#watching his lil character arc made me feel so much better

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

Avatar: The Last Airbender Live Action Thoughts!

-First of all, ya'll need to leave those child actors alone, they are babies and they didn't write the show, nor was it their idea to do it. I have seen way too many people body shaming children; leave them alone they all did well!

-I think Gordon makes Aang just as cute and small and powerful as I always saw him as!! He manages to joke around and be fun even when the storyline is a lot darker and more serious.

-I really wish Sokka was able to be more of his goofy and silly self. I understand why he isn't, and his humor is more sarcasm and dark jokes, but I saw glimpses of him in there! His excitement when he was with the Mechanist, engineering and getting to do something other than be in charge. Also when he has any older brother convo with Katara or Aang. I'm hopeful with time he'll be able to loosen up!

-(Speaking of the Mechanist, my boy Danny Pudi was SO GOOD, I love him, him and his little son).

-I wish Aang would practice waterbending with Katara :( those scenes of them practicing together were always some of my favorites in the series. Just beautiful kataang moments. I'm glad they addressed it but I missed those moments.

-I don't understand how you guys can't be having fun watching this, I get so excited waiting for little moments of lore, or when Jet and Katara were fighting in the forest I was sitting in front of the TV like "WHERE'S SMELLERBEE AND LONGSHOT. OH MY GOD NO IT'S PIPSQUEAK!" It's just so much fun! The colors are beautiful, the effects are gorgeous, and the plot and characters are entertaining. Think about the piece as it's own thing and enjoy it!

-Adaptations are just that; adaptations, and things will be changed! I think so far I haven't minded their changes, I understand why they've been made. There are things to criticize, but I think this is pretty well done.

-Zuko is fantastic; I think all the child actors are fairly good but Dallas' pissy attitude and the faces he makes are so so fun! I feel for Zuko and I'm scared of him when he shows up, and he's just as annoying and bratty as ponytail Zuko should be. His physical motions are fantastic!

-TEO WAS SO LITTLE?? Oh my god, like as a kid I thought the cartoon version of him was kinda hot so when they wheeled that tiny baby in I was HORRIFIED.

-Idk why YOU ALL weren't scared of Lizzy Yu's Azula, but her little smile in her intro scene gave me a lil chill. Maybe it's because I was away when the show first came out so I saw post after post about how bad she was, but I just.... Thought she'd be worse?? She did really well! Ya'll better be careful though or Gaten Matarazzo will come for you, that's his girl.

-So far the mushing of plots has made sense to me. Yes, I miss the silly filler episodes and the traveling the Gaang did, but it allows us to sit in a scene longer, and to colorize the world better, when we're in one place and one plot for longer. I think that's important for this type of medium and this amount of episodes. They might be able to justify more next season if this show does well enough.

-I am OBSESSED with Zuko and the 41st division oh my god, what a fantastic and well thought out addition. The reveal, and they're bowing for him when he comes back was DEVASTATING.

-They we're GIVING us Sokka and Katara best sibling moments, I loved all of them. They are so cute, they just mean so much to me.

-I don't feel Appa or Momo as characters like I did in the cartoon. I'm hoping this can change, because rn they surprise me every time they get on screen. I'm like "WHAT- oh it's Momo, he's here." How are we going to feel Appa's loss as much as we did in the cartoon if they continue to like barely be in it.

-Ken Leung SLAYED as Admiral Zhao, I watched him go literally insane as the episodes went on.

-Aang's imposter syndrome and feeling of failure being focused on I will always enjoy, even if I hope he can be silly next season too. His entire character arc this season just made me want to cry.

-Bro the coloring during the the Siege of the North was A M A Z I N G. The way the color faded in and out with fireballs and the monster koi passing nearby, just so pretty. It looked awesome.

-Making Yue a waterbender? The best. Her freezing Sokka in place so he can't stop her? Heartbreaking.

-Iroh and Zuko paddling off looking for bestie Lt. Jee?? Okay.

-They really grew this show up for us adults that watched it in 2005 and focused in on the really painful moments, themes, and details.

[acourtofquestions]

I wann ask, since you've completed EoS, how do you feel about Lorcan now? he had a redemption arc in koA but honestly, I could never truly forgive him. I wanna know your thoughts on what he did

Good question @mysterylilycheeta! — (Thanks for the ask, you always have great ones & I loved thinking on this one :-) — I’ll definitely have to see how it changes over time. And can totally see your point already! P.S. I’m thinking out loud, feel free to skip to the final chapter for the cliff notes, lol🙃

As of right now, it’s kinda weird (I may still be in shock😅): I’m upset with him, but I’m also not surprised? I’m more angry, than disappointed? — What I mean is I kind of expect this from him; it’s like the old “Frog & Scorpion” tale… I wasn’t quite as shocked by the betrayal, because I never trusted him not to betray Aelin in the first place. I’m sad that he did… I’m angry… at so, so many pieces of those chapters; I want to mentally throttle him a lil bit… but I also on some level knew that he was always going to make that choice; somehow he would betray her, somehow his tether would remain with Maeve; there were just too many threads between the Cadre, Rowan, the Wyrdkeys… all of it… the situation was painful & complicated (all the while feeling a few seconds away from easily comfortable/fixable).

You had some of the most powerful players all on the field, yet completely helpless. Gavriel & Fenrys were trying (even though I was a little mad/confused by Gavriel because I don’t know what the blood oath actually does but, he was acting way more injured than he sounded? & I kinda wanted to shake him & say “GO! NOW!! GET AELIN!!!” If for nothing else, then for your son BECAUSE YOU STILL HAVE HIM; YOU HAVE A SON (who isn’t this psychopath) and THEY NEED YOU)! And Fenrys who might have broken my heart most (or close to Elide; of course Aelin was #1 in that scene but as far as the “watchers” go) because he desperately wanted to help her, he was fighting with everything he had (I think he would have died for her right then & there if that was the price saving her required) and while it’s never been fully clear what his “deal” is with her, his character stands alone & says enough. I have no doubt he loves her both for his friend & for the same reason we all do; she is the future, bright, fierce, powerful, loving, joyous, & overflowing with life. How could he not want to serve a queen like that? And the fact he was trying says a lot because (invisible as it may have been in the moment) it was a high price for him; he is risking his only family, he is risking every torture he’s experienced times 10, and he is doing it for someone he barely knows (yet knows too well). Then you have Manon; who obviously wanted to help, but also knew she had to keep the keys, & get Elide out (even Aelin needed to know she would do that) and while I wanted her to do something, I don’t blame her for not; I don’t think Manon had a better option in that moment with that hand she/they were dealt. And the fact she is flinching, almost moving; it says a lot; Manon doesn’t scare easily, and even she is in pain watching. She is also already under the assumption of rescuing Aelin (even if that ending sentence of why was gutting). Elide quite obviously was impossible to watch, she did everything she could, and if she had been allowed she would have gone with Aelin without doubt on the mere whim it would spare her the slightest. And of course, I’m not angry at anyone on the boat because they literally couldn’t have gone any faster (Rowan; despite the fact he will probably regret it; made the right choice to go with the team + honestly I didn’t want to see him see it, Maeve would’ve made it so much worse… a part of me keeps wondering if Aelin was hurrying because of that? Or stalling because she thought they’d save her in time?) and oh Aelin… & then there’s that; beautiful, brave, selfless, Aelin & an idiot😂 (if you think there is a chance in any realm that Aedion & Rowan don’t come for you… honestly it’s sad… it’s sad how surprised she was to learn Ansel had tried to save her; it’s sad that she still believes that😭).

