#this show is the most incredible piece of media that i’ve seen in my life

[headingalaxys-spicy]

"Become my Doll" Yandere! England X Reader Oneshot drabble.

Not incredibly explicit. But mentions alcohol and kidnapping so like not for all readers.

Synopsis: Drunk in a bar, lost in a haze, vulnerable to manipulation of the magic British man. He’s had a long-standing obsession with you, and now he’s going to capture you. 

Yet another lonely night where you had no desire to go home. You wanted to do nothing but forget your difficult day: rude people, too many food orders at once, and a plethora of stupid comments and questions that came your way. 

You wanted to scream, you wanted to yell, you wanted to wring someone out for lacking empathy for you as you struggled throughout your day. Being in the serving industry was a pain. 

All you had was your papers, pens, & penicillin drink that was halfway finished due to the alcohol sweetly numbing your nerves. You could forget about the troubles plaguing your life. You were blissfully unaware of the emerald eyes that had attached themselves to you. They surveyed your every labored move that was coated with sadness. Every minute that passed by as you were mindlessly scrolling your social media or looking through the 30K+ photos saved to your phone that you could use for your next art piece. You’d get sucked in by one of the colorful pictures of your past, wondering how you’d gotten from there to here. 

The rabbit hole you’d fallen into had just begun. One of your favorite songs started to play before the chaos of the world pervaded your life in every way. 

As you decided to dive into your interests when you were younger and happier. Old cartoons were the first thing that appeared in your mind's eye. All the early morning weekend days that held all the nostalgic imported works mainly from Japan, maybe one or two from Italy and France. The bright colors that had attached themselves to each outfit. Your mind wandered off to episodes that you liked the most. You picked up your pencil & pulled your your reference board on Pinterest. You got to work. Music from the show of the past filled your ears for the majority of the night. 

Blissfully unaware of the danger you were in. You were in treacherous waters. The alcohol in your system only made you more susceptible to the risks on the horizon. 

Eyes that were only a few tables off. 

Said eyes that were attached had summoned a cute magical being. Its mint wings fluttered and flicked. The tail and fuzzy ears perked up to meet his master's command. He snapped his fingers. The flying bunny immediately knew it was time to carry out his task. The creature perched himself on your shoulder. Of course, you were oblivious to the magical being since you lacked the gift to see it at all. 

The British Gentleman in his pressed black suit had the clear advantage. Arthur enjoyed taking in your beautiful face, just like the gin that was intoxicating him. 

He let his eyes wander back to the ancient spell, which he reread a few more times. He even used his pointer finger to underline the words. Arthur wanted to perform this spell with precision and perfection. He silently whispered the words. 

The papers below his finger began to glow faintly. The crimson light brimmed over with how intense his emotions were for you. However, he had to continue to keep it under wraps, or he risked botching the spell. 

You’d just completed your sketch & you were ready to set down your pen lines. You had noticed that your left shoulder felt somewhat heavy. It was time to get up and refresh your body as you downed the rest of your cocktail in two gulps. Your eyes wandered around the bar, and you stretched your stiff limbs out. When they landed on a figure of a British man that you were sure you’d seen before. 

However, your memories of meeting him before were covered in a thick brain fog. You didn’t flinch like you would have before. You were at most only 1% sure you’d met him before. Even still, your heart still trembled a bit. 

‘No, no I’ve had a couple of drinks….I’m overthinking it.’ You reassure yourself. You catch the bartender's attention to get a glass of sparkling water. You wandered over to the large open windows that let in the late evening air. You allowed the crisp night air to fill your lungs. The atmosphere began to feel a little suffocating. Black spots occasionally dotted your vision. You swore you’d felt an invisible hand playfully draw a line down your back. 

When you whipped your head around to see how that happened, there was no patron nearby. 

Your left shoulder felt like it had a heavy weight on it. The eyes that were on you felt as though they were devouring the sight of you greedily. You dared not to turn your head back to look at the British Man who continued to read silently. Even though his back was to you, it felt like he had eyes in the back of his head. 

‘It’s okay Y/N. Breathe. Breathe.’ You reassure yourself. You slow down your breathing by taking in deep five-second inhales & five-second exhales. Booze, cologne & the smell of aged oakwood filled your nostrils. All these scents combined were familiar and comforting. 

Your senses were put into a higher state of alertness when a waft of ‘Penhaligon’s The Tragedy of Lord George.’ Plugged your nose. You recognized this aroma. It made the hairs on your neck stand on high. Your nervous system was set on red alert. 

“AY YO! Y/N ! Y/N! WE’RE TAKING A SHOT!” Your bartender friend snapped you out of your traverse to the subconscious truth that you were having a difficult time gaining access to. It just quite couldn’t break through the surface as you walk back to your seat at the edge of the bar. You noticed that the British man had now occupied the seat that was right next to yours. He was admiring your sketch work. 

“What’s the occasion?” You ask curiously. “I got you a shot, love. Cheers to you & your talents.” He had a smooth, buttery British accent that transformed people into steamy vapors. It disarmed your nervous system to a degree, but not entirely. You were still on alert. 

Your face became thoroughly flushed at the sweet compliment & gesture. Your bartender friend slid you (insert favorite spirit here). The bartender, along with the handsome British man, raised their shot glasses & you followed suit. 

“Cheers!” The glasses clink together & you toss it back in one swift gulp. You could have sworn there was an obscure and peculiar aftertaste in your drink. But you’d ignored it for now. Maybe it was due to the last drink you had. 

“I’m sorry to bother you, love. My name is Arthur, and as I came to order my next cocktail, I couldn’t help but notice your lovely sketches.” You couldn’t quite place why it felt as though you were a moth being drawn to a flame, but you sat down next to Arthur anyway. 

“Thanks, I’m self-taught. I enjoy drawing when I’m stressed out or need an escape.” He chuckles and gives you a sly smile. You could have sworn you’d seen a mischievous glint within the pool of his verdant eyes. You know you’ve seen that before, haven’t you? Your mind was still clogged with a thick foggy smoke. Unable to remember why you were uncomfortable…..no somewhat terrified to be near the man sitting right next to you. 

Yet the energy in the air & the alcohol in your system numbs your mind. You were at ease amid the brewing storm. The stiffness you began to feel was back, but it was starting to affect your feet and shins first. The memories that sought to keep you safe couldn’t be assessed due to his flying furry friend keeping your mind in a thick haze, and he began to devour them. 

“You must have been working on it for a long time for it to look this good. Quite exquisite.” As you’d come to sit down, he’d somehow captured your right hand and bestowed a kiss on it. 

Shockwaves of bright electricity swept through you, followed by an instant stiffness that began to take it over. 

‘What’s this feeling that's beginning to take me over?’ It was rather exciting to have the attention of the man with stunning, magical green glowing eyes. Was that hunger you saw within the depths of his orbs? 

“Thank you. Hahaha, it’s not much, but it’s honest work.” You say sheepishly with an attempt at faking confidence with a comedic punch. You noticed a swampy, thick tenseness creeping into the air. You couldn’t help but wonder if you drank over your limit somehow. It felt as though you were now unable to move your shins and feet, and that feeling was beginning to spread more. But since you were relatively inebriated and enjoying your high, you didn’t want to consider it too much. You were out of your depth, and the incoming storm began devouring you like a hungry beast. 

All your mind could really think about was that you still had to line your sketch, think about possible color palettes….. And why did he seem so familiar? Why couldn’t you place your finger on it? 

As the night dragged on, you passively entertained the strangely familiar British man as he droned on about whatever it was. Your body continued to get stiffer progressively. It’s a if you were turning into a doll. You were unable to move your legs at this point and you failed to the glow that was emanating from his book and how it seemed to grow more powerful thought the night. 

Or was that just the alcohol in your system talking?

The familiar calming lull and dizziness of the booze that had engulfed your system. It wasn’t just that it was the powerful magic that was also taking you over. 

It had been a while since you’d spoken to the curious British man….but why had the motion of your Micron stopped moving? You try to move it again, but it’s as if your bones were made of plastic, wood, or stone….. Regardless of how hard you tried, you were unable to move any of your muscles anymore. It was like being in sleep paralysis but much worse. 

“Arthur.” Now that the name has some time to sink in, some of the smog in your brain has been swept away. Important fragments of memories shot up to your consciousness. That was until the mint rabbit grabbed and devoured them. 

It didn’t matter much anyway; much of your mind couldn’t comprehend. 

Your body had been turned into stone. It could only move at the command of the psycho British man. Who now had complete control. 

You’d been turned into a doll against your will now; you could be molded into anything he pleased. 

At the night's end, all your stuff had been abandoned in your favorite bar. You’d been taken deep into the abyss of the night. No one would be able to find you. Not at all. 

You’d been turned into England’s doll that would obey his every whim. Long gone where the days of freedom. You were meant to serve him.

[witchofthemidlands]

witchofthemidlands thoughts on “the devil's chord”

i know i KNOW maestro is bad but jinx monsoon, you scary legend, can you stay in the whoniverse forever 🎶😍🎶

✨ this is my personal opinion, media is subjective you might not agree with my opinions & that's just fine✨

i love that we’ve got an episode focused on music, my headphones are an anxiety ridden day away from being surgically attached to my soul. music is soothing, is it is my peace & doctor who has such beautiful music from the gorgeous theme tune to stunning pieces of music like: “songs of captivity & freedom”, “love don't roam” “turn left”, “who are you?”, “clara’s diner”, “my angel put the devil in me”, “the long song”, “the lone dalek”, “martha triumphant”, “the greatest story never told”, “this is gallifrey”, “the doctor forever” to “the goblin song” & scene stealing music choices like “tainted love”, “toxic”, “voodoo child”, “chances”, “rise up” & “spice up your life” doctor who is full to the brim of the most emotive & captivating tunes that i thank that it is fantastic that it’s the focus of an episode of my favourite show of all time.

this might just be me but the opening… it's giving rocketman.

MAESTRO 😍 the costume is everything this is one of the best introductions to a whoniverse villain i’ve seen in ages.

HENRY HARBINGER 😂 why i laughed so hard at that one i don't know.

is it just me or is maestro giving ✨winifred sanderson✨

ahh! ☹️ no continuation from the carla & cherry ending ☹️

fifteen, that red shirt is beautiful 🤩

“IVE GOT WIGS GALORE” oh 🥹 he's so happy! this is so lovely to see a version of the doctor just being so joyful, they're having the best time with their new friend & it’s incredible. i love them both so much, i love them going to pick outfits together (headcanon that they do each other's makeup)

pictures of this episode have been around ages but they look immaculate.

ruby being so joyful & having the best time is so lovely to see (the happiness is not going to last so i am clinging onto these moments like a space baby clinging to ruby 😭😩😭)

i still think it’s so odd that the beatles are characters 😅

honestly i know it’s meant to be bad but that would probably be up there with one of my favourite beatles songs if it were real.

am i cracking up or is that the same lady who was talking to isaac newton in wild blue yonder? 😬 is she the new “bad wolf” / “saxon” 😬

the spoon falling past the salt 👀 fourtenth fucked around & fifteen’s finding out 😭

SUSAN MENTION?!!! A SUSAN MENTION. A SUSAN FOREMAN MENTION? nah, nah because a friend of mine will hopefully back me up on this. i was literally saying hours before “the devil's chord” aired that i wished that there had been a new who update on susan because i'd always assumed that she might have chosen not to regenerate after living a long life with david or had gone back to fight & died in the early days of the time war. i now have a canon update on susan so be careful what you wish for i guess 😅

i am even more convinced that mrs. flood might turn out to be susan now.

ruby wrote music to her friend trudy when a girl broke her heart 🥺 ruby sweetheart i love you 🥺

THE GIGGLE 😨 i will admit from when i first saw a picture of maestro & they brought up the legions in the specials that maestro would be a part of it or even the one who waits but i got near taken out when the doctor said THE PANTHEON. ARE THEY GOING TO MAKE THE PANTHEON OF DISCORD THE LEGIONS?!?? THE WAY I LOST MY ENTIRE MIND THE SECOND THE WORD PANTHEON WAS SAID IT DID SOMETHING TO ME PHYSICALLY.

possibly the most useful sonic in the doctor's history. i really hope they make a replica of this, it looks like it would be an incredible fidget accessory.

“the world did not end in 1963” oh nooo love 😭 this is not going to end well 😬

ruby mentioning beyoncé & sam fender, i know she's in a band & seems to be musical but ruby OFFICIALLY has taste. the sam fender name drop especially near took me out because his music is just otherworldly, i love his music so much 🤩

OHH THE APOCALYPSE LANDSCAPE AHHH THIS IS GIVING ME FLASHBACKS TO THAT ONE ELEVEN & AMY GAME I HAD AN UNHOLY ADDICTION TO AS A CHILD.

honestly doctor who hits harder than crack.

😭 “where's my mum?” 😭 i wanted to hug MY mum after sweet ruby said this 😭

MAESTRO THOSE SHOES 😍

i feel like if the toymaker & maestro were in the same room it would rival the cinematic masterpiece that is the great dalek & cybermen roast of doomsday.

the doctor kissing the tardis, never change you beautiful person.

