#to tie up his arc with a bow

[catharusustulatus]

I’m so mad in advance at Steve’s probable death in s5. It’s most likely going to be for shock and drama to raise the stakes. He’ll probably die in the second to last episode or a third of the way through the finale. They’ll mourn him for 20 ish minutes and then do a time skip, and then reminisce about him at the Jopper wedding. I’d love to be proven wrong, I would, but I’m feeling…..like it’s gonna happen. And I’m so sad!!!!!

[tealvenetianmask]

I want to talk about a kind of troubling reaction I've been seeing to both Apology Tour and Ghostfuckers among parts of the fandom. The person is usually a reaction youtuber but sometimes someone writing on tumblr or twitter. They say something along the lines of "oh, I'm glad Blitz is being forced to confront his crimes/traumas/pain. This is the only way he will finally heal."

That's not how healing works.

I know that reaction youtubers don't always have the most developed takes because they're . . . you know . . . reacting in the moment. But I think it's still worth talking about.

I'm going set aside the people who seem to believe that Blitz needs to be punished for his crimes, and address those who genuinely think that getting a tidal wave of his own trauma in his face is what he needs to heal.

There's an attitude in contemporary culture that traumas are something people need to confront. As in, put on a brave face and dive in like a big boy. I blame capitalism, rugged individualism, and all the pieces of media that tie up a character's arc neatly by having them confront their darkest fears and insecurities. It can put a nice bow on things, but it isn't really how healing from trauma works.

Apology Tour:

Blitz gets confronted by a shit ton of people who hate him, at least some of whom are his exes, who he feels he's personally damaged. The decor and party games are all about killing and torturing him. Verosika confronts him about how much he hurt her. Oh, and then he sees the love of his life, who he's just recently pushed away, making out with another guy- proof, in his eyes, that Stolas is happier without him. And this all reflects the underlying fears he already has about who he is as a person (shown to us by Truth Seekers).

So what was the takeaway? Blitz came to the conclusion that he doesn't always want to be like this (good, but like . . . worth this much pain?). He flops on his steering wheel (relatable). He stops trying to reach out to Stolas (uh oh . . . ). He spends A MONTH spiraling in his own misery and making a mess of all aspects of his life until he's dragged out of it by a caring friend.

The party doesn't empower Blitz to change. It knocks him down and fucking traumatizes him (seriously, images of Stolas from the party show up later in his trauma reel) too much for him to be able to do actually work toward said change. I suspect that if left to his own devices, he would have kept spiraling for quite a while longer. It's one thing to want to change, and another to try to do so alone in the aftermath of a pile-on.

Ghostfuckers

After Blitz drags himself out of his hole of cheesy ice cream and despair to "play sex ghosts" (escapism, again, still knocked down by Apology Tour), infester demon Rolando picks him out as an easy target and assaults him, yes, assaults, with horrific images of his worst traumas and fears.

Not to state the obvious, but Rolando isn't interested in helping Blitz heal. He's trying to kill the guy. He wants to engulf Blitz in his trauma to the extent where he's consumed by it and loses the will to fight back. And as some excellent posts by others have pointed out already, he very likely would have succumbed if not for Millie's support.

Millie helps Blitz get through the onslaught by telling him about what makes him great and how he's improved her life and showing him love and care. And by literally beating the fucking infester out of him. Because there's someone in him who's hurting him, who's re-traumatizing him against his will. She takes him away from the reel of horrible memories.

So . . . do I think that confronting traumas can play a role in healing? Sure. But only if it's consensually (which neither of these situations are) and when the person trying to heal is ready. And most likely in small doses. No one's going and successfully confronting every horrible thing that's ever happened to them in one go.

And in my humble opinion, it's not going to work (for anyone, but especially not for Blitz) alone and without a healthy dose of kindness and compassion (both external and internal).

Blitz has a long road ahead of him toward healing, and it's going to be hard work on his part but also require love and support from the people in his life.

In a wonderful moment near the end of Ghosfuckers, Blitz and Millie work together to get Blitz's wrecked van unstuck and push it back through the portal into Hell. I love it because it's so simple and it kind of tells us everything we need to know. This sweet and salty gremlin has a lot of work ahead of him, but he doesn't have to do it alone.

[jaune-submissive-and-breedable]

How about some white knight

Weiss inherited her family company and needs a good secretary. Her old classmate Jaune is looking for a job so why not hire him. On his first day Weiss gives him his new uniform, a speedo and collar and nothing else. At first it was great but she might have to hire another secretary to actually get some work done considering how much time she waists toying with the blonde boy.

Hope you like it, and good luck with the new blog.

Being the secretary to Weiss Schnee wa sa task not many were qualified or able to perform. While tending to the company need, you also had to cater to her own well. Something her current one, Jaune arc, learned on during his duration.

Day 1:

Jaune stared at himself in the mirror withing Weiss's office, confusion and uncertainty evident on his face.

"Umm, Weiss, are you sure this is a standard issue SDC uniform?" He questioned

The uniform in question, a light blue speedo that tightly squeezed his groin, causing an ever-present bulge on the front, and a simple collar with a white bow tie.

The woman in question stiffled a snicker before composing herself. "Of course it is, jaune. All secretaries that came before you wore this outfit without any complants"

And obvious lie.

"But if you feel it's inappropriate..."

Jaune shook his head, putting the matter to rest. "No, it's fine. Just kinda tight is all."

He looked in the mirror once more, "Does this speedo make my butt look big?"

Weiss wiped her mouth of the stream of saliva that leaked from her mouth as she stared at the blonde.

"Yes, Perfectly so"

DAY 2:

"Jaune, could you come here, please?"

"What do you need Ms. Schnee?" He asked as he entered the office, a noticeable blush covering his face.

Weiss pointed to a stack of papers on the floor. "Do you mind picking those up for me. As you can see *motioning to the mess of papers on her desk* I'm a bit busy over here"

Jaune, seeing nothing wrong happily agreed, bending over to pick up the conveniently dropped behind the door, papers. Giving the heiress a clear view of his toned ass, the speedo wedging itself between his cheeks. A perversely satisfied grin spread across her face as he stood.

"Thank you, Jaune, that will be all for now" She said, discretly wiping away blood that trinkled from her nose.

DAY 5:

Weiss was on a video call with some conglomerates about a potential business opportunity in regards to the untapped dusk deposit on Menagerie. All the while, her face was red with sweat pouring down it.

"Are you alright, Ms. Schnee?" One asked

Weiss simply nodded, passing it off as the air conditioner being on the fritz. When in truth, Jaune was on his knees with his head locked in her groin by her creamy white thighs as he was ordered to eat Weiss out during her business calls. His long, flat tongue hitting just the right spots.

"God's you eat cunt so fucking good" she muttered, keeping sure to not alert the conglomerates to her secret activity. Her delicate hands grabbed hold of his blonde, pushing him into her core further.

"Keep eating my cunt like this and I'll give you a tasty reward~" She moaned

"Excuse me, Ms. Schnee?"

"I said this opportunity would be hard to ignore" She replied quickly, covering her words descretly.

" Of course it is! Those ani...."

Weiss zoned out of what they were saying as her climax was approaching fast. She squeezed her thighs tighter around Jaune's head, locking him in place as she came. Her clear lady like juices splatter against his face like a tsunami.

"Oh fuck.....good boy" she cooed, stroking his he like a dog. Turning back to the meeting like nothing happened. " Now as you were saying"

DAY 10:

"AAAAHHH WEEISSSS!!!" Jaune screamed, his hand gently gripping her snow white locks as she bobbed her head up and down his cock.

What started this was when he brought i her a cup of coffee after a stressful meeting. He offered her cream, but she wasn't interested in the kinda from a cow. Instead, pinning him against a wall as she inhaled his cock like her life depended on it, making him scream and moan in pleasure.

"WEISS! SLOW DOWN....I'M GONNA......" he warned.

The heiress ripped herself of his length, using one hand to stroke him to completion and the other holding her coffee under his tip.

"Do it." She commanded, "CUM for me.....Right now"

Jaune grunted on last time before letting loose.a torrent of pearl white seed. The volume of his ejaculated filling her mug, coating her hand, and staining the floor.

