#unironically completely and utterly in love with the snakes

[assortedvillainvault]

It's implied in dreamlight valley - rift of time, that Jafar is watching you pretty intently (for all he pretends otherwise) as you fumble about trying to fix his shit.

Which means that he's seen me absolutely fucking scour the desert for hours at a time to feed the cobras.

I've ignored pretty much every other companion animal in the game, mostly because I can't be arsed figuring out what treats the little bastards want me to feed them (and some won't fucking stay put RABBITS-)

But I want me the damn snakey.

And I can't figure out if he's stood there absurdly thinking I'm either trying to flatter him or flirt audaciously via reptilian companionship.

By the time I reach that palace I want to be draped in so many cobras they resemble a tassel jacket. I want to be so ridiculously affectionate with the venomous noodles that he's off kilter for the rest of the game.

[virtualpeople]

List 5 facts about a favourite sim of yours, and send this to 10 simblrs whose sims you adore ♥♥♥

THANK YOU so much for sending this my way :D (and sorry it’s taken me several millenia to respond!)

Gonna write about this guy, Rhodri, who was helpfully stood on a photo-taking lot at the time I went to take pictures:

1) Rhodri's a mechanic, and the garage he works at runs a recovery service for broken down vehicles and the like. Once, he got into a situation where he was called out to a breakdown of a breakdown vehicle, which had been called out to the breakdown of another breakdown vehicle, which had been on a breakdown callout of its own. He got to drive down the motorway towing all the aforementioned vehicles like a really bizarre snake. It all felt a bit surreal, but man, that was a fun night. He'd unironically consider it a highlight of his life, and not just because there were enough flashy lights and people in fluorescent jackets to make a rave jealous.

2) He's not a very good chef, getting, uh, ‘politely discouraged’ from participating in bake sales at the nearby community centre at one point, as apparently 'the consistency of an old boot dredged up from the ocean floor' isn’t a desirable trait for a sponge cake to have. He really does try, it's just that when it comes to getting those ingredients to do what he'd like them to do, he can't shake the feeling that rocket science might be a bit easier (just so long as said rocket has a suspiciously car-like engine).

3) He loves a bit of spider solitaire, and it's not all that unusual to find him hunched over his ancient laptop in the early hours of the morning desperately trying to complete just one four-suite game, just one game, then he can finally go to bed. Please treat the slightly embarrassing number of times he’s shown up the next day looking utterly exhausted as unrelated.

4) He's had a bit of a thing for a saxophonist who often plays down at the local music club on jazz night for quite a while now. He keeps telling himself that one of these days he's going to actually do something about it, to go up and talk to the guy or something. But not tonight. That'd involve actually plucking up some courage, and that's more than he's got the energy for right now. Besides, he's got a good seat and if he were to stand up, someone might take it. There's always next time, when he certainly won't make the same old excuses again, right? Right??

5) Rhodri's green hair originated from a charity fundraiser event at his workplace - a sponsored dye-your-hair-a-cool-colour-a-thon, which was intended to be very much a temporary thing. That was four years ago now, so somewhere along the line, 'a temporary thing' managed to morph into 'keep it dyed for so long people forget that his natural hair colour is, in fact, not actually green'. Guess we can assume he liked the result, then.

[mikanrulz]

gundam ibo s02e24 what is a mcgillis fareed, what is ibo anyway

Short answer: a total failure of a villain wannabe character.

I’ve remarked time and time again there’s a discrepancy on who McGillis is supposed to be, and how he actually comes off in the show. I thought by the time S2 starts, his writing would get fixed somehow, but nada. As a villain, he comes off so one dimensional that I feel *Todo* has more substance than he does, which totally says something about just how bad McG’s writing is. As a character, he’s so all over the place it infuriates me to no end bcs gdi what a waste of such great potential.

He is supposed to be GREAT. The show certainly thinks he’s PRETTY GREAT, considering how much they invest in animating his scenes and faces, for all the good it does him (no rly gaelio’s scenes would like a word w/ the budget allocation).

MCGILLIS FAREED, GUYS

Luls look how he’s still so confidently arrogant even after all those loss.

