#to the point that this has. it's a heavy hitter as someone who struggles with chronic pain. it's a heavy hitter as a gay man.

[tencentbounty]

arcane spoilers... because this totally happens... and i'm NOT crazy.

"No masters or kings when the ritual begins. There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin."

[bokettochild]

Just saw the update!

So, first thoughts!

Gremlin Legend and Sky is something I am LIVING for. Sky's little look of approval as he stands between Wars and Legend after that little move is sending me!

(Wild is not impressed)

I also really love that JoJo played with Warriors' cape/scarf being capable of doing that, which is a major risk btw, but I love that we see it's potential now!

Like, Legend's timing is perfect (and I love that this confirms the Legend v. Wars dynamic we all love) especially considering Hyrule was literally talking about the same thing and you'd THINK Captain-War-Hero over here would be more cautious because of it (although the fact this implies Legend doesn't trigger Warriors danger sense is GREAT for the fluff fic writers like me!)

Time and Wars looking like disappointed parents though is brilliant

(Warriors with messy hair is so funny to me, help)

The continued portrayal of Time being too harsh with the boys, all tense after what happened to Twilight, that's great. i'm glad the consequences of past events are following them, it really makes this all feel linear!

I also am ALL HERE for the boys finding their differences! Warriors and Wild both admitting to being new to dungeon crawling and the monsters involved is a great thing we've all been playing with in fics, but making it cannon feels like validation :)

Also, Warriors being defensive of that, and maybe a bit prickly about their judgement, I think it shows a lot of him. he's got his pride,a although he's learned to tame it. He's feeling a bit miffed to realize how different he is, but doesn't want them seeing him as lesser as well (although they never would). I can also hear him using a clipped military sort of tone when speaking here. It's just the way his words are selected and strung together that makes it seem he's being very to the point, direct, and cold in his tone, which really sells the whole difference between a soldier and the "average nobody" that the rest of them were (ironic, since he's trying to act like the difference isn't a big deal but only further accentuates it this way).

Twilight being pleased that Epona is fine and just enjoying a meal made me grin so big though. He's all worried for his girl but she is, quite literally, happy as a horse over there LOL

Also, this bit:

recognition for Sky's right-handedness, my beloved! (JoJo is giving us all the easter eggs!)

The fact that the passage is too small to let them all fight though is a brilliant way of preventing some of our heavy hitters and more skilled heroes from being able to do anything though!

I like how that gives us the chance to see Time one-shot the foe and also gives him the impression that the rest are maybe not skilled enough to do this alone. WE all know they are, but they're a handicap to each other right now, and it's only further cementing in his mind that they're not ready for all this, which will make his overbearing speech and the judgement he casts on them in combat all the more an issue.

I mean, we all know the hero's shade was like that, but JoJo has shown Time acting this way from the start

(Deep Shadows P.2)

(Likelike)

So I guess we're in for more of that now, and most likely someone (probably Legend, as it's usually him, or Wind, who is very aware of judgement from teh rest) is definitely going to have to call him on it soon, maybe in the dungeon. Will that lead to some bonding with Time where he has to admit he cares and worries about them as though they're his own? I hope so!

Anyways, all this to say, we really are seeing how much they struggle to work together, so hopefully this dungoen will teach them all how to do that better, as Time mentioned earlier

(Dawn p.8)

Now, to finish it off!I would like to thank JoJo for giving us so many beautiful shots of Twi this time around. I'll admit it now, he's pretty darn fine <3

That said, I'm loving the Legend content too! i hope we get to see some more starring moments from him going forwards, what with him being the dungeon veteran and all! It's great seeing his childish/playful side these last few updates, but I'm really craving some veteran Legend right now >:)

[krisluxxeeempress]

Pluto Square Moon Synastry | Astro Synastry Series

hm, the Pluto person truly must tread carefully with the moon person in this synastry. This is a tricky or even a contradictory mixture of energies to interpret for many reasons.

THE PLUTO PERSON IS THE HEAVY HITTER IN THIS BITCH, I KNOW THIS, YOU KNOW THIS AND WHOEVER THE MOON PERSON IS, WILL SOON KNOW AND FEEL THIS. SO, THE SQUARE, THE CHALLENGE AND DIFFICULTY THE PLUTO PERSON BRINGS TO THE MOON HEAVILY DEPENDS ON THE SIGN THE MOON IS IN.

THERE ARE STRONG MOON SIGNS AND THEN THERE ARE WEAKER ONES WHO CANNOT HANDLE THE PLUTO PERSON.

THIS ENERGY REMINDS ME OF A MAN OR WOMAN CLAIMING SOMEONE “CAN’’T HANDLE THEM” AND THEN GET INTO BED AND THE WOMAN CAN’T TAKE BACKSHOTS WITH HER BACK ARCHED TO PERFECTION OR A MAN WHO CANNOT LAST 5 MINS IN THAT P****, haha.

A lot of people claim they handle intensity, possession, obsession and even violence until they have the handle it. Now do not get me wrong, the Pluto person isn’t evil (but can be). My point starting off with this synastry is that some thrive in squares meanwhile others crumble and fumble- so it’s difficult to interpret this without getting specific on the sign the Pluto person has and the moon. I suppose that is the purpose of this synastry- to test if you're about this life. The Pluto person will be challenged in dealing with the sensitivities of the moon person especially if it’s a weaker moon. The moon person will be challenged greatly on whether or not they can handle the Pluto person in all their glory.

This synastry reminds me of Bella and Edward in Twilight, with Edward being the Pluto person and Bella being the moon person- for my example. We all thought Bella wasn’t about that life, but she proved us and Edward all wrong. For my example, Bella appeared weak and deceptive in that manner, which the moon is known to be, however, she really had the all-powerful Edward on his knees, plenty of times. Edward, being the Pluto person did struggle greatly with his love, obsession, and desire for Bella all while trying not to kill her.

I used to be into dark romance books and all the ladies obsessed over the killers, thugs, psycho’s and unhinged but sexy men in the books but they all knew that if that book fantasy man came to reality- they would fold, be scared, call cops and run away. We fantasize about the Pluto person but in reality, can we handle it? The moon person in this synastry will find out firsthand and it will be life changing in a destructive or empowering way however, you have to experience it first. You can’t keep the Pluto person at a distance, you will be forced to experience them- all of them and this may scare the moon person off or like I forementioned, empower him/her. Similar to Bella. She was scared of Edward but that made her want more until it was too late to turn back and at the end of her journey (or the movie series) she realized that she was “born to be a vampire”. She would have never gotten that empowering realization had she avoided Edward.

My point is, the Pluto person is feared by the moon person however, the moon person can intuit and sense there’s more to the Pluto person that they have to discover. Spiritually speaking, the moon person knows they need the Pluto person but there’s fear, denial and a lack of the familiarity IN THE PHYSICAL SENSE, BUT EMOTIONALLY, THE PLUTO PERSON FEELS LIKE HOME TO THE MOON PERSON. HONESTLY, THE PLUTO PERSON FEELS LIKE THE MOON PERSON IS HOME TO THEM AS WELL HOWEVER, THE PLUTO PERSON IS CONCERNED ABOUT HURTING/BREAKING OR RUINING THE MOON PERSON AND TRIES THEIR DAMNEST TO AVOID THE MOON PERSON. (or ruins them because that's their secret intention, who knows)

HERE COMES THE CONTRADICTION OR MAYBE IM SENSING THE ENERGETIC SHIFT BUT THE PLUTO PERSON MAY BE THE AVOIDANT (INITALLY) AND THE MOON PERSON MAY BE THE COVERT CHASER. LIKE EDWARD, HE WAS AVOIDING BELLA AND BELLA WAS SECRECTLY ASKING ABOUT EDWARD AND VERY CURIOUS ABOUT HIM AND GOING TO BOOKSTORES TO REASEARCH MYTHICAL STORIES IN HOPES OF GAINING MORE KNOWLEDGE. HER INTUTION WAS TELLING HER SHE WAS MISSING SOMETHING BUT WHAT WAS THAT SOMETHING?

BELLA WAS CLINGY BUT EDWARD WAS POSSESSIVE.  TO MY NEXT POINT, THE MOON PERSON WILL BE CLINGY BUT PLUTO PERSON WILL BE POSSESSIVE, PROTECTIVE AND SECRECTLY DANGEROUS, THAT ONLY THE MOON PERSON WILL BE PRIVY TO.

IT'A POSSIBLE FOR OTHERS NOT EVEN BEING AWARE THIS COUPLE EXIST, AS A COUPLE.

NOW IN THE EVENT PEOPLE KNOW YOU'RE A COUPLE, THAT��S ALL THEY’LL KNOW AND THIS MAY ATTRACT STALKERS OR PEOPLE HEAVILY INVESTED IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP. YOU BOTH HAVE SECRECTIVE ENERGY SEPERATELY AND MORESO, COLLECTIVELY.

