#this was kinda last minute aka rushed but eh

[steve0discusses]

Episode 47 S5: Mana Runs too Slow and it Kills 2 People

Tumblr decided to change the way it does image posts so this is going to be my hell. I can only have max 30 "blocks" of images (yikes) and uploading all your images at once and then just adding text in between is actually not possible! (least it's a nightmare on browser. I have not figured out how to drag my text in between images, so I'm just uploading every image one by one and hoping I don't forget one)

thanks, I hate it!

Peeking up at us over the horizon, our end of the world apocalypse has reached the next step of his rampage: which is to shoot glowing missiles out of it's Dragon crotch until Egypt is destroyed.

Seto is doing his best to look productive, but unfortunately this is Sad Seto, who is still buffering.

Just uh...give him a minute. He has to remember how to be Seto.

(read more under the cut)

I'm pretty sure Kissara told him straight up to call her whenever, and considering how few words they've ever said to each other, you'd think he'd remember the words she said like half an hour ago. Then again, he was kind of...sleeping when that happened. Or hallucinating, or dreaming, or all three.

Bakura and Yami are watching this pan out from the Shadow Game Zone, Bakura kind of nodding slowly while Yami becomes overwhelmed with embarrassment over how much everyone around him is screwing it. This is not meant to be funny, but it was very funny to me.

I have brought this up before, but Bakura does bring up a good point, that this entire arc was kind of against the grain of who Yami became over the course of the last 4 seasons.

+++++STAND BACK I'M GONNA RANT, FEEL FREE TO SKIP++++

Don't get me wrong, Yami LOVES to make bad choices that end the world. But why would he continue to go back here and destroy the world of the future he knows and loves so much? Especially since it already went SO south with Dartz the last time he opened pandora's box?

He has a new identity now, he has so many friends, last arc was just so many women throwing themselves at Yugi. His life is really good! I think they could have developed more of a line of logic between last arc and this arc, but like with a lot of things in this arc, it was rushed.

So him giving up his newfound modern identity that he made all himself through hard work and friendship first off feels kinda bad. Like I'm OK with him being a new guy, he worked hard for that! Lets not go backward now.

And then him coming here to regain his old identity is sort of like the show knew what it must do, but the characters were like "nah." and then went and did it anyway seemingly at gunpoint.

And I kind of wish there was any contrast between who Yami's new identity is in the future and who Yami was in the past. It would be fascinating to dive into the fact he's now two people yet again, even though Yugi is no longer in that bean. but eh save it for the fanfiction, because they needed to end Yugioh in a certain number of episodes.

And that happens sometimes. Stories are character driven, and when you try and drive the characters, they become less like people and more like iconic symbols. Here's our hero. He must do this because he's the hero. That's it, that's the reason. Welcome to Shonen Jump.

+++++++END RANT AKA THIS ARC HAS COOL IDEAS AND I WISH IT HAD ENOUGH TIME TO DO THEM BETTER++++++++

Problem is, Yami isn't that meta. He's dumb though, so in a way it does make a little sense why he had to open the box. He dummy thin.

Dummy thin and still can't read.

And like in case you've jumped in here after my accidental hiatus (hello!) and not realized this, I had to binge watch the rest of the season before we cancelled our Hulu subscription. There was the option of watching it for free on the Yugioh website, but I didn't want to change my Photoshop actions.

So get ready for me to talk about how the ending of this show bothered me, for like 8 episodes. I'll try to keep it in, so we can get there when we get there.

But you can't say lines like "We were meant to be together." in the context of this arc, you can't DO that, show.

Apparently the creator of Yugioh got hospitalized while he wrote this arc, hence the dick king demon. But also it got....messy. We have like 3 seasons of development in like 8 episodes, buckle up. They did the best that they could do with the resource's given, and we'll even get to meet my favorite character a few times before it's over (the Storyboarding God that occasionally guest stars on Yugioh, love that guy)

Back on the playing field, Yami is running out of options, when Isis informs us we can just go to McDonald's and get more McGuffins.

Out of basically no where, Mana zips onto the screen because she's ready to have at least one girl's night before the end of the world. The contrasting energy from both Mana and Isis is peak goth babysitter vs the parrot that hides behind the couch and bites your feet.

Back near Pharaoh's tomb, Yugi is still dueling over a deathpit with the child who these kids think is Ryou bakura.

This is not however, Ryou Bakura. It's sideways adjacent evil Bakura.

And it didn't really matter that this plot point ever happened because it's not like Yugi, Joey, or Tea ever catch on that this isn't Ryou anyway. But at least I, the audience can feel a little bit better about the weird twist by the dub there.

Ryou is still passed out on some stone steps. He's fine.

You might be wondering "Oh so what asinine thing is Isis going to have to do to get the items back?" and uh, you're wrong actually.

Turns out we could have just picked up the items in the desert at any time but I guess we forgot. I'll blame it on Shadi.

Joey Wheeler, who can punch out probably anything but a ghost, chooses to hide behind Tea because he knows she can punch a ghost and I believe it, too.

Back on the surface, is a scene that would have been emotional if it hadn't been 3 minutes. it was NOT enough time to give a proper send off to our girl Isis here, and they tried, but if you imagine the Yakety Sax song playing under this death here, that's about the speed at which this girl biffed it.

speaking of Yakety Sax theme, this is what was happening while Mana was crying her eyes out.,

And you may ask, was it really that goofy? and yes, yes it was.

and like I get it, animation and pacing are really, really hard. Parts of me wonder if maybe on paper this seemed OK. If maybe even as a storyboard this seemed OK. But something you learn quickly when doing any sort of narrative art, is that you need like 2x as much space as you think you do. Pause is an underrated godlike skill that takes a lifetime to master.

However, it still had good stills going on, it still had some lovely direction just...I mean they dropped Isis from top to bottom of that frame so freakin fast it was like she was a dropped banana hahaha.

They still have to carry these items physically to the Pharaoh, and so becuase Mana is a slow runner, 2 people freakin died this episode distracting Zorc. Which is also the title of this episode because I want to send home howfreakin funny that is to me.

Ah, back to Episode 1.

So how breathtaking and epic is the Kaiju fight you ask? Well good thing for you, I capped it.

The look on Seto and Yami's faces about sum it up.

And as quickly as he showed up to do a few silly punches, the great Exodia was cut exactly in half. Don't ask me how the card logic works for that, I have forgotten how this game works already.

Mana finally makes it to Yami, cursed puzzle in hand, and that ends this episode.

Can you imagine adding 7 characters to a story knowing you have to kill all of them individually before the anime arc is over? Breakneck deaths going on here.

Sorry for all you people that were so deeply attached to Shimon, the guy who isn't even Grandpa, by the way. A moment of silence for all 4 of you.

And we get back this thing. This horrible thing made out of thousands of dead people's souls. The thing that trapped him for 5000 years and launched him into the future. The only thing that can save mankind.

(If I have used this Mokuba joke like this before forgive me it was like a different lifetime before I caught covid, and I will not be able to regain those memories because I cannot curse myself with a rude ass puzzle.)

The abusive relationship with the Millennium Puzzle is a whole anime college essay I would write if I had half a brain, but alas I have the immune system and fatigue of a sickly gerbil or a goldfish that feels a little bit chilly. So I will not be writing that in depth episode but like...

Think about how far we've come with this jackass puzzle. And yet, I'm supposed to forgive it? Nah I don't think I have yet. Go to hell, puzzle.

This puzzle can go straight to hell.

Anyway, if you just got here you can read these recaps in chrono order at the link here:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

PS I had to do so much assholery to get that to go to my chrono link and not my main link. They would just. Change my link. They would just change my link every time I pasted it. Tumblr you have GOT to give me my old post editor back omg.

[vitaminxi]

Day 7 ~ “Underwater”

@ikerev-appreciation

[iknownothingihearnothing]

Game of Thrones 8.1 “Winterfell”

OMG.

ZOMGGGGGGGG.

Them dang ol’ dang ol’ Thrones are BACK!

It’s been twenty looooooooooooong months of GoTlessess. Winter came. And left. And damn came again. And now winter has come for our heroes in the glory of springtime. 

Can’t you just hear the little birdies chirping? The bees buzzing? The white walkers moaning as they shamble beyond the wrecked Wall in their endless quest for dominance and human flesh? 

You’d be forgiven if you don’t entirely remember what happened last season. Jon bent the knee to Dany after he and some of his Merry Men--the Amazing Tormund Giantsbane included--ventured Beyond the Wall to capture a wight in order to prove to Cersei that, yes, the undead were indeed real and not a conspiracy cooked up by Ser Alyx of House Jones in order to get her to let her guard down just enough for Dany and Co. to steal her crown and she sailed in on Drogon like a badass and rescued them. No damsel in distress here. So Jon lost his King in the North status but he gained a lady friend, and by “friend”, I mean--

After seeing the wight for herself, Cersei promised to send the Lannister army up North to fight for the living. But, you know...

