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11queensupreme11 · 6 months ago

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Hi Sweetie ❤️ Heard you were looking for some rankings, so here am I once again... Now that Bloodflood is on hold, let me gather my thoughts. How long can this get 😮‍💨...

First, the ranking based on the anime only:

1) Toji--> I know he's not part of the yanderes but hear me out THIS HOMELESS GROWN-ASS MAN HAS BEEN HAUNTING MY DREAMS, MY DAYS AND MY NIGHTS FOR ALMOST A YEAR, THIS IS NOT FUNNY ANYMOOOOOORE 😰.

2) Suguru--> Me trying my best not to cry seeing my all time favs not being included 🥲. Joke aside, really liked the fact he wanted to "mercy kill" Mizu cause he knew what it was like to be Satoru's prey. Really heartbreaking, my poor babies.

3) Choso--> Well... my type is hard working, muddy guy 😅. Finally we enter the yandere grounds 🥳. Fun Fact: Absolute first jjk man who stole my heart, seeing only 2min of him in season one.

4) Sukuna--> Me looking at my RoR Ranking with Shiva on top 👀💧. What can I say... Four-Armed Men=Best kind of Men, certified Monster-Lover here.

5) Yuuta--> My sweet cutie babyyyy 😭😭 made me scream when we saw him at the end of season 2 with his big ass weirdo eyes...

6) Satoru--> Well... I understand. He's like, bred to be perfect, but I never was any Gojosexual to be honest (all my homies love Toji-).

7) Megumi/Yuuji--> I love them as characters, really, but the ranking is mostly based on the HoRnY... they're adorable, but... not in a sexy kinda way?

8) Kashimo--> To be honest, like every character introduced during the Culling Games (the only exception being Gigami Chadguruma) , this one absolutely never impacted me in any kind of way. I'm utterly neutral about him. Nice buns tho.

That being said... oh boy, time for the Tsunami ranking!

(1) Megumi/Yuuji--> Look at my bois, how sweet they are😭. They climb at the top because I just reaally loved their interactions with Hime. They have yet to disappoint me, and I just feel they would treat her the "best" out of all the suitors. I could be wrong tho. Also the way you write Megumi😳, it made me realise the potential of HoRnY- Was wishing he would fu** her in front of Yuuta's camera-

(2) Sukuna--> I stayed up all night just to read your Shisui flashback. It may be my favorite segment of your story, how talented can you be? Ryomen Sukuna... he is the one who has the most reason to be obsessed with Mizuhime, he helps her with exorcism when Gojo puts her down, he has four arms 🤤... He could have been my favorite but to be honest, I feel like his ending would be the absolute worst for Mizuhime (being the King of Curses, the final antagonist etc...). And I just love her so very much, she needs at least one good ending 😭

(3) Choso--> Ok hear me out- I know I may be biased, we hadn't really seen him yet, but it seems he would be kinda like Yuuji. I think he could treat her well. And he's just so clueless, how cute🥺. I makes me wonder: would he be aware of Yuuji's love for Mizuhime? If so, would he try to be a good "big bro" and support his little brother, or would he be selfish and try to keep her for himself? (I think I already know the answer-)

(4) Satoru--> Like someone famous said: "Certified LoverBoy, Certified Ped******"! Maaaan, no wonder Hime wants him to stay in his box, he's so nasty🤣. Gross, disgusting, pathetic, obsessed, overpowered, terrifying... He's the worst, but he's so funny to read at the same time. Let's not even talk about his Heian counterpart... As I said, I never was a big fan of this character, but with all the Jjk fic I read, I can say your portrayal of Gojo is my favorite in all the FanficVerse. It may be the same with other characters, but especially for him. How dreadful, to be the object of obsession of the Strongest in the World... He is still at the bottom tho, we don't need this creep around Hime ever again.

(5) Kashimo--> I have no expectation with this one, as I've said earlier. The electricity power seems interesting, but honestly write him however you want. Seeing your blog he seems like a little shit too.

(6) YuUtA🤬--> Well... if you paid attention in the Pjo/RoR ranking, you already know where this is going. Don't you wonder, what's the point of the dual rankings anyway? I use this to compare how high can a character climb (Megumi/Yuuji, Loki) and how low can he fall. And man, HOW LOW DID YUUTA FALL. It breaks my heart because during the first part I was the biggest YuutaHime apologist. He has seen her fucked up family, he bought her books, plushies, he was sweeeet 😭... If he was a yandere "on his own", maybe I could have let it slide, but how can you go from "Damn Hime your relatives are a bunch of creepy weirdos" to "No u can't unfiance me uwu cause I'm ✨️Daddy's Special Boy in Law✨️" Do you know what happens when you do shit like that? I'm gonna tell you, you earn the [Whiny Little Bitch] stamp. Actually, maybe it was my fault. Shouldn't have put all my faith on the Panty Stealer to begin with. I may be harsher with him because, unlike Gojo or Sukuna, this kind of yandere is not cartoonish evil. The way he acts (manipulation, baby-trapping, forced union enabled by the relatives), it seems... way more realistic. It's not funny or entertaining, it's just... sad. I don't want my best girl to end up like the 2nd Sanyu. Not to say the way you wrote him is bad, it was the best to show us how much of a LOSER he is. My last words about him: I hope he dies in a meaningless way.

Well well well, that's quiet the long rant. I would like to have your thoughts about it. I know you're currently focused on Arsenic Blues (great last chapter btw, Nubby for life) but I really wanted to share with you my review about Tsunami. Really, your fics are the best stories I've read in a veryyy long time and it's the first time I ever interact with an author, so it means a lot to me. Hope you have a great day, week, month. U dropped this 👑

PS: Pls help me I'm gonna cry in non-english what's the difference between "tho", "though" and "thought"-

omg im so sorry, so "tho" is basically just a shorter way for me to type out "though" and it is not a real word, i'm just lazy LMAO i'm sorry!!!!

"though" is just another way of saying "despite the fact" and "however" -> "even though my mom was angry at me, we still went out to get ice cream!"

and "thought" has two meanings:

noun: an idea/opinion in your head -> "I had just had a thought!"

verb: the action of thinking -> "I thought my answer was wrong!"

NOW ONTO YOUR LIST

i was so shocked that gojo was ranked so high LMAO. I THOUGHT HIS NAME WOULD BE DEAD LAST!

though I can kinda get it since kashimo hasn't been introduced and he's kinda been... eh in the manga (sorry bro), BUT OMG YUTA IS LAST??? I wasn't expecting that. I thought he'd be second last with gojo as last 😂😂

but your explanation makes sense. yuta started out sooo cute (creepy though), and at first he was helping her with her dad....... only to become just like him.

and also "No u can't unfiance me uwu cause I'm ✨️Daddy's Special Boy in Law✨️" 😭😭😭😭😭

honestly, he might as well be calling susanoo "daddy" at this point with how much ass kissing he's been doing 😂😂😂

#👸🏻| asks #👸🏻| tsunami

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minalblood · 2 years ago

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I figured if Meg, Drake and Nida are streaming an episode,ni may as well be in line and continue my rewatch so here we gooo, ep 5!

Akridaaa here yaay! I love those fuckers! And a lot about the Akrida this episode since we're finally getting to seeing them full on.

God, Dean speaking about pain and letting it out so it doesn't fuck you up hurts. And of course it's highly relevant to this ep, Mary of course once more being the Dean mirror.

Ok lets begin, cuz I've thoughts. We'll do this one chronological aka as the ep goes.

1stly this is the episode when I literally went "oh there you were, u fucker" cuz this episode is the one when John acts most like the version we're used to from spn. Interesting thing, when John's talking to Millie at the beginning of the episode and she asks him.how he is but in a way that he can easily let rest there and he is so in his head about what happened last ep that he preemptively reassure her he isn't affected by the Vietnam trauma which ofc means it is at the front of his mind. Also about that scene, Millie saying she wanted to take a pry bar to the motorcycle heavily echoes Dean taking a crowbar to Baby after John's death. I have many thoughts about Millie saying Mary is good for John like Betty was. Like what does she mean? Why does John need someone to keep him in check tho, because thats the implication there for me, we'll circle back to this cuz my opinion kind changes as the ep goes on.

Ada off the bat is the focus here.She ignored Carlos' mention about the demon after the last time when she was almost sadistically plucking leaves off. She wasn't really listening to the case detail as Mary was listing them. She didn't even really get involved in the discussion except to say they need to work this case and oooof it hurts to see because we ofc now know why shes acting as distracted and worried as she is.

Lata took Ada knowing her djinn lore as a ... birds of a feather thing aka Ada being interesting in the lore as she herself is and is so pleased about it. I wonder what she thought about it after finding out about Tony and Ali.

God Tony's entrence is pretty fucking great tho, jeesus. I also love that we start it off on the usual set up for monsters that spn perfected aka the monster of the week doesnt show their face til late in the episode cuz theyre the threat, the danger, the thing we're not supposed to relate to or get close to whereas the victim and the brothers (in spn) are introduced to us with full shot of their face because we're meant to care about them, to associate them immediately with a person and be invested in them, be close to them. So Tony being shot as just his legs as he runs until the moment he sees Ada is absolutely gorgeous to me. It goes from this distant, dangerous thing to someone important to one of our main charaters in the span of seconds. In seconds he becomes someone we're emotionally invested in (even if just curiosity about why Ada has her reaction) only to then really hit home once she says who he is, her son.

I also love that Lata's question about Ada being a djinn is said completely without judgement, just Lata trying to recontextualize what she know about Ada to herself, including the earlier knowledge about djinn lore. And this non judgemental attitude is relfected by Carlos and Mary as well. They're curious, confused, shocked, but not hostile to Ada. They just want to understand. But John is a dif creature here. From the moment Ada memtions who Tony is, John is pissed. He's absolutely furious throughout Ada's story, completely cruel in his reaction and absolutely oblivious about how he comes across for all of it, or willfully ignorant if I'm not feeling charitable. And this after he was a dick to Mary earlier about the motorcycle, but that by contrasr was just a foot in mouth thing That, while yes, dickish, wasnt harmful ultimately. And in both he had no clue how he came across. In the 1st scene, Mary let him know, in the second, because it was so striking that Mary Carlos and Lata chose instead to remove him from Ada's presence as quickly as possible without any chastisement because they knew Ada safety was more important than John being made aware of his behaviour (be it even just the emotional side here, since I don't think they would ever think hed do anything really). And it's this scene that makes it clear beyond any reasonable doubt to me, thay yea, this is def John Winchester and he is just a few degrees off of spn!john and could easily become him.

But the other interesting part here is that it's him having this reaction, the newbie here, the one who's joined this fight without any personal stake really. Like Henry doesn't count since the trauma of losing Henry is an old one that is wrapped more in Henry's abandonment than the actual supernatural world, whereas everybody else has lost people they loved as a direct result of monsters. But they're still empathetic to Ada and understand her choice so much easier than John who just doesn't get it or even try. Because he's already written monsters off as the Enemy thus the evil to his good.Like I said about the previous episode, John views it all in stark Black and White colors.

And now we have the Millie/Ada/John/Dean parallel. Aka the parent afraid of/for their child to the point they end up hurting them. Now importantly, Millie is parallel more clearly with John as parent here, specifically his controlling behaviour towards his kids, Dean most of all Id say and using that fear/worry as an excuse for his shitty behaviour. While Ada is both Dean and John. Leaning more toward Dean, who ultimately did realise that the behaviour was wrong and tried to fix things in much the same way Ada gives Tony the choice to help, to reestablish connection, Dean extends the same to Jack. John never fully does this, he dies still balancing between saving his son vs killing him. And then there is the treating your child based off of seeing him as another person. This one is big too, because Millie and Ada treated their sons as tho punishing them for their fathers, but important distinction, Ada tried not to allow her fear to taint Tony, it was him walking into her nightmare that led to their break. Millie does treat John like this, deliberately. She constantly compares John to Henry and we have to assume this is a behaviour that's been present during John's childhood too because of how prevalent it is.

So we already have all the daddy issues before the main emotional break of the episode is even introduced. And it all paves the way for the John/Samuel parallel's and as such the Dean/Mary parallels once we enter Mary's mind.

And it's important too that it's John talking to Mary that cools John down and it's the comparison to themselves that has him actually willing to relate to Ada's experience.

God I still hate the Saint Miguel reference, especially after the previous episode.