Once he shown signs of stopping, Weiss raise her cum covered coffee to her lips taking a lon yet dainty sip. Humming approvingly, as she licked her lips

"Hmm, good consistency, above average duration, but the taste could be improved on~"

Day 15:

"Is Jaune working overtime again?"

"Fraid so."

"Drat, I was hoping to invite him out for a drink. Geez, Ms. Schnee must be working him like a dog."

_______________________________________

"OH FUCK!!" Weiss cried as she felt jaune's warm life giving fluid fill her narrow crevice for the 4th time.

The two of them have been going at it since lunch hours, yet shown no clear signs of fatigue or the desire to stop. At least for Weiss, her secretary in only name was a different story. Jaune was panting like a dog, sweat pouring down his body, and his cock sore and sensitive from continuous use.

"Weiss, please.....let me rest......i......I can't keep going...:

She glared at him and yanked the collar she made him wear harshly, earn a yelp from the blonde.

"SILENCE! GOOD BOYS DO SPEAK TIL SPOKEN TO"

Day 20:

"And that concludes this interview, thank you for come, Ms. Smith" Weiss smiled at her new secretary.

The woman, a shy and nervous rabbit faunus, returned her smile and shook her hand.

" I want to thank you for this opportunity Ms. Schnee. But I do have a bit of a question"

Weiss raised an eyebrow

"What happened to the last secretary?"

Weiss smiled once more, rubbing the growing bump in her stomach.

"Let's just say he got promoted to personal assistant

-------------------------------------------------------

Sorry it took so long. Also thanks for the support

[pottersdune]

I put this in the comment section of a post but I want to put it here too.

They didn’t do these incredibly complex, layered characters justice.

It just felt like they wanted to get the arc over and done with and put a bow on it. All of Galadriel’s heartache and longing, and Sauron’s obsession and desire for Gal’s light just dissipated so fast. They’re reduced to caricatures representing “good” and “evil”.

It was cookie cutter. Even the “moments” they gave us just fell flat because they weren’t specific enough. “Not all of it .” Ok so tell us what was real?? Give us an ounce of Sauron’s internal season 1 feelings. They even gave his relationship with Celebrimbor more (which I appreciated). Give it to us for the people who share a “cosmic connection”.

Galadriel comes to a stop when she sees the Halbrand form. But they don’t even get it right. Where is the scruff and genuine charm of his character? Instead he’s practically clean shaven with the mannerisms of Annatar. And it’s over in 5 seconds. They could’ve stayed there for a couple minutes and brought back the nostalgia. You’re telling me Sauron the great deceiver gives up on Galadriel that fast? Especially when he knows and sees Halbrand’s effect on her. He’s smarter than that.

It didn’t feel true to character at all, and it sucks that Charlie and Miv couldn’t even salvage it.

In general, the episode was poorly edited, the dialogue was cringy and Marvel-esque (a far cry from Tolkien) and didn’t do justice to the central relationship in the show. The editing was poor and couldn’t tie together the storylines, the weird Elrond/Galadriel stuff they seem to be building wasn’t hitting.

Please feel free to share your thoughts, even if you think I’m dead wrong. The wasted potential of what this could have been is upsetting.

[alpaca-clouds]

Astarion, Sexuality, and Polyamory

I have not written an Astarion analysis for a bit. But there is actually something I kinda want to explore more for Astarion. Because I actually think there is one aspect that does not get explored enough - specifically in spawn endings. (I do not think it is quite that relevant to ascended endings, because Ascended Astarion is never gonna admit to it.)

I am not telling anyone anything new that a lot of Astarion's arc is about reclaiming his personhood, and also his sexuality, after Cazador stripped his personhood from him, and controlled his sexuality for two freaking centuries. We also do know that for an elf Astarion was still a minor when Cazador turned him. While we don't know exactly for how long he was a vampire, we know it was roughly 200 years - and the official age puts him at 268 right now. So he was not 100 years, which is when elves usually come of age. (Which also explains why he has a name that very much sounds like an elvish child name.)

We do know that usually elves are quite sexually liberal and yes, elves that are physically grown but not considered adults by elven standards will usually still fuck a lot. Because they are fucking hippies. It does stand to reason that Astarion hence had some sexual experience prior to being turned. But still, given how young he was in comparison to an elvish lifespan... The majority of his sexual experience was controlled by Cazador in one way or another.

Ironically we do not even know whether Cazador himself ever directly raped any of his spawn. We know he tortured them, but headcanoning Cazador as demi or ace works perfectly fine with the infomation we are given.

Given that during the two hundred years Astarion was with Cazador he did not have a lot of actually consensual sex, and most sex he had was always about him trying to seduce the next victim to accompany him to Cazador, it does stand to reason that Astarion does know a lot about technique in terms of sex... But - and that is the thing I would love to see explored a lot more - actually does not really know what he himself likes. Because to him nothing he was forced to do was ever really enjoyable, was it? Because it was forced onto him.

This is also where the last Astarion post I made comes to play. Aka how the Astarion romance arc gets a nice bow at the end on the graveyard. It is one of those gamey-thingies, where the character arc gets fully resolved, because it kinda has to - even though realistically it would probably take months for a person to get to that point.

I still think, though, it is an underexplored theme. How Astarion actually needs to learn that sex can be something that he had can do for himself, that can (but does not have to) be about connection to someone else, and which can offer a context to give up control - but does not necessarily need to. And I just like the idea of him getting to learn again what he actually likes.

To me this is particularly interesting because I read Astarion in a way that he links a lot of his self-worth to his seductiveness, but actually seems also very naive when it comes to sex.

This also brings me to the other aspect: The polyamory option. Astarion in the game does not have a problem with the polyamory with Halsin. However, his first reaction is: "It is not because we have not in a while, is it?" His big insecurity in there is: "Oh, we have not fucked, now they don't want me anymore." If you assure him though, that it is not about that, he will be fine with it.

Again, I would in a way argue that there is also once more the "tie a little bow around it" thing happening, given that the game just wanted a proper happy ending there. I am absolutely sure that Astarion is in general fine with polyamory (especially given that Faerûn is not as mononormative as the real world is - so it is not like a super foreign concept), but I do think he is in general just insecure about his own relationship to a romanced partner. Because let's face it: The man struggles with a lot of insecurity and self-hatred, because of what he has done and was made to do.

And realistically speaking, that might well come through if there was something polyamorous happening. (And let's be clear: Anything polyamorous, because let's not be limited by the sparse options canon provides.) Because while I think Astarion is absolutely able to feel compersion, I also think he will never the less always compare himself to whatever other partner(s) his partner has. Because the man really, really needs some lessons in self-love again.

I talk about it a low, how yes, Astarion is the character from the game I write about most - but he is actually not my favorite character. Like, non-companion NPCs included he is still in the Top 10, but more like number 6 or 7 probably. But I love writing about him, because... Well, I love writing about people healing from trauma because it allows me to project *coughs* and there is just no character for this like Astarion. And I do love to write different characters healing in different ways. Astarion's way is probably the most messy one, though.

Funnily enough in my stuff he does end up in a polycule too. But at first it is mostly about him realizing, that Tav still has feelings for his ex-girlfriend. And yes, in the end it is Astarion who sets them up to get back together. Before he gets his own scaly boyfriend a bit later. But that is all stuff that happens more than 18 months post canon, where he got a chance to heal a bit from all the shit. He is not fine, but he is a lot better than before.

Ironically I do think that at some point later on he is also going to get with Halsin. But that might be like 10 or 20 years in the future. Not an immediate thing.

[clonerightsagenda]

I don't demand stories tie up every single character arc with a tidy little bow but I do think it's wild that the big tension with Lockwood is how likely he is to get himself killed and then he spectacularly fails his final character check. Like sure cleaning out his sister's room is symbolically turning his gaze toward life but the fact remains that the last time the question was literally posed to him he had to be physically pried off of an explosive device. Is anyone in his life planning an intervention or are they just hoping he’ll have fewer opportunities to kill himself going forward.