LET’S SAY THIS COUPLE WORK TOGETHER. THEY CAN LITERALLY GO OUTSIDE ON LUNCH BREAK, HAVE BACK BREAKING SEX AND THEN COME INTO WORK LOOKING CALM, COOL AND COLLECTED AND DEPENDING, MAY EVEN APPEAR AS IF THEY DO NOT KNOW EACHOTHER.

IN A NEGATIVE SENSE, THIS SYNASTRY CAN BE ABUSIVE BUT IT'S COVERED UP VERY WELL (UNTIL IT’S NOT). AS I’M TYPING THIS, I FEEL LIKE MY ENERGY IS SHIFTING IN SO MANY DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS AND THAT’S THE VIBE WITH THIS COUPLE.

IT’S NOT NECESSARILY A STABLE CONNECTION AND THAT WILL BE THE SQUARE FOR THE MOON PERSON BECAUSE THEIR EMOTIONAL INSTABILITY WILL BE HEIGHTENED AND REFLECTED BACK. IT’S IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT BECAUSE THIS RELATIONSHIP ISN’T STABLE, DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN IT’S TOXIC though, it can be.

-sidenote: this synastry will feel odd to others, almost like Aquarius energy but unable to pinpoint what the oddity is, like Piscean energy but I digress.

Jacob thought Bella was going to die when she finally had sex with Edward. In Jacob’s mind, someone on the outside, he concluded Bella and Edwards relationship was toxic and life threatening however, on the inside of this relationship, Edward and Bella thought they had things under control and wanted whatever came with each other. So, people on the outside will be so disturbed and bothered by this couple because they cannot get in and this can be good and or bad. Bad in the sense that what if the moon person was being abused and no one can get in to help him/her? But good in the sense that the Pluto person is so protective of the moon person that the Pluto person would rather die than to allow any harm to come to the moon person.

This couple is hard to define because you never really know what is going on and this can be dangerous to the couple and to others on the outside of this couple. It’s so hard to tell.

If you have annoying neighbors who like abusive sex and you hear them screaming, how do you know someone is being abused or if they just like aggressive and wall breaking sex? Do you get involved and risk being wrong and exposed as nosey or leave them alone and risk someone actually being in danger?

I am using sex as a relatable EXAMPLE BUT THIS APPLIES TO ALL KINDS OF SITUATIONS. WE WILL NEVER REALLY KNOW WITH THIS COUPLE BECAUSE THE MOON PERSON WILL APPEAR WEAK AND VULNERABLE IN COMPARISON TO THE PLUTO PERSON HOWEVER, WHAT IF SECRECTLY THE MOON PERSON HAS THE SECRET STRENGTH, TO PUT THE PLUTO PERSON ON THEIR KNEES?

Like in the dark romance books, the men in the book are portrayed as Pluto types and they were scary, dangerous, and physically stronger however, their ladies in those books, who in my example, is the moon person, they had those dark and scary men on their knees for them. Whatever the moon person needed or wanted, the Pluto person obliged and then some. It doesn’t matter if the Pluto person is the woman and the moon person is the man, the dynamic is all the same.

People on the outside will always assume the Pluto person is too dangerous, serious, and hardcore- or they may suspect something dark about the Pluto person that they don’t like but can’t prove meanwhile, the moon person will appear weak, unsuspecting, and innocent but sometimes, it’s the moon person who has all the power.

Whatever the case, it will be extremely hard for this couple to breakup and that’s another square.

If things are all bad and warrant this couple to separate, they won’t be able to because there’s a deep soul tie here. In the event the couple need to separate for idk, work or life circumstances- it will literally feel like death for them. Remember Edward had Bella jumping off cliffs and Bella had Edward ready to get burned at the stake. Both could not be without each other and were more than willing to go to extremes to bring the other back. Idk, it’s either extremely romantic to some and for others, traumatizing because in a negative sense- the Pluto person would be the type to kill the moon person and their babies and then him/herself before letting them leave the relationship. The moon person will literally go emotionally and eventually mentally crazy without the Pluto person. (because the moon is the mind in Vedic astrology)

 do you see the overall dilemma? (the square) this synastry is so powerful that it will appear like an opposition. Oppositions insert themselves into this dynamic because the powerful soul tie that these two with Pluto square moon have, is so dynamic it’s threatening others- making others feel inclined to oppose it. It’s hard to explain, this couple is hard to understand for each other and especially for others. This couple must fight to stay together and fight to stay apart. Then they must fight others who oppose them because others cannot understand or respect their dynamic (even if it's not a toxic dynamic)

I can go on and on, but I will conclude here.

If you have Pluto square moon in synastry, be prepared for people on the outside wishing to get in, to oppose your relationship. These people can sense a very strong undercurrent of energies between the two of you but because they do not understand it- they will fear it and cause drama that will force the Pluto person to defend and protect or to be exposed. The Pluto person challenge is love, protect, and handle the moon person with care and be willing to die and or sacrifice for the moon person no matter what, if you truly love the moon person. However, if you do not love the moon person and you’re secretly a monster, your challenge will be getting exposed and left to deal with the light.

All things done in the dark are brought to the light. Pick a struggle.

As for the moon person, your challenge is facing your fears and handling that Pluto d*** or p*** , haha no seriously.

Like Bella, she was constantly around other vampires who wanted to kill her. She was constantly in situations that she had no power. Bella was somewhat helpless until she fought for equal vampire rights, ha. Speaking to the moon person- your challenge is to become empowered and stronger through all the trials and tribulations you will surely endure being with the Pluto person. Your comfort levels will constantly be eroded, challenged and tested and you will need to overcome them and come out wanting more.

When I think of the moon, I think of pregnancy. Did you know women can die during childbirth? No one talks about this openly or even appears concerned about this when they try to get pregnant! Why? because the love they usually have for the man, overpowers the possibility of facing death. There's a deep-rooted level of trust these people have for each other that carries them through the darkest pits of hell. (or a deep-rooted distrust)

I am just using this as an example, but hopefully you get the point.

The love you have for your Pluto person will make you more than willing, resilient, and empowered to face death, if that’s required, for your Pluto person. Now death comes in many different forms, but the point is, your love for the Pluto person is the challenge. How deep is your love vibes. Your love will be exposed in the light as well. So, what you both initially hid about your feelings, love and relationship towards each other and others will be exposed eventually.

I hope what’s exposed is unconditional love, a bigger ass from taking those back shots and overcoming opposition that is waiting at the door for the both of you.

Do you both love each other enough to run into a burning building to save each other? Or hate each other enough to start the fire with them in it?

Are you both willing to dive in the deep oceans to save each other? Or throw them in the deep ocean in hopes they die and are eaten by a shark?

Are you willing to save room on a floating door in hopes you both survive, or will you allow your Pluto or moon person freeze to death like homegirl did in the titanic?

[disco-troy]

One of the things I really want someone to bring back from the Humpries run is the idea of the judge as a villain.

Within the superhero community, Nightwing represents trust. He not only assumes leadership positions and gains the trust of other heroes (especially when compared to his mentor), but he also strives to see the best in people through the way he lives his life. However, it's something he struggles with a lot because the way he was raised and the things he's been through. He yearns to trust and find goodness in others.

For instance, in the Judas Contract despite Terra's recent betrayal, Nightwing chooses to trust Joey.

The judge serves as the antithesis to Nightwing's philosophy, undermining the very idea of trust. With the judge, trust becomes a liability. He challenges Nightwing's history of trust and reinforces moments when that philosophy has been called into question.

What happens when the judge makes him doubt his friends, his allies, and his support system? Who is Nightwing without his safety net? This not only creates a compelling narrative point, but it also explains why Nightwing isn't calling on the Titans or his family for help with this problem (something that Taylor's run lacks, to be honest). It introduces more conflict for Dick – he wants to trust his friends and family, yet he's afraid of what the judge might offer them or what he might uncover about them if the judge digs deep enough.

Plus the judge works so well in the setting of Bludhaven. Gotham has so many rouges that just tear it apart morally and look into what the city means. Bludhaven doesn't really have that yet (Dixon's run sets up characters, but none of them mean anything thematically). Why is Bludhaven corrupt? How does this hurt the city? The judge started this by exposing the decisions of giving flooded homes to veterans to save money and the casino owner who covered up the murder of a child. A casino and a city built on the blood of others. Both Nightwing and the judge seek to uncover the cracks in the system where people fall. The judge aims to expose the inherent corruption of humanity and reinforce the notion that humans are inherently self-serving. Dick, on the other hand, aims to catch those who have fallen through the cracks.

The judge is also immensely entertaining to read, with a distinct personality that meshes well with Nightwing. He is both a meticulous planner and an improviser, allowing readers to see different aspects of Nightwing's crime-fighting abilities. Dick will have to engage in intense detective work to track down the judge, especially since the judge's "power" revolves around manipulating people. Nightwing must rely on his understanding of people as a detective, which happens to be one of his strengths. But here's the twist: the judge turns Nightwing's strength into a weakness. He can sway anyone to his side, mess with loyalties, and make it impossible to trust anyone. It becomes impossible to discern who is lying or who has suddenly changed allegiance because the judge flips a coin and presents them with an irresistible offer. Every waking moment becomes a mind game.