“playing lovesick songs for heartbroken lesbians” a) ruby, i may require your services one day & b) IS THIS THE FIRST TIME THEY'VE ACTUALLY USED THE WORD LESBIAN ON DOCTOR WHO?!?! 🥹 this lesbian salutes this episode!

the aesthetic of maestro's notes is everything to me it may be deadly but so aesthetically pleasing. they are a work of art, the notes & maestro 😍

👀 alien ruby alien ruby alien ruby 👀perhaps even one of the legion 👀😬👀

yessss! doctor who epic musical battle

“i have lived & i have loved” 😭 every time fifteen says something like this, it goes to the very core of me, how ncuti delivers the full range of emotions as the doctor is just incredible, he is incredible. he's officially in my top favourite versions of the doctors (he was already but this, this makes it forever)

the dog song is going to save the day.

the dog song, did not in fact save the day, but eh at least it worked (maestro don't goooo 😭😩😭)

what if the one who waits is the trickster? my clown hat went on the SECOND the doctor mentioned the pantheon & the trickster is always waiting for a way to breakthrough to the main universe, it is also one the most terrifying villains rtd has ever created & was somehow one of the main antagonists of a children’s show, if you're reading this & are not familiar with “the sarah jane adventures” this thing is scarier than some of the really intense doctor who villains, the trickster is no joke. i have always thought it would be incredible to have the trickster in doctor who because whilst they pushed it as far as they could on “the sarah jane adventures” i think that they could make the trickster one of the scariest creatures to exist in the whoniverse on doctor who.

A MUSICAL NUMBER?!! brilliant 😂

THERE'S ALWAYS A TWIST AT THE ENDDDDDDD 💃🏻

THE DOCTOR LOOKS SO HAPPY 🥹

MURRAY GOLD?!? (where’s the series 10 soundtrack, king 😭)

harbinger 😬

the dancing on abbey road in the brought such a smile to my face ahh i love them so much 😊🥰😊

THE TARDIS HAS THE LAST NOTES 🥹

FANTASTIC 🤩 BONKERS 🤩 AHHHHH my brain just can't comprehend this one, it's just happy explosions of pure whoniverse joy in there.

jinx monsoon has played one of the best villains i have seen on doctor who in ages, what a performance, what an outfit (maestro i want your silver shoes from the apocalypse) it would be bad but selfishly i want them back.

am now wondering if “ruby sunday” may end up being something to do with the trickster, yes, i know that would be repeating history because of sky but those stories were never actually made so perhaps they're recycling the idea? would not be the first time that this is happened, that balls to the wall masterpiece of a show that is wizards vs aliens got some of the planned “the sarah jane adventures” stories after all.

this season has got off to such a good start, i can't wait to see what’s next, “the devil’s chord” was brilliant, it really wasn't what i was expecting & i love it, better than all my expectations, i will watch this one for years to come with either the biggest smile on my face or 😬 depending on what happens to ruby 😭

next week is… the return of moffat 😬 i will be fair, i promise to watch the episode with an open mind & judge it purely on how the episode is as it presents itself without any underlying negativity just because of the writer. i say this because i might need to be reminded of this when i come back to talk about “boom” because i am still upset about what happened to bill. yes, moffat has written some incredible episodes of doctor who, some fantastic stories, i'm not for one second saying that he hasn't but the last time i watched something moffat wrote i unleashed hell into an essay for my degree because he ruined my favourite characters from my second favourite book in the world.

[szynkaaa]

What are your thoughts when you see mutuals of yours using AI in their binds? I'm not defending afb at all, I think what they did and their attitude is vile, but why don't a lot of binders on instagram hold the same attitude towards AI and programs like midjourney? From my understanding, it's the same concept. It's still theft. These programs steal from artists without permission for the AI database. I've even seen someone using AI to edit a piece (avendell's art from grayscale to colored), which is as horrible as editing someone's typeset. I guess I'm just frustrated as an artist when I see such pretty books only to find out AI was used in the endpapers or dustjacket, and then see their friends cheering them on in the comments :/ It is so harmful to the art community, yet I feel like I can't speak up because many binders support it. I'd appreciate your thoughts on this though as a fellow artist

Hi! This is a very interesting ask and something I have been pondering for some time now but never really had the chance to put into words, so I will try me best to do it here :)

Disclaimer: those are my thoughts and observations about AI being used in book binds since I started binding almost 6 months ago. Please keep in mind this is just how * I * personally have decided to deal with my mutual using AI for their binds. I am not telling anyone that they should do or feel the same way as I do, each person has their own way to handle it. 

Short answer: Have spoken up about this before, which you can find in a post here and also on my IG story, there is a highlight called “no AI”. This is mostly from when I first started binding. I think my tone there is a bit more aggressive because there were just a lot of penned-up frustrations LOL, but most of the things I said there I still stand by them. 

Long answer under cut:

I’m an artist and have been drawing for 13 years now, and mostly hang out in the creative / artist sphere of the fandom sides online. Most artists do not support AI, and it has been incredibly frustrating to see how AI has just made life so much harder, from getting accused of using AI even though no AI is used, to seeing companies hiring artists who have also made a switch to AI and also support it, to Etsy sellers selling AI art on mugs and what not. 

I was in the exact same spot as you when I was doing my social media research on how to get started with bookbinding, and spent a lot of time scrolling through other binders instagram accounts to see what they have made. I am in awe of what they can make because like every craft, it takes money and time and practice to get really good at it and I have seen so so so so many pretty books, but then also quite shocked at how most binders view on AI art differs so much from the art community. AI is used for typesets and endpapers and dust jacket, and scrolling through the comment sections, there was no one speaking out against AI art (or some did and got snarky replies or comments were straight deleted). This did discourage me at first from taking up a new hobby and being an active part of the community. I should add here though that no one has to make their hobby public and post everything they make. Personally, for me, I don’t have any IRL friends to talk about bookbinding or, and I’m also an introvert, so meeting and making new friends online to chat about hobbies is the best way for me to go. Also I just like sharing my work, I’ve put so many hours and time into it, why shouldn’t I get to show it off. 

In the end, I have decided to make a book-binding account and be part of the fun and honestly, I don’t regret it. Everyone is super welcoming and will help you with any questions you have, I have made many great new friends and exchanged a few binds with people from across the pond. 

And yes, some of those friends and mutual binders use AI for their book binds, I’ve had discussions with them about it, where everyone gave their input and thoughts on the topic in a respectful, mature, and civil conversation. Opinions are split on the topic in the binding community, this is what I have observed and gathered from my binding journey so far: 

some people don’t know much about AI art or how it works, hence they decide not to touch it. 

Some didn’t know how AI worked, dabbled with it, read up on and decided not to use it anymore. 

Some have done extensive research on it with arguments from both artists and tech side, and then made a decision based on that 

Some see MJ as another tool like Canva to make graphics or whatever for your bind. 

Many binders use AI for their binds, because no money is made from it. It is (mostly) personal use, either for themselves or to gift away to friends.

One should always be transparent about whether MJ (midjourney) was used in their binds or not, to give people the choice to decide if they want to interact and support something with something that uses AI or not

Not all artists reply DM requests for permission to use their art for personal binds, or the art style / concept they have in their mind exists, so they resort to MJ as a quick solution

Not everyone has the money to commission artists, and especially for commissioned book binds, the prices for commercial art are not something everyone can afford.

The gist I got from the instagram binders (I don’t want to muddle them with AFB binders), is that they will try to use artist’s art with permission as much as they can, but roadblocks like the ones mentioned above happen and make them resort to MJ

Some artists do no want to be associated with AI at all so when they see that binders have used MJ for their binds before, they will not permit them to use their art

Some artists have spoken out against AI and talked with binders about the AI, but still take commissions / collab / trade with binders that have MJ works on their account 

I see more artists permitting binders to use their art for binds than rejecting the request even though some of those binders used MJ in their binds. I do believe that most artists do a quick social media check and see what exactly their work is being used for before answering

Some binders are not fully active on IG anymore because they see so many AI being used 

Many binders are still supporting artists in different ways such as subscribing to their patreon, donating to their ko-fi, buy their merch, share their art etc.

If given the chance, many binders would also love to collaborate with artists on a bind together - I’ve had several reach out to me and express their interest in collaborating together which I think is great. 

About Avendell’s art being colored via AI: there is one known binder on IG that edits art without artist’s permission and we all do not like them LMFAO. All the binders I have hang out and spoken to respect artist’s boundaries and would not use their art or edit it without their permission. 

The points above-mentioned are not me trying to justify and defend the binders that use MJ/AI, it is just me listing up my observations and things I have read and heard from binders that use AI.

I can’t fault artists for charging xxx amount for commissions because they have to make a living and pay bills too, but you also can’t condemn binders for not having the spare funds to commission artists because they also have bills to pay and groceries to buy. 

So on the one hand, if I put myself in the binder's shoes, I do understand the appeal of MJ and understand to a certain extent why they use MJ for their personal works, no money is made etc etc etc. On the other hand, it’s AI/MJ and as an artist myself it is frustrating to see AI on my dashboard and until there is a more ethical way to use AI, the law has updated on the usage and the artists whose work were used to train the machines without their consent, I will not support AI. 

AI art aside; binding books - especially a whole fanfic from scratch - requires so many other skills and labors put into making a book that also takes a long time and money invested to get better at. There is so much love and creativity put into a bind, and it amazes me what people can come up with that you most likely will never see in any mass production because it is a one-of-a-kind book. There are binders who have spent money purchasing stock image and font license for their personal binds, and will make sure they are respecting fanfic authors wishes and boundaries. For that, they have my admiration and respect and support and I am very happy to be still part of the community. I don’t think I need to get into how disrespectful the AFB Admin’s tone is in the overall post on top of them seemingly flipping off every one that is trying to have a civil conversation on the topic of sharing typesets without permission, editing art and straight up hold a best-copy-contest  in a “”Private”” group that accepts pretty much any application and has over 6k members. 

I don’t support AI, but I am very grateful that I have been welcomed very openly into a new community even though I have expressed freely in my public instagram account and on discord servers my disdain for AI. If I see my friends and mutual doing a bind where MJ is used, I simply don’t interact with the post, will not comment and share it in my stories, and move on. I personally don’t have the energy to comment and educate binders in comment sections for using MJ. I am friends with binders that use MJ, despite our different views on it, I have also blocked binders on insta because I do not agree with some of the things they said about AI and artists. And if binders do not want to interact with me because I don’t wanna support binds with AI - or artists do not want to talk to me anymore because I am friends and mutuals with MJ users, that’s fine too. I don't wanna get too caught up in the us (artist) against AI war, I wanna enjoy my new hobby and make pretty books.

I have been trying to incorporate more art that I draw myself into my binds and sharing WIPs and timelapses of the process, and I do hope that in some way this may help other binders also want to give digital art a go. 

At the end of the day, it’s up to each individual both binders and artists how they wanna deal with MJ being used on binds and how they are gonna interact with it. I’ve decided for myself that I do not want to let my view completely stop me from enjoying what has been a wonderful community experience so far.

[citrus-cactus]

Oof.

So, here’s a big ol’ braindump of thoughts now that I’ve finished the Digimon Survive Wrathful route…

(MAJOR SPOILERS under the cut!!)

So I’ll admit, the only thing I knew for sure going into this route was something bad happens to Saki and something something Aoi something something Plutomon. That’s it. I did NOT expect Aoi and Labramon to become one entity (Plutomon) and that Plutomon would speak with Aoi’s voice. That was INCREDIBLY rough (not to mention the fact that she could not ultimately be reasoned with, that she leaves your party early in the route and goes through this incredibly destructive thought process as a way to process her trauma. That the remaining kids would eventually say—multiple times— “That’s not Aoi. Aoi is gone. That’s a monster.”

Aoi’s journey to becoming Plutomon was interesting (and heartbreaking… wow, everything from the Library on was just so rough). What really surprised me was how much Aoi/Plutomon talked about harmony and togetherness (the irony!! The Wrathful and Harmony routes seem so wrapped up in each other). Kaito’s position as the character with the most significant connection to Aoi was also a huge surprise. He was the real MVP of the Wrathful route, and his self-awareness (having full understanding that if Miu had died instead of Saki, he would be going through the exact same thing) was giving me multiple head-exploding moments. I have not played Harmony. I know, roughly, what happens (about the same for that route as I did going into Wrathful), so like… yeah. I kind of know what happens to Kaito, and those parallels are powerful. It stings, even without me experiencing it first-hand. I am curious if there is a similar connection between Kaito and Aoi in Harmonious, and if Aoi ever admits she understands what Kaito is going through. I really can’t bring myself to play that route though. Wrathful was rough, but somehow I picture Harmonious being so much worse. I’m gonna read full spoilers for that one, and then move on to Truthful.

The other thing I found interesting from a story-telling perspective was just the choice of making Aoi the final boss, and what became her very… toxic maternity, I guess I’ll call it? The absolutism by which she wanted to rule, saying it was in everyone’s best interest to be absorbed, being “benevolent” to Takuma and co. by giving them warnings about opposing her (treating them as misbehaving children, essentially), and finally tricking them so they would weaken the Master for her so she could finally absorb him completely… just, whoa. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a piece of media that has gone there, and showed the whole journey of that sort of “my-way-or-the-highway” thinking from a character who is not only very sympathetic and relatable, but suffers so much from low self-esteem and the expectations placed on her—and is, ultimately, a high-school girl. I can kind of understand why this route is some people’s favorite. It’s dark, surprising, and challenging, and it gives me a lot to think about…but it’s just. Too sad. When Aoi stopped appearing on the start screen, it kind of broke me. To say nothing of Labramon. The fact that we only get Plutomon’s assurance (who always speaks in a distorted version of Aoi’s voice) that Labramon agrees with Aoi’s methods, when Aoi never really confided these thoughts to her partner… I wonder.

I am beside myself to unlock Anubismon on the next playthrough. I have to see these two get the happy ending they deserve.

Also, WHAT HAPPENED TO GARURUMON??!?! He just disappears. I can guess, but… AAAAAAUGH!

