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froot-batty · 6 months ago

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Hi! I'm the Anon who asked about fanart, like I said I really love your redesigns, and I tried sending an Ask like this previously but I'm not sure if it went through. If it did, please ignore this! And sorry for the really long Ask, I'm just really excited about the art <3 Like I was saying, your redesigns are awesome! Like, the coloring, the concepts, the stories behind them are all really cool! I found you after I saw your Azrael art, and I just fell in love! I couldn't help but draw fanart, since I've always loved JPV/Azrael (Also! Since you stated before that your redesign of Azrael is fem, I was wondering if you gave her another name than Jean-Paul? Also Also, to make life easier I'm referring to Az as She/Her the entire Ask) and your art is just so motivating! I did a whole panel redraw, which I think is the first time I've finished a redraw.

This is the original Panel, it's in Issue 2 (I think) of Batman: The Sword of Azrael. Context: Batman is investigating in Switzerland when he nearly busts the Order of Dumas' operations, so the Order send Azrael after him and they fight since they're not yet allies. Bats thinks Az has the disadvantage since she doesn't have snowshoes (and he does), but Az is apparently immune to the laws of physics and nearly kills him.

Like in the original Panel, Bats is trying to defend himself with his cloak, and Az continues to not care about silly things like friction <3. (No but seriously, she's wearing clothes that look really heavy, how is she moving through the snow? Especially with sword and wings? Magic? Spite? My disregard of the laws of physics for the sake of coolness? Probably) The Background nearly killed me, I'm never drawing snow again.

The motivation didn't run dry at the Panel Redraw, so I also have a bunch of sketches! And Questions, if you want to answer them.

When I saw that Az only had one eye in this, and presumably a scar on the other, the first thing I thought of was Lehah/Biis, who was one of Az's original enemies in Batman: The Sword of Azrael. Lehah/Biis also has one eye and a scar on the other, which was given to him by the former Azrael (JPV's father) before Lehah killed him. Lehah was an enemy of the Order, and Biis (Who was a demon lord) was Azrael's (The angels) greatest enemy in St. Dumas lore. Lehah became Biis' host in a similar way that JPV is Azrael's host. Is there a connection, or is it just a coincidence? Does Biis/Lehah still exist or?

Speaking of the Order, is that still a thing in your redesigns? Or does Az have a completely different backstory now? Also, the wings! How did she get them? Was she born with them, or was it an experiment gone wrong? Or right?

Also, does Knightfall still happen, or something similar? Or is there another reason for Azbats? On that, does Bats still take in Az?

I would love to hear everything about her! Any tidbit or fact, I am actually in love (Platonic) with her and would love to hear any details at all about her! Thank You!

I did get your other ask, but I decided I'm answering this one instead so I can actually answer your questions >:]

ANYWAY

HEART EYES !!! HEART EYES HEART EYES !!!!!!!

Thank you so much for the kind words <3 When messing with rogues and changing how they are in canon significantly I always worry about fans of specific characters or DC in general being mad at me, so knowing people like 'em despite/because of all the changes is very reassuring :]

THAT REDRAW IS SO GOOD !!!!!! Get his ass Az who needs physics when you have pure rage in your heart. Queen. I'm happy my evil bird woman could motivate you to do a whole panel redraw for lil ole me, even if you had to suffer through drawing snow

THE SKETCHES TOO. I'm glad you made her creepy, her default state is to be weird and off-putting <3 weird ass lab grown angel girl. I especially like that top left corner sketch of her, something about how you drew her spiky hair and STARE I'm a big fan of

NOW FOR YOUR QUESTIONS:

Her name is still Jean-Paul, it's just pronounced like the pants (jeans) instead of the French version of John. The Order had already picked out the name before knowing that her sex was female instead of male (like they'd expected), so they just switched the pronunciation. They're lazy like that (I considered changing her name to Joan-Paul, like Joan of Arc, but it both looks AND sounds weird, so I didn't)

The Order of St. Dumas IS also a thing, yeah :] In my AU, The Agency worked alongside the Order to create Azrael. She was basically lab-grown like a homunculus according to the Order's wishes, thus the wings! They wanted her to look like an angel Az also has inexplicable longevity because of the genetic experimentation, so she's Azrael-ing long after Bruce retires as Batman

....I have a confession. The only comic I've read with Azrael in it is Order of the World, the rest I picked up from fanon or just reading around. I didn't know anything about Biis when I thought up the design; the missing eye is a fun coincidence. Thank you for telling me about him, though! I'm sure Biis/Lehah exists somewhere, who knows what Azrael gets up to when she's not in Gotham? The missing eye itself comes from Batman himself, actually. When Azrael first stops by Gotham, he's super stressed out and in the middle of a VERY ROUGH YEAR, so he ends up accidentally nailing her in the eye with a Batarang. It's meant to connect her with that passage I drew her alongside before, Matthew 7:5 :]

The events of Knightfall sort of happen! Azrael makes two trips to Gotham, and only in the first one does she dress up as Azbats, since she thinks that Batman isn't doing enough to save Gotham and she needs to "become" the new (and better) Batman in his stead. As for Knightfall, in my AU, Azrael and Batman remain enemies (because I love evil women), so Knightfall is actually a team-up between Bane and Azrael after Az gets driven out of Gotham the first time. Azrael breaks Bane out of prison and whisks him off to Gotham to help her beat the shit out of Batman, basically. And it works for a little while! But Bane wants to conquer Gotham alone and also finds Az super duper annoying, so he betrays her. Like in Knightfall, Az almost kills Bane, but instead of deciding not to she just gets beat and then runs away out of Gotham like a coward again

She doesn't come back to Gotham for a few decades after being kicked out the second time. She hears about Bruce's retirement and comes back expecting she can finally save the city, only to be immediately thwarted by both the New Batman and Blight, the latter of which she comes to be both a fascination and enemy of (I'm still slowly thinking about my version of Batman Beyond, so this is subject to change)

Bonus fun fact: I think her and my version of Jane Doe would get along. Or relate to each other. Girls with evil scientist parents who grew them in a vat and sent them out to kill people after manipulating them for their entire lives

Aaaannd that's all I got for now! I hope this little bit of information was satisfactory, and I'm very glad you want to learn more about her :))

#fangirling. kicking my feet. twirling a phone cord. giggling #<- me every time fanart of my au and someone lets me infodump #frootverse #jean-paul valley #azrael #my art #doodles #not my art

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duhragonball · 2 years ago

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Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans (1993) OVA 1

Okay. This is one I’ve been wanting to cover for a long time. I had considered working it into the 2019 liveblog, but decided I had enough on my plate without trying to untangle this knot. The cartoon itself is pretty straightforward, but the production history is kind of convoluted.

In the fandom, the obscurity of Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans led to it being known as the “Lost Movie” of Dragon Ball Z. In truth, Plan never had a theatrical release like the actual DBZ films. Nor was it a TV special, like the Bardock and Trunks specials that aired during DBZ’s original run on television. Instead, Plan was a direct-to-video release, and in the anime industry, this is what’s known as an Original Animation Video (OAV) or Original Video Animation (OVA). So sometimes it gets referred to as the “Lost OVA” instead, but for a long time, it was the only OVA in the franchise, so calling it “lost” seems kind of unnecessary.

What makes it “lost”? Well, I always assumed it had to do with the fact that there was no dub or localization of this one. From 1998 to 2006, Funimation was releasing every scrap of Dragon Ball footage they could get, except for Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans. I remember attending a Funimation panel at a 2006 convention where some of the voice actors promoted the upcoming release of Wrath of the Dragon, and it was kind of a bittersweet moment for them, because it was (as far as anyone knew at the time) the last bit of Dragon Ball material that they would get to dub. Someone in the crowd mentioned Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans and I think Chris Sabat was like “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of that one.” They discussed it for a little while, but there was no clear explanation for why it hadn’t been released in North America, or if it ever would be. Seventeen years later, and it still hasn’t happened. I’m not holding my breath.

So why did Toei make a movie-length Dragon Ball Z animation and sell it direct-to-video? Well, it’s because Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans began as a video game. Released on August 6, 1993 on the Nintendo Famicom (NES), the game was one of the “Gokuden” series of Dragon Ball RPG titles. The earlier entries in the series were based upon the various sagas of the anime. Plan, on the other hand, featured a completely original story.

Around the release of the game, Toei made the OVA, which was sold in two VHS cassettes as the “Official Visual Guide” for the Famicom game. I can’t find any information about these visual guides, but my understanding is that they serve as sort of a walk-through of how the story mode is supposed to go in the game. I’m not sure how helpful that would be to players, but I suspect that it was more of a cross-promotional tie-in than anything else. And maybe they made similar VHS tapes for the previous Gokuden titles, but those would have been based on the main Dragon Ball story, so they could have just edited together clips from the existing TV anime. Since Plan was an all-new story, it’s visual guide would need to be an all-new animation. And I suppose that’s why this one seems to be the only “Official Visual Guide” that matters to the Dragon Ball fandom.

So the OAV was released in two parts, one on July 23, 1993, and the second on August 25, 1993, before and after the game itself was released. I’ll be covering Part 1 here.

One last note before we get started: The OVA footage was used again for two games released on the Playdia console in 1994. And then Toei made a new version of the OVA that was included as bonus content in the 2010 game Raging Blast 2, on the Playstation 3. But for now, let’s focus on the ‘93 version of the story.

Okay, so we open with Dr. Raichi, or Dr. Lychee, depending on how you want to spell it. He rants and raves about revenge, then summons a bunch of demonic creatures and releases them from his spooky castle to carry out his dark bidding. Then we cut to Earth, where Gohan’s been gathering firewood for his family. Seems that all the trees are getting sick and dying, which is great for firewood collecting, but kind of terrible for everything else. As Goku wonders what to do about it, Mr. Popo shows up and tells them exactly what’s causing this. The new Kami, Dende, has learned that the Earth’s atmosphere is being polluted by a toxic substance called “Destron Gas”. Trees have already been affected, and even powerful life forms like Goku and Gohan will die in a matter of weeks unless something is done.

Gohan suggests that they consult with Bulma over at Capsule Corp., but there doesn’t seem to be much she can do about it. She has no data on Destron Gas, which... I mean, okay, but Dende already knows what it is. He knew its name and how long it would take to kill everyone. Why are we not asking him?

Oh, let’s be honest, they just included this scene because Bulma looks hot in that chair. Dende may be a good Kami, but he just doesn’t have the gams to pull off a shot like this one.

Dr. Brief is here too, with his signature black cat. But he’s just sort of zoning out for no reason. There’s a lot of vacant stares in this video, but this one is the best.

Okay, so they finally ask Mr. Popo what to do, and he explains that there are four generators pumping Destron gas into the atmosphere. You have to destroy them all and you’ll solve the problem. One is in “The Grand Apron”, southwest of East City. The second is near the pyramid in the desert west of North City. The third is on Poco Poco Island, home of an active volcano that’s been erupting for over a century. That’s in the Southern Sea. Finally, the fourth generator is in the Land of Ice in the far north.

Piccolo shows up and offers to join Goku and Gohan on their quest, but then a couple of monsters show up and attack them. Goku tries to defeat them quickly with a Kamehameha, but it fizzles out in his hands. The same thing happens when Piccolo tries the Special Beam Cannon, and when Gohan tries the Masenko. Popo explains that the effects of the Destron Gas are interfering with their ability to concentrate their ki energy, so the gang has to fight it out the old fashioned way.

Okay, so here’s my beef with the Destron Gas: It doesn’t make any fucking sense. It’s already killed some life forms, like the trees Gohan found. But it hasn’t killed every tree, so how does that work? Also, it seems to interfere with the Z-Fighters’ powers, but only enough to be mildly inconvenient. Also, why hasn’t the gas affected anyone else? Bulma seems to be just fine, at least for now. Shouldn’t she be coughing or something?

I guess it did take a toll on Dr. Brief, though. I just assumed his was high, but maybe the Destron Gas has left him catatonic.

So the gang split up, and Goku finds the first generator in the Great Apron. It’s surrounded by rock, which seems dumb, because how can it spew poison gas into the atmosphere when it’s completely sealed off? Anyway, Goku punches a hole in the wall, and beats up the one (1) monster assigned to guard the thing. He destroys the generator without any trouble at all. Shouldn’t he get weaker from standing so close to this thing? I mean, the Destron levels ought to be much higher here than back in West City?

In the desert, Gohan makes short work of the second generator, thanks in part to Goku having destroyed the first one. Now, Gohan can use ki blasts again, and this guy guarding the second generator is no match for him. So that’s two down.

Before we check in on Piccolo, I should point out that each of these scenes is prefaced with an 8-bit overworld map, showing each character traveling to their assignment. It’s corny and dumb, but I guess they had to include this so players would be able to figure out where to go in the game? I don’t know, it doesn’t seem that complicated to me. Then again, I’m watching the walkthrough, so this is like reading an answer key instead of taking the test.

The point I want to make here is that stuff like this makes it very apparent that this was never supposed to be a movie. It’s about an hour long, but a lot of the action is repetitive, and the minion characters are just the same two character models with different color schemes, and the plot is nonsensical, even by the standard of old Dragon Ball films. Why didn’t Dende say anything before these stupid Destron generators were installed?

So the third generator is on Poco Poco Island, and the monster guarding this one actually planned ahead. He planted land mines all over the island, so Piccolo can’t get anywhere near it.

And that... is really dumb, because Piccolo can fly. The monster tries to fly after him, except... the monster can’t fly? Which would be fine, except, why did he not know that? Like, he jumps after Piccolo, and then he’s shocked to find that he’s slowing down, and then falling back down.

And he lands right back down on his own land mines, setting them all off. Wotta maroon.

This shot of the goof has always stuck with me, because he looks so pitiful here, caught in his own trap. I guess he’s trying to fire an energy blast? All I know for sure is that it ends up hitting the generator instead, so Piccolo wins this battle without even touching the island.

Astonished, Piccolo compares this guy’s stupidity to that of Mr. Satan, which is kind of weird, because this OAV is set in that weird period with Movies 6, 7, and 8, where Dende is the new Kami, but the Cell Games probably haven’t happened yet. So should Piccolo even know who Mister Satan is at this point? Oh well.

So the three of them meet up at the Land of Ice to take out the fourth generator, and this time there’s a bunch of monsters there guarding it. It’s enough to keep the good guys busy until Trunks and Vegeta show up to help.

Trunks cuts a bunch of them up with what looks like a sword, but it’s actually just a big icicle he must have found on the way here. The continuity on this thing is all screwy anyway, so I don’t see why they couldn’t just let him have his sword for this spot. Yeah, 18 broke it during the Androids Saga, but so what? Just have him get another sword from Menards or something.

So the fourth generator actually gets destroyed during the fight, so things turn out better than expected. Vegeta grumbles that he probably didn’t even need to show up for this one. See, earlier, Trunks tell the others that the monsters attacked Capsule Corp., presumably to stop Bulma from discovering an antidote to the Destron Gas. So Vegeta and Trunks saved her and that’s how they found out about all this. But now it’s over.................