Another important thing about Ada/Dean is they both acknowledge their failings and then choose to do better, whereas Millie is a bit of an inbetween, she's changing as I've said, but is just figuring it out still, she's not really there yet, but she's asking about how to do it which is very important. It means she's willing to put in the work to do better. I also love that Ada immediately believes Tony but so does Carlos, even without the evidence.

Small thing I appreciated about the talk the gang has about the Akrida is Carlos picking up the file and clearly trying to put stuff together themselves.

I love everyone but John's reactions to Ada. So so much. I also love the following your heart advice Ada gives Mary, it reminds me of Mildred (my beloved) giving the same advice to Dean.

God Carlos' lies are awful, how have they been a hunter so long ans still.are this shit at lying. I love them.

I adore the Akrida design as well, i fucking love those bugs soo much.

Aaaand Mary got stung. And Carlos making a joke to difuse the worry is soo soo good and his advice to Ada to just tell Tony the truth is brilliant. As is Ada's talk to him. I LOVE her making sure she refers to Tony as his own person rather than who he is in relation to her, it's her ackowledging his personahood and also her not pushing him and making it clear she knows he likely will still leave and wont force him.to stay, it is such such good communication.

John being signled out makes perfect sense to me here tbh, bacuse outta everyone there, John has been the one to push Mary even when she's been at her most stubborn, he's the one whose been challenging her since they met as she does him. They know Mary can just tune them.out because she's done it before (in this show even) but John has always broken through to her.

John saying you cant fight ur trauma but you can face it, is chef's kiss after last ep. It shows he has been thinking, has been trying to do better even if it's not shown to us. To some degree he knows what he needs to do. I dont even mind thay he's a bit too harsh initially in trying to convince Mary to face her worst memory, bacause it is a time crunch, there's time to process it properly after, once Mary is alive to do it. And he give her the space and understanding she needs once she's going through it, he doesnt make it about himself. So we have not just Mary afecting him like Millie says in the beginning, but he afects her too. This is why they can work together.

But goood I hate the Campbell's just as much as I hate spn!John. For the same reasons, and I still think they were better parents then John, bacause Mary at least had more stability than Dean and Sam did, because she had a stable home. But yea, Mary's tragedy in spn is def partly the fact that her kids had to live what she did, and she has no idea just how similar it was, not really.

John giving Mary the reassurence that shes right to want to leave once shes done hunting is also very very good.

And I gotta say I love the bonding between Ada and Tony at the end, open ended but full of potential and i love lata and tony so so much! And also also, carlos once more pulling that vital vital background work to finally find out about Roxy.

This episode is so chock-full of intergenerational trauma (not that thats surprising, but rather the way it gets highlighted here). There is so so much to talk about and I can't even get all of it out but yeah, heres ep 5. Do i have more thoughts about it? Always. But so far here we leave it

#spn #dean winchester #spnwin #the winchesters #john winchester #mary campbell #lata dar #carlos cervantez #ada monroe #millie winchester #spnwin 1x05 #spnwin rewatch

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lonelywretchjervistetch · 2 years ago

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My DC Cinematic Universe: Superman (Epilogue)

Epilogue: A New World

So, it's currently February 4, 2023 when I write this, and James Gunn officially announced part of his DC Studios plans a few days ago, on January 31. Included in these plans were two revelations. First of all, the first chapter of the new DCU is called "Gods and Monsters", presumably bringing in multiple projects that follow that theme. And frankly, I think that's pretty interested, but also.. conflicting for me for a couple of reasons. I dunno, it feels somewhat simplistic as things go, but that's not necessary a bad thing. Call it the cynic in me.

Secondly, though, is the announcement of the upcoming films Superman: Legacy and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. And my thoughts on those are complicated, but interested. I have some trust for Gunn, but hopefully that doesn't degrade with these new projects. I'm gonna tackle the latter one first to say one thing:

Please, PLEASE read Tom King's Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

This book is absolutely incredible. It's pretty obviously based on the book True Grit, which has had two film adaptations, and it pretty well-known. But King uses the concept behind the Western, sets it in space, and makes Supergirl into its Rooster Cogburn. Whether or not you like True Grit or Supergirl as a character, this story revitalized both effortlessly. It gives us a new view at Kara Zor-El, now 21 years old in the universe of the story, and also lets us see a whole new and truly gritty view of a backstory that, frankly, makes sense with every incarnation of the character. It's a brilliant dissection of the character, and the fact that it's being brought onto the big screen...this could be the Logan of DC films. Oh, and if you couldn't tell from the above art, it's absolutely gorgeous as well. Just trust me, you should read this book.

So, yeah, I'm real excited about that annoucement. Is it how I would introduce Supergirl personally? I mean...no, not really. She's a character that I think should be introduced elsewhere, then given this story as a series. Additionally, I think that a story like this would be an interesting way to introduce other elements of the DC Universe on a cinematic sense, while the book relies on very little knowledge of the DC Universe, except for some VERY specific references that kinda come out of nowhere in context with the modern DC Universe. That may be nitpicking, though. Lastly, while this is a great Supergirl story, I honestly think it would function better as a series than it does as a movie. Because, frankly, we already have a movie like this, and it's called True Grit. But don't get me wrong, I'm super excited to see what Gunn and company do with this story.

And then, on Superman: Legacy...I have...thoughts.

Hey Now...

OK, look, All-Star Superman is, without a doubt, one of the greatest Superman stories ever written. It's a written and drawn testimony to one of the greatest heroes that has ever lived, and acts as an epic of love, loss, and redemption for Superman and everyone around him. More than that, though, it's a reflection on the man himself, as well as his, at the time, 70-year history, and a love-letter by comic book historian and underrated wunderkind, Grant Morrison. They're a goddamn genius, and I hope you all know that! Read or listen to their book Supergods if you want a better view of the history of the superhero in DC and Marvel. It singlehandedly gave me a greater appreciation for both Morrison and comic books in general, AND SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR ANY COMIC BOOK FAN!!!

So, that said, what is All-Star Superman about. Well, as that above image implies, it's revealed that Superman is dying of solar radiation, due to the machinations of Lex Luthor. So, in the process, and with the knowledge of his imminent death, Superman has more power than he's ever had before, and decides to use it to use his remaining time well. He tells Lois his secret identity, decides to try and permanently save the world, and finally deals with Lex Luthor in the most poetic possible way. I won't reveal the ending, but suffice to say, it's a perfect ending for this story, as well as being a true-blue ending. It's also an excellent reflection on both Clark and Luthor, as a decent story for Lois as well. So, it makes sense from a quality-based standpoint that Gunn is using this story as a basis...

...Right?

Look, I love All-Star Superman, genuinely. It's a beautiful story, and was also made into a great movie. Seriously, if you haven't seen the movie, check it out! It's on HBO Max, and it's a pretty close adaptation to the original, with some frames taken straight from the panels of the book. But it's also absolutely not a modern Superman story, in any way. All-Star is, if anything, a love story to a Superman long-since gone at the time it was written. Specifically, it's a story about the Silver Age Superman, as well as a love-letter to the time period.

As an example of this, this is a Superman with the ability to make tiny suns on an anvil, which is a comical amount of power. It's the kind of power that only a Silver Age Superman can have. It's also a Superman that's never told Lois who he is, which isn't a deal-breaker at all, but is representative of an older version of the character. Additionally, due to the events of the story, he actually becomes immune to Kryptonite. And in case you're wondering how the fuck that's even possible, the answer is simple. And, uh, spoilers ahead here, but...

Superman dies at the end.

See why this is a weird choice for a Superman movie, especially the first story for a new version of Superman. All-Star Superman is, by it's very purpose, an ending to an insane story. Throughout this story, Superman is essentially exacting his last will and testament, and doing everything he can to end his life in an ideal way. And as such, it's also a love story to the character and all facets of his life. It's true that this story have given us some of the greatest Superman moments in any book, with the suicide prevention being one of the most famous of these. And yeah, it's a great take on the character in a lot of ways. But even then, it's simply not a Superman for a modern age. And that's not the only problem with using this story.

See, the villains are, as fucking always, Lex Luthor, a couple of Kryptonians very similar to Zod, and a crazy-ass cameo from Parasite. There are also some weird-ass side characters that are pure Grant Morrison, like the UltraSphinx and Quintum. It's either already been done, or it's just a weird choice to throw into a new version of Superman. It's a story that makes no sense as a beginning, for the most part. But, yeah, there are scenes like this.

Morrison's got a great grasp of the character, and they write a lovely book. But still, weird choice for an inspiration. That, of course, is assuming that Gunn follows this book to a T, which I personally doubt. I mean, Gunn is a smart man, and a good writer, not to mention probably aware of everything I've said. So why say that this is the story he's basing the film off of? I think the obvious answer is that this is one of the most recognizable stories (and covers) of any modern Superman story, and that (again) it has multiple moments that exemplify Superman. In fact, when you read Gunn's statements about Superman, it seems like he's mostly taking the innate goodness of the character, which we see in All-Star for sure.

And with that said, using the entire story makes even less sense when you consider the released description of Superman: Legacy.

Written by Gunn, the film will hit theaters on July 11, 2025, and focus on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing.

Y'know what classic-but-underrated book that actually sounds like?

Lemme tell ya, I adore Superman for All Seasons, and it isn't really a forgotten story...but I feel like it tends to slip under the radar as a great Superman story. That may because it doesn't have any massive stakes, or world-ending threats. It's a down-to-Earth story about a down-to-Earth guy trying to do good. Each chapter is told from a different supporting character's perspective, all about the Kansas boy turned local hero. And through it all is a story of Clark Kent trying to figure out what the right thing really is.

This is one of my favorite Superman stories, and the tone for this book is what I took my tone for my story from. Granted, I added some big stakes to that, but the character of Clark Kent himself is based on the kind person seen in this story. It's not necessarily a book that I think everyone loves, but it's absolutely one of my personal favorites. Check it out if you want some perspective into my ideal Superman.

Look, Superman is hard. I get that. He's a difficult character to nail, and most people don't really get the character. But there are some amazing stories by writers who really understand the character. Grant Morrison's grasp on the character mostly veers into the Silver Age incarnations, but he still gives a more modern version of the character some great moments. Alan Moore REALLY gets Superman, and his Silver Age homage Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? is another underappreciated classic story, while For the Man Who Has Everything is one of the best comic book stories ever written. It also has the benefit of showing just how tragic the Superman story really is, and was turned into a brilliant episode of Justice League Unlimited (which is the only adaptation of his work that Moore actually likes).

There is, of course, the timeless What's so Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way?, written by Joe Kelly, and is another iconic one-issue story. Turned into the equally excellent movie Superman vs. the Elite, it's a great treatise on the seemingly black-and-white morality of Superman in a greyscale world, while also revealing that his methods are actually far more complex than they first appear to be, using Manchester Black as the opposing force. It also manages to humanize Superman without putting him onto a moral high ground in a condescending way.

Superman: Grounded, while being a somewhat controversial arc in Superman's story, is one of the best recent stories about the character, literally bringing him down to Earth. Not universally amazing, but it has some fantastic character moments for the Man of Steel. And, uh, speaking on controversial, The Death of Superman story actually has some amazing moments for the character, but is honestly a great story for his supporting cast, and lets us see the Man of Steel through the people who did and didn't know him best.

For a great Golden Age Superman story, as well as a story about a young Superman, check out Superman Smashes the Klan (which is inspired by a true story, fun fact). That's also an example of a Clark Kent-biased Superman that I absolutely adore, but it's also an amazing story about being an outsider in general. Genuinely one of the best comic book stories I have read in a while.

And there are many others, of course. Hell, the 2016 Superman run was pretty great until Bendis aged up Superboy. But that's an anger-filled rant for another day, I think. Fact of the matter is, there's a lot of Superman material out there that's great, and I always feel burned that people think he's a boring, over-powered lout of a character with nothing interesting about him. Especially as compared to...some.

I won't go into another rant about it, but Superman deserves a lot more attention than he gets. His stories, his humanity, his very essence...they get overlooked and ignored in favor of characters seen as more interesting because they have a tragic past, which somehow makes them relatable. But Clark Kent is, in all ways except for physical, a wolf human. And thinking of him as such is what gives us some of his best stories. I like All-Star Superman as much as the rest of us, but it REALLY doesn't do that very well. It does it, don't get me wrong, but not very well. By focusing on a Superman of a different time, rather than Clark Kent of today, it gives us a purely good, but also alien, Superman. I trust Gunn...but All-Star Superman, to me, is not a complete Superman. So, for now, I'll just have to pull a Clark Kent and...well...hope.

