no idea Nanzhu would break my heart (thanks in large part to Xia Zhiguang and his stupid eyes). Finally, at the end of the year Zheng Bei/Gu Yiran burst through the door and said, hey we’re also deeply fucked up and perfect for each other, will you write a bunch of fics for us, and after I was done crying I said, sure I guess. Why the fuck not.

Basically it’s been a solid twelve months of clutching my chest and whispering weakly, they’re in love, so, you know. Like that. (Having said this, Guardian is forever. I got wobbly about pingxie all over again when Tibetan Sea Flower aired—plus all I have to do is see a gifset of Ji Chen and Ji Xiaobing to be racked with heihua feelings. Do these things ever go away? I keep thinking of lines by Adrienne Rich: "We who were loved will never / unlive that crippling fever.")

8. What fic meant the most to you to write?

This will surprise exactly no one, but “asylum.” It’s been five years since I wrote anything much longer than 20-30k, and that experience (100k, a very made-up crossover) had been so fraught and left me so mind-wiped that I was scared to try again. And yet. I couldn’t stop thinking how 1) UTS still has no English fic longer than about 30k, 2) Chinese procedurals won't admit corruption exists even though it’s rampant, and 3) UTS repeatedly teases us with Shen Yi’s Dark Past but refuses to divulge anything more than the tiniest glimpses. Anyway it wouldn’t leave me alone so now it’s posting, sorry everyone for putting the entire cast plus all of us through the fucking wringer. The good news is there’s a ton of fluff and crack and smut and gen for this pairing (an alarming amount of which @elenothar and I have written), so you can always find solace there after I’m done heartlessly torturing the detectives of Beijiang.

9. What fic made you feel the happiest to work on?

There were two: “what are you doing to me now” (the Du Cheng amnesia fic, which was supposed to be purely cracky and wound up being unexpectedly kind of poignant) and “middle of the night (and you’re not here” (aka “Gu Yiran has a problem.”)—I think they made me happy because they were both so relatively easy? They came together early on in my head as visual scenes unfolding, and once I can picture a scene it’s mercifully straightforward just to write it out.

11. What fic was the most difficult to write?

Obviously “asylum,” simply because it has so many moving parts; but unexpectedly, also my fic for Yuletide, “which could mean nothing.” It was supposed to be a couple thousand words, ballooned into 12k, I panicked and nearly gave up on it and was saved at the last moment by @programmedradly and @sangcurcumasvp, who persuaded me to finish. I fervently wish I would write in sections, episodically; leave more to the reader’s imagination, summarize more. And yet I seem doomed to writing in-scene. I don’t know why. It’s exhausting.

16. What’s your favorite title of the year?

Honestly they were mostly so dumb—“undercover” and “the vacation” both stand out to me as exceptionally stupid. I guess I don’t mind “the branch, my mouth, your sword,” with its echoes from both hanahaki and Beijing opera; and “to hope your son becomes a dragon” isn’t bad either, coming as it does from an idiom, 望子成龙.

19. Share your favorite piece of dialogue.

I admit I love a lot of the dialogue in “what are you doing to me now” just because I'd finally cracked the elliptical yet blunt way that Du Cheng and Shen Yi speak to each other. It’s terse because neither of them is given to saying much, yet it’s also iceberg-like, with unspoken volumes submerged beneath each utterance, and it’s taken me a while to get that rhythm. This comes after Du Cheng has recovered his memory, in that handwavy way people do in fic:

They have some arguments. The arguments aren’t about anything recent, but Du Cheng having just remembered certain events all over again, he feels freshly aggrieved about them. “You just stood there, and you let him stab you.” “He stabbed the painting.” “It was a good painting! And you were on the other side of it.” “You and Jiang Feng were right behind me.” “But what if we hadn’t been?” “Then I wouldn’t have just stood there.” “Goddammit,” says Du Cheng, because he’s lost this one too. “Don’t, okay? Next time?” Shen Yi compresses his very pretty mouth into an unyielding line, and doesn’t promise anything, because he’s still a pain in Du Cheng’s ass.

20. Share your funniest line.

People seemed to like vastly different bits this year, e.g. @omaenanimonoda was amused by people “dancing like sweaty pickles in a jar.” But a few readers commented on this text exchange between Du Cheng and He Rongyue, initiated by a nervous Du Cheng about to go on a first date with Shen Yi. This is from “still have to change,” in which Shen Yi keeps interrupting all of Du Cheng’s blind dates—when, that is, they're not interrupted by major crimes.

何溶月: what’s up 杜城: nothing 杜城: i meet shen yi in an hour 杜城: at that place you suggested 何溶月: du cheng, it’s fine. it’ll be fine 杜城: what if he hates it 何溶月: he likes you, not a restaurant 杜城: how do you know 何溶月: he literally interrupted an autopsy 何溶月: to ask me why you keep going on dates 何溶月: with people who aren't him 杜城: what did you say 何溶月: i told him it was because you were an idiot

21. What’s something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?

I’m a terrible pantser so that always happens, characters are always rearing up and opening their mouths and saying the most outrageous shit, and then I have to scramble to accommodate them. This happened again and again in “asylum” but it also came out of the woodwork in “held you close and breathed your name,” one of the year’s two DMBJ fics. Bai Ma really did just keep up and saying/doing stuff and then I would have to figure out how to jam that into her and Xiaoge’s story somehow. Again, I wish I were different, and would plot everything out beforehand, but I seem compelled to subject myself to characters just popping their heads up like prairie dogs and announcing their goddamn preferences.

23. If you had to choose one, what was the most satisfying writing moment of your year?

I really loved writing “when you hold me (it holds me together)” for Fei Du’s birthday. I was honestly starting to wonder if I’d ever be able to write for that pairing, because needless to say Priest is a pretty fucking tough act to follow. And then it happened, and now I’m working on a new story for them, too. It’s such a knee-weakening feeling of relief when you’re able to do something terrifying that you wanted so desperately, but really doubted you could ever pull off.

30. What would you like to write next year?

I already have a list and here it is. I realize I am thus tempting the gods and now probably none of this will get written but instead I’ll write two dozen random fics for some miserable machine-translated drama no one has ever seen. Because that’s how these things work.

• little uts2 fic about [redacted] i’m writing with [person] • finish posting uts longfic (edit chs 6-21 without unaliving) • “gu yiran gets roofied” (sorry to this man) • wang yang rpf ft. some twink crying, not sure whomst yet • post-canon ptsd zhoudu ft. messed-up [redacted] roleplay • turn someone into a cat (shen yi again probably?) • lose omegaverse virginity (kod? rnz already gave lqs a claiming bite) • beach episode part 2? (nanqiu get drunk in tahiti bar, hijinks ensue) • Very Secret Project I Will Not Be Discussing Ever So Don’t Ask • something serious about uts s2 but I don’t know what yet (though I do now have two I hope shorter fics outlined, working titles “fang kaiyi gets out of prison” and “du cheng solves a tricky case”)

Thanks for reading, darlings; your ongoing presence—baffling, astounding, salvific—honestly keeps me from walking into the sea. Happy 2025, and I hope you enjoy everything you write.

[destinygoldenstar]

☀️This Elimination DEVASTATED Me☀️ - Total Drama Viewer Reacts to Disventure Camp Season 1 Episode 8 “Questionnaire, If You Dare”

GABBY HAS BEEN DOMINATING THE GAME FOR THE PAST TWO EPISODES AND I AM COMPLETELY HERE FOR IT!!

POP OFF. SLAY. DOMINATE. QUEEN. 👑

Anyway, we're back!

Yeah I've been gone a few days for personal reasons. I'm not gonna get into them.

I was gonna do this earlier but it was already so late at night that I decided "Screw it, I'll react to it in the morning".

And it's been raining cats and dogs all night and still is where I'm at. So the weather is screaming Gabby Stan too. XD

That's what I like to think that weather is saying anyway.

I feel like Gabby would love the rain and enjoy playing in it even when it's heavy rain. That's my headcanon.

Anyway, let's get into it.

WHAT ARE YOU COOKING?!

That looks unappetizing, dangerous, and DEPRESSING to eat.

"I'm in a MOOD Golden! Let me eat my poison in peace!"

"I messed things up with Tom..."

Didn't you guys talk about it last episode?