Gratefully, our handsome Kingslayer, however, has some scruples. Finally having had enough with Cersei’s crazy bullshit, he tells her he swore to fight for the living and that is what he is going to do, damnit, and takes himself North-way, leaving his sisterlover and their maybe bun in the oven behind in the capital. 

The biggest reveal, of course, was the confirmation of the long running theory of R+L=J. AKA, Rhaegar Targaryen went off and married Lyanna Stark in secret, she got preggies with Jon/Aegon and, dying in the Tower of Joy, Lyanna made a young Ned Stark promise he’d always take care of her son. So he lied to everyone, that he was his bastard kid to protect him from the “all Targaryens must DIE” Baratheon rule (that non-Aryan head of hair helped, I’m sure) and raised him in Winterfell as a Stark but not a Stark. 

Now Jon Snow, who started the series knowing nothing, will soon know all. 

Including that he’s technically been fucking his aunt but what’s a little incest between friends on Game of Thrones? 

Oh and also Viserion was taken out and the Night King revived him to knock down the wall. We have an undead dragon, people!

Let’s get into it, shall we?

We gots a new opening, which is cool. The now defunct Wall looks like it is entirely made of ice cube trays.

We start in on a little boy who is trying to see all the hubbub but can’t glimpse over the adults, harking back to the pilot when the Baratheon-Lannisters visited the North to offer their thanks for helping overthrow the Mad King and to hook up Sansa and the Joff. Said “hubbub” being Dany, Jon, and their army entering the North. Arya’s also there, wearing a far less fabulous outfit than Dany is, frowning at the Hound’s appearance but relieved at Gendry’s. 

He has traded a small boat for a horse.

If you were taking bets on how soon Tyrion would make a junk joke, I hope you had down “within the first few minutes”:

Varys rightfully calls him out on his hypocrisy; he hates imp jokes but loves eunuch jokes. How can he be cool with that? 

Obvs, because Tyrion has balls and Varys doesn’t, duh.

#Woke, Tyrion is not.

 As the procession moves throughout the town, people are glarin’ and starin’ and Dany is obviously uncomfortable, poor lamb. Jon tells her that Northerners don’t “accept outsiders easily”. So, to use an analogy, Jon is the one guy from his small town in Pigeon Butt, Arkansas, who is welcoming to everyone when the rest of the residents are all “You ain’t from ‘round here, are ya?” *changes magazine in rifle*

I’d be annoyed if I were Dany. I mean, lugging my ass all the way up to the damn frigid North, freezing my tits off, with a fucking army and two dragons, all to save everyone’s asses, and they’re copping a ‘tude? Pfft. Y’all can kiss my Southern butt.

One of the dragons roars and Dany smiles because at least that is familiar to her, but of course the townspeople scatter while Arya stands there grinning in delight. Dragons! Cool!

The Lady of Winterfell, however...

The look to the camera she gives is like “Oh ffs.”

Jon rides into the Winterfell courtyard and when he sees Bran for the first time since he was a boy he, delighted, hops down from his horse to hug and kiss him. “Look at you! You’re a man!” And when the robot that used to be Bran replies “Almost” like the automaton he is, Jon’s face gets, well...

And, I must add, how WEIRD it is to me that, amid all these Qyburns and Sansas and Davoses, BRANDON is a popular name in Westeros/Ye Old Timey serfdom alterna-England. To me, Brandon is THIS guy:

Brandon is Jason Priestley and a delightfully 90s name, not to mention the moniker of way too many boys I went to school with. I keep expecting to see Nat round one of the corners of Winterfell with a megaburger. 

Jon hugs Sansa and asks after Arya, who is “lurking somewhere”, and hesitantly introduces his girlfriend to his sister. It’s the nightmare Meet the Parents except the parents are dead, everyone’s about to die, and it’s fucking cold as balls. 

Dany, the poor lass, tries to ingratiate herself by complimenting Winterfell’s “beauty” (eh?) as well as Sansa’s (yes, Sophie Turner is a fox and Joe Jonas would agree) but Sansa’s having none of it:

BranBot breaks in on the Mean Girling, telling Dany that the Night King has Viserion and the Wall has been de-Walled. At the Great Hall, Young Umber says that they need more men and horses “if it pleases my Lady. And my Lord....and my Queen. Sorry.” 

The Queen thing is, uh, gonna take some getting used to. 

Sansa tells Young Umber to collect his people and Jon is called “Your Grace” after giving an order and little Lyanna Mormont, that badass, rises slowly like a boss.

She continues like “Yo, we crowned you King in the North, you gave it up, wtf are you now? Just a regular old lord, I guess?”

And Jon busts out this truth--although he was honored to be crowned, the choice was either keep his title or save the North. He chose the North. I gotta side with Jon on this one, sorry, Lyanna. I love you, but y’all Northerners are being stubborn dumbasses. Crowns and titles reallllllllly don’t mean much in the wake of DYING HORRIBLY BY LEGIONS OF UNDEAD. 

Tyrion tries to calm the storm between the Northerners and the visitors, telling them that Jon risked his life to prove he wights were a threat; the Lannister army was soon going to join them in fighting for the Not Dead cause. There are grumbles amongst the peanut gallery and Tyrion concedes that they “have not been friends in the past”--

--but they all had to work together now. Sansa, still holding onto stubborn Northern pride, wonders aloud how the hell how they are gonna feed Dothraki, Unsullied, and two dragons? “What do dragons eat anyway?”

Dany: “Whatever they want.”

Booya!

Obviously, I would bend the knee to Daenerys. I likely fall over though. Hope she doesn’t mind.

Tyrion goes to speak to Sansa, whom he has not seen since season four, Joffrey’s non-wedding to Margaery, to be precise. You remember that.

Yes, Sansa, it indeed had its moments. Unfortunately, with Joffrey gone, we got Ramsay in his place so....

Sansa apologizes belatedly for bolting right after the Joff’s murder, which, admittedly, was a wee bit hard for Tyrion to explain, her being his wife and all. He kinda had to go to trial. Hire Oberyn to fight the Mountain for him. Again, we all know how that turned out.

Squishy squishy!

Sansa also can’t believe Tyrion truly is convinced the Lannister army is on its way to the North based on Cersei’s word alone. “I used to think you were the cleverest man alive,” she lays down before walking away.

Sansa has turned into Shade-sa. 

Now it’s time for a Jon and Arya reunion! Yay!

Jon: How’d you sneak up on me?

Arya: How’d you survive a knife through the heart?

Jon: I didn’t.

So Jon and Arya show each other their swords and Jon asks her if she has ever used hers and we the audience watching are like--

And then they talk about Daenerys. Jon is a wee bit pissed that Sansa is unappreciative of him risking his and his Merry Men’s asses to save the whole frigging kingdom, understandably so, and, fucking weak, Arya defends “her family”. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE HELLO DON’T YOU SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE?! NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR PETTY “I DON’T LIKE MY BROTHER’S GF, SHE’S NOT FROM HERE, SHE CAN’T UNDERSTAND US!” NONSENSE! THE DEAD ARE COMING, DAMNIT!

In K.L., Creepy Qyburn rushes to tell Crazy Cersei that the wights have broken through the Wall. Her response?

If there is one thing on this mixed up continent we can count on it’s that Cersei will do the most fucked up shit to keep that crown on her blonde head. Including letting ice zombies lose on at least one of her kingdoms.

Just off the coast of the capital, Yara is still being held prisoner of her Uncle Euron, AKA Guyliner Greyjoy. What is it with pirates and guyliner and leather pants? Euron, Captain Hook, Jack Sparrow...While poor Yara, the rightful Queen of the Iron Islands, is tied up, Euron introduces Crazy Cersei to the captain of the Golden Company, who promises all these men and horses and weapons and things. ‘Cept no elephants, much to Cersei’s dismay. They’re not good for long sea voyages. 

Euron wants to talk “in private”. 

Which in Westerosi-speak is:

Cersei tries to put him off; she told him after the war. “Wars can last years,” Euron counters. He’s given her weapons, the Iron Fleet, the Golden Company (whose captain is named Harry Strickland, that is so out of leftfield in a world of Eddards and Tywins), what else does he need to prove that he’s totally Team Cersei?

Well, Cersei doesn’t wanna lose the only ally she has left in this war she still sees herself fighting so...

Euron:

Elsewhere in the capital, Bronn is trying to get his offtime on with three ladies who cannot stop talking about how frigging cool and scary the dragons they saw attacking K.L. were and Bronn is obviously only an afterthought. A watercooler, if you will. When Creepy Qyburn interrupts and lets Bronn know that Cersei is looking for him.

The gist is Qyburn has been sent to hire Bronn on Cersei’s behalf to execute Tyrion and Jaime in case they don’t survive their “Northern adventures”. And she wants him to use a crossbow to do it because she has a keen sense of poetic irony. 

Bronn:

Bronn might be my favorite.

In Cersei’s chambers, Euron is getting dressed (because he just got Queened, you see; this show can never be accused of being subtle) and immediately asks her how he “compares to the fat king”. Cersei tells Euron that Robert had a different ladyfriend every night but still had no idea how to please a woman. Sad for Robert.

