#to be clear i like this character he is awesome and fascinating and he is like a ship in a bottle i can rattle around

[invoncible]

ok but hear me out mark and a magical girl reader that’s it that’s the imagine

MARK GRAYSON & magical!reader ✧˚.

— im def hearing you out on this one anon — my inbox is open for any kind of invincible requests :P

for someone who's fighting tactics are just.... 90% brute force, mark was fascinated by you a little a lot

you can make the world around you bend to your will with elegant swooshes of light

you had a hold on the hero scene in general, but you had something different on mark... except he was the last one to realize it

rex always teased that you were some fairy tale legend, but that's literally what you were. something out of a storybook

"you're embarrassing me." rex grimaced as he cast a sideways glance at mark. "haven't i taught you to be a better flirt than this? you're just staring at them."

mark shook his head, heat rising to his face as he snapped out whatever trance you had him in. "uh. yeah, okay."

"'yeah, okay' what?" the redhead jabbed a finger into mark's face accusingly. "go talk to 'em, what's the worst that can happen?"

what's the worst that could happen? a lot of things. at least in mark's eyes.

but once he finally mustered up the courage to ask you out, he realized he'd been worrying for nothing

the whole magic thing was your brand, so he figured he'd match your energy when he tried to sweep you off your feet.

it was halloween, and you went in a variant of your hero costume. it passed more or less for a fantasy getup, like you were a magical royalty or something like that

mark thought he was so clever going as a knight in shining armor

"i was thinking that, uh... you and me, you know? we go pretty good together, outside of the fighting stuff." he strolled beside you. he'd thought of what to say many, many times before this moment, but standing next to you was a whole different story. "not that we don't make a good team, cuz we do. i think we make an awesome team, but, uh... i just wanted to ask if you wanted to hang out on our own, without the world threats and stuff."

he cleared his throat, mentally punching himself for that mess of a set up, eyes darting to your face to assess your reaction.

"like a date?" you blinked, a slow smile of realization spreading on your face.

he cleared his throat, fist curling around his play sword. "uh... yeah." he pulled a red rose from his belt and twirled it in his hand nervously as he held it out to you. "for you." this is stupid this is stupid.

but you beamed at him, your bright laughter making him relax from the apprehensions in his head. you accepted his sweet token and took his hand in yours. "thank you."

he grinned and stood a little straighter, puffing out his chest. "heh. you're welcome."

if he saw something in a comic book that resembled your abilities, he'd tell you and try to help you emulate the power if it was worthwhile.

"mark, i'm not a wizard. i don't have a crystal ball or a giant scepter." you put your hands on your hips.

he frowned, flipping his comic book towards to and pointing to the frame where the character was doing a crazy spell that knocked out all of the enemies. "just hear me out! what if—"

after you met his mother, you started hanging out and staying over a lot more. debbie was so delighted to have the equivalent of a disney princess in her home that could make the brooms sweep for themselves, the pots and pans cook on their own, and the laundry to fold without any help.

mark opened the door to the broom shuffling along the floors dutifully, stopping and shaking when it saw him as if waving hello. mark hesitantly waved back, and it went on about its tasks.

"oh, mark!" debbie's smile was welcoming. she held out her mug and the coffee pot floated over and poured her a fresh cup before retreating back to its station.

he sighed and hung his jacket, kissing his mom's head in greeting. "mom, you can't have y/n work all the time when she's over."

debbie glared at her son. "what kind of host do you take me for? you forget i'm in real estate—i'm a master at hospitality. y/n was the one that insisted. and believe me, they’re not working." she chuckled to herself, endeared by your stubborn need to help her out.

mark gave a confused look to his mom before he flew upstairs, and his mom was right. you were sleeping soundly in his bed while clothes were being folded and sorted into baskets beside you.

he huffed a little smile as he climbed under the covers beside you, snuggling into your back.

© invoncible

[ipsen]

I’m so sorry for what I’m about to do.

Now this is a point of contention because I do want to put the question on the table: what IS Arima’s life dream? Is it really a world for ghouls? Is it really? He’s against V, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he cares about ghouls dying unnecessarily (because well, he kills ghouls unnecessarily).

So let’s look at the one thing he does “for ghouls”: his death.

Let’s see how his death affects everyone who knows him. They love his ass. Fura cries over him. Koori continues to idolize him, down to the point he evokes his name when fighting the Taxidermied Owl. Kaneki tries to emulate his idea of him as his successor (we all know how that turned out). Hirako and Squad 0 (a bunch of literal children) quit their fucking jobs because of him.

All of this because he martyrs himself. He wants to die so bad, and when he finally kills himself, he is loved by everyone. Sound familiar?

(re 53)

So yes it IS a stupid plan. It’s stupid to the point of being childish. But hey—

(re 43)

(re 21)

— I’m just musing.

Arima's plan was so stupid like the dude was completely unbeatable and instead of fighting V on his own with also unbeatable Eto he?? left his title and life dream to some guy that could barely touch him in combat??

The impact from having THE ghoul investigator teaming up with ghoul would have been soooo much more, for the humans especially, than whatever Kaneki had going on. Especially paired with the Takatsuki is a ghoul reveal and her new book release. As for the ghouls, all Arima had to do was. stop killing them.

And instead of that, he killed Shachi and gave Rize to V and then made Kaneki his successor like???

[thegoldencontracts]

Tease

Summary: You flustering twst characters. What's not to love?

Characters: Azul, Jade, Leona

Azul Ashengrotto

"You're really pretty, you know."

Azul's eyes widened. You just continued staring at him with a fond little grin, giving him a small wave.

"P-Pardon?"

Though you were really just saying your thoughts aloud, you couldn't help but take notice of how his face flushed, eyes looking anywhere but you. It was clear you'd flustered him quite a bit.

Cute.

"I said," you continued. "You're, like, really pretty."

"D-Darling," Azul said with a sigh. "Please refrain from such antics."

You just smirked.

"Hey, I'm being honest!" You were. You also thought it was funny watching him try to hide how embarrassed he was.

Azul just sighed, returning to his work.

"Wait!" You said, waving him over.

An unimpressed, "Yes?"

You pressed a kiss to his cheek, dousing whatever ire he had.

"Thanks!" You said, turning back to your own homework as you watched Azul practically bluescreen in your peripheral.

Jade Leech

Jade was always quite the tease. That was simply a fact of your relationship, it seemed. Not that you minded.

But, that didn't mean it wasn't sweet when you finally get the chance to tease him back.

"Ah, apologies," he said lightly one day while talking about some of his newest mushrooms. These new ones were all rare, and fascinating, too. How did he even get his hands on them? "I must've frightened you with all this talk of mushrooms."

Eh? That wasn't true at all! It was always awesome listening to Jade talk about his mushrooms. The way he explained things was just fascinating to listen to, and sometimes the facts you learned even helped you during Alchemy!

"Keep going!" You said. "I like hearing you talk."

Besides, he usually wasn't this expressive. There was something so captivating about the way his eyes sparkled whenever he talked about his newest spores, or his new terrariums.

You really didn't expect the way his face turned red at that, eyes blown open in shock.

"Jade?" You said. He cleared his throat hastily.

"A-Apologies," he said, hastily composing himself. "That was rather rude of me. Let us move on."

You gaped at him.

"Are you embarrassed?"

Jade's eye twitched.

"Let us move on from this topic of discussion," he said pointedly.

So he was. No way. Of all people, Jade Leech? Embarrassed about something? It was almost too good to be true!

"No way," you said. "That's so cute-"

"Not a word more about this, please," Jade said, looking awfully meek. You just laughed.

"Sure, sure," you said. "Not a single word more."

Leona Kingscholar

Leona has an odd habit of helping you in the weirdest of ways. Instead of asking you if you needed help, he'd always just "happen" to have whatever you needed lying around. It pretty quickly became apparent he did it on purpose.

Really, you didn't get why he hid it. You always appreciated the help!

"About that worksheet or whatever you couldn't finish, I found a book about it lying around. Take it if you want."

You checked the book. It was pretty much perfect for what you were doing, filled with small notes too. Leona clearly did this on purpose.

"Thanks!" You said. "Love you!"