To defeat the judge, Nightwing must question everyone around him - he can never allow himself to fully trust anyone. This especially hurts if it comes after he's made connections with the people in Bludhaven. How does he rebuild trust or begin to forgive? How does a betrayal as Nightwing affect those he is friends with as Dick Grayson?

He plays with Dick's guilt complex as well. The judge can see people's deepest desires and when Dick feels guilty for his friends death or crises he couldnt avert I want Dick being promised absolution and it hurting so much but having to refuse it. Having to refuse promises of family when he's missing the circus.

And while his home is Bludhaven he does have the potential to be a heavy hitter. His powers could manipulate many people with power in the dcu and become a huge threat, and his philosphy could apply to many situations. What would the judge do if he went out of Bludhaven? Went against the Titans? The greater hero community? What would he say about say Lex Luthor's brand of corruption or if he set his sight to the governments? His statement has the capability to make a ripple in the DC universe, with Nightwing being his opposite and meeting him every step of the way.

Nightwing doesn't really have an ideological nemesis - but the judge is a perfect fit. He's a foil and an antagonist - doubting what it means for Dick to be a hero, bringing up his guilt and jealousy and all his negative emotions to the forefront. Having to grapple with his worst feelings he forces Dick to confront his darkest emotions head-on. Defeating the judge won't just require physical strength, but emotional sacrifices too.

The judge can throw in some challenge and conflict in Dick's run that is sorely missing right now. Even if he wins against the judge, he still loses. He still needs to have his trust in people doubted, he still feels guilt for everything the judge does. Let Dick rise to the challenge of his name, allow the judge to shake his foundations and come out stronger. When the judge is the Destroyer, deconstructing bludhaven to its rotten core and exposing its cracks, I want to see Dick be The Eternal Rebuilder - ready to catch people, rebuild relationships and forgive others - maybe eventually even himself.

[ratsoh-writes]

In masterlist 10, you have the boys lined up from strongest to weakest (worldbuilding section)

Any updates? Anything change? More to add? Whatever you want, my sweet babygirl

Oh yes! Lemme make a new list of top ten strongest and weakest!

Ok let’s start with the buff skellys

Butch: butch of course. He’s still the king fighter among them all, with incredible magical power, a very nice level of physical strength, and of course the training of someone who’s been taught to kill since he was a toddler. Butch is not to be messed with.

Helios: A close second is Helios! He also has incredible magical strength and is a ball of pure damage and speed! Not to mention he’s just simply talented when it comes to fighting! Definitely not someone to be messed with

Rancher: golem strength is one hell of a drug, and he’s trained too. Rancher is a pretty impressive wrestler. He even had plans to go pro at one point

Coffee, when he’s fighting on his terms, he’s deadly, and nealry impossible to hear or track. In a one on one fight coffee is still as sneaky as one can be, although his defense isn’t enough to beat the above three

Boss: while his magical power is onky slightly above average, he makes up for it in skill and pure viciousness. Boss always fights dirty

Snipe with a gun is terrifying considering he never misses. He always hits the spot he’s aiming for. One has to be scarily fast to dodge him. Without any sort of ranged weapons, snipe would move down to somewhere like 20 on the list

Butler. Being an ex assassin means he clearly knows his way around a fight. Although butler greatly prefers working in the shadows, he can get out there and fight one on one if he needs to

Hilda is a total spitfire on the battlefield. Literally. She can spit fire. It’s a Drake thing. Anyways she’s a heavy hitter and has her wings as an added arial advantage.

Mutt: he’s got a strong magical attack coupled with an LV sick crazy soul that doesn’t understand the meaning of quitting lol

Wine: he doesn’t like taking risks, but when pushed, wine is terrifying on the battlefield. He’s skilled in both fighting and emotional damage. His words are great at tripping up his enemies

And for the weakest ten!

Artemis: dimming really messed her up. She can’t summon an attack without landing herself in the hospital for weeks, never mind her physical strength too

G: while he can be speedy, summoning magic attacks is risky as it can cause his dimming to flare up. Plus he’s extremely brittle

Tinker: he has zero battle training and is so easily distracted that defeating him isn’t even something worth bragging over

Stitches: stitches isn’t much better than tinker in the experience department, but at least he pays attention when he’s being attacked

Sugar: he’d cry if he hurt a fly. Sugar is so gentle that his attacks hardly do any damage, even when he’s cornered and hurt himself. There’s one exception though: his daughter winnie. If he’s defending her, he moves up to the middle of the power list

Pudding. Her magic power is below average and she has the bare minimum of self defense training, which is pretty much none. But at least she tries to fight back

Honey: he is trained, of course Star taught him to fight, but honeys magic is pretty weak despite him being a generally healthy monster physically. Honeys attacks don’t do too much unless he’s truly desperate

Oak: his injury means that he’s very vulnerable despite being a physically strong monster when pressed. Oak struggles to properly use his magic attacks and can only fight for so long before collapsing exhausted. You just need to wait him out

Zen: he’s a healthy monster with a lively magic, but his ideals refuse to allow him to fight back. One needs to get zen on the brink of death before he truly begins to fight seriously

Basil: same as honey, his magic output is pretty weak. However he’s much meaner in a fight than his younger counterpart and has a few dirty tricks that can buy him some time.

[delphiniumarchangelmoon]

It’s like 2 am but when I have proper time I’m going to write up a list of how I, if I were god, wound distribute the pronouns and how it would fall apart

And I’m not going easy on them I’m gonna make someone die from mispronouncing a pronoun with ambiguous spelling because I’m a cruel and unjust god who hyperfixated on pronouns like a year ago and has never had a chance to do anything with it

The ideas I got quickly from reading the post:

-the spanners all managed to get ‘she’ as one of their sets which is why Mumbo decided that was what he’d base his asshole behavior on this time BUT it’s the ONLY set Grian got, and Grian is the only person who only got one set and is now pouting about it (“GOD HATES ME” “why does this indicate god hates you Grian?” “I DONT KNOW BUT WHY IS IT JUST ME??? THAT HAS TO MEAN SOMETHING!”)

(it means you’re funny when you complain Grian. Also you keep referring to yourself as a girl like there’s a six minute compilation of it and it’s not even up to date the most recent one was literally a month ago in Joel’s castle raid video bestie at some point you have to ask: am I the problem?)

-Pearl managed to kill herself by tongue-twisting her way into saying a sentence out of order and accidentally said the word “cobblestone” in the section of the sentence that should have been a pronoun and YES, the game counted it.

- Gem just decides to go the route of minimal communication and only says short phrases to get by. This ends up in few very silly exchanges where people instinctively match her energy and conversations go like “teammate?” “Not here” “where?” “Get food. Five minutes ago.” “Thanks.”

-BDubs gets Mirror pronouns which kills at least three people before they figure out what it means

-Jimmy doesn’t die at all Jimmy gets out of the situation completely fine actually, never messes up and acts completely normal all session (physically. Mentally? Oh god Jimmy is struggling. I’m sorry but someone had to have an identity crisis here and you’re my blorbo which means I torture you most 🩵)

-someone, I dont know who yet, but somebody is getting all non-standard pronouns. Just some obscure bullshit. I’ll pull out some real heavy hitters. Just to be a living inconvenience. Scott or BigB probably cause Scott likes being annoying and BigB likes being weird

the next wildcard everyone gets their genders randomly changed to something and if you use the wrong pronouns corresponding to someone else's random gender you die. no one knows what their pronouns are.

[artbyblastweave]

The seven WITHOUT homelander

Vs

Team rwby.

Environment snowy cliff. Everybody is in character.

Who do YOU bet on

In any Seven vs another cape group match up, I tend to side by default with the non-seven group because the Seven are very pointedly from a universe where they have limited opportunity to accrue combat experience against other superhumans AND no real experience working alongside each other as a cohesive unit. RWBY (and the remnants of JNPR, who I sort of append as part and parcel) have good standing here because on top of their individual versatile semblances they've also got high-tier durability from their auras AND they're good at working together as a group.

Running through the seven to try and give them a fair shake;

Black Noir and Maeve: Dangerous combatants, he heals quickly and she might be able to one-shot someone's Aura. But they're both still vulnerable to massive trauma, and they have no real counter to intelligently-deployed AOE attacks, so any number of huntresses coordinating against them stand a decent chance. They might be able to kill Jaun if they're lucky; that'd probably leave them open to someone else nailing them, though.

A-Train: Hosed. His speed is as dangerous to himself as it is to anyone on Team RWBY; fighting seriously might just kill him. He might be able to Blitz Juan if he's lucky.

The Deep: No water he can exploit or sea life he can pull in that'll help; I don't think he's capable of closing the distance on most of RWBY. He might be able to kill Juan if he's lucky.