 Then he asks about “the Kingslayer” and Cersei wonders if he wants to lose his head. But he’s arrogant and she likes that (and he apparently doesn’t mind that she had a torrid affair with her twin brother; they’re either perfectly matched or perfectly psychotic). Just before Euron leaves, he says:

 Prooooooooobably not aware that Cersei’s belly just may be currently occupied at the moment.

Cersei smiles holding aloft her ever present goblet of wine as Euron leaves. IDK if she is simply humoring an ally or if she actually finds Euron grossly charming. I mean, he’s hot and all but he’s also a pig but hey I’m sane so what do I know.

On Euron’s ship, Theon and his buddies launch an attack against the assholes who have captured Yara. Theon unties her and she headbutts him for abandoning her like a sister would (”You left me, your Queen, to our bastard of an uncle! You dipshit!”), then extends a hand to help him off the floor and they say no more about it. 

Yara suggests they go back to the Iron Islands; they’ll all need a place to go if Dany and Co. fail in the North, a place where the dead can’t follow. But Theon obviously wants to go to Winterfell and fight for the Starks, to make up for betraying them and being an absolute fucklord, so Yara commands it. “What is dead may never die, but kill the bastards anyway.”

In the North, Dany is worried about Drogon’s and Rhaegal’s lack of appetites. They “only” ate eighteen goats and eleven sheep. IDK, that sounds like a lot to me but again, what do I know? I’ve never owned a dragon. I should ask the Munsters. 

Dany and Jon go visit the dragons, who are restless cus they don’t be likin’ the North. And why would they? They’ve been all over and in much warmer climes and now they’re stuck in some frozen over craphole where no one washes their hair and wears the same clothes for two weeks straight. 

Dany wants to fly them to give them some exercise and urges Jon to get on top of Rhaegal while she flies her trusty Drogon. Jon is, obvs, hesitant. He’s never ridden a dragon, he doesn’t know how. Well, no one does until they’ve ridden a dragon! So, Jon climbs on top of Rhaegal, braces himself, and off they go.

And it’s hilarious.

And Dany’s totally into it. Jon’s holding onto Rhaegal, screaming like a girl and Dany’s like “Oh YEAUH I’m all about this”. When they touch down at a really pretty spot in front of a waterfall to get bizzay, she’s looking like she’s falling deeper in love with him and the dragons are looking like, well, like they are watching their mom get bizzay. 

Kinky. You don’t see Dragon Mom-Dragon Cuckold-Ex King of the North videos on PornHub. That’s a niche they should tap into.

This scene was totally unnecessary for the plot and probably cost a lot of money to render and was hysterical. Who knew dragons had kinks? I mean, I guess they are entering their hormone-fueled adolescence and missing internet and Playboy outlets so...this is the next best thing?

Sorry about that, boys. 

Arya and the Hound run into each other for the first time since season three, where she left him to die but first robbed him. “You’re a cold little bitch, aren’t you? Guess that’s why you’re still alive.” 

She also runs into Gendry and asks him to make her a weapon, to which he hesitantly complies.

Inside Winterfell, Sansa receives a letter from House Glover letting them know that they wish the North luck but House Glover will remain in the woods. It’s a classic piss off. Even though House Glover promised to always stand by House Stark. No, Sansa denies. He’d stand behind the King in the North. They’re gearing up for another argument. Jon counters that they needed allies. He brought home armies and dragons! 

UGH!

Sansa, I love you, but Lort Almighty!

Yeah ok, the Mad King was, well, mad, but A) Dany is not her father and B) ICE ZOMBIES WITH AN ICE DRAGON ARE COMING! SOON! THEY ARE ON THEIR WAY RIGHT NOW! ALL YOU PEOPLE ARE BEING HARD-HEADED IDIOTS!

Dany and Jorah go to visit Sam to thank him for curing Jorah of his Greyscale. Dany asks Sam if there is anything she can do for him to repay him. Sam asks for a pardon for taking some books from the Citadel and a sword from House Tarly; it’s been in his family for generations. And that is when things get--

Daenerys explains that she offered to let Randyll Tarly keep his lands and titles if he bent the knee, but he refused, and we all know what happened to him. 

At the info that his daddy is toast, Sam seems to take in stride because Randyll was a dick but when Dany adds that Dickon stood by his father and was also roasted Sam excuses himself.

How good was John Bradley in this scene? He conveyed so much emotion in a single facial expression, just a shift of the eyes, a downturn of the lips. You could totally tell he was barely holding it together.

Sam goes outside and spots BranBot, who urges him to tell Jon the truth with his emotionless visage. After all, he’s not his brother.

He finds Jon in the crypt and they hug it out until Jon notices the look on Sam’s face. He thinks something’s wrong with Gilly or Little Sam until Sam confesses that Dany had Randyll and Dickon executed. Sam asks him if he would have done this if he’d been in her place. Jon argues that he’d executed men who had disobeyed him in the past, but he’d also pardoned men who refused to kneel. Jon parries he wasn’t a king like Dany is a queen. 

Sam claims he is. And he doesn’t mean King of the North.

He and Bran worked it out. Sam had a High Septon’s diary. Bran had...BranVision. Jon’s father was, of course, Rhaegar Targaryen and his mother was Lyanna Stark. 

He’s Aegon Targaryen, Sixth of his Name, Protector of the Realm, yada, yada, yada.

Jon’s like “You better not be bullshitting me, man!” And Sam’s all “Would Dany bend the knee and give up her crown to save her people like you did, bro?”

Jon:

On the grounds of Winterfell, the hunting party, consisting of Tormund Giantsbane, Dolorous Edd, and five times resurrected Beric Dondarrion (be careful, Beric, Melisandre isn’t around to resurrect you again), is, uh, hunting when half the party jumps out screaming “Stay back! He’s got blue eyes!”

Brienne needs to get on that. They’d make adorable, and huge, blue-eyed babies.

Eventually, they find poor Young Umber, the first casualty of this season, nailed to a door with his innards and body parts creating a spiral pattern around him. He awakens zombified and the party lights him on fire, causing the whole spiral of gore to become alight in flames.

Ugh.

Everyone has a fucking sigil on this show. Even he dead guys.

The episode ends with Jaime finally riding into the North, climbing down off his noble steed to fulfill his promise to fight for the living, and...

Your past sins have caught up with you, Jaime. 

[neverwatchedonepiece]

529-530: "The Fish-Man Island Will Be Annihilated?! Sharley's Prophecy!" and "The King of the Fish-Man Island! Neptune, the God of the Sea!"

A rare image of Hordy Jones stepping on a lego.

Only had time for two episodes tonight. Luckily, there was enough in them to write about: including the reveal of a villain (always exciting!)

His name is Hordy Jones. He is angry, he is a Fishman, he looks oddly like the guy from ACDC and he has... a dog slung round his neck?

Not to mention the prophecies, designer boutiques, royal invitations and awkward questions.

Dreams Do Come True in Fishman Island

The episode opened with Luffy, Usopp and Chopper rushing around the harbour town, looking for a human - any human - who could donate Sanji’s blood type.

Luckily, a pair of nice okama stepped up and saved Sanji’s life. Of course, when Sanji regained consciousness, he freaked out. Usopp and Chopper both had to remind him to thank the okama. Come on, Sanji. Not cool. They saved your life in a place where donating blood is an act of great political significance. Show a little gratitude, eh?

While taking a break from Sanji’s fool antics, Chopper examined a strange mark on Luffy’s arm. Turns out it was poison! Luffy took a hit from Hyouzou (how did I miss that?) Chopper declared it very potent and wondered how the hell Luffy survived it. He asked if Luffy had ever been poisoned before.

Oh boy, Chopper. Does Luffy have a story for you. It can be told in one word: Magellan.

(Seriously, though, did Luffy not tell the Strawhats what happened to him while they were sailing, or was it all so next level that being poisoned to near death was not one of the major highlights?)

Camie, who had come to see how Sanji was doing, took Luffy and Usopp back to the Mermaid Cafe dorms. On the way, they called in to see Madame Sharly: a beautiful shark mermaid with premises at the back of Mermaid Cafe. (I think she might own the cafe because she gave Camie the day off to show the Strawhats round Fishman Island?)

Not Unless You Play the Lottery

Oh, and she is also a dab hand at crystal ball fortune-telling and has been since she was little. She has correctly predicted a few cataclysmic events, including the war in Marineford and Whitebeard’s death. Recently, she’s stopped using the crystal ball because she can’t stand knowing bad things will happen. I suppose Whitebeard is the kind of guy that would go to war no matter what. I can’t see anyone convincing him otherwise, even if it was someone like Sharly, who knew he’d be killed in battle.

I wonder if she’s been burned before by using the crystal ball? She was all dramatic and stared off into the middle distance when she said, “It’s better not to know the future.” Something has clearly gone wrong in her life that she has that attitude to such a strong power.

Luffy, who seems to be living on another planet at the moment, said, “All very well and good but do you know how mermaids poop?”