Which again, leaves us with Lorcan (in this already long “thinking out loud” kinda post😅😂 sry lol)… at the end of the day, Lorcan was bound by the oath. Maeve would have found Aelin no matter what. And eventually, he would have had no options even if he had tried. While, he could have pleaded or tried, I think we & he knew Maeve would not listen. And the real problem is in, the fact that is the queen he put his faith in and that is when he did not try. That is who/what he betrayed Elide for. That is what he paid for with Rowan (ROWAN; someone he knows to be a good man; someone he knows cannot live without Aelin… even had to know on some level; she is what the entire world needs… and his friend deserved that peace) & he chose to pay with the love of Rowan’s life, on the hope of saving Elide, the denial of the true monster he served, and perhaps the whim of possibly earning back his devout dark queen. He was full of vengeful rage, and he made a very, very bad choice (not a mistake, a choice). One that he was not bound to do. One that he was not forced to make. One that he knew on some level was wrong, and didn’t know just how true that was until it was too late… and even then, he watched. He watched Cairn maul her, and while he could not look away, he too gave up (and realized that she didn’t, she refused to count, and she would pay a heavy price for resilience, one that was his; honestly it reminded me of Elena… maybe I’m a little raw from Ch. 68, but it seems a parallel of sorts; Aelin grew & grew up, beyond the Assassin who jumped the window for revenge, but Lorcan the immortal was still too young to understand; to know such love… it’s sad… how close he came with Elide… and how he hurt her anyway) and the moment the oath broke… perhaps it did shred his soul, but he had to know right then that he had done the same to a better man and when Rowan said those words… he felt it all. Lorcan wept. He lied, and cheated, and brought death upon them. And I don’t know if anyone will ever forgive him for it, but in a way it reminds me of Chaol; it wasn’t fully his fault (though Chaol had an easier claim to innocence). But for me, in a way, it made sense? I didn’t expect more from him, now the question is will he change; I expect that. Because all cards are on the table, right and wrong is clear, and brutal as it was, he is free; he can make a decision, so… what will it be? Will he do the right thing? I hope he will… because now he has no excuses, the frog, and scorpion sank, he lost Elide, he knows it’s more than a “bitch queen”. He knows exactly what he did; to Rowan, to the world, to Elide; he knows, he feels remorse. & now it’s time to see what he makes of it.

So, in summation: Lorcan has always been complex & a dark/gray moral-based character; this book being the first time we see any other side or perspective. And he has an already long list of poor decisions, and this is one of the worst. He trusted the wrong person. He was selfish. He hurt them. He lied. Lorcan was wrong. She (Aelin) paid the price for it, and he lost Elide & Maeve & then watched Rowan lose Aelin, and Elide lost them both… everyone went down. And I don’t know if I will forgive him; I think this one will always be angering/hurt-filled. But I also don’t think I’ll hate him forever (I’m not even sure I hate him now) I think he is what he is, (not an excuse) and I want a redemption arc. I want Elide to be happy… I don’t think she will be without him. I want Aelin to be okay, and if she can come to a place to forgive him, then I can too. Like Rowan said, he has punishment enough… now is that in comparison to Aelin? No. No, not even close… but he is redeemable. Even if what he did isn’t.

[otakween]

Digimon Frontier - Episode 50 (Finale!)

Yay, it's over! (lol). I'm sorry, but this ending didn't do much for me. We barely got to see the real world at all and the epilogue amounted to a boring slide show (aside from Koji reuniting with his birth mom, that was sweet). In the end, these characters just didn't feel as fleshed out as those in previous seasons and the digimon connection was lackluster too (it's hard to see the spirits as separate characters). Oh well, I don't mind watching some bland anime now and then...

Notes:

Seriously, compared to previous seasons, this goodbye was so blah. They just get yeeted back to the human world immediately after the final battle and miss their chance to say goodbye to the digimon. Bokomon gets the longest goodbye monologue, but I never liked him so...yeah. (Remember when Adventure gave us sentimental goodbyes between each human-digimon pairing that were indicative of their distinct, defined personalities? Yeah...I miss that).

The spirits showing up and even striking the final blow was...okay I guess. The "bad guy" spirits were just silent and in the background again. There's just no emotional connection because we haven't seen the main spirits as characters before (aside from silently nodding from the digivice from time to time).

Neemon snapping his own pants was a funny gag. The slapstick between Bokomon and Neemon did grow on me. (Funny how Neemon never served a single purpose...)

The Susanoomon thing was weird. In the previous episode Susanoomon was created by combining all 10 spirits but only Takuya and Koji were "inside" him, but in this episode all the kids go "inside." Either way it's still 10 spirits. They should have just made him be a combo of all the kids from the start! So clunky...

Lucemon Satan Mode gave major Millenniumon vibes in his lil grubby form. I'm not sure if "fall down mode" or "Satan mode" is a dumber name.

Seeing the digicode flow out of Lucemon/the digivices and reform the digital world was nice. (Hopefully the moons came back too lol). I wonder if everyone's going to start from zero as a digiegg?

Lol sure, they just let a bunch of kids barge into an emergency room. Hospital security apparently sucks in Japan! I was a little confused what exactly revived Koichi. Was it Koji's love or something from the digivices? Well, either way it was pretty silly.

I don't know why I didn't even think about the human/digital world time difference. I thought when Takuya returned to the human world in that previous episode that everyone would be worried about him, but they have the nice "no time has passed actually" loop hole.