And with that...well, I think the time has come to put Superman away on the shelf. And turn my gaze from the daylights of Metropolis...to the nights of Gotham City.

What the hell am I getting myself into?

Next: My Cinematic Universe: Batman (Coming Soon)

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lakesbian · 20 days ago

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ok thank you everyone much appreciated. here's my reviews for fun

scp 1730: didn't care for this one very much, it's in the genre of scps that are trying to be action movies referentially synthesized from other scps. which is not something i think holds very much narrative appeal. additional subtracted points for "the Marxist extremist terrorist attack on the sears tower in 1994"

scp 4991: nothing to complain about here, perfectly fine 2 minute read. imitations of social media posts within scps are always fun when they're done well

scp 6595: the best thing this one has going for it is the part where the scp foundation interviewing muppets that are real and alive as a normal part of the universe is introduced and played completely straight without acknowledgement. apparently this bit was inspired by a predecessor article that also offhandedly includes the muppets being alive for real, but i overall liked this one more than the predecessor for having a more natural (and thus funnier/more interesting) take on it. however i think the most recent comment on it has agreeable criticism re a few factual and plot nitpicks. it doesn't feel like quite the attentive love letter to the source material that it could have, which is a shame, bc that's what elevates these scps referencing a pop culture thing from "not a bad read" to "genuinely quite good." and this just stayed at not a bad read level for me

scp 5999: im bad at mystery scps and scps that reference a bunch of other lore so i can't fairly review this but i thought it seemed well written...the exploration log had personality to it. also i notice a lot of scps just shamelessly casually don't include any female characters/don't include any women in non-stereotyped roles so i was glad that this one at least had women casually on the mobile task force and all that

scp 5031: ive read this one it's cute. i do always think it's funny how a story intended to subvert the idea of murder monster scps for wholesome effect does still textually take place in a setting where the scp foundation is feeding random prisoners to murder monsters lmao. it's a fun one though i like it

scp 2747: ive read this one before as well but i reread it bc it's so good. great concept and execution, by far the best one listed in this post so far. the linked tale is admittedly dense enough i don't have a thoughtful opinion on it but it's really well written too. this type of scp is scp at its best i think, higher concept horror couched in academic language. the fake media snippets are great, reminds me of the library of babel one that i also like

scp 2293: yeah this one's fun, not much to say about an scp that was created by someone online as a meme, but it does what it sets out to do well

scp 2790: i liked this one :) one of those short fun little "SCP affects the documentation" ones. like it's not unique no but it made me smile, it's fun (said in a different tone of voice than prior usages of the word 'fun' indicating that i liked this one more than those other ones but called them fun regardless because i didn't want my picky tendency towards calling things 'Fine.' as a review to sound mean)

scp 7179: agree w what the recommender said, concept is good, execution isn't much of anything. it's a short story about the horror of eternity that doesn't have a grasp on the scale of time or a natural progression of dread. amateur writing

the whole antimemetics division: already read it, my rating of different parts of it varies but overall it's my good friend because there's Urs in there. like from pact. soooo many fantastically fucked moments it's great. like the original antimeme scp is Fantastic in its own right and it's so impressive how the tale revealing what the indescribable object actually is succeeds at making the answer more horrible than whatever you were imagining. like in horror i think oftentimes people shoot themselves in the foot by removing a sense of mystery but here the answer to the question of what it is is terrifying and gripping

scary gatorade: recommender lied to me, it's not bad, it's good

scp 3001: ILL BE REAL. i get why people like this one. but i did not care about it that much i did not find the logs of the dude slowly progressing into madness™️ scary. LIKE I GET IT. but it's not up there for me at all

does anyone have any scp recommendations im in the mood to read scps. not ones that are bad please

#scp

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citrusreadstoa · 2 years ago

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Reading The Hidden Oracle: Chapter 39 (SPOILERS)

Why is Chapter 39 the last chapter? Did they not want to commit to 40?

Looking at the words "Hunk Muffin" in the haiku has me scared. It's the last freaking chapter. What could possibly happen?

"Nico commanded a dispenser from the snack bar and carried it around, yelling, 'The line starts to the left! Orderly queue, guys!' . . . She punched Leo in the arm." Wow, warm welcome. Also, they have a number dispenser at the snack bar? The.. dam snack bar number dispenser?

"the immortal sorceress Calypso." istg she's something different every time they introduce her. She's a goddess, she's a nymph, she's a sorceress... her resumé must be impressive. "Even though Leo was the one getting punched by everyone in camp, I was reasonably sure he was the least uncomfortable one at the table." Oh shit, yeah, it's Leo, Calypso, Percy, and Apollo all at one table together. Percy, your biggest what-if is back! I know Apollo visited Calypso, but it doesn't seem like there should be any awkwardness there. "I hadn't witnessed such a tense greeting since Patroclus met Achilles's war prize, Briseis. (Long story. Juicy gossip. Ask me later.)" I'll hold you to that, Apollo! I want to know what happened!

"Calypso had never liked me, so she pointedly ignored me, but I kept waiting for her to yell, 'BOO!' and turn me into a tree frog." Does that happen a lot? Is that the vibe you got from her after knowing her for so long? I don't think this girl even knows what a tree frog is. She's probably never been to anywhere they're native to.

"Albania was particularly difficult." "Please do not mention Albania!" Nico had better snitch about what happened in Albania in The Sun and the Star. I know, I know, all the Reynas in the "reading PJO" fics are gonna be mad at him, but it's worth it. Also, does this mean Leo and Calypso and Festus had to cross the whole Atlantic to get back to camp? I thought leaving the island landed you wherever you wanted to go. I guess that's just the little raft, then.

"Damien White punched Leo's arm and walked away grinning. I wasn't sure Damien even knew Leo." LMAO that's my boy!

"looking for a way out of the Sea of Monsters." Ah, no wonder they couldn't come back for six months. They got lost in the Hell Ocean. You know what? I want a spin-off book consisting entirely of Leo and Calypso's Horrific Near-Death Experiences in the Sea of Monsters documenting Calypso's first experiences in the mortal world as she wonders whether she would've been better off staying on Ogygia while sprinting for her life from a pack of man-eating sheep.

"Hey, Sherman. Where'd you get the new scar, dude?" I love these little interjections so we know exactly who's punching Leo and how he casually greets them and catches up with them. For example: "Sherman told Leo the story of Crotchkicker McCaffrey and the Demon Peach Baby"

"her invisible aerial servants" Yeah, did she leave them on the island? Are they allowed to leave now that she's gone. I hope they're doing okay.

"Since leaving Ogygia, I have no powers . . . I am fully mortal." Are we gonna get to see Apollo and Calypso bond over both being ex-gods-become-mortal? One had it happen unwillingly and the other chose it. That'd be interesting.

"A few millennia ago, I had opposed her petition for early release from Ogygia because of some... ah, drama between us. (Long story. Juicy gossip. Please do not ask me later.)" WHAT? So she knows he opposed her release and that's why she dislikes him. WHAT'S THE DRAMA? Tellllllll usssssss

"Calypso had lost her powers. Leo felt responsible." Awwwwww "She won't call me Hunk Muffin, though. I dunno why" Ok good, the Hunk Muffin thing isn't as disturbing as I thought it would be.

"H-Meister. You're a hero!" Awwwwwwwwwwwww

"Oh, the middle third of the U.S.! . . . Piece of torta, then." I love Leo saying what we're thinking.

"And you freed Calypso, I see. Well done" For goodness's sake, Chiron. The boy died and came back to life and traveled for six months trying to find home and you're like, "Good job. Well done. Congrats."

"After he lent me his help in defeating the Colossus, it would have been the least I could do." This is progress. Apollo is not asking for/expecting favors with nothing in return. He wants to pay Percy back for his help. Maybe he should do that for the rest of the camp, too, considering they also risked their lives fighting the Colossus. Just a thought.

"Calypso even pecked Percy on the cheek." Calypso! Percy's taken. You're taken.

"geraniums bloomed in my stomach." Nice callback.

"Leo Valdez's Victory Lap World Tour." Imagine being Leo, dying and coming back to life, flying circles around the western hemisphere for six months trying to get home, and when you finally do, you have to immediately get up and save the world a-freaking-gain.

"I missed the whole Roman Empire." Oh yeah, you did. She's gonna be missing a lot of context for this whole quest.

"the Triumvirate might well have orchestrated all our previous troubles with the Titans and giants" Oh wait, did they cause the Great Stirring? I feel like every few days I have this same epiphany over and over again and it never gets old. Every few days I'll be like, Wait, are the Triumvirate and the Great Stirring linked? Did they cause it? Are they profiting off of it? and then three days later I'll realize the same thing again like I'm caught in a time loop. Help me.

"and an overly theatrical arrow." Oh no, the Shakespeare arrow is coming along. I hope this guy's easy to warm up to the same way Meg was.

"preparing rows of marshmallows on what looked like femur bones." I'm pretty sure femur bones are too thick to stick marshmallows on. Unless you got some big freaking marshmallows.

Apollo's going to be traveling with Leo and Calypso? *fist pump* When I was little, Caleo was my OTP! If I had known that the next book would involve them, I would've read it! Wait, I did know. What was I thinking???

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lazzledazzler · 4 years ago

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Lazzle's Rune Factory 5 Review

Alright so here are my thoughts and experiences with RF5! This is a big boy so buckle in earthmates...

Obviously this review will contain spoilers, read at your own risk.

Initial thoughts upon playing...

Great opening! I enjoyed the jazz music~ I did feel like it leaned a bit more towards the male player though. It definitely feels like a rune factory game. It's familiar, and controls are easy to get accustomed to for the most part. The mold is there and rf5 doesn't stray too far from its predecessors which is comforting for veterans. That being said, I'm not going to pull any punches and will critique this game harshly. Keep in mind as updates for the game are released not all things discussed in this review will be as relevant overtime!

Let's hear some thoughts on...

The story/plot. The plot is enjoyable overall. I'm not crazy about the whole Seed organization thing but it was a neat idea. They address the Sechs Territory and it is confirmed that the game takes place some decades after RF4. But by the end of it, I didn't feel like I really accomplished anything because it felt like I barely did anything really. Also they left a lot of stuff unanswered. I'm not even sure I understood the message they were sending, if they were trying to send a message at all. The main story is too short, and it doesn't involve enough of the townsfolk. You're basically doing everything yourself in secret the whole time and the townsfolk barely know what's actually going on. Out of the love interests, Lucas plays the largest part in the story, followed by Priscilla and Scarlett. The story feels targeted at male audiences--at least that's how I felt. You, the player, have a larger role in the game, much like in RF3 and I was glad to see this. As of right now there are only two arcs. Praying for DLC 3rd arc...!

Protagonists. The latest protagonists to join the crew of Earthmates are...decent. Their designs are nothing special unfortunately, though I appreciate Alice's more than Ares's. Appearance-wise they lack personality and creativity. Personality wise I am pleasantly surprised with how sociable they are. They're not exactly quick witted and sassy like Lest/Frey were in rf4, or as endearing as Micah in rf3, but they have a certain realness to them that makes their reactions to things believable. I'm certain Xseed will see to making them a bit more sarcastic in their localizing efforts, so let's all look forward to that. Overall though, while I appreciate their mannerisms, they don't really measure up to all the previous amnesiacs we've grown to love over the decades.

Characters. Overall I enjoy all the characters introduced in Rune Factory 5! I feel like there is someone for everyone in this game on some level. The voice acting was pretty good for every character. The designs are very much Rune factory. Like OG runefa, compared to rf4 ( 4 kind of strayed from their usual style) which I like. Characters still have their own signature quirks that you find endearing. Although I would have liked to see more variety? Like we've had mermaids, univir, half monsters, vampires, etc in previous titles but rf5 only gives us the usual (half) elf, dwarf, and then a succubus (physically she doesn't have unique features aside from the ears and heart eyes), and some were-people. I was hoping for something more unique to really give that classic runefa vibe.

Dungeons/Battles. I'm pretty split on this one. On the one hand, the dungeons have more depth due to the 3D aspects. They've included more contraptions that are very fun to see even if they aren't executed that well. So I'm grateful for that. On the other hand, the dungeons are insanely short imo. It doesn't take long at all to get to the boss. The puzzles are also pretty subpar and few compared to RF4. Fighting monsters is similar to the other games. You can lock on now but I only use it when I'm trying to use my Seed Circle. The lock on feature is actually counter-intuitive and makes it harder to dodge. Weapon mechanics have shifted a bit. There’s a feature that makes you invincible to damage if you time the R button dash correctly. Axes and Hammers are significantly slower than in older games? Like. I thought I was in slow motion it was so slow. Lances are also harder to use as well? I'm questioning my sanity here. I don't know if it's a bug or intentional either.