Or, Tom didn't forgive him, did he? So yeah...

"It's never too late to tell someone how you feel. It couldn't hurt."

"It couldn't hurt" Watch it HURT beyond repair.

Or if it's an "I love you" "I'm straight" situation.

"Uh actually Jake, I'm not into genderbent Marinette's, so..."

"Go talk to him. Tell him how you really feel about him."

"Right now?"

"Yes."

No offense Miriam, but I think this is BAD advice.

"BRUH, I'm on a very important mission right now, and you think this is a good time to confess your love to me? You sick bastard!"

I mean it's not as bad as that episode where Marinette tried to confess to Adrian on his mother's funeral anniversary...

Is THIS how deep I've fallen into this ship?! That I'm now comparing it to THAT?!

Like, I've been crazy this whole time regarding it. It's not very healthy given the circumstances as of right now, but for some reason I choose to love it.

I need to go to therapy.

"Move your ass, boy!"

"AND GIMME THAT FISH! NO SURROGATE GRANDSON OF MINE IS EATING POISON ON MY WATCH!"

😂

"Eh, he won't want to eat this anyway, he'll get his own version of breakfast in a minute."

Why is Tom depressed?

"Can we speak?"

"I'm trying to wallow in the darkness in my heart."

"Shortly before I came here, I ended a relationship that was very toxic and I got hurt."

Oh he's telling Tom this. Okay. I approve. He deserves to know.

How many people have he told this to? Miriam, Ellie, now Tom?

"HEY GUYS, DO YOU THINK JAKE WAS IN A TOXIC RELATIONSHIP?! I CAN'T TELL!"

I'm not annoyed by it, I'm cracking a bad joke

"These aren't excuses for how I've been treating you, but I want you to know I feel terrible."

You yelled at him ONCE. And you apologized for it three times now.

I wouldn't count that as "I've treated you terribly this entire time".

I'm glad he's making this clear though. He knows when to take accountability.

"I said I was sowwy, pwease fowgive me!"

"I have a hard time trusting people, Tom, I just... talking to you makes me forget sometimes how shitty life can be. I don't want to lose that."

This is actually good on Jake's end. He's explaining his situation to Tom, not excusing it, and trying to be open and honest.

"After all this is over, I would love if... you and I... we... continue-"

"Jake."

Why is Tom so pissy? He wasn't like this last episode.

"I got a call last night... I got fired."

😨

WHAT?!?!?!?!

HE GOT FIRED?!?!?!?!?!?

WH-WH-HOW?!?! HOW-?!

*Golden.exe has stopped working*

OH MY GOD...

I DID NOT EXPECT THAT BEING WHERE THIS STORY WAS HEADING.

SO HIS MISSION FAILED?!

Maybe he'll explain it. I'll keep listening.

"A video in which YOU mentioned my work was uploaded to the Internet and my boss saw it."

OH...

*covered mouth* Oh my god...

JAKE, YOU FUCKED UP BEYOND REPAIR

THERE IS NO REPAIRING THIS

You got your crush fired, now you suffer significant consequences for the rest of your days.

Well Tom is DEFINATELY not gonna want to be around you ever again.

"I'm so sorry-"

"Not now."

"Tom, if you need anyone to-"

"I SAID NOT NOW."

*storms off*

GOD...

I can't imagine how that makes Tom feel though. Getting fired because of a guy you liked...

OH WAIT CAUSE I PUT TOM IN THE HEADING LAST EPISODE. SHIT. I CAUSED THIS.

I THOUGHT I DIDN'T JINX ANYONE LAST EPISODE.

"Why do I always say the worst things at the worst time?"

Jake, saying sowwy a dozen times is NOT gonna fix this.

"Congratulations! You made it to the merge!"

OH. MERGE.

I thought we had another episode before merge!

"I wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for you Gabby."

Yeah. Hail your queen and your savior.

"As long as Ellie doesn't snitch, they'll still think I'm an innocent little girl."

Hey Ellie, maybe you should tell them about the demon child.

And yes I mean it this time. I am using my overlord status to tell you to tell them about the demon child.

"I can tell them some lies about Ellie and Gabby."

They're not gonna believe you regarding Gabby. You two never talked.

"Hey guys, did you know Gabby is perfectly sane?"

"That guy is strange..."

"He sounds incredibly Scottish. And he looks like a thug. Hum hum, I wonder who Tom is after."

Tom, you're taking the loss of your job well.

"I may have gotten fired, but I get a bed now so I'm gonna chill."

"Ellie, I'm sorry I voted for you."

Ellie don't forgive him. Vote him off. Talk to the others and vote him and Fiore off. You know you want to.

"Dude, I'm not a villain! Back off!"

"It's okay Alec. I was a little angry at first, but it's over now."

NO WHY WOULD YOU FORGIVE HIM?!

HE'S JUST GONNA BETRAY YOU AGAIN

"She thought all hope was lost! The city cried for a hero! And suddenly a beacon of light, Gabby, that's me, saved the day with the immunity totem!"

God I love Gabby.

"I still don't fully trust Alec, but I trust him more than my other teammates."

WHY?

THEY ALL VOTED YOU.

ALEC VOTED YOU OFF TOO.

And you're friends with Jake, right? He didn't vote you! And he has Miriam on his side.

Be on good terms with Jake, you get his vote, and you get Miriam's vote, + Gabby and that's four votes. THEN if Jake can get on good terms with Tom again that's FIVE.

YOU GET IN THE MAJORITY ALLIANCE.

+ They're people LESS likely to BETRAY you. The Teal Team voted you because of Dan, who is gone, AND their reason was they didn't know you.

Alec DID know you, and he STILL CHOSE to side with the demon child over you. HE'LL DO IT AGAIN.

AND they're with Grett, who you have NO connection to! So siding with Alec is not gonna do you favors, as Grett is more likely to persuade them to betray you!

I'm just saying Ellie. I have NEVER agreed with a single plan you've come up with so far.

I'm not saying she's bad. I'm just saying, I don't agree with her.

"I'm worried you guys could be in danger."

What...?

I thought you were interested in working with Gabby & Ellie, that's what you said. You get the majority alliance that way.

Why would you try and save these guys?

Tom's the most physically gifted person here. Get a majority to vote Tom, and Jake and Miriam stand no chance.

"I'm worried you guys are going to try to eliminate each other."

'JAKE'

'TOM'

*Episode 6's Tribal Council*

...she do have a point though.

"How do you know about the totem?"

THANK YOU TOM.

WE HAVE A SMART GUY HERE.

"But since you're my old teammates-"

"And you voted me off the first day."

Why is Fiore doing this though?

This is my confusion with Ellie, but even more so.

She knows Tom is a bigger threat than Gabby & Ellie, right? And thanks to Ellie, she has an easy way of having Gabby & Ellie in Fiore's majority of five.

With that alliance of five, she can get Tom out, the biggest threat, and then Jake & Miriam stand no chance against them.

There's NO REASON to try and side with them when it's THAT EASY.

AND YOU KNOW THERE'S NO IDOL. SO THEY CAN'T PULL THAT ON YOU.

I'm sorry, in my POV, it's just stupid reasoning.

Oh god I don't like this...

I guess I should be thankful they're not being put in jars-

"These questions are all based on your opinion of everyone."

OH GOD IT'S THE TWITTER CHALLENGE-

"Some of these questions are kind of rude."

That's the whole point of Twitter. NO MERCY.

"I will ask the questions that you just answered one by one in a series of rounds. This time however, you won't answer based on your personal opinion, but rather, what you think the majority of the group answered."

...I'm so confused.

"And what are the cages for?"

GOD I'M ACTUALLY GONNA GET FLAGGED. STOP IT.

I do not understand these rules one bit.

"Guess you'll learn on the fly."

THANKS. LOVE THAT. /s

"If we intentionally answer the questions wrong, we won't have to take out anyone's lives."

YEAH BUT YOU PUT YOURSELF IN DANGER.

WHAT-WHY-I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOUR PLAN HERE.

"I don't think you quite get the game."

THANK YOU GRETT.

"Who would NEVER survive out here alone?"

Fiore.

OH COME ON DON'T BE LIKE THAT

*Fiore & Alec voted Grett*

Grett "WOW. WOOOOOOOOW."

SHE VOTED HERSELF XD

"Welp, I can admit my setbacks."