That’s right, Luffy. Always asking those important questions!

It was round about then that Camie realised she’d forgot to deliver the clams to Pappagu! So they hurried off to find him at another, fancier cafe up in Fishverly Hills (lol), where they found Brook, aka Soul King, living it up with Pappagu and a couple of mermaid fans. (I love how famous Brook is in his own right and not just as a member of the Strawhats.)

There was a lot of good world-building here. Courtesy of Pappagu, who tried so hard to be a Good Exposition Starfish (why won’t anyone listen to him?), I now know that Merpeople don’t eat meat and fish (but Fishmen do). That King Neptune runs the Island. That, if a Merperson and Fishman marry and have kids, any children they have will either be a Merperson or a Fishman, not a harmonious amalgamation of both. 

And the good news is that the Flying Dutchman/Captain Vander Decken stuff was not a random encounter character to be used once and disposed of! Not sure what his role will be yet, but Oda seems to have something planned, as he has been given backstory. Turns out Brook was right about the original Flying Dutchman crew being several hundred years old, but the original Captain Vander Decken reached Fishman Island and died there. The one manning the Flying Dutchman now is Vander Decken IX, his descendant. Apparently, the guy has a bounty and the whole island’s been looking for him for ages because he started sending unwanted love letters, packages and threatening marriage proposals that scared the princess to the point a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Looks like someone can’t take no for an answer, eh?

But the most interesting thing was this.

Big Momma’s House

Luffy noticed the sign on a candy factory. Pappagu explained that when Whitebeard had shuffled off his mortal coil, the role of Fishman Island Protector became vacant.

The position was filled by Charlotte Linlin (or Big Mom, to the rest of us): one of the four (now three) Yonkou. She hasn’t been mentioned since Thriller Bark, so I was excited for that miniscule teaser Oda gave. 

Big Mom demands loads of candies as a fee for her protection. This confused Luffy. “But she’s protecting this land after old man Whitebeard died? Isn’t she a good person?”

Pappagu shrugged, as only starfish can. “Whitebeard didn’t demand anything, but maybe Big Mom sees protection more as a business.”

Interesting... she’s definitely a different kind of Yonkou.

But I didn’t have time to think about it for long because the action switched to Sharley, who had burst out onto the street, freaking out about Luffy, begging everyone she could  grab hold of to “find Strawhat Luffy and throw him out of this country!”

Wait, what...? Wasn’t she happy to see them ten minutes ago? Why? What had caused the change of heart?

Apparently, she saw a vision of Luffy in her crystal ball: an image of him surrounded by fire. “At Strawhat’s hands, Fishman Island will be destroyed!”

Eh? Surely not. There has got to be some mistake here. There is no way Luffy would sink Fishman Island. Or at least not on purpose. That is the only way I could believe Sharley’s vision would ever come true.

Hmm....

This Guy Is So Hard, He Puts Sharks in Sweaters

Cliffhanger over, I steamed straight onto episode 530. After a dark and mysterious opening (more on that later), the action cut back to the Strawhats. Pappagu was explaining his job. Turns out he’s not just an adorable starfish on land: in Fishman Island, he is a Super Influencer: a rich designer and president of the Criminal Brand clothing company - a famous fashion line.

As they approached one of his shops, the Strawhats heard some serious, weapons-grade haggling within. 

Of course it was Nami! 

The harassed shopkeeper was pleased to see Pappagu. This lasted until his boss told the Strawhats they could have as much free clothing as they liked in return for saving his ass at Sabaody.

Pappag, that was a rookie mistake. Never tell pirates they can take as much free stuff as they want. THEY ARE PIRATES! xD

But that was not the only drama going down in Fishverly Hills. Outside, there was a commotion. The Strawhats, Camie and Pappagu went to check why everyone was shrieking.

King Neptune had arrived. The big, bearded, booming-voiced ruler of Ryugu Kingdom and Fishman Island. Golden rays of light bathed the spectators. I wondered why he kept mispronouncing the word “ham” in Spanish.

It was the first time Camie had ever seen him. The King only descended from the Upper World if there was trouble. He hadn’t brought guards. Very strange! Ryugu Palace is a sacred place for Fishmen. A celestial place where ordinary people aren’t allowed to go. Where the princes and princess live.

The King turned and said, “Oi, Megalo. Are you sure these are the guys?” When the cute, sweater-wearing shark popped out of nowhere and confirmed (I love that it has a name), King Neptune invited the Strawhats to Ryugu Palace.

“Is there good food there?” Luffy asked. Priorities, amirite?

“Of course. We’re planning a banquet,” Neptune answered.

Luffy couldn’t have accepted any quicker. He piled onto Neptune’s fishboat with Usopp, Nami and Brook, then looked back. “Aren’t you coming?” Camie and Pappagu were frozen in awe.

“We don’t deserve to go to Ryugu...”

That was the Wrong Answer. Rank and status does not impress or intimidate Luffy (and that’s one of the reasons I like him so much). He told them to stop being dumb and get on. 

It’s funny how the rest of the Fishmen and Merpeople are so awed of Neptune, yet he was completely unbothered when Luffy invited some commoners to his house. Neptune is either more chilled than he seems, or he is up to something.

But not everyone is as enamored with King Neptune...

This Guy Is Not A Fan

This is the Fishman behind the New Fishman Pirates: Hordy Jones. 

Now, I can’t help but compare this guy to Arlong. He’s a shark fishman and he has similar views to Arlong.  

Hell, Arlong was the first real villain I took to in One Piece. The first real threat. He did horrific things. I’ll never forget that black and white scene when he shot Bellemere in the head. When Nami broke down and Luffy laid his straw hat on her head. Then there was the walk to Arlong Park. All those iconic moments.

Hordy Jones has big shoes to fill. It’s early yet, so I’ll wait until I’m further in to make any judgments. When I first watched Thriller Bark, I was kinda bemused by Moria, then he ended up one of my favourites. 

This guy has got a hold of some Fishman Roids and likes necking a ton to gain super strength. Apparently, the Roids shorten lifespan but Hordy does not care. When a bunch of escapee human pirates were reported for desertion (they must have met Hammond and enlisted. Now I think I know why there haven’t been many visitors to Fishman Island lately!) Hordy ate a meaty fistful of those Fish Roids like they were candies someone had packaged up for Big Mom.

Then he swam off and deliberately crushed the deserters while handcuffed to show how strong he was. It was cool the way he punched through the ship like a cannonball. He also let the hapeless crew live because: “Humans killed Fisher Tiger and shattered Arlong’s dreams. The dark and tragic history of Fishmen Island will end with us, the New Fishmen Pirates. You humans, survive with cuts and bruises to show the people on earth what happened to you in the sea, and who you met. Tell them how horrendous it was. We’ll capture the centre of the world, Fishman Island, from the gutless god of the sea, Neptune, and drag you humans down to the dark sea bed. You’ll all learn that the Fishmen are the superior race.”

I can tell he’s ambitious, is this Hordy Jones.

Unfortunately, the very same humans who crushed Arlong’s dreams have just landed on Fishman island. And he knows it. I wonder what he’ll say to Luffy when he meets him. That should be an interesting conversation.

Oh yeah, and Caribou has escaped the barrel because some mermaids opened it. No idea what he’s up to now, but it won’t be anything good.

Say yes to drugs on Fishman Island!

[sunnysidewrites]

Wolf!Wonwoo

Requested by anon: The Wonwoo fic and Taeyang fic are so freaking cute and they are so well written too omg! Please write more fics for the both of them as they're my favourites (: Wolf!au? Thank you ((((:

Requested by anon: Wolf!au for wonwoo or woozi! Thank you and I love your works!!

so i got the same au request i hope both of these suited your taste! LIKE I SAID I HAVE OVERWHELMING FEELS FOR WONWOO SO THIS IS PROBABLY LIKE THE LONGEST HEADCANON I’VE EVER WRITTEN THIS IS SUPER LONG OMG BUT I HOPE YOU ENJOY EVERYONE!!!! BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH THE WONWOO IMAGINES :)))) if you weren’t satisfied please send me another request!

oKAY NO LIE I WAS LITERALLY THINKING ABOUT THIS LAST NIGHT

I was lying in bed and was just like “hm you know wonwoo really resembles a wolf????”

aND THE NEXT THING I KNOW I HAVE 2 REQUESTS ABOUT THIS AU LMAO

I love jeon wonwoo anyways

You lived near a very dense forest with your grandpa

Since it was a small town, there could only be so many things that could happen before word travels

Ofc nothing ever happens in your small town the most eventful thing was when the local market ran out of your favorite potato chips like honEST TO GOD

But as of late there’s been more signs of wildlife in the forest and everyone is lowkey freaking out like what is this we haven’t even had livestock in 80+ years????

Thanks to the dense forest there’s been showing a steadily increase in deer population yay!!!! But also what!!!!

With deer ofc comes…………

Wolves

Packs and packs of them

You’re worried for your life what if a wolf is gonna attack you one day since you’re right next to their habitat!!!!!