Rather than a confident leader though, his words here sound more like a pitiful man who’s too prideful and blind to acknowledge he has lost the war.

Of course, you could argue he’s just trying to instill boost into the remaining of his followers, assuring them that their effort would not be a waste and that he has actual chance at winning.

He does NOT have a chance. These men knew that. Which is why they’re taken aback when he says this, bcs they probably expect to go down in battle glory together with him.

And yet despite that, none of these men *stay*. Can you say they’re leaving him bcs they’re trying to spare his feelings? Bcs it just seems that way to me.

Like, ‘let’s just leave the man to his daydream, it’s his last moment so just let him live the dream’.

It’s just pathetic at this point, and these men know it. They’re trying to be *kind* to McG.

In another story, in different circumstances, this may be true, but this statement is totally NOT true in the world of ibo.

Just look at the leaders in this show: Rustal, Orga, Kudelia, the boss of Teiwaz, Naze… even young leaders like Carta, Iok and Gaelio (before Vidar). These people are never alone, and they’re not solitary. They *choose* to not be solitary. And their ppl, the ppl who look up to them and rly care about them, would not let them be alone/in solitary.

Look at Todo’s face. His smile is *kind*. He’s like, okay if you really think that way.

Bcs even Todo realizes McG’s words are just that: words to console himself of his solitary, how he’s the only one actually ends up really alone.

It’s possible McG also really believes the things he himself says, causing him to purposefully push ppl away.

But if we could take the Triage cards as canon, then it’s not rly true. Bcs the random Gjallarhorn soldiers and officers interviewed for the cards say the same thing: McG is a ‘suspicious’ character who eclipses other ppl (e.g. Gaelio) bcs his presence is just that overwhelming. This implies most Gjjallarhorn ppl at best only being polite to him, or at worst, tolerating him out of necessity since he far outranks them. One going so far to compare him to a snake.

Way back in ep25 review when I said Todo was McG’s Cinderella, I was only kidding. But lmao can’t believe this relationship’s still alive, Todo is still living his dream of being important and dressed in nice clothes, and McG + Todo is actually the only one of all McG’s relationships that isn’t creepy (Almiria) or that he himself thoroughly destroys (everyone else).

Srsly WTF is Montag Company???

Speaking of Almiria… poor girl needs some serious therapy. Gallus papa pls take her away from there.

McG: I keep my promise of making Almiria happy.

I wonder, does she look happy to him? she certainly doesn’t look happy to me.

He’s srsly fucked up if he thinks letting an 11yo old girl shoulder his sins can be called happy.

Almiria calls McG’s actions “his sins”. Despite all McG’s sweet words and fairy tale description, she holds no illusion that what McG’s doing is wrong wrong wrong.

Srsly what kind of man or adult are you to make a child feel this way? To feel like she has to shoulder the whole world hating/punishing her for crimes the person she loves did?

How could you still call yourself a man after make a girl no older than 11 to realize it? to realize this is the reality she chooses and has to live in?

Just… god.

Also why is this almiria scene put in between McG’s fight scenes like showing us this scene would make him sympathetic?

IT’S NOT. Showing her only make him look CREEPY.

He’s only trying to make her happy, he says. He’s protecting her, he says. Then in the next scenes he’s shown touching her butt (ep13, 25) or touching her butt AND positioning her in a pose that’s inherently sexual (s02e09).

It would be different if she’s an adult, but the fact in those scenes she was only 9 and 11 makes it UNBEARABLY CREEPY.

He should be in jail for those scenes alone, not be thought of as ‘romantic’ WTF.

He says this, but he’s prejudice against ppl different than him just the same.

Him and Isurugi, but then Isurugi got his ideals from McG, so I guess we could cut Isurugi slack.

If what he says is true, then he should also give Sevenstars ppl a chance. After all, not all of them corrupt/abuse powers. In fact, other than Iznario, no one else from the Sevenstars is shown ‘actively’ abusing powers.

Even Rustal and Arianrhod, they’re not ACTING so much as REACTING. They do NOT instigate things/wars. Only once a rebel/chaos already started would they appear.