"You can each cut a life"

"Ellie"

WHAT?! I THOUGHT YOU COULD ONLY CHOOSE THE PEOPLE THAT GOT IT WRONG-?!

*Golden.exe has stopped working*

I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

"Who would spend a million dollars in less than a month?"

Grett? I think?

*Jake*

😂

OH MY GOD I'M GLAD I WAS WRONG THAT'S HYSTERICAL

"HEYO WHY YOU GOTTA ROAST ME LIKE THAT?!"

GRETT KEEPS VOTING HERSELF 😂

"I'm not that great and I know it."

"Ellie"

"What?! Again?!"

What did she do to you?!

"Why are you trying to get us out?!"

"You were doing the same with us."

Yeah. You were. To be fair.

"I'll pick Jake, just to keep things fair."

"Fair?! I didn't even do anything!"

"I'm sorry Gabby."

Uh huh. Sure. You didn't do anything.

"Who is the most trustworthy?"

Miriam.

*Miriam was wrong*

I'M SO BAD AT THIS GAME

*Jake voted Tom*

XD

THAT'S BOLD COMING FROM YOU

*Fiore*

Wow. You are idiots.

XD He has to lean over cause he's so tall XD

"You're crazy, what did I even do to you?!"

"Crazy?! Who are you calling crazy?!"

NOT THE BEST CHARACTERS HAVING BEEF

"No one has, even once, tried targeting us."

YEAH. CAUSE THEY'RE STUPID.

LOOK TO YOUR RIGHT. THERE'S PEOPLE YOU CAN TARGET.

PLAY THIS SMART.

"Fiore is a genius."

I wouldn't call Fiore a genius, I would call everyone else stupid.

"Who is the least trustworthy?"

I think that's Tom.

Yeah.

"Wow, I didn't expect that."

YOU'RE LITERALLY A SPY.

Well, WAS. You know what I mean.

Jake looks SO DONE XD

"OI, NO ONE INSULTS HIM BUT ME"

"May I remind you that YOU TRIED TO VOTE ME OUT?!"

YES. THANK YOU.

JAKE NOOOO

"It appears I get consequences for my actions yet again..."

Jake I hope you learn a valuable lesson from your experience in the penalty cage serving your time.

DON'T BEEF WITH EVERYONE YOU MEET.

"Who wouldn't you like to see win the million?"

Grett?

Yep.

Jake's just chilling XD

"I'm just serving my time, you know?"

"I'm not surprised. You're all morons."

CALL EM OUT QUEEN

"I said... everyone has an opinion and it's valid."

Girl, that's not how Twitter works.

On Twitter, THERE IS NO VALID OPINION.

One happy family of five chilling in prison

"Who is dressed the worst at camp?"

Have to say it... Grett.

She's wearing a swimsuit. Like come on, you couldn't make a better design?

*Miriam*

SHE LOOKS GREAT, Y'ALL ARE JUST MEAN.

"Who never shuts up?"

Both of my favs...

I feel called out.

"The correct answer was Gabby!"

"Aw... I'm sorry."

AWWWWW, GABBY HONEY...

"I guess we won't be able to vote together this time again."

YES YOU CAN. YOU'RE FRIENDS.

"I can tell you're gonna vote one of us."

Well... he got a point.

"But at least Tom and Miriam are voting Gabby instead of you."

...

WHAT. DID. YOU. SAY.

JAKE

DON'T YOU DARE.

WHY?!?!? WHY CAN'T YOU VOTE ALEC?!

"Whatever happens, no hard feelings, right?"

At least Ellie's cool with this.

Not personal. You vote my ally, I won't take it personally.

"One vote won't change anything."

At least they're on good terms about this. Not personal. They get it.

AWWWWWW

SEE?! NO HARD FEELINGS. THEY CAN WORK THIS STUFF OUT.

I feel like he's gonna vote Gabby though... I know it's not personal, but you know.

But Fiore has the majority alliance, so it won't matter. Gabby's fine.

I FEEL LIKE THEY MIGHT PICK JAKE THOUGH... OH NO...

"Ellie is friends with Jake! And he could persuade her to betray us! Better get him out before he has that chance!"

I can see that happening...

Gosh darn it...

"That challenge strategy was very impressive."

Except Ellie caught onto it.

Moment she gets an opening to process a betrayal, SHE'S the one that'll do the betraying and she's gonna side with the Tom Jake & Miriam alliance.

That's what I'm predicting.

And if you get Gabby out there's NO WAY IN HELL she'll work with you!

"Who will be first?"

Alliance of 5. The alliance of 3 is voting Gabby. They all vote together Gabby's not going.

You can pick Tom, who is a physical threat in the game.

You can pick Jake, who has a social gameplay advantage with Ellie and getting rid of him would spare her from possibly betraying you.

You can pick Miriam, who... idk.

I THINK it's gonna be Jake tonight.

And it's gonna HURT.

"Tonight, we won't just be reading the votes..."

OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH MY GOD IT'S A TOTAL DRAMA ISLAND REFERENCE

THEY DID THIS SAME THING ON THEIR FIRST MERGE COUNCIL TOO

YEAH YEAH WE KNOW...

OH GOD I'M SCARED NOW...

IT'S EITHER GABBY OR JAKE AND BOTH ARE GONNA HURT

"This is for getting me out of today's challenge."

BEEF.

And then it's gonna be all the Jake votes piling up.

OH WAIT THEY'RE VOTING TOM. WAIT A MINUTE.

NO IT'S TOM THAT'S GOING.

I mean I'm not saying that's a bad move, it's a good move, but...

OH I'M SORRY TOM. THIS IS IT FOR YOU.

WAIT WHAT??!?!?!?!

NOOOOOO!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!?!??!?!

SHE'S ON YOUR SIDE!!!!

"Now without Gabby, Ellie will have no choice but to return with us to her old alliance."

SHE WAS ALREADY WITH YOU, YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO DO THAT!

THAT RUINS YOUR CHANCES TO ALLY WITH HER!!!

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!??!!

OH NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

NO COME ON THAT'S BULLSHIT

THAT'S A BULLSHIT GAME MOVE!!

DON'T DO THIS!!!!

😨

"Gabby. That's six votes. You're out."

GABBY NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I'm actually HURT

I'm actually DEVASTATED...

OMG GABBY NOOOOOOOOOO

Okay, I'm calming down...

GOD I'M MAD. I'M SO MAD.

"I knew something was wrong."

HUH, at least now Ellie KNOWS who to trust, right?!

At least Jake came CLEAN about who his alliance was voting for! Fiore's DIDN'T.

HUH, I WONDER WHICH ALLIANCE I SHOULD SIDE WITH

That's a nail in the coffin. Ellie is NEVER siding with the villains.

I hope that gameplay was sounded smart on your ends.

Okay no I'll talk about this later.

"They ruined my plans."

OH YEAH NOW SHE'S OUTTED.

Fiore, you fucked up your entire game.

"You can make fun and celebrate all you want, but it won't last long! The three of you are still outnumbered."

OOF. And she just flat out said it.

"I am NOT working with you after this! You can't make me!"

"If you still had your totem, you could've saved yourself."

Yeah... should've kept that idol.

OH WAIT I PUT GABBY IN THE HEADING, I JINXED HER ELIMINATION, GODDAMMIT!!!

NO, I CAUSED THIS!!!

I SHOULDN'T HAVE PUT HER IN THE HEADING!!!

"I'm happy I saved you. You're the only person here who has ever taken me seriously, and possibly the only person I've ever met who has made me feel... valid."

💗

"Because you are! There's nothing wrong with you."

YOU BET THERE'S NOT. YOU'RE WONDERFUL, GABBY.

"I hope we'll keep talking when this is all over."

"We will."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH

YEEEESSSS!!!

*I got a 'Speak No Evil' trailer ad*

WOW. TONAL WHIPLASH THERE.

So that was the episode... oh my god...

I'M HURT.

THIS ELIMINATION DEVASTATED ME. OH MY GOD.

GABBY WAS MY BEST GIRL, I'M GONNA MISS HER.

Okay, okay, I'm NOT someone who hates it when my favorite characters get eliminated and call that 'bad writing, they should've won'. Because sometimes that doesn't make sense for the story.