Your grandpa is just like lmao y/n chill i was a hunter back in the days we’ll be fine

It was a chillier day than usual in the winter and temperatures were dramatically dropping

You were tired of being cooped up in the small little house so you were just roaming around in front of your porch and playing with the fluffy snow

You smol child were too busy cutely hopping around to notice a wolf lurking behind the trees oH SNAP

It wasn’t until it got a little closer that you felt a strange presence and you know that eery feeling in the horror movies where it’s like …..i feel like someone is there…..

You immediately stopped and cautiously looked around you

You would have missed it if you weren’t so keen about your surroundings bc the wolf so easily blended in with the forest and snow

yOU WERE GONNA SCREAM BUT dude they can probably smell fear that’s not your best choice here

your heart leapt in your throat so you couldn’t have screamed even if you wanted to (you did)

Gdi your grandpa was out running errands and he left like half an hour ago so you’re kinda screwed!!!

The wolf looked so,,, ethereal and majestic with its mix of black, gray, and white fur and it was still pretty young

It looked more like a wild husky so beautiful i love dogs

But you obviously didn’t have time to soak in their beauty you were about to get eaten for pete’s sake

You were very very very slowly backing away from it your door was only a few steps away

buT IT KEPT INCHING TOWARDS YOU LIKE PLS LEAVE ME ALONE ALL YOU WANTED WAS TO MAKE A SNOWMAN (it doesn’t have to be a snowman im sorry that joke is old)

You decided that maybe since this winter was harsher than normal it was hard finding food

So once your back hit the wall yOU SLAMMED & LOCKED THAT SHIT

You rummaged through your fridge to see if you could find absolutely anything for the wolf to leave you tf alone

“Aha!” you grabbed a piece of red meat and cut up a fourth of it into smaller chunks

You were pretty damn smart like we’re talking about how a pre teen be doing all of this

You brought your cutting board to your window and sure enough the wolf was still outside your house yiKES

You cautiously opened your window and you could see the little ears perking up

You threw the pieces as far as it could reach the wolf in the hopes of him leaving once he’s gathered his meal

At first the wolf jumped back in surprise like ??? what’s this human doing?????

After a few minutes of inspecting the meat the wolf cautiously approached the makeshift meal and started to gobble all of it in seconds flat

You’re just like,,,,,,,,,,,,,, that could have been me oh my god,,,,,,,,,,

After it finished eating it looks back up to you and even from afar you can see gratitude and hints of,,,, sorrow??? in its eyes

It turns back to the forest and disappears as fast as it came

All your little body can do is slump against the door clutching your beating heart like i WAS GONNA DIE TODAY

You thought that would be the last time you were gonna encounter a wolf but there wouldn’t be a plot then lmao

You managed to prevent any more wolf encounters as you grew up and by the time you hit 20 you have been successful

But all good things must come to an end

You decided to go to a college nearby to still help take care of your aging gramps but the school isn’t all half bad it’s pretty decent so good for you reader!!

It was now winter break aka the longest school holiday your college granted you with so you decided to return home and spend some Quality Time with your grandpa

Your grandpa’s health has been declining more apparently than ever

One time you had to rush him to the hospital because he fell unconscious and you were trying so hard not to tear up and be strong the whole time

You stayed overnight at the hospital despite the nurse insisting you return home but you just camped outside the hospital room and slept there

You woke up to a random blanket on you and you figured it was just a nurse who knew better than to convince you

Your grandpa quickly recovered in a matter of days go gramps

When he was finally discharged and you were approaching the front desk about the bill they were like “oh it’s already been paid for”

“What that’s strange I didn’t even get the bill yet”

“Someone walked in last night and said they’ll take care of it for you miss”

You thank her and walk away in confusion like,,,, ofc you’re grateful that you didn’t have to pay but who on earth would do that?????

One day you wanna explore the forest because i mean you lived next to it for basically almost your entire life and you don’t even know what it looks like!

Ofc your grandpa is like do you wanna get killed child um

“Pls gramps I lived my whole life being terrified of that forest and now that I’m older I kinda want to see what it looks like,,,, I’ll stay close enough to have the house in my view!”

“sigh,,,, well you’re an adult now I trust that you can make decisions for yourself so,,,, fine”

So off you go to your death exploring

You’re amazed by how enchanting the forest looks like from within, nothing like what you see from your house

The snow only adds more of a magical sense

There’s a small pond and some bushes where you guess is the deer’s habitat but they probably left to find a warmer spot

You push yourself to discover more about the forest so you inch just a litttttle farther

You see a bridge and think ????? did someone live here or something why is there a bridge?????

And being the curious cat you are you crossed it only to see aNOTHER HOUSE LIKE UM WHO THE

you hear some muffled talking and you’re just likE OH CRAP I GOTTA SCRAM so you hide behind a fairly big trunk just in time before some faces are in your view

You see a group of men around the same age as you and at first they seem to be normal but what’s normal about living in the middle of the woods????

You carefully eye each of them, and you mentally do a headcount of 13

One of them immediately catches your eye and you can’t help but feel a sense of familiarity

He’s wearing a gray turtleneck and black skinny jeans with a gray winter coAT SLJDKFLJDSFLJFDSLJFDLJDFSJDSF I LOVE WONWOO THE MODEL

He seems to be aware of you and he’s like @ the group

“Guys… do you sense someone here?”

And you’re like oH NO MY COVER IS BLOWN ABOR T M I SS ION

And the guys are like eh wonwoo you’re probably being a little paranoid

“Wonwoo it’s been years just let it GO!!!” (what’s up with all of these frozen puns this is unintentional i sTG!!!!) “the last time you said this it was just a rabbit!”

And you’re like ???? what do they mean by that buT I GOTTA JET

You wait for them to enter the house and wonwoo is the last one

He scans the area one more time and does a little head shake before heading inside

you can’t help but feel a tug in your heart because he just looked so disheartened and dejected

And he sWEARS he could have smelled your scent but maybe it was his brain tricking him like it did all these years :(((

Who hURT MY EMO SON wait you did indirectly lmao

You get tf out of there like “i aint trying to die again bye yall”

You’re scrambling to get out of there and when you reach the house your gramps is like so how did it go

“uM I HAVE HOMEWORK TO DO BYE”

Gramps: but??? it’s ,,,, break,,,,,,

You contemplate about what just happened back there

You: i shouldn’t go back i got lucky and didn’t get eaten alive

Also you: but i need to find out more ok it’s settled I will return

Soon enough you found yourself visiting the same place every day and now wonwoo is rEALLY on edge

“gUYS DON’T YOU SENSE IT WHAT THE HECK”

“wonwoo…….. We acknowledge your senses are the better ones out of us but…… you need to let her go”

You’re like omg what??? Her??? Who’s her?????

“You know I can’t do that…… she fed me -- hey wait a minute, is that someone over there?”

OOOHH FUCKKKKK

You’re like oH WELL FUCK MY LIFE

They whirl around to where his finger is pointing and they’re like hmm wait he’s right it looks like someone’s shadow

“COME OUT WHOEVER YOU ARE”

And you’re scared to literally freaking death bc you are not trying to get yourself killed but i mean you kinda had to see it coming tho

So you do what a reasonable person would

RUN

“hEY WHO ARE YOU”

But you just keep running and you eventually get lost in the forest and you’re like oh my god pLS NOT NOW

You’re desperately trying to reroute but you’re pretty sure you passed by that same stump six times

You try to calm down like ok look it’s still probably around noon and the sun is still out you still have time

That is until you hear a crunch of a leaf

And you’re like oH MY GOD NOW WHAT

You turn around to see you’re surrounded by dark black wolves

This is it this is where you die

And you’re trying to find an escape but you’re practically cornered

“Please….. Go find something else to devour……. I swear I am not tasty at all…………… I’m all bones you wouldn’t want that right aHAHA………...”

One of them inches closer to you and you can guess it’s probably the alpha male since it seems to be the biggest

And you’re like welp i lived a good life IM S ORRY GRAMPS YOU WERE RIGHT

You’re in the middle of having a mental breakdown when the alpha suddenly bares his teeth and you know it’s gonna go down

Just as it’s about to leap on you, you see another blurry figure slAMMING INTO THE ALPHA

A full on wolf battle is going on right in front of you

Not only did that wolf come but his entire pack did so it’s pack vs pack

And some black wolves are still trying to get @ you ;))) to devour you ;)))

I gotta go

But obv the other pack is like dON’T TOUCH HER and you’re super confused bc 

Well there’s obviously more than one thing to be confused about but your main concern is why am I not getting eaten??????

You can’t help but notice the one who rammed his body in your attacker has very,,,, familiar looking fur,,,,,,

And you’re like oMG NO,,,, NO IT CAN’T BE HOW

Since the wolf brawl has temporarily taken the focus off of you, you’re like ok this is my chance 2 escape

You don’t get too far like probably 15 feet when you’re feeling really lightheaded and nauseous

You stumble upon a tree and try to steady yourself but the events took a huge toll on you and so you collapse

Right before you do you feel someone’s arms holding your waist up and some yelling

“I… finally…. found you….” you hear someone whisper in your ear before you really blackout

By the time you regain consciousness the sun is about to set

You’re stirring around in a foreign bed and you’re like wait,,,, hold on,,,,,

Your eyes slowly adjust to the dim light and the strange room

You’re fully awake now and start panicking like where am i???? Am i gonna die?????