.... or it would be, except Dende calls them to inform them about a fifth Destron generator that he must have missed somehow. This one is back in West City, mounted on Tongari Tower. Vegeta was right, he should have stayed home and he could have taken care of the next generator while the others headed back.

But, as it turns out, this fifth generator is protected by a force field. Well, why this one and none of the others? When they try to break through it, Frieza shows up and tells them it’s no use. Wait, Frieza?

Here’s a pretty cool shot of Trunks killing Frieza, courtesy of Trunks recalling this moment as he reacts to Frieza appearing before them.

So yeah, this OVA is yet another entry in the “what if we brought back LOWARD FUHREEZA SAMA?” stories. At least this one has Future Trunks in it, and I like how Frieza goes after him instead of Goku or Vegeta, since this was the guy who actually killed him. Also, I like how incredulous Trunks is, since he literally chopped this guy into pieces. How could Frieza possibly return? But he didn’t come along, because Frieza has a posse of movie villains.

For instance, Lord Slug is here, and he echoes Frieza’s call for the eradication of all Saiyans. He offers to spare Piccolo if he withdraws, but if Piccolo sides with them, then Slug will show no mercy.

Turles is kind of an odd-duck in this anti-Saiyan squad, but he points out that he was killed by a Saiyan, so his hatred of Saiyans is that much more profound. Uh, sure, I guess.

And Cooler is here too. He also hates the Saiyans, because he’s just a retread of Frieza, who hates the Saiyans.

So they all fight, except for Vegeta, who doesn’t have a dance partner for this. You’d think they would have brought in Garlic Junior or Super 13 to make it five on five, but oh well. Back in his evil lair, Dr. Raichi is pleased with how things are going. The good guys can overpower their foes, but....

Everytime they land a killing blow, their opponents just turn into foam and reform, good as new. This really starts to frustrate the Z-Fighters until Goku gets a call from King Kai.

All he really says is that they’re “Ghost Warriors”, and that they aren’t truly real, and this seems to be all Goku needs to know. He shouts this out to the others, like “Guys, I know what they are! They’re Ghost Warriors”, and Frieza’s team all get scared like “Oh shit, he figured it out!” Then the good guys just fight them exactly the same way they did before, only this time it actually works. It is incredibly stupid.

I will give some credit to this spot where Piccolo locks up with Slug, then extends his arms, allowing Gohan to slip in and whistle right in Slug’s face, softening him up for a ki blast from Piccolo to finish him off. That’s a cool double-team, but I’m not sure it was necessary. Piccolo was handling Slug just fine before. Apparently he only needed to hear that Slug was a ghost warrior to finish the job.

Seriously, a lot of this movie is just characters knowing things for no reason, and then telling the heroes whenever it happens to be convenient for the plot. And you can get away with that in a video game, where the player is mostly just happy to get more game to play, but when you do it in a movie it looks like you’re just padding out your runtime. And this isn’t a movie, but when I watch it thirty years later, it’s hard for me to think of it as anything else.

And really, this is probably why Funimation hasn’t dubbed this thing yet, and probably never will. It’s just not very good. I mean, it’s not offensively terrible or anything, but it’s a very weak production that was never meant to be anything more than an hour-long commercial for a thirty-year-old video game. If it weren’t for the “lost movie” mystique, this thing would be dismissed like all the Dragon Ball Heroes trailers, or the cutscenes in the Xenoverse games. If Toei thinks about this OVA at all, they probably don’t want to license it, and I don’t think Funimation is champing at the bit to localize it. It just sort of dilutes the brand.

Okay, so the ghost warriors are gone, but they still can’t destroy the fifth generator. Piccolo suggests that Goku just ask King Kai what they should do, and King Kai lays it all out for them. Again, why didn’t King Kai contact Goku from the start? He must have been following all of this action, so why did he wait around while Dende told Goku to destroy generators when that wouldn’t actually solve anything.

So this is where King Kai reveals the true mastermind behind the Destron Gas, a Tuffle named Dr. Raichi. I’m just going to go through his entire spiel, since this is key Tuffle Lore.

“A long time ago, Planet Vegeta was called Planet Plant and it was inhabited by highly scientifically advanced Tsufuru-jins. One day Saiya-jins arrived on the planet in a wrecked space ship and asked for help from the Tsufuru-jins. The Tsufuru-jins allowed the Saiya-jins to come down and settle on their planet, and the two races started to live together on the same planet.

“The Saiya-jin warrior race increased its number over the years, and one day, a man was born with an extraordinary brain which was as good as a Tsufuru-jin. The man, who was later called King Vegeta, led the Saiya-jins to rebel against the Tsufuru-jins. Ever since then, the planet was renamed Planet Vegeta, and Saiya-jins had become the rulers.”

Now, this part of the video is really the only interesting part, because it delves into the lore of the Tuffle-Saiyan War, which was introduced way back in Episode 20 of Dragon Ball Z. This time, some details have changed. The planet was originally called Plant before the Saiyans conquered it and named it after their king, and it’s firmly established that the Tuffles were there first, and they allowed Saiyan refugees to settle there.

One cool detail in all of this is how the flashback is mostly presented in a couple of still images that pan across the screen. In this one, we start with the Saiyan ship on the planet, and then a group of Tuffles and Saiyans shaking hands and being friendly, but as we go further down, the Saiyans become more numerous, and less friendly-looking, and the Tuffles look pretty queasy about the whole thing.

Then there’s a second one showing Tuffle soldiers looking frightened, and then Saiyans in oozaru mode, which I guess is meant to illustrate the turning point of their war.

One detail that’s clearly been jettisoned is the notion of Tuffles being only half the size of Saiyans. In this scene, we can see them side by side, of roughly the same height.

When King Kai finishes his tale, Goku acts like he’s never heard about any of this before, which is weird, because this is all based on the last time King Kai told him this same story. Vegeta, on the other hand, is unapologetic about the Saiyan conquest of Plant, and he insists that it was the Saiyans’ destiny to reach Plant and wipe out its inhabitants.

Trunks and Piccolo have nothing to say, but Gohan points out the real issue with all of this. Okay, so Dr. Raichi might have a legitimate greivance with the Saiyans, but the people of Earth have nothing to do with it, so why is he attacking them with his Destron Gas?

Goku agrees, and resolves to take the fight to Dr. Raichi. King Kai informs them that he’s supposed to be at the Dark Planet “at the end of the universe”.

And so the Z-Warriors plan a trip to the Dark Planet, but Raichi already knows they’re coming, and he’s anticipating their arrival. Ultimately, it seems that the Destron Gas was just a tactic to draw his enemies to him.

The thing is, if Dr. Raichi’s a Tuffle, like the ones we saw in the flashback, then what the hell happened to him? We’ll try to get some answers.... NEXT TIME, in part 2!

#dragon ball #tuffle lore #2023dbapocryphaliveblog #plan to eradicate the saiyans #dr raichi #dr lychee #goku #king kai #gohan #vegeta #trunks #piccolo #bulma #dr brief #mr popo #raichi's goons are supposed to have names but i'm not going to bother identifying them all #same goes for the ghost warriors #if they're not even real then i'm not going to bother tagging them

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musiconanironingboard · 10 months ago

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20 January 2024: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello Super Deluxe Edition, various artists. (2023 Universal expanded reissue of 1998 Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach Mercury release Painted from Memory)

For nearly twenty years, beginning when I was a really young kid and discovered there was music other than The Beatles, Elvis Costello was my favorite artist. This began to wane in the mid-'90s. I remember hearing his 1996 album All This Useless Beauty and it not wowing me, but it was 1998's Painted from Memory where the fissures really began to crack for me. It was an album co-credited to Burt Bacharach, and all songs were co-writes between the two musicians. At 25, I had no interest in Bacharach's music; I found it saccharine and the opposite of what I liked about Costello. I'd know for eons that Costello had been covering Bacharach as far back as 1977; the Live Stiffs compilation I bought as a lad featured Costello and the Attractions going through a sleepy version of "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself," for instance. I bought Painted from Memory and played it exactly once (I have kept track of all my listening since 1993). Over the next four years I tried two more times to play it, and didn't get all the way through either time. It wasn't until 2004 and I was dating a Costello fan that I listened to the album in earnest. It never did anything for me. The album got its first vinyl release in 2017 by the Mobile Fidelity label; I bought that as well, and by that point I could find some value in the album but it was never going to be a favorite of mine.

Last year the album got the super-deluxe treatment. I balked at buying any versions of the reissue, including the 2-CD edition that included a disc of Bacharach & Costello compositions sung by other artists, taken from a planned but never realized stage musical based on Painted from Memory, called Taken from Life and including additional Bacharach/Costello compositions not on the original album. I blew that off completely and decided this would be a rare Costello item I just wouldn't chase. Sometime around Thanksgiving, I was browsing at my neighborhood record store and Erin, one of the staffers, decided to play the reissue and I got to hear some of the material sung by other people. I was surprised by how much I liked it. I knew there were a couple of reasonably priced copies of the new 2-LP set in the bins there, and I wound up buying one. I hadn't done any of my homework, so I didn't realize on the new LP reissue the album proper was spread across three discs with side four being just a sampling of the guest-vocalist material. Once I got it home I was irritated to learn that while the LP had six tracks of this material the CD edition featured sixteen. Now my hastily bought LP felt even more redundant than it already did, considering that I've got the 2017 Mobile Fidelity vinyl (which is just a direct reproduction of the original album with no bonus material). Bah!

I tried to forget about this, knowing it would be years before I even get to the point in my stack where I'll need to be playing it. The holidays came and went, and in January I wound up with a store credit at everyone's most hated online retailer; I don't even know how I found it, but somehow I discovered that the "Super Deluxe Edition" of The Songs of Bacharach and Costello, with 2 LPs (the same ones I'd just bought at my local shop) and 4 CDs, was marked down nearly 70%. I'd never have paid full price for the set, but armed with my store credit that matched the sale price almost exactly it was a no-brainer to order this box.

Above are the front cover (with embossed gold lettering), hype sticker explaining the contents, back cover with credit insert in place (it came packaged with it there under the shrinkwrap), and then the back cover after unwrapping the set.

Below is one shot of the interior of the opened package. You may be able to see a notch on the top left panel revealing the top of a booklet; one of the LPs is also housed in that pocket. More on that later.

That right-hand panel in the photo above is actually a "page" that can be flipped, and when you do so you now see this:

On the left are slots housing the four CDs, and on the right is another pocket with yet another booklet and the second LP.

Below is a picture of one of the booklets. They both look like this on the front, a reproduction of the set's cover art but sans the gold-leaf effect on the lettering.

Next is the back of the first booklet.

Now we see the back of the second booklet. (It was a bit of a missed opportunity to not have different photos on the front of the two booklets.)

Here is a close-up of one of the discs. They all use this same design, with each disc including its individual title (Painted from Memory, Taken from Life, etc.).

Here is a view of one of the LP labels, in its white sleeve. All four labels use this same design.

That's it for visuals of the 2023 box. Now let's look at the 2017 Mobile Fidelity vinyl issue. Below is the front cover.

Next, the back cover.

Here is the 2017 edition's opened gatefold.

And here is side one's label.

Last, let's look at the original 1998 CD edition. Below is the front cover (removed from the jewel case).

Here is the opened case. You can see how these visuals have been repeated across the various editions.

Here is the back cover.

Last, I want to show this. The black-and-red silhouette design used for the CD and LP labels of the 1998 and 2023 editions always remind me of the label design from the Japanese edition of Costello's 1981 album Trust. Below is a photo of my copy of that item. I do wonder if there is any conscious continuity at work here, or if it's a coincidence that even Costello (or his art designers) wouldn't think of.

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leidensygdom · 2 years ago

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For your Gharmyra campaign, I've got a bunch of questions!

You've run fucking 90 SESSIONS, which is a crazy long game (so congrats to that lmao), so what would be some of your favorite moments to come out of the game? This is both from your players and something they did that was amazing, and from you surprising yourself through a great DM moment!

For your worldbuilding, what's your favorite bit of info? Could be a large thing, could be a small little detail that your players will probably never interact with but you love it anyway!

Finally (there may be more later lmao), I ADORE the crystal and watcher lore you have! Where did the idea come from, and how did it change as you developed it?? I love hearing inspirations and the creative process!! And what's the most tragic/cool/fucked up thing you did with the watchers to your players??

In conclusion, your world's cool as hell, your art's sick as FUCK, and I adore all of your characters!!!

AAA THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU'RE SO NICE!!!

Higlights: From a player

There's been a lot of highlights in these 90 sessions. I'll focus a bit on Laestis here, since the other players are no longer in game (because they just don't have the time or drive for dnd anymore). One of the highlights was a bit of a climax that happened after Act 1's end and Act 2's beginning, which was about dealing with her patron's crystallized corpse and retrieving the staff that once belonged to Vest. I even got a commission by the ever-fantastic EllirhShaan from that scene:

A watcher's original, crystallized corpse isn't really more than a bunch of crystal for the most part. Which means that if, unoccupied, someone else can take that over and use it. Vest's "mother" (Solaralith) decided to use it to avoid Laestis from retrieving Vest's crystal staff (seen in the background of the last panel). So, threatening golden watcher is the Solaralith-possesed-Vest-corpse, while friendly looking watcher is Vest's appareance (Which was more ghostly). Getting to settle that down, getting Solaralith vanished for a bit, retrieving a significative weapon that was a next step towards their pact (and in a way, helped giving Vest more physical presence) and leaving behind her current sword (the one that had hosted Vest's seed for all this time (which Laestis took from the sword) was all very climatic!

Highlights: As a DM

On my end, as a DM, I really enjoyed Mythannae's Nightmare arc. Before he became my PC in another campaign, he was a background NPC. He had been a dissident watcher, that lead a group that tried to do exactly the same than the party is trying to do: End the long feud between watchers and avoid the war. And yet, his group failed terribly, which ended with the death of most (or worse-than-death fates) and very few of them surviving the ordeal. I'll explain what is a Nightmare a bit late, but let's say it's somewhere where memories persist so strongly, you can view stuff from the past. And to get information, they visited one related to Mythannae- And got to talk with their memory!

And also fight him (in a friendly manner) to understand the sheet power that the big watchers have. For scale, a token is about the size of these lil gems in the center of the five platforms. I got to do an animated battlemap, which I was very excited about! The fight was tense and fun, the party found out methods to end watchers, they retrieved the weapon that was used to kill Mythannae in the past. Also found out a bit more about a NPC that they had quite a lot of doubts about, who happened to be very close with Mythannae

A bit of lore I enjoy

So, other than the watchers (and a lot of worldbuilding focused on nations, which can be a bit harder to develop in a post like this), the mechanic of the Nightmares was fun and a great way to introduce lore in the shape of a dungeon.