And in this route, it all comes back to Saki. What Saki thought (or didn’t think) what Saki felt (or didn’t feel), and Aoi spiraling over what she could have done to prevent Saki’s death (while somewhat disregarding Saki’s agency in the matter, interpreting Saki letting go of her hand as a REJECTION of Aoi, and not as an accident or a choice made in order to save Aoi’s life). Absolutely obsessed with the mythological themes surrounding these two: the pull between life and death, the fact that Floramon evolves into Ceresmon (goddess of grain, Earth and life) and Aoi becomes Plutomon (god of the Underworld). The liminal seasons (spring and autumn) represented by the flowers we see in the game (cherry blossoms and red spider lilies), and within the Professor’s own name (Aki=autumn, Haru=spring). Life beginning. Life ending. I was obsessed with these themes just from playing the Moral route and getting vague spoilers that Plutomon was associated with Aoi. This route both solidified my thoughts about them and made me reconsider some assumptions I had made before I played it!

The other interesting thing (I told you there was a lot to think about!) is how thematic the Wrathful route is to the choice you make at the branch. If I’m remembering correctly, the trigger for the Wrathful ending is “I want to stay with Agumon.” Between what happens to Aoi and Labramon (becoming one), what Plutomon’s ultimate goal is (merging all human and kemonogami consciousness into herself, so they can ALL “become one”), and the epilogue (where Takuma and co., alongside their partners, are essentially freedom fighters in a world where both humans and kemonogami coexist, NOT PEACEFULLY, I might add)… yeah. Much like Moral emphasizes getting everyone remaining out alive, Wrathful’s narrative really embraces “together with your partner” in every sense, through all permutations of what is and could have been.

OOF.

[zerochanges]

My 2022 Media Binge Reviews

I find myself somewhat circling the drain during the year of 2022, I don’t want to say I was repeating the same year as 2021, but I also can’t exactly say I was doing much differently. I think both years were hard on me but in some different yet similar ways. I still work the same job I hate and my anxiety has still gotten the better of me in a lot of the same old ways, but also new exciting ways! The older I get the more it feels like essays like these always say “well blank year was a hard year” so I don’t want to say that anymore but it’s hard not to want to complain about a year’s worth of troubles all the same. 

Last year I was really able to overcome some grief in my personal life by finally taking the plunge and getting through Twin Peaks, a series that for years I wanted to finish but never got past the first season. It was incredible, and made a lasting profound impact on me. And this year honestly just saw me chasing that high in a lot of ways. I think the general theme of a lot of media I consumed was “Twin Peaks-like”. Sadly nothing seems like it will ever scratch that itch for me. I guess that just goes to show how unique and incredible Twin Peaks was—but at the very least I think some of the most fun I had this year was chasing that high all the same. 

American Psycho

This year finally saw me getting around to watching American Psycho in its entirety. Now I've seen it plenty of times on TV in bits and pieces. I’ve caught parts of it, and generally knew the whole gist of the movie, but honestly I don’t think I ever watched it from start to finish before. The internet is obsessed with this movie, the memes alone it spawned are everywhere, which honestly kind of finally got me to get around to it. 

It’s easy to see why the internet would become so enamored with a movie like this, Christian Bale gives such an incredible performance as the lead, putting so much energy and life into Patrick Bateman that almost every frame of the movie he is in feels like it should be hung up in some meme museum. I’m old enough to still remember when he was cast as Batman in the Nolan trilogy and the consensus was “how the heck can the murderer from American Psycho be one of the best superheroes ever?” It’s funny to me to see the argument flipped to “wow I can’t believe Batman was such a good murderer in this movie.”

But beyond the incredible cathartic violence, and over-the-top performances there is definitely a very scathing view of the American lifestyle and capitalist hellscape we are all trapped in nowadays that much like I mentioned in my anime list with Kaiji seems far more relevant today than ever before. 

Dune x3

This year for me was the year of the Dune. With the new movie coming out near the end of 2021 I finally got around to grabbing it on blu-ray, and while I was at it I just couldn’t resist grabbing everything else too. I got Dune opinions, and they are about as crazy as you would expect from a hipster like me. So let’s talk about the three Dunes.

Jodorowsky's Dune, this 2013 documentary is all about the failed Dune movie that never was by visionary and art film auteur Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky may not be a household name so just to get a little preamble out of the way, the man has made some of the damn craziest films around—and his breakout 1970 ‘acid westerner’ El Topo is considered by many film historians to be one of the first Midnight Movies, starting a much believed trend for cinephiles the world over. 

Towards the end of 1974 the man attempted what was at the time thought impossible by adapting Dune into a movie and he developed a variable dream team of auteurs and creative talent to do it, which he called his ‘warriors’; many of said warriors would go on to become absolute legends of the industry while many were already legends. Jodorowsky’s Dune was the very first film that ever saw acclaimed legend H. R. Giger worked on a film for example, and beloved French artist Moebius did a ton of art designs for the project. It was truly a melting pot, almost like a mini ‘scene’ of its own that brought together an unbelievable amount of extremely talented people. It’s honestly not a stretch to say that without Jodorowsky’s failed attempt at Dune that there would be no Alien, there’d be no Star Wars, there’d be no science fiction as we know it today in American cinema. 

Jodorowsky’s vision really only ever saw the original novel as a jumping off point of inspiration, the man himself never even reading the book. What he sought to create was both incredibly dense science fiction and incredibly philosophical spiritualism. The end of his proposed Dune movie honestly gives me chills, and hell if I don’t want to steal that idea for myself. 

It’s hard to say what the finished project would have been like, Jodorowsky’s own ambitions and artistic vision is what killed the project, trying to turn it into a 10 hour epic of a movie! I often wonder why they just couldn’t make it into an animated series when that failed. I mean they had Moebius right there! But perhaps it was for the best. The failure of the movie saw incredible talent shift to the four corners of the wind and go on to create incredible work of their own in cinema. When it comes to lost or unmade media there’s a mysticism about it; “if only we could have experienced it”, and I think that’s half of what makes it so good. If it was real, who knows how good it might have been, in a way I am glad I got to be fascinated by this best movie never made.

Now let’s get to my hot take and just say it, David Lynch’s 1984 Dune is so much better than Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 Dune. There I said it! 

Okay, please give me a minute to explain. Denis Villeneuve’s Dune is by far a much better made movie that has a better reverence for the source material and overall makes for a grander and more easily digestible sci-fi film that finally accomplices the dream started in 1974 by Jodorowsky to create something great out of Dune. It’s just that it’s just another good movie. Honestly a lot of good movies already exist. So yes I think for the normal person this is the one, watch this Dune and enjoy, but for hipster’s David Lynch’s Dune is where it is at!

Lynch himself hates the movie, it crushed his spirit and the man calls it the biggest sell out of his career. Yet I think it somehow is something special. The film is easily gorgeous and out-there levels of weird which I think is important for Dune, and is something Villeneuve’s film lacks in a lot of ways. The fight scenes are satisfying and action packed in Villeneuve’s film, making for a great Hollywood movie experience … but is that Dune? Honestly I think I like Lynch's extremely awkward and poorly executed bumbling drunk sad sack fights more. Those honestly feel way more like Dune. People flying around and spin kicking hundreds of dudes in the face is great, but I’ll take two dudes awkwardly dancing around each other while big blocky Minecraft shields glow over their bodies. Now this is my Dune, baby. 

There’s something surreal in both the execution and visuals in Lynch’s take on the material that simply vibes with me more. Had the movie been cut properly by Lynch and not butchered by executives to sell the maximum amount of tickets, had it got the chance to be the longer length or two movies that Lynch wanted, I think it would be a much more beloved cult sci-fi film today. 

In conclusion, I think Dune is an awesome story and great material to really get weird with, and honestly it’s pretty cool that there’s a lot of out-there interpretations to be enjoyed today. 

One Piece

2022 saw me return to One Piece once again and picking up right where I left off after binging through Thriller Bark to Punkhazard in 2021. While I didn’t watch nearly as much as last year it almost feels like I did, as I was able to finish both Dressrosa and Zou before the year’s end. Now Dressrosa is such a dense and huge story arc that took up many months of my year. This arc being a whopping 118 episodes long is honestly just flat out ridiculous, this one story arc is longer than most anime! For those who might need a reminder, the entirety of Yu Yu Hakusho is 112 episodes long, Dressrossa is 118 and in-story the vast majority of it all takes place over a single day! 

This is by and large the most ambitious writing Oda has ever attempted by this point in One Piece and it pays off in dividends as so much truly happens and the entire series as a whole really starts to show a lot of its hand. This is what the entire post time-skip One Piece since Fishman Island has really been leading into. Luffy’s little journey from a boy with a dream is truly maturing into a fearless and brave leader able to sway incredibly powerful cohorts to stand up alongside him against an all powerful and corrupt uncaring world government that is far more preoccupied with keeping its status quo and image than the lives of those they govern. Oda is able to create a venerable army for which Luffy to one day lead on his quest to become King of the Pirates, so many interesting and just plain fun characters are able to stand up not just as new game pieces on the board to lose to show how strong the enemy is but as honest to god equals to our protagonists and are able to hold their own against the villains alongside Luffy and his crew. 

We learn more about the world and see Luffy take on easily his biggest fight yet against DoFlamingo, a character that has easily been hyped up for what, like 500 or something episodes? And just wow, what a villain, DoFlamingo is easily one of the most interesting and compelling characters in the series and just a straight up horrifying monster of a human being, if you can even call him that. Which is great because Luffy has another trick up his sleeve, Fourth Gear. I had seen it before online, being an anime fan means it’s impossible not to get One Piece spoilers but I don’t think I ever appreciated Fourth Gear until now that I’ve seen it in action. This new form is just incredible and so well made. It shows so much creativity from Oda and I love how BIG it is! Anime protagonists nowadays just keep getting hotter when they power up, even the new Dragon Ball series see Goku becoming increasingly prettier, I really missed this. Luffy gets thicc in Fourth Gear, this is what I want, go all out, just have fun being a cartoon again, let dudes have muscles on top of muscles–and no neck while you’re at it. Give these boys just ridiculous proportions, let’s make even Liefeld shiver. Bring back the beefcake.  

Luffy didn’t have all the fun either, I think Franky had one of the best fights in the whole series when he went up against Senior Pink, a bare knuckles, no hold barred, man to man slug fest that easily goes on for something like 30 episodes straight of just two manly son of bitches beating the ever loving fuck out of each other. Zoro fighting Picca sees our greatest swordsman to be taking on perhaps one of the most insane action set pieces One Piece ever had. And then there’s great moments with the new characters like Bartolomeo and Cavendish and oh yeah, did I mention Luffy’s thought to be dead brother Sabo shows up and utterly steals the show for a good portion of the arc? The appearance of Sabo in the story utterly wrecked me. I cried when Luffy was able to see him again, it was such a beautiful reunion.

Dressrosa is truly an epic as far as anime storytelling goes but Zou also somehow delivers so much too and in general that later half of Dressrosa and almost all of Zou really proves that One Piece is able to carry so much forward momentum and still be able to go places even 700 episodes in. The plot has never been more interesting, the goal has never felt more obtainable, and the fun is still there. Right now I am about a quarter of the way through Whole Cake Island and trying to finish it too before my Funimation subscription runs out. I have a month to go but I think I can make it. Wish me luck/

Orpheus (1950)

In my quest to relive the emotions Twin Peaks gave me I watched Jean Cocteau’s 1950 French film Orpheus. Now the film is a (then contemporary) modern reinterpretation of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in modern day Paris. I’ll be real with you guys, I knew jack shit about Orpheus when I watched this, to me Orpheus was just “the master of strings” in Persona 3 so even now I can’t tell you if they did a great job transposing the story to modern day, but I can say what Jean Cocteau accomplishes in this film is nothing short of stunning. The surreal atmosphere and cinematography is easily breathtaking while the plot balances both being playful and light while also dealing with dense topics like love and suicide. 

It’s easy to see why Jean Cocteau is a legendary film creator and why David Lynch considers this film such an inspiration to him. A lot of visuals very much so look like prototypes of what he would later go on to do in Twin Peaks specifically, even down to the iconic Black Lodge. But this isn’t just some Twin Peaks prototype, it’s definitely a damn fine masterclass piece of cinema, definitely worth a watch for its own merits. I would say the shot of the film that stayed with me truly throughout all year was when Orpheus and Heurtebise walk through the world of death, it is something I think about often.

Planet of the Apes (1968)

I’ve seen the original Planet of the Apes when I was a lot younger, and pretty much that was about it. Growing up the movie was parodied and paid homage to in everything from other movies and TV shows to the cartoons I saw as a kid. It’s easy to think of all those parodies and see the remake and the modern reimagined trilogy and think the original is just plain bad but no! It holds up insanely well. I was surprised to see just how good it still is. This is such an iconic science fiction classic and so much has to do with how sharp the writing is, the incredible acting of Charleston Heston, and yes, that legendary twist ending. I implore you, rewatch the first Apes film, you won’t regret it.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

I thought the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie in 2020 was a cute well made kid’s movie with just enough material for adults to enjoy thanks to Jim Carrey’s performance as Eggman elevating the material. But the sequel oh boy, this is legit the best video game movie I ever seen. This film captures the spirit and tone of the Sonic franchise perfectly. It’s a love letter to the entirety of Sonic the Hedgehog and just a damn fun action adventure. All the characters feel much better utilized and written, with even the human sidekicks like James Marsden’s character having a lot more to do and better material to work with. I had never seen so much reverence for classic Sega video games on the screen before outside of other video games than this movie, and it truly felt like my childhood was coming to life in ways I never imagined before. 

Sonny Boy

This year saw me finally getting around to watching Shingo Natsume’s original 2021 anime Sonny Boy. This was a critical darling of the Fall 2021 anime season when it aired but having been burned on so many “deep” anime that weren’t I was weary of it during that time—and not to mention busy and never got around to it. I heard so much praise for almost a solid year though and it seemed utterly visually and narratively interesting so I finally cracked and watched it. Glad I did, it was a rare example of something living up to its praise. 