Farming. Not much has changed from previous games mechanics wise. They added new types of special crops which is neat. The camera view changes to overhead when you go near your fields though, and it can make you dizzy/uncomfortable. It actually makes it a bit difficult to see at times so I wish there was a way to adjust the angle. If you are tilling corn or dried weeds to improve the soil, you need to place them separately if you don't want to use the entire stack. Otherwise, it will till the entire stack on the land if you place them all down at once. The flower shop is unlocked late in the story. Weird thing to do considering you need flowers to make medicine. Not to mention the fact that you wont have access to the fertilizer that increases defense against typhoons? During typhoon season? Thinking emoji...

The town. I have to say Rigbarth's design is poor compared to Sharance, Selphia, etc. It's too big and it takes too long to get around. Everything is too spaced out and there aren't enough warp points to make it easier on players. I don't want to walk an entire mile up a hill to talk to one person and then walk all the way down to the beach to speak to another. It doesn’t really feel like a ‘town’.

OST/BGM. Music was good, though nothing really stood out to me where I'd go "damn this slaps" or something. I think they might've had some old soundtracks from rf2 or something because it felt really nostalgic at times.

We need an exterminator. (Bugs Bugs Bugs)

Marvelous, I don't know how to tell you this buuut...your customers are NOT your testers. When you release a game, you need to make sure it's not littered with glitches because customers don't enjoy dealing with them and will drop the game!

Here are some of the types of glitches I encountered:

Crashing. Game would randomly crash or freeze and close at any moment. Sooooo frustrating! Sometimes you get lucky with the autosave feature, but the autosave only activates every morning at 6am in your room and then when you warp to a dungeon level/floor. So when you're in the middle of your daily tasks in town and it crashes, you have to start all over. Marveloussss no one enjoys losing their progress in a game I promise you that much.

Lag. The dialogue bar is seriously slow, especially after loading your file. Crafting/Cooking screen lags. When you press the Y button to skip through dialogue it lags like hell. Pretty much after every time you load the game will lag, the audio will lag if you're in a battle, everything is just. so. slow.

Repeating dialogue. So if you close your game entirely (or if it crashes) naturally you'll reload your file to continue where you left off. There's a bug that will cause all NPCs to repeat the last dialogue that occurred from whatever plot related thing you did last. So for example, if the last thing you did in the story was unlock Ludmilla, everyone in town will naturally have some dialogue about her. But even after seeing all this dialogue and even saving, if the game is closed and reloaded you'll have to read all that dialogue again from townsfolk. It got really annoying after a while.

Monster taming. One time I tamed a monster but once I named it and hit 'ok' the monster never showed up in my barns? Just. gone. Okaaaay then...? Additionally, I expanded one of my monster barns but all of the monsters I tamed wouldn't appear in the added room. You get 4 monsters for each room but the monsters I tamed would show up in the original room. Meaning I had like 7 monsters in one room! I tried to bring them into the newly added room but they would just warp back to the other room. Sad.

Pond Glitch. I fished in the pond located in Sasayaki Forest and left the fish I caught but didn't want laying around the water's edge. If you leave fish around the pond's edge and go to sleep, the next morning you will be teleported to the pond and trigger the fairy dialogue as if you had thrown all of the fish into the pond??? So the dialogue of her telling you she wants 'X item, not this!' will trigger over and over for all of the fish you left at the water's edge. RIP.

Party member Bug. I had Martin in my party and I made him leave. Then when I went into my monster barns to get a monster pal to join me instead it showed me Martin's portrait???? Also I've encountered a bug where I can no longer ask anyone to join my party for some unknown reason. The R &L button prompt was just gone when I reloaded.

Errors. When cooking or crafting, the dialogue box shows up sometimes...

Typos. Random average typo here and there. Not a real biggie but there is one instance where the heroine will use the japanese male pronoun "boku" instead of "watashi" which really convinced me that this game was completely intended for men lol.

Let's talk about Pros

The good stuff. The stuff that makes you all warm and fuzzy inside.

Plot Advancing. Now I'm gonna put this as a pro because I'm certain the average player will enjoy this even though I do not. There are now markers on the map to show you where to go to advance the plot. This is all well and dandy, but it also made the story less appealing for me because you don't need to go around town and speak to residents for clues or assistance to advance anything in the story.

3D Graphics The 3D models are all amazing. The interior designs of the houses/buildings are also incredibly detailed and realistic.

Collecting items. Now there's a feature that will allow you to collect items into your inventory just by walking over them. This is pretty neat and welcome for the most part. Once the item is sparkling, you can walk over it and it'll go into your rucksack automatically. This also makes lumbering and mining go much faster. Yay!

The miraculous L pocket. Now you can customize the categories that appear in your L pocket by going to the rucksack tab in the menu. This is a super neat feature that makes things easier on players who want to manage their items in a format that suits them.

Weapon/Tool Toggling. You can now toggle between your equipped weapon and tool by pressing the left or right buttons on the trackpad.

Collecting lumber/material stone. Oh lord this is probably the most welcome improvement moving forward from the previous game. You can now put all of the lumber and material stone from your inventory into its storage at once. This also applies to fodder for tamed monsters. Well done Hakama.

Autosave. This feature is a welcome addition to the series. The game will save your data every morning and every time you enter a dungeon. Autosave has really saved my ass a few times when I made a huge error in judgement so I'm incredibly grateful for this feature. And it doesn't save over your actual save file--there's a separate autosave file at the very top. So if you messed up something but already saved on your main file, you can still salvage your mistake by reloading the autosave! I just wish it activated a bit more often sometimes.

Warping. Now we can warp to each level in a dungeon as well as certain places on the map in town. It's pretty convenient for the most part.

Increased party members. Now you can have up to 3 members in your party! Hooray! Party members act more intelligently than in older games. Scarlett can use the Seed circle to assist you in fights. I think she also tosses healing potions at you occasionally. So far, no one has tossed a dish at me if I haven't eaten like Kiel and Clorica did in rf4. But I have been hit by a failed dish (from reinhardt?) and a healing potion (from scarlett). Scarlett, Priscilla, and Reinhardt are the most helpful when dungeon crawling in my experience. Some of them however, (looking at you Doug) don't shut the hell up with their one line of dialogue they have and repeat it constantly.

Seed Circle. This neat feature allows you to capture monsters. By charging it and releasing you can capture monsters for the bounty system or add them to your party temporarily. If you throw it without charging it, you can stun monsters in place momentarily or grab things from far away. When stunning monsters, it can also give you the monster's drop item occasionally. Unfortunately it uses a lot of RP so it can be difficult at times.

Combo attacks. This is a neat feature that I appreciate and use often for boss fights. They do some serious damage so it's good to save them for the bosses. The actual cutscenes aren't that impressive, and feel kind of subpar when you get down to it but I think it's a start in the right direction.

Farm Dragons. I'm listing this as a pro although I really just see it as a new feature. Farm dragons have fields on their backs that you can place monster barns on and farm on. Giving them certain crystals will give your fields boosts in certain criteria, like length of growth, soil quality, you get it. I personally don't use the crystals because I couldn't give a shit lmao I have men and women to woo here. But if you're into this kinda thing then it's a pro.

Storage. When opening your storage box, fridge, etc. you can actually hit the R & L buttons to switch between ALL of your other storages. Looooove thissss. Great addition. So much faster to put items away in their respective places.

Crafting/Forging. Now we can also use the R & L buttons to alternate between the different weapon types/accessory/gear types instead of having to exit the menu and going back in each time you want to make something different.

Cooking. More recipes have been added. Yay!

Days are longer now. More time to get shit doneeeee ayyyy

Fishing. They've added many more fish to the game! Now the player will shout something when you get a bite, making it easier for you to hit B at the right moment. Nice. Also if you fail or press B too early, the fish doesn't vanish most of the time. Also nice. There is now a feature to fish with another person's assistance. Once a day you can investigate the sign near the fishing station and someone might offer to lend you a hand. Press the B button at the right moments on the slider and you can get a rare fish that can't be caught normally.

Monsters. New types of monsters! Love the designs. Even the monsters that are the same but just have different skins are really neat. They look great in the 3D format too. You can even ride with up to two people on certain monsters! Some bosses had awesome designs while others...were bad.

New Types of Furniture. The carpenter store has a wide arrange of furniture you can buy for your home. It also has wallpapers and stuff which is really neat. Though unfortunately you can't even sit on some of the furniture so that's a shame.

Events. Now there is a system where events are triggered by approaching an icon on the map. This is probably an improvement to RF4's randomized system, though personally I found it annoying because it meant that I had to see the events before I could just enter a building normally. Sometimes I just wanted to get shit done and not have to read through walls of text for someone's love event when I just want to buy something.

Voiced Lines. The protagonist seems to have more voiced lines, as do other characters. Good!

Let's talk about Cons

Not including glitches. Oh boy. So many cons. Where do I start?

Dialogue. Probably the most notable con in the entire game. The dialogue is drastically minimal in comparison to previous games, especially rf4. There is probably a quarter of the amount of dialogue compared to rf4's insane amount of content if not less. Townsfolk repeat themselves. Often. Too often. Am I playing Harvest Moon? Originally I thought it was because the dialogue is randomized, but I think it's actually because more dialogue is unlocked as you raise townspeople's FP. Despite this, there's no linear build up where you start off as acquaintances and eventually become very close like in rf4 because of how sporadic the LP/FP is. Townsfolk don't even talk to each other. One of the greatest perks about runefa is the conversations townsfolk can have with one another. Residents randomly gathering in small groups to talk about anything. Previously you could add someone to your party and sometimes a dialogue will occur if you speak to the right person at the right time with that person in your party. This is nonexistent now. The only time they do this in rf5 is during the festivals. But, it will only trigger if you have unlocked all the characters in each marriageable lineup and they can't be in your party. The residents will talk about one another but that's pretty much it outside of town events. They got rid of all the minor dialogue that occurs too. Trying to sleep in someone's bed while they're right there? They wont comment. Inspecting objects in stores while the shopkeeper is present? Wont say anything. Take a character with you to a dungeon/boss fight? Their lips are sealed. Where's my sense of community? :(

FP/LP This ties into the dialogue issue. The rate at which LP/FP increases is sporadic as hell. You can go from 1FP/LP to 4FP/LP just by giving a gift sometimes. I wouldn't even speak to people and their affinity increased by like triple for no reason. Then it increases by like 2% for the longest time. Argh!!!

Graphics. I don't consider myself very picky when it comes to graphics. I don't really mind that the foliage and scenery are at the level of a ps2 game at best. I tried playing on my television initially, but the lag and camera operability was too much so I fully switched (haha puns) to handheld. One thing that sucked is that I literally cannot tell the difference between medicinal herbs, antidote grasses, and green grasses without the captions because the graphics are so indistinguishable. So when you're trying to pick up multiples of those items by holding the A button, you're just randomly walking over anything green in the hopes that you'll get the right ones...

Lack of Sound Effects. Something I noticed is they got rid of the sound effects that will play when you complete a puzzle or add someone to your party. When you try to brush a monster there's no sound for the '♪' they make when you successfully brush them. So it was hard for me to tell if I had actually brushed them or not. I was a bit saddened by the lack of cute sounds.

Too much free range. From the very beginning of the game, you're allowed to go pretty much wherever you want when leaving town. It was too easy to stumble into high enemy level territory without knowing, so when I was like level 5 so I got KO'd immediately.

Artwork. The portraits seem to be lower in quality somehow. Runefa has always had shitty portrait art imo but this time it's even worse. Many character's eyes looked fucked up. Though the 3D models are insanely good for mostly every character except Terry. Terry's 3D model looks Terryfying and I prefer his portrait.

Festivals. They've added some new festivals. Some I enjoy. Some not so much. They changed the format of the eating contest. It's horrible. Good luck with that one.

L pocket + R button? They got rid of the feature that lets you skip to the other end of your items when opening the L pocket by pressing R button. I really liked that feature because it made it faster to reach my items so I was bummed that they got rid of it.

Gotta go fast. Now when you speak to someone, it doesn't 'stop time' as you might say it did in previous games. So people are still moving about as you speak to someone, making it harder to catch up to people! Annoying!!!