Basically, in this setting, extremely strong memories, if mixed with a magically charged environment, can create Nightmares. They're areas where reality is over-written by the source of these memories: Things change to adapt the past, often creating whole new areas and spaces that can be traversed as if they were physical. Nightmares can be caused by individuals or collectives. They're often chaotic and not completely logical: Events that might have been many years apart (or very far away physically) can happen in 2 rooms one next to the other. It allows the players to have a much more direct view on these events, and even partake in them. Which is always fun to have, since the alternative tends to be a lore dump or giving them lenghty text descriptions.

Usually, they need to face the source of the memories to end a nightmare: It tends to be the person who caused the nightmare in the first place. The first time, they fought a knight of the Ark'Sava from the times they were most tyrannical. The second time, they faced Mythannae. The physical objects that were tied to these were a statue to said knight, and Mythannae's whole corpse.

Here's the Ark'Savan guy : ) his name is Sygdom, he's where I get my nickname from. The nightmares had some mechanics tied to it, related to how long they were in the space, and how involved they got in them: The line of reality and dream got more progressively erased, and the memories started to overwhelm the characters. Mechanically, they could accumulate up to 30 "nightmare points", which had 3 tiers. Each tier meant the dream-stuff around them affected them further, to the point they started to get their views influenced by it. For example, one character started to side more with the Ark'Savans, while another character was more akin to the Ark'Vossians. It affected against enemies and even between them: In the second tier (from 10 to 20), they couldn't end their turn next to each other due to some natural distrust. It was overall a fun bunch of things!

On the watchers

So! Watchers were made originally as part of a lore for a forum. I was given the task to give some lore to a barren land in the map, and I ended up going for "drows" and "crystals". I had no idea what drows were like in DnD canon and just ignored it altogether. Don't regret it. The idea was that, within that setting, drow had thrived and made great advancements, but suddenly disaster struck their main city and most of them perished in the catastrophe, with few survivors running away and scattering across distant caves. They had relied in crystals for technology, but now, they feared it: The crystals were related to the mess, but the survivors weren't sure what went wrong.

Millenia passed, and people kept fearing the magic crystals, never going back to where the catastrophe stuck because it was an extremely dangerous land. But there were almost no records on what did exactly go wrong. And some people were tired of being kept in the dark, of not using a resource that was so invaluable. Something that could give them the chance to fight back much bigger nations, which were all readying for war. These people started to investigate and use the crystals, and their leader travelled to where the catastrophe stuck. He returned with a crystallized arm and much knowledge, including the fact that people in said place had both, feared and yet also adored crystalline creatures. Unknowingly to him, being magically corrupted made him the perfect vessel for watchers, which had caused the accident, and were looking forward to expanding their reach.

THAT was the original lore. It was done when i was 14 years old or so. Then, the forum died down due to drama, and I never got to explore much the lore. I decided to port it (With adaptations) to another forum, but this time, I decided to instead focus on the city that had fallen down due to crystal corruption and watchers: Try to understand what happened before disaster struck. The idea was that, if the lore advanced enough in that forum, the disaster could happen. OR it could be prevented! That's how Gharmyra was born, and how the watchers were further developed. Again, that other forum died (RP forums die like crazy), and I was again left with a lot of lore and nowhere to use it.

(Here's a watcher, to spice up the post : ) ) And that's when, years later, I decided to port it towards a DnD campaign. All these new ports meant refining the lore, cleaning up issues and holes, and detailing things further. A surprising amount of the ideas came from ages ago, but my 14yo worldbuilding was not the best in many regards So I've had a lot of time to polish things and bring them to their current state!

Anyways, this is a very long post already!! I'll get into watcher spooky things in another moment. I hope that does answer most of it though, I appreciate a lot the questions <3 It's giving me an itch to get finally back from the long hiatus!!

#dnd #dnd art #dnd homebrew #homebrew #worldbuilding #watcher #watchers #kalashtar #gharmyra #undead #crystal #drow #dark elf #elf #ttrpg #pathfinder

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mariaashby64 · 2 years ago

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(I meant to get started this post closer to when issue #2 dropped but I guess later is better than never) Anyway...!

Since that scene between Cassie and Cissie in the last yj dark crisis issue was clearly ripping off a scene from the original ‘98 run so I decided to dig around and compare them.

First of all here are the panels from the Dark Crisis run:

Now the team nagging Cissie about returning to archery is nothing new. Cissie reconciling with the bow was it’s own thing back in the ‘98 run. (Particularly in the arc where she went to the Olympics.)

I’d like to think this exchange in Dark Crisis is more the writer’s reminding the reader about the whole Cissie quitting, but still honing her bow skills. Or acting as a recap for new readers unfamiliar with Cissie’s storyline. However I’m not familiar with Cissie’s appearances beyond the ‘98 run so I’m not sure how accurate this characterisation is post N52.

The scene from ‘98 starts similarly.

For context, the reason for Cassie’s visit here is because they’re being called to help out in a big galactic war going on. (This is post the Olympics arc)

Now, Cissie’s argument in the ‘98 run is more of a personal one: Reaffirming her position on Arrowette despite the global need for her skills. Keyword here is personal. Cissie is a character that carries a lot of themes and veiwpoints (I rambled about this in another post) but it’s tied so closely to her character and identity that you couldn’t change these viewpoints without fundamentally changing her character.

Later, Cissie tricks Cassie into bailing after firing an arrow at her (Which I think is nicely contrasted with Cassie catching the arrows in the Dark Crisis issue) Cissie gives her this remark.

It’s got a lot to do with the title of Arrowette being a symbol, and how she’s become a tainted symbol due to Cissie’s actions and mistakes.But I think you get the point. This convo is all about Cissie.

In the Dark Crisis run Cassie is obviously talking to Cissie about finding the boys.

This is where the conversation changes from Cissie’s personal story to a critique on the 98′ run.

Now it’s been a while since I’ve read the run, so I don’t remember every villain. There were definitely villains that were misunderstood. Heck the boys’ very first villain was a kid who just wanted to play ‘nintendo’. They’ve also fought some very comically simple, evil, villains. (The baseball arc is a good example.)

But also, like, they fought Darkside. That was the climax of their series. Not to mention they also fought the people to kept Greta captive and freed a bunch of her friends from them as well.

Anyway,Cassie acts at the defence argument:

The line about the Boys is obviously there cause that is Cassie’s goal in this moment (To find them) but it also sets up this retort from Cissie:

Now the toxicity line is technically true. Cissie did have a toxic relationship with Arrowette, driven mainly by her mother and generational trauma. The next line is where cracks in the writing start to show. While it’s true that Cassie is the only one who stayed on with Tim, Bart, and Kon, (post YJ‘98). During the time that the run was still happening, Greta, Anita, and Slobo were all still major players within the team. (And might I remind you this writing is specifically a critique of the 90s run. Not the stuff that came after.) This could have been interesting if Cissie were to advocate for Greta and the others who were forgotten.That it’s not fair that the boys continued to get so much attention over them.

Instead Cissie is used to throw more shade at the boys.

It’s a shame the meta commentary comes off so heavy handed. I think Cissie’s point here could have been made a lot stronger if the writers had shown she’d kept in touch with Greta and Anita and really highlighted the fact that Cassie had disconnected with the friend group through her heroism. It would have grounded the argument within characterisation, rather than using Cissie as a prop to talk so directly about how the female characters were treated.

By the way this her stance in the ‘98 run: (Note the similar pose)

(Again, personal character motive)

The way these scene’s wrap up seem similar at first but there’s some key differences.

In Dark Crisis Cissie relents and agrees to help Cassie. Very begrudgingly, but she does.

And again giving her this attitude towards helping Cassie find their friends just makes her come off as cold and unlikable. Especially with all the meta talk about not wanting to sit in the same comic about three privileged white guys. These guys are her friends, and she’d never let them down like that, nor even pretend to not care

In ‘98 it’s all about her and Arrowette again. But here she doubles down on her stance and refuses to join.

This causes Cassie to leave without her and the conversation ends. In Dark Crisis, Cissie is the one to have the last word.

She acts really cold and refuses to be of much help later in the comic. She complains about her uselessness as an ordinary human.

But here’s the real kicker.

In ‘98, CISSIE STILL TURNS UP TO HELP THE TEAM AT THE END.

The whole set up is about her finding a way to help people outside of being Arrowette. It validates he character’s position on the matter while finding a loophole that allows her to still be part of the comic and team dynamic. Even if she is just a girl with a bow, when the cards come down to it, She Cares.

I kinda wish the convo in Dark Crisis was able to get a few more pages. The ‘98 scene was able to show this entire scene in about 5 pages whereas Dark Crisis had to over the same thing in only two (Talk about scraping for attention). I also respect it’s hard to write both characterisation and commentary on those characters, when said characters haven’t interacted in a comic for who knows how long. Plus ‘98 had the advantage of being in the middle of an ongoing run with ongoing character arcs.

I think the Dark Crisis scene could have been better if there was more focus on the loss of connection between Cassie and rest of the leftover ‘98 cast. It could have given readers more sympathy for the characters rather than the meta commentary. Even if they somehow manage to pull a “Ahah! Cassie was in a fake world the whole time too!” twist, it would have connected us more with Cassie and given her character more to reflect on personally. And you could have still related it to the meta critique, it just would have put character first.

I don’t envy the writers. They clearly want to give some commentary on the 1998 run, but are having a hard time portraying the characters... as characters, and not just mouthpieces for their viewpoints. If they really did use this scene from ‘98 as a reference, they did a poor job of understanding why that scene worked within it’s issue/run and clearly struggled to distil it into the two pages they had available.

There’s more I could talk about but I think I’ll leave it there. This post is long enough. I’m disappointed but curious to see if this series if going to be able to pick these characters up again.

#young justice #yj #young just us #dark crisis #cissie king jones #arrowette #cassie sandsmark #wonder girl #long post #meta #text post

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perfdom · 3 years ago

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All About My First Shift

Well, here it is! The information included here will be my first telling of what happened when I shifted, including the method used. This post is from my Amino, and it got pretty popular, so don’t be too shocked in case you’ve seen it before. This was originally posted January 6th, 2021. ────── I know you guys hate long intros so I'm going to keep this very short. I have never seen My Hero Academia. I have seen TikToks, random clips of the anime, edits, and know some spoilers. However, I have never even started an episode of the anime. I already know what you're thinking... How did I shift to MHA? Maybe it's because you guys literally dominate my fyp. Anyways, I didn't exactly plan to shift there as you've probably guessed by the intro. I think my "issue" during this particular shifting attempt was that I didn't specify where I wanted to shift... But I'm so glad I didn't since this new reality is literally a blessing. Because it was like 9pm-10pm and my family was taking their sweet time with getting ready to shoot fireworks, I didn't have much else to do besides shift. On the contrary, I couldn't exactly do my usual methods (intention/raven) because the first is too time consuming, and the other would be too awkward because I was fully dressed. So, I decided to try something new. I sat on my bed, closed my eyes, and meditated. Despite the fireworks outside and the music blasting in the house, I got myself into a state of utter relaxation. Then, I stated that I had shifted. At first, like all of my former smaller shifts, I noticed no changes. But as I got more aware, I realized that I heard nothing I did previously. No music. No fireworks. It had all faded out, on top of that I was standing! How the hell did I end up standing when I was just sitting down? I opened my eyes and I was in an unfamiliar area. Based on the knowledge my alternative self combined with my own, I quickly noted that I was in a common room... But for what? Going upstairs and hearing two people talking, I stopped as I recognized the voices. No way were those Denki and Kirishima, I never thought an accidental shift would take me somewhere that was actually good! I followed the voices and as I expected, they were there and they looked genuinely excited to see me. The two greeted me, we cracked some jokes, talked about events that had happened before I even shifted, and then I was off to my dorm room. But they followed me there. In Bakugou kinnie fashion, I turned around and asked what the extras wanted - and they understandably laughed, telling me I sounded just like him. But because all I do is cause chaos, I acted like I had no clue who Bakugou was. This made them laugh even more, especially when we got to my dorm and I realized the hothead was my roommate... Of course, his ass got mad. It started an playful argument (at least playful on my end), which is apparently fairly common between us based on what Thing 1 and Thing 2 said. Thing 1 and Thing 2 are Denki and Kirishima, in case you didn't catch onto that. Apparently it was nighttime, so after this encounter, I took a shower and got dressed while Bakugo played R&B, which was surprisingly fitting for him. He got into his bed, and I got in right behind him, just to fuck with him. "...What do you want?" "Are we not gonna cuddle tonight?" "You damn psychopath." Even with his attitude, we actually did end up cuddling and he stroked my hair. He kissed me on my forehead and we decided to go to bed after that. The next morning, I was feeling more in place, more like I belonged there. I had heard in other shifting stories that when you first shifted, it’d take some adjusting. Hawks and I went out to get breakfast, as he’s the guy I’m planning to intern with. We discussed how I was doing at UA, getting along with students, blah blah blah. And Endeavor shows up. Now this might seem insignificant to you, the viewer, but if you know me personally... You know how I feel about Mr. Todoroki. I went feral. Absolutely wild. I asked him if Shoto needed a stepdad, it was bad. Hawks laughed at me. After a good breakfast, I left the little diner and made my way to UA since I didn't want to be late on my "first" day... And then I get a phone call from a private number. Obviously, I picked it up. Did you know that villains like to prank call? Shiggy and Dabi are not good at prank calling. I don't even think they tried. But anyways, I got an invite to their hideout (by invite I mean Shigaraki going pleeeeeeeease come over I miss you) and of course I said yes. Now you might be wondering, Dom, why are you friends with villains when you literally go to UA? Are you the traitor? Of course not I just casually hang out with villains /s. As I was on my way there, he just appeared in front of me. Not materialized out of thin air, but he did surprise me - and before I get clowned for thinking he's cute, the Shigaraki in this reality wasn't as crusty-looking as Horikoshi made him look (yes it’s a skin condition from his quirk, but jesus some of those panels are horrifying and literally not human). He actually looked very cute and had some eye bags and lips. He had lips guys!! In conclusion, MHA is so much fun, this isn't even half of what happened. I'm so glad that I could bring in the New Year at UA. I've been shifting there basically every night because it's soooo much fun. I literally shifted out of 2020 and into 2021<33

#iconic #bnha shift #bnha shifting #anime shifting #mha shifting #shifting experiences

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localcactushugger · 4 years ago

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Is anyone else amazed that Hawks was only "undercover" with the Leauge for 6 months at the most.

Not only that, one and a half of those 6 months were spent just trying to gain enough trust to infiltrate.

I know it seems like much longer since Hawks made his Manga debut 2 years ago. But he had such a short amount of time on this mission. Hawks was introduced in the manga with his role being the "double agent". We literally have not seen Hawks outside of his "spy" role. Even when he is interacting with other characters outside of the Leauge, his "mission" is still happening in the background.