Leona stared at you for a moment, before instantly averting his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah," he said. "I..."

He trailed off, seeming rather embarrassed.

"Huh?" You asked. Leona glared at the floor like it had personally offended him.

"What're you gawkin' at, herbivore?"

"You're cute."

Leona scoffed.

"Love you too," he said, before waving you off. "Now go- do whatever it is you were doin'."

You laughed. He looked so embarrassed.

"Of course."

[pinkiemachine]

Hello! I've really enjoyed your work for a while and have a Batman question for you!

How do you feel about Maps?

I HAVE PLANS

I’m just a little nervous to share them because it ties into shipping…

But since someone in the comments asked...

Okay, so, before, during, and/or after Damian's crush on Amythest (link to that full story below) he was going to West-Reeve School and had a group of friends there, including Jon Kent (jus kidding, Jon had a friend group, and Damian just happened to be in it, lol). One of these friends was Mia, aka Maps. Now, like a lot of characters, I haven't gotten around to really truly reading up on Maps as much as I want, so there are a lot of details I'm missing from this story, but what I have so far is:

Maps was always getting caught up in adventures, intentionally or accidentally. She's a bit rambunctious, and very intelligent. For example, she wound up stumbling into a serious criminal case that Damian and Bruce were working on at the time, and she was completely oblivious (like, she was focused on this other thing at the time). Damian was with her during their trip into Metropolis' version of Crime Alley, so he had to protect her from (idk, scarecrow? riddler? whoever, I haven't gotten that far) all while trying to make sure she doesn't notice that he's doing all this karate and parkour and bending over backwards to keep the villains from hurting her. lol. BUT, actually, one day she does notice. One day she puts two and two together and realises that Damian is Robin. She doesn't confront him, though. She actually doesn't tell anyone. Quite frankly, she's a little starstruck at the idea of her classmate being ROBIN, and she doesn't know what to do with that information. She decides to simply keep his secret, for his sake. Imagine if the whole school found out, or worse, Gotham's criminals. But so, to sum up, Dami and Maps are good friends, nothing more.

Eventually, Damian gets kicked out of West-Reeve and starts going to Gotham Academy. Which means he and Maps part ways.

We are now in the depths of high school. I know. Ew. During this time, Damian meets and begins dating Nika, aka Flatline. They have a very exciting, very fun relationship, forged in the heat of youthful passion! Aka, it's cute. But, as time goes on, some of their flaws start cropping up. Like the fact that Damian is beginning to understand what a terrible thing death and killing are, while Nika is actively fascinated by death--drawn to it. She also looks up to Damian's mom for her awesome assassin skills. Also, it begins to become clear that while they do like one another and have fun together, there's not much more to it than that. Nika and Damian both have a hard time communicating their feelings, but after a year of being together, Damian is beginning to want to take the next step, and... Nika isn't.

Valentine's Day. Damian and Nika's first. All of Damian's bat-sibs have been in his ear about how to plan the perfect date--where to go, what to eat, what to wear--they will not shut up about it. In the end, he goes to the trouble of planning out an elaborate date and feels rather proud of himself. He waits at the table for Nika to arrive--since they had agreed to meet at the restaurant--but... she doesn't show. He waits a little longer... he texts her... she still doesn't come and doesn't text. And now he's starting to just feel depressed. He put in a lot of hard work, and she's ghosting him? Why? She's never done that before. It begins to rain outside.

While he's sitting alone at the table, who should approach him but Maps herself, a little older now, and a little more mature. She and her parents are in town for some business stuff her dad's doing and when she spots Damian--out of the manor, alone in the restaurant--she just has to stop and say 'hi.' Well, she ends up saying a lot more than just 'hi.' Damian is happy to see an old friend, and they start talking... and talking some more... there in the cozy restaurant while the rain patters against the windows. Damian is smiling. And laughing. She is too. Then Damian offers to walk Maps home, and they talk a little longer, not wanting the night to end. It's only when they're waving goodbye, and Damian watches that big smile spread across her face and feels his cheeks growing warm that he gets this sinking feeling.

He goes to Dick's house at once, seeking council. It doesn't matter that it's midnight and he's got a baby now, Damian needs to know what just happened and what to do about it. So, tired but sympathetic, Dick lets him in and they talk about the events of the evening. Dick reaffirms what Maps said, "Maybe there's a good reason why Nika didn't show" and that there's no reason to panic. Just take this one day at a time. Nothing truly bad or irreversable has happened yet.

So Damian goes and finds Nika, asking why she flaked on their date, and she says it was an honest mistake. Something (plot) related came up and she forgot to tell Damian that she wouldn't be available anymore. Whoops. So crisis averted. Damian convinces himself that the night with Maps was just two old friends catching up--his relationship with Flatline is fine--and there's nothing to worry about.

Just kidding.

Nika has a few more little incidents after this, like flaking again, or showing up when she wasn't expected (often at inconvenient times) Damian keeps getting frustrated with her, not just because of her seemingly immature behaviour, but also (as stated before) there doesn't seem to be anything truly substancial holding the relationship together besides some rather surface-level things, and Nika is intentionally trying to keep it that way. Eventually, they have a fight where Damian confronts her on this. He just wants to know the real her, he doesn't want just a "fun" relationship. Nika, however, still feels like she isn't ready, and she deflects. She falls back on old habits, she ignores, she retaliates, she tries to make things stay the way they were before, but Damian has outgrown that.

The fight ends bad. They try to make up after, but they have another fight a while later... and then, in a twist, it's Nika who breaks off the relationship. Maybe they could have worked, but... not right now.

When Maps shows up again, it's not as a rebound, don't worry. She shows up as a friend. She's there to console Damian, nothing more. She feels partially responsible for all of this, actually, and regrets any part she played in it, but Damian assures her that this was a long time coming and wasn't her fault. During her visits, they end up talking more, completely just by chance. No pressure, no elaborate dates, just two friends talking. Once Damian is moving on and getting back into his old groove, (aka a brief timeskip) he decides to call up Maps and asks if she would like to hangout.

Not sure how fast I want things to move, or what kinds of challenges they will face as a couple, all I know is... Maps is a serious contender for the title of Mrs. Damian Wayne. I'll leave it at that.

Your thoughts?

Oh, previous stuff about Dami's love life here:

[imissgamebreakersarc]

Dutch Duo is so fascinating. They both have two characters, one on Lifesteal and one one on The Realm, and their characters on The Realm parallel the other on Lifesteal. Let me explain.

To me, LS!Clown and Tr!Pangi have a lot of unnoticed parallels, both of them being pretty damn powerful (though not the most powerful, examples being Sneeg and Tr!Clown above Tr!Pangi and BFB above LS!Clown) on their respective server, with a select few people they care about (or just one with Clown cough cough branzy) and just about everyone else being irrelevant to them, aside from the people they hate, who generally have a pretty tough time. Clown is a little more selective with who he trusts, but that’s pretty easily explained by being on Lifesteal and general paranoia. They’re both violent and unashamed of that. They’re not afraid to play dirty, whether it’s based off honour a whole damn exploit, or getting paid 500$ to empeach your teammate *PMC*.

When considering their counterparts (LS!Pangi and Tr!Clown), they too are surprisingly similar to each other. They both still care about specific individuals, such as Derap and Zam for LS!Pangi or Ros and [idk I don’t watch yellow I just know rospierce] for Tr!Clown. But they never really harbour hate towards any specific individuals. The only two times Tr!Clown ever seemed properly upset was after Pili killed Ros twice. He didn’t even seem upset during the fight itself, more like he was fulfilling a duty. The other instance is Owen but do I even have to explain this one? As for LS!Pangi, he was upset like, after Empire Duo breakups? And like after Mapicc kept killing him? And literally nothing else off the top of my head. They don’t kill for no reason either. While you can argue LS!Pangi doesn’t kill or fight on Lifesteal so people feel safe at his recordings (since he’s the only person making chill ass videos on that server), you have to acknowledge that aside from his hunger games event, he has no proper kills this season (source being the Lifesteal wiki) unless you’re counting Jepexx, which he didn’t get the heart from (and lowkey bro had it coming 😭). While I’m not sure how many kills Tr!Clown has, the only ones I remember are when people were hurting those he cared about, specifically Ros. They’re both quite based on rules and grind for what they need instead of fighting for it. A lot of the time, their actions are completely intertwined and associated with one of the few people they care about (Empire Duo, Cringe Duo, LoSA, etc.) and never only them, partially because of how much of their character revolves around others. They both get the chance to be different from what is typically assumed of lifestealers. They are selfless and not quite pacifists, but they’re pretty damn close for Lifesteal.