Actually I got to be straight with you, here’s another piece of media that I honestly only watched because I desperately was begging to feel what I felt when I watched Twin Peaks last year. Sonny Boy is nowhere near that though but somehow is. It’s completely different but delivers a similarly dense and visually fascinating world. The music being done entirely by indie groups gives the entire atmosphere of the show a homemade feeling to it—the emotional core is often tinged with this sense of raw emotions that feel free from the corporate mainstream often overly produced music in most anime. Together with insanely complex visuals and free moving animation that isn’t stiff or obsessed with staying on model and we got something that just stimulates all the right sectors of my brain. And damn if I can’t stop listening to the tracks even now. 

I guess what I want to say is I came for the Twin Peaks comparisons, I stayed for the depression and how beautifully the show paints the futility of life and what death means in a meaningless world. Watch Sonny Boy, while praised during its airing the show almost seems totally forgotten about. You’ll probably have a good cry while doing so, but it will make you feel truly alive.

Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2

Okay, this is another example of me knowing all about this movie because of the internet. There are so many clips and memes about this movie that I have obtained endless enjoyment out of but I never actually watched the movie properly. This year I decided it was finally time and on Christmas Eve, I watched the legend, and my God: Best. Christmas. Movie. Ever. I think I found a new Christmas tradition that I am going to do every year. This movie is downright hilarious, the memes don’t even do it justice, you have to experience the whole thing in context, it’s even somehow funnier that way. In all the best ways. 

Eric Freeman’s acting is legit something I wish I could emulate. I want a whole movie or video game of just people going as hard as Eric Freeman in full earnest and not trying to ham it up. His screen presence is so funny, so magnanimous, so scene stealing, I can’t even breathe every time the camera focuses on him, I am utterly out of breath laughing every millisecond, on the floor gasping for air on the verge of death, but I can’t stop laughing. I just can’t help but love the movie even more as every minute passes. 

And the story behind how the movie was made is even fascinating. If you get the blu-ray like I had to of course go out and find a way to buy it after watching it, there’s a great documentary on how the whole thing came to be. What started as a way to just re-edit the movie Silent Night Deadly Night so they could release it again and make more money turned into a passion project by the editor now turned director Lee Harry which is why he’s credited as both the director and editor of the movie. Harry took the old footage from the movie, turned it into flashbacks and made it into a sequel by shooting new footage. They honestly took a legit and serious slasher movie and turned it into the best comedy ever made. As far as I am concerned you don’t even need to watch the original Silent Night Deadly Night, just see all of it in Part 2’s flashbacks and bask in Eric Freeman’s life changing performance. 

Stalker (1979)

Andrei Tarkovsky probably needs no introduction for film buffs but let’s just say for the uninitiated much like what I said about Alejandro Jodorowsky above this Soviet filmmaker is another auteur artist that is beloved in the world of cinema and leave it at that now because this list is already much too long as it is. Stalker is the first film of his I watched and one I wanted to see for many, many years—and one I only finally saw now because of my damn insistent pursuit of relieving the emotions Twin Peaks gave me. 

Stalker a 1979 Soviet made science fiction film based on a 1971 novel Roadside Picnic which depicts a guide or Stalker taking two individuals through an incredibly dangerous location that is closed off to the public where extraterrestrials had once landed one night and left the next known as the Zone. The story fascinates me on so many levels because of my love of sci-fi, this thought that strange alien life interacted with a place on earth and left it so tangled up, so hard to navigate that common sense need not apply, that you have to go up to go down, you have to walk backwards to get forward, that at any moment some terrible curse could afflict you, that something you did upset the order of this strange land, that expert guides exist in this shady black market underground to take people on tours through it, and many traverse this illegal Zone because of the rumors of a room within it that can grant any wish your heart desires. How can I not want to see it? This is my kind of sci-fi. What I got … was something much different.

I was expecting this sci-fi epic, instead it’s very much almost not present. It’s more about the passage of time, what it means to be alive, the place of religion in the world, the meaning of living in a meaningless world, if there is any magic left to be had in a world where we understand so much thanks to science. The Stalker and the outlawed area of the Zone almost seems like reverence for magic that used to exist, an old world point of view that can still look to the stars and see Gods instead of just clusters of hot space gas. Stalkers with their silly rules; their going backwards to go forward seem like nothing more than that silliness, something modern people don’t need to do anymore. The Stalker in the film is often undermined by his two clients who constantly push their luck and break tons of rules he tells them not to. At its core it seems like a struggle between wanting to believe there’s something special in this life, and being a skeptic. 

I wanted a sci-fi epic instead I got an artsy fartsy film that drinks way too much depresso espresso. Yet the magic of Tarkovsky’s film stays in my mind. The emotions I felt, the long shots that border on almost trolling you with boredom, they stay in your very soul. I still see the beauty of the undisturbed Zone when I close my eyes, the clearness of that water, and the magic of the bird disappearing into the dunes. The ending speech about time and what it means to all of us living from the Stalker’s wife, I hear it play back in my mind from time to time. 

This isn’t really great sci-fi, I wanted to hammer that home to anyone listening, so your expectations aren’t all wrong like mine. But this is an incredible film that uses some very light sci-fi window dressing to convey incredibly complex emotions behind living in modernity. I recommend it a lot to anyone who can handle that fact. 

El Topo, Holy Mountain, and Santa Sangre—or how I fell in love with that weird Chilean Movie Guy

Let’s get back to Alejandro Jodorowsky as he was a big figure in my 2022 media. It started with the documentary about his attempt at making a Dune movie in the 70’s but after that I had to know more about the man. This visionary auteur who took Dune and made this insanely almost religious spiritual epic in space, now this dude sounds incredible. Also holy crap it turns out David Lynch was a fan of his work too and you can easily find a lot of his work being repeated in Twin Peaks. Uh-oh, you know what that means, right? Yup, let’s keep this pursuit up, boys. 

We’re starting with the 1970 ‘acid western’ El Topo, since I still have yet to see his first film 1968’s Fando y Lis (although I do have it, I just have yet to work up the courage to play it thanks to its infamy). El Topo is easily what truly started his career on the world wide scene and not just in Mexico where he started out, it was a movie that would become insanely influential to many creative talents from the Beetles to Suda51; in fact No More Heroes is almost a complete remake/reimagining of it but anime. 

This western is no simple cowboy movie, it’s spiritual and just all out bonkers. It almost feels like two movies stitched together too. The first half sees El Topo, or “The Mole”, as this badass gunslinger taking down the four greatest gunslingers in the desert who are almost guru-like, in order to claim the title of the best gunslinger and spiritual enlightenment all so he can lay with some bodacious babe. He however fails at this and dies, only to be resurrected as some religious savior to a village of deformed people that live underground, and as a new man he tries to rescue the village and lead them to prosperity. 

This film is weird, and like yeah, bonkers. The two halves are almost completely different movies yet somehow they work really well together. I think the first half is easily the part most people really will enjoy while the second can easily lose you. All that said though this is the film that easily got me excited for more from Jodorowsky.

1973’s The Holy Mountain seemed like a slam dunk, the movie about an alchemist training a thief that broke into his Tower to be his protégé then taking on seven wisemen with him to ascend a legendary mountain to find the secret of immortality is the insane kind of bullshit I want in my veins. It’s a … that is to say it’s … the thing about The Holy Mountain is … well I hope you like drugs. So yeah, hard to believe but El Topo, the acid western, was made sober, while Jodorowsky decided to really, how do you say, “expand his mind” , on his next film and it shows because I think you need to be on drugs to fully enjoy this one.

The film has an incredible beginning and an absolutely incredible ending with an insanely good and thought provoking twist at the very end but the middle is very meandering. The scene where the Alchemist introduces his seven wisemen just goes on for like ever. They pretty much stop the plot for a solid 50 minutes just to show vignettes about each of these characters and they are all very good, and interesting, and some insanely funny, but like bruh, the movie is just dead in its tracks for at least half its runtime to introduce characters that essentially just stand in the background after their introduction and that’s it. 

As I said the ending is truly something special and that I cannot elaborate on because if it’s spoiled for you I can confirm it kind of ruins the whole movie. Yeah I knew the ending spoiler before I watched it and that just really took the wind out of my sails. I loved the beginning of the film to bits, the middle just would never end its nonstop barrage of introductions for what turn out to be NPCs, then the ending I spoiled, it was a boring experience for me. 

Don’t spoil the ending, and I promise the dragging middle will be worth it. Probably.

1989’s Santa Sangre or Holy Blood, is probably Jodorowsky’s most mainstream and easily digestible film. I’d also say maybe because it was his at the time most recent work, the film that David Lynch took the most inspiration from when he made Twin Peaks. If you watch some scenes in this one back-to-back with certain Twin Peaks scene, it’s definitely obvious what Lynch was watching at the time. Because of this I say it’s the movie of Jodorowsky I can recommend the most, it’s definitely the favorite of his I have seen so far. Hell I’d go as far as to say one of my favorite movies I ever seen.

Santa Sangre follows Fenix, a young man in a mental ward, and shows the story of his life and how he came to be in such a place. Fenix grew up in the circus, his father a womanizing drunk knife thrower and his mother a trapeze artist and also a devout Christian that runs her own crazy offshoot cult of Christ. It’s a fascinating childhood and the imagery is striking. It’s visceral and a wild ride but also something I have to tiptoe around and not explain a lot about. The movie is best experienced knowing very little about it. There’s a very apt comparison that can be made to a certain famous movie, film critics often call it “The Mexican version of [said famous movie]” and I wholly agree, but my God if you know said famous movie’s name that spoils way too much! Classic, film critics ruining film again. 

I highly recommend this one despite almost bending over backwards to deny you too many of my thoughts on it. There are so many scenes that if I close my eyes I still see. The music is fantastic, the scene where Fenix plays piano is easily a stand out moment of cinema. This is the life story of one man I think you simply must experience. 

Vinland Saga

The 2019 first season of Vinland Saga finally came out this year on special edition blu-ray and after waiting what felt like a lifetime I couldn’t be happier to begin my rewatch of the show. I know Sentai released their dubbed version of it back a year prior but I adored Vinland so much I wanted to wait for the special edition and I definitely felt it was worth the wait, as the poster proudly still is on my wall and I am never taking it down. When it comes to Vinland itself I will be brief and say it’s a fantastic anime, and one of the best the year it came out. I mainly just want to talk about this Sentai release which I found to be stellar, the special edition was of very high quality, like I said I love the cloth poster, and I very much enjoyed their dub. I thought the writing was much more naturalistic than the Netflix produced dub with better dialogue flow as well as being just dirty enough in the way Sentai usually is by sprinkling in some tasty F-bombs that most other dubbing studios would shy away from. I enjoyed how accurate it was, as an actual historian with a degree in this stuff it always drives me mad to see so much mainstream entertainment go for the bottom of the barrel easiest to understand AD over using Common Era, so I was glad Sentai used it. Also actually pronouncing the Nordic names correctly where the Netflix dub hilariously butchers all of them is a nice touch too. 

Wild Palms

Wild Palms in a 1993 mini series that followed in the wake Twin Peaks mania. It’s very obvious how much the series wants to be Twin Peaks and often shows up in a lot of comparisons to it. It never quite reaches those heights however. Twin Peaks’ own mastery of mystery and otherworldly feeling just evades this production at every step but where it succeeds is capturing the other more humble aspect that made Twin Peaks great, the soap opera-like cast. It feels very much at home with the out-there and over-the-top quirky characters and I think is one of the best productions to capture that tone of the original first two seasons of the series. It probably helps that it was a Twin Peaks inspired production that was actually made during that 90’s era where soaps were still king on TV. 

Where Wild Palms differs however is how the plot is far more science fiction based and often attempts to juggle complex conspiracies about religious and political leaders and it stumbles at times but by the end is able to actually pull off a fairly interesting story. Sadly the biggest hurdle is maybe the funniest thing. The series stars Jim Belushi and I’m sorry, he gives a great performance in a dramatic role of a father and businessman trapped in some crazy far right religious cult taking over corporate America through the mass media. 

But it’s Jim Belushi, he has such an iconic and recognizable comedic voice and presence that it can be downright hilarious in really unintentional ways. Jim Belushi’s son in the series, an evil genius child, also suffers a lot from this because … it’s a very young Ben Savage. Yes, Cory Mathews is in some Shin Megami Tensei like end of days cult in this. And you know Ben Savage does an excellent job, you can see why he would become a lead in Boy Meets World after this, even as a child he’s a great actor, but it’s Cory Mathews, in a seat of power, in a cult that is trying to take over the world. 

So yeah, the casting is kind of ironically funny today in 2023, especially for millennials, but the series does run a lot of great ideas and by the end of this short 5 episode mini series I was hooked. Some of the dream sequences are downright incredible and almost feel like they could have occurred in the Black Lodge, it’s definitely where the series cribs a lot of its ideas from Twin Peaks.

The Wind-up Bird Chronicles

If you know me personally you know I have an absolute obsession with the hit indie RPG called YIIK: A Postmodern RPG. Yes, truly a masterpiece that is beyond the understanding of a normal human being. Okay, enough snide, YIIK is a downright meme but it fascinates me endlessly. I spent so many years of my life reading about it and watching videos on it, and seeing playthroughs of it. Maybe one day I’ll actually play it … although I don’t think I’m that crazy. It’s a bad game but there’s a lot of creative ideas behind it and I want to say the creators’ commitment to their art is praise worthy, I have nothing but respect for Brain and Andrew Allanson and I mean this sincerely. They messed up, big time, but they created something with all their heart, they shouldn’t be made fun of for that. 