It seems Hawks made contact with Dabi right before the Hero Billboard chart, this is when he starts trying to infiltrate. His interaction with Dabi in the warehouse begins immediately after Endeavors fight with High-End:

During this time, Dabi is testing out a High-End Nomu for doctor Ujiko. Which means by the time Endeavor fights High-End, the My Villain Academia arc is already happening. Hawks is assumed to be one of the "members" Dabi is trying to recruit:

The Leauge has already made contact with doctor Ujiko, and the Doctor sends Dabi to test his High-End Nomu out on Endeavor (even though Dabi didn't know it would be Endeavor) while the rest of the Leauge battle Machia. At the time, Dabi still doesn't trust Hawks at all and he keeps the hero at arms length. While Dabi and Hawks are sharing ominous phone calls, the Leauge is hauling ass and it take's Shigiraki a month and a half to finally beat Machia. (The MLA is "defeated" too):

After a month and a half of phone calls (while the Leauge gets their asses handed to them by Machia in the background) Hawks is finally allowed into the Leauge when the battle of Dekia City is finally over. Dabi let's him in because Hawks "kills" Best Jeanist.

But there's a problem. By the time Hawks is let in, The Leagues numbers have drastically increased. They have an army at their side, multiple High-End nomu, and are now called the MLA:

Hawks blames himself, saying that he was "too late". That so many civilians would be alive now if he had been faster. He couldn't round up the Leauge when they were a small group, and now they have an army. A powerful one:

He's in too deep now. And you can see the stress on his face. I bet he never expected to be part of an army. He was simply tasked to round up the Leauge members while they were a small group, but the MLA was completely unexpected. Still, he decides to improvise and do the best he can with the shitty cards he's been dealt. It's not like he has another option at this point.

So he slips a coded message to Endeavor ASAP. Basically saying "yo, in four months shits about to go down. Ttyl I'll keep you posted lol". He can't tell the guy in person now, because to make things harder, he has camera's on his wings. (and even though he's being watched by camera's, he also gets followed by guards at the mansion):

After Hawks relays the massge, he stroles around the mansion with his bodyguard and heads towards the cafeteria. With a little eavesdropping (courtesy of his feathers) he also finds out that the Leauges plan is to "Destroy Everything" in four months:

After he relays the massage to Endeavor, he listens to the Leauges plans of destruction as his thoughts run a thousand M.P.H.

Because now "capture the Leauge" has turned into "Holy shit I now only have 4 months to take down a full fledged terrorist organization/army from the inside-out by myself while I'm being monitored 24/7 with absolutely no privacy & also a full time job as a hero + a public image to maintain. And I can only contact my fellow pro's about this mission through code because if the villains find out I'm a double agent I could be killed and Japan could be destroyed. Also some heros have even joined the MLA so who on my own side can I trust? Only a select specific few for now I guess."

If you thought things couldn't get worse your wrong.

Because around 2 months before the raid Hawks' heart (that wants to be free & has a genuine desire to help people) takes shit a bit too far when it makes him get attached to a certain powerful villain.

Hawks quckily finds out that Twice is easily the second most powerful villain in the Leauge after Shigiraki. He's an S ranked villain and he'll kick your ass with the power of friendship anyday. He's a great guy, but him and the Leauge are still planning on doing horrible things within the next 2 months. Twice is going along with it because he wants to stick by his friends, which y'know, is a cool motive. But considering that fact that the people Hawks is trying to protect ALSO have friends, and family's, this makes shit difficult and sends Hawks on some major guilt trips. (I would show all the panels of Hawks sadly smiling as Twice calls him a "good guy", but alas- Tumblr has informed me that I've reached my 10 image per post limit)

And tbh who wouldn't feel bad about suddenly getting attached to such a golden retriever of a man and then realizing you'll have to double-cross him at some point! I'm not surprised Hawks would feel this way, especially considering the fact that he never wanted to take on this mission in the first place.

Hawks is very much a people person, and he HATES lying even when he has no other option. This is a man who got "shivers up his spine" when he had to put on a serious face while handing Endeavor a book with coded messages inside. He literally felt icky and thought "this is low even for me" just because he had to use a deadly expression so that Endeavor would get the gist.

And when the Commission made their "proposal" about this mission, Hawks' first reaction was to call them out on their B.S. for asking him to put civilian lives at risk. He even admitted that he was feeling bad about sending Tokoyami away while talking to Deku, Shoto, and Bakugo. Hawks felt guilty about not being able to spend more time with his student, but considering that things with the MLA were starting to get riskier, and that Hawks literally handed Endeavor a book with a coded message inside about an uprising 2 seconds later, I can see why he wouldn't want to risk Tokoyami being around him. The fact that the camera's on Hawks' wings caught his interactions with Endeavor & the students also makes the creep‐factor worse. The MLA saw everything AND talked about it in a meeting later. Continuing to train with Tokoyami would put him at risk.

I love the complexity of Hawks' character, he's incredibly intelligent, logical, and intuitive. But at the same time throughout this entire mission his heart is constantly battling with his mind. Even when he knows he has to grit his teeth and do something shifty, his heart never fails to put up a fight with his logistics. Honestly it's been a pattern for a while that Hawks' sympathy always "Trips him up" in some way, so idk why I didn't see it coming around to bite him in the ass later.

(Tbh it's hard for me to see Hawks as a this super "Morally Gray" person that the fandom likes to paint him as because of a mission that he only spent 6 months on. I personally, kinda see Hawks as a "good person" who works for a "morally gray" agency. But that's a whole different meta)

Basically, Hawks getting attached to Twice wasn't a surprise. But considering how powerful Twice was, along with his role in the League's destructive plans (He was a lieutenant in one of the MLA's "Units") the discourse going on in Hawks' mind makes sense. By this point Hawks has already figured out all of the MLA's "Units" along with the three "bosses" that support the lieutenants of those "Units". It's noted that those "bosses" are extremely powerful and can match the strength of the heros as well. It took Hawks an entire month just to figure out all of the "Units" members. (I would show the panels explaining all of this but I'm at my photo limit)

All of these members were tasked to follow their lieutenants and bosses, and the plan was to attack all of Japans major cities at the same time. Once the cities were destroyed and chaos had set in, Redestro and feel good inc. Would distribute support items to the remaining citizens in the name of "self-defense". It would create a country full of discourse and destruction where Redestro and Feel good inc. Would rule from the shadows. But Shigiraki would be the main leader. He would become "king" and sit upon a "throne of rubble". (At least this was the MLA's plan, Shigiraki himself just kinda wants to destroy everything. But I suppose this would make things easier for him to do that.)

needless to say, the stakes have been upped excessively. But it took Hawks an entire month to gather this info.

This post is honestly just me marveling at what an M.V.P Hawks is

My guy literally only had 4 months to take down an entire terrorist organization for the inside-out. AND he was being monitored during that entire time. He figured out the MLA's intentions within the first month of being there. And it took him another full month to go into detail and figure out all the members, bosses, and lieutenants, for each of their "Units". Hawks even went as far as to immerse himself in the MLA's ideology, and he had in-depth discussions with the MLA's members. HELL HE EVEN FAKED HIS CO-WORKERS DEATH JUST TO GET IN.

AND HE PRETTY MUCH IMPROVISED ALL OF THIS SHIT!!! The original plan was to capture the Leauge when they were a small group! But by the time Hawks managed to infiltrate, The Leauge already had an army! They were a full-blown organization! And Hawks just kinda rolled with it??? He just kinda bullshitted his way through??

Like, "okay I'm now apart of an army I guess. The Leauge is now an entire organization and they're planning on destroying Japan in March. Let's see how this goes. I'll just have to make this work"???

LIKE HOW THE FUCK IS HE NOT DEAD! WHAT A FUCKING MADLAD

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pocketramblr · 3 years ago

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Idk if you've talked about this before, but how closely tied do you think the stockpiling nature of OfA is to the "passing down" nature of it? I was thinking about how Midoriya has access to the quirks of the previous holders, and I was wondering how much of that is due to the stockpiling quirk vs First's quirk. Like, if AFO had given and taken the stockpiling quirk multiple times to people with different quirks, would it have "collected" those quirks too, since it's a stockpiler? Or was it purely First's quirk that allowed the other holders' quirks to be passed on as well? Because if it's the latter, then what exactly is the original quirk stockpiling? Before realizing Midoriya could access the previous holders' quirks, All Might said OFA gets stronger each time it's passed on. Would that mean it only accumulates the holders' physical abilities unrelated to their quirks? But that can't be right because OFA has supposedly made all the quirks it contains stronger. So if it's the former, then since AfO held the stockpiling quirk at one point, did it also "collect" a copy of AFO and Midoriya will be able to access it eventually?

i did once answer an ask with a mathematical breakdown of OfA multiplying x amount of average human strength as an example to show the difference between periodic compound interest and continuous compound interest. um, because i teach economics and i always thought that making it entertaining was the best way to get it to stick. that one had showed that izuku should have a truly ridiculous amount of strength, though i dont remember the exact numbers rn. you can try to find it on this blog... good luck.

anyway, thats not really the question you're asking, so lets get into ofa and try to science a quirk that probably is just magic.

I have answered the question below the cut in three parts, plus a lightning round to try and make sure i answered all the parts of your question.

1- stockpiling quirk vs First's quirk: For this, i am going to say that i quite like the theory that First was actually quirkless, and the stockpile quirk just took a little bit of AfOQuirk with it and thats why it could be passed on afterwards. In this situation, i think what OfA does is that the Stockpile Quirk makes a copy of everything in it's holder- their memories, their dna, their energy and vitality. It does not boost any of those until it's passed on- the Stockpile was very small and could only copy AfO's genes that had the AfOQuirk, but at tenth generation would probably copy more than that if passed to someone with AfO and with a hoard of other quirks. On being passed, it then adds to the new holders strength, while working to copy their base traits. So, First got a little stronger with a boost from AfO, and his quirk though he didn't know it, while OfA ran him through a copy machine to make a vestige to paste into the next body. Second has the strength and dna of first and afo, plus some ghosts, and could use his own while it was being copied. And so on. But that's just the "First was actually quirkless theory", so lets work on the assumption that First did have a pass-along quirk

2- First's original quirk. Which doesn't even get a name, thanks guys. We know it should have something to do with passing on quirks, and on relying on consent of the giver and dna transfer, which makes it different than AfOQuirk. AfO can steal and give, but doesn't require dna. There are even some panels in the manga that imply AfO doesn't even need physical touch to take a quirk, as it appears he steals many quirks at once by jumping over a crowd of people. unfortunately, Bones decided to just cut that scene out of season five for some reason, so it's still a mystery and maybe he's using some other method. thanks, bones. hope those last two movies you had to shove painfully into quasi-canon were worth it. Anyway, different activation methods. Now, given that ofa requires on consent of the given, it does make me wonder: if someone knew about ofa, and wanted to give an ofa holder their quirk, and provided dna for it, would it stick? Can ofa both take and give, but only based on willingness? Seems like a possibility that would have never been tested. BUT i am getting super off topic bc i am writing this answer late at night, sorry. Right, so how much of this is First's quirk? Given that it's described as the ability to "Pass on his quirk(s)", i think all of the quirk-stockpiling, including the vestiges, are from First's quirk. On his own, his quirk would collect dna, which includes quirks, and quirks are just straight up haunted. On his own, without the stockpile, he could have passed on his quirk to second, and started the line like normally, but the holders would not have gotten any boost of strength, just possibly the ability to use previous quirks. Maybe only access them if they were originally quirkless? maybe not, without the 'stress' of the stockpiled they'd all be fine with multiple quirks? Who knows. Point is, thats what i think the options are. Either 1, the quirk-vestige stuff comes from afo, first was actually quirkless, and the strength is stockpile, or 2- the quirk-vestige stuff comes from first, and the strength is stockpile.

3- So what is the stockpile doing? Ok so the stockpile is like soup. bear with me. the longer you keep your ingredients in to flavor a broth or stock, the stronger the flavor will be, right? A chicken bone and some carrots in some stock for ten minutes wont' be as flavorful as a chicken bone and some carrots that have been cooking in a stock for an hour. Basically, the stock liquid is the stockpile, and the ingredients are the user's quirks. because of this, i think that it makes sense that Second's Quirk, whatever it is, has received a larger boost from OfA than, say, Black Whip has. It's been in the soup longer. That doesn't mean it's necessarily going to be stronger than black whip when izuku accesses it, because BW probably got to start off stronger, but it will have gotten more of a boost. You can also think of it as a loan- OfA took a quirk loan out from Second way before it took a quirk loan out from Banjo, so Second will have accrued more interest than Banjo, but the total sums also depend on how much was there to start with. Man i hope these metaphors make sense. BUT, but, but, but. The stockpile only has access to these quirks to boost them because of First's original quirk (or the copy of afoquirk it took) On its own, it would have just stockpiled up strength and energy- i think of it more like interest on a checking account with a bank (you get a boost just by having money in there, and it slowly grows over time.) than like a feruchy metalmind (where you would store 'strength' to use later, at the cost of being physically weaker now). While the metalmind concept does technically fit the definition of 'stockpile' to me, i don't think thats how it worked bc it doesn't sound like what AfO meant when he talked about giving it to First. and i mean, AfO has been wrong about quirks before, but still. Interest from a bank is probably how it works. On its own, the only thing the stockpile has in its bank account is physical strength. the AfOquirk copy or First's original quirk let it open up its bank account to more, including the quirks.

lightning round-

Before realizing Midoriya could access the previous holders' quirks, All Might said OFA gets stronger each time it's passed on.

Yes but AM doesn't know a lot of things about OfA. I do think it gets stronger as its passed on, either though Option One of the past user's being pasted onto the next one when it's passed, or through Option Two of it getting stronger as its used, and more passes means more holders means more use.

Would that mean it only accumulates the holders' physical abilities unrelated to their quirks? But that can't be right because OFA has supposedly made all the quirks it contains stronger.

While OFA does make the quirks stronger, i'm not sure if it did much in a user's lifespan or only after it was passed on- Banjo talks about Black Whip being much stronger for Izuku than it was in his time, but i don't remember him mentioning anything about it being enhanced significantly during his time holding ofa.

So if it's the former, then since AfO held the stockpiling quirk at one point, did it also "collect" a copy of AFO and Midoriya will be able to access it eventually?

IMO, possible- but only in Option One where First was originally quirkless. there, he'd have both a vestige and an afoquirk to deal with. In Option Two, he would have neither- except whenever tomura stops by his headspace with an afoquirk and vestige sticking out of his shoulder.