He says this, but he totally thinks those born to power are useless, while at the same time holding those born to be unfortunate in high regard.

LMAO this is said by the same guy who never once wins a fight fairly.

Weekly reminder McG gets knocked out by Mobile Armor after ONE HIT and only lays there feeling sorry while Isurugi and Julieta show more resilience by getting back up and charge at MA again.

Updated version of McGillis’ battle record so far: Ep5 (Schwalbe Graze): he *assisted* Gae, was a middle range shooter, worked fine together with Gae, yet somehow mika only praised McGillis. Ep19 (Grimgerde): assisted Mika, doing fine against Carta’s men who were all lower ranked compared to him. Ep25 (Grimgerde): managed to defeat Gae and Kimaris. It should be noted this fight was highly unbalanced in McGillis’ favor bcs Gae was too overwhelmed by emotion. S02e07 (Graze Ritter): got easily overwhelmed by Takaki & Aston, despite him supposed to be much more experienced and skilled than two ragtag kids who had no formal military training S02e12 (Graze Ritter): got defeated by MA with, like, a single kick. S02e18 (Bael): did nothing but pose in front of cameras. S02e21 (Bael): got his ass kicked by Gae & Ein in Kimaris Vidar, before being saved by Isurugi dying. S02e23 (Bael): somehow managed to win against multiple foes (none of which is a gundam), one was Iok in an UNARMED Reginlaze. S02e24 (Bael): destroyed several Reginlaze suits and also HalfBeak class ships before getting his ass handed to him by Gae & Ein in Kimaris Vidar, severely damaged Ein in the process.

It’s funny how he’s only great in his last moment, almost like he’s only strong for the sake of *dramatic* ending. /rolls eyes

He says this like he truly purposefully lets Gaelio live in ep25, and I find that hard to believe.

Bcs, for what purpose??? That just means he’s so stupid he thinks it’s better to let a threat live in order to gloat rather than make sure the threat is completely and utterly eliminated so as not to pose any problem in the future.

Also, what a face.

And yet the animation is still so smooth like staff-san, just how much do you guys love him anyway I’m jelly

No srsly, all his face animation is pretty splendid??? I wish my boy would get the same nice smooth animation but alas

Also, does he say those words unironically do you think?

Like does he really believe what he’s saying?

Bcs, just a minute ago, Rustal literally tells all his men to ‘hold’ bcs he wants to see the result of McG vs Gae’s fight.

So the men are just following Rustal’s order and not bcs of McG.

So like, I’m just amazed at McG’s ability to somehow twist unrelated facts into centering around his person.

OH THIS SCENE.

Yes, this scene, where his hair is so artfully untidy, and the camera is caressing the line of his face lovingly… UGH.

First of all, fuck you McG.

Gae’s [you’re not even looking at me, look at me damn you mcg] I think refer to 2 things, 1) the fact that McG never sees him as a person, just a tool; 2) he wants McG to see him, see the person he killed is now fighting and winning against him in a fight, see that he’s stronger than McG thus proving McG’s theory wrong. Most of all, he wants McG to see he’s not just a victim, he’s an avenger too, one stronger than ever.

Second of all, fuck you McG.

McG says this, but the things he says is not in line with how he acts, re: him saying he thinks of gae as a friend. Case in point: S01e04: when Gae gets strangled by Mika, he doesn’t lift a finger to help; instead, he only gets out of the car once Sakura holds Mika at bay/Gae’s no longer in danger of dying. S01e09: he purposefully plays w/ Gae’s feelings by changing the topic to one he knows is a sore spot for Gae. Gae goes from smiling up to McG to subtly avert his eyes from McG w/o changing his expression much or turning his head away. He’s hurt and trying not to show it to McG.

S01e17: McG does nothing as Gae is ganged up by both Gusion and Barbatos, despite hovering nearby in Montag’s ship. S01e19: McG does nothing as Barbatos is about to stab Gae & Kimaris to death. S01e22-23: actually says aloud w/ a bored expression how Carta should’ve just died. (the fact he’s alone and has no need to put up a show means he *means* what he says.) and then he actually sends Carta to her death w/ a smile.