Translucent: My read on him is that while invisible, he's indestructible, and his "super strength" is really derived more from being made of an indestructible material than having super strength proper; Butcher was able to hold his own against him with just a crowbar for a little bit without Translucent having an immediate shutdown play. He's also massively vulnerable to electricity and he's opposed to Nora. He's likely hosed if he gets caught up in one of her charge-ups. He might be able to kill Jaun via ambush. If he's lucky.

Starlight: Actually not not a contender; her power charges up through exposure to light, she's up against dust users and Yang in particular, and she's one of the only AOE assets the group has sans Homelander. But a lot of her more impressive showings were enabled by the presence of modern infrastructure and this is a fight in the wilderness, so that's gonna be a point against her. She could probably kill Juan though.

Lamplighter: I think he's doomed; He's not even durable enough to be immune to the fire he manipulates, and was kept on the Seven I think basically because he was good at setting squishies on fire as an evidence-removal thing. I think his attacks would basically be just a feeder for Yang's semblance. I genuinely don't even think he could kill Juan.

Stormfront: Actually a contender. Strong, fast, smart, experienced, heavy hitter, AOE attacks, blaster attacks, flight. The deciding factor on this is gonna be whether Nora's power treats her power blasts as electricity, which I don't actually think they are; if so, RWBY wins, but otherwise it might be a bit of a struggle. She's end-of-volume boss material. She'd kill Juan

But ultimately I think that any power discrepancy gets washed out in the fact that the Seven are likely to not be paying attention to each other's movements, or even aware of what those movements look like because they simply never do teamfights; there's also the fact that they actively hate each other and might break ranks, hold back from the fight out of unsurety, attack each other while claiming friendly fire, or defect outright. You can't model the Seven as being more than the sum of their parts, or any combination of the sum of their parts; they get less effective around each other.

[whysojiminimnida]

++ I don’t doubt Jimin’s account but given his polyvalent talent (even from vids pre-debut), the “JM struggling with dance” never made sense to me. Do you have thoughts on how much of this “having to work harder” is a result of objective difficulty, and the echo of that early experience of not being good enough, in addition to his own perfectionism and humility?

(Pt 2/2 scroll for first half) Hiya @onthecuterside! Okay okay let's get this bread.

Jimin is a dancer's dancer. So when he says he struggled, yes. He did. But it does not look like struggle to the rest of us because to us he looks SO GOOD, right? We've all seen the early vids. The kid was prodigious early. He was a perfectionist and a very intelligent, very high achiever from childhood. This is not in question. We been knew. But we are not seeing what he sees when he looks in the dance mirror. Your ideas about perfectionism and humility are spot on - in-trained but also inborn, to an extent. Dancers, true dancers, are never, ever satisfied with their work. EVER. Like it's not mentally healthy to be honest. There is a big difference between hip-hop style street dancing and ballet-based contemporary dance. I'm a ballet technician. I also taught street dance and hip hop on the side. He is a contemporary technician, so lots of ballet but less than mine - and a heavy hitter in hip-hop, which uses totally different muscles and body weight distribution. The styles can complement each other but are not in any way the same. It can be brutal to take your trained body from pulling every muscle upwards (ballet) to dropping into your hip joints and knees (hip-hop). Injuries happen all the time in cross-training. Isolations are trained - you cannot isolate a muscle on a beat without doing it until it does it by itself. And when your body's muscle memory is "we pull in we tighten there is an invisible string pulling us to the ceiling", it is not easy to go to "get down drop the string clench don't pull up lower lower yes your weight does in fact go straight into your hip joints". Especially when your hips turn out so naturally that you already walk like a damn duck.

Just getting your knees to face the same direction takes actual work and conscious thought. Someone like Koo with no ballet training has a much, much easier time picking up hip-hop even though your ballet dancer Jimin is gonna make it look flawless and effortless every time. I am making no sense to anyone not a dancer here probably and I apologize. It's difficult to articulate, actually. So here, have a 3J dance break and see how they all get down in those hips:

And here we have some first-style muscle memory Jimin, who is pulled upwards in his core even when he is working on the floor:

The only critique I can even find on his contemporary is that his metatarsals don't arch naturally when he points his feet and that is strictly a guys-don't-train-their-arches thing. (They don't. Men with great ballet feet are very unusual). Frankly the man needs his feet for stability so he gets a full pass on that. Look at his turnout - from the hips. Beautiful. His elevation is gorgeous. He flies, this guy. And sometimes when we fly naturally, or even because we've worked so hard to learn, it's even harder to learn to stay on the ground. I hope that made even a little bit of sense. Because the narrative about his contemporary training is actually accurate, but it isn't the only thing. His hip-hop was great, he moved like water, but technically his hip-hop was flawed due to his body's resistance to relaxing into the necessary flow. It's hard to snap to the beat with a muscle that's pulled upwards against the tide of the move. See? I'm speaking gibberish over here. I tried okay ;) Let's talk about it more though. I feel like we don't talk about Dancer Jimin and how that affects his life, his personality, his very core as a human enough.

[kurofai-olympics]

KuroFai Olympics 2022 - Team Blessed

Prompt: Frozen Heart Author: xFourLeafCloverx Title: Still Life Rating: T+ Summary: Childhood friends Kurogane and Fai were separated a long time ago. Now that they met again, how are they going to rekindle that friendship? https://archiveofourown.org/works/41208606/chapters/103308075

Prompt: A whole new world Author: kuroganeattacksquad Title: Mastering the Blade Rating: M Summary: Kurogane had taken his chaotic world and filed it down to a point, until it glimmered like the edge of his sword. https://archiveofourown.org/works/41235303/chapters/103378686

Prompt: Into the Unknown Author: tsubasafan Title: All That Was Lost is Revealed Rating: T Summary: A series of adventures in an unknown wood as Kurogane struggles to find his way home and finds more than he had ever hoped to find. https://archiveofourown.org/works/41259282

Prompt: Poor Unfortunate Souls Author: yououui Title: ever sun, ever moon Rating: M Summary: But his heart ached; it yearned to be the version of himself that could have it all. Even if it was only a dream, a mirage, he longed to chase after it. He felt a heaviness pulling at his eyes, drawing him closer and closer. He wanted to fall right into that dream where anguish didn’t exist and let himself feel the love he longed for. https://archiveofourown.org/works/41267712

Prompt: How Far I'll Go Author: FarenMaddox Title: if i don't make it back Rating: T+ Summary: The fae world is dying. The Faery Courts and the trolls are all that is left and they continue to make war in a hopeless race to the bottom. Each Court made a Sigil as a receptacle of all their remaining magic in a last-ditch effort to save the world, but Fai, the Sigil of the Winter Court, has no magic at all and no answer for why. What he has instead is a voice in his head. When Fai discovers that the voice is not his imagination but someone who is really out there, he undertakes a journey to find them and see if this world can be saved after all. https://archiveofourown.org/works/41286627/chapters/103516431

Prompt: I Won't Say (I'm In Love) Author: cloverfield Title: Those Sweet Words Rating: T+ Summary: The problem with Kurogane having a really obvious crush on the wizard that runs the magical supply store downtown, is that everyone else had an opinion on it - including his parents, the guardian dragon that lives in his family shrine, and even the gods themselves. https://archiveofourown.org/works/41293557/chapters/103536714

Prompt: God Help the Outcasts Author: PokeChan Title: Blessing or Burden Rating: T+ Summary: Fai has been found worthy of a blessing, but he wants nothing to do with anything the Maker wishes to give him. https://archiveofourown.org/works/41401500

Prompt: Part of Your World Author: Flawney Title: Misadventures in Another World Rating: T+ Summary: Kurogane really didn't want anything to do with the Magic Knight business, but someone has to keep an eye on Sakura and Syaoran before one of them loses an eye. Who thought it was a good idea to give teenagers swords?! (He was going to staunchly ignore that the missing prince they were supposed to rescue had been visiting his dreams beforehand. Couldn't be related. Coincidence. UNIMPORTANT.) https://archiveofourown.org/works/41374227

Prompt: I See the Light Author: humancorn Title: it's warm and real and bright Rating: G Summary: Post-Canon AU where Kurogane & Fai settle down in Nihon Country after the final battle with Fei-Wong Reed. Fai & Kurogane have been working on resettling Suwa for nearly a year when Fai comes to some sudden realizations. https://archiveofourown.org/works/41372496

Prompt: Can You Feel The Love Tonight? Author: Atom_of_the_black_lagoon Title: What Clamp Left Out Rating: E Summary: I was a pinch hitter for this year's Olympics so that's why it's a big short, but I always wanted to write the scene that happened after Fai punch Kuro in Nippon. There's an optional sex scene. https://archiveofourown.org/works/41409255/chapters/103843410

[sometipsygnostalgic]

do you have songs you associate with she-ra characters or ships?

Not really. I don't listen to enough music for that shit. But what music I DO listen to, I tend to link that back in.