[gingebreadbeetle]

Hey guys it’s me your favorite hazbin slop critic with more slop takes.

Something that has been bothering me lately, like badly is Lucifer in general. From his design, his status to his writing.

A lot of other smarter bloggers have already talked about Viv’s problems with daddy issue characters and making them sympathetic, so I won’t really discuss Lucifer’s writing in that regard as I don’t think I can add much.

I’m also aware some critics like Lucifer, as well as fans and to that I say, good for you! Like genuinely, if you like Lucifer from hazbin hotel, there’s nothing wrong with that! ( i literally like sir Pentious and he barely has any real screen time episodes or development so I cannot speak.)

Okay, rant from here on.

Vivziepop is so bad at religious imagery it is laughable. Lucifer’s theme of the garden of Eden and ringmaster of a circus sound good but she fails to mesh them together. I lowkey thought the snake on his hat was a worm. His design is the generic sexy man copy paste top hat bow and or tie and suit with weirdly shaped feet. Canes may or may not be included.

Lucifer doesn’t feel like Lucifer at all. I sort of understand what she was going for by making him a guy failure, but I feel like compared to other works with a similar episode count, cough DEVILMAN CRYBABY cough, she fails to accurately capture the intrigue and allure of Lucifer through his said persona and design.

While we’re talking about persona and design, Devilman crybaby’s Satan, Ryo, is so excellent. From the writing, the clash of ideals, the reveal to the final form and fight, it’s perfect. Satan and Lucifer are things I feel people cannot accurately capture in works, because while Jesus is a perfect human, Satan and Lucifer go beyond anything human as they are pure evil and, light.

So it’s really fucking embarrassing when a character who is also Lucifer has a similar arc ( clash of ideals, final form, fight ) and fails in every single way.

I understand that hazbin hotel obviously is a lighter show, that Lucifer isn’t trying to be the MAIN big evil nor is he, from the protagonists perspective, the villian, but for the ruler of hell, the light bringer and enemy of heaven … he doesn’t really size up and he’s another generic Vivziepop character in a pile of them.

To wrap this up, it’s just very disappointing. As someone who is very hyperfixated on demonology and the literature and philosophy of Lucifer, Viv fails to recreate an ounce of intelligence or thought that goes into writing a being of horror and evil.

Better Lucifer’s imo: Devilman crybaby, paradise lost (shocker guys ong who knew I’d reccomend it ) Sandman, and hot take but CSM public safety arc ( I could make an argument on how makima represents Lucifer but that’s another post sometime soon.)

[operationslipperypuppet]

Naddpod Carnegie based on what I can remember, post-show euphoria comedown. (That’s more for me so I can remember it later)

The music was played by a quintet, and the director was Emily’s brother, Brian. They were incredible.

Music started early and people talked through a lot of it but it was all incredible. When they played Kingshammer, everyone lost their shit after one note. When they finished we freaked out. We were correct to do this.

The whole two crew was dressed up and looked so great! Murph’s jacket was bedazzled.

The band stayed on stage for the show and played music under moments of it as it happened.

We started with the Boobs. They were nominated for the hit awards show, the Batubies, 5 years after the fall of Thiala. Bev was wearing a too-tight bow tie and grew a bad mustache. Hardwons outfit matched what Jake was wearing. Moonshine wild shaped just her torso into a penguin (still with huge boobs). Paw Paw was covered in hair gel and grew a perfect mustache. They were all gunning for pawpaw to win, and the photographers only wanted to photograph him.

Balnor was the host. He was possessed by a joke book, dungeons and laughies. He had veneers and Hardwon and Moonshine wanted some as well. Hardwon filed his teeth down to prepare, Moonsshine opted to wait for a dentist. The boobs HATED Balnor’s jokes. He hissed at them when they tried to take his book. Moonshine admitted to maybe being attracted to hissing Balnor.

The awards show started with an in memoriam to certain villains they’d killed. They were described: Josh - thrown out a window by Moonshine, The Crag - beheaded by Bev after a beheading song/dance (I do not remember lol), Galad - beheaded by Hardwon and then resurrected and beheaded by hardwons mom (jake blows kiss to Lydia), The Bear Prince - killed by Moonshine then brought back as a zombie so he could be killed by Hardwon, who was trapped in honey the whole fight, Thiala - eaten by Moonshine.

Awards were as follows: A best dramatic acting - they played clips from the actual pod; Hardwon finding out about his parents, Bev trying to resurrect Erlin when Thiala killed Pelor, Moonshine’s “child has a duty to his father, hero has a duty to the world”, and Donkey Kong’s recap of the wars - DK won. The audience was confused. Moonshine and Hardwon were angry because “that wasn’t canon”. DK sent in a video acceptance speech. Pendergreens won best redemption arc and gave a speech about how good Bowflexes are, and then Ren won a free bow flex. Coach Bortram won best smite, murph thought he remembered his voice. He did not

Best hero was the boobs rescinding their nominations so Paw Paw could win. Balnor, possessed, gave it to Galad, resurrecting him. Paw Paw was the only one to escape a restraining spell, and fled the theater, chosen knights in hot pursuit. The Boobs were annoyed with Balnor and when he died onstage were called out by Cobb and MeeMaw for being mean. It was nice to have Cobb.

Outside, he found the Triplets and Keychain, who were arguing with the astral worm bouncer because they weren’t on the list and Onyx dressed as one of the “Stranger Kids” cast to try to get in. (Murph still DMing, Caldwell as Keychain.) They wanted to kill Paw Paw (thought he was a weird dog) and were ready to fight the Chosen over it. Paw Paw rolled a nat 20 initiative, and ran again. Nyack killed 2 knights, Onyx killed 3 others. They got VIP passes and headed inside the theater, Onyx hitting on the astral worm along the way.

Paw Paw then found the Third Mates in a bar. Zirk drank windex, poisoned himself, and Fia and Hank also drank Windex. They talked about having Windex visions and seeing Windex Goblins. Paw Paw was familiar with the ladder. Bukvar could talk to Paw Paw and translated his distress to the Third Mates. He also asked why they drank Windex. Murph said that the bartender said “this only really sounds like one of you” and looked past zirk, very clearly calling out human man Caldwell. It was beautiful. They were ready to act, healed from poison by Paw Paw giving them water. Balnors evil book attacked, and Hank and Shank took it out in one turn, doing over 100 damage with an action surge. Murph was pleasantly shocked. Fia was able to use the disenchanted book to learn the spell to free everyone in the theater They then followed Paw Paw back to the theater.

Inside, everyone discovered that the Boobs had been kidnapped by Galad, who intended to use their blood to bring back Thiala. The only witnesses to this were our beloved Duck Team, who did not get restrained but didn’t help because they were busy playing smash on a DS.

Balnor, back alive, asked everyone to come help. There was some discussion over whether the triplets would go.

He took all the heroes in the Stormborn to the mountains of Irondeep. The triplets took over the captains quarters and claimed they already had rewards accounts. They tried to order chicken caesar salads from Calder, who could only find lettuce. Hank was steering, worried about gunk in the wheel. Fia was warming up the canons, Callie was in the crows nest. Sol was in the sails, Zirk got stuck in the engine. It was glorious.

Once in irondeep, they found Galad looming over the tied up boobs, stealing Rosaline back. They rolled initiative based on the highest dex of any of their characters and could choose one to take a turn as. It was dope as hell. Order was Galad, Jake, Emily, Caldwell.

Galad used his first turn to kill Jens. Turned him to dust. Murph demanded a sad song play for his death, and he got Valiant Ol’ Cobb. (Beautiful orchestration. Un fucking earned). The remaining triplets then explained his best moments to Balnor, including asking Keychain if he was a blender and watching Friends with headphones but the subs on so others could read it. Nyack shot at Galad. Onyx smacked the shit out of Galad (with the help of a chronal shift). Galad used legendaries to hit and then power word kill Nyack. Nyack blamed Calder due to the fact he didn’t have chicken on his salad. The familiars freed the boobs. Zirk helped Bev use a “blue smite” (Windex reference) on Galad. Galad attacked and crit on Onyx. Hardwon smacked the shit out of Galad and killed him once again.