I CAN see a scenario of Gabby winning in my head. BUT if that's not the direction they want to go and they want a different winner, that's fine by me.

If anything, if you're gonna ask me who I think is gonna win... Ellie.

And I feel like the other finalists would be Jake and Fiore.

Cause I feel like Tom is a big threat so they'd want him gone and I think Alec and Grett are gonna get betrayed.

HERE'S MY BEEF THOUGH.

This plan, on Fiore's end, makes NO SENSE.

She has Alec and Grett on her side. That's an alliance of three.

Alec was successfully able to convince Ellie and Gabby to join them, and since both aren't close with the other three, that's easy. I can accept that.

So Fiore has an alliance of FIVE. The MAJORITY alliance.

Tom Jake and Miriam are the minority.

And thanks to Gabby, Fiore KNOWS that there's NO IDOL in play. So the minority CAN'T pull that trick on them.

So she and her alliance CAN successfully vote off one of the three. And ANY of the three would've worked.

Tom is the most physically gifted of the three and can be a threat in challenges, especially if he made it to the finale.

Jake has the social high ground as he's on good terms with Ellie.

Miriam is the glue keeping those three together.

Voting off ANY of those three would've worked on Fiore's favor.

"But what if Ellie betrayed them?"

She's NOT on good terms with Teal. The ONLY one of those three she IS on good terms with is Jake.

SO BETTER REASON TO VOTE JAKE, so Ellie betraying them is BARELY possible.

I'm a Jake Stan, but I can accept a Jake elimination in a gameplay move like this.

Ellie was already weary about Fiore's alliance as well, ESPECIALLY Alec. You NEED to PROVE that you're not gonna stab her in the back!

SO VOTE JAKE. And then she realizes "Oh shit, I CAN trust them!"

And you have her on your side!

By eliminating GABBY, the ONE person who Ellie WHOLEHEARTEDLY trusted, you BETRAY her YET AGAIN.

You LOSE one of your alliance members, therefore majority, AND you lose Ellie's trust that you'll be loyal to her! SO SURPRISE SURPRISE, SHE WON'T WORK WITH YOU.

You're in the minority, Ellie sides with Jake Tom & Miriam, AND YOUR ASSES ARE GONE.

"But why would she side with them? They voted Gabby too & and they tried to vote her too."

AGAIN, JAKE. Jake came CLEAN about who they were voting for, AND ELLIE SAID "NO HARD FEELINGS".

She's gonna trust someone brutally honest OVER someone who LIES to her!

IT'S NOT THAT HARD TO SEE WHAT I'M SAYING.

So the better game move, in my opinion, would be to NOT approach the Tom Jake & Miriam Alliance because they were ALREADY beefing with Gabby & Ellie without your help. Do your game move in the challenge to give Grett immunity. AND THEN VOTE. OFF. JAKE.

NO, I'M NOT SAYING THIS CAUSE I WANT JAKE OUT. I LOVE HIM. BUT I'M JUST SAYING IT WOULD'VE BEEN A BETTER GAME MOVE.

I have to imagine another idol comes into play now. That's the ONLY way Fiore can defeat the other alliance now. She Alec or Grett need an idol to nullify the votes and get one of the heroes out.

And on top of that, YOUR KID ACT GOT OUTTED.

YOU. ARE. FUCKED.

*Rant Over*

...so yeah, I'm sad that Gabby's gone.

At least we got a Gabby & Ellie kiss.

Ngl, I wish we had more time with them. Cause they were on opposite teams, they couldn't interact a lot. Even when they WERE on the same team for an episode, Ellie interacted more with Jake than Gabby. I understand that may be building up to... that entire rant I did, but I would've swapped the screen time of the two is all I'm saying. At least in that episode.

But they're cute and perfectly healthy and in a show like this... THAT IS A DAMN MIRACLE.

Also Lesbian W.

I don't know for sure if they're both in Season 3. I would hope they are just so we get more of them as a couple.

Cause Ellie is GREAT for Gabby. And that final interaction with them proved that.

Like I said, I think Ellie is gonna win the whole thing. I think that's the payoff here.

If you guys want me to continue these reactions, be sure to let me know.

[raveneira]

HII!! Thanks for answering and trying to bring the fandom back! Can't wait to see what everyone will write (or draw) for KawaSara week, i'm sure it'll be great content^^. I can see why would they lose faith but that could never be me, conflict doesn't scare me lol!! Omg that "healthy" vs "toxic" thing is so annoying like idc lmfao, the worst part is i ship SasuSaku and KawaSara and both get hate for that and mind you most of the time it's people that ships toxic stuff too but draws the line at other ships🤦🏻‍♀️. The "healthy" ships fan are ironically the most toxic people i saw. I literally saw them on twitter harassing that KawaSara week page and one of them even posted the pic of OP blocking them & laughed with their friend, the obsession BS fans have with KS fans is astonishing. All of this over a mid ship that isn't even canon. That "you don't care about her feelings" coming from them is ironic, they literally ignore her saying that she does NOT like Boruto lmfao. They literally discredit and undermine SasuSakus moments, a CANON couple, of course they wouldn't lose the chance to do that with a fanon ship (for now), SS&KS have one thing in common and it's the haters, they are literally the same people. Not only they're insecure with KS but BoruSumi too, that's exactly why they ship Kaw*Sum* to get them BOTH out of the way. (I'll be a good person so no shade towards SH/SNS fans XD). Idk but their hate is so weird, also the way they treat Boruto & Sarada is so weird, it's all about that Uzu*aki x Uchiha stuff and that's sooo creepy. Exactly they don't care about them (or just Sarada), it's either for "op babies" or because they previous ships flopped (Nar*Sak* or Nar*Sas*). Them saying to KawaSara fans they don't want a SS 2.0 (they don't even have a lot of things in common, just a few) but than comparing BS not only to SS (free ss😭) but every other ship in Naruto is beyond hypocritical. They get away with everything and it's SO annoying. Literally just saw them calling other haters/jealous lmfao, they're so easy to predict. Also you forgot to add how much they love to call everyone else delusional as if their ship is canon, like girlie none of them is canon, so for now everybody is delusional lol. WHEN YOU POINT THIS OUT THEY DENY IT LIKE??? She literally revolves around him and ignores her own parents (that she separated) like hellooo?? Her idol, ChoCho her best friend?? Like come on guys. It's all about him, nothing about her and that's another thing that i dislike about them. I'm praying that Kawakis development will be good and that we'll see more deep/interesting conversations between him and Sarada. They should block, silence and report them and enjoy KawaSara week in peace, i hope that they won't let BS fans stop them from enjoying it!! Sorry i wrote a lot too lmfaoo.

I literally saw them on twitter harassing that KawaSara week page and one of them even posted the pic of OP blocking them & laughed with their friend,

Really? Im not surprised lol these ppl are very devoted stalkers, no matter how many of them I block, theres always someone who slips through the cracks and watches from the shadows until they finally reveal themselves, and also go reporting to their leader what I be sayin or doin for them to send their minions after me or play victim lol I literally put it to the test because I was suspicious that that was the case, so I showed several screenshots of something they said I was lying about proving it wasn't a lie, but I purposefully didnt censor the names to see if they would go running to snitch to them and thats exactly what they did, not even a few minutes passed between them responding to me and the person in the screenshot talking about me.

The kicker? I have that acc BLOCKED and have had it blocked for years, so for them to of seen it, somebody HAD to report to her what I said, so my suspicion was proven true, there ARE minions stalking me from the shadows and reporting to whatever leader with a big following they follow lol not only that, but they TOLD her that I be stalking HER and even make posts about her ON MY TUMBLR so Im not only stalked on twitter, but on tumblr as well, which btw is a flat out lie because I dont care enough about anybody THAT MUCH to stalk them

I have mutuals who will show me some of the dumb takes she makes occassionally, but they do that with any acc that makes dumb takes, all gcs do, I dont go looking for it because I dont care enough to, but I guess because I occasionally made comment about the dumb shit she says, one of her minions went and made me out to be a stalker over it, despite them literally stalking me to even find that out lol Its sad honestly, bein that obsessed with a ship and its fandom to that extent.