One of the reasons I’m a big fan of Lifesteal cannibal headcannons is because of how accurately it portrays their nature in a way others can understand. They are violent, selfish and unpredictable, killing on a whim with behaviour that would come off as insane on more casual SMP’s or ones based on storytelling like The Realm. However peaceful you are when you join the server, everyone is eventually corrupted by it. And no matter how well you hide or push away the corruption, it always comes out somewhere. In LS!Pangi’s case, his violence has been entirely oppressed due to his efforts of keeping people comfortable during his recordings, and that violence ends up coming out on The Realm, where thanks to the power of “out of character” and the fact he barely hosts realm recordings leads to him being able to kill more freely. Meanwhile, Clown has no need to fight on the realm, since he does nothing but whenever he actually logs on LS. Lifestealers are always in one of two states, those being “I care about you and I will protect you with all my power” and “I literally dgaf fucking die”, and it’s never been more clear with these two.

In conclusion, Dutch Duo is fucking awesome and I need more of them. Thank you.

PS: It’s kind of ironic that Clown and Parrot are Parallel duo, since at this point it might be Clown and Pangi.

(Sorry if the Tr!’s and LS!’s makes this hard or obnoxious to read it’s so annoying but I have to distinguish argh)

[the-shifting-long]

like tying back to fandom misogyny (i know i know i've been on it for a while i'm sorry) not only is so much of the language around the hatred for Tower/the Shifting Mound misogynistic and, when people aren't straight up calling them bitches or saying they'd be more attractive if [x] or treating them like Objects, Prizes, Romantic Interests and saying they're Bad Princesses and the Worst Romance and the worst wife/prize compared to other princesses like the precious wecious Thorn and HEA and Damsel or whatever

they're mad at Tower/Shifty for a lot of the Exact Same Reasons they love Voices.

like the Opportunist abuses his power every time he has is, actively lies to others (though he isn't very good at it.) He is #1 Princess Stabber/Killer/Slayer. when he doesn't want to kill her, it's because he's getting something out of her. but he's a Male Character whose trauma is #valid unlike Tower who also likes to abuse her power to get something from the player and who was (checks notes) locked in a basement and then attacked with a knife by the first person she met.

Cold is another big proponent of "what if we stabbed her/killed her." and constantly shows up when you commit acts of horrible cruelty to the princess but he's a Male Character and him wanting to exorcise the Spectre was sexy and not like, a horrifying moment where she freaked out and wanted nothing more than to get away from him. him being unempathetic and generally uncaring/numb is a Fun Character Trait unlike the literal goddess of death Shifty. cold is great but the woman he's so similar to and who is, in many ways, kinder than he is? yeah she's rude and arrogant we hate her.

Contrarian is often so cruel to the Princess, doesn't really give a shit about her, is there for a laugh, and only regrets what he's done after he's gone way too far (Advy-Fury, Stranger...) and "too far" often means Literally Killing Her For a Laugh or multiplying her until the world itself collapses and she's a frankenstein of half-dead half-alive beings. so it's no surprise he considers himself "the worst part of us" but also he's FUNNY he throws the KNIFE OUT THE WINDOW he's a great character unlike Tower or Fury or Nightmare who toy with us the player! They're so fucking mean and unjustified and go way too far! Their buried pain is nothing while Contra's is valid <3

And then Stubborn! In the majority of chapters he appears in, he wants nothing more than to kill/fight the princess. Wild and Advy are the only exceptions...and Advy isn't an exception at all, just the only circumstance where the Princess actively wants an equal challenger and isn't permanently hurt by the fights the two get into. She's the only princess he cares about, and she's just like him. But yeah no Tower's selfish and the Shifting Mound wanting to fight us forever sucks and is rude but Stubborn? he's a badass he's awesome <3

i'm not going to get into All of the Voices because some of them are less inclined to violence than others, and lash out in different or more understandable ways, but so many of the voices above are fan favorites and they do just...horrible things to the Princess (by supporting a player who chooses to do the horrible things those Voices want to do, of course, and sometimes by acting on their own!)

and to be clear. I DO LIKE THE VOICES. but part of why i like them is BECAUSE they suck! they act in horrible ways that mirror the player's actions, the princess' actions, and when the bar is on the ground they'll help the player dig! it's fascinating!

but i also really like the princess-i like them way more than the voices-and think it's so blatantly hypocritical to hate on said Princesses for doing a lot of the same shit the Voices do for what are honestly much more understandable reasons. the voices are on a path in the woods and get a cool knife. the princess is locked in the basement of a cabin with no way out. these situations are not the same.

[basmala260]

For the sake of valentine's day, Kagiura's love for Hirano

We spend most of our time analyzing the characters and some of the more obscure scenes, so let's take a moment to appreciate what's already clear,

One of my favorite things that he's not trying to make Hirano love him blindly, he's trying to make Hirano love him, not someone else, he's not trying to show Hirano a better person or someone who suits Hirano since their personalities are far from each other, This is where it comes to light that Kagiura tries to show Hirano "how awesome he really is"

but he doesn't show himself flawless either, he doesn't feel embarrassed to show Hirano his worst, he always tries to be awesome, but when something bad happens, we can't find him doing anything but complaining to hirano.

Kagiura tries to face the complexities of their relationship, not avoid them, He cherishes Hirano so much that he fears the accumulation of these complications, In chapter 15, even though he knows that being jealous over something dumb is a bad thing, but he still talks about it, even if it ends up with Hirano accidentally hurting his feelings.

Some may not agree on this point, but I'm talking about the complexities of their "relationship" and not "his own feelings", he knows full well that his feelings hurting him is his problem, and nothing to do with Hirano, he tries to keep Hirano away from worrying about his feelings (Kagiura's) as much as possible, and starts thinking about his own feelings, So he doesn't try to force his feelings on him like some say, giving Hirano this much time to think, just because he thinks he has other chances, and because he knows that Hirano sees him only as a younger brother and only cared about him, so he forgot to think about his own feelings.

Yes, the most obvious feature of Kagiura's whole personality is how childish it is, but he doesn't just want to be like his parents, he wants to have his own story, but at least he can realize that his parents are everything to each other, And that's what fascinates Kagiura the most, so Kagiura's idea of being away from Hirano seems impossible, because he can't imagine how he would be happy without him. He keeps saying how much he loves Hirano, to show him that he has someone who considers him the world to them, it's a painful feeling for him but a beautiful feeling to know, so he always tries to convey it to Hirano, I'm not sure about the idea of Hirano's platonic love for him, but I know that Kagiura will love him no matter what he chooses, Because that's what makes him special, his love and his desires are very childish.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

THE HUNDRED LINE: LAST DEFENSE ACADEMY - Journal #1: Route 0 Days 1-18. [MASSIVE SPOILERS]

//So as I said before, even though it's not really Dangan-related, I'm going to be slowly dropping my summary of the events I experience in Hundred Line as I play through it. I don't know if I'm going to do a full 100 days for each of the 100 routes because that would be fucking crazy tbh, but...I figured I could at leats indulge you guys on my experience this way, since I'm unable to stream it.

//In case I didn't make it clear before, this game is straight fire. It's got a really awesome story on top of what is actually surprisingly fun and fascinating gameplay. As I said above, this part of the journal goes up to Day 18, and the battles that happen during that period became way more anime than they probably should have.

//This isn't just a cut and dry tactics game. There's this uniqueness to it that makes the gameplay loop great. That's not to say the game and story isn't without flaws, but we'll cover that.

//All of this will obviously be under the cut, because in case it wasn't obvious, let me make one big warning here.