Paw Paw was then given the divine power Galad had and Murph said the audience could decide if he resurrected Nyack and Jens. It was a split vote. In the end, only Nyack was resurrected.

We then ended the show with a One Big Bed singalong. It was so wonderful and sweet and perfect.

All in all, it was a great fucking show. What an absolute gift. Here’s to 5 more years.

[shinranposting]

Spoilers file 1121

ShinRan part summary/analysis (Long post!!):

At the beginning, it takes up Hakuba trying to discover that "Shinichi" was actually Kid, due to his bad deductions, but Kidichi manages to give a good answer (finally, after being wrong throughout the previous file xD), allowing Hakuba let him go for the moment.

But Hakuba is still suspicious, so, to test "Shinichi's" reaction, he flirts with Ran, but the one who reacts first is Conan (his face LOL his face must be one of his wildest jealous faces in the entire story? hahaha) and then Kidichi acts at the wrong time, which Hakuba clearly notices.

Then Conan/Shinichi (the real Shinichi through Kidichi), complains to Ran that she had been "stunned" by Hakuba's words and then tells her this:

"Shinichi: I didn't forget! Shinichi: When you kissed me on the cheek at Kiyomizu Temple! Shinichi: So don't forget that too!"

And then in the next panel, he openly admits that he gets jealous (Shinichi seems to have completely lost his shyness and tells Ran everything he thinks/feels lol).

By the way, the scene is extremely similar to this scene from the Kyoto arc. In Kyoto, after getting jealous of Okita, Shinichi reminds her her confession in London and now about the kiss on the cheek in Kyoto:

I don't believe in coincidences! (In fact, there are also another scene that refers to the aquarium case, case that was for the 20th anniversary 2014, when Megure asks them if they are on a date, now Megure asks them the same question, asking them if they are on a date like in that restaurant, referring to Desperate Revival).

But Ran doesn't look enthusiastic or excited with Shinichi´s words, even her blush is less like that of Kidichi and Sonoko, but rather confused. Could it be that she is discovering that this "Shinichi" is not her "Shinichi"? Even , as some here have said, it seems like she's seeing Conan instead of Shinichi (obviously, just speculation).

(Some say that she might have noticed since Kidichi holds the wrong cheek, or that from the hand gesture Ran can see the audiophone, but again, just speculation).

But the one we can be almost sure that he has already figured out everything is Hakuba, who has already seen the audiophone, and that Conan speaks to Kidichi through the bow tie.

The case's resolution is the next file, which is released next week. Same day that an announcement will be made about the 30th anniversary of the manga.

[year2000electronics]

General thoughts on Luigi?

MY GENERAL THOUGHTS ON LUIGI.

- he is adorable. as is his brother. he and mario have a cute quality to them and the universe needs to accept this

- i think it’s always been kinda interesting how a lot of people seem to treat luigi as a character as if he’s still “the underdog in his brothers shadow”. i can see where they’re coming from, since it just makes such a compelling story of being a Victim of Circumstance, and his eventual “rise to the call” in luigi’s mansion really giving him legs to stand on, and games like spm exploring luigi’s specific lot in life as “player two”, but the culture and treatment of luigi has definitely shifted since the experimental period of the 2000s. not only is he treated as just as much of a hero as mario but i feel like the public opinion of him has grown so much that he’s likely more popular than even mario himself is (just look at how big of a lead he had in the schafrillas mario ranking).. i frequently find myself pondering the logistics of Underdog Luigi but i feel like more people need to recognize that it definitely isn’t the case anymore in mario canon writlarge

- he needed more screentime in the movie! and i’m NOT just saying that because i love him! genuinely think about it for a moment. luigi gets stuck in the darklands through no fault of his own. neither brother knew what was in the warp pipe, and their separation in the warp zone was almost random. so then, yes, he does spend a lot of the movie cowering in fear, but that’s because he HAPPENED to land in the darklands. hell, he even stands up to bowser (verbally) at one point! and why this is a problem for me is that luigi is supposed to be a shrinking violet and a scaredy cat, and i love how weird and socially awkward he can be in the movie, but because this is MARIO’s movie, mario as a character ends up more flawed (in the fleshed-out character sense) and needing to learn more than luigi does! it’s just WEIRD when mario has to learn all these lessons and be the better man and then luigi is just kinda. coasting? like no! no no! that man should be NEUROTIC!!! (and the icing on this cake is that mario’s dad is all “you’re holding your brother back” I FEEL LIKE IM IN BIZZARO WORLD. WHAT. WHY.)

- my fav version of him is paper luigi <3 he’s the closest thing we’ve had of a luigi who is able to start his respective series as the man in the shadows and then graduate into self-confidence. it’s not a perfect “arc” for him since the modern games don’t exactly follow up on SPM but i’ve always found it more interesting the way he’s positioned in the paper mario series. there’s not any room for him in your party so you see the most distinct divide between mario and luigi we’ve ever had aside from luigi’s mansion itself

- i miss his striped socks from early m&l art :(

- him and e gadd are so funny together i think more people should acknowledge how bitchy they are at each other. it’s fantastic. luigi and this old queen

- i can’t wait to hear more of kevin afghani’s luigi VA :] i have unfortunately heard a lot of his luigi’s screams of death in wonder though. sorry to luigi for killing you so much.

- i want to see nintendo continue to try and figure out what they want to do with luigi in 3d marios. in 64 and sunshine he just wasn’t there (boooo), in galaxy he has probably the best compromise? being someone you run into in the overworld as well as being an unlockable character after getting every star, and odyssey has him doing balloon world. which is not really anywhere near the action but he is admittedly very cute with his balloons and bow tie. i feel like neither of these answers are the “true, cohesive 3d luigi experience” though. i hope they don’t give up on it.

- mr. l has and forever will be cool. technically not a luigi thing but i’m ride or die for him.

i always have thoughts on luigi. i could go on like this all day.

[beargyufairy]

NaLu Headcanon Pt. 1

Throughout the series, Lucy is shown with different colored bows/hair ties that she uses to tie her hair up and often match with her outfits. It’s her signature style (and she totally owns it!!) I think that if Natsu sees some hair ties during a job he might buy it for her. He probably thinks of a color or shade that she might not have and get that one. I think this is so cute!!

He would also be the type of boyfriend that wears Lucy’s scrunchies on his wrist. One reason is because she might need it during a mission/battle (ex. During Tenrous Island Arc, Lucy tied her hair up when Natsu and she reformed their team to fight against Kain). Another reason is because he just likes it. Natsu is shown wearing his single sleeve vest and one wristband. Instead of the wristband he might just have Lucy’s hair tie (or the hair tie and the wristband). I also have a feeling that if Lucy has a bow on, he might carry one around that matches the one she is wearing. He just wants the world to know that Lucy is his and he is hers.

On the side note, she has so many colors!! I couldn’t add them all because of the limit on how many images can be added! But which one is your favorite?! I personally like the purple one from the Sun Village arc and the ocean green one from the final arc. That’s probably because I really like the two pigtail hairstyle on her!! ❤️

What do you think?!

[a-killer-obsession]

Thinkin a lot about this recently so here is my predictions for One Piece. Or at least what I hope, based on the theories I like. I'm not up to date properly with the manga but I see spoilers so I kinda know where it's at.