Now that I think about it, it kind of feels like they all had the same arc. The epilogue was all about the kids having learned how to get along better with others (except maybe Tomoki who learned to "not be weak," but even that had to do with how he treats others!) Instead of just seeing them hang out with their one-dimensional families and classmates, I think I would have just preferred an epilogue of them hanging out in the human world and getting pizza or something. Or maybe they could be supporting Junpei at a magic show! (Maybe what I really need is fanfic lol).

Bring back parents!! The kids' parents in Adventure and Tamers were a big presence and it made them feel more like real, relatable people. Here they're mostly just in the background. Also, maybe if I got to know Koji's dad more I wouldn't think he was such a weirdo for lying to his son! >:/ I wanted to hear his side!!

Digimon Frontier was...my least favorite season so far for sure. It's not like it was a total loss, there were some cool digimon designs and I liked the digivolution sequences. The characters were charming enough, but not super memorable. I think this series' shortcomings really highlight what made previous seasons work better. IDK much about how it was received back in the day, but hopefully they learned from these mistakes. Onto the next! (After a brief gaming interlude).

[maplebean2003]

I went into wish by Disney with an open mind even while knowing people seem to have hated it and we all wish (haha) that the concept ideas were what they stayed with but alas here we are,anyways -

I found this movie genuinely beautiful with the mix of 3d art and 2d art it's the ONLY time I've seen it done so well as if it were concept art painted upon a canvas! It felt very much like classic Disney however it was very unmemorable and I can't see myself rewatching this

There was one song out of the whole movie that I could say I would've enjoyed hearing as a kid but now it's kinda meh

Another song slapped but not hard enough for me to want to sing it

The villain was just...super relatable and frankly I don't understand why he was seen as so bad when he had very valid reasons to be upset - did he take it too far? Absolutely

It almost feels like they forgot half way their plan with his character as I was expecting him to be MUCH worse when in reality he deserved a redemption arc

An apology even from the kingdom for abusing his powers so much and only seeing him for that alone

His song was not a villain song either it was nothing sinister or evil even so that was disappointing

The side kick goat seemed very annoying to me where they tried too hard to make him funny or even likable when he probably could've just not existed and the movie wouldn't have been changed in any way shape or form

The star was cute and I enjoyed how it was a different media form than she was but I found myself not caring if he was captured or not really as I felt I didn't get to bond with it at all in time for the ending to have any impact on me

Though that may be because I am 20 lol but I think even as a child I wouldn't have been bothered by it much

Id rate it a 3/5 but really the three only goes to the art because that's the only thing that saved this movie for me unfortunately

I wanted to like it but at least it wasn't AS bad as people made it out to be

Id say watch it once at least but I watched it in 2x speed sooo...idk lol the plot felt very simple honestly in a bad way

The characters felt human enough but just...very flat at the same time where I just couldn't connect or relate to anyone except the villain

I don't see why he got such a bad wrap when Elsa did pretty much the same thing and she got a redemption

Why's it okay for her but not this man?? Idk it was odd to me

Also Bambi was in it with John from Robin Hood in the background which I actually thought was super cute :)) Bambi is all grown now!

Anyways I'd watch for the art but nothing else

My hopes weren't high to begin with so I wasn't really let down by it

It surprised me twice at least with certain twists and one instance of actually evil action being taken where the king shatters a wish of a woman....but my shock was quickly taken away unfortunately when the wish was immediately brought back like 5 minutes later somehow which didn't make any sense to me at all :// it seemed like they just didnt want anyone to complain but I think it would've been better to depict the woman either repairing her wish with help or having a new one instead of just... immediately having it back just perfectly fine

The other scene that had my jaw drop was a surprise betrayal that I won't tell cause it genuinely surprised me as it was not hinted at in the slightest beforehand

I understand why the betrayal happened though at least so it wasn't half baked like most of the movie seemed to be

But yeah Id say 3 outta 5 or 2.5 out of 5 somewhere between those and no higher as the art was the only thing that REALLY saved it for me

Now being stingy I would've LOVED watching the original plot they had for this movie as a lil star twink guy would've been goals /gender envy to the max but alas I get why

They wanted merch to sell easily most likely so they dumbed it down and made him more marketable ;-; twink death pipeline for sure

[nyaagolor]

what do you think of Carmine and Kieran so far? My stance is that even though neither of them are abusive and do care deeply about each other (and seeing people say they are abusive, especially about Carmine, makes me really sad), I do think that their relationship is definitely NOT a "normal sibling relationship" and both of them do have a bunch of Capital I Issues. But them having Capital I Issues that complicate their relationship while still caring (which FURTHER complicates things) and not being bad people at all is what make them so interesting to me and it's a vicious cycle I LOVE VICIOUS CYCLES OF MISCOMMUNICATION AND MESSY RELATIONSHIPS!!! I'm so normal (lying)

absolutely adore them, Pokemon has really filled this game to the absolute brim with characters who 1. Behave like real people 2. Have actual personalities with arcs that don't act like complete archetypes. God fucking Bless.

The general reaction to the DLC tho has surprised me in the worst way possible. The characters in these games are significantly better written than any pokemon characters in the past but ultimately, they are still pokemon characters. Most of their personality traits are made abundantly and explicitly clear to the audience by the story's end. There is not much digging you really have to do here

And yet! I'm sitting here watching Carmine's reception and thinking back to Nemona, because both of them have a pretty clearly defined personality that I really didn't think were possible to misinterpret. Despite the fact that they are laughably easy characters to understand on a fundamental level people STILL have managed to mischaracterize them to the point of consistently putting discourse on my dash about it. "Carmine is abusive" Carmine is like 15. She is a teenage girl with a younger brother. This is how teenagers behave, especially insecure ones like Carmine is implied to be. She overcompensates and is kind of rude like 3 times and lets her caring nature slip constantly because she feels things extremely strongly. She gets really worked up over everything Because She Is A Teenager. I don't understand why this is difficult

I'm not even sure I would go as far as to say Carmine has Capital I Issues (tho that's a lil subjective, ymmv?) because everything just kinda feels like pretty typical teenager stuff? Like yeah she has issues but they're pretty much exactly what happened to like half the people I knew in high school. And honestly I adore that, it resonates with a lot of people and feels like a good representation of actual teenagers and their problems. It's not especially grandiose but it IS real. Her and Kieran's relationship having strain because they are both kids figuring out how to deal with each other and their emotions is a dope conflict to display in a pokemon game and I think fits in with the more grounded arcs and conflicts we've seen in the base game. It's nice

Kieran's fucked in the head tho idk what that bitch's problems are but I wanna watch him lose it. it'll be funny as hell. I hope his relationship with Carmine gets better but I want it to get worse first

[allys-diary]

stories i om-nom-nom'd :: april 2024 (week 1)

Considering that this is my first week of full on unemployment since 2016, this is also probably the first time I've purely had time just to myself. So you bet ur souls I nom'd a whole lot of media this week.