DO NOT READ THE REST OF THIS POST IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED/SEEN THE HUNDRED LINE: LAST DEFENSE ACADEMY. I WILL BE TALKING ABOUT VERY SPECIFIC PLOT POINTS AND MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE GAME.

//Without further ado...let's get into it.

DAY 1-7:

//Okay, so to be fair, I actually kind of lied about starting on Day 1. I livestreamed myself playing the free demo that covers the first 7 days of the game. If you want to see my reaction to that, you can check out the streams, or just play it yourself.

//I did go back through the demo segment in the full game though just so I was refreshed on the story. To make a few quick points about it though, the kinky group sex line is still hilarious, and the transformation sequences are still raw and as of today, I haven't skipped a single one.

//Also, I started watching NicoB play

//The only major difference this time is that I didn't struggle as much in the invader boss fight because I had a better idea of what I was doing.

DAY 8:

//Okay, so this is where the demo ends and the full game begins, but it doesn't start off full swing or anything. Essentially, it's become clear to me now that Sirei isn't coming back, at least not any time soon. Which is honestly kind of a bummer, because I did really start liking his mojo and the character himself has great dialogue. It kind of peeves me that he's around for only two days, and then vanishes without a trace, presumably dead.

//Still, I can't be too pissed about it because chances are there's an alternate route where he gets to survive for a bit longer. We'll have to see.

//Anyway, in Sire's absense, Hiruko became the leader, which I pretty much expected, but it also planted some ill feelings in me that ended up coming true later down the line, but more on that in a bit.

//Other than that, I spent my time hanging out with Eito, who spent hours telling me the history of scythe's.

DAY 9

//Day 9 starts off with you going down to the cafeteria to find that only the fighting group (Takumi, Takemaru, Hiruko, Darumi, and Eito) are in the cafeteria, because apparently Hiruko put the non-fighters under house arrest, and banned them from certain places in the school if they continue to not fight.

//I know that Hiruko said she'd make them regret it, but this wasn't really what I was expecting. Though to be honest, I don't know what I was expecting.

//Hung out with Darumi some more.

DAY 10

//One little gag that I came to like is that sometimes, even though the messages are mostly the same, when Sirei appears on the screen with his prerecorded messages, on certain days he'll be doing something different than sitting there. Like this time around, he has a suit on. And it's funny because you get a kick out of him seeing doing something a little different from the normal message.

//Also, as a milestone celebration, we gained access to two more rooms in the school; the Rec Room and the Leisure Lounge.

//There was a bit of a funny moment where Takemaru said something like "Hiruko's kinda hot, shame she's so evil," which made me laugh.

//Also, Takumi when he first sees the Rec Room says "I can imagine a high-class school having a rec room like this!"

//This is what the rec room looks like. Motherfucker, this is a whole ass arcade. There is not a school in the world that has something like this.

//Also, with the rec room open, we now have access to gifts which we can give to our classmates, which I was really hoping they wouldn't do, because giving gifts to people in Danganronpa is already enough of a drag, and in this game, it's worse, because not only does it cost money, but you have to actively go out and get the materials for the items in order to make them.

//Fortunately, there's no gacha system to it, and they're not NECESSARY, just that if you give them to your classmates, the stat buffs that you ordinarily get with them get increased.

//But still, if you want to get stronger quickly, there's a lot of grinding here. Kinda makes it harder to decide what to do with your time, and suddenly 100 days doesn't feel like enough.

//The Rec Room is where most of the gameplay happens though, whilst the Leisure Lounge is...kind of just for that. Leisure. There's effectively no reason to go there, so I can only assume we have story-related scenes that happen there later on. Maybe a pool party? That would be fun.

//But like I said, you need materials to get the machine, so spent my day scouting. It also gave me a chance to learn how Eito works in combat. From what I can tell, his attacks work a little similarly to Takumi's, but while Takumi hits 5 squares in front of him, Eito only hits 3. Eito does seem to have more damage potential though, not just because he has a higher default damage, but because his ability gives him random buffs every time he takes an action.

//Speaking of random, I fucking hate some of the exploration segments.

//I get that there's probably a guide, especially since there seems to be a very limited number of events, but I swear to god, some of the outcomes that should seem like the right call end in the absolute dumbest ways, like I'm pursuing Wonder of U and got hit with a calamity.

//The good news is the new spaces that are designed to help create gifts at least gives me more of an incentive to go out on explanations for reasons other than just aimlessly wandering around hoping I get some cool gear while random flying objects keep hitting me or I cut myself on a blade of grass.

DAY 11

//Today started with Darumi asking me if I wanted to die.

//Great start.

//One thing I discovered leading up to this game is that apparently, Darumi's English Voice Actor, Sarah Pritard, hasn't had a single credited role before this game, which is shocking, because she's REALLY good.

//Also, I didn't quite realize this until someone pointed it out to me, but one cool thing I didn't know is that Minh Ton, Hiruko's Voice Actor, is apparently a voice actor, or at least WAS one, in Danganronpa F: Shattered Hope, as Scarlet.

//This gal vvv

//Speaking of voice lines, I don't know if I'm the first person to point it out, but there's one voice line of Takumi's where he just screams "HEY!" and they OVERUSE the FUCK out of this line. Even in really calm situations, they're just randomly broken up by really calm curious dialogue and sound bytes, and then Takumi just goes "HEY!"

//Anyway, despite the silly beginning, there's immediately a lot of tension even before you get down to the cafeteria with everyone, because everyone who hasn't been fighting looks really depressed and defeated, and it gets worse because Hiruko promptly announces that if the people who have abstained don't get their act together, she's going to kick them out of the school and leave them in the wild to die.

//Hiruko is such an interesting character, because this is the first time in one of these games that we've seen one of the students be more outwardly sadistic than the actual Mastermind mascot character (besides the Masterminds themselves obviously, but even then, we only see Junko for two trials). While there were definitely some monsters among DR's cast, Sirei himself, while a douchebag and a pervert, was actually pretty nice and lenient and willing to compromise for the students if it meant giving them an incentive to get onto the battlefield.

//Not Hiruko. And the crazy part is that her methods, which are easily on the same level as Monokuma's motives, are far more effective. Or at least, they would be, but even the prospect of being kicked out and left to die out in the wild isn't enough to get the others to step up.

//I might as well say it now, but the part of the story that I cover in this post revolves largely around Tsubasa and Gaku, so a lot of this is talking about them as characters. And the good news is that it definitely succeeded in getting me to feel for both of them.

//Gaku especially is in the same vein of character as the likes of Yasuhiro and Kazuichi. And if you know me, Yasuhiro is my least favourite character in the main DR series, and to be honest, as time has gone on, I've grown to like Kazuichi less and less. Like, he's fine in Survivor, but writing ReCaptured has really made me realize that he's kind of a piece of shit.

//Unlike them, I actually feel for Gaku, and I think his spite and self-centeredness is actually kind of righteous, but we'll get to that. Either way, he complains about his life, but this time, it actually made me feel for him.

//But Tsubasa on top of that, and the way she reacted to Hiruko's ultimatum, makes me realize that there's a level of suicidal depression in this girl, because she knows that she'll probably die out there, but is willing to resign herself to that cruel fate if it means she doesn't have to fight the invaders.

//Which is really deep and sad...until you find out immediately after that her reason for not wanting to fight is because she's embarrassed that she'll throw up.

//Feels like a really unserious reason behind such a serious drive to not want to fight. Granted, there is more to it than that, but still, starting with that makes it a little...eh...

//Whatever, I've seen worse.

//That's pretty much the end of this day, but one last thing I want to mention is this is where I started to really realize that Takumi is a dork on the same level that Hajime was. While I was in the entry hall, I casually interacted with the fire extinguishers used to exit the academy, and one of Takumi's lines when he interacts with it is "Not even these fire extinguishers can put out the flames in my heart!" or some bullshit.

//Which got a laugh out of me.

DAY 12

//So for the rest of this review, the mission at hand largely involves trying to convince the abstainers to actually get on the battlefield, because Hiruko gives the fighters 5 days to convince the others before she makes her move. To begin with, Takumi works with Eito to find a workaround to Tsubasa's puke problem.