Not to make myself seem important [their the ones who do that with their actions] but I think these ppl hate me so much because they cant rattle me lol they cant stand that they cant get to me, that they cant scare me off, that they cant intimidate me with their 'lol ksa is dead, bsa is canon, accept it, she blushed, they hugged, they clearly love eachother, I know your mad, I know it bothers you, you should just give up, you've lost, just accept bsa is canon and give up on ksa, it'll never happen' ramblings but everytime they throw one of those at me Im never bothered, I always come back at them unbothered and just stating the facts lol its not canon, its not even semi canon, theres still zero confirmation of romantic feelings on either side, any implication you claim there is is just your personal interpretations of what they mean, not what they are canonically confirmed to be, Sarada has denied having romantic feelings clearly and firmly multiple times and has remained consistent on that so Im not giving up or accepting anything that isnt confirmed yet just because of how YOU interpret their relationship and interactions thus far, talk to me when you have confirmation like BoruSumi has, till then your in line waiting with the rest of us lol they never bounce back from that

I know it kills them inside that no matter how much their fed they still dont have confirmation from either side yet while BoruSumi does, it eats them alive that Sarada, the main female, the one they claim is closest to him and so obviously loves him so much, has yet to be confirmed to be inlove with him and everytime shes asked she denies it and is uncomfortable, they were overjoyed when Mitsuki asked her and she avoided his question so they could be like 'See? Mitsuki knows she likes him, he said she doesnt know how she truly feels yet, its confirmed' yet that didnt go how they wanted because unlike they hoped, ppl actually paid attention to what was said and it wasnt anything like they tried to make it out to be.

Mitsuki was talking about himself and being unsure of HIS true feelings, his question to Sarada was him trying to figure his own feelings out through Sarada, but when she avoided the question, Mitsuki backed off seeing she was uncomfortable and said that it didnt matter, they tried to deny this for the longest and insisted it was about Sarada until chapter 7 of TBV released and proved our statement EXACTLY right, that it WAS Mitsuki being confused about his feelings for Boruto and trying to make sense of them so their one little sliver of confirmation they thought they had went out the window and now their back in limbo with the rest of us waiting for confirmation.

So no matter how confident they try to act, their scared to death that their still not confirmed without a doubt to be semi canon yet, because even tho it doesnt automatically mean their endgame, it DOES give them a higher possibility to be if they are, which is why they fear Sumire being so involved because you could ignore Hinata majority of the time because she wasnt around Naruto or involved with his plot that much, but you cant ignore Sumire because she IS, and THATS what scares them.

Even so they seem to still harbor a greater hatred for KawaSara than they do BoruSumi despite them not even being semi canon, which is crazy to me because I dont even think they realize how insecure they look for doing so lol if your more threatened by a not even semi canon ship, maybe your ship aint doin as well as you act like it is cuz trust and believe if your ship had nothin to worry about then you wouldnt be bothered, so if your bothered that means you see something to be threatened by.

That "you don't care about her feelings" coming from them is ironic, they literally ignore her saying that she does NOT like Boruto lmfao.

That one really is rich coming from them, they care about her feelings but their the ones who insist she doesnt know or understand her own feelings even when shes outright saying what she feels

"Does it bother you that other girls might like Boruto?" "Huh? seriously? of course not"

^^^^ This statement is totally ignored, instead they focus on her being shocked at Sumire confessing she likes him as implying shes jealous, even when her character profile also said Sarada was shocked at Sumire's bold statement, they still said it was jealousy, not caring about what she SAID is her feelings, they decided she doesnt know how she feels but they do.

"So you do like Boruto?" "What!? where the heck did that come from!?" "So you dont?" "Im saying whether I do or dont has nothing to do with this!"

^^^^ Another statement they ignore that debunks one of their main arguements that her wanting to help, support, protect etc Boruto is because she loves him romantically, this statement debunks that entirely because she says those exact feelings have NOTHING to do with whether or not she likes him, those are just her genuine feelings for her friend and teammate thats struggling and shes feeling frustrated being unable to help him like she wishes she could.

Its honestly ironic the lack of self awareness ppl have, to accuse others of lacking reading comprehension, while also blatantly lacking it themselves that they cant even comprehend something as simple as this.

But again, they ignore how SHE says she feels and instead THEY decide how shes feeling, because to THEM yea she says that but she doesnt mean it, she actually does love him but she just hasnt realized she does yet cuz shes tsundere [even tho she isnt] because to them THEY know her better than herself, THEY decide how she really feels not Sarada herself, because anything she says that doesnt fit their narrative oh well shes just confused but WE [they] know what she really means so just take their words for it because unlike us who cant 'read between the lines' they actually understand her character and respect how she feels.

Yeah, because nothing says respecting someones feelings like ignoring everything they say they feel and trying to make them feel how you want them to feel.

The only time its ok to insist someone doesnt know how they feel, is when their actually shown not knowing how they feel, not them saying outright what they feel firmly without hesitation.

So the fact that they try to dictate and determine what Sarada feels over what Sarada herself says she feels is nothing short of them not caring about her feelings, because they dont care that she doesnt like Boruto, they are going to MAKE her like him whether thats how she really feels or not. So anytime somebody hits you with that 'if your a real Sarada fan you would accept her feelings even if you dont like them' know their full of shit because when they dont like it they dont accept it either, they just want YOU to respect what THEY say her feelings are, nothing else.

Not only they're insecure with KS but BoruSumi too, that's exactly why they ship KawSum to get them BOTH out of the way.

Its funny because they used the same talking points too that they used for SK lol 'she understands him, they have a similar past, he has a soft spot for her' same bs different ship, but they say KawaSara is SH/SK lol better look again.

Idk but their hate is so weird, also the way they treat Boruto & Sarada is so weird, it's all about that Uzu*aki x Uchiha stuff and that's sooo creepy.

The sad part is this isnt even a theory or antis makin stuff up on them, heres a compilation, straight from the horses mouth, that THIS is their main objective and appeal of the ship.

It is genuinely weird as hell how obsessed these ppl are with these kids genes, but it makes sense when you consider how they treat Sarada, their just a little TOO protective of her ya know? like she just HAS to be with Boruto no matter what, she CANT be with anyone else but him or it'll just be terrible for her and the story etc.

Exactly how would it be terrible for her tho? whats wrong with Mitsuki? lack of development? so what? Chokarui exists.

Whats wrong with Kawaki? cuz he tried to kill her? cuz hes mean? cuz he hurt the MC? SasuSaku says hi so whats the problem? oh well KawaSara isnt like SS because Sakura actually liked Sasuke since the beginning and they had development, well so did KawaSara, even if Sarada doesnt like Kawaki like Sakura did from the beginning, so what? she doesnt have to for them to still be similar to them, and the irony is she doesnt like Boruto either, so shouldnt the same logic apply to them? its all bs.

Their main goal and objective is seeing what an Uchiha/Uzumaki/Hyuuga baby would be like because their convinced their children will be gods, even if they try to pretend they ship them cuz of love, development, mutual respect [there isnt] and the energy they put into eachother [its one sided, Sarada gives way more than she receives] its really all about their genes, the same reason they desperately wanted Sasuke with Karin, but with BoruSara even more now because thats THREE op clan genes their children will have, Uchiha, Uzumaki, AND Hyuuga.

They dont give af about their bond, their feelings, or their characters, they care about how powerful their child is gonna be, and that is truly disgusting.

The fact that they have the nerve to talk about other ships being disgusting, when their ships main objective is what kinda OP baby Sarada pops out for Boruto, is nothing short of hypocritical. Eugenics should never be the main basis for a ship, period, its just weird, and the fact that it has been a topic of discussion SINCE THEIR INTRODUCTION and they were both around 6-7 is downright weird and sickening.

If Boruto did not have Uzumaki and Hyuuga dna, BoruSara would not be half as popular as it is now, the appeal of how strong their kid would be is the main reason this ship has as many supporters as it has, NOT how great the actual ship as a whole is.

Think about it, what other ship do you see have THAT MANY comments about wanting them together to see how powerful their child is? you cant name one, because unlike them, OTHER SHIP FANDOMS ACTUALLY LIKE THEIR SHIPS FOR THEIR DYNAMIC/RELATIONSHIP/BOND not how powerful their kid is gonna be, their kids are an after thought, not they primary one and main reason they want it endgame.