As usual, expect spoilers, you've been warned. Everything below the cut:

movies

Mulan (1998)

This was a rewatch and I honestly just had it on because I wanted something in the background while I was cleaning, but also I was having such a blast singing and dancing along to the soundtrack. And also I just wanna take this moment to say that Yao, Ling, and Chien Po were the realest ones in this movie because they were so unfazed by the reveal that their new friend Ping was actually a woman and all they cared about was trying to stop Shang because they thought he was gonna execute her. And then when she popped up at the palace going "Hey guys! I have an idea" they just dropped everything and didn't even hesitate to put on a dress and makeup.

Like I need friends like that, their loyalty is unmatched 👏👏👏

Also the Emperor becoming Mulan's wingman at the end was something I forgot and I cackled so loud watching that scene over 😂

Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)

I'll be so real and tell y'all that I put off watching this movie for the longest time because I've seen so much hype around it, and when I see smth like that I have one of two possible responses. I either immediately jump on it the second it releases…or I procrastinate. But watching this was honestly so much fun and even though I didn't watch the first movie, I could still feel Winnie's devastation when she watched her sisters fall victim into a yassified Thanos snap. Although honestly I do feel like this was just natural consequence doing its thing, like Book really tried to warn her so many times, so really this is just "Fuck around and find out (Winnifred's Version)".

I will say though, that something I felt was lacking was the building of the characters of the new witches. It feels like the movie was made with the hopes that people would go in this with so much nostalgia for the first movie and that would be enough to carry the entire project without having to do much on actually telling us who these new witches are, and why we should root for them. The dynamic between the three girls felt very much like it was telling rather than showing that Becca would be the leader but she's going to put in the work to make them all have equal footing, while in contrast, the Sanderson sisters had a dynamic that drew you in and showed you from even the first scene that Sarah and Mary were treated by Winnie as subordinates rather than sisters.

There was just enough hints at the end that there's a movement for a third Hocus Pocus movie to be greenlit because there's still one more black flame candle, and that was more than enough for me to blurt out the words "Gilbert, you lil bitch".

On a lighter note tho…the flying roombas and the performance number were a few of the highlights of the movie that kinda make me wanna watch it again…Ohh and Hannah Waddingham as Witch Mother 100% had me going "this better not awaken anything in me"

nvm…too late

tv shows

Law and Order: Special Victims Unit

I can't watch the shows in order because my streaming services really said "fuck your binging rights", so I have 0 context on overarching series arcs, but I watch what I can.

Season 21, Episode 1: They created a whole ass MeToo episode and it was so well-written I actually had to take a second to remind myself that this was acting and to hold off on hating Ian McShane because he portrayed his whole "sleazy media mogul with a whole ass casting couch" persona eerily well. One of the things I'm steadily coming to appreciate with the series is that they're not shying away from touching on current issues, and I personally cannot wait for the incoming seasons and they start taking jabs at Sickelodeon--I mean Nickelodeon.

Also Hadid deserves jail time she needs to be taken down ALL the pegs. If Hadid has 0 haters, I am dead.

Season 21, Episode 2: Speaking of not shying away from sensitive issues, this was a doozy and a half because it was really subliminally heavy on the victim blaming. Reagan's "friends" for one are some insane pieces of work just damn near scoffing when they were told "your friend might have been assaulted" and going "yeah probably not she has a whole bunch of crazy antics". And that utterly disheartening moment when the team realizes that if this actually does go to trial, that she might not win because the defense could spin a story about "her wanting it" because of her history and her sexcapades with a bunch of other guys.

In the name of fully supporting women's wrongs, I fully support Reagan going full "I Spit on Your Grave" on these bastards 😤 That and I'd fully be on board with a movie where Ariel Winter goes the vigilante & revenge route.

Sidenote: This is why I hate that I can't stream all the seasons because I have no idea what happened to Olivia in the previous season that was called back to in the final scene with Reagan where she said she knows that Reagan will survive because she survived.

Season 10, Episode 22: Okay so I knew from the jump when Stuckey was introduced that either he wouldn't be around for long because he was gonna screw something up which would result in him getting fired (or at the very least transferred to another department far away from interacting with people), or he'd get an improvement arc where he suddenly became an invaluable asset to the team. What I didn't think was gonna happen was that he was going to go on a murder spree in an attempt to manipulate events so he could overcorrect on a mistake that he made from being way too lax and honestly kind of arrogant.

I just know that Benson went like this the second they had him in custody:

games

Undercover: Blood Bonds

Chapter 3: We get introduced to Vera's former coworker (and possibly ex) Gabe, revealing that before she became a journalist, she was a detective, and he's not too happy about her career shift. In the chapter outro, we get a flashback of Lilly looking like she's going through it and has been keeping a diary to write her feelings down. This flashback might be of the night that Lilly disappeared, maybe the last time Vera saw her sister alive.

Chapter 4: Jericho's a mysterious new figure that makes his entrance by walking into Club (no really, the club's name is "Club") without being carded by Hank, the bouncer. Also he has red eyes. Vera managed to swipe Lilly's journal from the crime scene and she finds out that the last time her sister wrote in there was the night that Vera left the city to go back home.

Chapter 5: Vera's in a competition with Crystal over who gets to keep the job at Club because only one of them can stay after the week's over, and knowing she doesn't have a shot, Crystal sabotages Vera by "accidentally" dropping her lipstick on the floor so that Vera slips and falls and breaks a tray full of glasses. Hank mentions that the previous barmaid Daisy would've been useful to know what happened to Lilly, and the very end shows a flashback that Jericho met Lilly the last time she went to Club and bought her a drink.

Chapter 6: Jericho buys a drink for the new DJ, Bluejay, but doesn't score with her because she has a gig and she's determined to stick to schedule (which is finish her shift at 4am). Hank tells Vera that Daisy was head over heels for Jericho when she used to work at Club, and a flashback reveals Daisy trying to discourage him from chatting up Lilly because she's "just a kid". He's unfazed by that (red flag alert red flag alert woop woop das da sound of da police)

Chapter 7: Vera turns down Jericho's sleazy attempts to buy her a drink and invite her back to his place after shift, and he denies ever having seen Lilly when he's shown a picture of her, claiming that "she's not his type". Then he immediately rebounds in a record 0.5 seconds with the next girl that shows up (and serving her orders becomes our side quest for this level). Outro showcases Hank's green flag status offering his coworkers to drive them home since it's so late, and ends with him driving Vera to the police station so she can check on the status of the investigation.