#personally i think the more likely option is the:#first was quirkless and ofa only gives a boost as its passed down between holders not during a hold tho it does amass strength #as it is making a copy of the quirk and vestige and memories and power and everything else #its just that that extra oomph is saved for the next holder #but the other option of continous growth and no afoquirk in the ofaspace and quirked first is also super possible yeah #woo it is super late and i have other asks to answer but might wait till the morning #anyway thanks for the ask i love nerding out about these stupid superpowers #they're absolute bs BUT ofa is a fun one at least not like hawkss which is. infuriating lowkey #tho i think i did go on a bit of an angry tanget here too #bones my beloathed how could you betray me so constantly after s3 #soulmate scene? cut. ofa memory scene? huge chunks ripped out #horrible. horrible #didn't even have the guts to do an anime-only girls episode with the rykyuu team fighting like they did for tsu's workweek and momo's exam #ummmm back to quirks now sorry #yeah good luck finding the econ lesson with ofa as an example it had so many numbers #i spent so long on that one kjhjkkj #anon #pocket talks to people #quirk science #quirk meta #which tag do i use for these #probably both im a disorganinced mess

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handsmotif · 4 years ago

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The Queercoding of Pinky and the Brain

This originally was just me infodumping to my friends on discord, but I decided it might be interesting to some people on here, so I polished it up and made it an actual essay lmao

To start, we’re going to break this into 2 sections -- the relationship between the mice, and Pinky’s relationship with gender, because queercoding doesn’t just mean gay!

For a 90′s show, Pinky and the Brain (and its mother show, Animaniacs) was very progressive for its time! But there were still lots of things that they couldn’t slip by censors, and thus, that’s where we have to read between the lines. And that is something I wanted to clarify here before we dive in, the actual meaning of queercoding. It’s NOT the same as queerbaiting. Queerbaiting is when the people producing certain media purposefully dangle the possibility of queer representation to lure in audiences (most prominent examples are BBC Sherlock, Riverdale, and Supernatural I GUESS? who knows abt that last one anymore), but never follow through, purely for profit. Queercoding is when media producers WANT to write in queer representation, but can’t, usually because the censors won’t let them. So, they must resort to subtext. (example: the policemen from Gravity Falls) It could also be unintentional, simply assigning certain characteristics associated with the LGBT community to characters. (example: Bugs Bunny, many Disney villains) Either way, it heavily relies on the audience picking up subtext, but whether it’s malicious or not varies, depending on the media. Bugs Bunny is an example of positive accidental queercoding, while a lot of Disney villains are negative examples.

Now, to actually discuss the gay little mice! Pinky and the Brain, whether it be intentional or not (based off comments from Maurice LaMarche, Rob Paulsen, and Tom Ruegger, signs strongly point to intentional, but it’s never been explicitly confirmed), is an example of positive queercoding.

There are many moments that I could pick out to discuss here, but we’ll start with some VERY on the nose gay metaphors.

Remember Romy? If you don’t, that’s their actual biological son! Romy came about due to a cloning accident, where their DNA got combined and spat him out.

There’s SO many things I could say about Romy. Every appearance he makes has an overarching gay metaphor as the plot. His first appearance in the episode Brinky (yeah it’s literally titled their ship name), it deals with his dads (WHICH I ALSO WANT TO POINT OUT, he DOES call them both dad, and they do both call him their son) disapproving of the fact that he wants to leave home and not follow in their footsteps of taking over the world. Brain even goes as far as disowning him whenever he tells him, which is certainly something a lot of queer people can unfortunately relate to. Also seen a lot in this episode is Pinky and Brain arguing even more than a married couple than usual, which pushes Romy away even further. Later, when Romy eventually does leave, and Brain starts to regret chasing him away, he tries desperately to reach out to him, but Romy doesn’t want anything to do with him. They end up tracking him down to an apartment building, where Romy is now living with his human girlfriend. When questioned about their relationship, the girlfriend, named Bunny, goes off on a tangent about how people shouldn’t judge others based on labels or relationships (hello?), and that Brain needs to be more tolerant. Brain apologizes and Romy forgives him. Happy ending.

Romy’s only other appearance is in the comics. Essentially, the plot of this one is that Brain wants to become the president of the local high school’s PTA, but he needs Romy’s help to make it look like he has a normal home life. He also enlists the help of Billie, the obligatory Woman introduced to make sure Brain doesn’t look as gay as he actually is, that he has a crush on. She pretends to be his girlfriend, and Pinky pretends to be Romy’s uncle, while they make up the story that Romy’s actual mother was lost at sea. Because if the organization found out that Brain has a son with a MAN??? THINK of the controversy! Anyway, the plan works, and Brain actually manages to get elected as president. Throughout this though, Pinky gets WEIRDLY jealous that Brain keeps brushing him aside for Billie. To the point where during Brain’s inauguration, Pinky actually dresses up as the wife/mother lost at sea and storms into the room.

[ID: Comic panels of Pinky, Brain, and Romy on stage at the inauguration ceremony. Pinky busts into room wearing drag, saying, “Yoo hoo! I’m back from years lost at sea to be with my son and ungrateful husband! Narf!” He then hugs Romy, while glaring at Brain. He goes on to say, “I’ll stand by your side, even though you left me behind!” The people in the audience begin to question this, saying, “Oh great fuzzy bangs!”, “What’d she say?!”, “He deserted her to be with that other woman!”, “What kind of monster is he?!”. Brain then rips off Pinky’s wig and says, “This isn’t my wife! This isn’t even a woman! It’s my roommate, Pinky.” Pinky replies, “Well, yes... But Romy really is my son! Poit!” And Brain responds, “N-Nonsense! He’s my son!” More people in the audience angrily speak up, saying, “What’s that?”, “He lives with a guy who likes to dress up in women’s clothing and the both claim to be that kid’s father!”, “Grumble! Mutter!” /END ID]

Needless to say, this doesn’t end well for them. What we can conclude from this is that homophobia exists in the Pinky and the Brain universe, and our characters are directly affected by it.

Moving on, And-There-Was-Only-One-Bed is a pretty common occurrence with these two. Their cage is big, they have plenty of room for two beds, but? They choose to sleep together? Even in some times where this has been inconsistent and they DO have separate beds, they’re always RIGHT next to each other. (what if we put our minecraft beds together ❤😳)

I would like to mention the episode, You’ll Never Eat Food Pellets In This Town Again! This episode is interesting to say the least. Deals with a lot of the meta of the show. Anyway. In this episode, Brain has a nightmare that he’s in a loveless marriage with Billie. You know, the woman he’s supposed to have a crush on. In the end, he wakes up from the nightmare in the same bed as Pinky.

Speaking of female love interests, Pinky is seen having multiple relationships with characters of different species. Any time this is brought up by Brain, Pinky counters with Brain being too intolerant. An honorable mention with this is in Wakko’s Wish, when Pinky is with Pharfignewton, and Brain’s constant pestering about their relationship could be read as jealousy. Pinky needs a mousy date, after all!

Something else I would like to mention is in one episode (I forget what it’s called, I’ll try to look it up later and edit this), Brain is applying for a job. The employer asks Brain if he’s married, and Brain hesitates before saying he “has a roommate,” but that he’s occupied with his own things, which then cuts to a shot of Pinky applying lipstick.

Leading into part two of this essay, Pinky’s relationship with gender! Pinky has always been very gender nonconforming, and loves to wear dresses, do his makeup, and make himself look pretty. For the most part, this is played pretty straight, and not as a gag, like a lot of shows tend to do! It’s just a casual fact about him that he likes to present femininely sometimes.

This does play into their taking over the world plans pretty often, where Pinky wears drag, usually either to sneak into somewhere. Like in one of their earliest appearances on Animaniacs, Noah’s Lark, where they pose as a couple to board Noah’s, and I quote, “love boat.” After boarding, Noah says to himself, “Who am I to judge?” Okay. Yeah. Alright. Anyway.

I actually had less to say on this than I thought I did, but I wanted to make sure to emphasize that Pinky at the very least is coded as being Not Quite Cis, and that he’s played a key part in helping a lot of people watching the show figure out that they’re also Not Quite Cis.

Wrapping this up because I’m hungry, but I want to throw in some more honorable mentions that I really do not see any type of cishet explanations for:

They literally go on a romantic date at a very fancy restaurant in Brain’s Night Off. This is played extremely casually, and the only remark from anyone that they receive is that they are “much smaller than the usual clients.”

Pinky, on at least one occasion, daydreams about him and Brain being a married couple, and wanting to be a housewife (the original malewife ❤)

There’s an issue in the comics where Pinky has a crush on another male mouse, and when Brain gets annoyed, Pinky reassures him that he thinks Brain is cute and quite the catch too

Brain attempting to kiss Pinky in the reboot??????

Brain actually did conquer the world once in the Halloween special, because Pinky made a deal with the devil for it, and thus Pinky got sent to hell! Brain actually went to hell and gave up the world to bring him back

Brain was extremely close to conquering the world once more in the Christmas special, but after reading what Pinky’s feelings for him were (nothing romantic, just Pinky basically just praising Brain for being so hardworking and an amazing mouse, and lamenting that he never gets anything for it), he gets so emotional that he sabotages himself and wishes everyone a Merry Christmas instead

TLDR; these mice are very queer and need therapy, and are probably the most heavily queercoded characters that I can think of in children’s media.

#animaniacs #pinky and the brain #patb #brinky #FLOPS ON THE FLOOR this took a long time to write

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yaboylevi · 4 years ago

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Shingeki no Kyojin's Ending Interview (May 2021)

Translation commissioned by @goldsword07, DO NOT REPOST in full, always include credits and a link to this post if you use or share any parts of it.

Question: Congratulations on completing Shingeki no Kyojin’s serialization! How do you feel now that you have finished writing the final chapter?

Isayama: There’s still some work left to do when it comes to putting together the final manga volume*, so I don’t actually know how a “life without deadlines" feels like yet (laughs), but by publishing the final chapter, I feel like I can finally breathe again. However, there are still several things that need to be done.

(*Translator’s note: usually, putting together a volume includes: fixing drawing mistakes, sometimes even redrawing certain scenes if the author wasn’t satisfied with how they looked/their composition, fixing text (both wording or simply changing the Japanese characters used), drawing omake/extra pages, like the High School Caste fake previews, which usually take up 2 pages, and so on. So, of the 8 extra pages he mentions below, probably only 6 at max will be used to add new original story content.)

Q: What?! What else is there to be done?

Isayama: At first, the draft for the last page of the chapter was neatly divided into 5 panels, but I was feeling quite indecisive about it. At the time, that last page was a scene of 3 people running towards a tree on a hill. After having a meeting about that with Bakku-san and my other editors, I decided on a last-minute change, and I turned it into the one that is now published in Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. The limit for each printed chapter in Bessatsu Magazine was 51 pages, but since up to 8 extra pages can be added in manga volumes, I want to finish up everything that I couldn’t draw in the printed magazine and add it in the final manga volume.

Q: As for the serialization, which spanned 11 years and a half, have there been any changes about the way you think about mangas?

Isayama: Up until recently, I had drawn as if sexism wasn’t a thing, but when drawing the Marleyan military, which was comparatively more modern, if I had added, with no explanation whatsoever, female soldiers like I did for Paradis Island, it could’ve given the impression that Marley was quite a developed nation. It would’ve felt out of place. That’s why, as long as I was drawing a story set in an era of the past, I couldn’t draw female characters as part of the top brass of the military, because it would’ve meant acting as if there was no actual history of gender discrimination at the time.

It might be a story set in a fictitious world, but if you don’t connect it in some ways to the real world, it could end up becoming a story people cannot relate to.

Q: The unraveling of events that led to the final chapter has been quite shocking. Especially when it comes to Eren…

Isayama: I have been frenetically checking any and all reactions to that. There are as many honest opinions as there are people, and they’re all correct. With how I portrayed that part, it’s not so strange that it was interpreted as if Armin accepted the massacre. My portrayal was lacking. Armin didn’t approve of the despicable measures taken by Eren, but he ended up benefiting from the mass slaughter, regardless of his intentions. Armin, who couldn’t possibly understand Eren, faced their last farewell with a firm “Thank you for becoming a mass murderer for us”, essentially conveying how he himself was also an accomplice. He wanted to feel closer to Eren, even if just a little. I realized the final stage in particular had too difficult themes, and my portrayal was inadequate. I deeply regret that I wasn’t able to fully express them in the manga proper.

I’ve been drawing this manga for 11 years and a half, and when I completed the manuscript I truly believed that “everyone will be happy with this”. I was conceited. I apologize to those who have supported me until the end but have felt let down by the ending.

Q: During these 11 years and a half of serialization, have there been any memorable events?

Isayama: I’m happy that I could deepen the relationship with my assistants, as “manga friends”. When the serialization started, everyone was in their twenties, but now some of them are married and have even become parents, and we have become close family friends.

Q: Was the manga becoming an anime a memorable moment, too?

Isayama: The anime adaptation can certainly be considered another part of Shingeki no Kyojin. Lots of people got to know this story through watching the anime. Personally, it was refreshing for me too, as I could experience the story anew. In addition to that, the characters were taken out of my hands - in a good way - by the directors and voice actors, they began moving as independent “existences”. It was a first and interesting experience.

Q: Do you have a favorite scene?

Isayama: As far as drawings go, the scene I like the most is the one in chapter 104, “Victors”, when the Jaw Titan claws at the Attack Titan. Besides the fact that I feel like I can’t draw anything better than that, there also haven’t been that many action scenes with titans after chapter 104.

Q: Well then, what about your best chapter?

Isayama: One of them is chapter 71, “Bystander”. I feel like that chapter exceeded my abilities at the time. I like the way it doesn’t feel like “Shingeki no Kyojin”, as the spotlight was on the life of a single character who isn’t involved with the original story.

Q: Chapter 69, “Friends”, also depicts some characters’ personal life.

Isayama: I like that chapter, too! At the time of drawing its draft, I flattered myself with words such as “Uh? Aren’t I so mature?!”. Normally, I would draw the main story’s continuation, but in chapters 69 and 71’s case, it felt like I was drawing stories that were complete on their own.

Q: With the start of the Marley arc in chapter 91, “The other side of the ocean”, both titans and modern times’ weapons made an appearance in battle.

Isayama: That battle scene was the time I had the most fun while drawing mangas, I was in a state of total concentration and full energy.

Q: How has Shingeki no Kyojin been for you?

Isayama: It’s as if youth has come a bit late, a third of my life has been packed into this work. …Of course, there have been hard times, too, but it’s been a chapter of my life that normally you wouldn’t be able to experience and even now I struggle to think it was real. Although I’ve been spoiled by my readers, I had planned to draw all the while accepting even harsh opinions.

Q: Finally, a message to the readers, please!

Isayama: Through Shingeki no Kyojin, I could connect with an unfathomable number of people. I’ve been happy to share this time of my life with my readers, which is something that, if I had had a normal life, I would have never experienced.

Also, now that the serialization is over, I have been freed, so I want to stroll around a small city with a can of One Cup sake in one hand. That’s what I would call freedom.