You see someone’s head on the edge of the bed and you’re like WHO THE

“oH GOODNESS” your little outburst woke him up

He groggily yawns and rubs his eyes “oh great you’re awake!!!!!11!!11”

You just stare at him in 34384682 emotions welling inside of you like pls do not hurt me i just want 2 go hOmE!!!

He starts to introduce himself as Wonwoo but who cARES YOU JUST WANNA GO HOME

“Ok Wonwoo i have no idea who you are or where I am but I need to leave before I’m actually gonna get killed by my grandpa I appreciate you letting me stay here for the time being but I gotta go now thanks i guess??? bye”

And you’re trying to keep your cool and escape as fast as you can but he’s right on your heels

He is nOT gonna let you leave so easily after spending the past decade thinking about you

You reach the outside of the house and you realize,,,, hey it’s the house i saw earlier,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

He eventually reaches you and pulls you around by the arm and you almost gasp when you see the intense look he has in his eyes

“I,,, can’t let you leave just yet”

“Please i’m sorry for snooping earlier!!! Please let m eg o I swear to keep my distance!!!!”

“tHAT’S THE THING I DON’T WANT YOU TO KEEP YOUR DISTANCE”

You: what

Him: what

“What…. did you say?”

“Don’t you remember me? You fed me”

And you’re like ?????????? ?? ???????  what is this guy on

“Uh… Wonwoo, was it? I think you have the wrong person; I don’t know what you’re--”

And it hits you

That day you thought you were gonna die

You look at him completely baffled like how is that even possible???? That was,,,, a wolf

Your breath is hitching you’re gonna faint again that means he was the same one who saved you from being eaten

“I know it’s hard to believe but that was me!!!!! Food was extremely difficult to find at that time and when I saw you…. Well, i was hoping you would be willing to spare me something”

My heart poor little wonu was gonna starve to death if it weren’t for you

“But…. but how….”

“Ah…. well that’s a story for later but the important thing is I was eternally grateful to you and I was determined to find you again,,,, I wanted to return the favor for saving me. Who do you think paid off your grandpa’s medical bills? I hope that blanket was warm enough for you”

YOU’RE FLIPPING OUT LIKE HOW DID HE

Turns out he’s been watching you from afar as his human form as your little guardian angel (or stalker…. tbh) im crying

“You were thankful just for some pieces of meat I gave out?”

“It wasn’t just some meat. You saved me from dying! I hadn’t had any food in my system for a week. I’ve helped your grandpa plenty of times at the market before. I also purchased those textbooks you needed for that math class”

“Wait but my friend gave those to me?”

“Yeah well that’s what I told her to say to you LOL”

gdi your friend was probably geeking out about how good looking he was

And you’re just trying to process this but it’s overwhelming to say the least

“You… you did all of that for me???”

And he’s like ofc!!! :DDD you deserve everything and more!!!!

And you’re like oH MY GOD DID I JUST DIE AND SEE AN ANGEL

“What about that pack from earlier?”

“That’s our rival pack,,,,, I’m so sorry you had to get caught up in our rivalry but good thing I got there in time. I told the others to help protect you”

And you start tearing up because of how gracious and humble and caring he is and he’s like oh nononono and starts to freak out and hugs you

You’re gonna bAWL why is this guy so nice to you he’s even rubbing circles on your back to help calm you down

“I’m not asking much of you…. but can we try getting to properly know each other? You were the only single person to not judge me in my wolf form,,,,, everyone else would throw sticks and stones :(((“ (words do indeed hurt you tho) “and i’m also grateful that you were able to accept me even as a creature that you feared”

you take a moment to breathe and eventually accept bc even tho this is all so sudden and foreign you can just tell he has a heart of gold and doesn’t wanna hurt you

Ofc your gramps throws a fit when you get home and he’s like wHY IS THIS GUY WITH YOU

After a long long talk things are settled and your gramps is like ok fine you can date her or whatever but one wrong move and your head is gonna be hanged here

“gRANDPA WE’RE NOT DATING (yet)!!!!”

“I’m just saying i got my eye on you boy”

You spend the rest of your break getting to really know Wonwoo and try to overlook his,,, alter ego thing,,,, as best as you can

You’re outside making snowmen and snow angels and just being so carefree about everything

You somehow end up in a snowball fight with wonwoo and he’s like ur going down!!11!!

You’re hiding behind a tree and peek out to find him but when all of a sudden someone ambushes you from behind

“I GOT YOU” he screams in your ear while you’re laughing and trying to wiggle out of his arms

You guys stumble and fall with him on top of you oHMYGOHDGHLGDS

Your laughter dies down a little and all you can think about is how close your faces are

He softly smiles at you and leans down to give you your firST KISS IM SCREAMING

“HEY KIDS WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING”

“gRANDPA STOP”

[tigerlover16-uk]

What do you think of Miles Morales and his series?

Appropriately enough, I just began reading his comics again through the ultimate collections, of which I bought the first and third volumes. (I did read most of the second half of his first series though a while back, so I know what happens, so I thought I might buy the third volume of the ultimate collections since I hadn’t read anything after that series ended).

It’s a pretty decent comic. Miles is kinda okay, somewhat standard as far as teenage superheroes go, but a likeable character who does feel like a real 13 year old for the most part, so credit there that’s not always easy to pull off. The artwork for most issues is nice, I’m not overly fond of a lot of Bendis’s writing conventions usually but here the story is pretty decent for most of the first series.

Everything involving Miles’ father was fantastic, and Aaron Davis (AKA Prowler) Was a great villain, the parts with him and Miles were the best drama in the series. Does kind of annoy me a little that he replaces Hobie Brown in the Ultimate Universe, but hey, different universe and the canon character still exists, whatever. It’s better than a lot of stupid changes the Ultimate Universe made and we got a great character out of it.

Though I feel like killing him off after only 12 issues was a mistake since, honestly most of the other villains weren’t that good. We get inherited d and c list villains from Ultimate Peter like Electro, Omega Red and The Ringer, neither of whom are around long enough or given enough personality to be interesting, and Miles beating Electro so easily after he got done wiping the floor with half the Ultimates felt kind of forced (Seriously, how do you beat ELECTRO with an electric shock? Or is the venom blast meant to inject some kind of poison? That would make more sense, but it looks like an electric shock)

The Scorpion had his entire original gimmick stripped away from him so he’s just some generic gang leader Kingpin wannabe who swings around a hooked chain, honestly he wasn’t that interesting and felt more like a plot device than anything, but I guess that one’s more excusable since Aaron and his conflict with Miles was the real meat of the story there.

Going over to the second series, Norman Osborn was… still not as good as his mainstream counterpart, but okay I guess? And then the whole Hydra thing in the last arc felt underdeveloped and not that satisfying, capped off with Ultimate Doctor Doom reminding us all why he’s one of the worst Doctor Doom’s out there and why using him as inspiration for the 2015 F4 movie Doom was a stupid mistake.

Oh yeah, and they really screwed up with Venom, transferring his symbiote to some boring whatsisname and having him basically just act like a generic monster. Way to strip one of Spidey’s most beloved villains of everything that made him memorable, Bendis. Not even getting into how he was used, but wait a minute.

So yeah, hope Miles got a better rogues gallery after transferring over to the mainstream universe. His supporting cast is mostly decent though. Jefferson Davies as I said was great. Ganke was fun. Judge was… eh, kinda there. Bombshell was good, I’m not well read on mainstream Cloak and Dagger so I can’t say how well they were adapted into this universes but their ultimate selves are fine from what I recall. Ultimate Jessica Drew is still a good character, and Maria Hill is far less annoying than her mainstream counterpart can sometimes be, I’ll give her that.

Rio Morales wasn’t as fun a mother figure as Aunt May, but she was a really likeable, well written mom character and those kind of characters always resonate with me, so I enjoyed her. And then they went and fridged her for Miles and Jefferson’s man pain. Because that’s not an annoying cliché that people hate, especially since it screws up what was an interesting status quo and something that sets Miles apart from Peter in that he has both his parents alive and involved in his life while Peter just had Aunt May, his mother.

And yeah, I’m aware that she gets revived at the end of Secret Wars and that it’s then treated like she never died at all, but that just ticks me off even more because it means that all the fallout of her death and the development that lead to for Miles and her husband is pretty much null and void now, so what was the point of killing her off in the first place?

The second series before secret wars was borderline bad I’ll admit. while issue 200 of the Ultimate Spider-man comics was great, I don’t like how they handled Peter’s return and that arc in general, from Peter’s characterisation, to pointlessly killing off Ultimate J Jonah Jameson (a big no no for me for any Spider-man continuity) and some other minor nitpicks. It had good moments and some decent ideas, but it felt like a bit of a missed opportunity as a whole.