Andrew Allanson the writer of YIIK is a huge book nerd, and often cites Haruki Murakami novels as his big inspiration with his 1994 novel The Wind-up Bird Chronicles as the biggest. And it shows, having read it now because of my YIIK obsession yeah, so many of the best and most creative ideas I thought were in YIIK are definitely just from this novel. That isn’t meant as a insult though, if anything like me questing to see all of David Lynch’s inspirations for Twin Peaks it just shows the creative process, we are the media we consume, and in turn we take that and turn it into our own thing. 

[something-tofightfor]

Okay, now that I’ve composed myself, I think I can articulate everything 😆

The cinematography was just amazing! I think I was blown away by that the most to be honest (I mean aside from how amazing the acting was!), I loved it! All the details, even the tiny ones, the effects of it all, just everything was so so incredible!

Now I do love Pedro and how he plays Joel, the man has range that I do appreciate, but Gabriel Luna? How have I not seen anything he has been in! He was amazing! His portrayal of Tommy was just 👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽 so good! I’m going to have to watch more things that he is in now. 😆☺️

And to be honest, I was hesitant about watching it because I know people really over sexualize Pedro Pascal, and in turn Joel Miller, like to the cringing point (that’s just my opinion, don’t mean offense to anyone) so that was my main reason for waiting to watch it, but I am so glad that I did. He was just incredible to watch, I think he nailed it.

And Bella Ramsey? Loving her portrayal of Ellie! She was a good choice, she does such an amazing job! Can’t wait to see the next episode

Okay, that is all! 😆

How was it watching it again for you after seeing it in LA?

Haha, welcome back.

The way the show LOOKED was honestly my favorite part. I love the establishing shots of Boston and the inside of the QZ and the way they show Joel's neighborhood and the environments within the actual city of Boston itself. (Joel and Tess' apartment IN PARTICULAR is somewhere that I would love to explore - just to see what else is in there.

They definitely took a lot of care on the way the whole show looked and how it felt to watch the characters interact with their surroundings, and I appreciate the hell out of that. There's so much to look at, and even though I've seen it MANY times now, I'm still catching new stuff every time.

GABRIEL LUNA IS GREAT. He hasn't been in a lot of super high quality stuff, but the things he's been in, it wasn't him that impacted the quality. (His time as Robbie Reyes in Agents of SHIELD was a standout though.)

I agree about the oversexualization, and with Joel, that rubs me the wrong way. This isn't just a "oh, look at how good looking that man is, I'm going to focus on that" situation, and it bugs me when that's all people take away from viewing a piece of media. Especially with Joel, because of his storyline and characterization.

IDK. Everyone's going to do what they want and more power to them, but there's more to this show than that, and I feel sorry for people if that's all they care about because they're missing out on some great stuff.

Pedro was perfect for the role. This isn't game Joel, but something else entirely, and it works. We're in for it for the next 8 weeks for sure. Bella was also a vey good choice. I can't wait to see more Ellie and see how she's brought to life as the show goes on. There are so many really important Ellie moments coming up, and seeing them is going to be something really special.

So I watched it in LA on January 9th, and then watched it twice in NYC on January 12th. I've watched it a few times since it premiered on Sunday ... and it's just as fantastic each time as it was the first. I like being able to watch and sort of focus my attention somewhere different each viewing. Seeing it on a big screen was definitely a really cool experience, but it's just as good on my TV at home, so I'm happy about that!

Can't wait to see what you think of next week's episode!

[olive-garden-hoe]

🧡🧡RAAAAAGGHHH BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

Further points on how categorically wrong this fucking list is:

- bojack horseman follows a terrible person. That’s the point. Imo it doesn’t glorify or inaccurately group together people of one category, it literally is just terrible people interacting and some get better as the seasons progress but it also just feels bad because life feels bad

- “Star Wars probably idk reylos sucks” WTF DOES THIS MEAN. I’ll be the first to admit I’ve never been the biggest Star Wars fan but like, really???? It’s such a foundational part of modern cinema???? The soundtrack????

- amphibia is. Literally a kids show about frogs. With diverse cast. What’s your problem????

- howls moving castle deserves love for the monumental success it showed about animation and helped Ghibli’s rise to fame

Other thoughts:

majority of this list is anime which I won’t speak on as I haven’t watched a lot of what is listed (wow deciding not to speak on a piece of media you haven’t seen what a novel concept), but I WILL say that this list just shows the incredibly limited media palette this person has. If someone heavily prefers some media over others that’s totally fine, there is absolutely nothing wrong with knowing what you like and sticking to that, especially if other genres are upsetting. HOWEVER this limited palette shapes what you may personally consider good and it seems this person may be interpreting any discussion of difficult topics regardless of how they’re presented (ranging from South Park levels of disrespectful to fucking ddlc no I won’t shut up about that) as fundamentally problematic. This ultimately limits one’s ability to appreciate diverse forms of art.

Obviously idk this person but just on a general note don’t ascribe morality to preferences. And no, “joking about rape is bad” isn’t a preference that’s a moral standing that must be considered when consuming media and I will admit that some entries in this are just plain offensive (South Park jumps out), but can we just calm down for a sec and appreciate art my goodness. If something is flat out offensive, acknowledge it and determine if you still want to enjoy that media considering what your support would mean, then do whatever you want. Most people in these fandoms (that I’ve interacted with) will be the first to admit that their media is problematic, but they enjoy it for xyz reason that at a certain point isn’t anyone else’s business to regulate

(Note this doesn’t extend to fiscally supporting a pos who you KNOW will use that to support causes that directly hurt people, i.e. jk Rowling)

TW: mention of depression and sh

No ddlc is not demonizing depression or sh, and while someone who cannot play or consume it because it triggers something is absolutely valid for that, calling it offensive is just ignorant to the genuinely phenomenal storytelling, character building, and subversion of expectations

Moral of the story: be nice to people, enjoying something that aged poorly doesn’t make you a bad person, and please for the love of god develop media literacy

Reblog if you see your problematic fandom 😳

[monriatitans]

Ta-Da! List: Saturday, June 8th

The image was made in Canva; check it out at the [referral] link here!

I share my “Ta-Da! List” every day so everyone gets a daily update and I have a reminder of what I’ve accomplished.

To learn more about “Ta-Da! Lists”, and other ADHD life hacks, check out @adhdjesse’s book Extra Focus: The Quick Start Guide to Adult ADHD.

Abbreviations

- MT: MonriaTitans - O&T: Opinions & Truth Blog - WGS: The Weekend Game Show - ASO: Artist Shout-Out - IG: Instagram - BMAC: Buy Me a Coffee - TDL: Ta-Da! List

Ta-Da! List

✧ throughout the day: - kept emails manageable - loaded the dishwasher - filled out today’s TDL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the mobile phone: - YouTube: watched Upper Echelon’s short “Video Games Play YOU… (Not The Other Way Around)” - Hive: shared today’s ASO and the “LDSS Big Changes” announcement

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the bedroom setup: - YouTube: watched and/or listened to Jim Sterling’s videos “The Problems With The Epic Store”, “Quantic Dream Or Quantic Nightmare?”, “The Business Of Lies”, and “The Exploitative Push For Social Networking In Games” - Movies: watched “The Nightmare Before Christmas” - O&T: shared today’s TDL to various social media

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the office setup: - WGS: gave a human artist, Adam Miller, a shout-out by sharing it on O&T, Tumblr, and other social media; shared a “Big Changes” announcement regarding ASO sharing, and what’s going on tomorrow, to The Titans’ Discord, IG, and other social media; changed the IG links in the Google Doc ASO list to their Tumblr or O&T links; prepared the ASO for tomorrow, June 9th; updated the StreamElement “SocialMedia Rotation” with the MT IG username; set up the Overlays in Streamlabs for “Super Lesbian Animal RPG” - Gaming: played “Final Fantasy XIV” - YouTube: watched and/or listened to Jim Sterling’s videos “The Addictive Cost Of Predatory Videogame Monetization”, “Stadia, Subscriptions, And The Death Of Game Ownership”, “G2A Isn’t Just Worse Than Piracy… It’s Also Very Stupid And Embarrassing”, “The ESA Is A Big Piece Of Shit”, “EA Doesn’t Like Being Seen As The Bad Guy? Too bad!”, “The Annual Square Enix Letter From Hell”, “The Game Industry Hides How Bad The Really Bad Layoffs Are”, “The Game Reviewer Who Hates Games”, “Single-Player Healthcare”, “The Most Influential Game Of The Decade”, “Liar’s Year 2020”, “When Inane Creeps Attack Actors For Something A Fictional Character Did”, “A Truly Fucked Up Industry”, “Digital Homicide Resurfaces With Some Incredible BS”, “Violence In Videogames, Wankers In The White House”, “Anger”, “Blood, Guts, And Videogames”, “Muscles Of The Apocalypse”, “False Advertising Vs. Narrative Subversion”, and “Should ‘Metroidvania’ Be Abolished?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ chores and miscellaneous: - Food: had coffee and chocolate for breakfast; went to family dinner; had more chocolate - Chores: checked the mail

—

Well, these are all the updates I had for today! Thank you for reading!

May every decision you make be *in the spirit of fairness* and may the rest of your day *NOT go to $#!7*!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Enjoy what I do? Please consider supporting via Buy Me a Coffee (BMAC)! Like what you see and want to know when there’s more? Click here to subscribe for updates and/or hit the Follow button! This post contains affiliate links.

Watch MonriaTitans on Twitch, YouTube, and Rumble! For more about MonriaTitans, click here!

[captainfightingflower]

The Tee K.O. 2 avatars are so unfathomably ugly to the point where it feels like everyone’s praising them ironically.

How do people find the Tee K.O. 2 avatars CUTE?!? Are we looking at the same bunch of avatars?? I’ve never seen a piece of official media adapt character designs this fucking ATROCIOUSLY in my life! They’re violently inaccurate, incredibly uncanny, and don’t even respect their origin game’s source material. It feels like reading the reviews for the Mulan remake with how disjointed the praises are to the actual product. Did you guys actually SEE the avatars, or are you just saying that you did so Jackbox Games can get your precious games on time that you keep pestering them to release immediately?

I’ve seen people compair this to Super Smash Brothers, and that’s probably the most brutal insult i’ve ever seen someone hurl at that franchise. That game respects each characters, they adapt each character to perfection, being in that game is a thing of pride. The only one i’d really complain is inaccurate to their source material is Samus, but that’s it! Tee K.O. 2 is a fucking travesty where everybody looks like they were drawn by an amateur artist for their fan game, and i’m pretty sure if any of my characters were represented in a professional project like how Tee K.O. 2 did it; i’d instantly wanna dissociate from the entire thing all together!

This entire pack is just an officially licensed fangame, that’s it, you can not convince my brain that this is anything but a fangame that just so happens to be published by Jackbox Games. I’m honestly starting to believe that i’m being pranked, because how can anybody in their right mind unironically call these things CUTE?!? That’s what’s fucking getting me. There’s no way people fucking like this, there’s absolutely zero redeeming qualities about their design adaptions and i cannot wrap my brain around anybody genuinely liking these as anything more than a fucking joke.

If you like them: HOW?!?! Tell me, tell Fighting Flower, why do you like these design adaptions?! What’s cute about them?!? What looks good about them??%! WHAT’S EVEN ACCURATE ABOUT THEM?!?! HOW, HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM?!? WHAT’S ALLURING YOU TO THESE AFFRONTS TO GOD?!?!?!?!?!

Nothing against you personally for liking them, i just can’t understand anybody actually liking these frankly terrible designs. I’m more surprised how nobody feels as offended about it as i do. I hate these designs, because at a fundamental level: they’re just bad. Not badly drawn, just bad. You can say you like them, but they aren’t good adaptions of character designs, that’s just the factual truth: they aren’t good. Show this to any professional art teacher and they’d think you were playing a prank on them. It’s practically reaching bootleg levels of awful. These don’t feel authorised, these don’t feel official, they are BAD.

I could write an ENTIRE VIDEO ASSAY about how these design adaptions FAIL AWFULLY at being good adaptions. I could go on and on about how these things should’ve never left the drafts! I bet you even i could depict them better, and i ain’t even a professional! And i’m not claiming that ‘cause i think i’m more talented than them, i’m only saying that to show how BAD those adaptions are! That a fucking hobbyist can better adapt character designs to a game’s design philosophy than a group of PROFESSIONAL ARTISTS!

I hope the pack gets stolen like the movie Foodfight! and the staff is forced to start over from scratch, or at least put that thing in the damn oven and delay it to next year! It’s so unbaked, i bet you they don’t even HAVE drafts. They thought the first thing they could and chuck it in there, because it sure damn feels like it!