Here's She-ra characters as Pokemon music and as Homestuck music (plus an addition) because what the fuck else do I do with my time.

As for other media... Persona 5 for example has a lot of music relating to "masks", to covering your true feelings with a front that makes you more acceptable to others, then ripping off the mask to reveal your true self. I think this fits in squarely with the themes of She-Ra, with how various characters feel under pressure from others to conform to their standards. Pretty much everyone in the main cast applies, especially Catra and Adora! Whenever I imagine a She-Ra Persona 5 AU I sort of imagine Catra as Joker, but it could just as well be Adora.

The final boss of Persona 5 Royal gives the heroes the promise that they can be their true selves and live in happiness, without any memory of the pain they've experienced, if they relinquish control of reality to him. It is like a benevolent Horde Prime, desperate to right the wrongs of the world. However, the protagonists understand all the pain and hardship to be a part of their journeys in becoming who they are today, and they are proud of that, so even if they have to destroy Paradise, even if they're technically killing thousands of resurrected people including their own relatives, they feel they need to stop the villain to remain true to who they are.

It's beautiful!

This is a song from the final bossfight that lives rent free in my head, it is supposed to be the villain crying this out to the protagonists:

[Bridge] You can throw your mask away, no more pretending You've been tied down for the longest of the time, be free You deserve better - you should forever be free. [Chorus] Don't sleep through dreams that can come true No more tears shall drop from your cheeks anymore You won't need to strive for greatness Believe in me that you don't need to suffer from anything

This song makes me think of Adora, and the struggle she went through to break free of her heroic streak.

Another song I already really love, that reminds me of She-Ra, is Drifting Soul from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The singer is walking through a hard and arduous path. They see someone ahead of them on the path, someone far stronger, who they look to for hope, and who they are fighting for. But the singer also recognises they need to search for themself before following their friend up "Jacob's Ladder".

The entire song is a heavy hitter, but these lyrics are what help me get up in the morning:

So tell me why I'm here and what's the reason I am here today If I recall it was you, you wished that I would stay No matter how much wind will blow against me I will keep on, oh oh I will keep moving on, to find the answer too I'm lost in search for you

The first three lines could apply to so many characters (I'm looking at you Beast Island squad), but the whole song screams of Catradora. "You wished that I would stay." How can you get ANY MORE Catradora than that?

But the fact that the singer concludes they would not climb up Jacob's ladder to meet their partner at Heaven's Gate, they would let it go, and find their own path, it makes this song lean more to Catra's point of view, as she tries to find out who she is outside of her longing for Adora.

This song has a lot in common with a far lighter, and far more familiar song: Love Like You, from Steven Universe. In particular, the second act.

I always thought I might be bad Now I'm sure that it's true 'Cause I think you're so good And I'm nothing like you

Look at you go I just adore you I wish that I knew What makes you think I'm so special

If I could begin to do Something that does right by you I would do about anything I would even learn how to love

When I see the way you look Shaken by how long it took I could do about anything I could even learn how to love like you

Love like you Love me like you

This song is definitely from Catra's perspective. I hope there are a million AMVs of it from Catra's perspective, she deserves it. I've seen people use it from Hordak's perspective too, and honestly, it tracks. Villains lashing out and not understanding how anyone could care about them, nevermind someone with so much light, and then thinking, if they could do right by their partner, if they could accept their partner's love and reciprocate, maybe they could learn to love themselves.

There's an AMV, Promised Land, which is Catra and Hordak focused, the same singer for both of them, comparing their journeys to each other. I absolutely fucking love this AMV. I mean, it's got the complete opposite vibes of Love Like You, but the AMV itself loops it back around to the moment they chose to let go of their rage and do that One Good Thing for the people they love. "Look at me now."

I haven't really got anything else since I don't listen to tons of music. Like most of the songs I know are in the metal or art rock genre, which doesn't really fit the she-ra vibe. I've considered "Pollyanna" but that's absolutely an Adventure Time song, not a She-Ra song. Unless it's from Razz's perspective. That'd be funny.

[thevindicativevordan]

Thoughts on Toyman and Prankster? It feels like Prankster’s had more success than Toyman.

Like them both enough to do separate posts for them, so I'll only talk about one here. Of the two, Prankster is indeed the one who "works" better thanks to Kurt Busiek.

Prankster is one of Superman's oldest foes dating all the way back to the Golden Age, but historically he's just been a nuisance. Unlike other long-running foes such as Metallo, Parasite, Mxyzptlk, Luthor, or even Toyman, Oswald Loomis has never been able to increase his threat level to a point where we can take him seriously, Prankster isn't on the same level as the heavy hitters, and he knows it just as much as we do. Busiek however had an ingenuous idea for Prankster: make him the rent-a-villain. There's no way he can possibly beat Superman, but he's not trying to. Instead he's serving as a distraction for Superman, keeping his attention occupied while other villains go about their business covertly. Oswald runs a classic supervillain scheme where he puts peoples lives at risk, forcing Superman to intervene to save everyone, while at the same time the serious supervillains and criminals move fast to either execute or cover up their activities while Oswald has everyone paying attention to him.

It's the kind of concept that only works in an already established superhero universe where people have gotten genre savvy about the "rules". Prankster knows he can't win, but he's found out a way to not lose. Even when Superman stops his schemes, Prankster still gets paid and still gets to build up his reputation in the criminal underworld as someone useful to be respected. Operating any kind of criminal enterprise in Metropolis is fraught with risk, and everyone knows they might need to hire Prankster's services one day, so he's become something of a respected figure.

Origin wise I think the classic background works fine. Oswald Loomis was once a media persona who lost his job when the public no longer found him entertaining. Being a TV host makes sense and explains his obsession with recapturing the public's attention, no matter what lengths he has to go to. To Prankster, if supervillains are what the public wants to see then a supervillain is what he will become. You could potentially get something out of comparing the struggles Prankster had in keeping his TV career afloat with the struggles the Daily Planet goes through to stay solvent, or the efforts Clark has to make to get people to pay attention to his journalism. However I don't mind if Prankster is just a dick who doesn't have any real depth to him, not every villain needs to act as a thematic foil or character contrast for the main hero.

Characterization wise, I want Prankster as a sort of halfway point between "Silver Age" and "Alan Moore" Joker. Loomis has secret lairs, outrageous death traps, minions in matching outfits, and he absolutely revels in the fun of being a supervillain. Prankster isn't out to kill people (in mass numbers anyway), but he's not bothered by people dying either, especially if they die in amusing ways. That's showbiz kids! At his core he's a massive attention whore who wants to be in the spotlight, loves constructing elaborate schemes/pranks to draw everyone's attention, and gets a kick out of "performing" with Superman. Not that he would ever admit it, but Prankster has a fondness for Superman seeing the two of them as a classic double act. Without Superman around there wouldn't be anyone to serve as the straight man, plus Superman is his main source of income!

Superman meanwhile fucking hates this guy. Every time he shows up it means something big is going down somewhere else, and that Prankster is distracting him from that angers him severely. Especially since Prankster really goes out of his way to try to make him look stupid or embarrass him. Clark doesn't appreciate the "pranks" or the way Loomis always seems to slip out of his fingers. In a Prankster story, the real mystery is always who has hired Loomis and why? Figuring that out is the core drive of any Superman vs. Prankster story, and it's not as simple as beating the answer out of Oswald even when he's captured. Prankster refuses to give up his clients no matter how much Superman pressures him for names, or how long the authorities threaten to lock him away in Stryker's Station. He knows his reputation would be destroyed if he were to squeal, and his reputation is everything to him.

Pretty much the only change I'd want to make to where Busiek left him is maybe have an artist take another crack at redesigning him. His current outfit is just kind of "meh", it doesn't really let you know anything about him at first glance, and a simple suit should be Lex's thing. If I had any talent whatsoever for drawing, I'd probably model him after one of those old corporate mascots that used to be everywhere like Michelin Tyre Man, or I'd combine his look with an old long forgotten Superman villain called "Funnyface". Trick is to avoid making him look clownish, Prankster isn't the Joker, he can actually take a prank being played on him.

Well... maybe.

[skyhopedango]

State of the Season pt 3

Following pts 1 and 2...

Bishounen Tanteidan

I've been struggling with how to go about writing about this, because every single sentence I thought of ended with "...and this is why Ouran Host Club is superior and everyone should watch that instead."

I mean, it's not like the show is trying to avoid comparisons? Or maybe they thought Ouran Host Club was so long ago nobody would notice or care? But I mean come on, starting with the whole premise of "pretty boy club where the 'pretty boy' part is of central importance, and where the members are all eccentrics, especially the leader, takes in a girl disguised as a boy as their new member, that girl likes to snark at the eccentricies of the other members, and also she is voiced by Sakamoto Maaya" - even aside of that, there's also the whole "incredibly opulent school" setting, the "incredibly opulent" visuals in general, and...