//The plan is to make her this cute reusable sick bag, but we had to go out of the academy to get the pouch we needed, and I was kind of expecting more to happen when we went out, but not much did. We kind of just grabbed it and got back.

//You know, AFTER Eito and Takumi took 10 points of damage from the rain >:(

//Unfortunately, while they gave me it for free this time, I returned to make the sick bag using the item machine, only to find out that making items costs the same time that you normally spend each day hanging out with people, or going on missions, which I think is bullshit. That's kind of like your entire day of Free Time in Danganronpa being spent because you went to get gifts from the MonoMono Machine. It's crap.

//This is also where we got a new minigame where you have to listen to the characters and interject at the right time with the right response, and I'll give it credit, it's weird and cringey at times, but it's also hard. Fortunately, there's no massive penalties for failing it, just that it's kind of time consuming.

//And also, while Gaku's upcoming one was fine, if I had a pence for every time the word puke was said, I'd be able to buy a whole candy bar. Kind of made me think I myself might hurl.

//There was one standout moment during it where the correct response to Tsubasa saying "people will make fun of me if I puke," is for Takumi to say "Don't worry! I'll puke too! So we both get made fun of."

//And then he like, gives her this absolute dead serious stare while she herself is wondering "what the fuck is wrong with this guy?" But it makes her laugh, and the interaction after is pretty wholesome.

//And what's even more difficult is I can't figure out who's idea this was between Kodaka or Uchikoshi.

//But yeah, as much as I do love the writing so far, this situation was a little cringe, and I wish the game didn't make it so corny.

DAY 13

//Not much to say here except we get a little bit more info about Gaku, and like I said before, I think his righteous anger towards society is very righteous indeed. But this day was kind of just setting up how we convince him to get on the frontlines, just as we did Tsubasa.

//I'd also like to add that while they do make it clear that the Invaders attack indiscriminately, they sure are letting us get all the plot out of the way, huh?

DAY 14

//So we went out again, like we did before with Eito, to get shit for Gaku in order to convince him to join the vanguiard.

//Darumi almost died, and we didn't even fight anyone. She just kept getting beaten to shit by random events. Smh.

//Like I hinted at before, I liked Gaku's version of the Persuasion Minigame way more than I liked Tsubasa's. Not only was it more engaging what was talked about, but it was also a lot more challenging, which works because the whole point of Gaku so far is how he's a very difficult person to work with.

//Without getting into the specifics of the conversation, I have to admit that this really got me to see what Gaku was conceptually, and I'm actually super into it.

//The big incentive for everyone to fight, Takumi especially, is that if the Invaders infiltrate the school, then the Tokyo Residential Complex is going to be destroyed, and everyone they love will perish. But unlike Takumi, Gaku feels like he owes nothing to the TRC, because he's had such a rough life full of people who treat him and those around him like shit.

//Again, Gaku has a very legitimate reason for being self-centered and greedy, which makes him way more sympathetic, and way less unbearable than previous Kodaka characters like him. At least for me.

//Also, while I did make some familiarities with Tsubasa's version, Gaku's version of the minigame feels way more like a Non-Stop Debate. Like I said, you normally have to pick the right dialogue option, but there's one point of Gaku's where in order to get past it, you have to just say nothing. You just let him get his emotions out without saying anything, and eventually the pain catches up to him, when he realizes he doesn't mean what he's saying.

//It's very clever. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

DAY 15

//So this day was the point where things really started to get interesting, and not really in a good way. And I can break it down into three notable things.

//One: Darumi and Hiruko's relationship suddenly became Toko and Byakuya again.

//I have no idea why or how, and it's never really explained, but it happened. Darumi just became a massive simp for Hiruko, which...I mean aren't we all? But even so, I have no clue what happened, so maybe I missed a scene?

//Two: I didn't mention it, but before this point, Ima has been concocting a plan of how to stop Hiruko from kicking him and Kako out without the need for them to get onto the battlefield. And it's through this that I'm starting to see more of what I noticed early on in the game.

//Despite the fact that Ima's life seems to revolve around Kako, Kako herself has absolutely no agency of her own. Despite how much of a genius and an angel Ima plays her up to be, Ima himself is always the one in control of the situation. He's the one who makes plans, the one who asks questions, and the one basically doing all the work for them.

//And as interesting as it is to see this, and for what it hints at in the future, it also sucks because it means Kako herself doesn't get much of a chance to be her own character.

//Takumi even says that she can do things without Ima, but Kako herself isn't sure, so I'm really really wondering just how genuine the love between these siblings are.

//Fortunately, Ima's affection to Kako hasn't really descended into LUST so far. The closest its gotten is for sure the "sweet sweet nectar" line from his introduction, but other than that, it doesn't appear to be any kind of incestuous relationship. They are still very clearly Kodaka's characters though, so who knows.

//My point is that if Ima and Kako turn out to be the next Kanada and Hibiki...Well, it won't stop me from enjoying the game, but I'm for sure not gonna like it.

//And three...

//hhAAHh...

//NOOOT gonna say too much about this CG in the event that I get in trouble with coomers on the internet, but it is absolutely the hottest piece of art that Komatsuzaki has made so far.

//Minh Ton's voice acting doesn't help, because if Shattered Hope taught me anything, that guy does eroticism WAY too well.

//The scene that happens here is basically Takumi and Eito confronting Hiruko because she apparently knows more of what's going on than she lets on. Other than having fought the invaders before, she seems more personally connected to the plot of this game.

//And while I did like the insinuation near the end that Hiruko IS a nice person; she just has a funny way of showing it; this was the point where I REALLY started to get bad vibes.

DAY 16

//And it turns out they were very well founded.

//And I am PISSED OFF!

//GENUINELY!

//So, as we saw in the demo, the minute it seemed like Sirei was going to give us the answers, he up and disappears, and then later, we find him seemingly dead.

//And now the same has most likely happened to Hiruko. Which sucks ass because that's now TWO of my favourite characters that have been removed from the game early.

//Again, I already KNOW that there are endings to this game where she actually makes it to the end, because I saw scenes in the previews and trailers that have her in them that straight up havent happened yet. And if she really is dead, then those scenes can't happen.

//So they have to happen somewhere else. I sincerely doubt that there was a whole leaked scene by the devs fully voice acted.

//But considering that Hiruko is my favourite so far, who in my opinion is both the most well-written, and the most powerful member of the team, I'm still mad.

//Even though there were so many red flags leading up to this.

//Largely, the fact that Hiruko is already maxed out in her regular stats and is easily the strongest member of the team from the get go, being like, the Disc-1 Nuke essentially, meant that she probably wasn't going to stick around for very long. Because having her around for the first playthrough at least would make it way too easy.

//Plus, like I said, it's the EXACT same situation as Sirei where she was about to reveal some information, and then went missing before she could reveal it.

//So it's not like I don't GET it, it's just annoying. Because that's my favourite character just GONE now.

//I suppose there had to be SOME reason to stop Shoma and the twins from being kicked out, but this is still so irritating to me. She had BETTER come back, or at the very least, get significant screentime in the other routes, because my enjoyment of this game is going to be seriously affected if she doesn't.

//I know Kodaka and Uchikoshi will pull through for me though.

DAY 17

//This is my favourite day of the story so far.

//So Hiruko is still missing, and now everyone is panicked looking for her, and coming up with ideas of what might have happened. I knew the minute Kako suggested that we might have a killer on our hands that Darumi was going to get excited. Because her Killing Game fantasy is started to get very real.

//This also bumped Kako a little bit up on my list, because again, it's nice to see she has a genuine passion for mystery that exists outside of her brother's influence. I feel like maybe if we had a route where we actually did a killing game, she'd be great in it.

//Also, Ima's plan was that he was apparently going to seduce Hiruko? I-I don't know what I was expecting. Like, I don't HATE Ima yet, he's just kind of weird...

//But while I was still seething over Hiruko's disappearance, the strange ghost boy surrounded by the flames showed up again. Just the same way he did on the night that Sirei was supposedly killed. So I'm starting to think he shows up as some kind of omen whenever we find a body, or when someone goes missing.

//But we don't have much time to think about that, because the Invaders attack again, this time during the night.

//And largely the reason why this is my favourite moment in the story so far is because HOLY SHIT THIS BATTLE WAS BALLER!