Chapter 8: We play as Crystal in this level and let me tell you now, I hate it here. She goads on Vera for being "sluggish" and having a bad day and sucks up big time to the boss Mr Smirnov with "grand plans" to improve clientele, which of course gets him going and has him leaning towards granting her the permanent staff position. Then Gabe calls Vera with disappointing news and tells her he'll just give her the apartment keys after work.

Chapter 9: Gabe goes to Club to hand over Vera's apartment keys, which gives us our side quest for this level where we serve Gabe his orders for the night. When he releases the apartment back to Vera, he reveals that Lilly's ex-boyfriend Sam is the prime suspect. He also lets slip that their chief's trying to prioritize the case of a missing barmaid (most likely Daisy). We also get a flashback of what is probably the night Lilly disappeared, where she comes home to find Sam waiting in the dark, angry over her coming in late.

Delicious: True Love

Stage 3, Day 8: Philippe, a horny mustachio'd guy that made the moves on Emily back in Stage 2 and ends up having to share a passenger cart with her on the train, asks Emily about why she's so attached to Jean-Paul's letter. She tells him that she and JP had a summer thing when they were 16, and she wrote him a letter and thought he'd never replied. Turns out he did and the letter arrived a little late…like 16 years late. She says it's fate, but Philippe drops hints that maybe what fate was really trying to do was to make her cross paths with him along the way. He's really down bad for her and it's getting a bit painful to witness, tbh.

Stage 3, Day 9: Philippe writes a review for Fresco's Diner Express (the train restaurant…ohh also, Philippe's a renowned food critic), which he tears into pieces when Emily tells him "you're sweet but my heart's with someone else" and calls her a silly naive American girl whose head's filled with frilly "plastic" Hollywood love stories. Typical "I'm a nice guy" behavior, part of him still thinking that Emily "owes" him after he voluntarily bought her a ticket so she won't be kicked out the train. He tries to make amends when she goes back and gives him his torn up review that she taped back together, and says he's happy to stay friends.

Now see here I wanna believe that he means that, but I've seen "nice guy" behavior. They're never happy staying friends. They're like not-so-silent red flags 😤😤

Stage 3, Day 10: It's Emily's final day on the train and Fresco's a bit emotional because she's helped him so much (he's precious we must protect him at all costs). Philippe shows up at the end to wish Emily goodbye and good luck, finding her suitcase at the station that's now filled with a whole bunch of notes from her mother (she's another thing I don't even wanna touch on right now), and gives her the details of a restaurant where he believes she'll find Jean-Paul.

I'm now looking at the chapter titles for Stage 4, which takes place at a restaurant called "Chez Jean-Paul", and ngl y'all I'm scared. There's one here that says "A Bitter Blow" and something tells me Emily's not actually ending up with JP at the end of this story. Lemme just…preemptively sharped a pitchfork real quick…

Stage 4, Day 1: Emily's arrived at Jean-Paul's restaurant but he's not around, and she offers her assistance to the sole employee manning the place. Said sole employee then takes off to go to an appointment. 🤦🏻‍♀️ The day ends, still no JP, so she goes off to explore Paris and becomes so enamored with the place seeing all these couples so madly in love. Even the birds have their own love stories going on.

Imma tell y'all right now I have so many fears--

Stage 4, Day 2: Emily sees some flowers that remind her of Patrick (the boy next door who delivers flowers to her restaurant back home in Snuggford) and she has a moment where she's just happily remembering him before she up and decides to get some flowers for Jean-Paul. The day ends with her running into JP and him needing to jog his memory (it's been 16 years, so I can kinda understand), which really only kicks into gear when Emily starts reciting lines from his letter. They share a hug and they seem happy but…that chapter title from earlier is still giving me fears--

Stage 4, Day 3: Emily and Jean-Paul are catching up with each other, and that's really what the whole day revolves around. There was a side quest in this level where you'd have to tap on JP when he shows up because he's having a food fight with Emily while serving customers. He says a bit about her being worth waiting for, and they share a kiss. And here's where I have some critique for the story writers and game developers…

If y'all didn't want us to anticipate the twists, the chapter titles should have been hidden until the player reaches said level. Now I know that Emily's bound for heartbreak at JP's hands which makes it easy not to root for this relationship. Y'all should've pulled out the rug from under our feet without the early warning device. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Stage 4, Day 4: Ohh no. Ohh fuckque no I hate it here. Emily's over the moon and tells her new florist friend Amelie that she's reunited with her first love, and Amelie's equally excited because she thinks her boyfriend's about to propose after she's been dropping hints for the last six months. The chapter ends with Jean-Paul in a hurry and promising to see Emily later, but in his rushing he didn't see that a goddamn ring box fell out his pocket.

To quote Dr Swift herself, "I think I've seen this film before and I didn't like the ending" 😖😖

Stage 4, Day 5: Jean-Paul's clearly in a bit of distress because he can't find something, which opens up our side quest for this level, putting the ring back in his coat pocket. There's also an inscription on the ring about "love being a flower" which makes me even more convinced that this ring isn't for Emily, but rather someone else whose name sounds like "Emily". JP then asks Emily to go away with him and see the countryside, to which she says "Yes" because now she's convinced he's gonna propose to her there.

Stage 4, Day 6: Emily and Amelie make promises to each other to attend each other's weddings, both clearly excited about where their relationships are headed (meanwhile I'm here fully convinced that they're seeing the same man). At the end of the day, Emily asks Jean-Paul if they're going to see each other later that night but he says that he has "a prior engagement", but that he intends to whisk her away to the countryside the next night. So lemme just get this straight…he's gonna propose and get engaged to his long-time girlfriend (most likely Amelie), and he's turning Emily into an unwitting other woman by starting something with her without ever even once thinking that "Ohh oopsies I probably should've told her I have a whole ass relationship and I'm already in the proposal stage".

If OG story Jean-Paul has 0 haters, I am dead 😤

Stage 4, Day 7: The day starts off with Jean-Paul starting to wave his red flag loud and proud by showing annoyance at the sound of a child crying because he got a splinter, which has Emily side-eyeing him while she tended to the kid to get the splinter out. There's no side quest in this level, and the day ends with JP postponing their getaway because a friend of his is in town and "he hasn't seen him in so long and he wants to catch up".