I am a firm believer that Law and Kid's crews are at least mostly alive, and will be relevant again

Trying to think of what the potential conflict in Elbaf could be and I would like to see that Kid's crew are locked up, and since Luffy considers them friends he would be upset at that. Maybe he allies with Kid to take down Shanks, but the fight wouldn't be immediate. I feel like Law and Kid are supposed to be on equal footing, but Law travelled with Luffy for a pretty considerable time, so without a ship of his own maybe Kid will too. I can also see another sort of splitting of the crew, with some looking for the road poneglyph and other information while the rest go to Shanks. I think everyone is expecting Luffy's time in Elbaf to be peaceful but something has to happen surely

In my mind, Luffy is slowly gathering power for the final fight (see further down). He has allies with multiple kingdoms (Fishman Island, Alabasta, Dressrosa, Wano, not to mention the grand fleet, revolutionary army and SWORD) and if you think about it, he could have multiple emperors behind him as well. I have no doubt Whitebeard's old subordinates would fight for Luffy, Yamato has control of Kaido's crew, and I think Luffy can get control of Shank's, Big Mom's and Blackbeard's as well

For Shanks, I think we all know a fight is inevitable. It'll be maybe the last fight before the final one imo, but it won't be a fight to the death. More of a student surpasses the teacher thing, after which Shanks would show his respect by answering Luffy's call in the final fight

For Big Mom, it goes hand in hand with Blackbeard. First, Luffy finds out what happened to Law, collects him, helps him get his crew, and teams up to take down Blackbeard, perhaps with Kid at their side as well. I think this would be a fight to the death, and afterwards a lot of pirates would bow to Luffy. This would also allow for the rescue of Pudding. Katakuri is the most likely person to be in charge of the Big Mom pirates now, since he was the first mate, and we know he respects Luffy for defeating him, and that Katakuri has a sweet spot for his siblings. I think returning his little sister would do a lot for Katakuri's respect, maybe even enough to lend his forces for the final fight

The last hurdle is the man with the burned face, who has the last poneglyph. We already know Blackbeard is looking for him, and since it seems like the road poneglyphs have all been with emperors (assuming Shanks is protecting the Elbaf one which it seems like he is) then I can see Blackbeard managing to get it, and then Luffy fighting Blackbeard for it, which would make four for four on road poneglyphs being with emperors. Either that or the man kills blackbeard, becomes a emperor, and luffy fights him instead

But what is the One Piece I hear you say? I think its information, and that information is pertaining to what the World Government did to change the water level, aka the creation of the Red Line, and how to destroy it using the ancient weapons. This would tie in with the All Blue (as all oceans would be connected if the Red Line was destroyed) as well as the vision of Luffy destroying fishman island, since it's right underneath. This is where the arc in fishman island would come in, and be used by Shirahoshi to evacuate everyone. Its the one piece of information missing to take down the world government

I think Zou will also be a part of this. We know Momo spoke to him about opening Wano, and we know the weapon Pluton, which is a ship, is under Wano. I think Zou will be responsible with breaking down the walls around Wano to free the weapon (this bit seems like a pretty set theory). Perhaps he even tows it like Hancock's snakes, allowing it to travel through the calm belt. I think his punishment hes been going through has something to do with not releasing the weapon when he was last asked to

Luffy is allied with two out of the three ancient weapon's keepers, so the last step would be getting control of the last weapon, which is most likely something sky based and could potentially be what we see destroying islands. Obviously this is under the control of the World Government, so this is where the final fight would come in

Luffy would call in all his allies from throughout his whole journey, and together they'll get the weapon, destroy Mariejois and the red line, and unite the world. He'd also be King of the Pirates by now for finding the One Piece but I think the irony would be that he's basically king before even finding it

I also think cross guild are likely to join. Buggy and crocodile have already lost to Luffy, as well as allied with him before, I think all thats left there is for Zoro to defeat Mihawk. Again, I don't think this would be a fight to the death, much like Shanks and Luffy

Honestly I don't think Luffy even wants to be king, its just a means to achieve his actual dream. We saw how he acted when the strawhat grand fleet was formed, he doesn't want subordinates he just wants friends. For this reason I think Luffy, Kid and Law can all get what they want. Luffy unites the world, Law gets knowledge, and Luffy gives Kid the title of King. After all, Luffy is a fucking god, so what does he need the title for?

I think Kid is also probably changed after losing his ship. He probably feels a lot of regret that it was his immediate jumping to violence that made Shanks attack and put his crew in danger, and I think this would humble Kid and make him rethink how quick to jump to violence he is, making him a better king. I also think it'd be a interesting parallel to Sabaody since he had the highest bounty, so everyone likely assumed he would be the one to find the one piece, and in the end it happened but it wasnt his brutal violence that got him there, it was friendship, despite how against friendship he was, claiming they'd be enemies next time they saw each other.

Other shit i think is likely/theories I like:

It doesnt make much difference but i like the theory that D. Stands for dawn and those with the initial are descendants of joy boy's crew aka the Dawn pirates, with vivi's ancestor being honorary for turning against the government to hide the poneglyphs, just like vivi is a honorary straw hat. Idk i just think thats nice

All that shit with enel coming back from the moon. Honestly its gonna go one of two ways: either the moon is the natural partner of the sun, aka more allies, or the moon is the natural enemy, and maybe enel will be the enemy luffy deals with in elbaf or thereafter. It could well be that the last ancient weapon is on or part of the moon. Idk but i agree that enel will still be relevant

Dont get me started on the links between the emperors, elders, luffy and the aztec gods. Its a whole fucking thing okay but i think theres something there. Its the start of a new sun cycle okay? Luffy is bringing the dawn of a new sun!!!

Why did joyboy, or roger even, not use the weapons? I think he just didnt have enough allies tbh, or the ones he had weren't strong enough. The great pirate era forced everyone to get stronger and fight for one thing, and i think that was purposeful to boost the overall strength of those who hate the world government. I dont think its a coincidence that roger announced the one piece's existence and then after 900 years Luffy's devil fruit finally shows up, it was waiting for that call

Anyway idk shit about shit so take this all with a grain of salt, this is just my personal thoughts

[foxx-queen]

so about the choice in act 3. I feel like the writers wanted to do the suicide mission from me2 AND the companion choice from me1. which clashes at its core because the whole point of the me2 mission was that if you did all the companion quests and worked for it, you could keep everyone alive. and I get wanting the shock of having one of the companions die no matter what, but at this point in the game after the obvious set up, it just feels like one of those haHA surprise! moments

then there's the fact that it's between davrin and harding. the black man and the fan favourite from dai. like it feels so stacked against davrin at that point.

I picked davrin first, and then I went back and picked harding, thinking maybe that was the right choice to keep her alive. and here's where the whole choice gets even worse for me, because harding, instead of using her stone magic, the actual thing that would give her an advantage against ghilan'nain, she climbs up to the exact same spot as davrin, and uses her bow. she tries to use arrows against a giant multi-limbed blight enhanced being. it's stupid! of course she dies!

I had expected that if you picked harding, she would use her stone magic, which would distract ghilan'nain because of the history with the titans, giving lucanis enough time to act. it would have worked really well as a continuation of her character arc, and it would tie into her personal quest in a way that would make it clear that the effort we put into doing that was what makes the difference.

but by not doing that and having her die no matter what, it instead feels like it doesn't make sense. davrin, at least, is just a man with a sword. his death here makes sense because he's against impossible odds.

which brings it back to feeling really bad that the choice was between him and harding. because for this sacrifice / loss to make sense, it feels it should be davrin. for this narrative beat to make sense, it should be davrin dying.

it feels like the writers are saying: the correct choice here is davrin. he's the only companion who should die no matter what. to signpost this at the moment you make this choice, we will have the other choice be the fan favourite from dai. because no one will want to risk her potentially dying.

it feels bad. it feels racist. davrin deserved better.

[lunchtimebedamned1997]

Thank you @pennedinblood for the tag! <3 My fic writing has taken a backseat to my novel and scripts the last week or so, but I can give a nice peak into Ch. 6 of The Space Between Us! The fic focuses on how Vox and Alastor come to be where they are in S1, but this section focuses mostly on Angel & his connection to Val >:3 (it matters overall to the vibe between Vox and Al, much like every other scene I put in that doesn't directly involve the two of them; but you'll just have to wait for the chapter to come out XD)

It felt… silly, as he picked up the pen waiting for him. It was just a pen. And it was about to change the shape of his entire afterlife. His eternity. Equal bolts of pleasure and anxiety shot through him at the thought, his heart hammering as he put pen to paper and started to move. He’d practiced his signature for this, a perfect star in place of the ‘A’ at the start of his name. What he was going to be. The shape of his new life. And at the end, he couldn’t help but doodle a little heart in the space before his name for Val. After all, their love was the reason for all of this. For the opportunity. For change. The moment he lifted his pen from the paper, there was an uncomfortable sensation in his left eye, like ink spilling across the surface with the ghost of a sting. He touched his face, finding nothing but clear tears welling at the sensation when he pulled his fingers back. He blinked a few times to try and clear it, catching a warped glance at himself in the metal of the pen as he went to set it down, momentarily startled by it because his eye – oh. Right. Guess the whole black-eye-ownership thing ain’t bullshit afterall. Oh well, he wasn’t ashamed for people to know his work was earned through more than being a good fuck and a better boyfriend. That had been the whole goddamn point.