//This fight it split into three phases. Phase 1 starts off normally, except the twist is that this time around, there are actually TWO Commanders. And we're now defending the school from all sides, with Takumi and Takemaru on one side of the school, and Darumi and Eito on the other.

//The first phase is standard, but it does suck not having Hiruko around. However, I can't complain too much for this fight, because if she had been on the field, she would have taken out the commander in one hit, since they each only have 6 HP. Very low for a commander. In fact, there are regular enemies you can encounter in exploration that have more, and require multiple hits.

//But the first phase ends when you kill one of them, because the other one instantly revives it. So as you might guess, the way to work around this is you need to take out both at the same time.

//Simple enough, but the moment you realize that, a THIRD one shows up to attack a sudden third outpost. And with only four people on the field, taking out three of them at the same time is basically impossible.

//But to no one's surprise, THIS is when both Tsubasa and Gaku jump into the fray.

//Eito entering the fray was awesome, but the amount of bonding and getting to know these two that you had to do before this point, while it did make it more obvious, still made the moment more impactful. Because yeah, I love Gaku and Tsubasa, and seeing them finally step up gave me butterflies.

//Gaku is my son now. I am proud of him.

//And yeah, I used a string of ults to take down the monster in Phase 2, and then they fused together in Phase 3, where I kind of did the same to take it out.

//I can't really describe how this fight went perfectly, but in the moment, just experiencing the rush of chaining the attacks that each of these guys can do was AWESOME.

//But by far, and this is gonna sound crazy, the most exciting part of the gameplay in the fights is sacrificing your allies.

//In case you somehow missed it, there's a gimmick in this game where a character, provided they are low enough HP, can unleash their Ultimate Technique without expending any meter. However, doing so comes at the cost of their lives, and they're removed from the rest of the fight.

//But during the defense battles, there is basically no downside to doing this, because the characters dying means that the meter gets charged by 100%, and another character, maybe on the other side of the field, can unleash their Ult right after and take out a huge swarm of enemies.

//Anyone can look at this and say that the top-down gameplay is really simple, and it's fine to think that, but considering this is something that Kodaka and Uchikoshi haven't tried before, this is PHENOMENAL. Most Fire Emblem fights don't give me this kind of adrenaline rush. Hell, most turn-based fights don't give me that rush.

//This game is FANTASTIC, and I realized that more than anything in that moment.

//Anyway, the battle ended with Eito going on another friendship rant, which he needs to shut up with, and then I actually had to pick someone to absorb the enemy commander with. Last time, you HAD to pick Hiruko, but this time, I get to choose between the characters.

//It was basic, but I picked Takumi because he's the one I'll be using the most in the fights. And I like that his reaction to killing the commander was far more pained and struggled than Hiruko's.

//Can't wait to see a compilation of these scenes.

DAY 18

//I have basically nothing to say about this day. Nothing really happens, but the scene where Takumi wakes up in the afternoon in pain, walks into the cafeteria, and Takemaru, Darumi, Eito, Tsubasa, and Gaku are all completely knackered made me laugh more than it probably should have.

CONCLUSION:

//But yeah, that's basically all I have, and my takeaways from this game so far are as follows:

Hiruko remains my favourite character in this game so far, even though it seems like her screentime in this route has come to an end, which is something I'm still plenty pissed about. However, she will most likely be fine in the other endings, so I'm just gonna wait for those to learn more about her. Also, that swimsuit scene is gonna stick with me for all the wrong reasons.

Like I ranted about on Day 17, the fight where Gaku and Tsubasa join was absolute thrills, and the combat in this game actually gets me pumped up. I was expecting it to be serviceable, but no, it's actually super exciting.

My opinion of Tsubasa has improved a little bit, but my opinion of Gaku has increased MASSIVELY. While he's not my favourite, I am thoroughly invested in his story, and the fact that there are genuine layers to him despite being a self-centered dork and a coward.

//I have pros and cons of this game, and they're very clearly divided. But overall, I've only played about 6-10 hours of this 330 hour game, and I'm already INCREDIBLY invested.

//Once again, if you haven't played this game (which I sincerely hope you have because I've basically just spoiled the first part of the story for you if you haven't) please get it. It is absolutely worth the money, and worth the price.

-Mod

[raccoonfallsharder]

jupiter nrutas

navigation| let me love your OCs masterlist doodle queue | rocket art | my OCs

it's always such a good day when i get to draw a pretty alien ♡♡♡ i am OBSESSED with jupiter nrutas (aka "jupe"), created by @frostedwitch ♡♡ first of all, frosty's such a good artist and their version of jupe always looks BADASS. but jupe doesn't just look fuckin awesome; she is fuckin awesome.

jupiter's home-planet was razed by thanos, that fuck, and she was orphaned when he destroyed the city she was living in. the nova corps picked her up and had her raised on xandar, where she was training to become a corps member. but jupe's too cool for that shit, especially after uncovering a bunch of corruption (i headcanon that she sometimes joins nebula & rocket at the next nova corps gala, and all three of them wear their acab t-shirts). anyway she accidentally ended up killing someone (he probably deserved it), and fled xandar, working as a mechanic and junker till she got to knowhere.

now she lives in a little shack-like home on the edge of the knowhere scrapyard she fuckin owns. she's a junker and a thief by trade (i also headcanon some ravager ties) and she sells the parts of the ships and the tech that she scavenges and trades for. also she apparently has a lil pet-droid. i'm not clear on if it's named birdie or if it's actually a mechanically bird, but i love it.

so like, you can already see what she has in common and figure out how rocket met her, and his excuses for continuing to come back and visit.

the opportunity to play with cool skin-colors, freckles, lots of piercings, and bioluminescent scales?? jupe is like. my dream come true.

anyway what you should take from all this is that @frostedwitch is a brilliant storyteller and creator. they also have at least one other fascinating oc (sky the ai) and i frankly want to draw all of them at some point. THANK YOU, frosty, for giving me the opportunity to draw jupe. i love her so much. she is intimidatingly rad and i feel like rocket would be constantly tongue-tied and flustered around her. ugh. i love her. thank you for creating such an awesome character, and for letting me play with her!

for those of you who have been patiently waiting in the doodle queue lineup, please know i might be reaching out soon to see if you'd still like me to draw them and to double-check that i have good references! i am hoping to post at least one a month until the queue is complete.

navigation| let me love your OCs masterlist doodle queue | rocket art | my OCs

[blackenedsnow]

You're very awesome and I enjoy your writing. I hope you are having a good day today. Is it okay if I request smut Headcanons of the whacky time distorting Demon scientist, Fu?((Dragon Ball)). Thank you :3

fu x reader smut ; headcanons

WARNING: Nsfw/18+, possessiveness, dirty talk, overstimulation, marking (hickeys, scratches, glowing runes)

PAIRING: Fu x Reader

NOTE: YEAAHHH I LOVE FU SO MUCH!! I HOPE YOU ENJOY THESE!

He has a very unconventional approach to intimacy.

He’s the type to pull you into his lab mid-experiment, clearing off his desk in one sweep, and pinning you there with a wicked grin.

He finds it absolutely thrilling to combine his passions—science and you—into a chaotic whirlwind of pleasure.

Fu is endlessly fascinated by you.

Your body, your reactions, the way you call his name.

He’ll take his time teasing every inch of you, murmuring scientific observations laced with filthy innuendos.

“So if I touch you here, does that make you tremble? Fascinating! Let’s see how much more we can push your limits, hmm?”

He loves using his abilities to mess with time during intimate moments.

For all his playful charm, Fu has a darker side when it comes to you.

He’s deeply possessive and doesn’t tolerate anyone else getting too close.

He’ll mark you in ways that make it clear you’re his—hickeys, scratches, or even glowing runes that only fade when he’s satisfied you understand who you belong to.

Fu’s dirty talk is so in-character—playful, teasing, and just on the edge of sadistic.

“You look so amazing like this, completely at my mercy. Tell me, do you like being my little experiment?"

Despite his energy, Fu has a surprisingly tender side that comes out after everything winds down.

He’ll hold you close, stroking your hair while murmuring about how much you mean to him.