Obviously shippers imagine their ships endgame and family life, but there's a big difference between just coming up with fanon kids/enjoying family content, and straight up eugenics where the only appeal is how OP their children are gonna be and what crazy new jutsus etc their gonna have

So when these hypocrites try and act superior like their the healthy ones and everyone else is toxic I have to laugh because their fandom is the only one this obsessed with eugenics, every other fandom just likes the ships dynamic and relationship and bond, their kids are a fun afterthought not a primary focus, for BoruSara fans its a main focus. That alone tells you where their priorities are, not love, just babies.

Sarada's only value to them is that she's Uchiha, if Sarada was lets say a Haruno/Lee instead not even half of these ppl would ship her as strongly with Boruto as they do now.

It explains why they care so little about Sarada's character and ignore all justified complaints about how poorly shes written, why is that? because why would they be? they dont need Sarada to be a good written character to get what they want, they LIKE her being written as a Boruto centric damsel in distress whos whole world revolves around him, thats good for them, because they need her for those babies, so the more obsessed she is with him the better, they dont care how bad it looks for her character, as long as its bringin them closer to those OP kids they dont care if Ikemoto had her kissing the ground Boruto walked on, or hell, even using her as a stepping stone over a puddle, they'd justify all of that and say shes a good well written character if it means their gettin those OP babies.

Sakura hasnt done half the pathetic things Sarada has and she gets dragged as the worst female character in shounen history, why do you think that is? because shes just a normal girl with non special genes to be passed down and create something powerful, but Sarada? the only other living member of the famous Uchiha clan, the strongest clan in Konoha next to the Senju, her genes passed down with someone from the Hyuuga/Uzumaki, two other very powerful clans, would create something truly out of this world.

And there you have it, thats all you need to know, just ask yourself whats different about how Sakura is written and Sarada and you'll notice the main deciding factor on why Sarada is better than Sakura is because of her genes. Thats all Sarada is to them, her genes, and they've made that more than clear to everyone whether they try to pretend that isnt the case or not, we all see the truth.

Them saying to KawaSara fans they don't want a SS 2.0 (they don't even have a lot of things in common, just a few)

Ironic considering this is them

Its all bs, they realized how stupid it was denying similarities to a canon ship because that actually increases the likelihood of it being canon [NH being similar to MinaKushi and SS being similar to FugaMiko, ShikTema being similar to his parents etc] so then they started claiming SS for themselves to claim they'll be canon, even tho prior to that they were saying they didnt want SS 2.0 because it was toxic and abusive and ruin Sarada's character like her mother and that Kishimoto learned from his mistakes, even though he never once expressed regrets about his endgame ships lol they think somehow BoruSara is supposed to be his 'atonement', yet now suddenly SS 2.0 is fine now that they apply it to BoruSara, suddenly its not toxic or ruins Sarada's character.

The way you know their not even sincere about it and just saying it to prove how their endgame, is because these ppl dont even understand SS themselves and only look at the superficial things on the surface, not their core characters and relationship and everything that went into it from the beginning to now.

This is why BoruSara is an insult to SS because its such a shallow representation of what SS was

For example Sarada's speech to Shikamaru about her defending a traitor like her dad used to be, and comparing her defending Boruto to how Naruto [and Sakura] defended Sasuke. Of course those buffoons ran with it like yea she's defending Boruto like Sakura did Sasuke when he was a traitor its totally endgame.

This is just surface level SS tho, Sakura wasnt just defending an innocent man wrongly accused, Sakura was defending an ACTUAL traitor, Sasuke made the conscious decision to abandon Konoha and betray everyone and willingly attempt to kill his comrade, all in his pursuit of power to avenge his family that was wrongfully murdered by his brother, he chose revenge >> his friends and Konoha, Sakura and Naruto stood by him despite that because they knew the real him and wanted to save him from that dark lonely path he was walking because they genuinely wanted him to be happy and knew he wouldnt be if he walked this path.

Compare that to BoruSara, why is Boruto a traitor? he isnt, everyone just thinks he is because of mass brainwashing, its Kawaki who is actually the traitor that everyone hates, but due to omnipotence thats all directed at Boruto now, why did Boruto leave? because if he didnt he would've been killed by everyone who thinks hes a traitor now, what is Borutos end goal? to undo omnipotence and knock some sense into Kawaki [and save the world obviously] and what is Sarada defending Boruto from? absolutely nothing, because hes innocent, so all her mouthing off has zero weight because shes defending an innocent person, so of COURSE she'd stand by him.

With Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura were defending a traitor, and then an international terrorist, they were INSANE to defend him but they did anyway because they loved him, they understood there had to be a reason, it was hard, and there was doubt, but overall they loved Sasuke and refused to give up on him and kept hope that one day they could all laugh together again as team 7.

Sarada is going through zero conflict over this, zero struggle, everyone is just brainwashed so none of the push back she receives has any weight because she knows its because of omnipotence that their acting that way, so the most she does is get frustrated that she cant break through omnipotences hold over them, but with Naruto and Sakura you had friends, comrades, even family telling them that they need to give up and let Sasuke die, that there was no saving him, that as Hokage your gonna have to make the hard decisions even if you dont want to etc and these werent ppl brainwashed, these were their sincere thoughts and feelings about the situation that brought both Naruto and Sakura to having breakdowns because of the inner tormoil it caused.

Show me where Sarada is going through that type of hell for Boruto, that kind of struggle, literally going her against the world [not ppl brainwashed by omnipotence] where is Sarada facing REAL hardship and pain trying to fight for Boruto? this is what I mean by ppl only making surface level comparisons for SS, because defending Sasuke wasnt just about defending a traitor, it was much deeper than that, and to treat it as if Sarada's situation is even remotely similar to that is a huge disrespect to SS.

The only way this would really parallel SS is if it was Kawaki she did this for, not because of my ship preference, but because its literally thematically similar. If you remove omnipotence, leave everybody in their right minds where they all believe Kawaki is a irredeemable traitor they want dead, THEN it would be similar to SS because Sarada would ACTUALLY be defending a traitor against non brainwashed ppl and trying to prove to them that despite his terrible actions there must be a good reason behind it and that hes still a good person etc, THEN it'd be similar.

But having Sarada just be defending an innocent man like shes really some ride or die when she doesnt have to ride or die for anything since he really isnt a traitor or bad guy to begin with is nothing short of goofy, even more so comparing it to SS when Sarada currently cant even handle a brainwashed Shikamaru not believing her like she already knew he didnt, Sakura and Naruto were willing to fight cloud nin, Naruto got on his knees to beg the Raikage for mercy on Sasuke, they were willing to go confront Danzo and possibly fight him, Naruto pushed Gaara's hand away when he tried to tell him to give up on Sasuke, Sakura punched Sai in the face for disrespecting Sasuke, Sakura fought tooth and nail against Sasori to get more info on Orochimaru, Naruto let Kurama take over to get back at Orochimaru for manipulating Sasuke

What has Sarada done to really 'ride or die' for Boruto? buy a similar jacket to his? yell at ppl you know cant help but not believe you because their literally under the influence of a massive shinjutsu? what a joke.

'Sarada wore a Boruto style jacket as a fk you to omnipotence' and nobody moved lol like seriously nobody moved so who was the middle finger to? who cared? nobody, omnipotence is still in full effect, nobody believes her or cares about her ramblings, Ada doesn't care, and Kawaki is so unfazed he doesn't even bother trying to stop her from running her mouth because she is THAT irrelevant, so who exactly is the fk you for? herself? shes the only one who gives a danm so like...ppl treatin that like its some huge badass character moment for her are laughable because unlike Naruto and Sakura who did have an impact, Sarada has had absolutely zero.

And its equally disrespectful to all the other ships they compare them too as well for equally shallow reasons, just because they might have similar moments on the surface doesnt mean anything if the core meaning and sentiments behind said moments arent the same.

For example MinaKushi, exactly what do they have similar to BoruSara? what is Sarada's biggest insecurity she hated that Boruto complimented and made her love? what enemy ninja has kidnapped Sarada that Boruto was the only one who noticed and followed her and saved her from? since when was Sarada bullied for her appearance where Boruto was the only one who didnt and supported her dream?