He needs those soft eyes and that warm smile he knows Val’s ready to give him. He takes a deep breath, trying to play off the wateriness of his eyes as relief in having things settled since Vox is watching. But meeting Val’s gaze makes Anthony jolt. A there-and-gone moment where he doesn’t recognize the man sitting next to him. That puppy-smile wolfish and hungry, those eyes glittering with something Anthony’s only seen flickers of between his own pleasure-fucked tears in their roughest play-scenes. He shakes his head, a breathy laugh escaping him as he brings one hand up to card through his fluffy arc of hair. Another pressing a thumb between his brows as he tries to get a fuckin’ grip. “Geeze. Sorry for getting’ all twitchy. Guess I wasn’t expecting there to be physical sensation with it.” “Ah.” Vox’s voice, Anthony didn’t bother looking over, just slouched back in his chair and watched Val’s large hands roll up the contract and tie it with a big red bow. Cute. “We might have given you a heads-up, but we couldn’t know. Neither one of us has ever signed anything away.”

@grownupchangeling @hashbrownwut (you are summoned but not forced >:3) + anyone else that wants to join in!!! I don't have many mutuals in the Hazbin fandom so far, so have at it! (and don't be shy to message me if you wanna be friends lmao - I only bite affectionately, and you're safe with the screen in the way)

[extasiswings]

I said this to others already, but to me this finale had a lot of 4x14 vibes tbh. Season 4 was severely hindered in it’s production due to COVID and i am, to this day, convinced that that’s also what made them tie it up with such a neat little bow before (at least in Bucktaylors case) undoing a lot of it immediately as season 5 rolled around. Essentially giving everyone the happiest ending they feasibly could.

And there’s something to be said about how mainstream tv seems to think that “happy ending” always equals “in a romantic relationship” whether or not the relationship itself is developed or healthy at all, but for two characters with character arcs so intertwined with their love life, it does make sense.

The thing is, to me this makes sense. Am I thrilled? No. But I’m excited to see what they do because I understand how this fits with the rest of the season and I’m not worried about it.

There were three big themes circling around Buck and Eddie all season. 1) missing the things that are right in front of you; 2) fantasy vs reality; and 3) Fear holding you back/preventing you from living your life. All three of these themes are tied together and need to be worked through to get to a place of Buddie canon and Buck’s “I’m already Christopher’s father” realization. But the last one is arguably the most important in order to get to the heart of the others and that’s where I feel like Marisol and Natalia come in.

Buck and Eddie both started the season single. But not because they necessarily wanted to be, because they were afraid not to be. Afraid to put themselves out there, afraid of being rejected, afraid of making mistakes. But being single out of fear is not the same thing as wanting to be alone or being comfortable with your life as it is, it’s just letting fear control your life. So the way I see it, if they had ended the season still single, that would have changed nothing from where they started.

For Eddie especially, this is a baby step but a necessary one. Whatever happens with Marisol, Eddie’s going to wind up on the other side with some confidence in himself and his ability to be a romantic partner and that’s what he needs to ultimately be secure enough to put himself on the line and really be honest with Buck. It’s low-stakes, it’s fluff, but I think it’s good for him.

For Buck, I disagree with the idea that he is inherently repeating the same mistakes. Yes, it’s not an auspicious start, but we as the audience see things that Buck doesn’t, and also there are some pretty key differences between Natalia and Taylor. With Taylor, they had a preexisting relationship. Buck knew going in all of the things about her that were dealbreakers for him, and instead of being true to himself, he told himself that he could “learn to live with it” and stayed with her for a year. With Taylor, he knew she was fundamentally a person whose values conflicted with his going all the way back to Dosed. He never should have dated her to begin with.

By contrast, he’s been on exactly three dates with Natalia. He barely knows her, and by all accounts she seems like a perfectly nice person even if someone who isn’t ultimately going to work for him (which is something that has been projected to the audience, but not for Buck). She hasn’t done anything wrong (it was pretty reasonable for her to feel overwhelmed and leave when Kameron crashed their date) and there’s nothing about her so far (in her personality or otherwise) that shows Buck is compromising himself and settling. Right now he’s clinging to a woman he wanted to date and get to know better anyway because she wants to be with him too and he’s feeling vulnerable—okay? He wanted to be with her though, I didn’t get the impression this was just about him being afraid to be alone (the way I felt about BT all through S4-S5). If they’re still together after the hiatus when they���ve known each other for more than five minutes and been on more than three dates, and we have actual evidence of him compromising himself where he shouldn’t? Then I’ll be agree that he’s repeating the same mistakes. But if anything right now I’m assuming this is his chance to prove his growth when he is ultimately put in a position to do better—that when something significant comes up he will be comfortable enough with himself to break things off instead of settling for what he doesn’t want. In the meantime, idk about y’all, but it takes me more than three dates to figure out if someone I’m interested in is going to be a good fit for me in the long run. And in a similar vein to Eddie needing to gain some confidence in his ability to be a romantic partner, I think Buck needs to be able to prove to himself that if he’s put in a situation where he’s settling, he’s capable of walking away. And for both of them I think those are important steps for them to take before they’re ready to be together.

[popculturebuffet]

Sam and Max The Devil's Playhouse Retrospective: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak (Patreon Review for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy lagomorphs and welcome back to my look at Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse! Last time our heroes saved the world again, found psychic powers, got ominus foreshadowing max was gonna die, and I got to bask in the fact the Soda Poppers are fucking dead

But found out Bluster Blaster is now missing from most of this game

Still The Penal Zone left a great impression a truly sterling first chapter in this final bow for now for sam and max.

And i'm happy to say the Tomb of Sammun-Mak continues this hot streak. It's another excellent, deeply hilarious chapter, once again proving to be the best of the previous two chapters; big set pieces that look fantastic mixed with comedy that's still dark but less overtly cruel than Beyond Time and Space. I mean there's still some messed up stuff but it feels less nasty.

The Tomb of Sammun-Mak is a format bender, following our heroes as they use one of the toys to astral project/watch film reels of their ancestors, Sameth and Maximus, the spooky scary skeletons we found last time. TTOSM cleverly uses this to shake up the formula: instead of a three act structure, with the third being some sort of big flashy finale with limited options, you go back and forth between each reel as you find out new info that helps you past another one. It's a fun structure: While more linear than usual, as generally there's only so much you can do before you have to swap reels, the structure makes it easier to play. It's a bit disorenting at first as what's in your inventory at the time depends on the reel, but eventually your brain adjusts and it's fun to, like last time work backwords to get an item you had earlier. I needed a guide once or twice and if you liked the challenge of an adventure game this chapter may be for you, but as someone just here for the story and one liners, I was fine with it and Tomb is now one of my faviorite chapters. So step under the cut to see more reasons why.

Tomb picks up exactly where we left off, something that looking ahead at the wiki for the endings of the next few chapters (Just the endings, I still like a little suprise for what spoilers I don't have), is a trend. It seems Devil's Playhouse takes place over only a few hours, maybe 12 at most. Beyond Time and Space flirted wtih this a bit with the ending of chapter three and the last two taking place over a few hours but otherwise there tended to be an in universe gap of about a month.