[emilywhere]

i think what’s most stunning to me about a league of their own is that i’ve never seen these stories - my story, our beautiful queer stories - in media like this before. it’s an indictment of our media ecosystem (and yes, a consequence of choices i make in what i read or watch or listen to) and something that has absolutely rocked me to my core. 

i turn 30 this year, and i’ve never seen characters more closely capture my own lived experience with gender and sexuality. the pressures of the world the wishes we didn’t exist. the joy of being a part of a team and a part of a community that understands you. the pain of being rejected by family and society. the challenges of not having a “possibility model” and needing to chart my own path with little to no guidance from those who came before me because they were forced into invisibility, or worse. the incredible reality that just 80 years after these people were living their lives, the “entirely different world” greta mentions is here -- i’m queer, genderqueer, and have an almost 2 year old -- but still so far away -- my family was heckled and called “fucking f*****s” by a group of angry men down the street from our home in this alleged bucolic gay haven of suburban vermont just a few months ago.

i heard an interview where co-creator will graham talked about this show holding up mirrors (plural) for us to see elements of our own story in, and it could not be a more accurate description. while no one character matches my story, i think it’s better because of that. because pieces of our story are universal, but there is no single truth of what it means to be queer. i am amazed that a show about an era so far away can feel so true to my life today, but it is also so clear to me how it’s possible. not because it was made with the benefit of modernity and hindsight, but because to be queer is to grow in more beautiful ways because of and despite the pressure we face at every turn when we try to be a more true version of ourselves. and every time you think the show is done introducing queer people, queer lives, queer stories, queer spaces -- they drop another incredible set of nuanced, complex, beautiful, pure queerness, not just in the gender or sexuality way but in the post-modern queer theory kind of way. it’s genuinely stunning to bear witness to.

and then there is the absolute resistance to let this be a story of white saviorship. because white women and queer folks absolutely did not show up for Black women and queer folks then, and rarely do now. certainly not in the kind of genuinely impactful systemic ways that we need to. and i am glad that the writers never took the easy path when creating this show, instead pushing white viewers to reflect on what allyship actually means, and how often we fail communities of color and Black communities especially.

i am so grateful for this show. i have so many thoughts that i cannot begin to capture. but those are some thoughts for tonight.

[prose-among-the-trees]

So I’m an English major and literature freak show and thought I’d analyze a few of the things on here for my own amusement. I’ll only address things I’ve interacted with.

How is Mario problematic? Nintendo as a company has been doing things to piss off its consumers for a while, but what did Mario specifically do?

To Kill a Mockingbird has been argued to be just a white savior book in Atticus, but other than that I think it’s a good introduction to high school, at least that’s when I read it. As long as teachers handle it correctly, it’s not a bad novel.

The Great Gatsby discusses the material worth of the American dream and how society treats old versus new money. Haven’t found anything problematic about it besides adultery- but come on- you’ve clearly read things like that before.

Wuthering Heights refers to the main character as ‘gypsy like’ in the novel. I have a very big issue with people who try to moralize books with 2023 morals and social standards that were written in 1847. Obviously the wording for groups of people will not be the same, but condemning old books because they’re old is not interacting with a critical lens, it’s disengaging due to a time gap and discomfort, and no context of history can ever be gained that way.

Frankenstein is a gorgeous story about the morality of the advancement of research and technology, and the fact that the created is more morally sound than the creator, much like John Milton’s Paradise Lost. I cannot possibly explain how much I love how the creature is portrayed and compared to Satan. It’s supposed to do that because in Paradise Lost Satan was the voice of reason standing up for himself in God’s blind hubris. I could go on for days about this book.

This person would likely condemn two of my favorite books, Heart of Darkness and The Sound and the Fury, all for the same short sighted reasons. I don’t mean to sound rude, but you can analyze literature and media critically without supporting the messages.

Heart of Darkness (1902) is about the Belgian Congo and how that nation obliterated Africa, but told as though the English were doing it. The violence and treatment of the Africans is absolutely insane; the Africans are treated worse than animals, and yet the novel is meant to highlight how badly Belgium messed up in conquering parts of Africa, as well as Europe in general.

The Sound and the Fury (1929) is almost worse in this regard. It discusses a family in the south trying to hold on to those traditional values amidst the daughter’s promiscuity. Faulkner tells the story like she’s in the wrong, but only to point out how absurd it is. Benjy’s section is probably one of the greatest pieces of literature I’ve ever read, and people will likely say it makes fun of autistic people. For 1929, the representation of literary learning disability and synesthesia is some of the most gorgeous and well put together work I’ve seen. His story is told as if everything, current and flashback, are all in the present day for him. I’ve not found more than 10 people in my day to day who have read that, understood it, and enjoyed it. Hell, I’ve not found more than five. The family is so incredibly problematic. Benjy is treated horribly for being nonverbal with his learning disability, Quentin cannot stop his perception of time always moving and takes his life, Jason is a money obsessed man who condemns his family and his niece in pursuit of status and dignity, Caddy, the one voice we should hear from in this, we don’t, and the voice of reason is the family’s slave.

Hot take but a lot of authors don’t support the things they write about, and they often write to show how absurd those things are, how crazy and unbelievable. It’s okay to have nuance in literature, it’s okay to have an author not believe in what they say, at least not literally and directly.

Literature and other work can be analyzed with a critical lens, keeping in mind the time it was written, the history and social standards of the time, and what the author actually believes about said commentary.

Sorry for the novel. I’m passionate about this. Not that OOP will ever see, but I got a chance to talk about English lit.

-🌲

"dni if you engage with irredeemable media! dni to kill a mockingbird stans" ok well CLEARLY you have never read to kill a mockingbird if you think it's irredeemable media and also having a book that was published in 1960 on your dni stan list is kinda ridiculous actually

[battlekidx2]

Top 5 Animated Shows of 2021

Okay so ground rules first: The show must have started airing for the first time in 2021. I don’t want people being confused as to why amphibia or owl house or any other amazing show that aired episodes this year isn’t on the list. That’s a different ranking for a different time. Also this is my list. If you have a different opinion then that’s great. Everyone having their own views and experiences is part of what’s great about media. Everyone connects to different media and different characters and that’s what I love about it :)

I’m gonna start with my favorites and work my way down because the top 2 shouldn’t surprise anyone who kept up with animation this year. The order may shock some people though. I know it shocked me because I thought my #2 had #1 in the bag until this show premiered.

Number 1: Arcane

This show came out of nowhere for me. I really regret not taking it seriously after it was announced because I connected so much with this show and its characters that I get emotional thinking about it. I really thought Invincible had the number 1 spot for this year until this show came out. Both shows are phenomenal but the things that pushed this show over (other than the fact that I relate way too much to Vi) is the fact that Invincible’s weakest episode (episode 6) was weaker than Arcane’s weakest episode (which I don’t even know if I can name which episode is even the weakest of arcane because they are all really airtight) and the fact that I’ve rewatched the entire season of arcane many times while I mostly only rewatch 3 episodes of invincible, not the whole season. I also don’t know if another piece of media has hit me this hard in years. Seeing struggles that I have had to face portrayed so raw and honest has given me a connection that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to shake to this show. This is why I love animation and storytelling. It has always made me feel seen and less alone and Arcane was the piece of media that did that for me during a huge transition in my life. For me everything about this show is a masterpiece. The animation, the writing, the characters, the voice acting, the relationships, the tragedy of it all. Everything was perfect. 

I’ve posted quite a lot of long meta about arcane so this may not surprise anyone. Arcane legitimately blew me out of the water and it is far and away my most rewatched series of this year. I’m torn between wanting season 2 immediately and being grateful that the studio is taking its time to make sure the next season is just as polished as this first one was. This made me fall even more in love with the animation medium. (for my more complete thoughts on the series use this link)

The animation in this show is absolutely gorgeous. It looks like a painting come to life and I couldn’t look away. The textures, the lighting, the effects they used to emphasize impacts during fights be it their flashes of white blinding effects or dust being misplaced or the spit and blood that would leave the characters mouth all made each fight scene better and more mesmerizing. The animation alone makes this show worth watching from start to finish. I can’t believe how far so many studios that I never would have expected have pushed animation in the past 5 years alone. They really push what 3D animation can do. It’s astounding and proves what a groundbreaking series this is.

Episode 3 alone is one of the best episodes of television I’ve watched ever. Arcane is a masterclass in writing in general but it especially knows how to build the ending into the beginning. Everything in episode 3 comes around and sets up the finale of episode 9. Silco’s fate, Jinx’s final decision, Vi’s helplessness while watching the loss of her loved one(s), the hopefulness in piltover juxtaposed with the hopelessness in Zaun, etc are all set up and/or in a way mirrored in the finale. It’s incredible and reminds me why I love animation and storytelling. If you haven’t watched this already, what are you waiting for? Start right now! I guarantee you won’t regret it.

Number 2: Invincible

I know I already gave away that this was number two but like I said the top two shouldn’t surprise anyone. Invincible was my most anticipated animated show of 2021. I had already read all the comics and was a massive fan and I was so excited for other people to be introduced to this incredible series by Robert Kirkman. And this adaptation does not disappoint. It even managed to improve on the father and son fight from the comics significantly. I wasn’t a fan of the Amber and Mark romance though. I kinda wish they had skipped the Amber romance and gone straight for the Mark and Eve romance with how they played it out. (I think they were both wrong in certain ways. And I just wasn’t a fan of their scenes together. I don’t hate Amber like a lot of people do. I just don’t think she had as much chemistry with Mark as the writers intended and they made their relationship dysfunctional to a ridiculous degree to where I think they were both better off staying broken up.) Everything about the family struggles of Mark’s family was amazing though. Every interaction between the members of Mark’s family was amazing no matter who was paired with who. The family drama was the highlight of the series. 

Invincible also does an excellent job of subverting classic hero tropes just like the original comic. As a comic fan knowing what is to come for this series I’ll just say it gets even better from here and I can’t wait for the 2nd and 3rd seasons. I’m so happy that so many people got to be introduced to the series and enjoy it just like I did even if it is in a different medium.

I think my criticisms may give people the idea that the show is worse than it is, which isn’t my intention. This show is amazing and I absolutely love it. I was just wanting to explain why arcane beat it out for the top spot for me. This was a really close call and I think it could be argued that Invincible’s best episode is better than Arcane’s best which should tell you the quality of the show. When this show wants to give you an emotional gut punch it doesn’t hold back and goes for the KO. It’s also an adult animated show that goes all out with the gore but never feels gratuitous. Too often I think adult animation takes its rating as the go ahead to put cursing, sex, and gore everywhere just because it can but arcane and invincible know how to use these adult aspects and themes correctly. The train scene, which had everyone gasping and going crazy on social media, was gory and extreme but it served an important purpose in the episode. You take it out and I think the episode loses something. For another example episode one doesn’t really have any gore at all until the mid credits scene. This decision was perfect to shock viewers with the reality of who Omni-man is and the seriousness that the show will embrace which directly juxtaposes what people usually think of a superhero origin story. Honestly I’d say that adult animation should take notes from these two about when and where the mature rating should be used to enhance the experience. 

2021 was amazing for adult animation and I think did a lot for changing the perception of what an adult animated show could be. Invincible and Arcane were both integral to this shift and I am very grateful for it and I love them both.

Number 3: Maya and the Three

I was a little late to the party for this show but I’m glad I got around to it. I had a complete blast. Jorge Gutierrez is a creator I have nothing but respect for and I really like his other works so I was looking forward to watching this show. He brings his unique storytelling style, art direction, and heart which is all I can ever ask for from a creator. You can feel his passion and love for the story and characters and it gives me an even greater appreciation for this show.

It’s another show that’s “for kids” (aka has a TV-Y7 rating) that deals with heavy subject matter such as infidelity, racism ellegories, death, mourning, etc and I feel like it handles a lot of it with the tact necessary for its target audience. I especially liked how it handled Maya’s non-biological mother and how they assert that she is her real mother and, while Maya was a product of infidelity, she couldn’t hold it against the baby that she saw and came to raise. It’s not how it always plays out in real life but it was touching how it was explained and handled. It does an excellent job of tackling grief and all the different ways in which it can manifest. The characters and their individual journeys were all great.

The top two entries are in a league of their own if I’m being honest but that doesn’t detract from this entry or the next two. This is a very good series that I think would be great for the whole family to watch together. It may hit you emotionally in the way Arcane and Invincible did for me. All the characters are strong and could easily carry their own show and I think that’s the most you can wish for from an ensemble cast. I respect the ambition and care that went into this show and hope that it reaches an even wider audience than it already has.

Number 4: Centaurworld

I already wrote about my overarching thoughts on Centaurworld here if you want to read it. This has got to be one of the most unique shows I’ve seen in years. This is a show I think shouldn’t work as well as it does. From the wildly clashing tones to the unique and over the top characters to the surprisingly dark, twisted, and yet sympathetic villain. This is a show that if given the broad strokes sounds like it shouldn’t work but somehow it all comes together to create an unforgettable and wholly enjoyable experience.

Centaurworld wasn’t a show I was expecting. I had seen the trailers but didn’t know what to think of it. It wasn’t until I saw Sarcastic Chorus’ review that I decided to give it a shot. And I wasn’t disappointed. It managed to cover unexpectedly heavy themes about depression, suicide, grief, and loss. It was a bit of a shock to the system because of the bright, colorful, toony, place that most of these themes were explored in. Wammawink and Horse are some of the most fun and complex characters I’ve seen in a while that aren’t angst fests (don’t get me wrong I love an angst fest. I just haven’t seen a character I loved that wasn’t an angst fest this year until them). The music is all good but I agree with sarcastic chorus. It's “all bops but no bangers”.

This show is very much an acquired taste. It’s so subjective on whether or not you’ll like it that it’s hard to know who to recommend it to but I’ll just say I think you should give it a shot if you’re reading this for some reason and haven’t seen it.

Number 5: Inside Job

This is another show this year that I think helped change the perception of adult animation. Inside Job is really fun and I wasn’t expecting to have such a blast with this show. It’s animation isn’t as inventive as Arcane’s or Maya and the Three’s but that doesn’t mean it’s anything to scoff at. It’s nice and fluid and the simplistic designs work well for the overly expressive faces and body language of the characters. In a weird way its animation reminds me of star trek lower decks and it’s also similar to lower decks in its ability to play with established tropes for its genre to create a unique, fairly episodic experience.

This show was my relaxation show for this year. I’d turn it on and turn my brain off and just let myself just have fun. Considering everything that happened for me this year I needed this but that’s not to say that it’s a dumb show. That is far from the case and it actually had me invested in the ideas and characters in a way I wasn’t expecting. I really want season 2 especially after that cliffhanger. I think this was the show I had the most pure fun with out of all the shows on this list and in a year like 2021 that is a complete win.