Well.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's really obvious. And frankly, Bishounen Tanteidan is not doing itself any favors by setting itself as being directly comparable to Ouran Host Club, because Ouran Host Club is superior to it in every way. Sure, I'm biased - Ouran Host Club is one of my favorite anime shows ever, it's cute, funny - like really funny not "smirking sometimes" funny - it's extremely relatable to me and my fandom experiences, the voice acting is impeccable (Miyano Mamoru when he still gave a shit!), the direction and the visuals are handled by a sure hand, thoughtfully and with a purpose, and the characters are not simply charming and fun - they're just extremely well-written (most of them, anyway) with depth enough to sail a submarine through. (Also: Ouran Host Club is one of those rare anime adaptations which are so much better than their manga source material that it's almost unfair.)

In comparison Bishounen Tanteidan is basically one of those cheap chocolate Easter bunnies. It looks nice and tasty, but once you take off the shiny wrapper and take a bite you'll find that it's 1. completely empty inside and 2. the "chocolate" is just a cheap compound mix.

Really, I could talk about how the visuals are just opulent without any particular purpose, to the point where you just end up tuning them out because when everything is shiny nothing is really shiny; or how it's full of characters talking and talking and talking and talking and saying stuff that sounds complicated and smart but once you stop to think about it it's all banalities at best and pretentious bullshit at worst; about how the "cases" are just random shit happening until someone stops the story to give a lengthy exposition to explain the whys and wherefores, and it's usually incredibly dumb in a not-fun way... really, there's so much I could talk about, but to me the main issue is the characters.

Like, in Ouran Host Club after two episodes you already have a good idea of who these characters are, what are their main character traits, what are their relationships with one another, etc., and it only gets more detailed later on. In Bishounen Tanteidan we're on episode 7 and... who are these people, other than loose collections of randomly assembled tropes? There's Girl With Super Vision who is sometimes reluctant sometimes not; there's Boy With Legs who has legs; there's Boy With Pretty Voice who might be a lolicon and who mostly functions as Mr Exposition; there's Boy With Red Hair who is kind of gruff and likes cooking I guess; and there's Silent Boy who I'm told is artistic but that doesn't really figure into anything really. It's been 7 episodes and the only one with a clearly defined personality is Manabu and even that personality is "annoying and not in a charming way."

Anyway, I'm watching because I do enjoy the character designs, Boy With Pretty Voice does have a very pretty voice and he looks gorgeous, and overall it's a harmless way to spend 20 minutes a week. But honestly, the most enjoyment it brought to me was inspiring me to rewatch Ouran Host Club. Seriously people, watch Ouran, it's great.

.

Shadows House

This one, though! After Godzilla SP, this is another very pleasant surprise. I went into this not knowing what to expect, and got a really fun mystery with cute and likeable characters, some nice designs... just overall it's a very entertaining little show with a pretty interesting story so far. (It's taking me some self-restraint not to just get the manga and read ahead.) This is one that I look forward to each week, and I'll definitely read the manga once it's over.

.

Megalobox 2: NOMAD

Aaand there's this. This show is just great. Nothing more or less. Like the first season it's a well-rounded, well-produced, really well-done show that basically does everything well and despite being built on obvious tropes, despite the story being predictable, it's so smooth, so well-done, so raw and passionate, it has so much heart - that it never once feels tired or boring. It's a perfect example of how you don't need to reinvent the wheel to make a show good, that tropes themselves are not bad only when you use them wrong (same case with Ouran Host Club vs Bishounen Tanteidan above, btw). It shows how to take something that might be tired and infuse it with a new life.

I mean... sure, these things are incredibly subjective. But personally, Nomad generated a ton more emotions in me with its recent episodes than To Your Eternity which keeps being hyped as the emotional heavy hitter of the season. The episode of Nomad where the past happenings are revealed was really hard for me to get through, because everything in it was either way too relatable or way too real.

So yeah, so far Nomad is one of the best shows of the past years, much like Megalobox was, and I'm fairly confident that it's going to be able to stick the landing.

.

..

...oh yeah, and there's also Fairy Ranmaru. :D But I'm blabbering about that one separately I guess?

[dagr8fm]

King Dre-Ski

The DMV area has been a hub for hip hop music for many years. Industry heavy hitters such as Wale, Ybn Cordae, and Shy Glizzy represent this area to the fullest and are reflections of its rich, diverse culture. "Dre-Ski", a budding talent out of Virginia Beach, VA, is striving to climb the ranks of the hip hop ladder and make his own footprint on the industry. An impactful footprint, one that will positively impact the lives of the youth. Originally from the "Campus East" neighborhood of Virginia Beach, VA, Dre-Ski had a quite musical childhood. Both of his parents were avid music connoisseurs and spent much of their time listening to the likes of Anita Baker, Luther Vandross, Prince, Al Green and many others.  Dre-Ski himself, however, was much more into the rap scene of the late 90s and early 2000s. Some of his biggest musical influences growing up were Jay Z, Fabolous and Clipse. He would listen to Jay-Z's "Reasonable Doubts" album on repeat for hours on end studying his lyrics and flow. He grew much respect and appreciation for their creativity, witty bars and metaphorical nuances. These were the major inspirations in Dre-Ski's life that changed music from just a hobby to a full-fledged career. In 2015, he started his own independent record label called "XB Music Group LLC". He began rebranding, recording music and reintroducing himself to the world as an indie artist.  As time progressed, he developed his own unique style which he describes as a mix of J. Cole and Fabolous.   He drops lyrical "jewels"  throughout his music to connect with the youth, especially young black men who face many trials and  tribulations as citizens of the United States. At the same time,  his witty delivery showcases the talent and creativity behind the messages.   One of the best illustrations of Dre-Ski's genius is one of his latest releases entitled "Real Kings" available now on all major music streaming platforms. He talks about the struggles of black men on their way to greatness and self-actualization. He reminds them to fix their crowns when they get knocked down and continue persevering. On this journey called life many will try to deter us from stepping into our true power - we must stay focused. As Dre-Ski himself would say "on the road to riches and diamond rings, real Kings do real things". Through music, Dre-Ski aims to speak on the social issues impacting African American men on a daily basis. He wants to relate to the common person, to let them know that you can still be yourself and not change into someone you're not. He believes this is the most critical aspect of our society since the evolution of social media and it's known impact on  young kids' mental health issues. The power of influence is a real thing. His music is a prime example of that. Aside from Real Kings, there are four other tracks out right now from his recently released EP entitled "4 Real Ones Only".  He is also currently working on a new project called "Turning Point" set to be released sometime in 2021.  Dre-Ski has a very bright future ahead. Much more great music to be made and young people to inspire. Make sure to follow and support this young up-and-coming artist to see how his journey unfolds, to be continued...

[granvarones]

Sometimes we are late to the BBQ right? Well in the case of Ultra Naté (pronounced Na-Tay), I didn’t arrive at the BBQ til 1998. I was 15 years old and my teenage icon Filipinx Freestyle/Dance Diva Jocelyn Enriquez was sprinkled with Disco fairy dust along with dance divas Amber and Ultra Naté under the moniker Stars On 54. They revamped the 1971 folk classic “If You Could Read My Mind” by Gordon Lightfoot into one the most fascinating covers I’ve ever heard (just listen back to back and gag). This collaboration introduced me to Ms. Naté and piqued my curiosity.

Eight years into her career, Ultra Naté had landed five singles into Top 10 on the Billboard Dance Chart by the time I bought the single to her hit single “Free” at Tower Records (I miss you so much). As soon as I heard that guitar riff in the intro followed by those chords and 4/4 I was hooketh. I immediately grabbed a copy of the Situation: Critical album. I stared at the artwork fascinated by its silvery gloss and the acupuncture needles in her face. It was futuristic as fuck! The album’s photography was shot by the legendary Eric Johson who is known for iconic photos of Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Aaliyah, and Biggie. I wasn’t totally sold on the album at first because as a teenager I was infatuated with Freestyle music and this was out of my teenage comfort. However, the album grew on me and eventually I connected to each song on a personal level. At the time I was struggling with my budding sexuality, lack of interest in education, and a toxic-ass family dynamic. This album would eventually become my personal teenage bible.

“Somehow things must change, and it’s got to be for the better” the lyrics from the albums intro track “Situation: Critical” pierced my young gay soul. When my being sexually molested was brought to the light my parents were so wounded by life; none of them had the capacity to support me. My father was strung out on drugs, my mother’s mental health was dwindling, and my step mother struggled to keep a roof over our heads. I felt so fucking hurt by their neglect that all I thought of was escaping at 18. My then therapist Judy had a huge black and white picture of New York City and one day I declared “I’m going to live there!” Until then I endlessly played this album on my discman throughout my teens to keep my ass sane.