This change also fits in with Devil Playhouse's other big change, one i'd heard about but really sinks in here: the story is heavily seralized: while each chapter has it's own distinct rythum and antagonist from the looks of it, it's one big story that happens in rapid succession. It reminds me of say Legend of Vox Machina: it's episodic, instead of just being one big story put into chunks, but ther'es an ongoing arc the whole time and each episode largely leads into the next. The previous two games did have it all tie together, but it was looser; someone was clearly behind the hypnotisim plot in Save the World but our heroes being who they are don't really look into it till the last minute, while in Beyond Time and Space there's hints hell is involved in the first chapter, but you don't really get a sense how this ties together till the big reveal and even then it feels a bit reachier. Here from what I know without over spoiling myself, each chapter builds on the previous ones in some way, both in the overaching plot of the toys and in who the villians are. This chapter in paticular hints at chapter 3's antagonist and introduces chapters 4. I won't say which is which or who in facse you haven't played them.

Our heroes are also caught up in it a lot faster, as each chapter is someone after their toys and sam for his ability to use them. There's a bigger sense of urgency as while our heroes are still themselves, their more directly in the line of fire rather than waiting out some big nebulous plot they have to solve at the end. While the previous two games aren't bad, I like this structure a lot better, as it gets the plot going, allows it to breathe more, whlie still delivering a satsifying episodic experince. I play these monthly (Or if I get behind as in this case two this month) so I get the best of both worlds: the cozy comforts of the remaster with the feel someone would have playing it on it's own and waiting about a month for the next one.

So onto our adventure. Max is aghast at the skeletons as he thinks Sam killed him. Which... given everything max does if Sam did Kill max he was either about to fire all the nukes at once or took the last piece of Meesta Pizza.

Either way Sam quickly points out this is a clue (complete with note) and not them. It's their relatives Sameth and Maximus, from 1901, with the note leading them to a nearbye projector with some reels. The duo fight over this because with the office down they can't fight over the phone as easily. Gotta keep those reflexes up.

This accidently reveals that the Projector is the Astral Projector, one of the toys of power. It allows them to live through their ancestors pasts. Though it comes with a caveat that explains why all the reel swapping: They only have information they've learned as they don't fully gain their ancestors memories. It's inconsitant as they do remmeber what's on the reel but i'll let it slide for being a solid way to do this out of order.

That said we'll be covering these in full chronological order rather than jumping around jumping around get up get up and get down. The reasons are simple: It's easier on me and my brain which is about what you'd expect

And it's easier on yours as it's a bit more coherent to just cover the story as it happens.

So with that in mind

REEL 1: THE CHALLENGE OF THE SPUNX!

First of Spunx. Given the series we're in they probably knew that was a sex thing these days as i'm pretty sure using spunk as a jizz metaphor was a thing back then. Or i'm just a dirty weirdo. Both things can be true.

Our adventure begins with Sam and Max attending a theater exibition from Monsuier Paperwhite. Paperwhite apparently comes back somehow, and is notable for being the only character in these flashbacks to have a completely new model. Every other character is either a mole, who I suspect were made the ancient guardians of the devil's toybox to make more characters easier as they can just copy harry's model and put new clothes on it, or from Beyond Time and Space. Paperwhite is offering two free tickets to sunny egypt to anyone intrested. A pitty he's about 27 years too early for any joestars to stash those away for later use. To get them they have to pass the CHALLENGE OF THE SPHUNX, which looks like a hippo and is a repica of the real thing.

I love the pulp feel of this one, those sort of adventure stories like Scrooge Mc Duck, Indiana Jones and Tintin. The globetrotting adventure, mysterious characters and period trappings are just so fun and it's a perfect fit for sam and max. Especially since the embodiment of Noir used to live next door to them.

Anyways, the other guests are a Mole in a Babuska and Santa himself as Nicholas J Kringle. While santa was a bit of an ass in the finale to ice station santa, here he's a robber baron monster who barely pays his elf workers and has them living in little arctic circle, the local elf ghetto. A sentence that's actually said and is the kind of thing that makes covering these games so damn fun.

Kringle heard there were toys involved, as Paperwhite has one of the toys of power, the Can o Nuts. I'll let a known expert explain this classic prank

But here Maximus can fit himself and whoever inside. Naturally to even the odds since Maximus like Max has THE POWER and can at the very least move the Spunx tounge by standing on it, Santa has one of his elves Yoink the can and run off. While we're here we can pick up some of Santa's Cookies, a sunday funnies page written in hyreoglyps and by distracting santa, an adress.

So it's off to Little Arctic Circle just south fo the theater and in present day the street our heroes live on. We see the Mole Woman has some Beef with the elves as she goes back to her house as our heroes ask and answer an age old question

So we go to talk to the Elves but their petty little assholes. They also don't want to unionize but in fairness i'm pretty sure Santa's unionbusting would be horrifying as it was holly jolly. I mean this was back when horsewhipping an employee for unionzing was probably legal.

They won't give us the can unless we give them a great toy idea since Kringle wanted the can but didn't you know... leave the ehater to fetch it from them. Before we give it to em we talk to the mole woman. SHe's cursing their leader slushy as it turns out mole people have magical curse powers. WHo knew? This is handy knoweldge for later. She came to this country ahead of her family who are stuck back in the old country.. being egypt despite the russian accent. Anyways she translates the glyps for us, which is literally just saying what the glyph looks like, and some comics which wax about how wacky it is to cut cucumber lengthwise. Being sam and max this will be importnat later.

For now we give the Elves our idea... this is about an hour later in game but we give them the idea for a toy biplane, it'll make sense later and with that they refuse to pry it off their friends head and make the mistake of pissing Sameth and Maximus off.. which like their decsendants is only a recipie for broken bones and scapulas. At least Slushie can regenerate.

With that we can complete the riddle! and have a toy of power! hot choclate! Completing it is standing on the creatures tounge, giving it an offering (the cookies), saying the glyph then enterting the gate using the can o beans. With that our heroes win two tickets to sunny egypt!

Reel 2: The Train to Egypt/In the Tomb

The title changes depending on your progress. The first scene is mostly just there to introduce a major supporting character and provide an obstacle to easily clearing this chapter so you get the swap gimmick down.

Our heroes are on the train to Egypt when they end up with a stoaway: Baby Amelia Earhart! She's a little rapscalion who wants to journey with us. Sameth and Maximus aren't like their succesors and have no use for kid sidekicks/surrogate daughters and tell her to go screw but when their tickets blow away they have bigger issues. You sing her a shut up laden version of cry of the valkryies to make her sleep, something picked up from the next reel, and use the can to avoid being ticketed.

Many Wild Adventures Later our heroes have ditched Baby Amelia Eardhart and head into the tomb. They find the chest.. but also find Grandpa Mole, who sets up a security hex. We can't touch the chest so we explore a bit. We find an old familiar face in a diffrent phase of his life: Jurgen! Pre vamparisim. Kinda. He was cursed to be one but you have to be bitten by one for it to stick. He was trapped in the wall and wants our help getting out. Obviously this is a trap but it's something our heroes really can't get out of.

So manuvering around the corridors we find a bust and remove it freeling jurgen.. and trapping us. Jurgen leaves having acomplished nothing and not even getting the box, for now. Which is on brand for him. Thankfully whlle the two guardian figures in the wall we're now trapped in are less than sympathetic they are willing to let us leave for a good joke. Specifically cucumber being cut lengthwise. Which.. honestlyw hile not ha ha funny is something kinda nuts to do.

So our heroes are free and soon head to the west hall where we find the dad, who sounds like harry moleman. He apparently isn't but gotta flip them assets. He has a chamber of death which I genuinely thought might slice you good.. but turns out nope the guiltine won't hit you at all. For now. You find his daughter Nefertiti, who he's scaring all the boys away from with his powerful sexo rejexo curse that repels the opposite sex. Apparently Molemen don't know queer people exist, which tracks.

We need to get past her as her giant Asp

Which also ate the next toy of power (?), Charlie Hotep. He's a ventriloquist dummy that allows you to throw your voice! Fool your freinds! Fun at parties! Thankfully we get in the asp by using the can o nuts, a solution I had to look up. What is with this game and "assuming the player will figure out the animal does things". At least this time it eating the puppet is a clue and not "the pidgeon will do the thing you just have to belivieeeeee"

So now with Charlie we can fool Nefertiti's dad into thinking she has a crush on sam and max.