And again, the Hydra storyline that capped off the Ultimate Spider-man comics as a whole felt rushed and not nearly as well developed as it should have been. I really felt nothing about Miles’s relationship with Kitty because of how little panel time we saw them together across both series before Miles decided to go all “She’s the one. I gotta tell her I’m Spider-man”. Though while I understand he had every right to be mad at her, Miles giving Dagger the clear to beat her up at the end when she barely did anything wrong outside of one mistake and was treated pretty sympathetically all things considered made him look like kind of a jerk. Though the bits with Jefferson’s backstory before the Hydra arc was good, outside of the horrible artwork for the flashbacks that made it hard for me to tell what was even going on for the first several pages. It was just ugly.

Thankfully the writing on the first series was generally very good and worth investing in though, so I’m still hopeful the All New All Different Marvel series turned out better (Even barring that controversial issue I saw being talked about a while back where Bendis made fun of people who were excited for a Black Spider-man).

Overall it’s kind of hit or miss, though definitely a lot of good things and I had fun reading overall. I’ve enjoyed Miles in some crossover appearances in other books I’ve read too, so even though I don’t think he’s in my top 5 Spider-family characters I can say that he was a success. I don’t think it’s an amazing series and Miles himself isn’t anything groundbreaking as characters go, apart from being the only half-black, half-Hispanic superhero I can recall, but the books were a good read for the most part and I see why the character got popular. I mean, aside from the brand recognition he had on his side. I’ll definitely be checking out his animated movie when that hits theatres next year

[shinwhoohoo]

I guess the most stupid ideas are coming up unknowingly LOL. B1A4 Ranking King: the 3min aka weirdo Boyfriends (of SNL). Please rank them (well you have to choose haha). Looking forward to it XD

I always love your asks though! They’re always so unique~ ☺️

So I’m taking this as I decide the basis in which I’m ranking them? Two different thoughts come to mind, so I guess I’ll do two different rankings then!

1.) Which BF skit was the funniest (ranked from MTL)

Baro: Baro is just really good at acting, and his was the only one I actually laughed out loud to. The image of him coming down the street with the bulldozer, and later on with him appearing in the TV 😂 and his facial expressions.. perfect

Gongchan: I WISH HIS WAS LONGER JUSTICE FOR GONGCHAN DAMNIT. What he did in his minute long skit though was pretty funny. He’s good at being extra and captured that well being dressed as Thor and doing the crazy moves.

Jinyoung: The ending of his skit where you see him wearing the heels was pretty funny. He’s good with his facial expressions as well, which helped make it funny. I think his was a littler longer than it needed to be though.

Sandeul: I didn’t really laugh at his skit, but seeing his cute little chubby legs when he forgets his pants is enough to keep him from last place heehee~ 😝

CNU: His facial expressions were funny and I loved how soft his voice sounded during the voice overs but eh. I feel like his BF skit idea could have had more potential but it just felt rushed.

2.) Which BF would be the most tolerable (ranked from MTL)

Gongchan: To me, besides him being childish and wearing costumes, there wasn’t really anything that could get him (or you as the GF) in trouble?? like with some of the others.

CNU: Since he’s technically portraying the ex-boyfriend anyways, as long as you could kinda tune him out and ignore him, there really wasn’t anything too bad… I mean him randomly showing up on your couch crying would be a little freaky (but then again it’s CNU so I for one wouldn’t care lmao)

Baro: I feel like things start to get a little trickier here… with Baro, his whole skit was he’d do whatever the GF told him to do, or if she let him aware of her unhappiness, he’d try to fix it, no matter how crazy that might be.. So you’d have to be careful and really think through what you say to him if you were angry or upset… So he doesn’t bulldoze the office you work at lol.

Jinyoung: Having a boyfriend that mimics every feeling you have (unless it’s the more positive emotions of course) would get REALLY annoying for me. Like no, I’M the one that’s sick, not YOU lol (like the part where he throws up with the GF? I would not tolerate that shit like no way lmao). Having two people who are grumpy would not do.

Sandeul: He’s mainly last because I”m thinking if he’s that careless and immature… that could lead to some pretty dangerous situations. Not to mention it’d be annoying to have to keep track of everything he does and all his belongings so he doesn’t lose them!

[xertasadventures]

Orlando Weekend Trip

I know I haven’t posted in a while. It’s been very busy for me as of late and I haven’t had a chance to finish the blogs for my Cebu trip. I will hopefully get back to that vacation soon, but while I have this moment at the Orlando Airport I figured I’d take the time to write out my trip here since it’s probably one of the best, yet short, vacations I’ve ever taken.

Before I detail out what happened, let me first explain how this trip came about. Initially, I wasn’t supposed to go to Orlando at all at this time. Having done a trip in the Philippines for two and a half weeks and also wanting to save up for other “planned” trips throughout the year I figured I’d wait until I’d have a “major” trip (major implying it would cost me more than the usual). Jaymie on the other hand was planning to come down to Orlando with her family with their primary purpose for coming at this time was for the Star Wars Celebration, which is concluding as I write this post. Her brother and parents were going to spend the Saturday (aka yesterday) at the convention while she was going to go spend the day by herself at a theme park.

Not wanting her to go around a theme park by herself (#paranoidboyfriend) and also getting a decent bonus this year, I figured I would go fly down to Orlando to spend that day with her, especially since some of our previous plans had to be pushed back due to her pursuing her master’s degree.

So here I am... or rather, here I was flying down to Orlando. I used some of my IHG rewards points to help keep the costs of the room down at the Holiday Inn in Disney Springs, ten minutes away walking distance from the Disney Springs area. I booked a flight with delta since I have skymiles with them and to also help earn miles for any future trips (especially trips to the Philippines since they are partnered with Korean Air). Initially I was just going to use uber and take mass transit while here in Orlando, but at the last minute my Dad convinced me to rent a car, especially since I turned 25 so rates for me shouldn’t be that bad. I booked a car with Alamo and was ready for my trip to Orlando.

On Friday I woke up a little late seeing as the night before was a raid night (which, sidenote, was a piece of crap because I didn’t get squat from the two bosses I really needed items from > . >). But i managed to get ready and get all that I needed for my trip. I didn’t want to check in any bags considering that I’d have to pay for any checked bags (don’t have the credit card to bypass that, yet...) so I had to keep it to mostly clothes - I figured I could buy the travel sized toiletries at a Walgreens here anyway.

Once I was ready to go, I met my Dad downstairs and drove him and myself to the airport. Since I wasn’t going to drive Xerah (yes, that’s the name of my civic, don’t judge me = 3 =) this weekend I figured I’d take her to the airport and just have my Dad drive her back home. Traffic to JFK wasn’t terrible. It was actually better than I anticipated, so I got there at a reasonable time. After saying goodbye to my Dad I headed to the kiosk to reprint my boarding pass just in case and then headed through security with no issues. Once I found my gate I pretty much just chilled there until my flight was ready to board, catching up on 13 Reasons Why (a good series, would highly recommend btw).

The flight itself was full. I was kinda worried I’d be forced to volunteer my seat but lo and behold, this wasn’t United, so I was pretty safe. Weather was spectacular at both NYC and Orlando so no delays due to weather either. I had an aisle seat and sat next to a woman who kept to herself. While on the airplane, I continued watching 13 Reasons Why and before I knew it, I landed in Orlando!

Pretty sure this is the first time I’ve been in the Orlando airport. If I have been here earlier, I was probably a wee little chlid because I don’t remember being here at all. The airport looks and feels a little smaller than JFK and also looks a little less... modern I guess? Still, at least they had the AC going. After leaving the secure area I made my way to the rental car area and waited on line before getting my car. Initially they told me I was going to drive a Chevy Cruze, which would be cool since that was one of the other cars I was considering instead of the civic. But I ended up renting out a Ford Focus, which was still cool because that car was also another one I was considering XD. It was a hatchback model (eh) but it was still pretty cool, though up til I left it here I still don’t know what half of the buttons on that car did LOL.

After getting my car I used Google maps on my phone to drive to the Holiday Inn in Disney Springs. There was a lot of traffic on the way so it took me about 45 minutes to reach my hotel, but once I arrived, check in was a breeze - they even offered to “upgrade” my room since I was early, giving me the same setup but with a -view of the fireworks... which would’ve been cool if I wasn’t going to be out during the fireworks XD Still, it was nice of them to do this for me, and the room itself wasn’t bad. Pretty spacious non-smoking king bed room with a couch and a nice bathroom. The locking latch was a little weird but other than that no complaints.

Not wanting to waste time just staying in the room and anxious to explore, I changed out of my jeans and into some shorts and walked to Disney Springs. It really was only a ten minute walk and once I got there I wanted to see if I could find a place that sold a lobster roll or a crab roll. The sandwich, not the sushi = 3 = It was Good Friday after all, so no meat. However, after walking the length of Disney Springs and not finding anything like that, I ended up just eating a pizza at Wolfgang Puck’s Express. Yes, I am/was carb backloading, but it was also a vacation - LET ME LIVE = 3 =.