Catch and release? Not in my farming simulator! Say goodbye to being able to toss a fish you caught back into the water. In fact, say goodbye to tossing anything you don't want anymore into the water. Now you just have an army of fish flopping on the ground around you. And with the auto pick up feature, they're probably going to end up in your inventory anyways once you try to move. There are still certain ponds with fairies that you can toss stuff into, but you'll have to deal with the fairy harping at you for giving her something she doesn't want.

Shop Hours. Oh god. The shop owners don't even open their stores at the correct hours? It says open at 9am. If you speak to them they won't open their store until like 9:07??? But Priscilla and Lucy will show up to work their part-time jobs at around 8:30am and you can buy stuff through them before 9am. So the actual shop owners (for the bread shop and general store) are pointless usually. Additionally, if the store is empty (but open) you can no longer add a shopkeeper into your party and then enter their store with them to buy things from them. Why. Just why. When you want to buy something that only a specific person sells (Only Hina sells fish, only Heinz sells misc items) you have to wait for them to finally decide to work in their own store. Wonderful.

Monster Item drops. Maybe I'm crazy but the monster drops are seriously a lot harder to get than in previous games. Especially boss drops. It's almost impossible to get the rare drops now. I don't even want to try anymore. And as far as I know, the only place to buy monster items is through Heinz, but his items are actually misc. items, not specifically monster drops. So you'll be lucky to check his store (whenever tf he decides to actually work) for any monster items you might want instead of farming for the drops. Sighs.

Difficulty. This game is too easy. There is little to no challenge whatsoever. I had to increase the difficulty setting to hard mode and it was still too easy. I beat it at level 139, never once did I need to grind or level. In fact, your character levels up way too quickly for the pace of the story. I had zero trouble with any of the bosses and even the final boss was a breeze. Quite sad. Though because I am not new to the franchise, it's likely that newcomers would have some trouble in the later parts of the story.

Fishing cons. Idk how you fck up fishing but they sure did. You have to stand further back now because the pole is so long that you'll miss the fish you're aiming for. In fact, it's seriously hard to aim period. You'll end up recasting more often than not. Fish come in the various sizes but they don't seem to have the darker or faded characteristics that can indicate whether it's a rare fish or not. The graphics make it hard to tell. The pros that i've already mentioned are welcomed but it doesn't negate the fact that I do not enjoy fishing like I did in previous games.

Mining/Lumbering Cons. You can no longer strike three times consecutively when mining/lumbering. This sucks lol. Even when you upgrade your axe or hammer, powering up the tool does nothing for getting wood and material stone--it only expands the area of your strike. So it takes longer to get wood/stone from stumps and rocks now since you have to strike the full 9 times but it's not too bad. It's also harder to aim now as well so that's also unfortunate.

Seasonal Fields? Kiss them goodbye! That's right, there are no seasonal fields in rf5 because devs are insane! You instead have the farm dragons that seem to look seasonal based on the fact that they are designed after elements like earth, water, and fire. But no, these dragons are simply extra fields for you to use. Here's a spoiler: you're not going to use those fields. You're just not. They're kinda useless unless you're obsessed with farming. Now you have to grow your crops out of season like the sad farmer that you are.

Farming cons. Seeds no longer tell you how long it takes to grow the crop. Why. As of June 29th, they fixed this with an update. But I still had to play the whole game without it so fuck you marvelous. The joystick is really sensitive? So when you're trying to use a fertilizer or something on your field you're likely to place it on the wrong 4x4 tile, wasting your fertilizer. So it’s best to hold down the R button when farming. Also the crops look uglie as hell.

Sleeping and warping cutscenes. Just like in rf4 there's a cutscene when you go to sleep that can be skipped easily by pressing A. In rf5, there's a cutscene to sleep and a cutscene when waking up. It takes a bit more than a second to skip these scenes so it gets annoying after a while. Warping is this new feature that replaces our beloved escape spell. Overall I appreciate the feature but I hate it for two reasons. One: there's an annoying ass cutscene for it each time you use it that could be much shorter. And Two: townsfolk now use warp even when inside the town. In previous games, someone exiting your party in town would just manually run to wherever they need to be. So you could easily chase after them if you need to talk to them or give them something. Now, party members use warp regardless of where you are at the time. So say you have someone at 7 hearts and you want to try confessing to them. You would have them join your party, save your game, and then have them leave your party and immediately speak to them and confess before they can run off. If it doesn't work you reload until it does. In RF5 this wouldn't work anymore because they will warp. Now you would have to save, run around town trying to find this person and hope they accept the confession. Otherwise you'll have to play hide and seek again because reloading your file will randomize the resident's locations (if they are not working in a shop)!!!! I often just waited until a festival day because then they will be at the plaza for most of the day and it has a warp point there.

Crafting/Forging/Cooking. They've removed the feature where you can press Y on the ingredients in the menu to add more of that particular item. I miss this feature :'(

Lacks incentive. There is no trophy room from my knowledge. The final dungeon that is meant to be like the sharance maze/rune prana isn't that hard to beat for skilled players and is only 20 floors. After you beat the main story and this dungeon there's not much else to do really.

Request Board. Unlike in rf4, you need to make sure you have accepted requests before you complete them or else it will not count. Previously, you could complete all sorts of tasks and Eliza would still recognize your work even if you accept their request after the fact. ie, shipping goods, harvesting crops, etc. So make sure you don't harvest your special crops before accepting the request it's for!

Return of the "Loli" Dragons... Yeah you read that right. We got more dragons in children's(???) bodies with skimpy clothes. I don't know anymore????¿¿¿

Can't marry the Milfs or Dilfs. Tragic.

Still no homo. Grow up Marvelous.

Reverse Proposal? Reverse Uno card-- Laid low by the patriarchy. You now have to buy the double bed and craft an engagement ring to propose to your man if you're playing as Alice. Marvelous this isn't what we meant when we said we wanted equal rightsssssss This can be seen as a pro if you're a softhearted babey who doesn't like rejecting bachelors' proposals because you feel bad :'( But this is a con for me because I don't want to spend money and materials on a double bed dammit!!!

Misc. Still can't stack dishes or fish. There's no green elemental fairy???All the other elemental ones are there except the green one? why??? Still can't tame the giant Wooly. Some bosses that have insanely awesome designs cannot be tamed and makes me wanna eat glass.

Let's talk about Love~

Relationships. We want them. And half of us only play these games for them. I've only played as the female heroine so far but I'll be updating this review as soon as I finish with the bachelorettes as the male hero.

Confessions

As usual, we must raise the love points of our beloved to 7 hearts before we can attempt to date them. However unlike in rf4, if you fail at a confession once, you will need to raise the LP up an entire level before you can try again with any chance of success. It's imperative you save before attempting a confession now.

Love Events

Each love interest has two love events that must be seen before you can date them. They're reminiscent of older game's style but I felt they could have been a biiiit more interactive or so? Or involved the town a bit more for some of them.

Dating

Once you get your honey to be your bf/gf, you get to choose the nicknames as usual. Then you can go on dates. The first three (non-festival) dates are actually events. You need to see all three events to get married.

Marriage Event

The final event you need to clear before you can marry your sweetie. In my honest opinion, so far for the boys, these events were rather disappointing. They lacked the drama and angst that sort of 'test' the love between the two when compared to rf4. Also this is a huge con for me personally and a minor spoiler but there are no special cutscenes at the end of the marriage event like in rf4. Instead, the cutscene takes place during your actual wedding. I was saddened by this because it took away the depth from the marriage events and the actual character? As it is just a cut and paste type of thing instead of an original cutscene for each person. They lack individualism this way. Also it kinda felt like a way for devs to avoid gay relationships and cut corners :^/....sus.

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes...

Children!!!!!! This is actually one of the coolest additions in the game. Just like in rf3, you can have up to 3 children again! Your first child will resemble you, and you will have the option to choose its gender as well as its personality. There are 6 different children, (3 boys and 3 girls), all with different hairstyles, mannerisms, and seiyuus. Your answers will determine which child you get. A year after your first child is born, you will get the option to have a second child. You'll end up with twins, both resembling your partner. You won't get to choose the genders (it will be a boy and girl) but you will get to choose the personalities once more. The children all have canon names too and each kid is incredibly cute. And of course, you're still able to take your kid with you in your party~ ...Though you can only take one kid with you at a time.

So is RF5 good?

Yeah it's a fun game! My theory is that Marvelous forced the devs to release the game earlier than they were ready for, and that's why it's so lacking. But that doesn't mean it's not worth playing! I'd rate it 3.5/5 stars hehe. Not nearly as good as RF4 (full stop 5/5), or RF3 (4/5) but enjoyable nonetheless. I wouldn't recommend it as a first game to play from the series for newcomers though, I feel it's best for vets who can overlook all the cons thanks to loyalty and nostalgia. By the time it’s released in the West, the bugs should all be dealt with too.

So! Definitely buy this game! We want the series to continue and we want RF6 to be better than this--and hopefully Marvelous will make sure of that next time. If you're not a picky person I think you'll enjoy rf5 a lot. If you're like me and have high standards then, well, still pick it up and let it run its course. Then dust off rf4sp and cleanse your gaming palette >;^)

#rune factory 5 #rf5 spoilers #rune factory #rf5 #spoilers #review #rune factory 5 spoilers

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chibigaia-art · 4 years ago

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The games we could buy instead of World's End Club, hand them over please 🥺🤲 I'm interested, and you love Portal so I trust you in your games taste

Ty, but you’ll soon find out I also have bad taste🥺🙏 ok so, gonna try to categorize these, and also under the cut because they're a lot - also, they’re all single player and story driven for the most part (the ones marked with * are usually the ones I’m inclined to recommend the most, regardless of the genre)

>Games that are either on pc, switch, or on every known console (I don’t wanna check each one sorry)

-*Undertale: you know it was gonna be on the list, it's good, if you haven't played it yet, play it (also delta rune)

-*Portal: YOU KNOW IT WAS GONNA BE ON THE LIST, you can get both games for less than 3€ during steam sales, if you don't have motion sickness it's a must play, LOOK INTO MY EYES AND TELL ME YOU’RE GOING TO PLAY PORTAL. IT’S SO GOOD. THE SECOND ONE IS ONE OF THE BEST GAMES EVER MADE.

-*Fallout New Vegas: closest thing to dnd I've ever played in terms of videogames, I absolutely love it, I can't even begin to describe how invested I got in it - you can buy it for nothing and get 90+ hours of gameplay on a single playthrough in exchange; it has fantastic humor, the story is *chef kiss*, there’s cowboy robots!!!!!, there’s moments where it feels like an horror game, finding out the story of the various vaults is great and half of them are pretty scary too - also if you’re a wee baby like me and are really empathetic, some stuff makes you cry. Chandler from Friends shoots you in the first two minutes of the game. You can be an unstoppable bisexual.

-*Ace Attorney: attorneys go brrr they’re also ace; you can get the trilogy basically on every console at this point - also buy The Great Ace Attorney when it comes out because TRUST ME it’s so good!! if you still have a 3DS you can get all the other games for cheap too when there’s sales, otherwise uh,,, e m u l a t e

-*Hades: I think pretty much everyone has seen at least the trailer for it, so I won't say much except it's a 10/10 game, it makes you go 😳😳😳😳everytime a character is introduced; another game where you play as an unstoppable bisexual

- Oxenfree: adventure game with multiple endings, ghosts, makes you sad but also happy! There’s some small jumpscares, but it’s not a horror game and more of a puzzle one

- The World Ends With You: played it the first time last summer, absolutely loved it - playing it on switch lite is a bit of an hassle tho, and the only reason I haven't played it again :') really loved the story and characters!!

- Grim Fandango: will gaia ever stop recommending old games she just randomly finds out about: no it’s basically a noir movie set IN THE LAND OF THE DEAD ok so gameplay wise i used a guide a lot, some stuff wasn’t very intuitive, but GOD THE ARTSTYLE IS SO GOOD, also it has a really fantastic humor!! I played it twice already, probably going to play it a third time too!! The main character is a manlet skeleton, this is extremely important

- Life is Strange: your actions have consequences, lesbians, crying

- Night in the Woods: ahaha nice jokes and artstyle > I don’t understand > I’m crying

- Dark Souls: ok so. it fucks but also I hate it. but also, itsbfbddfb man it’s cool. I only played the third one tho :°]

- Monster Prom: the only dating sim I care about

- Hatoful Boyfriend: I lied, this is the other dating sim I care about

- Da...dangan... hnnnnggh

- Abe’s New n’ Tasty: this is actually the platform game i was talking about in the other post! idk if the opening is creepy because I first watched it as a child or if it’s because it’s uh actually really dark, but anyway!! platform game that makes you bang your head against a wall, excellent character design, dedicated fart button

>Games that are only on Playstation section (sad)

- Persona 5 Royal: ryuji is in this game. P5 Strikers is also super fun, tho it has a different gameplay but I enjoyed it a lot! Ryuji is also in this game

- The Last of Us: I havent played the sequel so I can't speak about it, but the first one is still super good in terms of story and super fun to play imo

- Uncharted: ok so it may not be one of those games that make you sit and think abt the story, but it sure as hell is fun and the scenery is really pretty!!! Also the main menu theme is a banger, and the banter between the main characters is usually p funny (also found family trope my beloved)

>Free RPG horror games that I played ages ago and are still engraved in my brain: Ao Oni, Ib (personal fave), Mad Father, Misao (heavy content warning for this one, it’s really fucked up) you can find all of these here, except ao oni

#chibiblabbing

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aj-anime-blog · 4 years ago

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To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts - Review!