Though in fariness tormenting a tweenage girl and getting her father to curse us by basically making him think we might be pedophiles is still a long ways away from "sending an innocent child to hell for fun and profit". It's more funny than awful as it more pisses off a moody tweenager for two seconds and gets us cursed to complete a puzzle more than it actually. .HURTS anyone. We'll save actually hurting her feelings for next time.

For our hubris though in addition to the needed sexo rejexo, Max gets turned into.. A COW! which sameth takes with patience and dignity

It's a great gag. You also get a great reaction or two if you use stuff on him before Maximus changes back. So onward to the rest of the puzzle. On the right sid eis grandpa mole and baby amelia earhart, who escaped and is pissed at our heroes for running the fuck away from their unwanted sidekick and plans to loot the tomb .Grandpa Mole wants a grandkid to talk to since his actual grandchild no longer likes him. So we simply need to use sexo rejexo and a nearbye sarcophogas to blast the small child into the weird old man

Thankfully he's not a pedophile, and is a good sport and lets us roam around. Sadly this new friendship has to be ruined as we need his curse to complete the puzzle after looting some rune blocks. So we riffle through his brouchers, possible vacations as everyone says grandpa needs a break, and ask about Stuutgart. Being a xenophobic weirdo , he curses us for that with a bad luck curse. This means the guillotine will actually work now and thanks to a tip from kev I knew to toss the idol from earlier in. It's now a twofer and both halves go into indentionts near the guardian mural, causing them to bend. We go back into the painting, use the new bridge, and fuck up grandpa's curse runes. Also his curse seems to be the only one tha tneeds an elaborate set of runes. Maybe they evolved.

With that we can grab the devil's toybox and end this reel.

REEL 3: THE JOURNEY HOME

After escaping a gun toting santa

We arrive back on the train only to find the trunk we put the Devil's Toybox in is empty! So it's a mystery on a train. Man this serial has everything: a fun act one in a theater with an old timey showcase, an anceint tomb to raid, and a train mystery. I do love a good story set on a train so this reel had me.

It's also a lot of fun. The overworld is a bit of a pain in the ass to get around as you can't run for some reason despite how small it is and train is a straight line so to get anywhere you usually have to backtrack. Which would be fine but without being able to run it makes this segment slower

Thankfully the rest is a lot of fun as everyone so far is in attendence, forwhadowing what's to come. The Mole Dad and Neferiti are on their way back, with Mole Dad a little sore at first you stole his priceless treasure, but admits it was for the best and loosing it means he can join his wife in the new world. His dad is taking that well deserved vacation.. to see the Sphynx. But hey his duty was guarding one small room of it and now he can look over all of it. I mean it's still not very big but hey.

Next door is Jurgen, who won't let you inspect his room filled with vampire stuff and with throw you out. And who also wants to call evens on the whole "betraying you and trying to trap you forever thing" kay. I am really happy to see Jurgen again and while he's not as funny as his previous two apperances, he dosen't have his hilarious 2000's rave kid astetc since it's a century too early for that, it's nice just to see him again.

Also on board are Kringle, whose hiding in his cabin and won't come out, and his elves. Slushie is looking a bit... vampish but insists he's fine. He dosen't even crav eblood that much. He does need a subject to test that toy you pitched. Thankfully Baby Amelia Earhard has both forgven the boys mostly and sold a ton of her plundered loot to get herself her own cabin.

So to get further we need to get that toy test. Thankfully the sexo rejxo curse works wonders. We simply use charlie again, which both lets us check out the moleman's luggage. As it turns out he has the vampire reverse curse inside, the way to cure Jurgen before he turns.

The curse violently throws people around, and thus pushes baby amelia erdhardt into slushie. I.. I really wish there weren't so many puzzles that involve shoving a child into an old man but that's where were at. Thankfully the elves just show her their toy biplane, which of course is a hit with the future ace aviator.

So the next bit's a bit complex, mostly beause of all the back and forth. We grab a glass from Santa for.. reasons that will horrify you in a moment. Then we see Neferitti give a love note to jurgen, having a massive crush on him while he's intrested in is getting the reverse curse off her dad. So we have to piss her off again and her dad, telling him about the crush as responsible adults

So he casts a sexo rejexo curse on Jurgen, and a mad Nefertiti turns Maximus back into a cow. Sameth's chiller this time and er.. mliks his little buddy

I didn't need this, you didn't need this, even shippers didn't need this. It's fun to Ship Sam and Max together. Not so much their relatives both due to the horrifying incesty implicatoins and just the fact that even if this were sam and max, maybe don't.. mlik each other. At least as a cow. Other way's fine. This just feels.. wrong. Why is it saved the world is the only game that didn't give me cow based nightmares.

So we then feed the milk to santa with cookies, and put the can o nuts on the tray to sneak in, and suprise him. We raid his trunk to find .. it empty. He DID try to steal it but someone stole it from him.

So after getting thrown out we deal with Jurgen. Nefertiti is tounge tied, tounge tied, whenever he's around. Whenever he's in town boy. So we make up the words for her making him think the curse is in a sarcophogas we found under some luggage earlier. Then it's as simple as telling Slushie to go see santa , a meeting he dosen't make as he has to stop for a quick bite on the way. With that we've ruined Jurgen's life, but get to loot his room to find nothing.

Turns out it wasn't any of our rogues gallery but BABY AMELIA ERDHARDT!

To the team's credit this twist.. actually works. The prevoius two reels , which are usually finished before this one, set up how much our heroes tossed the kid around and neglected her, so her betraying them to try and take the toybox for herself works perfectly, while still being just out of left field enough, ther'es no foreshadowing besides our heroes being dicks, to be funny. The way our heroes beat her is also funny.. they just.. use the curse a third time and knock a baby off a train, which somehow isn't the worst thing our heroes have done today. Or even in the top 10. It is hilarious though.

So that leads us to our finale

REEL 4: THE BIG REWARD!

So sam's gotta go wag the dog so to speak, and tells Max not to keep watching while he's away. Max... watches it anyway which Sam shoudl've seen coming but ey.

So our heroes recap their adventures for a lovely audience Paperwhite's gathered.. then we get to the inevitble betryal you probably saw coming from this setup. Paperwhite plans to use the box to summon Yog Sogoth! though weirdly while the other toys levittate impressively , stealing our can o nuts... charlie just.. falls to the floor. Hrmmm.

Paperwhite puts sam over a vat of man eating ants that's been there the whole time. That's not a joke it was there in act one, well setup chekov's gun. I just didn't need to mention it till sam's dangled over them. You can just do what paperwhite wants, and summon Yog Soggoth, his lord and master. And... it eats you because it eats the summoner. it's why he bothered getting someone with the poewr and having them die for him. Thankfully this reel is multiple choice so Max distracts our big bad while Sam uses the newspaper to flame a rope to knock charlie near max, who uses him to lure Paperwhite to the circle.. then mime him saying the words. it's a clever finale and one that does away with our villian who will come back which dosen't suprise me: besides the new model there's also the simple fact last time, I assume a man wasn't dead from an axe to the head and turned out to be entirely right. Death does not happen easy in this universe and even then you can just come back as a ghost as Mama Bosco showed us.

We then get a cutscene showing us what happened to Samteth and Maximus, they took the box to the mole family, who agree to guard it... only for their protection spell to go haywire. Since Maximus is afraid of being a cow again he accidedntly bolts into the way, Sameth tries to save him. .and they die. The moles leave their bones behind and the toybox, to be found by the mole cult later. It's honestly way sadder than I expected. Still funny with how quickly the moles move on from it, but it's a tragic sacricie. It's also a bit of a more coherent story than normal setting up WHY the box is wher eit was found and why max has powers: they were passed on.

So Sam comes back to berate Max.. only to find.. his brain missing. And it's creepier than I expected to, the detail on his debrained body is neat and really creepy and it's unsettling how the top of his head just... flops open.

So with that cliffhanger we end this chapter. It was a delight as you can tell, is one of the best and if you haven't played the game yet please, please please go do so. Thanks for reading

NEXT TIME: Sam goes noir! Max is left a brain in a jar! Reality bends in half! Fun for all ages!