“You’re my favorite project, you know. But don’t tell anyone—I’d hate for them to get jealous.”

[annymation]

What things annoyed and infuriated you the most in Wish 2023 (or Canon!Wish)?

OOOOH BOY! You just gave me permission to open a whole can of worms! Let's gooo!

Okay so here's a list:

I don't like how weak the reveal of what Magnifico actually does is. Asha finds out that he doesn't grant all the wishes, awesome, that would be a cool reveal, except, it's not a reveal, she freakin KNEW THIS! Asha herself said to a kid "It could be you someday" COULD! Asha, you said COULD, as in, there's the POSSIBILITY he'll grant that kid's wish, not a certainty! Not to mention if he only grants ONE wish per month then OF FREAKING COURSE not all wishes are granted. Okay, case in point, there's no grand reveal that the king is doing something no one knew, Asha apparently just forgot how their kingdom works.

Now hear me out, I am NOT one of those people that says Magnifico is a hero and Asha is a villain, I wanna make this clear, because although I find people who legit think like that kinda funny and I reblog their takes from time to time, I also find it frustrating that Disney managed to make a STRAIGHT, WHITE, MAN, IN A POSITION OF POWER, MORE LIKABLE THAN THEIR SECOND BLACK PROTAGONIST! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? IT'S SO EASY TO MAKE US HATE HIM!!!-ahem- But, although Magnifico is the most likable character in the movie, I do not see him as a hero, no no no, keeping the wishes away from the people of Rosas is bad, pretending that he'd grant Sabino's wish only to say SIKE was bad, saying he'd never grant Asha family's wishes was bad. So, am I saying Magnifico is a villain?... No. That's topic number 2, Magnifico wasn't a villain, he was a jerk. A jerk does not a villain make. I didn't feel threatened by that man for not a single minute, and that's including when he was possessed by the evil book, speaking of which.

That dang book both ruined and saved the movie honestly, because yeah, although it's a stupid way to make Magnifico an actual villain, but in a way that makes us sympathize with him since he's not in his right mind, and the last thing you want is for the audience to feel bad for your villain... Well, there's exceptions of course, but that's a whole other subject. But even though the book caused all this damage, it also gave us King unhinged, campy, straight up evil, fruity, voiced by Chris Pine having the time of his life Magnifico, and I loved every second of it, I ate possessed Magnifico up, I was living for every cringe cliche evil dialogue that came out of him, like hell yeah, that's what I've been waiting for, that's what it's all about WOOOOOO!!! I loved him so much I just copy pasted his personality into the Magnifico in my rewrite, although, my version is actually willing to kill teens, while Canon Mag seemed more hesitant for some reason, my headcanon is that Magnifico was fighting the curse deep down, and that's why his magic actually didn't hurt anyone, so... That's sad, hope he breaks out of the mirror and kills them all Idk

We're on topic 4 and this is not even half of my problems oh my... Anyway, Asha is boring. And I mean like, in a way that feels intentional, how did they do it? It's fascinating how she has nothing going for her, she doesn't stand out, doesn't have any internal conflicts at the start of the movie, something ALL Disney princesses have: Belle doesn't fit in with her village, Mulan struggles to make her family proud, Mirabel struggles to make her family proud x10.000, Moana wants to explore the sea but can't, Ariel wants to explore the land but can't, Jasmine wants to get out of the castle but can't, Cinderella is a victim of domestic abuse, ya'll get the idea, all these girls get their struggles that make them compelling, what's Asha's struggle that has been with her for most of her life?... Uh... Her grandpa, this dude we just met and seems pretty happy... Doesn't have his wish granted yet... Ok, what else? Oh yeah everyone in town seems to love her and dance along with her to show tourists how cool the kingdom is... Uhum... So yeah she has no compelling struggles that hook us with her from the start, and the conflict she DOES get, as I explained before, feels underwhelming.

The setting, oh the setting. Like, don't get me wrong, the architecture is pretty, but nothing about it screams SPAIN to me, where is the cultural food? Where are the bulls? Where's the stuff we associate with the Iberian Peninsula? They did such a good job in Encanto, what the heck happened? Oh and did I mention that most of the animals that appear in the forest are not even native to the Iberian Peninsula, there would be no racoons in a medieval setting there, considering they're an invasive species that was brought there from North America, something that, I assume, wouldn't be possible back then, as I don't think the americas were even discovered yet, but anyway, there they are, racoons hanging upside down from their tails, something they can't even do. Sorry for expecting biology accuracy from my disney movie guys, but you can't just make Encanto, that was freaking amazing with it's inclusion of so many gorgeous latin American animals, and then do whatever Wish is, like bruh where were the Lynxes??? They're an endangered species there, Disney could've raised awareness!!!

The music...

Valentino was absurdly annoying, and it would be SO EASY to make a baby goat cute! Baby. Goats. Are. Cute. SO WHY DID YOU MAKE HIM UNFUNNY GOAT THAT MAKES BUTT JOKES???

Characters were unmemorable, Asha's mom didn't do anything, Sabino, whose supposed to be the backbone of the story, is barely a character, and again, it's not like Disney hasn't made likable elderly people before, Moana's grandma, Mama Coco, but my guy Sabino was just... There.

Aaaand I probably could go on and on but I can't think of anything else, feel free to share your own problems with the movie yall.

[renard-dartigue]

Today's Bravern episode was awesome, had alot of funny moments. I'm convinced Bravern's VA is having a blast lol.

Also

Lulu: You got games on your phone?

Spoiler discussion below

So Superbia is back and that is genuinely fascinating because he might give us more hints as to where Bravern and deathdrives come from.

Something that really stood out to me was the fact that before Superbia could speak Japanese, he was clearly trying to communicate in his original language. Isn't it strange how Bravern doesn't understand this language? How does he know Superbia's name then? I legit believed Bravern knew because Superbia told him during their fight in Hawaii. But I guess that wasn't the case???

Its also strange how Bravern isn't baffled by Superbia's return, almost like he expected him to come back after exploding. Like how do I put this? Ok so clearly, this isn't the same Superbia as the one Isami and Bravern defeated. He must have been rebuilt. Whether or not he has the same memories isn't clear since Superbia doesn't seem to know Bravern. Or maybe he does but because of the language barrier he didn't understand Bravern's fancy introduction. Regardless, there is a possibility that Braven doesn't know everything about deathdrives.

My biggest questions right now are: Is there a chance to bring Superbia to their side? Does Superbia only want Lulu because she makes him stronger? Or does he have a similar attachment to Lulu as Bravern does to Isami? Because if its the latter I could definitely see Superbia joining their side if its the only way he can protect Lulu. Cause let's face it, ain't no way that girl is leaving her dad's(yup thats Smith) side willingly. Personally, I hope Superbia joins the team just to see him and Bravern talk more. I'd love to watch two giant robots bicker over dumb shit while Isami losses his mind lol.

Also, I love Smith dude. This isn't American bias or anything. (Especially given what my country's leaders are doing right now but let's not get into it). When Smith is positive its so infectious and I think him and I are on the same wavelength. There is this moment when him, Isami, and Bravern are flying over to Japan and Bravern says one of his wacky phrases followed by an awkward silence. I literally, out LOWD, say "Ookay". And right after that Smith says "Ookay" in the EXACT same way and I started wheezing dude. 💀

Ok ok that's enough rambling lol. Now to wait another week for (hopefully) some answers.

For once I gotta say, the English in this hasn't been as painful as some other animes I've seen. Both Smith and the Major have been pretty alright. (What I'm saying is that I'm not cringing as much when a primary English speaking character doesn't pronounce English words right.)