THE IRONY is that while Minato actually supported Kushina's dream from the start while everyone else made fun of it, Boruto was the ONLY ONE who made fun of Sarada's dream and berated her for it, but their similar to MinaKushi lol

'But Kushina looked down on Minato too'

Kushina looked down on him because she thought he looked unreliable, Boruto looked down on Sarada because of his personal issues with his father being Hokage and he took it out on her who didn't deserve it and he never apologized for it either, they are not the same.

Like I said they only focus on surface level similarities, but not the actual core elements of the relationship and characters, they have NOTHING in common with MinaKushi on a deep meaningful level, even down to the spiral symbolism they claim is somehow a parallel for BoruSara is literally about Kushina and Mito about being jinchuriki and getting through it thanks to the love of their husbands, like…they really think Kishimoto had BoruSara in mind when he made that one shot, instead of ya know, just focusing on MinaKushi who the one shot was actually about.

Same way they try to claim NaruHina similarities for again, surface level reasons instead of the actual deeper meaning of their relationship.

Tell me where Sarada grew up in an abusive household where her father practically disowned her because she was weak? where was Sarada inspired by Boruto being a 'proud failure' and wanting to be like him? where was Boruto Sarada's inspiration for her nindo? where was Sarada breaking Boruto out of his insecurity for a big upcoming fight he thought he couldnt win which gave him the courage and motivation to give it his all? when has Boruto ever literally fought to avenge Sarada because he was so angry at how she was treated? when has Sarada fought a far stronger enemy despite his protest? [a single fireball distraction and just standing there after the fact is not fighting]

They have none of that stuff that actually mattered and added substance to their relationship, you know what they did have? Sarada just watching Boruto from afar as if that is an actual deep meaningful part of their relationship…the funny thing is even that isnt similar, the contexts are literally complete opposites

Hinata watched Naruto out of admiration and infatuation, Sarada watched Boruto out of jealousy, and then later she was just watching him train with her dad hoping that he'd take Boruto on as his student since she knew it'd make him happy

Ironic right? the same guy who insulted her dream and berated her for it, Sarada was busy supporting him and wanting her dad to accept him as his student

You can tell these ppl dont understand or care about these ships their comparing them to fr fr, because if they did, they wouldnt be using only surface level similarities and not the actual deep core elements of the relationships.

you know where you CAN find ACTUAL similarities to other ships that DOES match the deep core elements of them? NaruSaku and SasuNaru.

Sarada was originally annoyed with Boruto at first [Just like Sakura and Sasuke] but after becoming teammates became alot closer like family, Sarada would watch Boruto pull pranks for his fathers attention in envy but despite being annoyed she also sympathized with him because she too had an absent father she craved attention from, Sasuke used to watch Naruto go around pulling pranks for attention too and despite thinking he was a moron he sympathized with him as well because they were both orphans and he understood his loneliness, Boruto and Sarada pretty much bicker with eachother the exact same way OG team 7 did, the only difference being the lack of drama now because theres no conflict with one of the teammates goin rogue and betraying them [Kawaki fills that role] but overall the sentiments is the same when it comes to those ships.

Sakura despite being annoyed with Naruto often she still worried for him alot and wanted to help him anyway she could and was frustrated with herself when she couldnt help him more, same way Sarada is frustrated with herself for not being able to help Boruto more, Sasuke resented Naruto for thinking he understood him when he had nothing from the start and has no idea what its like to have a family and then lose it, same way Sarada resented Boruto for his ignorance of being so blessed always complaining about his dad overworking when Sarada would kill to have what he did [Boruto had the perfect family then lost it when Naruto became Hokage and neglected them but still tried to be there for them, Sarada always had a dysfunctional family and absent dad that she only just got to finally know at 11, he did not understand her at all]

Regardless, they still sympathized because even though the situations were very different, they both understood the pain of missing their fathers, which is why she was still able to empathize with him despite being far worse off.

Hell the only OG ship with a heavy emphasis on a promise like BoruSara is NaruSaku, same for it being the only OG ship with an emotional surprise hug after an invasion where the FMC hugs the MC relieved to see he was ok while the other one sided love interest watches [whether ones smiling and the other not is irrelevant, its the overall context and execution of the scene that matters]

I made mini compilation here

Theres alot more but you get the picture, THESE are actual similarities that actually fits in depth with their relationships and not just surface level similarities, but actual CORE relationship elements.

This is why they hate being compared to NS and SNS because they know themselves that those are the ships they have actual similarities with, but neither of them are canon so obviously they dont wanna be associated with non canon ships cuz then that means they wont be canon either right? That's why it HAS to be SS, HAS to be NH, HAS to be MinaKushi, all canon ships that totally proves BoruSara will be endgame just like em.

They get away with everything and it's SO annoying.

Agreed, but as the biggest fanbase unfortunately they can get away with just about anything since they have way bigger numbers so the amount of ppl calling em out gets easily drowned out and made the one in the wrong instead.

Literally just saw them calling other haters/jealous lmfao, they're so easy to predict. Also you forgot to add how much they love to call everyone else delusional as if their ship is canon, like girlie none of them is canon, so for now everybody is delusional lol.

Ironic because nobody comes off more jealous than them, and they don't even have anything to be jealous about yet lol they literally have more than any other ship so why they sweatin? because they know it don't mean shit, it could easily be a red herring leading em on just for disappointment in the future, they act like they don't fear that possibility and that there's no way it'll happen again but deep down their scared to death because they know it is possible, they prove that by being so bothered and obsessed with much smaller ships ain't no way they should be concerned about UNLESS they felt there was genuine good reason for doing so, aka being threatened by said ships lol

The delusional thing is always funny to me because they'll go and make up a whole fanfic headcanon scenario for why their right, and then when you slap them with reality and canon facts that easily contradict their twisted fantasy version of events, they get mad and say your delusional or in denial and just jealous when...your literally just pointing out the canon facts that are in literal black and white for all to see, but to them the truth is delusion, and the lies they tell themselves are reality.

She literally revolves around him and ignores her own parents (that she separated) like hellooo?? Her idol, ChoCho her best friend?? Like come on guys. It's all about him, nothing about her and that's another thing that i dislike about them. I'm praying that Kawakis development will be good and that we'll see more deep/interesting conversations between him and Sarada.

Same, there is so much untapped potential between her and Kawaki its not even funny, they had some of the biggest wasted opportunities ever

Like Boruto's death was handled WAY too quickly, Sarada wasnt even given a chance to process it, she was told right in the heat of the moment of them fighting, then everything happened back to back afterwards so she didn't even get a chance to process THAT before she had to process 50 other things that happened all at one, that was such a missed opportunity for some real conflict that they only gave to Sumire who didn't even do anything with it and just looked scared of him every interaction afterwards, thats info that would've been far better utilized on Sarada

Just imagine after checking on Boruto, Sarada went to Kawaki's room and overheard them talking about what happened, she's shocked, she's confused, shes wondering why Boruto lied to her about what happened, why Naruto is ok with this, a lot of conflicting emotions running through her mind that she needs to process so she goes meet Mitsuki at the balcony where they are watching Boruto and her dad, Sarada considers telling Mitsuki what she heard but when Mitsuki tells her how he doesn't know what he might do to the person that tried to kill Boruto, Sarada withholds what she heard cuz she doesn't want to go after him, so Sarada internalizes and has to deal with these feelings on her own, on one hand she understands that this was what Boruto wanted to protect everyone, but on the other she cant bring herself to just be ok with Kawaki trying to kill him, however this situation brings up a new internal conflict she hadn't thought about before and thats what SHE would do if she were faced with a possessed Boruto in that kind of situation? would she be able to kill him if needed? does she have the resolve to do what needs to be done even if she doesn't want to? could she make that difficult decision like Kawaki did? even if thats what Boruto wanted? if he had asked her to, would she be able to honor his wishes? or would she be unable to and let Momo rampage

I could go on but I dont want this to be too long but you get the point, imagine we got THAT instead of all that rushed bs, imagine we got some actual reflection, some inner conflict, some internal struggles trying to figure out her resolve and if she'll be able to do what needs to be done as Hokage.