After eating my late lunch (ate around 3pm) I decided to look around to see if there was anything else I wanted. I found a gelato shop and got a scoop of pistachio gelato and a scoop of cookie gelato and finished that up while walking around Disney Springs. It was in that moment that I realized that I really liked Orlando and already started making retirement plans in my heard for this place, but we’ll see how that turns out lol

However, my time at Disney Springs would be cut short as I really had to use the bathroom. So I rushed back to my hotel room and after relieving myself I chilled in my room waiting for Jaymie and her family to arrive. I also had to go to get my toiletries so I took the car to a nearby walgreens to get said toiletries and also ended up getting three cases of purified water for Jaymie’s family, since they said it was cheaper to get that and they would just pay me back later. They then offered to let me go to their resort and eat a “pre-dinner” with them, so I drove to Disney’s Pop Century Resort and chilled with Jaymie and her family in the resort’s cafeteria. It’s a pretty cool place because they had a lot of selections and you could buy this cup that’s free refills for the duration of your stay.

After having a pre-dinner, we brought up the water bottles to their room and then I drove us to Disney Springs where we would eat dinner at Paddlefish. It was pretty packed and since Jaymie’s brother, Michael, has an allergy to fish and shellfish, we had to eat outside so that he wouldn’t be choking on the smells. I ordered scallops, which is kinda funny because it came with brussel sprouts and I actually enjoyed eating the brussel sprouts more than the scallops because the scallops were so freaking salty! But it was a good dinner regardless and after we ate we walked around Disney Springs before I drove them back to their resort to drop them off then headed back to my hotel to rest up for the following day.

Oh boy. Saturday. Saturday was busy AF but at least it didn’t start as early/bad as it did for Jaymie’s family. I woke up, got ready, then went to meet Jaymie at her resort to eat breakfast. After eating breakfast, she and I headed to epcot and because she was staying in a resort she had free parking so I parked in the Epcot lot which was awesome - no relying on shitty bus schedules or shady uber drivers :D We then headed to Epcot but we were running late for our first activity - the Test Track. So we fast walked to that and once we got to the gate in time we took our sweet-ass time walking down the line.

Test Track is probably one of my favorite attractions in all of Disney World. The idea is that you design a car and then you ride a “simulation” of it. No, it’s not a vr thing, though that would be cool. It’s a pre determined track with a bunch of pre-determined events before getting to the main part, which is the power test. For this part, the ride goes as fast as it cans on a pseudo track, reaching a speed above 60 miles per hour (I have a theory that the speed is the average of all the cars created by the people in the actual car). I ended up designing the fastest car so when the scores were tallied up, I had the highest power of all the cars :D

After the Test Track, we decided to go to get some pictures with Baymax. When we got to the Baymax photo spot, we also saw they had one for Joy and Sadness from Inside Out, which we would go to later. After waiting for about thirty minutes and then getting our pics with Baymax, we went to Spaceship Earth since that was our next fast pass. For the uninformed, it’s a slow ride that takes you through a brief history of humanity on Earth. The theme of Epcot is human innovation so that was also a part of this ride.

We still had some time before our lunch reservation at the Coral Reef Restaurant so we figured we’d wait in line to take pictures with Joy and Sadness. They were more interactive than Baymax, but all three of them reacted to the shirt Jaymie was wearing - it was a Teeturtle shirt that showed Batman, Ironman, and Thor jealous of Baymax because Baymax was a bigger hero than the three of them XD. It was cool that they were pointing out Jaymie’s shirt, and it made me wish I wore something more exciting than a plain old blue Uniqlo shirt = 3 =.

After the photo op we headed to the Coral Reef Restaurant where we had lunch. It’s situated next to Epcot’s big aquarium, and I remember Jaymie telling me that she reserved this place because of it. It was pretty cool, I just wish There were dolphins or mamals in general in the aquarium, but I’m not gonna complain lol I ended up having some lobster bisque and a NY strip steak which was pretty good - and pretty filling.

After lunch, we decided to walk around the world showcase area of Epcot. It’s basically a big circle where each segment of the circle is supposed to represent a country. I have no clue how they chose the countries that they had, but it was pretty cool and each country had a restaurant and a few shops with stuff from their respective culture.We decided to go through the countries in clockwise order. I’m not going to outline every single place we went to but I will mention a few highlights. Norway had a new ride based on Frozen, but there weren’t any fast passes available and we didn’t want to wait for 105 minutes to ride it, so we passed by (next time we’ll go hopefully). In China we ended up resting because we were both so tired considering our busy schedules and all the walking and standing on line that we already did. It was cool because they had a few previews of the Disneyland theme park in Shanghai, which is one of the places we wanted to visit at a later time. I was a little disappointed with Italy because they didn’t have a gelato shop. They did have a small stand selling spumoni gelato but I passed since I had that the last time I was in Epcot. When we got to Japan, I had a rainbow shaved ice which was perfect since I was craving something cold and sweet but not creamy. It was strawberry, tangerine, and watermelon flavored and it was really good. Just thinking about it makes me want to eat some shaved ice in Parkchester when I get back home. In France, Jaymie got a chocolate gelato macaroon and a chocolate eclair while I got a “Croosiant Jambon Fromage” or in lay man’s terms, a ham and cheese croissant sandwich = 3 =. Was I overeating? Yes, and I’ll explain that later on, but at the time it was soo good x.x

When we were done with the showcase, I went to a shop to grab a gift for my cousin’s twins since their birthday was last week. I got the boy, my Godson Alex a Mickey Tsumtsum while I got his sister, Isa, a Minnie Tsumtsum. At this point, we pretty much did all that we wanted to do at Epcot, so we headed back to the car, taking a picture at the front of Epcot first, then drove to Magic Kingdom.

I’m pretty sure the last time I went to Magic Kingdom was with my Dad in my trip after I graduated from college. Getting to Magic Kingdom was coomplex AF since we wanted to park in the parking complex in Disney Springs to spare our car from the heat. We ended up walking from Disney Springs to a nearby resort where we took a ferry to another resort to a bus that would take us to the park. This time around? Still a little complex, but instead of parking at Disney Springs, we parked at Magic Kingdom’s parking lot... This time we took a tram to take a ferry that would take us to Magic Kingdom = 3 =

Originally, we were just going to spend the whole day at Epcot, but Jaymie found out about this event they were testing out where you could take a picture with a Tangled theme lantern. So Jaymie ended up buying the parkhopper for us just so we could take part in that event. When we got to Magic Kingdom, I wanted to see if I could get some of the pistachio creme brulee from Tony Roma’s but they don’t do take out so I was a little sad. We then scouted out the place where the tangled event happened, but it was too early so we decided to get some snacks at the Starlight cafe. We got fries and I ended up getting a strawberry lemonade slushy because they had a BB-8 souvenir cup that I wanted to get = 3 =

After chilling at the cafe for a bit, we went to the tangled area again, and waited until it got dark. Then we saw that they were setting up and realized we weren’t on the line so we got on the line, waited about an hour, then got our pictures of the tangled lantern, which turned out pretty great. Mission accomplished! :D

Achieving our goal at Magic Kingdom, we headed back to the car, this time taking the monorail instead of the ferry to get to the parking lot and drove back to Disney Springs where we met up with Jaymie’s family for dinner at Morimoto, an Asian cuisine place. Michael and their parents and family friend told stories of their adventures at the Star Wars celebration while Jaymie and I told them about our trip to Epcot and Magic Kingdom. After dinner, we were all so tired so I took them back to their resort, said my good byes since I was leaving the following day, and went back to my hotel, where I passed out, woke up in the middle of the night to throw up, then went back to sleep = 3 =.

Today, I really didn’t do much. I just went to church at Mary Queen of the Universe to celebrate Easter, then chilled with my cousin Rachel and her twins for a bit, giving them their belated birthday gifts. After that I went to eat lunch at Wendy’s then headed to the airport so I would not be late in bringing the rental car back, made it past security and sitting where I am write now writing this blog post.

Overall, this was probably one of the best trips I’ve ever done recently. One of the things I really liked about it was the amount of independence and responsibility I had for this trip. In the past, I didn’t really pay for anything. Not the plane trip, not the rental car, not the hotel room, not even gas or food! But this time around was different. And though my wallet is crying a little, it does feel a little cool to be able to get these things on my own.

But the best thing about this trip was the time I spent with Jaymie. Just being in disney world together was enough for me to be happy and I can’t wait for our future trips not only to here in Orlando but all throughout the world. Jaymie, if you’re reading this, thank you so much for making this trip so memorable ^_^

I don’t really have much else planned today, just plan on eating dinner with my folks when I get back home, then maybe catch up on WoW since I didn’t even log on since Thursday night. You know a trip is good if it gets you to stop playing WoW, let me just say that haha. I’m probably going to catch up on 13 Reasons Why now so there’s that too.

Until next time!