#shingeki no kyojin #isayama hajime #armin arlert #eren yeager #snk official #snk translations #vivitranslates #snk spoilers

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wildsunscorpion · 3 years ago

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How Bum Geon Woo communicates through his body language (Plus how he's actually giving the special treatment Eui Joon's been yearning for)

I reread DCS for, like, the tenth time now. Yes, I'm obsessed ohmygod! I'm liking how these two characters are written so far. I originally wanted to break down just Chapters 20-24 of DCS because the first time I read it I got just a little annoyed with how Geon Woo (a.k.a. Ahjussi) was, let's say, just kind of pushing Euijoon's limits. But I ended up doing more than just Chapters 20-24. Dios mio.

I was just a little tired of seeing the same trend with guys in manhwa. They always seem to be domineering, especially if their partner is the "sweet and naive" archetype. (Eui Joon, I think, does not really fit into this mold.) Of course, that's usually because they're dealing with their own issues, and I don't really blame them.

But I like DCS because it justified that kind of behavior in Geon Woo when he was having sex with Eui Joon (in Chapters 20-24, particularly). Lol I'm probably the only one who realized this later than I should have ehehe. I'm still posting this tho.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD‼️‼️

His antics speak volumes. It's amazing how I missed all those details just because the sex scenes were. Steamy. As. Fuck. Good lordy! Geon Woo is definitely a man of few words (He once said Eui Joon makes him talk like he would for a whole year, haha!), so it would make sense to communicate whatever's going through his mind in a situation through body language.

I also want to add the times that he makes the effort to hold a conversation with Eui Joon. Geon Woo doesn't really talk when he doesn't need to, so it's important to pay attention to his actions.

☙ ☙ ☙ ☙ ☙

Chapters 0-12

The first time we get a glimpse of Geon Woo's side of the story was when Eui Joon finally confesses to the person who's been his crush for 3 effing years, Hyeon Woo. Eui Joon is inexplicably happy when Hyeon Woo says he'll consider and comes to the convenience store in good spirits. Geon Woo, keen as always, notices, and when Eui Joon tells him what happened this is what we get:

It's the way it was framed. How we see his reaction from behind rather than from the front. He turns away, seeming to go inward and brood once again.

Afterwards, another gangster comes. The guy challenges Geon Woo for taking too long at the front of the line. Geon Woo asks Eui Joon if he smokes, and when he replies that he doesn't, Geon Woo "borrows" the lighter on the countertop and uses that to throw a stronger punch to the man behind him, who temporarily falls unconscious. Geon Woo turns back to Eui Joon, seeming to have something else to say. But he sees the frightened look on Eui Joon's face and decides to keep it to himself before leaving through the door.

"And..." He pauses, turning to Eui Joon. "... Never mind. Good work."

JUST WHAT WAS HE ABOUT TO SAY?!?!?!

In the succeeding panel, Eui Joon is nonplussed. He wonders out loud, "What is happening?" Couldn't have said it better, girl. Geon Woo was just taking out his frustration and he had the perfect opportunity at the moment.

The second time was when Geon Woo invites Eui Joon to drink after the incident with Hyeon Woo (who basically asks Eui Joon to cheat with him and inebriates him—probably with the intention to take advantage of him). From the side stories, we learn that Geon Woo has taken an interest in Eui Joon after seeing him for the second time, and when he comes by through the hallway—finally discovering they were neighbors—and witnesses the two, he sees it as a chance with Eui Joon.

He invites Eui Joon out to drink, after Eui Joon's suggestion for a dinner at 2 in the morning fails to entice him. Eui Joon rambles his questions away, wanting to get to know him better, but Geon Woo doesn't immediately answer and catches him off guard when he "casually" inquires after his sexuality. Not the smoothest move there, lol, but in the side stories we see that wasn't really his intention.

"Damn it, why did I ask that question? It just slipped out..."

He answers Eui Joon's questions afterwards, surprising Eui Joon with the fact that he's actually been listening to what he's been saying for the past minute. We're starting to see just what kind of a person he is (Listening skills are always a plus in my book).

A little later, we see them on their way back to the apartment. Eui Joon asks Geon Woo to tell him anything interesting because he's been the one talking all night. Geon Woo acquiesces, asking a question that may have been part in consideration of Eui Joon's vulnerable state, and perhaps also part due to the possibility that he worried about him.

"Come to think of it... School has already started. Isn't it tiring to work 'til dawn? Aren't you working too much?"

Geon Woo's face is a little hard to read. So every subtle change in his expression says something. If you read the manhwa, you'll see the slightest bit of concern in his eyes. It's hard to catch until you've read the side stories (at least for me, haha).

One more thing I like about Geon Woo is that he doesn't meddle when it's not his business. He knows the state of Eui Joon's family—their inability to afford his college tuition, his hospitalized brother—and he knows he can help. I mean, I don't know how wealthy and powerful he is as a gangster but he probably has the means to. But he rarely opens the topic to Eui Joon.

Aaaand onto Chapter 8! Just before the first sex scene in the entire series. Eui Joon is crying because he had a shitty day both at school and at work, poor thing—all because of Hyeon Woo. He cries even more when he notices that Geon Woo, who came to the store every day, didn't come to the store that day. When he encounters him outside, he breaks down, catching Geon Woo off guard.

Geon Woo tells his lackey to leave and asks Eui Joon to stay. Eui Joon tells him he was fine and proceeds to go back to his room, but Geon Woo frightens him when he says he was already being nice. And then we get this:

"Ah, I don't mean it that way... Just a while."

That gentle tug is honestly so uncharacteristic of the usual ruffian behavior we often see from Geon Woo. It's a nice sweet detail that proves what he says in Chapter 26 (when he finally confesses) that he treats Eui Joon differently from others.

Eui Joon cries his heart out to Geon Woo, and Geon Woo just lets him. Afterwards, Eui Joon resolves to forget about Hyeon Woo. By finding someone, hmm, more physically endowed.

"I must find someone more good-looking than him. With a nicer body... And a bigger dick!"

Clueless guy basically described the man beside him.

To that, Geon Woo says:

"How long have you known me? You really dare to say anything like that in front of me?"

Which comes off as slightly hostile at first. The next panel shows a dark aura surrounding Geon Woo, which Eui Joon interprets as distress from his implications of doing it with him—whose sexual preference so far remains ambiguous (In the side stories, we learn that Geon Woo himself struggles with figuring this out.). But then, he surprises Eui Joon when he slowly leans in to kiss him.

CUE SEX SCENE! I pitied Eui Joon a little because he wasn't really in the best state when Geon Woo offered this. In Geon Woo's defense, though, from the moment he found out that Eui Joon was gay he saw doors opening. When Eui Joon said something like that, I think his attraction to Eui Joon finally caught up to him and he couldn't resist the opportunity. He definitely wasn’t distressed by the implication of Eui Joon’s words; he was distressed by the decision he had to make—to go through that door or not. Because he knew he wanted it, even though he was constantly denying it from the start.

“This dirty thought wasn’t something that I have planned from the beginning.”

The day after, Eui Joon is a little rattled. He doesn’t know how to treat Geon Woo after that—not when he realized that sex could be that hot and satisfying (uwu). Geon Woo appears to be unaffected while Eui Jon’s brain is in knots about everything. But the questions Geon Woo asks tell us that he’s beginning to show Eui Joon a little emotion. He asks to see Eui Joon’s face to inspect the healing bruise he got yesterday (the one that Geon Woo covered with a bandaid—which was so sweet, huhu). And then, he asks if he was tired after school.

“Let me see your face.”

“School classes. Are you tired after taking them?”

From my perspective, he wasn’t just asking for the sake of being nice to the person he slept with. The story still hasn’t covered much of Geon Woo’s history to know whether he had been like this with his previous partners. Although there was a moment in Chapter 27 during one of their conversations when he gave us a little glimpse:

Geon Woo: It's normal to cry over pathetic things at your age. Eui Joon: Have you cried like that before too? Geon Woo: No. Eui Joon: Then how do you know that? Geon Woo: I just... know. Because there was a guy like that around.

From the time Geon Woo invited him out to drink, I think Geon Woo was genuinely concerned when he asked how Eui Joon was doing.

☙ ☙ ☙ ☙ ☙

Chapters 13-26

Geon Woo's love language, I think, is his actions. He fights off the gangsters that bully Eui Joon into giving them discounts or even paying for them from his own pockets so they won't have to. He gives Eui Joon food and medicine when he finds out he was sick (the morning after having sex with him in the car for hours, lol). He likes taking care of the person he likes. So in Chapter 26, when he "confesses" to Eui Joon, that was Geon Woo pointing out that he's been doing the same thing all along.

"I mean, look at me just once... What kind of person I am. How I treat you. Take a good look at it. If you think that I'm good, then pick me. If not, you can throw me aside." "But. Before you do, you should understand this. Until then, I don't intend to let you get away."

This "non-confession" (he actually tells Eui Joon it wasn't a confession) actually says a lot about Geon Woo. His attitude towards their relationship is very blunt and straightforward. Once he's made a decision, he stops listening to his doubts and stands by it. I don't really know when Geon Woo decided that he liked Eui Joon. It was more slow-growing. In the side stories though, we see him considering this big-time when this thought crosses his mind:

"There's the common phrase of having the opportunity to meet your fateful love. If there's a sign for it, would it be possible to stay vigilant?"

AHJUSSI YOU SOFT-HEARTED ROMANTIC I CAN'T T^T He becomes more bold with Eui Joon afterwards, but he's still a little prickly. He's constantly weighing his options, trying to figure out in what way will doing the things he does for Eui Joon benefit him, if at all. In Chapter 13, when a customer comes inside the store and forces Eui Joon to pay for what he bought, he's on the scales. But then the memory of that morning flashes through his mind, and he remembers how the simple act of Eui Joon giving him his number had made him smile like an idiot. He beats the customer for him, taking the money he owed, and gives it back to Eui Joon. He even manages to casually ask him out on a date. The guy can be smooth as fuck.

Eui Joon: Are you saying... we should eat together? Geon Woo: Sure. I guess I've done something worth compensating. Will you give me my reward?

Take notes, people! At this point, Eui Joon has gotten him wrapped around his finger, and he didn't even know it! Of course, Eui Joon still thinks their relationship is only purely sexual, but then Geon Woo begins doing these uncharacteristically tender gestures that Eui Joon initially interprets as Geon Woo giving him special treatment.

"Let me see your face." "School classes. Are you tired after them" "I'm thinking that... You'll look good in short hair, too."

And Geon Woo even tries to initiate a conversation with Eui Joon when he feels like Eui Joon couldn't take the awkwardness. A good example was when Geon Woo treats him dinner at the restaurant.

"...." "Is this your first time coming to this kind of place?"

Somehow, these things he does still feel kind of forced, like he was genuinely annoyed at Eui Joon and everything he did. Even when he asks to do it with him again and Eui Joon refuses because he was still sore, there was a moment of frustration that shone through.

It was a sign that Geon Woo was still confused about the things he was feeling towards Eui Joon. He knew he wanted him physically, but then he doesn't take up the woman's offer that evening after Eui Joon refuses him. It wasn't actually written on paper, but knowing Geon Woo's character he might have felt uneasy about going through with it. Not particularly on Eui Joon's behalf, but it may have been unconscious because of his budding feelings.

His feelings were something that rattled him, and he was usually undeterred in any kind of situation. What rattled him more was that Eui Joon didn't know anything about what he was going through.

"Being naturally attracted to you, and going through unfamiliar emotions. This feeling should only be felt at an adolescent age."

We're seeing him from behind again. The use of this perspective in manhwas / mangas / comics usually makes you feel like can't tell what the character's thinking about, but most importantly that they're most likely about to go do or SAY SOMETHING DAMN IMPORTANT. Like, maybe, telling their feelings to the person they like!?!?!

"Eui Joon-Ah. I like you."

ASDFGHJKL DID ANYONE SEE THAT COMING?!?!?!

That actually surprised me hella lot. I'd originally thought Geon Woo was the tsundere type, but he was more honest with his feelings than I believed. However, he hadn't been completely convinced by these feelings until Eui Joon had offered to break it off. Suddenly there was an exit to his situation, but he didn't really feel happy about it. He was frustrated at not being able to properly understand what his words made him feel. Because the truth was he didn't want to break things off. He just wouldn't admit to himself at the time that the reason was he actually wanted Eui Joon.

We could see him debating it himself, poor thing:

"I didn't expect myself to be in a situation where I couldn't even understand my own feelings. I should've figured it out the moment I couldn't understand my sexual preference. I'm not that young anymore... What is this?" "No... It could also be a spur of the moment... It doesn't seem to be like that. It might also be due to pride, but I feel it's not necessary for these kinds of feelings to affect my pride... But even when it's like this, I still want to..."

Geon Woo decides to "have a little fun" before conceding to Eui Joon's request to "end their entanglement". But I've noticed that whenever something bothers Geon Woo too much, he takes a smoke. When Eui Joon makes the suggestion, Geon Woo does just that.

The slightly rough way in which Geon Woo treats him afterwards shows his frustration. He grabs his arm roughly and pulls him towards the car, but he doesn't realize he was hurting Eui Joon's wrist with his own watch until Eui Joon whines in pain—at which point Geon Woo just laces his hand through his instead. Which I thought was so sweet T^T

When Eui Joon freaks out about doing it at the school where he studies and asks Geon Woo to consider it for him, Geon Woo says, "Do I have to consider that for you too?" And when Eui Joon asks for him to do that, Geon Woo replies, "I guess I've been too nice to you." THE MAN WAS FREAKING FRUSTRATED!!! Geon Woo even challenges him to stay quiet, telling him no one will hear them if he does. Throughout the whole thing, Geon Woo wanted to dominate him, daring him to take what pleasure he could give him, but with an aggression that bespeaks the storm in his heart and mind. Reading it back, I realized just how damn hot that scene was. I mean, goddamn. After Geon Woo admits his feelings, there's a serenity about him afterwards. He no longer has to second-guess taking care of Eui Joon or expressing what he felt towards him. He gives him food and medicine the next day since he caught a fever. He "invites himself" to watch a movie with him since they both had nothing to do for the rest of the day. The guy was basically courting Eui Joon, haha. Not a confession, my ass XD

And then, when Eui Joon opens up about how he rejected Hyeon Woo, Geon Woo tells him he'll also wait for him for around three years T^T

MY HEART I CAN'T T ^ T ☙ ☙ ☙ ☙ ☙ So that's kiiind of a long breakdown. I included as little pictures as possible. Copyright and all that. I just really like this series so far. I want to be able to read the original someday. Hopefully I'd be able to learn Korean T^T. If you like this as much as I do, chat me up =D would love to hear other thoughts.

#dangerous convenience store #dcs #bum geon woo #ahjussi #yeo eui joon #bl manhwa

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aro-comics · 3 years ago

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Music (Part 2)

NOTE: This was originally uploaded in 2 parts (too long for instagram) but it was intended to be read as one, so I’ll be pasting the descriptions one after the other as well as putting a complete image description for the whole post after.