First review here we go!!

So, after being completely and utterly obsessed with Jujutsu Kaisen and AOT season 4, I decided to check out MAPPA studios and watch a bunch of stuff from their roster. My so-called "MAPPA binge" included this strange and unknown piece: Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi e, or in English, To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts. An adaption of a manga originally released in Bessatsu Shounen (you might recognize this as the magazine that released Attack on Titan!), it looked pretty promising. I do have to admit that I didn't read a page of this anime's manga, though the art style on it looks gorgeous!!

The concept behind the show: A war has torn two halves of a nation apart, split into the North and the South. The Northerners, who were previously greatly outnumbered in battle, created a half-human, half-beast species known as "Incarnates" because of their God-like abilities. But the Incarnates begin having some issues when their beast forms take over their bodies, turning them into monsters. When the war ends, our protagonist, Hugh Hank, an Incarnate and previous captain of the Incarnate squad, swears to kill all of his mutating Incarnate buddies before they can destroy the world.

This review will not contain spoilers until the labeled "Spoiler" section at the bottom.

In general, what do I think?: 4/10, this show kinda sucked. Ouch! I hate being that blunt! Especially on my first review here! But To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts (let's call it TTASB from here on out!) had glaring flaws that, while it did hold up as a show, made it uninteresting and hard to love. Not only were the characters mediocre and boring, but the show seemed to contradict itself and its own opinion of the Incarnates all the time! Are they bloodthirsty monsters that need to be killed? Are they misunderstood humans who should be given peace? I don't know! Our main characters don't seem to either! Other than the "war bad" motif that gets shoved down your throat from episode one, the show felt stagnant in what it was trying to make the audience feel.

I hate being so cynical about it, though, because it does still earn those 4 points! Even though a lot of it falls flat, as a whole, it's still an ok show! Hank and Schaal have good concepts and their dilemmas are interesting in certain parts when the writers manage to nail pits and pieces of their development! The fight scenes were cool and I think that the concept for the world was neat! And the show does have a pretty cool title. Let's be honest, To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts sounds super metal.

So what about those characters?: 5/10! Hugh Hank and Schaal are our two main protags for the show, and they both have pretty interesting concepts! Hank is an Incarnate, he used to be the leader of the other Incarnates, and he made a vow with them that when they lost their minds, he would kill them himself. Schaal is the daughter of one of these Incarnates that fought under Hank. Interesting, right?! How could these two opposing characters get along with one another?

TTASB tries to give the two of them a sort of grumpy-old-mentor-teaches-a-cheery-youngster relationship (which, admittedly, is one of my favorite tropes) and manages to forget everything good about having this kind of relationship. To start, it feels like Schaal has next to no reason to be tolerating Hank, and vice versa. She follows him around because *insert some excuse about understanding the Incarnates?* and Hank lets her because *insert I really don't know*. It really feels like Schaal doesn't need to be there, and she's just a plot device to move along Hank's character development.

Then, the two of them never really interact in ways that really moved me. It never felt like they made a deeper connection that meant something to the plot. They interacted, sure. They spoke about their issues, yeah. But it never felt like Hank needed Schaal, or that Schaal was emotionally tied to Hank, until the show spoonfed it to you that they were.

In the end, neither of their developments felt compelling or interesting. There were a few scenes that maybe, if you squinted, hinted towards them growing as people, but for a 12 episode anime, it was very menial. It also felt like said scenes were fairly forced, with their development not really leading them to the point that they ended up at. Again, TTASB has a bit of an issue with contradicting itself.

The villain was so meh. He has a motive, yeah. It's pretty lame. He's not compelling at all. Nothing about him is interesting or kept me hooked on him. The show probably could've existed without him, to be entirely honest. I don't really have much else to say about him! I just did not really care about him at all.

The best characters in the show are hands-down the supporting cast of Incarnates. Each one has fairly interesting motivations, and even though they're only given an episode or so to tell their stories, they feel the most genuine. My biggest qualm with them is that the show doesn't build their connection to Hugh Hank at all, so when he gets emotional over them, you're kind of like "uhhh u know this guy??". More about this down in our spoilers section, as I'll go over a scene where this is prominent.

So characters were meh, but what about the story itself?: 4/10, just as meh. Again, very interesting! Lots of potential! But it fell flat where it mattered. To be clear, just before we dig deeper: the 12 episodes of TTASB isn't the entire story. It's clearly intended to be continued, though, as of writing this, I haven't been able to dig up any news about a potential season 2.

I don't really mind if animes aren't completely original, as long as they're fun, but TTASB didn't really do that. A lot of the episodes felt boring and reused like it was a watered-down copy-paste of other material. Some episodes were repetitive and seemed to be trying to hammer in the same themes, only to be later contradicted by other episodes. TTASB will spend a few episodes showing you how misunderstood and sweet the Incarnates are and then have an episode where an Incarnate murders a bunch of people. I would love it if it was, in any way, shape, or form, sarcastic, but it is not. TTASB just thinks it can get away with the blatant disregarding of its own morals. It only ends up feeling disconnecting and frustrating.

It follows an almost monster-of-the-week style format for introducing the Incarnates, which does them a bit of a disservice, in my opinion. I really would have liked it if there was a bit more overlap between the Incarnates and their stories! We know that they're all very close (or, at least, the show tells us that they are without really showing us) so seeing them interact with one another outside of their respective episode would've been fun!

The story tries to be darker and grimier than it actually is. I didn't end up caring much for the nation itself and much of the politics that the show tried to utilize felt boring and, again, watered-down. It felt like the show wanted to make it a political drama about war and human rights and only ended up shying away from what makes those genres impactful. Again, this isn't to say that TTASB's story is bad, it's just not as good as it could've been.

But it's MAPPA, so the art has to be good, right?: Yeah! Art was cool! Nothing golden, like MAPPA's newer stuff, but a solid 7/10! The fight scenes were nice, and even though a lot of them felt redundant to watch, they were still smooth! I have some qualms about a few of the Incarnates' beast forms (especially Hank's) looking like they belong back in 2001, but they still looked cool nonetheless.

I don't really have much to say on this front! Nothing really blew me away, but I never looked at the screen and winced away.

Ok and finally, pacing!: 4/10. 12 episode animes always have tricky pacing to them. I like to think about the show being pretty much only 5 hours long, which isn't that much time to cram in as much story and plot as they might want to. Overall, TTASB actually had pretty decent pacing, with a long enough build-up that led to a final showdown. If you ask me, I do think there was a pacing problem in the second half, as it felt far too stretched out, but that could've just been my perception of it.

My biggest issue with pacing loops back to the characters again. They're never really given time to explore or build up relationships. Especially not Hank and his prior team of Incarnates. I think that there should've been more screen time dedicated to their time in the army, to better explain the emotional distress that he's going through as he's forced to hunt them down. Instead, TTASB relies on a throwaway line or scene to deliver this emotional blow, and it nearly always falls flat.

Music!!!!: 6/10, The soundtrack in this anime really wasn't memorable and I don't remember much from it. Whoops!

I did like the opening a bit! It was done by Mafumafu, who I think has done a Pokemon intro song? Either way, it was energetic and fit the theme of the show well! The ending is also a bop, now that I'm thinking about it! It manages to be nostalgic and sad without being too slow! So good music on both fronts!!

OK, now we're in spoiler territory! Be warned!

I don't have too much to say regarding spoilers. Nothing in the show really feels important enough that I have to mention it under a spoiler tag. A few small notes, I suppose.

The show treats Hank like the more important character but then throws him away in his "death" to focus on Schaal, which was a very frustrating episode. Schaal felt so bland and useless in it, even when she faced her father again. Bringing him back to life felt like a sad excuse to force her into character development. I did like it when she found the courage to shoot him, but I also thought that it wasn't really as emotional as the show wanted it to be.

Hank's connection with Schaal, particularly in the second half, feels completely unnatural and forced. When she gets kidnapped, he has some sort of mental breakdown over her and it, if anything, felt creepy. It was undeserved and was forced down your throat rather than built.

Beatrice was the best character in the show and I think that if they stuck to ideas like hers (misunderstood creatures who just want to go back to their old lives), the story would have been much better. Instead, you switch to characters like the Gargoyle Incarnate, who just goes on a murder spree, and it ruins a lot of the development that Beatrice brought to the table.

& our deep deep look at one part: Forgive me if I get this screwed up a bit, it's been a weekish since I finished the show and my brain dumped out all details of it already.

Hugh Hank goes to the mountains and fights the Garmr Incarnate, Rex (Roy? I'm a bit confused on his name), in an epic show-down. Obviously, at the end of it, Hank wins, killing Rex. Now, if you're like me, you sat there for most of the fight going "who tf is Rex and why is this battle important?" and only at the very END, when he's dying, do you see a clip that you might remember from the very beginning of the anime, with Rex talking about Schaal. You go "oohhh I know who he is!" but you wished that you remembered this ten minutes ago when the fight started because it would've been so much more impactful. The show didn't remind you of this scene. It didn't tell you that Rex was this same person that you already met. It expected you to remember, and I didn't. This scene sums up a lot of the character problems with the show, where even if something does have emotional weight, the show doesn't act on it.

Now we're done!: Sorry if this was harsh, but that's my full review on To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts! I'd love to hear if you agree with me or think that I'm totally wrong! If you've read the manga, tell me if it's better or worth a read! And thanks for reading!

(The crossed-out "Hugh"s are all of the times that I got Hank's name wrong! I'm not super great with character names, but I always take it as a bad sign when I screw up the name. )

#anime #mappa #studio mappa #to the abandoned sacred beasts #to the abandoned sacred beasts anime #review #anime review

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sgt-celestial · 4 years ago

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helloooo it is i the supernatural anon from a day or two ago :)

may or may not be binge watching it slightly so I've already finished season one and one episode of season 2. what can i say, not only am i enjoying the show but I'm very excited and impatient for castiel to show up so i will probably keep this binge watching up until season 4.

as for season 1 tho,, man,, ok imma roast it a bit before i get into the stuff i loved because most of the time the first few episodes, or even first season, of a show can be pretty bad while they are still figuring out what works and what doesn't.

ngl episodes 2-9 were a little boring. i think it's because they set up that whole 'their mother and jess died to a demon' thing and didn't mention it much for quite a few episodes after? apart from the 'we gotta find dad' stuff of course. i think those episodes were important though because it allows us to get a feel of the main characters and the types of creatures that live in the same world as them, but after so many episodes it gets a bit boring.

the structure of those episodes was a bit common as well. like you can see the same type of 'audience watches thing happen, then watches the main characters deal with it' in many other shows, and it becomes a bit predictable after a while (Johnathan Creek is a show that uses this structure, it's basically the same thing except it's mysteries without supernatural elements, each mystery and solution per episode is really clever)

after episode 9 the stories became far more interesting, which makes the predictable structure far more forgivable.

allowing the main characters to create relationships with other characters also played a huge part in it's improvement. like the woman with the brain tumor, the ending to that episode became far more difficult to predict because on one hand dean and the viewer has now bonded with this woman and feels pity for her, but on the other hand someone innocent will die. i mean they did it before in eps 2-9, but with this plus the more interesting stories it became easier to feel for these characters.

speaking of that faith episode, as well as the demon truck one, i see what you mean about the homophobia and racism. i think it's meant to be there because of historical stuff as well as outdated religious stereotypes. of course this doesn't excuse it, but that's the reason i think it's there.

i absolutely loved the episodes with their father and the demon they're trying to kill. i think the show is far more suited to an ongoing story rather than a different issue popping up each episode. that's not to say it should be all ongoing story, spicing it up with one offs is important too.

i think it was a great choice to introduce characters like bob or meg (i think? I'm bad at remembering names oops) because it gives a sense of the characters world being far larger than what we see on screen, which is important to make it convincing.

it also gives us an opportunity to see how the characters interact with characters that exist for longer than a single episode, which adds more depth to their character and makes them far more interesting and real.

and the whole car crash thing?? and the episode after with the reaper and making a deal with the demon?? and the dad's death?? clearly what I've watched so far is only just scratching the surface of what this show has planned and it's potential. very very excited to watch season 2 :)

and again, no pressure to write a whole 5 paragraphs back in response, or even respond fast, i don't wanna burn you out lol

Anon, I can wholeheartedly tell you that your asks could not possibly burn me out! They're a highlight to my day :) and, me too, anon. I managed to binge all 15 seasons within 29 days (which I guess says alot about my priorities).