There was a rage building inside me and “Found A Cure” was that song that embodied what I felt. Lines like “Feels like I’m going crazy, feels like I’m going insane” were my everyday life and I wanted out but I was still underaged. “How many times have you been left alone and you feel confused?” solidified my connection to Ultra. This was the second single from the album which hit #1 on Billboard Club Songs. The music video was directed by Charles Stone III who would years later direct the epic CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story. Larry Flick of Billboard wrote “Naté fearlessly faces the challenge with a jam that smartly doesn’t aim to duplicate the tone of her now-classic hit…The diva is in fine voice here and is matched by a muscular bassline and keyboard/guitar interplay that oozes with funk flavor…Miss Nate proves there’s more than Free in her locker with a pure floorfiller. A Gloria Gaynor for the Millennium.” Mic drop.

“A New Kind of Medicine,” the album’s second track, and third single, lightened the mood after the dark yet realist ‘Situation’. During this era in House music Disco samples were a huge commodity. While this was purely an original song the Disco influence is prevalent. The single had some heavy hitters on the remixes and the first two being producers in Freestyle: Albert Cabrera, David Morales, and Danny Tenaglia. The Morales mix is quite festive especially at the 5:20 mark when you get that tidbit of Inner City’s “Big Fun” followed by a lyric not in the original: “Stop taking me down.”

My favorite track on the album was the last single released from the album, the Al Mack produced “Release The Pressure.” How can you not feel like you’re transpired into a film where the woman is struggling, breaking shit, cursing bitches out, lights a joint, a sip of wine, puts on her favorite 12” and gets her damn life. The production on this track has so many beautiful layers from the piano, to the horns, and guitars. It always felt like time froze whenever this track came on. The song was also featured on the soundtrack The 24 Hour Woman starring Rosie Perez. This is one of my forever tracks because it always remains true to this day: “You get up, It knocks you back down, Release the pressure, Let it out.”

The album itself pays homage to the 70’s and 80’s influence of staples in Disco, Funk and House which are very evident in: “Any Ole Love” (Indeep’s “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life”) and “Love You Can’t Deny” (Royal House “Can You Party”). The mellower affairs “It’s Crying Time” and “Every Now and Then” were so damn pretty that they seduced my young self who was anti anything slow.  The last original track on the album “Divine Love,” produced by the duo Masters At Work, transports you to Sunday mass everytime. That 5 minute mark is pure gospel ear candy with those luscious rhodes and ab libs take you on a journey to the ether. This felt like the sequel to “Rejoicing (I’ll Never Forget)” from her first album Blue Notes In The Basement. At this point in time I was severely struggling with my belief in God however this song just anoints you, especially the 9 minute MAW Version.

This album took me on a musical journey. It became my bible, my salvation, my healing. In the spring of 2001 my life took a huge turn. I had fallen in the love with a man in NYC whom I thought I’d be with forever. After a huge argument with my parents I finally said “fuck this shit I’m out!” Ultra’s lyrics rang in my head “Now I know you’re no good for me, Now I got to find a remedy,” my remedy: move to NYC. After settling into my then boyfriend’s apartment I would blast this album on volume 5000 and the whole damn planet would shake. I didn’t give a fuck about the neighbor downstairs because I was ‘Free’ and living my damn best gay life. I didn’t leave my heart in San Francisco that’s for damn sure!

In 2012, I had a full circle moment when I was hired by Naté’s management, Peace Bisquit. It was completely surreal to be in direct communication with her, and an honor working under the brilliance of Bill Coleman (remember Deee-Lite? “Groove Is In The Heart”? Nuff said.). I was bestowed the task of managing the execution of the Hero Worship album to digital platforms. Miss Naté was the most humble artist I ever worked with. A memory I will always hold dear is a tender moment we shared at  the Paradise Garage Reunion Party in 2014. The DJ began to play “The Whistle Song” in honor of the iconic Frankie Knuckles who had passed just months earlier. As the song played, Ultra began to cry. I put my arm around her and consoled her. The same way her music had done for me in all the years before.

Thank you for never giving up on your music Ultra because this album saved me!

“You might save someone’s life.” – Ultra Naté “Situation: Critical”

If you are experiencing or have experienced sexual abuse please call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline 800.656.HOPE (4673)

Giorgio Alxndr (He/Him) is into music, modeling, activism, and plant fathering. He creates beats and playlists in his free time. Loves deep conversations and therapy sessions. Professionally he’s always in the mix between music and technology.

[mist-chance]

JJK Chapter 137

This is going up a bit late, but I wanted to post my thoughts on Chapter 137 before I get around to reading Chapter 138.

This chapter, which reads as Part 1 of the Shibuya Incident Aftermath, is really interesting because it shows what the state of the jujutsu world – and the non-jujutsu world of Japan – is outside of Shibuya. When there’s a lot of action going on, like the kind that’s been happening for the past year or so worth of chapters, it’s easy to get tunnel vision and focus only on the main cast. So it’s nice that we get some context as to what’s happening outside of Shibuya.

1) Dystopia abound.

We already got a hint of how the non-jujutsu world is affected by an influx of cursed spirits during the action part of the Shibuya Incident, within the contained space of the curtain surrounding Shibuya. Now we learn that other locations in Japan are being affected as well: the state of the government is unknown, there are concerns of how Japan’s political and commercial infrastructure will hold up to this massive shift in reality (and how other countries will view and react to these changes), people are evacuating affected cities, and an important question has arisen as a result of the Shibuya Incident – should the non-jujutsu world, the normal world, become aware of the existence of curses?

This question is important, because it seems Fake-Geto (I know the curse user possessing Geto’s body is Kamo Noritoshi the ancestor, but Fake-Geto is easier to use) is dead set on bringing back a world where powerful cursed spirits held the most influence in the world. It’ll be interesting to see whether or not cursed spirits and the jujutsu world at large become common knowledge to non-jujutsu sorcerers, and how the world will change as a result of either one of these decisions.

2) Yuta appears!

This is his first appearance since Volume 0 (the prequel volume). He pretty much looks the same to me, though his face looks a bit more mature and his hair is longer. He’s still awkward around others – even children – though he looks pretty confident when dealing with the elders at Jujutsu Headquarters. 

Here, Yuta seems to be gearing up for a rampage/epic beatdown similar to the one in Volume 0, after Geto took down his friends. Yuta’s pretty similar to Gojo in that he has the capability to pull of a deus ex machina during a time of crisis; he can evolve at an extraordinary rate and pull off impossible feats. (Gojo himself has mentioned that Yuta has the potential to become just as strong as him.)

So in JJK there are two god-like characters: Gojo Satoru, the self-proclaimed but probably-really-is the strongest sorcerer in the world, and Okkotsu Yuta, who’s on his way to being as strong as Gojo. The reason the Shibuya Incident had such devastating consequences is because Gojo was sealed away early on, and Yuta was supposedly still out of the country. Making these two god-like characters unavailable allowed for the struggles and losses in this arc to happen, and gave characters like our main trio the opportunity to grow.

What’s interesting in the aftermath of the Shibuya Incident is that we’re still down Gojo, but we’ve gained Yuta. And Yuta seems to be currently under the influence of the elders at Jujutsu Headquarters – or rather, they’re taking advantage of his need for vengeance and Yuta’s letting them manipulate him – whereas Gojo has always opposed their authority. (When Gojo killed Geto, I doubt he did it because the elders issued a kill-order on Geto. He most likely did it because Geto was dangerous, and Gojo knew the only way to stop him was to kill him.)

As of this chapter, the elders seem reluctant to trust Yuta. But for now, they have a Special Grade Sorcerer to do their bidding.

3) The elders at Jujutsu Headquarters and their plan of action.

This chapter again shows how black and white the current authority of the jujutsu world – the elders at Jujutsu Headquarters (I believe they’re all unidentified except for Gakuganji Yoshinobu) – are, and how desperate they are to maintain their conservative, straightforward vision of how the jujutsu world and the non-jujutsu worlds should be.

It’s hard to tell how much information Jujutsu Headquarters is operating on, based on the orders they’ve issues.

Order 1: We know the elders know that Geto is “alive.” However, it’s unclear whether or not they know that Geto isn’t the real Geto, but a curse user possessing his body. In any case, they want him killed again.

Order 2: We know the elders know Gojo is sealed, since originally, during the Shibuya Incident, the order was to free Gojo Satoru. (This may not have been an official Headquarters order; both the College and Kyoto group may’ve only been acting on Mechamaru’s info.)

This new order calls for Gojo’s continued imprisonment. It’s reasonable for the elders to be suspicious of Gojo (someone who’s always opposing their authority) to be Geto’s accomplice – especially since they were best friends  – so this order is understandable. 

But there’s a fine line between the elders wanting to keep Gojo sealed because they believe he’s a traitor, and wanting to keep him sealed away because it keeps him from interfering with their agenda.

Order 3: This order is absolutely ridiculous, on par with the idea of Absolute Justice in One Piece – the idea or reasoning that, because Geto and Gojo were his students, Yaga is responsible for the decisions they made and continue to make as adults. 