Yeah no…I'm sharpening a pitchfork…

Stage 4, Day 8: Aaaaaand here it is. Big confirmations that this story's Jean-Paul is a piece of work that deserves to have da pipi chopped off. The day starts with Emily not having heard from him, the guy not even bothering to check on his restaurant that he claims he gave his entire life to just to earn his star rating, mind you. And it ends with Emily going to spend some time with Amelie, who reveals that she's engaged. They're planning a double date, when they see JP with another woman and kissing her ("haven't seen him in a long time" my ass). The two women reveal to each other in their shock that they've been seeing the same man, and Amelie's immediately on whack-a-cheater mode, while Emily breaks down in tears.

Stage 4, Day 9: We love Amelie in this household, she's a complete girl's girl, not even spending a single second even remotely annoyed at Emily and immediately goes in to hug her when they see each other again. She just hates that she wasted her time and moved to Paris for trash bag Jean-Paul. She walks off before the level starts, vowing to have her revenge. Then Philippe arrives excited to see Emily again and telling her he's had Chez Jean-Paul on his schedule to review, which kicks off this level's side quest of bringing him his orders. Amelie shows up at the end of the level, dousing the final dish that Emily serves Philippe with a heaping dose of hot sauce (high key hoping it's some Carolina Reaper levels of burn).

Philippe writes a review that will take away the restaurant's star rating, and JP goes rabid telling the two women that they ruined his life and "all because he couldn't help that he loved women", to which Emily pushes him into the fountain and Amelie delivers this absolute banger of a line:

Stage 4, Day 10: There isn't much to this day other than Emily saying goodbye to her new friends, and Amelie reminding her that one day they'll attend each other's weddings. We also have Nadia finally getting the quote right. "Love is the flower that grows in front of you." That sends Emily into another round of tears, and giving us as the viewer the glaring red neon sign that's been there since Stage 1, Day 1.

BAY-BEE. IT'S PATRICK. WAKE UP AND SMELL THE FRESHLY DELIVERED EVERY MORNING TO YOUR RESTAURANT FLOWERS 👏👏

Delicious World

Season 2, Episode 3, Part 7: This bit focuses more on Frank and Monet's side story, where Monet's cooking his boyfriend a simple risotto and Frank's trying to be reassuring that people would still love his recipes even if he pivots and tries to make simpler dishes, because what would matter is the taste. They have a discussion about what the people would think if he changed up his cooking style, and it led to how his reputation would be "ruined" if he comes out and reveals Frank to be his boyfriend, and sweet little pretend-Health Inspector boi says he's fine with staying private.

Sweet babey noooooo…you deserve better than to be hidden away in a corner 😤

Season 2, Episode 3, Part 8: Speaking of keeping relationships hidden…Jean-Paul's doing the exact opposite, constantly risking it all just to kiss his bb on the cheek out in public where anyone can see. And he shoots down the rumor about him and Shuvani. This is where it's giving me so much whiplash to play both this and True Love at the same time because while the original story's JP is a walking talking red flag, this one's steadily looking more and more like a green flag that I'm almost sad for him that he won't end up with Emily in the end. 😩

Gallery Coloring

If you're familiar with those games where you have to decorate your house/garden/cafe after completing enough levels or earning enough stars from completing levels, that's essentially the whole concept of Gallery. Except the levels are color by number that have varying difficulties.

The story I'm at right now is Leo and Mia (our main characters) are trying to get their friends Paul and Vivian, who've been crushing on each other, to make up and try their hand at a first date again, since the first one didn't go through because of Paul's outstanding levels of misfortune. Vivian's pissed and doesn't even want to look at Paul, let alone hear him out, and instead talks out what she wants to tell him by telling Leo what she appreciates about his and Mia's relationship in a way that's not so subtly criticizing and reading Paul for filth.

Meanwhile these four are all working together trying to get the cafe they've been renovating into a presentable enough state before an art critic named DeWitt comes in to meet with Mia and discuss her works.

There's also a Festival Season event that I'm trying to work through, which is just a mini story of Leo teaching his wife the ways of partying in a music festival.

Hello Kitty Island Adventure

A new update released this week, and gave us a few new morsels of lore. We go on a quest that spans 4 days to bring together Hapidanbui for a performance in hopes of reminding the Island Spirit that old long-running friendships are something to be cherished and hopefully heal her heart a little bit more and get her to open up a bit more to the idea of seeing her old friends again.

There was also a shorter quest that involved us bringing back weather into the island and getting it to rain with the restoration of the Aquafaller, so now it can rain throughout the biomes of the island, revealing blue flowers to water that will reward you with raindrops that can be traded for new furnitures and clothing items.

youtube & tiktok channels that got my watch minutes

India Rose Crawford

If y'all haven't seen the knitted frog stop motion animation videos yet, let me put you on because the way she has gotten to make these motions so smooth, it's like she's breathed life into this cute lil knitted frog?? Like, da fuckque??

SWOOP

SWOOP is one of those creators where when I see that she's posted something new, I wanna drop everything and watch through the entire video no matter how long it is. The new video she dropped this week was an hour and a half long, and she talks about Amanda Bynes and the devastating downfall of her career. If my heart wasn't breaking enough for her, it's just shattered now, and I just hope that whatever she's doing, that she's genuinely happy and giving herself the room and the patience to heal at her own pace.

Also, if Dan "The Foot Man" Schneider has zero haters, I am dead. Jail. Electric chair. 😤😤

Alexa Nikolas

While I can't find it in me to recommend a Trisha Paytas video, that's shockingly what's gonna happen right now, because Alexa made an appearance on Trisha's podcast "Just Trish" this week, talking about her experience in the set of Zoey 101, the abusive chapter of her life where she was a victim of child SA by her ex-husband and the cover up made by parties in the music industry that ultimately led her to starting Eat Predators. And while I do have my opinions on Trisha, I do have to give credit where credit is due and give them my respect for giving Alexa the time and space to share her story and let the emotions flow and not butting in with any potentially disruptive questions and adjusting accordingly when the mood shifts.

Also every single part of me itches so bad whenever I get reminded that she and most likely the rest of the cast don't actually get any residuals from Nickelodeon. Like excuse you?? After all those reruns that are still going to this day, and none of the child talents that helped y'all make those shows happen see a single cent of it?? What the whole grain full fat buttery fuckery is this??