He says Gae is his only friend, then what is Carta to him? Someone convenient???

He says Gae is his only friend, but this makes me wonder about the definition of ‘friendship’ to him.

Bcs as I see it, he is protected by Gae (ep11, 13) and keeps getting the advantage of his relationship w/ Gae without him having to do anything for Gae in return.

Even when Gae calls him about Ein, he helps Gae not bcs he *cares* but bcs he needs Gae to put Ein in Alaya-Vijnana for McG’s own sake.

Meanwhile Gae keeps going out of his way to do anything to ease McG’s way or spare his feelings.

Gae admires and worships him too much to ever realize their relationship is truly one-sided and greatly unbalanced.

This is exaggerating it but I truly think getting McG’s smile is worth getting trampled over for Gae.

MCGILLIS NEVER ACTUALLY CARES ABOUT GAELIO OR CARTA.

He only cares about their uses to him, nothing more.

Of course you could argue this is bcs he doesn’t know what friendship is, he always suffers, he never got anyone to show him yadda yadda.

That doesn’t excuse him being a total asshole to them.

This scene does nothing to me except make me want to throw things at him more.

Also worth noting, the ppl McG willingly chooses to surround himself with are the ppl who totally adore him and never go against him in any way. Todo: Todo is the kind of smarmy that would do as he’s told as long as it is benefits him, and he calls McG ‘master (danna)’. He’s a total asslicker who would not ever oppose McG, esp not after McG puts him in a pedestal like that. Isurugi: he does what he’s told. No uestion, no nothing. He’s entire role is to be McG’s assistant or something. (the show attempts to make him seem parallel to Ein and it fail so spectacularly, but that’s another different matter) Almiria: a sheltered girl who’s too naïve and is easily influenced. Gallus: he’s kind to McG, telling him to relax and take his time and all. Also I think when McG tells him ‘I’m your son too’ McG actually means it – he wants Gallus to be his father – and it’s not only said as a blow to Gallus. Gaelio: in the scene above, I’m pretty sure Gae’s only agreeing with McG just bcs he’s that desperate for McG’s approval. Carta: this is the reason McG doesn’t much care for Carta; bcs while she does validate his existence, she does so by ‘opposing his view’. She tells him he’s wrong. She’s the only one who ever does; even Rustal doesn’t say directly to his face he’s wrong.

All of the ppl mentioned above adore McG in a way, and all of them are ‘useful tools’ to him, but Carta differs from the rest bcs she tells him he’s wrong. Todo’s also different from the rest bcs he’s the only one who stays until the end (sort of) w/ McG, and the one McG never abandons. (He fucking just up and left after Isurugi gets stabbed; that’s cold.)

For the record, McG already made both Almiria and Gaelio cry twice in front of him.

What a guy.

Also, Gae’s saying this line is totally the most unsurprising thing this whole season.

He says ‘might forgive’ but he totally already forgives McG tho.

You can’t go admiring someone for 15years without trying to excuse it when said someone deliberately hurts you.

This is basically the same thing Almiria says to McG in s02e19.

Can we say this is a Bauduin thing then? Bcs Gallus actually has similar reaction when faced w/ McG saying “I’m your son too.”

The three of them trust McG only for him to betray them all in the worst possible way.

Hooray for Yamazin’s reappearance.

I kinda gave up on hoping she appears more but then voila! Here she is! telling Rustal where Julieta is!

I love my manic mobile suit otaku mechanic girl okay.

(I realize she’s probably closer to Rustal in age than to Iok, but whatevs)

I DIED

LOOK AT GAE’S SMILE

Oh Ein, you did good, you did very good indeed.

Can I still have hope that after he’s done as Graze Ein, Rustal would pull a miracle and restore Ein’s human body even if half of it is mechanic for Gae’s sake?

CAN I, PLS? ;____;

I wish I could say more about this scene, but I’m still trying to recover. Gae softly caressing Ein’s ‘eyes’ there obliterated me ;__;

SPEAKING OF RUSTAL ELION...

To think McG would be crazy enough to go against this guy

I mean, just look at the pics above.