[moltengoldveins]

so, I am already Adoring the discourse on The Creator, the new sci fi AI film that came out recently, but I’ve yet to see anyone talk about the fascinating religious undertones to the whole movie? Like, I’m Christian. I’ll be the first to admit my bias here: I tend to look for faith and spiritual undertones when consuming media because it’s an integral part of the way I see the world. but this movie was SO COOL?? Like, the Complete Lack of any sort of faith shown in the American characters in contrast with the AI and the Asian characters, a total shift from the modern cultural idea that religion and AI are incompatible. There are monks that are droids and simulants. The kid uses her technology powers by making a “praying” motion. There’s a robot preaching a pretty classic Judeo-Christian Messiah narrative to a bunch of kiddos. There’s only ONE American character given any sort of obvious religious identity and it’s that One Trooper Lady when she mentions Valhalla. This is such an interesting decision and I’m fascinated to know what y’all think of it. NOT TO MENTION (and this is by FAR my favorite part) the fact that the religion and the AI conflict and the treatment of human life are all implicitly bound up together. The Americans believe that the AI are ‘just programming,’ that they aren’t real, that they don’t have souls. The New Asians don’t. And that seems to bleed into the way they treat Humans as well? The kind girl near the beginning of the film, clearing the blast zone with Taylor, panics when she sees an AI online for the first time because she recognizes that he behaves like a person, while Taylor is cold, unresponsive, and insists that it’s just programming. The Americans SAY they value human life because humans are really people and AI aren’t, but they treat civilians and combatants, AI and Humans, Exactly the Same. Almost like, if you reduce one thing with a soul to ‘just programming, not of value’ that starts messing with the way you treat Everything Else. The New Asians, as far as the narrative tells us, don’t plan on retribution for the war. They’re careful with civilians, to a certain extent (I don’t love the van scene with the kiddos tbh :( feel like that was out of place? And the AI lady, the girlfriend of Taylor’s friend who was killed as well, interesting nuances there) and they treat one another like people ought. There’s very little distinction given between the more android and more human AI, which I think is awesome, and the climax of the arc of Taylor’s character happens In A Temple. The end of the story is a message of hope for reunification in heaven AND hope for reunification on earth. That’s. That’s so cool. Like. I think that’s the coolest thing I’ve seen in Ages. I can’t Ever remember seeing that kind of message done in a story that isn’t painfully preachy. One thing that often bothers me about modern film and media is the idea that religion and spirituality has to be handled in one of three ways: entirely unmentioned, preachy to the absurd, or blatantly disrespected. It’s not a universal problem, but it’s pretty widespread. I couldn’t tell what faith the directors ascribed to in this film, but I could tell they were discussing it intelligently and I LIKED THAT. I liked it a lot. I can’t speak for anyone but myself, my tastes, and beliefs: I’m willing to bet a lot of Christians won’t like this movie because they’re hung up on the lack of a blatantly Christian or preachy narrative. I’m willing to bet a lot of other people won’t like it because it tackled spirituality at all. But I liked it, because it looked at the world we live in and spoke of what it saw. It wrestled with the topics of death and life and souls and heaven and national pride and racism and capitalism and love and what it means to be a good person and it did it really well, and I admire that.

please please let me know what y’all thought of the movie? I’m really interested in knowing what people picked up on or thought the movie was saying. God bless y’all, and have an excellent weekend :) 💜

[ckret2]

On a scale of one to ten, 1 being "This has gotten annoying and offputting," 10 being "This is awesome and I love how engaged you guys are," and 5 being "You do you but I'm getting bored with the topic," how are you feeling about the Gender and Pronouns discussion? Seems like people (including me) exploded your page for a bit there.

I'd give it a 7 I think.

I wouldn't have already prior to this conversation put this much thought into how sentient polygons can be trans—much less taken an alien with he/him pronouns, stuffed him in a body with a vag, and declared he's got three overlapping alien genders that have absolutely nothing to do with either these pronouns or this body and that are weird even by his species's standards—if I didn't think the topic of speculative gender is fascinating. I'm the person who wrote this post. This is a topic of great interest to me.

It's only a 7 because of the preoccupation with pronouns, specifically, in a way that makes it clear that people are looking at this very alien character that I've been taking pains to keep alien and assuming that his understanding of gender and How Gender Should Be Recognized is identical to early 21st century English-speaking humans' understanding of gender. I've had three different people writing in on the assumption that it's a given that this alien who's never said anything about his pronouns except "whatever" would jump for joy to be assigned some English neopronouns.

I'm his writer. I am using his primary English pronouns, every time I talk about him. I'm using his pronouns right now. Divorce "he/him" from inherent implications of masculinity.

So, tl;dr: +7 points for conversation exploring ways gender can be different & alien for an alien species; -3 points for the part of the conversation fixated on trying to wedge alien gender into our framework.

[dragontamerno3]

DS9 E2E18 - Profit and Loss

Star Trek is really good at both telling us who the bad guys are in a very black and white fashion but they're also very good at then taking that and throwing it into a blender to make things all sorts of shades of gray. I find myself feeling the shades of gray with the Cardassians. I rather loathe them, in the way that we're supposed to. They're literal space yahtzees, the show has stated that they've created war crimes similar to those of the Holocaust. It's valid to hate them. That said, they keep dropping stray Cardassians into the mix that aren't like the others. Quark's lost love being one of them.

Everytime a Cardassian comes aboard I'm waiting for the ultimate betrayal and while a betrayal did happen, I'm honestly glad it came from the clearly marked oppressor.

I appreciate how even the Cardassians would have freedom fighters that were around to try to help save Cardassia from fash rule. I was a little weirder out that she kept calling them her students, but only because it made it feel more cult like but that was just a side note my brain kept thinking throwing at me when she did lol

Quark's storyline in this was interesting. I'm not generally a fan of sudden romance stories but the idea that a Ferengi would give up everything for a woman is incredibly out of character (as a whole) it was fascinating to watch him go from "SHE gets free things, you have to pay" to "You're with her, you get free drinks but only drinks" to "I'll give you this VERY important device for free if you get her to stay" to "Take me with you, I'll abandon everything for you."

To be clear, I don't think that last part would have lasted, even if he stayed devoted and loyal, he'd still start to scheme or try to make a profit somewhere. The man doesn't even take his first breath in the morning before he starts to consider the money he can make, he's not giving it up completely. But even the idea of it was interesting.

And then he got Odo to release them? And Odo did? Shocking but awesome all the same.

Having an episode with Garak and no Bashir should be a crime but having a very flamboyant Garak in the episode at all is a win that I'll take.

I wasn't sure the angle they were trying to pull with him because, from my read on the character so far he was against the Cardassian regime or at least had grown to have a bad taste for it so when he "outed" them for being there I was super confused.

Even when he showed up at the end to kill them I was kinda surprised that he would do that. But when he ended up killing the actual villain of this specific episode instead it made me wonder if he was playing some kind of 4D chess. Still don't know where he stands (and I'm okay with it) or what his intentions were but I appreciate the outcome. Chaos Garak for the win.

A show note, not exactly an episode note (though it did happen here): I love how they use his tailor shop and analogies to describe things/situations/warn folks. This is the second time he's done this and its a fun narrative feature that I dig.

7/10 - the plot itself was all over the place and I have more questions than answers but this was a fun ride. Saved from a 6.5 because Garak, though.

[saltedcaramelchaos]

ao3 is an entirely unknown universe to me so i shall be making my remarks about the new statement here:

WHAT

WHAT

WHAT

that was fascinating and terrifying and enthralling because CHIPS AND FISH but also like i have so many concerns for chip and questions and-

first i have to say, that was REALLY good, like insanely good- I felt on the edge of the edge of my seat the entire time

also like, who is that fire eye guy and will he be making another appearance in the future?? it's such a morbidly entrancing character that i now want to like, inject into a story of my own (or at least the concept of such a character) - IT WAS SO WELL-TOLD AND I COULD PICTURE EVERYTHING CYSTAL-CLEAR

overall that was an absolutely amazing statement and i think it's especially cool for me 'cause i can really appreciate just how well you did the 'Chip voice' if that makes sense

brilliant job of it ak, i'm LOVING the au :333

AHAHAHAHAHAAaAA YES YESS THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WAS HOPING FOR- (all good on the ao3 front lol, you might need an account to comment?)

yaaaayy ty king!! I'm glad that was the vibe!

HEHEHEHEE!! yes he will be making another appearance >:) I've got plentyy planned for Chip, worry not...

I'm so glad that came across :0- I'm really trying to get everyone's character voices distinct in this, so that's awesome that it sounded like chip to you!!

THANK YOUUU <333 glad you enjoyed it :D!