ASMeRi Eats

On a lighter note, lemme share with y'all a mukbang video that had me going full on out of character and craving shrimp

Quinton Reviews

Quinton's become quite notorious for releasing videos that do deep dives of series that span anywhere from 2 to 21 hours. No, really…his Sam & Cat videos are a total of 21 hours spread across 3 videos.

Well this week a new video dropped on the Beverly Hillbillies, this time hosted by his father because Quinton's off hard at work on another project. And this video from his dad has a runtime of 38.5 hours. My eye's twitching just thinking about it, but for some reason I've started to watch it and I'm nowhere near even the 25% mark, but I'll ease my way through in multiple sessions.

stories to om-nom-nom next

Hello Kitty Island Adventure: Imagination Celebration Event

Not quite sure how much story they're gonna put into this event, but I hope that there's a good bit in it because there's castles and cute lil medieval fairy tale vibe type costumes involved, and also they're calling Kuromi "Spooky Queen Kuromi" so there's gotta be something there, right?

The Bricklayer

Honestly I just wanna watch this because Nina Dobrev's in it. I barely even remember what was in the trailer.

That's all for this week. Considering that I'm on vacation mode, chances are next week's post is gonna be even longer than this. I apologize in advance 🫡

[ofmermaidstories]

*Huge Rant Incoming*

Hi Mermie :> How are you? With all the asks you have already answered regarding MHA, I hope this is not too annoying. I just need to be irritating about this for a bit cuz I have been grabbing all my frnds to vent to them about MHA and the ending. It's my coping method TvT

Regarding the ending I think, I was a lil disappointed. There are so many opinions floating around but in general I do agree with the fact that most of the problems arise because the plotlines that had so much buildup weren't really ended in a satisfying or logical manner and it didn't really feel like an ending that upheld the messages of the anime. Which is crazy to me because this is one of the few cases where even if the anime ended in that "Wow! Happy Ending! Everyone and Everything is fine and we all became the greatest heroes", it would still fit because my hero always gave me that vibe of, "Oh! You can also be a hero! Go Beyond! Plus Ultra!", and it still SOMEHOW never felt patronizing or corny even though I usually hate shit like that. I was so flabbergasted when I actually felt motivated to do better when I first saw MHA because the show is so OBVIOUS in it's messages and metaphors. MHA is not a subtle show but it still somehow WORKS?!

No matter what the ending was there would always be someone who is disappointed; especially for a fandom as huge as this. It can also not be overlooked that due to the insane and frankly inhumane workload, Horikoshi obviously had to cut corners and the time needed to really flesh out all the ideas he had; but I still can't help but feel frustrated with how things ended. So many of our favorite animes and stories have to suffer because of this and I would rather wait 2 years to get a better and well rounded ending than for it to be rushed like this :/

Regardless of all the commotion, I still think that for all the things MHA did wrong, it also managed to do a lot of things right. Does the show suffer from not giving female leads fulfilling plots even when they have amazing powers and personalities? Yes. Does the show fall short in committing to give long term consequences to it's characters? Also yes. But at the end of it I really think MHA's biggest strength lies in it's character writing. I HATED Bakugo's guts the whole first season really, but he ended up being one of, if not the MOST heroic characters in the show. I really love all of the characters and the things they stand for. Even if LoV was a run-of-the-mill typical villain group, I loved all of them too and was really invested in ALL of their storylines. Deku is also such an amazing MC with so much potential even out of the show. He is relatable, sweet, heroic but also COMPLETELY UNHINGED. lol. I cannot name one character that I "hate" in MHA (except AFO, he can go jump in an acid pool for all I care). So it was really disappointing to see their arcs (especially the villains, and ESPECIALLY SHIGARAKI) end like that, ;-;

But even after all this I really, for the life of me cannot hate this show. It is one of the only Animes that I watched alongside the fandom, otherwise I usually wait for them to end so I can binge it altogether. Shouto was one of- if not my first anime blorbo <3 I still remember how ABSOLUTELY SMITTEN I was (still am unfortunately) back then. He remained my uncontested fave for a long LONG time. Even with all the toxic shit the MHA fandom is up to at times, it's still one of the most fun experiences I have had in a fandom. I have met some of my favorite fanfic writers because of this show, found so many amazing artists and have constantly been bamboozled by how talented the ppl in this space were. I have made a lot of steadfast frnds because of this show. My bff (a devoted bakugirlie) and I would spend hours coming up with hcs, talking about character analysis and coming up with all different theories for the show. Those were some good times :D

It might not be the best ending but MHA is a good show. The journey to get here was one I will never forget <3

Lmao, you’re always welcome to rant, Castle. 🥹 I’m always happy to talk about the ending, I have a lot of thoughts about it!!! But okay let’s have a chinwag. I’m curious—if you could talk through your ideal ending, what would it be? Because I quite liked the ending Hori’s given us, even with my attachment to Deku being a hero via OFA lmfaoooo. I think yeah, Hori rushed things to the end, but I don’t believe things would’ve played out any differently if he’d given himself like, another year or whatever. I think he’s had this ending in mind for a while now, and I don’t think anything could have talked him into like… sticking around to tell it longer. 🥺

I do think the difference (with my liking the ending) is that I’ve never been invested in a Happy Ending for the villains LMFAO. I’m so sorry. 😭 I like them—I love them—as characters in the story, but I am not a stan in the way that like… I’d go out of my way to write a fic for them, or buy their merch, you know? And I think the main reason for that (for me) is like, how very clearly marked for messy ends they were, like, right from the start LMAO. It sucks ass that they were neglected/actively abused/earmarked for some insane world domination plan, and it sucks ass that for them help never came, or was offered too late—but they’re villains LOL. Most of them make active choices in their adulthoods to be shitheads. 🥹 And we could argue until the cows come home about whether or not you’re really making a choice, if all you’ve known is abuse/neglect/doomsday grooming, but tbh, in a world where people can have devastating and destructive powers that they can then turn on other people, I kind of think it’s a moot point. 💀 Like—it doesn’t matter how sad it is that Shigaraki was left to wander the streets as a tiny kid, shellshocked and idk, covered in the remains of his family—by the end of the manga, he was literally at the point where if he had escaped Deku's clutches one more time, he would've dusted the entire country. The boy had to go, LOL. Ship him off to the afterlife by express post!!