Notice how Rustal stays rooted to the floor by the sheer force of his will

Seriously, he’s standing in low gravity and somehow doesn’t seem to ever be shaken by ship turbulence and whatnot

I mean. He’s just. Standing. Without even gripping/holding the handle bar to his right side.

Also considering the handle bar is located beyond reach behind him, he’s clearly confident enough he wouldn’t need such thing to stay upright.

Also, that cloak/coat/jacket is, while looking stylish draped in such a way, it technically hinders his movement. With his cloak/coat/jacket in the way, there’s no way he could move fast enough to grip the handle bar should he need it. (not that he’d ever need it…)

Even during that moment when Shino nearly shot the SkipJack’s bridge, while Iok moves to the front and is shaken from the force of the near-miss, Rustal still stays mostly standing upright, w/ the only change being his eyes widening.

I just. How???

Look at pic #7 in particular. He’s standing on the plank-like floor and without proper support, a slight movement of the ship would logically have him topple down about 3m to the floor and yet there he is, majestically standing upright.

This is such a silly thing to obsess over but I can’t stop thinking about this. pls tell me I’m not alone

Even gravity *follows* his orders. And McG thinks he has a chance? Pfft.

The thing that I kinda admire but also fear about Rustal is how so open he is with his ppl. He’s *honest* with them.

He’s like, here’s the thing I’m gonna do. Watch and learn, then judge for yourself how I’m doing. His smile suggests this isn’t the first time they have this kind of conversation where he reminds her he’s not *exactly* a good person even if he has (somewhat) good intention, and she somehow still thinks the world of him. He basically tells Julieta not to put him in pedestal, and he doesn’t hold illusion what he’s doing is morally right – which is the opposite of what McG’s doing.

In s02ep20, he shows Iok how to build a winning strategy, even if said strategy can be called sly and downright ruthless. In s02ep23, he lets Iok in on his conference w/ Nobliss. He’s basically letting Iok knows it’s not that he was wrong in collaborating w/ a shady character like Jasley, but more like there’s a time and place for that kind of shady deals, and Iok’s deal was exactly that: not in the right time or place.

He’s, essentially, telling them: if you want to attack me/expose me/bring me down, this is the way to do it.

The same with Vidar/Gaelio. Rustal lets Gae do what he wants freely, so long as he follows Rustal’s instruction when the time comes. And even then, Rustal still lets him free, going so far to indulge him in pursuing McG in 1 on 1. Of course Rustal also does it for his own plan’s sake, but I still think it’s important he lets Gae have the stage he’s prepared and just, er, let him have at it basically.

About the Vidar mask thing, it’s from s02e18, it’s clear the mask is totally Gae’s own idea and not one proposed by Rustal. I really, really want to know the look on Rustal’s face when Gae said he wanted to wear a mask ‘in order to hide his identity’. Like, Skipjack & Arianrhod is completely devoted to Rustal – one word and none would open their mouth about a supposedly dead Sevenstar member living among them. In a way, it also suggests that Gae doesn’t trust Rustal’s crews. Rustal probably just thinks it all amusing, and, again, lets him do what he wants.

Let’s face it, The Mask ™ is ridiculous and Gae rather implies that he only wears that bcs he wants to understand McG’s feelings, someone who he says always wears a mask his whole life.

That’s so extra but who am I to judge :p

This pic is here bcs I just really like Rustal’s face and also this smile seems to be his default when dealing w/ his children’s antics (Iok, Gae, Julieta).

It’s really interesting how he always has a smile ready for those three, even when they’re being totally stupid and putting the entire Fleet’s reputation at risk (Iok /coughs) yet he loses his smile when it comes to McG. Most notably in s02e08 and this ep, his face is totally serious with no hint of amusement whatsoever.

I’m so very curious to the extent of their relationship before Vidar. The show gives us only the barest minimum, and they won’t even show us a flashback of how exactly Rustal saved Gae or how Gae felt about being saved in such a way.

Gae used to be pretty vocal about his opinions and Rustal’s always so patient that he must have been so unbearably infuriating to Gae. Yet is S2 they’re shown trusting each other with Rustal seeking Gae’s counsel on a couple occasion and Gae obeying Rustal’s order and showing actual respect for the man.