Imagine her and Kawaki had that talk when they were alone and she confronted him about it, Kawaki affirming his resolve to her that he will do anything to protect Naruto, even killing his own brother, and then the question is passed on to Sarada for what her resolve is, but she has no answer at the moment, all she knows is that she too wants to protect Naruto but she wants to protect Boruto too and doesn't want him to die, but Kawaki tells her there may be a time when she has no choice in the matter and will have to make up her mind soon, then in 78 shes forced to make that decision on just how far shes willing to go for her beliefs, can she kill Boruto if he's a threat? can she kill Kawaki if he's threatening Boruto? she gets there and its time to make a decision, Kawaki once again affirms his resolve by even being willing to kill her if she got in his way of doing what he genuinely believed is right, but Sarada is still unsure of herself, unable to let Boruto die even if he's a threat to everyone, but unwilling to kill Kawaki either even when he's threatening her life, because, despite his rude attitude a lot of the time, she still came to view Kawaki as a friend and teammate and THATS why she hesitates.

Now imagine, shocker, that she actually feels REMORSE for costing Boruto his eye, I know crazy right? you would think that'd have happened IN CANON but oddly it did not, she hasn't been shown feeling even the slightest bit of guilt for costing him his eye that day which is crazy to me, but unsurprising because she didn't even feel the slightest big of remorse for her dad being treefied because SHE sent him off to protect Boruto.

RIP the empathetic caring Sarada who actually gave a danm in 28, 36, and 39 you will be missed.

Having Sarada go there acting all sure of herself but not backing it up did such irreparable damage to her character, whereas in the scenario I just laid out or anything similar to that actually adds depth and valid reasoning for why she'd freeze up there, vs talking a big game like she was about that life only to freeze as soon as shit got real, it was such a stupid writing decision to do that, yes even worse than both of Sakura's failed kill attempts on Sasuke because at least we actually saw the internal conflict she was going through that made her hesitate, we got none of that for Sarada, she just said she couldn't stand by and do nothing....only to stand by and do nothing.

Pure goofiness.

So I really am hoping, by some miracle, the upcoming Kawaki development will lead to some for Sarada as well, but considering Boruto is being brought to the village now I doubt we'll be seeing that anytime soon and she'll continue hyperfixating on HIM and how HES treated until he somehow gets free.

And even then once he's free and out of the village, I hope her 'development' wont be just more bitching at everybody and calling Kawaki Otsutsuki too some more cuz my god, can the girl have any other personality traits besides 'bitter at everyone whos mean/doesnt like Boruto' ? I don't think thats too much to ask. Can she also actually act like she has other friends besides Sumire? can we really not let her be SO BORUTO CENTRIC that she avoids all her other friends/family, even her long time bestie Chocho, over a fkin boy? is this not THE SAME SHIT ppl got on Sakura for doing to Ino? choosing a boy over their friendship? wheres that energy now huh? just again goes to show where the priorities REALLY were all along.

This is a main reason I dont like the ship, because no other Sarada ship is she written THIS poorly for, when its her and Mitsuki their equals and Mitsuki gives just as much to her as she does for him, when its her and Kawaki they are also equals, Kawaki never looks down at her as defenseless or weak, he knows she's strong and capable of fending for herself and allows her to do so, its only BORUTO that intervenes and acts like she's helpless, HES the one who doesn't view her as an equal, but a helpless damsel that needs him to fight all her battles for her, even one about her own fkin father HE takes on the role of freeing him, best believe Sarada will have nothing to do with it, its gonna be all Boruto for her to have the big 'thank you' later and relieve Borutos guilt by returning her father to her, it sounds sweet in concept, but the execution is terrible and makes Sarada useless in her own plot, just like shes already useless in the plot in general besides being unaffected she has done literally nothing of substance with that immunity.

When shes with Boruto he will always take center stage, it'll never be an equal partnership with equal treatment, Sarada has given her ALL to Boruto yet Boruto hasn't even given half of that, the only time Sarada is a thought for him is as an extension of Sasuke, him thanking her before he left? because she sent Sasuke, his promise? because his dream is to be the supporting shadow like Sasuke who supports the Hokage and thus Sarada since she plans to be Hokage [put anyone else in that role and he'd do the exact same thing] , his new promise? to save Sasuke, him coming back to Konoha? to tell her what happened to Sasuke, him coming back again? because his sister was being targeted and then Sarada was being targeted by the Sasuke clone and he took the opportunity to kill him to get the thorn soul bulb that'll help free Sasuke

But when he was about to be killed by Kawaki? he only thought of his mom and sister, when Mitsuki guilt tripped him about breaking his promise, it was only the mention of his mother and sister that got him to change his mind, the only one Boruto has told Naruto is alive to was Mitsuki, not Sarada despite knowing thats her idol, he never made any attempts to contact Sarada in the entire 3 yrs despite clearly having the village bugged with frogs he can teleport to easily , hell he could even just leave letters with the frogs to deliver them to her, ya know, the sorta thing ppl got on Sasuke's case for not doing and now here Boruto is doing the same thing but nobody says anything about it.

Again I dont want this to get too long so Ima cut it here but I think I made my points clear enough at least to get why this ship is so ass and its shippers are so fake as hell shipping it. They can delude themselves that their the 'healthy' and 'not deluded' ones but they are, always have been, their just even worse now because they've lied to themselves for so long they actually believe it, and that is truly sad.

They should block, silence and report them and enjoy KawaSara week in peace, i hope that they won't let BS fans stop them from enjoying it!! Sorry i wrote a lot too lmfaoo.

No no its fine, I wrote alot too lol I'll be surprised if you or anyone else reads all of it 😭 but if you do thank you.

And I hope so too, their not worth letting them ruin their week, and the best get back is to just go on enjoying our week unbothered and ignore them cuz they want attention to distract from us actually focusing on celebrating KawaSara to fight with them, DONT DO IT, don't fall into the trap, just focus on KawaSara and ONLY them, antis will get bored eventually when they seen nobody is feeding into them.

[littlesparklight]

What do you like about Zeus x Ganymede? I'm curious

First of all, I just like power imbalance in ships - some of my favourite ship dynamics is a magically/physically/hierarchically more powerful person with someone who is... well, not that. (This works out platonically, as well. Among the other reasons I do rather think this is part of why I like Luke & Vader so much; Luke isn't powerless compared to his father, but he's un(der)trained and by dint of being Vader's son, the familial dynamic is uneven.)

So, like, Zeus being one of the most strongest gods and the king of the gods, contra Ganymede who is either a minor divinity after getting apotheosis or just an immortalized human, is... a feature for me, not a bug.

The way Ganymede is basically "it" when it comes to male love interests for Zeus, making him special on top of being the only one Zeus takes to Olympos and installs there in some way, is juicy to me. Aside from the possibilities of fun things to explore in Ganymede being "the only one" (there are some very rare other possibilities, but they're easily ignored and I take the right to do so lol) for Zeus and what that means for him, it just makes Ganymede special.

Sure, maybe not a "good" special if you want to go dark with it (I don't; that's not what I'm here for). The only myths of Ganymede's abduction is; all the gods, for Zeus, Zeus himself, or "realistic" versions where Ganymede ends up literally dead because of a mortal king's desire for him (Minos; Tantalos as another one that's more suspicion against a potential enemy). Thus, Ganymede clearly is simply not ever going to remain in the mortal realm. The options are "actually dead" or "dead" to the mortal realm, but still alive. That's interesting! More as a thing for Ganymede than the ship, necessarily, but Zeus' desires/judgement of Ganymede - so to speak - matters here even beyond his actual sexual desire. Sexual desire can (and usually is!) satisfied by a god visiting a mortal once and only once. This is not what happens with Ganymede.

The whole "the monster loves you and will crack the world in two for you" is fun (terrifying, maybe, because that means a sort of soft power you're responsible for, but fun). Zeus may not have completely stopped Herakles from attacking Troy, but his love for Ganymede still matters here (you see this reflected/intimated in Trojan Women), and the same happens in Quintus of Smyrna's Posthomerica. Zeus maybe can't/won't stop the war for Ganymede but that doesn't mean he doesn't feel for him - Quintus has Ganymede beg for Troy in one scene, and Zeus ends the fighting for that day because of it.

And lastly, just because one party is the "weaker" does not mean they cannot and will not have desires of their own. Ganymede's desires vis a vis Zeus and their relationship are both fun and very important to me, exactly because he has no "concrete" power. He still have wants and they matter to both of them.

(... Also, some light service kink in there. Ganymede being cupbearer to Zeus is, again, a feature to me, not a bug. They're both into it, the way I interpret/write their relationship.)