Part 2 - in which amatonormativity makes it near impossible to have things to fully relate to and enjoy like everyone else does. Personally, it didn’t really hit me that listening and singing along to songs about romance was something you COULD actually relate to. I thought it was a kind of melodrama that everyone just did because it was a social norm/code, not because people actually felt that way 😭 The song in the second last slide is Before I Cave In by Too Close To Touch :) Do y’all also love very messy breakup songs for the drama and the drama only??

Part 3 PART 2 CONTINUED - this one's a little more personal, haha. The songs are Wolves, Survive, and Architects, respectively, all by Rise Against. Sorry if rock/punk/post-hardcore isn't your cup of tea 😭 Listening to this kind of music was one of the first times I understood what it meant to relate 100% to a song. To sing every word and mean it, from the bottom of my heart. A lot of the music I liked growing up were about break-ups and romantic relationships gone wrong, but even if I enjoyed the melody, I knew deep down that I didn't fully understand what the song was about or was interpreting them in a different way than was intended. With songs like these though, messages about finding the strength to keep going, deciding to actually do something when you know things are wrong and taking charge of your own fate ... it’s way more relatable. I had a rough childhood, and lyrics like these remind me of what it took to keep going even when I wanted to give up on everything (not to be negative lol, I’m doing a lot better now 💚). Was there a song/artist that made you realize what it meant to relate to music fully (or is this just me)?

[Image Description:

Slide 1: Title slide. “Music. II: Non-Romantic” In the background are drawings of headphones, stationary, a portable music player and a sheet titled ‘lyrics’.

Slide 2: Text Slide. “Amatonormativity makes romance entrenched in our music.”

Slide 3: Slide shows an alternating series of small drawings and text.

“Whether it’s a breakup,” (to the left, a drawing of two people having a fight)

“A crush,” (a headshot of a brunette with a broken heart drawn on their shirt)

“Unrequited feelings,” (a drawing of a girl staring at another girl who doesn’t notice her)

Slide 4: Previous slide’s format continues onto this slide.

“Falling in love,” (a drawing of hands holding a note. Inside is a stereotypical heart with arrow, inscribed with initials ‘H+J’. Bottom says ‘-luv u’)

“Jealousy,” (the person who was holding the note looking up, annoyed. In the foreground of the sketch the object of affections is leaning woefully into the arms of a girl, melodramaticallly saying ‘woe is me’)

“-it’s always about romance.” At the bottom left Celia stands talking to viewer, looking a bit dejected.

Slide 5: Panel of Celia talking to the viewer but looking down. “As an aro, to be honest, it’s really alienating.”

Slide 6: Celia singing with her eyes scrunched shut, her fist raised in front of her as she pretends to be upset like the lyrics of the song. The background is a sharp goldenrod yellow to indicate the musical nature.

In the background the lyrics are drawn in rough white brushstrokes: “Two hearts that beat in sync but they could never be”

Slide 7: Panel switches back to usual colour, and Celia seems to have snapped out of the moment. She says “- well that was … not relatable. At all.”

Bottom right corner: “But it’s also nice to sing along with things that you really believe in, relate to.”

Slide 8: Celia sitting on the ledge of an outdoor table. In the background are mountains and a forest. She is listening to music on a set of large red headphones. Caption at top reads “I guess that’s why I like rock music.”

Slide 9: Text slide: “It’s not that I think pop, or other music genres aren’t socially aware. But I find that there are some great rock, punk, and post hardcore bands that sing about social issues, past traumas, healing, growth, and thriving.”

Slide 10: Text slide: “I love singing along with them, acknowledging all of the unjust things which exist in this world, but still finding the beauty in life and the strength to not only survive but try and make things better.”

Slide 11: A musical slide with illustrated lyrics and a bright yellow background. Celia sings with a microphone in one hand, and her other hand raised in a stereotypical rock hand sign.

Lyrics: “The smoke you ignored is a flame you can’t contain.”

Slide 12: A musical slide with illustrated lyrics and a bright yellow background. Split panel of Celia singing back to back. For the left side, she is signing more aggressively and seems to snarl. On the right, she stands up straighter and seems more hopeful.

Lyrics: “Life for you has been less than kind/ -but how we survive is what makes us who we are.”

Slide 13: A musical slide with illustrated lyrics and a bright yellow background. Celia continues singing, smiling with her fist raised again.

Lyrics: “Let’s decide to be the architects the masters of our fate”

Slide 14: Celia lying on her bed, listening to music on a set of headphones connected to her phone. Caption: “... it’s just so much more relatable than romance, I think.”]

#RegularComic #MusicComic

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mayansmcsblog · 4 years ago

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the prank war has began

sooooo i saw this gif and instantly got an idea but as i wrote it, the idea completely changed and somehow it turned into this.

there is a ton of swearing😂

credit to @thedevilsmoonshine for the gif!

thanks to @withmyteeth for helping me with some ideas of what to add in.

this is the first time I've wrote anything in years and the first time I'm ever publishing my work. sorry in advance for any spelling mistakes

A persistent ringing was what woke you up at 2am for the 3rd time this week. You already knew who it was, let's face it who else would be calling at 2am other than him? Opening your eyes you rolled onto your back, staring at the ceiling debating if you should let it ring out or answer

What if he’s hurt? No, that would have happened during the day not in the middle of the night Maybe he just needed someone to talk to? That was the likely option.

You and bishop always had a ‘vibe’ as some people said. You were friends for a few months before he introduced you to the mc, of course it was a shock at first but after a month it slowly became your life. All the parties? you were there. Club events? You were there.

Overtime you and bishop had gotten closer, he would come over to your place all the time, announced or not.

he would come over in the dead of the night when his mind got too loud ,When he needed someone to talk to ,When he simply wanted the company of a friend that did not judge him for the things he did for the mc. He would come over any opportunity he got.

You could swear he was at your place more than he was his own Most of the time he would spend a few weeks at yours, only going back to his to get clothes.

Over the course of the last 6 months you and him had gotten a lot closer, he spent the night a lot, his stuff is all over the place but you two aren't dating , you didn't have any type of label. Why? You couldn't be sure. Most people assumed you two were dating but they were wrong. You two did everything normal couples would yet- you had no label. you were never his girlfriend and he was never your boyfriend.

Taking a deep breath you reached to your bedside table and grabbed your phone but as you could pick it up, it stopped ringing.

That’s not a bad thing right? Maybe he didn’t want to wake you up. Before you could set it back down you reserved a text, scrolling down your notification panel you read it;

📲: Bishop 🖤

You up?

Two words. That’s it just two short words.

Should you ignore it? Yeah, that's probably the best option. Did you want to ignore it? No

Another ping brought you out of your thoughts

📲:Bishop🖤

The guys are being children and I could either use some help over here or a way out😂please tell me you're awake and not just reading this from your notifications and watching Netflix again.

he knows you too well. Being a night owl you normally go to sleep around 3am, maybe 2am if you have work the next day. Normally you would just ignore bishop till the next morning but somehow he always knew when you ignored him and when you were actually sleeping.

Taking a look at your notifications again you saw you had a lot for snapchat, a few from Coco, a few from Angel along with one single snap from Gilly.

Looks like the trio is having fun.

Opening bishop’s texts you finally reply;

📱: I’m awake just debating on if I should open all the snaps I have from the trio and reply to a seemingly annoyed jefe.

Almost immediately you got a response

📲:Bishop🖤

Ha-ha very funny. Come and sort your boys out, they are messing with that shitty ass car again, trying to do something with the engine

📱: my boys? You're their president, you sort them out. What makes you think they listen to me🤧?

📲: Bishop🖤

They actually like you😂they will listen

📱: keep telling yourself that, they only listen to me when I’m getting them food

📲:Bishop🖤

That counts as listening

📱: whatever

Locking your phone you got up out of bed knowing there was a slim chance you would go back to bed till the early hours now that you were awake.

Putting on a pair of shorts and a shirt you got your phone and went to the kitchen, deciding to get on a bottle of water and find some shitty Netflix show you wouldn’t even pay attention to

Grabbing a bottle from the fridge you heard your phone vibrate on the counter. Pulling down the notification panel once again you saw it was a text from Ez

📲; smart ass😂📚

Please come and get these children, I can't deal with them anymore

Okay something is seriously going on here.

Face timing Ez you set the phone back on the counter, moving towards the window to open it and let the cool air flow thru the room

Within seconds he accepted and his voice came over the speakers

"Ayyy y/n where you at? Come get the children. Me and bishop are going crazy over here" you could hear a hint of playfulness in his voice

Picking up your phone you saw he was sitting on the steps outside the club, his phone in his hand angled so you could just see the side of his head while he was looking at something in the distance.

"I'm at home like all of you should be by now, leave the children alone to play. Are they hurting anyone?" you said as you headed towards the front room and sat on the sofa

"Not yet"

You could hear cursing being thrown around by numerous people in the background along with the clacking on metal and rock music in the distance.

"Yet?" You questioned

"Yeah, I mean other than themselves" he laughed

"Of course"

There was a few beats of silence before you heard Coco shouting

"Boy Scout! Who’s that eh? You got you another girl?" By his tone you could tell he was definitely high

"No it's y/n dumbass" he responded, turning the phone so you could see Coco walking towards him.

"Ohhh damn I thought you was about to get some man" by now Coco had took over the whole screen "heyyyy y/n what you doinnnnn"

"I’m about to hang up on your dumbass"

"No, no, no don’t do that" taking the phone off Ez he stood up "that’s not nice is it"

You could hear Ez asking where he was going with his phone and be replied with a simple "shhhh" as he walked back to where he originally came from

"Want to see something funny?" He said. You weren't sure if that meant he was going to show you Angel tied to a chair again or Gilly attempting a backflip.

Both are amusing but it's doubtful it would happen three times....

"Did you tie Angel to a chair again? What did I tell you about playing nice hmm?" You put on the most sarcastic voice you could

"Ha funny and no...We couldn't find and ropes"

That made you laugh way more than it should have because you knew that Bishop had hid them in the meeting room and under Ez's trailor after the last time they guys got drunk and thought it was a good idea to put rope all over the place like an obstacle course

"Coco you're gonna kill someone at this rate”

"Hush ight? Jesus be quite ino want em to know your here"

"Okay?" Putting yourself on mute you could hear Angels voice in the background along with Gillys and bishops

"Listen," Angel said , slapping something metallic, clearly as high as Coco was and seemingly having one of his 'genius idea' moments

"OI dumbass listen to meeeee" he said again

"What?" Gilly responded along with a sound of something metal hitting the ground "dammit Angel you made me loose the fucking 10mm socket again"

The camera was still pointed at Coco’s shoulder as he walked over

"Boys, boys, boys" damn he sounded like a child "what would you say if I told you I could get y/n to being us food"

You audible groaned as he suggested that, there was no way you was going to get them food this late at night.

You heard both Gilly and Angel say "what" then "tell her to get McDonalds" or "let’s get subway" by they were quickly cut off

"Oi children! Stop it, it's 2:30 in the morning, leave her alone '' bishops' voice was closer than you expected. He was probably sitting in the garage with the others observing what they are doing and making sure they don’t kill each other

You couldn’t help but unmute yourself

"Sorry Obispo but the children need their food" your tone was playful, kind of, half of you was saying it just to annoy him, the other half was wanting to see his reaction

"Gimme that phone" within seconds Coco was gone from the screen and Bishop was in the frame

"So this is why you haven't replied to me hmm?" You couldn’t tell if he was serious or playful

You hadn't missed his text? He never responded to you right?

"Hold that thought" you pulled down the notification panel and saw he did text you.

2:15

📲:Bishop🖤

I’m kicking these guys out in a few minutes

2:20

📲: Bishop🖤

I’m giving them 3 more minutes till I kick them out.

2:23

📲: Bishop🖤

Can I come over if it's not too late after these children leave? "

"Oh, sorry I was busy talking to Ez and then being stolen by Coco"

"Nah you were just ignoring me wasn’t you?" He responded

"No totally not"

"Sure I totally believe you" he laughed

"I think Ez might want his phone back"

"Wow, nice to see you like speaking to me"

"Well then why don't you call me instead? At least smart ass wanted to talk to me, even if it was about the children of the mc"

The line went silent for a moment. All you could hear was the guys cursing about finding the 10m socket and the sound of bishop walking.

"Okay, I’ll be back in like 20 minutes" with that the line went dead, he didn’t even give you time to respond

Wow he deadass hung up on me, how mature.

Maybe it was time you opened those snaps. What else did you have to do?

Opening snap chat you saw there was a purple bubble next to Coco, a red bubble next to Angel and a blue bubble next to Gilly.

You opened Gilly's first

12:22~

"What time does McDonald’s close?"

Followed by

"Nvm its 24 hours isn’t it😂😂"

You quickly replied "dumbass" and moved onto Angel’s chat.

Opening the snap it was a picture of Coco, Gilly and creeper sitting opposite him, beers in hand, while seemingly talking along with the caption

"Come party with us"

Skipping past the snap you was presented with another one, this time a video where Coco was sitting on the roof of a car while Gilly was attempting to push it

"C’mon man it's not that hard" Coco said

"Yeah man come on" Angel said from behind the camera

"Shut up before I make you do this" Gilly responded

What the hell have these guys been up to all night?

The snaps just got worse from there.

Coco’s was full of them doing random stuff, throwing things at each other and even them sitting on Ez trailer roof? How did they even get up there, and how did it not break?

One of them definitely stood out from the others. It seemed like someone else was filming on his phone while Coco was trying to rip off a car door by the handle but it snapped off, sending Coco across the garage and into the wall while Gilly, Ez and Angel laughed at him

His only response was a simple "okay you mother fucker this is war" followed by his practically running like a horse in battle towards the door kicking it resulting in a bent. Unfortunately that's where the snap ended.

Is this what they had been up to? No wonder bishop wanted out.

When the cascade of snaps finished you saw there was still a blue bubble next to Coco's name, clicking on it you could see it was a video around 3 minutes long.

You saw part of it was what you had already seen. Coco trying to pull the door, being flung into a wall, the guys laughing along with Coco kicking the door once again except this time it didn’t end when he kicked the door.

"Bro you’re not doing it hard enough" Angel stated while moving Coco out of the way

"Look you gotta-" he kicked the base of the door "-start from the bottom-'' he kicked it again causing the bottom to cave in slightly "-see? It's easy"

"Shut up man I’m stronger than you let me do it" Coco pushed Angel out of the way

"No" Angel responded, pushing coco slightly

"Yes" Coco pushed back

"No" Angel pushed again

This went on for a few moments before Gilly set the camera down on some type of surface before walking over to them

"Yo I'm stronger then both of you let me do it"

Coco stopped pushing Angel and turned to Gilly "Nah man you will steal all the shit and run off again like last time"

"Shut up man"

All three of the men were too busy arguing to notice Ezekiel had come into the garage in search of something

"Why the fuck are you guys arguing?"

All of them spoke at the same time

"Coco is sayin he’s stronger than me"

"They are children!"