…I really want to know what happened between them in those two years period between S1 and S2.

I just want to express what a waste opportunity it was not to show Iok’s reaction to the news that Gae is pretty much alive and kicking. Like, was he shocked? Or did he pretend he knew all along Vidar was Gae? Did he feel weird seeing how Gae was much calmer now? And more importantly, how did he address Gae? His given name? His family name? or his former rank maybe?

How did it work anyway, as a Family Head he was above Gae who was still an heir, but rank-wise, pretty sure Gae technically outranked him. This is, I think, one dynamic that would be interesting to explore.

Also lulz Iok looks small compared to Gae, who is still smaller in width than Rustal.

CONCLUSION

I read somewhere that Tragedies are essentially about a hero who happens to be in the wrong story. This is to say, it’s not bcs the hero makes a mistake/has a flaw or two, but rather, no matter what the hero does or doesn’t do, bad things would still happen to the hero. It’s about having the hero’s strengths be useless and make him powerless and his struggle to overcome this.

Is IBO a tragedy? The short answer: YES and NO.

Judging just from the 1st ep and the latest ep (s02e24), yes, IBO should count as a tragedy. But I feel calling IBO a tragedy is giving too much credits to the writers, since the amount of asspulls and plot holes and general inconsistencies are phenomenal.

All the things IBO did have been done in another gundam shows and they handle it much better (e.g. thunderbolt for physical disabilities and both thunderbolt and unicorn, to a certain extent, for Alaya-Vijnana/direct connection to the gundam be it physical or mental).

All the plot twists in this show are done purely for shock values since there’s no follow up or any explanation (Lafter and Orga’s deaths, Mika/Ku/Atra pregnancy talk thing (wtf), Almiria/McG’s whole relationship (WTF SRSLY), Mika’s paralysis, McG’s entire characterization… I could go on.

One of the show’s success (Gaelio) seems to happen by accident and not by the writers’ design.

Gaelio actually has a Hero Journey narrative; from situation normal to getting his world slowly shaken until he gets killed by his best friend slash enemy only to turn the table on said best friend slash enemy after a self-searching journey to figure himself out and defeats him. He *wins*.

Gaelio’s entire subplot (McG’s characterization aside) is much more fulfilling than the protags’ entire plot. This is also esp bcs the show decides to roll every character development from the protags side by killing them. We follow these characters for NOTHING.

e.g. oh hey look Aston finally accepts himself as part of a family! Time to kill him! Oh hey look Orga finally realizes violence is not always the answer and sometimes it’s better to pull back and surrender! Time to kill him before he’s given chance to act on his development! Lafter lost her number one support and the constant pillars of her life. Instead letting her have her character development by exploring this, they kill her. Hush finally getting the recognition he wants from Mika; wonder how he’ll develop from this… never mind, he’s just got killed.

THE SHOW. NEVER. LETS. TEKKADAN. DEVELOP. THEMSELVES.

All those deaths are pointless and shocking bcs of how irrelevant they are to the supposed plot, particularly Orga’s. This late in the game, what are they trying to achieve by killing him??? If they want to explore Mika’s codependency and how he can’t think for himself w/o Orga, they should’ve just explored that during early eps of S2. Nothing would change in just 2 eps. Nothing would get resolved.

GOD I’m so angry and I don’t actually like Mika or Orga. This plot point is so beyond ridiculous I just. Ugh.

back to McGillis....

to me McGillis is so infuriating bcs I can never be sure whether to blame *him* or the writers for his actions. I want to like him so bad, but something about the way he’s written just keeps making me angry.

I've liked plenty problematic characters before, but I don't think McGillis can be categorized as 'problematic'. He's, at best, a half-baked character born out of an ambitious concept the writers are too half-assed to bring out in the show. Rather than a charming Char clone, with his ever present apathetic smile and his delusion of grandeur McG just seems like a sociopath who thinks the world owes him something and he expects respect and obedience for almost nothing.

this is all my own opinion and I apologize if this seems rather cluttered. I keep wanting to add misc things every time I reread so I figure I better post this before this gets even more unreadable :p