The elders didn’t hold this against Yaga when Geto (real Geto) defected and became a curse user. The difference between then and now is that Gojo is being treated as an accomplice to a curse user. So the goal of this order might be to punish Yaga for producing two traitorous students, or his execution is a way to justify Gojo’s continued imprisonment. The reasoning for the latter option, if we consider the dark, manipulative elders route instead of the ignorant, misinformed one, could be that, to justify that Gojo’s crime is bad enough to warrant being sealed for eternity, his former teacher is also culpable, and the only punishment worthy of his crime is death.

Order 4: Reinstating Yuji’s execution order is expected, given Gakuganji’s previous manipulations during the Kyoto Exchange Arc. 

Order 5: This order, for Yuta to be Yuji’s executioner, is also expected. Yuta is currently the only Special Grade (who hasn’t gone rogue) to not have a relationship or any interaction with Yuji; and, given Yuta’s desire to keep his friends safe, Yuji already has a point against him for what he did to Inumaki – even if it was technically Sukuna’s fault.

What might happen next?

There are two ways of thinking the elders could be operating under. One, they’re operating on incomplete information (mainly, not knowing Kamo Noritoshi the ancestor is possessing Geto’s body, which could potentially make Orders 2 and 3 void); or two, the elders do have all the information, and they’re trying to keep Gojo sealed away for their own benefit. With Gojo out of the way, the elders have no one (powerful enough, anyways) to oppose their authority, and they can shape both the jujutsu world and the non-jujutsu world as they please.

[Their order of keeping Gojo sealed is probably the one they’ll regret the earliest. It’s stated in one of the earlier chapters that curses grew in strength because a being of Gojo Satoru’s strength was born into the world. Cursed spirits grew stronger simply as a matter of evolution, the prey evolving to better counter the predator that would hunt them down. 

And while there are several talented sorcerers still active to fight the sudden influx of powerful cursed spirits, and several sorcerers-in-training who can step up to joint the fight, the Shibuya Incident also took talented sorcerers like Nanami. Gojo was very much a large-scale, heavy-hitter fighter, capable of taking down several curses at once with little effort. Without him around, it’ll  be harder for sorcerers to operate. It’ll definitely give Fake-Geto all the time he needs to enact his plans, since the sorcerers will be too busy fighting curses to figure out his endgame.]

Then there’s the question of how much Yuta knows about each order. Like the elders, Yuta is either ignorant of one or more of the orders (as in, he doesn’t know that Gojo is supposed to stay sealed, or that unsealing him is a criminal act; or that Yaga, Panda’s creator/guardian, is slated for execution), or he knows all of the orders and is choosing to ignore the ones that don’t give him permission to take out Yuji. Either mindset could lead to interesting future conflicts, but I think it’s more likely that Yuta doesn’t know all of the orders. Based on my read of him from Volume 0, he isn’t the type to go for extreme measures unless his friends are hurt.

It also looks like Yuta’s goal of executing Yuji can go two ways. Either he tries killing Yuji and ends up fighting Sukuna, or he tries killing Yuji and his friends (mainly Maki and Panda, if Inumaki’s still out of commission) stop him and beat some sense into him. It’s possible, of course, that the feelings of Yuji’s previous allies/friends may have changed over the course of the Shibuya Incident, because of the damage Sukuna caused while fighting Jogo (e.g. Kusakabe. The difference with Kusakabe, though, is that he was indifferent to Yuji’s existence as Sukuna’s host until the mass destruction in Shibuya. He also, to my knowledge, has never met Yuji.)

But that seems doubtful for the second years, since Panda still seems fine with Yuji, and I can’t see Inumaki and Maki disagreeing with him. And even if they aren’t, Yaga’s technically in the same boat as Yuji, and it’s unlikely Panda, Inumaki, and Maki would act against him. If Yaga continues to stick up for Yuji, they would most likely follow his lead. Megumi I’m sure will still be on Yuji’s side, as will Nobara (please, please let her be okay.). 

As for Yuji and Yaga... I can’t imagine Yaga trying to run off to avoid execution. He’s more of the type to make a stand. I could see him encouraging Yuji to escape though, and serving as a distraction until Yuji’s escaped far enough.

I’m really excited to see where Chapter 138 will take us!

[Source of all screenshots: VIZ Media]

[ratsoh-writes]

Okay dawg- Now this one can be a little interesting. Say the main ten are together when an apocalyptic scenario happens- zombies, aliens, or even just cities turning to rubble after some sort of disaster (your choice 😌) How do you think the main ten would work together with this situation?

Let’s go with zombies! I love the zombie troupe!

Alright first of all, if they manage to all find each other towards the beginning of the apocalypse, those guys are going to be a force to be reckoned with. Some of them may not get along but they’ll never wish each other dead, and different universe regardless, there’s at least one of them who is a brother so he’s got his back

Here’s how all the individuals react:

Sans: honestly, the only way this guy would die in a zombie apocalypse is through starvation. Sans may be lazy, but his perception is on point, he has wild quick reflexes, shortcutting, and that little sneaking ability would definitely work against zombies. He’s smart too, so he’d get creative about what can be food if he needs to. Sans biggest enemy will be his own depression, but if he’s with the group, he’ll survive

He winds up being the gangs main scout/spy. They can’t attack you if they can’t see you

Papyrus: papyrus is very useful with fixing things up, like carpentry and handyman type of skills. He could easily make portable shelters if they guys needed to travel. Plus emotionally, papyrus is pretty stable and will wind up being a great rock to all the others

He’s the handyman and the mediator of the gang

Star: star is in the police force and is mainly used as search and rescue. This boy can track! Plus he’s easily the fastest of the group and extreme charismatic, so he’d make a good diplomat if they ever met others. Star is made of stern stuff and has already seen loss through his job. The only thing I could really killing star is loosing his brother and winding up alone. He’s social. He needs people or else he gets reckless

He’ll be the diplomat and messenger of the gang

Honey: ok, this guy is really going to struggle. This almost guarantees that honeys anxiety is going to pop up full force. Plus honey is soft. He came from a peaceful universe and doesn’t have the athletics of the energetic papyri. It’ll take a lot of training to get him up to the others level. Honey does have an ace up his sleeve! He may not be an expert in healing magic, but he does have a lot of potential! If edge were to take him under his wing, honey could definitely surpass even his skill.

He’ll end up being like the doctors assistant and translator if they need it. Honey is definitely the weakest link. He would not survive without the group

Red: red is pure fight, and in this scenario, his parinoia is a blessing. Red is the sturdiest sans of this group and can really pack a punch too. Plus his intimidation skills are on point. Red can easily blast away any zombies without as much as blinking an eye. Honestly he’d do just fine in an apocalypse. As long as he had someone to protect. Red also knows cars and is a pretty amazing mechanic in his own right

He’ll be the gangs front line and heavy hitter and he’s the one fixing up the cars and other electronics they managed to save

Edge: edge is definitely the guy you want in the zombie apocalypse! He was a co-captain of the royal guard so has great leadership skills. He’s a master fighter with insane stamina, and edge is an expert healer. Like red, as long as edge has someone to protect or a purpose, he’d be fine.

He’s the gangs main healer, and he’s also the guy who whips honey into shape.

Mal: this dude is even more observant than classic sans, and his fighting style is silent but deadly. Mal is the only one in the gang who can fire off a gaster blaster and not even make a peep of noise. Plus mal has an eye for value. He could definitely know which supplies are going to last the longest. Mal has experience living on the streets and he definitely hasn’t gone rusty on his lockpicking and sleight of hand skills. The apocalypse would make him a cold and unfeeling person unless he had someone keeping him on the straight and narrow

Mal is a bit of a jack of all trades. He easily fits as a scout, fighter, and supply runner.

Cash: he doesn’t have the best stamina in a fight but cash makes up for it by being a sneaky little rat. Cash knows plenty of little tricks like how to not trip alarms, siphoning gas, and what chemicals mixed together could turn explosive. He’s also good at setting up his own traps too. Cash needs a very close eye during the apocalypse. The stress of it could easily turn him back to drinking

He’ll be papyrus’ handy man apprentice, plus cash is great and gathering supplies

Oak: he’s lived through one apocalypse and he can do it again. Oaks memory may be impaired but that doesn’t mean he’s helpless. Oak still has his great senses most of the time and his tracking and trapping skills. Plus he’s got a special skill. Oak knows his wild plants. He could look at a supposedly empty forest and definitely find a meal in there. Despite that, his memory makes it difficult for him to be alone, and dulled reflexes makes him an easy target, so oak will always need someone watching his back.

He’s the main gatherer of the group, but will also handle and train any animals if they keep them

Willow: there is no way in hell that willow is going to let some stupid zombies take him or his brother out. Willow is probably the most useful one in the group. He’s an expert hunter, tracker, and trapper. Plus willow is very hard to sneak up on, and when he truly fights, he’s ruthless. His back is going to be a problem though. There’s only so much work willow can take before he breaks down

He would be the groups main hunter and gatherer. Plus he can cook almost anything from scratch