"Angels tryna be a smart ass"

"You guys are fucking stupid" Ez moved towards where the phone was but didn't pick it up, rather opening the draw of the desk that was below it and picking something up, as he pulled back you could see he was holding some keys.

"Move“ He pushed Angel out the way of the door and unlocked it, grabbing a duffle bag out of the back seat, handing it to Coco

"Here"

All of the guys stood in a state of shock. Coco was the first to speak

"Why the fuck didn’t you tell us there was keys!" He exclaimed

"Because watching you guys be idiots and is fun to see you struggle"

"I swear to God I’m going to say no on your patch vote" Gilly butted into the conversation.

Ez just laughed as he walked away, the video ended shortly after all three of them cussed.

Shaking your head you laughed, of course they are dumb enough not to look for keys.

You quickly texted Coco

"You guys are dumb as shirtttt, you’re lucky Ez is around to help your dumbass's. Did the door not want to play nice hmm? Did you put a dent in the wall again with your fat ass? What was so important in that bag?"

Checking the time you saw it was 2:45

Thank god it's a Saturday tomorrow.

Setting your phone on the coffee table you realized you never put the TV on when you sat down, you were obviously too distanced by FaceTime, meaning you were sitting in silence.

Was silence a bad thing? No

Was it somehow deafening? Yeah

Grabbing the remote you turned on the TV, quickly going to Netflix in an attempt to find something decent to watch.

Your watch list was full of horror movies and crime documentaries. Definitely not the best thing to watch on your own. There were a few suspense movies on there but none of them seemed to interest you.

Going to the movie section you passed almost every more option from horror to romance to action because nothing grabbed your attention or seemed interesting.

Going back to the home page you looked at the screen for a few minutes

Was it even worth putting something on? It was almost 3am after all.

Grabbing your phone you decided to scroll through Instagram.

After a few minutes bishop’s name appeared, taking over your screen with an incoming FaceTime.

Accepting the call you were immediately greeted with the site of his kutte, followed by him putting his helmet on. By the angle you could tell his phone was resting between his handlebars and the fuel tank.

"I take it you're still awake then" he wasn’t looking at the screen. Rather he was looking in the distance just above his phone

The background suddenly filled with the sound of bike engines. He seemed to say something but it was overpowered by bikes, so you didn't hear what he said. His bike wasn’t turned on yet because the phone wasn't vibrating.

Suddenly Bishop reached his arm out to someone just out of frame and you saw him lift upwards off the seat slightly, someone’s hand patted his shoulder blade.

By the look of the tattoo on the wrist you could tell it was Coco.

Looking away from your phone you looked back up at the TV. You could still hear engines coming from your phone but now it sounded like 3 of them.

Almost simultaneously they all revved before pulling off. The sound slowly faded out as they got further out the compound.

You were still looking at the TV, you decided to look at the top 10 of the day, maybe there was something good on there.

The Meg

Reading the description it actually seemed like a good movie. Putting it on you set the remote down and looked back at your phone

This time bishop wasn’t in the frame at all. Rather you could just see the length of his bike and the wall behind where it was parked.

Where did he go?

Your question was quickly answered when he picked up the phone.

By the sound of the wind you could tell he was jogging somewhere. The phone was at his side facing outwards, you could see him approaching the steps to the clubhouse. He quickly went up them and opened the door

"Prospect!" He shouted "make sure you lock up, I’m heading out"

You could hear Ez reply with a quick "okay" from somewhere in the back

He picked up his phone so you could see his face. unlike before, you took the time to actually take in his appearance

His eyes looked tired, his beard was longer than it usually is, he looked...well, you couldn’t describe it. He just didn’t seem himself.

You were too busy looking at him to realize he asked you a question

"Y/n"

"What?"

"Did you not hear me?"

"Oh- no sorry I turned my volume down because of the bikes"

"Oh" he paused "I asked if your door was open"

You looked at the screen for a second

"What?"

He placed his phone back on the fuel tank and straddled his bike

"I said, is your door open. You know like your front door.....to your house" he repeated, grabbing his helmet, he must have taken it off while you were looking at the TV, once again he was fastening the buckle.

"No? Why?"

"Do you want to unlock it?" you could see him kick the stand of the bike up by the way his leg moved.

"Why?" You asked he looked at the screen for a few seconds before laughing at the way your face changed as you realized what he meant

"Obispo are you inviting yourself over once again?" You questioned

"Yep"

"What if I don't let you in?" You challenged. Of course you would let him in but sometimes it was fun to mess with him

"What if I climb through a window?" He said, pulling a cigarette out his pocket and lighting it

"Okay now that's just creepy" you laughed. He shook his head as he blew out the smoke from his lungs

"So? Can I come over or not?"

Looking around your front room you saw it was a little messy but you could easily clean it up within 5 minutes.

"Sure"

"See you in 20 querida" he winked as he started the bike before ending the call.

You finished cleaning the front room, kitchen and your bedroom up within 10 minutes

Checking the fridge you saw that there were only 4 beers left, taking a mental note to get more the next time you go shopping.

Sitting back on the sofa you realized you had missed around half of the movie.

Pointless watching it now

You knew by bishop coming over there was a good chance you two would be awake till 4am talking about random stuff and watching something on Netflix or playing some type of game.

You also knew he liked action movies so you went to that section in search of one that sounded entertaining

The platform ~ that didn’t sound so bad right?

Watching the preview, you became interested and wanted to watch it, forget Bishop you can watch it on your own.

"The ones above, the ones below and the one before" the voice of a man came over your speakers, he sounded young but old simultaneously.

You had just got past the introduction when you heard the rumble of a bike in the distance. For a moment you wondered if it was off the TV but as it got louder you realized it was bishop.

Getting up from the sofa you walked towards the door.

You set your hand on the door handle for what seemed like hours as you waited for him to pull up outside. Did you normally meet him at the door? Nope. Most of the time he would invite himself over and just sit down on the sofa with you for hours.

Sometimes you two spoke the whole time he was over until you both went to bed, other times you would sit in a comfortable silence- just happy to me in one another's presence.

You heard the engine cut off just beyond the door. You counted to three before unlocking it, as you did you saw Bishop was parked on the curb, still sitting on his bike while setting the helmet on the handlebars. He was yet to notice you standing at the door.

Taking a cigarette out his pocket he turned towards the street, looking at the houses to see if your neighbor's were awake, you had no idea why he did it but every time he pulled up, whether it was in a car or on his bike he always seemed to look at the neighboring houses.

He lit the cigarette, back still turned to you as he looked down the street. Leaning against the door frame you looked him over you could see that his posture was slouched indicating he was tired, he still had one hand resting on the handlebars almost like he wasn't just looking down the street but also trying to crack his back. The other hand was on the cigarette in his mouth, even from the distance from the doorway to the curb where he parked. You could see his leg was bouncing and so was his hand slightly, now that definitely wasn't normal.

As he exhaled the smoke he turned around towards your house, jumping slightly when he saw you standing at the door. He seemed to compose himself as he took the keys out of the bike and stood up, walking towards you, his head bowed slightly as he tossed the cigarette onto the food

“I hope you are going to pick that up” you said

“I will” he looked up at you, he was just beyond the porch steps. His eyes looked tired, there were clearly bags underneath them. He was definitely tired- if you knew anything about him ,he probably hasn't slept for a few days, and if he did it was for a short time

“You look tired”

“So do you” he cracked a small smile, by now he was standing in front of you

“Maybe because someone woke me up at 2 in the morning then I had to deal with grown ass men asking me to bring them food then suddenly someone decided to invite themselves over?”

“In my defense i thought you were still awake and the children wasn't my fault”

You laughed as you moved away from the door frame and towards the kitchen “just come i stupid before i lock you out”

“Ouch that's harsh” he put a hand over his heart “that insult really hurt” he walked threw the door and shut it behind him, hanging his kutte up on the coat hook in the hallway along with his jacket

“Stop being a wimp”

You heard him move into the front room and sit on the couch.

“Want a beer?” you asked as you went in the fridge for another bottle of water

"Yeah- what's this?" He questioned

“What's what?”

”On the TV dumbass”

Walking back into the front room you saw he had his hand behind his head, his phone was on the table along with his keys.

“Oh, the platform. It seemed interesting so I started watching and only someone distracted me” you said as you handed him the beer and sat on the sofa, leaving some space between you and him.

“What's it about?”

“Not too sure something along the lines of some type of prison system where the food is on a moving platform, I only just started it”

“Hmm” grabbing the remote he pressed play while sipping his beer.

You two sat in comfortable silence while watching the movie but every so often you would look over at bishop, partly to make sure he wasn't asleep and partly to see if he was okay.

Over the time span of 30 minutes you noticed he wasn't watching the movie, rather he was looking at the wall clearly spaced out somewhere in his own mind. He was sitting so his right elbow was on the arm rest and his right hand in his mustache, messing the hair lightly. He always did that when he was thinking about something. His other hand was resting in his lap holding the beer you gave him.

“Bishop?” you waited a few moments but he didn't respond “Bishop'' you repeated, still no reaction. Taking the beer from his hand you set it on the table, putting your hands on his cheeks you turned his face toward you “bishop”

“Hmm?” he finally looked at you. Removing your hands from his face you looked him in the eyes

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing” he said shaking his his head

“Don't lie to me” your tone came out harsher than you intended he raised his eyebrows at you

“sorry didn't mean to sound like i was being mean” you pulled away slightly with the intention of going back to where you originally sat but that idea was quickly thrown out the window when he grabbed your torso and practically picked you up, sitting you on his lap. He put his head in the space between your shoulder and neck while rubbing his hands down your back

“What's wrong Obispo?” you asked once again, putting your hand in his hair, playing with it slightly.

“I'm just stressed” his voice was muffled as he spoke into your shouder

“About?”

“Everything” he moved his head so he was looking up at you “the stuff with Marcus leaving, the mc as a whole with the guys turning against each other ,all the shit going on with other clubs. Everything is just a mess and it's stressing me out” he explained. You kept on hand playing with his hair while the other went to his cheek

“Can you do anything about it?” you asked, he cocked his head to the side slightly clearly not understanding what you meant ”can you do anything about that stuff?” he looked at you for a moment before shrugging his shoulders

you continued “Marcus made his own mind up, you can't do anything there. The mc always sorts itself out, members fight, it's normal, you of all people should know what.” you explained while using your thumb trace the lines across his face caused by the lack of sleep

“Yeah, i guess you're right” he leaned up and kissed you softly “I have to say, I'm a president of a fucking mc and yet your smarter then me”

“I'm not smarter than you, I just look at what's happening and think about in the moment, where as you” you poked his chest lightly “ seem to think its a good idea to overthink stuff and look at consequences a year in advance that will probably never happen” He hummed in response before putting his head back into your neck

“Can i ask you something?” you asked

“You just did”

“Very funny” you moved to get out of his lap but was quickie pulled back down

“What was the question?”

”What the hell was in the duffle bag? coco sent me the video them trying to get it and it seemed like they really wanted it”

“Oh” bishop almost immediately started laughing to the point his whole body shook and his head was thrown back.

“Tell me stoopid” you slapped his chest slightly, playing with his shirt

“Well you see- me and Ez thought it would be funny to lock it in a car that needed scraping while they were getting high and then tell them the doors didn't work to see how long it would take for them to it but Gilly ended up pushing it from the front by the fighting cage to the garage” he managed to get out

“That didn't answer my-”

“Just wait” he cut you off “neither me or Ez knew what was in it but those three are too stupid to just break a window so they were attempting to get it for a good 20 minutes before Ez opened the door and got it out” he explained still laughing slightly “turn out it was just full of junk food and snacks they brought to eat once they get hungry later ”

“You two are evil”

“No we was having fun” he laughed

“Evil”

Just as bishop was about the respond his phone started to ring, you moved out his lap and sat back on the couch while he get up and went out the back to answer it.

looking at the tv you realized the film wasn't interesting you at all. Grabbing you phone you saw you had a snap from coco and one from angel

what did they do now?

opening the app you clicked on to yours and Angels chat only to find a simple text

“if coco send you a video, delete it”

what?

“why” you replied before swiping off the chat and going onto Coco's. inevitably you where present with a video and a chat

“Pease, please watch this it will be the best favor you ever do for me 🙏🏽”

your curiosity got the better of you, clicking on the video you immediately recognized the place.it was Angels front room. Gilly was chuckling lowkey behind the camera while coco was next to the door on a stool with a bucket in his hands while laughing. The camera panned down to show Gilly holding a bag of flour, now you could only assume that the bucket was full of water

surely this couldn't end good

within a few seconds the door opened and angel walked in, coco immediately reacted throwing the contents of the bucket on top of his head while Gilly threw the flour over him.

Angel immediately froze, his face going into a startled expression followed by on of anger. Shutting the door behind him he shook of the excess flour before locking the door.

Gilly and Coco where in hysterics as Angel turned towards Coco and lunged for him, coco had a quick reaction and ran towards the backdoor , only to find it locked

“fuck” he cursed looking for ways to escape, looking at the kitchen window he seemed to weight out his chances. by now Angels attention had gone towards Gilly who was still stood in the same place laughing. Angel lunged for him, tackling him to the ground while coco grab the phone from Gillys hand and made a run for the kitchen.

There was a lot of laughing from Gilly and shuffling in the background along with Angel cussing him out , then there was a bunch of laughing from them both of them but you could make out Angel saying “you think that shits funny huh?” “watch me key your bike” “ I'm gonna get you back so hard man

suddenly the phone was tossed out the kitchen window, shortly after you could see coco's head and body slowly emerging from the kitchen window. after a few seconds he finally managed to crawl out. picking up the phone he began to jog down the front yard

“ha bitchesss I'm freeeee!”he exclaimed “the one time being skinny pays off”

in the background you hear a door unlock followed by Angel shouting “run bitch cuz I'm fucking coming for you”

then the video cut off

you where sat on the sofa crying from laughing so hard you quickly saved the video and texted coco back

“that is the best thing I've seen in months😂”

just as you started to calm down you started to hear bishop laughing from outside the backdoor. almost imminently he walked threw the back door in hysterics

“did you-did you see-” he could barely talk in-between laughing

“did i see the video?”

“yeah”

“yes i saw it” you laughed

taking his phone he turned it towards you, it was a FaceTime from angel covered in flour, his beard was a littler of loose flour and a clumpy mess of flour and water. you couldn't help by laugh at his serious expression

“not funny y/n” he said clearly angry. in the background you could hear Coco and Gilly laughing

“you watched the video didn't you” it wasn't a question rather a statement

“yeah” you replied still laughing

“fuck sakeeee” suddenly he cut the call of cause both you and bishop to laugh even harder

~~~~~~~~

so yh this was men to be a fluff with bishop but i got distracted and it just kind of turned into the start of a prank war between Coco, Angle and Gilly.

#bishop losa #bishop losa imagine #ezekiel reyes #angel reyes #ez reyes #gilly lopez #coco cruz #johnny coco cruz

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