I'm going to confess, I actually enjoy the Monster Of The Week™ episodes inbetween the storyline; then again, really plot-heavy shows tend to tire me out, so I'm definitely a biased opinion when it comes to MoTW eps.

And yes! Faith has always stood out to me as one of my favourites in Season 1. One quote that stuck with me was "if you're going to have faith, you can't just have it when the miracles happen; You have to have it when they don't." Like. Holy shit.

As for Meg and Bobby? THEE side characters. I love them so so much (especially because they aren't afraid to criticise the Winchesters <3). Sometimes the show tries to force in a brothers-only sort of plot, which is fine, but cuts off so many fantastic allies that could make it a great deal more interesting! So (without mentioning names as to keep this spoiler-free) that's why I absolutely adore some of the late-season side-characters.

I think I've covered everything in your ask - again, thank you so so much for sending it in, they're really fun to answer!!! :) I hope I didn't ramble too much!!!

#Emi's Meandering Asks #absolutely effervescent anon. youve done it again. youve made my day #long post

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zachsgamejournal · 4 years ago

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PLAYING: Final Fantasy VII

(Forgot to post this...)

Strangely, I think playing the Remake has made me like the Original even more. The Original touches on a lot of ideas, some are further developed while others are just hints. The Remake tried, it seems, to take a deeper look at a lot of these ideas--but I feel they either missed the mark, or simply made things longer, not clearer.

Time to climb up to the surface. This was an interesting sequence of semi-puzzle solving. There was also actual climbing. This moment is about rising above the ashes, about surviving. It didn't need an hour of combat and mini-boss fights. The original keeps things focus. Cloud is finally ready to be a hero, Barret is ready to follow, and Tifa is committed to fighting Shinra. As the climb happens, we see the destruction of the fallen plate, a reminder to how evil Shinra is, and how necessary our heroes are.

Rise to the top and we see Shinra tower. Do we go in through the front or sneak through the back? I opted for stairs. The heroes aren't huge fans. But Barret actually tries to connect with Cloud, tells him he's ok. Sweet moment.

Tifa, on the other hand, uses the R-word. I'm sure this was a translation choice by insensitive Americans. Givne the game's history for poor tranlsation, I hope newer versions of the game have amended this.

Speaking of this--it's neat that they edited some of the curse words with symbols: &#%$@. Maybe they could have done this for all words, let us fill it in as we want?

Get to the top and we have a few floors of mini-games and puzzles. This section is interesting. Not a lot of fighting, just a little exploration. It was interesting when I first played. After all that time in the slums, sewers, and reactors--it was cool to see the Shinra side.

I love the sneaky stealth section. Just a small moment. Examplifies how FF7 used mini-games to make a very diverse and epic adventure where most games rely overly-deep combat systems to ride out the entire 40+ hours: repetitive. I hate that Remake didn't include some stealthy aspects.

Then there's the store room, ripe for looting, the puzzle room...which is a little gamey, but also a change of pace. Then we meet the mayor and learn that he's just for show. BUT they did have a little mini game to guess the password. I was somewhat thankful the Remake didn't make me work for a password, but that's because the Remake had already worn me out.

Get to the board meeting and see Reeve in action. He would later become an ally, but for now he's still a Shinra stooge. This is also where Shinra reveals his plans to abandon Midgar and focus on Neo-Midgar with help from the Ancient (Aerith). While I love Remake's short promo video about Neo-Midgar and the Ancients, but it undercuts the value of the board meeting scene. It's short and sweet here. Hojo is introduced and wants to "breed" the specimens.

Following Hojo and we meet Jenova. I think it's a shame that Jenova is the final boss but not an Ancient. Still, I'm not so annoyed by her sudden appearance here. I think they should have included Jenova in the first reactor...but considering that FF7 is a long game, this is still an early introduction. But late for a Midgar-only narrative.

Red XIII is introduced and we fight the poison monster. Remake really tried to play up Hojo and gave him tons of lines of dialog, but there's nothing shared in that game that isn't expressed in the original. No need for a wild, underground lab. The original is perfect.

I prefer Red XIII in this game. In Remake he seemed really mopey. He is mopey, to a degree. But in the original he was less mopey, and more direct, stern, and matter of fact.

I spent a little time trying to get Cloud's Hardedge. Probably not worth it...but...you know...

We hop on the elevator and the Turks catch us. Rude is so cool headed. We're taken to President Shinra. I guess after all the chaos he just wanted to gloat over how weak and insignificant we are. He says the line, "All you need for your dreams to come true is power and money." He is the ultimate scumbag (cough-cough, Trump). I know his goals are petty, but they're also the most sinister. His greed led him to make money off killing the planet, to maintain power by killing his own citizens, to unleash Jenova and create Sephiroth. Shinra, capitalism, greed are the truest enemies. Jenova--she's simply a parasite. Anyway, Red XIII reveals he has some insight into the Cetra.

I love this scene. It's short and to the point, but a great face-to-face for Avalanche and Shinra. I hate the remake left this out. I guess they "made up" for it when they reveal Shinra to still be alive later...but the context there is completely different.

About time to wrap up this wonderful Midgar sequence.

#Zach's Game Journa #ZGJ #PLAYING #Final Fantasy VII #PlayStation 1 #PS1 #ePSXe #Emulator #Video Games

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soupncrackwrs · 5 years ago

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Okay so I had an idea for an AFTG fic but again I’m horrible at anything that isn’t hc’s so here we are (feel free to make this into a fic if you want just credit me) *Also all pairing in this are platonic besides andreil and mattdan soo, don’t like get out*

This spawned from that fact that one of my 3 PTP’s (platonic trust pairing) in AFTG is Kev and Neil

This is probably my PTP that has the most popularity in the fandom I’d say (my other 2 are Renee/Andrew/Neil and Neil/Dan which are both *really* hard to find ((at least on ao3)) so that sucks) but you’d be surprised how little it gets like actually focused on

Most times, platonic wise, Neil gets shown bonding with The MonstersTM, Allison, or Matt

wHICH IS FINE IM TOTALLY OKAY W/ THAT

I just happen to enjoy neil/dan, kev/neil,and renee/andrew/neil more

So I wanted a fic that really showcased kev and neils relationship

BUT IM ALSO IN LOVE WITH OUSIDER POV SO THIS HAPPENED

Now onto the actual headcanon

So neil and kevin are like best friends

They've been like that for a while

but they also like fucking despise each other

like they love and care deeply for each other and would probably die for the other if the situation called for it

but will that stop them from almost killing each other 24/7?

HELL NO

so they go to college together

along with all the upperclassmen (so matt+dan+allison+renee+seth) but not the monsters

andrew and neil have been together for a bit

they met around the same time kev and neil did so they've been together for a while (also while we're talking abt relationships, i don't ship renison ((am i the only one who believes that renee is a strong aro gal who don't need no man/lady/person)) but if you wanna make this renison, go ahead)

andrew goes to a different college tho ( for some reason i dunno)

and neil doesn't really like sharing stuff abt his personal life

we all know this

but a lot of the stuff he's done in his life involves andrew

so drew is brought up a fair amount

but when the upperclassmen ask who he is neil kinda just smiles and then moves on so they ask kevin and he's like

oh andrew is like one of my bffls he's a ride or die

(obviously not phrased like that)

and the upperclassmen r like 'ok he can be trusted he's a friend'

(little do they know hehhehhe-)

sO ONE DAY

kev is tryna forget all his issues

so he decides to get hella pissed

wasted like he's never been b4

probably cause thea broke up w/ him last week but we don't talk abt that okay shhhhhhh

so he goes to the next party alli throws and

let's say it together kids

gets wasted like he's never been b4

to the point where the upperclassmen don't really know wht to do with him????

so they call up neil like yo pick up kev he's drunk off his ass like always but we think he's doing it cause he's sad this time'

so neil, being the good and sweet angel (not) that he is

goes to pick up kevin

and like he finds him on a coach almost catatonic just rambling to himself

so neil picks him up and drags him away to his car

and ofc all the upperclassmen r trying to help

so while neil is putting kevin into his car kev randomly just stops talking

(which is weird cause he's kept rambling this entire time)

and he looks neil in the eyes and goes

'i love you neil'

and neil just like takes a second

pAuSeS

because he's not used to people showing him love even tho so many ppl rlly do love him (this boy is2g-)

and then quietly says

'love you too kev'

and finishes buckling him up

all the upperclassmen have been watching this going on the entire time and they read into in the exact wrong way

(they're trying their best, my baby dumbasses, but they're just wrong)

and think this is a romantic love confession between frenimies *instead* of the declaration of mutual respect and affection between 2 bro's that it is

matt is the first one to voice this after kev and neil leave and he is

PUMPED

he is super excited that his bro has found someone to love just like he found dan and is super excited to like talk abt love and go on double dates n stuff

and every one else agrees

which is why they're all super disappointed that by the time a week goes by, nothing has changed between them

so dan matt and allison decide to do something about it (renee+seth ducking out because'it's rude to meddle' and 'why tf would i care abt jostens love bullshit')

they try to set up kevin and neil a bunch of different time s

once with the offer of a study session that they all say they can't make it to, leaving neil and kevin alone

another time with the offer of kevin and neil going to the movies w/ matt and dan

(neil ends up busy w/ a skype date with andrew that he can't pass up cause they're always so busy and he has to see his boyf so kevin just ends up 3rd wheeling matt and dan)

and once with allison straight up just telling neil that he and kevin should get coffee some time

which neil respond to with

'we already get coffee together?'

so dan matt and alli are stumped

they don't know what to do with these 'lovesick' idiots

they're problem gets solved tho don't you worry

so the next weekend, andrew is gonna come over to psu and stay for like a week

neil is oVER THE MOON

HE IS SOO HAPPYYYYY

And kevin is really happy too

so the upperclassmen take this to mean that these boys have finally gotten the hint and asked each other out

so imagine they're suprise when the next time the group goes to get lunch (which they do with each other every wednesday )

a super short blond emo joins them

and no one really acknowledges it?!?!?!?!?!?

until renee is just like 'hello andrew, how are you?' knowing smile on her face

and the upperclassmen are just like 'oh it's the famous andrew, that makes sense' but then they're like 'wait how does renee know andrew?!?!'

they ask and renee is just like 'neil gave me his discord. he thought we'd get along well'

-and then they're just like okayyy renee totally has a crush but well let it slideee

uNTIL

at the end of lunch neil is just like 'oh wait i never properly introduced him-' -cause you're a mess, junkie' -fuck off andrew' then just turns to the upperclassmen and says

'guys this is my boyfriend andrew'

and the foxes just silently freak out

because neil is in love with kevin? it's so clear? why did neil go and get a boyf when he has his love right in front of him??????

so after lunch, matt dan and alli ask to talk to neil privately

(andrew, kev,and renee all talk together while seth like, looks at his phone)

and they're like 'neil why'd you get a boyf??'

and neils like 'wdym?'

and alli says 'why'd you get a boyf if your so obviously in love w/ kevin?!'

and neil just LAUGHS at them

straight up cackles

and then the upperclassmen are like whaaaaattttt????

we saw your declaration of love at the party??

and you're both really close and seem to genuinely like and be interested in each other??

what gives????

and neils like

'me n kev are besties

that was a platonic declaration of love

also

i'm demi and me and drew have been together for like 3 years now'

and the upperclassmen are just like 'ooooooooooooooooohhhhhh sorryyyyyyyyy'

it's the first time alli has ever lost a bet (it was w/ seth abt neils feelings for kevin)

neil tells andrew abt it and the shortie just snorts and is like 'kevin would fuck a racket quicker than he'd fuck you'

neil is like 'i'm basically exy personified tho, soooooo'

drew tells him to shut up

(he does when andrew asks yes or no, just nods his head and smiles)

renee knew all along and is happy for her friends

kevin just wants to play exy he's been deprived the entire post

So yeah that's the entire headcanon. If you want some music to listen to while you write or just in general i recommend "I lost a Friend" by FINNEAS and "Corduroy Dreams" by Rex Orange County. they don't really have anything to do with the story, they're just real good :) Thanks for reading. see y'all later

#Spotify #aftg fandom #aftg au #andreil #psu foxes #outsider pov #headcanon #fanfic #sorry for the long post #thanks for coming to my ted talk #im gonna stop now #aight peace

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blackhakumen · 6 years ago

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Fanfic #19: The Time When Oscar (Somehow) Got Invited to Smash Bros. Bonus Chapter 2: The Random Arrival

After a long day in the city of Atlas, Oscar decides to go back to the apartment, where his friends are waiting.