[beepsparks]

A post dedicated to how much I love Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared and the creators’ other projects (and as a kinda late celebration to me being 3 years in the fandom)

This post will be VERY VERY long so all of it is under the cut! It’s all me rambling about how amazing Dhmis is and how much love I have for it

Never in my life have I ever loved something so amazing so much, and that's an understatement for how much I love Dhmis, it’d literally be impossible to say how much I love this series. It’s truly a work of art with the most dedication I’ve ever seen.

From what I’ve heard, originally being a short film project intended to be a series but then getting dropped after completion going viral off of YouTube and inspiring the crew to pick up the idea again into making the original series we all know and love, now to an entire tv show is truly inspiring and should be looked up to as inspiration and motivation to make their ideas into reality by even the biggest of filmmakers. A simple, now decade old short film becoming something even more is just so inspiring and it’s so incredibly motivating.

 Every piece of effort and dedication put into this series is something to behold, everything made of felt and different material that would surely take incredibly long just to make even the smallest of props is just so amazing to me. The detail, thought, and emotion you can get from every single scene in not even just this series, but the creators’ other works I simply adore to look at. They’ll make high effort props, costumes, puppets, and even more only to use them for a few moments and never again just to show the highest quality in every frame to craft everything to perfection is so nice, like they’re making all of this with the viewers in mind like it’s all just for you, I love it.

And the creators’ other works, I love them so much, from literal Trollis advertisements made with literal stop motion, which you just barely see anymore to barely known and yet high effort, interesting and thought-provoking, yet sometimes highly comedic short films and sometimes music videos is just art at it’s finest. Like Craig’s Big Day, the music video for Swim and Sleep (Like a Shark), and Baker Terry, voice actor of many Dhmis characters’ short film, “BIN”, is one of the most if not THE most disturbing short films I’ve ever seen and yet I LOVE IT. He did an absolutely wonderful job literally writing, directing, and even acting in it himself.

More on how much effort is put into things like Dhmis, all the different styles of art used throughout the series is so eye-catching and visually appealing to look at. The art trick used for music video Tame Impala, which the creators worked on, was used for the apple in Dhmis 2, and it goes very well. Claymation, stop motion, CGI, 2D animation and possibly even more than just the already high effort and wonderful puppets just keeps your attention constantly, it almost never gets boring to watch.

I’m a HUGE sucker for art and media that truly embraces the meaning of “weird” in the best way possible. None of that “be yourself (unless you don’t fit into the norm and actually aren’t like everyone else)” nonsense, Dhmis isn’t even about that and yet, to be honest, Dhmis has helped me appreciate myself more by letting me embrace the different, more unique parts of myself with it’s art. Dhmis is so strange, embracing creepy horror elements, dark and weird jokes, the art of puppetry, strange music, and that's my most favorite thing about it. Just how absurd, crazy, and of course, weird, it gets. Every moment is something packed with so much creativity behind it. We need more abstract, unique, and genuinely weird yet enjoyable and interesting art more than ever right now tbh, a lot of recent media, while good, just doesn’t feel weird enough sometimes. I’m not saying EVERYTHING has to be weird like Dhmis, but I really want to see more works truly creative and fun come out and show how amazing different styles of storytelling and art can be. It helps everyone express themselves, not just the basic norm.

Speaking of fun, silly shenanigans, behind the scenes photos and videos of Dhmis and sometimes other projects the creators have worked on always have a fun element behind them. I feel that's an amazing place and feeling to have while working on something, just embracing the fun of it and sometimes letting yourself be a bit silly while working on it. The Dhmis crew almost always looks like they’re having fun and smiling every moment they worked on the series. I love the energy and shenanigans that go on during Dhmis production. I’d totally love to see each puppet and costume character and how they work. In general I’d love to know more about how Dhmis was produced and made.

Now I’m not sure if this is on purpose or not, but I love when creators purposefully leave spaces in lore for fans to interpret their creation however they’d like. That's why there's so many theories with entirely different stories with Dhmis. People are interpreting the story in all sorts of different ways and it sparks the fans to be creative and find their own answers to the story. A story that clearly states every single part of it that if its true or not can get boring. Watching so many ideas strive fills me with joy watching people who share my similar interests talk about what they think of parts of characters and story. Which can even influence each others interpretations. For example, I have my own interpretation of Tony, and his design and personality is more based on the mean, villainous sides of him because Padlock slightly influenced how I might see Tony, and in general in my interpretation I usually saw him as a shady liar, a quick, sly snake. Which reflects on my humanoid design of him, giving him snake eyes and a scarf which covers his mouth, and of course, his dark coat and dark color palette.

Dhmis is just truly top quality art that deserves to be known more, and praised and loved for just how great it is. It might not be for everyone, but it’s still absolutely wonderful and even if you don’t like horror, it should have it’s effort and art appreciated. I might not be a full Dhmis veteran, only joining the fandom back in September 2019, but I’m so incredibly proud of how far this series and fandom has come. I hope to see more of it and works like it from the creators and crew in the future.

Thanks for reading my long DHMIS and it’s creators appreciation post :)

[alaskasmonsters]

Chapped lips | Shigaraki Tomura

after that night, the night he'd first reached out for your hand, you and shigaraki had gotten a lot closer, even if that only meant you were holding hands a lot. or did it?

part 1

pairing: shigaraki tomura x gn!reader

w.c: 2.651

warnings: head empty just tooth-rotting fluff, also shigs being insecure about his skin, he’s still touch-starved :c

a.n: @hufflefluffslytherin​ asked for a part two and i really really really adore touch-starved shigaraki (and writing him) so i just had to comply!🥰🥰 (also if you’ve never seen fanart of shigaraki with his hair tied back i am so sorry, but you’ve been deprived)

Holding hands had become somehow normal between Tomura and you, although it usually ended up being in the privacy of his room. If Kurogiri noticed how close you’d gotten after he sent you to his room that one time he didn’t mention it. He’d only smile gently at you when you caught his...floating orbs. You weren’t sure if you could call it a smile when the guy didn’t have a mouth, or eyes….or a face. It was more like a vibe that you got from him.

The rest of the league had noticed the two of you had gotten closer, too. They were not stupid, after all. Well, they were all idiots, but they were smart idiots. You’d spent a lot more time at their lair now in consequence of you spending more time with Tomura. And of course every one of them had to give their two cents to the situation.

Toga would beam at you, teeth flashing and eyes sparkling with excitement, whenever the both of you were in the same room. When Tomura wasn’t present the girl would dreamily stare into the air, planning your wedding in detail. It was cute, almost endearing, if it wasn’t so embarrassing. You’d turn red as a beat and Toga would giggle at your flustered state.

Dabi turned to relentless teasing, constantly making jokes, some of which were so beyond inappropriate you’d loved to wash his mouth and your memory out with soap.

Compress was surprisingly soft on you, never once mentioning the new undetermined relationship between you and the boss, although you were certain he sent you winks from beneath that mask of his.

Spinner was being a little shit like always.

Tomura and you had grown closer in the process of your occurring hand holding sessions. Often you just sat next to him on the bed (yes, you’d gotten the privilege of being allowed on there), you would scroll through your various social media while Tomura explored the skin of your arms and your hands with his fingers.

You would have never expected he could be so...soft...quiet...calm...innocent. Just silently sitting next to you, staring at the ceiling or somewhere else (anything but you) while he let his fingers gently glide over your hands until you’d end up with your fingers intertwined.

He didn’t like talking a lot, you realized. Still private, still unrelentless.

It had taken weeks between then and now before you’d even gotten to this point. A point where Tomura felt comfortable enough to request your touch whenever he felt like it. Sometimes he just sent you the blank faced cat emoji and you knew that your presence was requested. You didn’t comment on it, just silently complied, sitting next to him in silence until he initiated the contact.

You knew he was still in disbelief about your nonchalance whenever he did reach out to touch you. He always did it so carefully, barely gracing your skin. As if he wanted to leave you enough time to react and pull back.

It was endearing.

Sometimes he tested you, brushing his fingers over parts of your upper arms, shoulder, leg, stomach, watching you out of calculating eyes, expecting, awaiting you to flinch back. You never did. Like you said, you didn't have it in you to mistrust Shigaraki in that way. All remaining resolve had crumbled the moment he’d first reached out for your hand.

When you knocked on his door that night, you were already buzzing with excitement, clenching the little item in your palms, something you’d brought for Tomura. You didn’t wait for his answer, already opening the door and slipping a moment later since he had sent the cat emoji earlier.

Tomura was sitting on his bed, game controller in his hand, the screen of his tv showing a shooter game was the only light that illuminated the room.

You had quickly realized Tomura enjoyed quiet and dark places.

He didn't look up, just glanced at you from the corner of his eyes, as you approached him and sat down next to him, already smiling. The item you brought was securely hidden in your palms.

The man hummed in greeting, scooting closer until your legs were touching slightly, barely brushing.

That was another thing you had noticed about him. Tomura wasn’t only enamored by holding your hand, but he craved the simplest of touches. It didn’t come as a surprise to you, considering most of his life everyone had been avoidant of him. You had figured he must be incredibly touch-starved, searching your warmth now that you’d willingly given it to him already, taking whatever he’d get.

It was cute.

You watched him play for a little while, supporting your weight on your hands as you leaned back onto your palms. But quickly your attention shifted, your eyes settling on the side of Shigafaki’s face. Eyes wandering from the scars around his eyes, to his dry lips and then to the sensitive skin on his neck...you could imagine it must hurt a lot.

You were a little familiar with impulsive behaviour like that, you’d bitten your fingernails for years, picked at the skin around them, too. It was a bad habit, one fueled by stress. Something you sometimes went back to whenever it would get too much. But you knew that was hardly comparable.

“Why are you staring at me?”

You were pulled from your thoughts by his hoarse voice, soft despite the scratchiness of it. You didn’t reply immediately, watching the ways the shadows danced across his features.

“Does it hurt?”

You didn’t have to point out what exactly you meant, he understood immediately.

“I’m used to it,” his answer was curt and you noticed how he lowered his head to let more of his hair fall into his face.

You hummed, not mentioned how tragic that truly was or how badly you wanted to hug him. He probably didn’t want your sympathy, perhaps even mistake it for pity.

You sat up instead, smiling widely in hope to ease the sullen mood as you raised your hand to finally uncover what you’ve been hiding all along.

“I’ve brought something,” you declared proudly.

Tomura glanced at the little item you held up to his face, eyes narrowing to read the name of the product. When he recognized what it was, he glanced up at your face, eyebrows furrowed in scepticism.

“Don’t tell me you want me to put that on my face.”

You laughed at the look of disgust in his eyes.

“It’s just ointment, don’t be so dramatic.”

He didn’t seem all too convinced by your words, face settled into a scowl.

“It’s really good, if you want to know my expert opinion,” you ignored the amused snort, “It’s moisturizing and helps with itches as well.”

He glanced at the object again, not very enthusiastic about the idea of it, you noticed, his face still purposefully lowered, his red eyes peeking out from beneath his white strands.

You cocked your head to the side.

“I could heal some of it, too, if it bothers you,” you suggested, although you knew you could really only do something against the recently damaged skin, nothing against the several small scars collected at the corner of his eyes or the base of his neck.

“Why, does it bother you?” he murmured, a sudden edge to his voice.

The grip around the game controller had tightened, although his pinkies were still skillfully spread to avoid disintegrating the piece of plastic.

“No,” you replied sternly.

Tomura hesitated for a moment, eyes darting between the tub of ointment and your face a few times before he made a choice. He paused the game and carefully placed the controller on the nightstand.

“Fine,” he mumbled, head angles towards you, “You can put that shit on me.”

You raised your eyebrows in surprise, itching to ask him to repeat himself, because you weren’t sure if you understood him correctly, if he really just agreed you could put ointment on his face. You. Not him, you.

But then he turned, until he was facing you completely, his legs crossed, knees bumping against the side of your legs and he watched you expectantly. You turned, too, positioning yourself so you were cross-legged as well and directly in front of him, trying to ignore the tingling in your stomach at being so intensely stared at by Tomura. You inched closer, bumping your knees more and the man leaned forward, almost expectantly, awaiting.

You stopped him with a raise of your hand and Tomura halted in his movements, squinting at the small object that you were now holding into his face. His forehead scrunched up at the sight of the hair tie in between your fingers and he gave you a sceptical look.

“Tie your hair back, Tomura.”

He grumbled, but complied to your request, lazily binding his hair together. A few strands fell out and back into his face and you softly pushed them behind his ears, not commenting on the way Tomura stilled at your touch.

Opening the tub of ointment, you put some of the substance on your fingers, glancing up at the man in front of you for approval. He was already looking at you with awaiting eyes.

Okay, if he didn’t make it weird you shouldn’t make it weird either.

You reached out to hold his face in place, cupping his left cheek gently. Tomura closed his eyes at your touch, leaning into your hand a little. You smiled slightly, raising your fingers with the ointment to the area around his eyes and started to carefully apply it to the skin.

The skin was rough under the pads of your fingers as you moved them over his face. He let you work in silence, the only sounds coming from him was the occasional hum whenever the cool ointment touched a specific sensitive area.

You moved on to the other side quickly, switching hands to apply the ointment with your left hand and hold Shigaraki’s face with your right, instead, to accommodate.

“Do you feel a difference?”, you asked softly, massaging the substance into his cheek.

He hummed.

“It’s nice.”

You smiled softly.

“Is it itching?”

He shook his head.

You moved on to his neck, occasionally glancing up at his face. It was relaxed, his eyes still closed, the corners of his lips slack. You smiled at the smoothened out features, your eyes getting stuck on the way down until you were staring at his lips. Dry and chapped but still kissable.