Upon his stroll, the farm boy suddenly smelled something burning a few miles from where he's walking. So he began to rush to where the fire is supposed to be located immediately.

Oscar couldn't believe what he saw once he got to where the smoke is coming from. He saw a giant, fiery symbol (the same symbol he saw on the back of the letter he received the other day), while also seeing a bunch of unfamiliar faces standing right in front of it.

Before the farm boy could even question all that is happening, an Italian plumber, who was one of the people who was standing in front of the burning symbol, begins to greet the young Farmer.

??? (Happily): Hello, Oscar Pine! I bet you didn't expect all of this, huh?

Oscar (Surprised about what is happening) N-not really, no....Okay, just who are you guys?

???: (Laughs embarrassedly) Where are our manners? Its-a me, Mario!

Oscar: Wait...Mario? As in, THE Mario?!

Mario: That's correct!

Oscar: (....No way....is this really happening right now?)

Mario: If you don't mind, I would like to introduce to you my friends over there.

Oscar: (Still unsure about what's even happening now) .....Suuure...

Mario begins to introduce Oscar to the rest of his friends, who was also standing in front of the symbol. From his brother, Luigi, to the tomboyish princess of Sarasaland (and Luigi's girlfriend), Daisy, to even Mario's arch enemy, King Bowser, a giant monster like turtle with spikes for his shell, they all seemed to greeted the farm boy with kindness. But even still, Oscar is still very confused on what's going on right now.

Oscar: It's really nice to meet you guys and all, but...what exactly you all are doing here?

Luigi: Sorry to barge in like this, but we're actually here to take you to the tournament with us.

Oscar: The tournament?

Daisy: Well...yeah. We sent you a letter telling you about it, remember?

Oscar: (Instantly remembered the letter that was sent to him the other day) Oh yeah. That letter....look, guys, I'm really honored that you would invite me to your tournament and all, but.... I don't think I can go.

Mario: (A Little Surprised of Oscar's answer) You couldn't attend the tournament? How come?

Oscar: I-It's not like I don't wanted to go or anything. It's just everything is happening in Atlas lately and-

Before he could finish his sentence, Oscar and the others immediately noticed someone is screaming the farm boy's name.

Bowser: Who the hell is screaming like that?

Luigi: I think someone is calling for you, Oscar.

Oscar turns around and see red like corkscrew from the distance, coming towards the group, while screaming the farm boy's name.

???: (Charging closer) OSCARRRRRRR!!!!!!

Oscar: (Instantly figured out who it was) R-Ruby-

Before he could say anything else, the red corkscrew begin to tackle Oscar to the ground. Once that happened, Mario and the gang sprint over and saw a girl in red, who was that red like corkscrew a seconds ago, is sitting on top of the farm boy. That girl was none other than the Huntress herself, Ruby Rose.

Oscar:(Surprised) R-Ruby, what the heck are you doing here?! Also where did you even come from?

Ruby: (Worried) We were looking everywhere for you! You haven't picked up your phone so we made up a search party to find you. We were so worried too...(Looks at the burning symbol and Mario and crew before frowning sadly) Oscar, what's going on? Why is Mario and the others are here?

Mario: Umm.... Hello there, uhh Ms. Ruby, isn't it?

Ruby: Hi Mario! (Turns back to Oscar) I'm still waiting for an answer, Oscar.

Oscar: Ruby, I can explain but.... could you please get off of me now?

Ruby: (Blushes in embarrassment) Oh umm right. Sorry...

Once Ruby got up from the farm boy and pulling him up on his feet, Oscar begins to explain everything that happened so far.

Ruby: (Frowns Sadly) Oscar, we talked about this. You can't be in Super Smash Bros!

Oscar: I-I know we did! That's why I declined their offer.

Ruby: (Surprised) You did?

Oscar: Of course I did, Ruby. You guys are my best friends and I would never leave you all like this. Not while there's so much is going on right now.

Ruby: (Touched by his words) Oscar....

WBY: Oscar!!!!

Weiss, Blake, and Yang runs towards the duo while giving Oscar a tight hug.

Yang: Thank, Oum, that you're okay, bud!

Blake: Where have you been, Oscar?! We were so worried- wait.....(noticed Mario and the gang) Guys....who are these people?

Yang: Ah man! They're the Mario Bros! Princess Daisy! And even King Bowser! But....why are they here?

Weiss: (Furious) AND WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS FLAMING SYMBOL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY?!!!!?!

Mario: Uhhh....

Oscar: ('Sigh') It's a long story, but I'll try to explain everything.

30 minutes of explanation later....

Blake: Ok, so somehow these guys came to our universe just to invite you to the Super Smash Bros Tournament, you guys mentioned, in person?

Oscar: Pretty much, yeah.

Yang: (Frowns) Oscar. You didn't take up on their offer, did you?

Oscar: No, Yang. I already declined their offer. You know I wouldn't leave you guys here.

Yang begins to look at Mario and the gang to see if Oscar's telling the truth.

Luigi: (Shrugs) It's true. I think he was telling us that the reason was because there was something going on here that's important before his friend tackled him...

(Ruby nervously laughs in embarrassment.)

Blake: Well... he's half right. Long story short, we have to save our world from a woman named Salem and her forces. Trust me, it gets even more complicated from here...

Mario: Hmm that does seems to be pretty serious...

Daisy: Yeah....(Comes up with an idea) Hey, we could all pitch in and help you guys out if you-

Ruby: That's really nice of you guys, but I don't think that'll be necessary. Salem is our problem now, and we don't want you guys getting involved with something like this. Plus, Oscar is a part of our team. We need him here to help too.

Mario: Well...if you're really sure....also, we want to apologise for coming by here unannounced like that. We all thought we could invite your friend to the tournament with us in person....we never realized how serious your situation here was and how much you need him to help out.....

Ruby: No no i-i-it's okay, Mr. Mario. We face stuff like this all the time. So it shouldn't be too much of a problem (Or...at least I really hope it's not). And as with inviting Oscar.... that's not really the only reason why he don't want him to enter...

Luigi/Daisy: It isn't?

Ruby: Yeah... another reason is because we don't think Oscar's ready for this kind of thing yet. I know that he can take care of himself and all, but he still needs more training in order to be a Huntsman. And also, (Gives Oscar a hug) we would be completely worried sick if anything were to happen to him out there. He's already been through a lot lately and the last thing that any of us wanted is to see him getting hurt. So we're sorry....but we cannot let Oscar enter that tournament.

Oscar: Ruby's right about this one. I know I could fight my own battles and all...but in all honesty, I don't think I would stood a chance in that tournament. Plus, everyone needs me here. I hope you all could understand.

Mario: Why, of course we do. We wouldn't want to force anyone to join the tournament if they didn't want to. We'd only asked because of our fans' votes.

Oscar: (Surprised) Wait... people were voting for me to join?

Mario: Well... you were a fan favorite in our universe.... kind of.

Ruby: (Smirks) D'awww look who has fans?~

(Oscar Groans in embarrassment)

Mario: Anyways, if you really couldn't attend our tournament this year, then we completely understand. You have some really good friends here, Oscar. And it wouldn't feel right to take you away from them like this....

Oscar: Thanks for understanding, Mario sir. And yeah.... (Smiles Softly) I'm really glad that these guys are my friends.

Ruby: (Touched by Oscar's words) Oh, Oscar. We're glad that you're our friend too!~

Blake: (Smiles Softly) Yeah. We never really said this as much, but we're all so glad that we met someone like you, Oscar.

Yang: (Pulls Oscar in a one arm hug while smiling brightly) Yeah, buddy. Thank you so much for staying by our side.

Weiss: (Smiles at the others) Well, while I'm glad that's all worked out, (immediately gets upset) that still doesn't explain who's responsible for this monstrosity! (Points at the burning symbol)

Mario: Oh yeah....that...well ummm you see we-

Bowser: (Points at Mario) It was all the plumber's idea.

Mario: Bowser!

Bowser: (Rolls is eyes) Oh don't act like all surprise on me! You do this every time we introduce new people to join Smash Bros.! Nearly give them nightmares with that crap.

Mario: I was only trying to leave a great impression! I wanted them see how special this tournament was. Isn't having a first impression important?

Luigi: I guess...but don't you think the whole flaming symbol thing is a little too much?

Daisy: Yeah... couldn't we just...I dunno...do some kind of musical number or something?

Mario: I doubt anyone would be interested in doing something like that.

Weiss: (Groans in irritation) Nevermind. I'll put it out myself....

Weiss set one of her dust onto her Rapier before using it (gracefully) to put down the burning symbol. Much to everyone's, except for RBY and Oscar, surprised.

Weiss: The next time you people visit here, maybe not create something that could cause a huge fire hazzard around our city.

Mario: (Laughs Nervously) Noted....sorry about that.

Yang: You know, you guys are welcome to join us on a tour around the place if you like.

Mario: We would love to...but I think it's time for us to get back to the Smash Universe about now.

Ruby: You're leaving already?

Luigi: Afraid so, Ms. Ruby. Master Hand wouldn't be too happy if we came back late.

Weiss: (Confused) Master Hand? What in the world....

Daisy: It's basically a talking hand who host the whole tournament.... it's best not to think too much about it.

Ruby: Thank you guys so much for dropping by here! And just know that once everything starts to calm down, you're all welcome to come back to visit.

Mario: Thank you and you are all welcome to come by and visit us whenever you like. (Gives Oscar a handshake) And it was nice to finally meet you in person, Oscar.

Oscar: Thank you, sir. It was nice to meet you guys too. Good luck on the tournament.

Ruby: W-w-wait!! Before you guys go, you think we could...sign us an autograph?

Mario: Why of course we can! Where do you want me to sign?

Ruby: (Smiles Brightly while bringing out her Crescent Rose in sniper mode) On my Crescent Rose please?

Yang: Hey, Mr. Luigi. You think give me an autograph too?

Luigi: Oh umm sure. Where you want me to sign it?

Yang: (Grins while showing him her metal arm) On my arm, please?

Luigi: (Surprised) Oh umm of course. Right away.

After a minute of autograph signing, Daisy begins to open up a portal in order to go to their universe.

Daisy: Mario! Weegie! Come on! We gotta go!

Bowser: I swear, if any of us gets yelled at, I am blaming you idiots for this!

Daisy: Oh quit whining and go in already.

Bowser: (Grumbles inside of his breath while walking into the portal)

Mario: (Bid his farewell while walking towards the portal with his brother) So long, everyone! And good luck on your quest on stopping Salem!

Ruby: (Waving Goodbye) Bye, Mario! Thanks for the visit!!

Yang: (Waving Goodbye) Keep being awesome, you guys!!

Oscar: (Waving Goodbye) It was nice meeting you guys!

As the portal closes in, Ruby and the gang decided to walk back to their apartment and call it a night. While the Mario Bros, Princess of Sarasaland, and the Koopa King's visit was the most random moment they've ever encountered so far, it was still great to meet all of them in person. But now all of that out of the way, our five heroes could get back to what's more important. That is to find a way to defeat Salem and save their world from her wrath.

@littlemisssquiggles

@miki-13

@miraculouscorazone

@lythecreatorart

@journalsandjasminetea

@kira-vera

@che1sea-xiao-long

#rwby #super smash ultimate #crossover #oscar pine #ruby rose #yang xiao long #weiss schnee #blake bellodona #mario #luigi #daisy #bowser #bonus chapter #I've been working on this for a few days now #i know i said that i want to take a break from long fanfics #but i wanted to get this out of the way first #still i hope you guys enjoy #have to edited it again to make it perfect. sorry about that

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