You froze in your movements.

Hold on, what.

Tomura had noticed you had stopped moving and cracked his eyes open, watching the expression on your face with interest.

“Why are you staring at me?”

You shook your head, desperately fighting the blush on your cheeks.

“Just thought you might wanna put lip balm on as well,” you replied calmly.

Good save.

The man scrunched up his face.

“You’ve brought that, too?”

You shrugged, spreading the last bit of ointment across his neck before you pulled back, massaging the leftovers of the substance into your hands.

“Well, i’ve got some with me,” you suggested, pulling it out of the back pocket of your pants.

Shigaraki eyed it suspiciously, raising his hand towards his neck before he halted in his movement, as he remembered your treatment, before he let it sink back into his lap.

“Don’t look so sceptical. It’s just a chapstick,” you laughed at the way he scrunched up his face in disgust.

To demonstrate you opened up the cap and rolled it up. Lifting it up to emphasize the plainness of your action before putting the lip balm on your lips. Smacking them together when you were done, presenting them with a grin.

Tomura looked thoughtful before he suddenly started smirking, his eyes gleaming with mischief as he gave a nod of approval. You frowned in confusion but didn’t get the chance to ask him what he was being so cocky about before he suddenly leaned in and caught your lips gently between his.

Despite the tenderness behind his touch you felt like the air was just punched out of your lungs. You were completely frozen against him, not moving, not knowing how to move. The line connecting your brains and limbs, the one that was supposed to exchange signals had been cut off the second Tomura’s mouth had touched yours. The man’s lips moved against yours just before he pulled back again.

You blinked up at him, mouth agape in shock as a warmth, a burning heat, spread through your skin, your face turning red.

He watched you in amusement before he smacked his lips together, loudly, a wide grin spreading over his features when he saw your eyes widen in shock.

“Like this?” he asked innocently.

You choked on your spit at the boldness of...literally everything.

“You! I...” you stuttered helplessly.

He chuckled slightly, strands of his bangs falling back into his eyes, which made him look even better than before. You huffed in mock offence.

“I can’t believe you, Tomura,” you grumbled, playfully hitting his knee as you tried to calm down your fluttering heartbeat.

The man just cocked his head at you, calculating eyes trained on your features. His stare was so intense you felt your face heat up again, just as you had started to calm down again.

He chuckled slightly, slowly leaning forward again, which led you to stop breathing for a second or two...or longer. He came to a halt right before your lips would have touched again, innocently glancing up at you through his lashes.

“Why? Do you want to kiss me?” His voice was deep and alluring.

You didn’t answer, the words got caught in your throat, the trust in your own voice vanished.

How could he turn from an innocent touch-starved gamer boy into this in a matter of seconds? It didn’t seem very fair to you. Especially when you were the one on the receiving end of this behaviour. Worse of all, Tomura seemed to enjoy your sudden speechlessness greatly, eyes drilling into yours as he inched even closer, the look in his eyes dared you to make a move.

He was close enough so you could feel his hot breath on your lips, so close the fruity smell of the ointment (you’d chosen a peach scent) assaulted your nose. All you could think was “Fuck it.” and throw caution out of the window.

You closed the remaining distance, planting your mouth on his and gained a satisfied hum in response. You smiled at the reaction, grabbing his face and pulling him more into you.

Tomura gave into your touch with ease, leaning in even more, searching your touch. He held your wrist, his pinky spread.

His lips were chapped and felt rough against yours, but you didn’t mind, not even a little bit. The kiss was heated, both of you getting more passionate as you deepened the kiss, the feeling indescribable. Your whole skin was tingling, your brain surely turned into mush.

Tomura wasn’t allowed to be this good at kissing, you thought. Did he kiss someone before or was this his first kiss? It couldn’t be...or?

The two of you parted when you ran out of air, both of you breathing heavily into the small space you’ve left between you. Tomura squeezed your wrist and chuckled breathlessly, shaking his head in disbelief as he stared you down. His eyes were sparkling with an emotion you couldn’t quite pin down but knew enough about for you to feel a little dizzy being looked at with.

“You really are crazy, you know that,” he whispered, a tone close to astonishment in his voice.

You just smiled, thumb brushing over the warm skin of his cheek.

Crazy for you, Tomura.

Taglist: @crystal-lilac​  @hufflefluffslytherin​  @duf3h6237​  @chucky-26o1​

[rinkrats]

What stands out about Crosby’s captaincy?

Yohe: Probably how incredible Crosby is with young players. If I had a dime for every time I’ve seen Crosby hanging out with players recently recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after games or practices, I’d have retired long ago. He has a special way with people and his greatest strength is that, though he’s one of the world’s most famous athletes, he’s almost freakishly down to earth. He literally has time for everyone and treats Evgeni Malkin the same as he treated Dustin Jeffrey. It was the secret to the 2016 championship. The Penguins decided to go young and bring up Bryan Rust, Matt Murray, Tom Kuhnhackl and Conor Sheary. He made them feel at home.

Rossi: The Penguins staged a media event inside the Igloo Club at Civic Arena to officially name Crosby as captain. About a month had passed since their opening-round loss to the Senators in the 2007 playoffs. Crosby, who played that series with a broken foot, showed up in a suit that fit snug. “It’s tight, right?” he said, poking fun at himself. “I haven’t been able to do anything because of the foot. If this is what happens when I don’t work out for a month, I’m probably going to get huge after I retire.” His combination of self-awareness and self-deprecation was startling given everybody in the room had gathered on his behalf. But I’ll never forget the last thing he said to me at that event: “Hey, good luck with the house thing — that’s a big deal.” Somehow, Crosby had heard from somebody that I was headed straight for the closing on my house after covering the event. I vividly remember driving to the closing in my car and thinking how ready he was to wear the ‘C,’ that his recognition of my big moment on his big day was something only a natural captain would do.

Favorite quirk?

Rossi: When Crosby really wants to get a point across, he uses a person’s first name instead of their nickname. Don’t know if this is intentional or something from his subconscious. But it’s rare, sort of private, and probably the thing I’ll remember most about him after everything else.

Gentille: Probably the times he randomly grows a mustache and doesn’t shave for a while. Sometimes, there’s no rhyme or reason — just a dude making a goofy facial-hair decision and sticking with it. Nothing to see here. From a guy who isn’t all that funny, deliberately or otherwise, it’s a window into … something. It’s also possible that he just likes having a mustache from time to time, but I’m choosing to add another layer of intentionality. Also, I know I mentioned it already, but the sandwich thing … putting jelly on top of peanut butter, not on the other piece of bread, is unfiltered insanity.

Yohe: I always enjoy watching him stickhandle on the logos in each building during warmups. You know why? It’s the only time you’ll ever see Crosby act like anything resembling a showoff. I’m not even saying he’s being one. But you could theoretically argue, “He’s got some of the greatest hands of all time, and he’s letting people know.” His work on the McDonald’s logo at PPG Paints Arena is very much the stuff of legend.

Crosby’s future looks like …

Yohe: It’s a tough one to answer because he’s so incredibly guarded in certain ways. But I would suggest he’ll always be involved in hockey, and presumably with the Penguins. He truly does love the game and, though he might take some time away from the game after he retires, I bet it won’t be for long. He comes from hardworking people, and he’s not the type to do nothing the rest of his life. My guess is he’ll play until he’s at least 40, maybe longer if his body allows. Then he’ll join the front office in some capacity, or perhaps ownership. He’s got the money to do it.

Gentille: I don’t think anyone knows, really — and that’s cool. The only guarantee, to me, is that whatever he does, he’s going to want to do. Maybe that’s playing until he’s 40, maybe not. Maybe it’s taking the Steve Yzerman route to the front office, maybe not. Maybe it’s spending a couple of post-career years hanging out in Southern California, maybe not. He’s in control, though. And I’m not sure he’s gotten enough credit for that so far.

Rossi: Here’s what I’ve never heard Crosby say, on or off the record: that he plans to play past his current contract. That being the highest-paid player is important. That he wants to play for another franchise. He has said he appreciates that people in Pittsburgh respect his privacy. He has said that he’d like for him, Malkin and Letang to finish what they started. He has said he doesn’t think about where he’ll finish on the all-time goals and points list. And I’ve never known him to lie, so taking Crosby at his word seems a safe bet. I’d like his future to include fatherhood because there’s a joy to him when he’s around teammates’ children that makes me wonder if what Sidney Patrick Crosby was put on this planet to do just about better than anybody else isn’t limited to playing hockey.

-Sidney Crosby through 1000 NHL games, 18 Feb 2021

[thinkingaboutyoungroyals]

I’ve re-watched “Young Royals” so many times and each rewatch just never fails to astound me. This is one of the most beautiful stories I’ve ever seen in a teen drama. Yes, it’s trope-y, there’s no avoiding that. And it’s not a perfect show. But, it managed one thing that many teen dramas often struggle with: authenticity.

All the characters, yes, including August, are all so well thought out and no one is one-dimensional. They’re all flawed. They have their own morals and beliefs that they either embrace or reject. They have their own background stories and motivations for their actions. Not to mention, the teens? They act like teens! They go to school, hang out with friends, complain about their families, have crushes, and take part in hobbies. 

And none of them look like they’re about to walk a runway! They have acne and scars and messy hair.

The costumes, man! The kids wear regular, comfortable clothes that are still fashionable and appropriate for school. Yes, the rich kids are wearing designer names that scream “money!” (I noticed the Calvin Klein logo in one of Wilhelm’s sweatshirts) but that’s the thing — they’re subtle without being in your face. Even the girls’ makeup looks like the actresses themselves did their own makeup!

And don’t get me started on the relationships! All the relationships! Familial! Platonic! Romantic!

Wilhelm clearly loves his parents but he’s the second born. The spare. Most of the attention growing up was most likely on Erik. And Wilhelm most likely felt invisible, which was just fine with him, he doesn’t like the attention… until Erik died and Wilhelm became crown prince. Suddenly, all the attention that their parents gave Erik was given to him and it wasn’t the good kind. They have expectations for him now. Big ones. I don’t think Wilhelm’s parents are homophobic, not at all. His mother seemed sympathetic towards him after the video came out. But, at the end of the day, she was still the Queen and she had to make choices for the good of the Crown. And, unfortunately, that clearly took precedence over her role as a mother.

Simon and Sara’s dad made some wrong choices and lost his family in the process. And although Simon seemed more forgiving, Sara is clearly not. Micke tries to get back in Simon’s good graces by getting him the booze for the party but freaks out when he thought Simon was using drugs. And even Linda, best mom ever, clashes with Sara, who believes that their mother isn’t doing enough for them. We, the audience, sees that she is and Simon does, too, but Sara feels that it’s not enough and Linda doesn’t even try to fight her on it.

And Felice clearly loves her mom and struggles to meet her expectations but is getting choked in the process (’quite literally). It makes me wonder if her initially going after Wilhelm is because her mother is pressuring her to get with the prince. During parents’ day, her mother asked after Wilhelm, not Felice. And Felice realizes pretty quickly how toxic her mother is but, in the beginning, there wasn’t much she could do but go along with it. But, slowly and surely, she starts breaking away, starting with refusing to wear her mother’s dress and refusing to be Lucia and giving it to Sara, who actually wanted it.

And there’s August’s obvious distaste of his mother’s boyfriend and his rocky relationship with her after his father’s suicide. August is still clearly grieving while his mother seemed to have already moved on. And although this doesn’t excuse August’s actions, it shows his motivation and how strongly he’s holding on to whatever sort of control he can get his hands on: the rowing team, his status in school as prefect, and Wilhelm.

(More under the cut cause this was longer than I anticipated.)

I can’t talk about “Young Royals” without talking about Wilhelm and Simon’s relationship. The way it started because Simon spoke up in class about the unfairness of the law when it comes to welfare scams and tax evasions. Wilhelm’s whole life was probably filled with fake friends, people who only wanted him for his connections or to elevate their own status. In a sea of fake people, Simon was authentic. He never pretended to be anything he was not. And I can see why that must be intriguing to Wilhelm and he pursues him without even realizing it. He’s drawn to Simon and not just ‘cause he’s cute and has the voice of an angel.

And they got the actual way teenagers act when confronted by feelings for a crush. They watch and long from a distance. They shyly try to get close but get overwhelmed at any hint of reciprocation. The careful hesitation at that first kiss. The heartbreak of the possibility that you read the signs wrong. The giddiness of that first relationship. Yes, they do have sex from the get-go but the relationship itself was not sexual — it was innocent, sweet, and full of adoration.

They even have a fairly healthy relationship! They communicate and talk about their feelings. They don’t let things fester. When Wilhelm realizes he’s hurt Simon, he apologizes. And Simon, even if he may not understand Wilhelm’s motivations, tries to do so, anyway. They have so much respect for each other. They had a relationship that stemmed from friendship and trust.  

That’s what makes the eventual reality setting in hit hard. Because we suddenly remember that Wilhelm is no ordinary boy — he’s a prince. He’s in love with a commoner who also happens to be another boy. I don’t know what it’s like to live under a monarchy but I can imagine that even if the actual people they rule don’t care if their crown prince likes boys, the monarchy is still set in their traditional ways.

And these boys, who are experiencing love and a relationship for the first time had theirs marred by the violation of their first time and the expectations of the crown. Not to mention, they’re teenagers! That’s traumatizing for both of them! 

Suffice to say, I’m glad we have this piece of media that, despite it about being about royalty and nobility and rich kids, it’s enjoyable to watch because it’s incredibly relatable and real.

When you see these characters, you see your peers and people you’ve grown up with. You can even see yourself. 

And that, my friends, is why we need a season 2.