There’s a great discussion in there about the cycle of abuse, and what we (as a society) owe the victims of it, and how Horikoshi absolutely has thing about like, retconning his abusers to either like, try and undo some of the severity of what they’ve done (Endeavour, Bakugou to some extent) or give them moments of sympathy (Shiggy’s dad, when he’s gushing about his baby boy to AFO), but the thing that MHA makes very explicit by the end is that like—sometimes things suck, and sometimes you can’t save people from the damage that gets dealt to them, but you can stop them from dealing more damage out to others, and perpetuating the cycle.

(This is a bit of an aside, but my favourite thing about the villains is that they were genuinely dangerous people. We as a fandom have the gift of like—seeing their hurt, their tragedy, for what it is. We see the neglected, abused, lonely children they were. The cruelties and the misunderstandings. But the people of the MHA world don't get that magical ability. Instead they get to see one of their classmates—who was chill and normal and fun—suddenly attack a boy just to drink his blood bc she’s like, obsessed with him. They see a young man walking around with decaying hands clinging to him, and turning people to dust. They see a homeless psycho set the people they care about on fire in a roar of blue flame. You can't demand change—or pretend to, for some of them—while actively making your world a worse place. And that’s what makes them compelling, to me. I like that AFO is just—wretched, LOL. That he literally just comes out of the womb and was like ok, I’m going to ruin lives and make it generational. 💀)

Would you change their endings, if you could? 🥺 I think if I could change one thing it’d be… Bakugou dying, LOL. Like I’d either a) make it permanent b) make it cost more to bring him back. 😌 (This is why it’s a good thing Hori’s the one that wrote MHA lmfaooooo. 🥹) Actually, new question: even with your disappointment, is there anything about the ending that makes you feel a little more hopeful? 🥺 You mention how much the fandom means to you—is your love for it seperate to your enjoyment of the series? The ending made me happy—Izuku, finally getting to live his dream because his friends loved him so much. 🥹 And also after a moment or two I grew really attached to him as a teacher!!! He’s so perfect for it. 🥺 I know his students just love him. I think Horikoshi created some really lasting, powerful characters andddd… ultimately I trust in their lasting appeal. Theirs, and the story’s, overall. 😌

[eyesontheskyline]

hello 😊 I just got done rereading no such thing, and idk i just really wanted to commend u. (Bear with me though I often have a hard time expressing my thoughts)😅

When i watch s7 i always felt like Emily's trauma is so downplayed, (her ability to 'compartmentalize better than most' just doesnt cut it for me here) so i was really excited to read your work and explore a more realistic look at all that. also Hotchniss is one of my fave ships.. on the show they felt like 'right people, wrong time' and in your work they just felt so right! The progression of their relationship felt so natural, like it was building off of all those lil Hotchniss moments in the show. Its so clear to me that you have such a deep understanding of both of these characters, and im so delighted and honoured that you share your talent with us 🫶

Also the way you wrote the BAU team in general was just really well done! Their voices and actions in your work felt so true to them on the show. In particular the scenes you wrote with Penelope had me tearing up at times. (I have such a soft spot for the Penemily friendship) Like when she tells Emily not to apologize for being alive?? Urgh my heart! OR Emily confronting Derek about his response to her past? It was so satisfying to read. Your story made me feel like we were robbed of so many good potential moments on the show.

Anyways im gonna cut myself off because otherwise i would ramble for eternity about your wonderful writing!! This was such a beautiful story and i appreciate u!! p.s. im really looking forward to ur Emily/Jordan fic :•)

Omg thank you so much! (no such thing as over this is here, just in case.)

I definitely agree with you about the show ignoring Emily's trauma, and the right people wrong time vibes. I think the showrunner even said that their final dance was kind of supposed to be an acknowledgement of what might have been between them if they'd met in different circumstances, and the fun thing about fic is that we get to just put aside the fact that neither one of these people would date someone they work with and be like but what if they would, though? I love them both and all their potential together. I'm so glad they felt right to you.

And the team! The whole Lauren arc created such a complex situation that could've been used to explore the characters and then just. . . did not lol. And I'm also obsessed with Penemily friendship - I've never been the same since I saw that post that goes around here soemtimes of the bat cuddling the pink bunny toy lol. They're so different but both so deeply empathetic and have so much respect for each other and I loooove themmmm. And I'm so glad you appreciated her fighting with Derek. That's what made me write it, in the end, so I'm really glad it landed.

This is so so kind. (And just to be clear, I'm sure any writer would happily listen to you ramble for eternity about how much you loved their thing lol.) I appreciate you too! Thank you so much!

[eureka-its-zico]

I'm dropping by again to tell you that I fully support the angst for more character insight and development. The angst you wrote made them feel real, palpable, especially when you're writing from both Doc and Zoro's perspectives. It hurts, but it hurts good, seriously.

I might not be a fan of sad endings, but the angst in the story of a relationship or a character feels so deep and important when wrote the right way — exactly what you did.

And Zoro in the 7th chapter being angry and conflicted about his feelings? Throwing the bottle across the room because he was angry? ABSOLUTELY YES.

(Me to Zoro with a broom in my hand: YOU BETTER APOLOGIZE FOR BEING AN ASS WITH DOC, YOU LIL SHIT.)

I like to see those moments as much as I liked that time when he put a flower in Doc's hair. I wholeheartedly agree with the mix between some fluff and angst.

Because, to be honest, pain many times feels much more palpable than happiness. And happiness gained after a heavy emotional episode is realistic. Or who knows when those two will meet an ounce of happiness

All I'm saying is that I love your writing, your fic and your ideas and I'm excited about the angst part. Watching Doc and Zoro being conflicted, getting glimpses from their experiences and thoughts is exactly what I needed to get attached to them.

Doc already went through enough of a tumult

Zoro? I hope his big boy feelings just started because I'm fucking EXCITED. Whatever pain you decide to put him through, I'll agree. In my opinion, he deserves to deal with some complex feelings 🤭 (I love him so much, but I seriously love this kind of character development). Will I cry? Probably. Will I love every second of it? Of course. That applies to Doc too. I want to see both of them struggling before they figure out their own feelings and dreams (whenever that will be).

You're feeding us well, Jenn, I swear 😫. Whatever you want to give us, I shall receive with open arms and wide eyes prepared to read.

Maybe I'm a bit of a masochist, but I love the thrill 🤭

(I don't have anyone I can share those feelings and thoughts with, so I decided to share them with you <3 I have more to say, but I'll find other times to do it)

Naomi, 😩😩 I am so sorry I just seen this all the way underneath everything I AM SO SORRY!! Look how old this is!!

This was super cute to read and also incredibly humbling. It really means something special to me that you feel so deeply about these two idiots and come to share your thoughts like this with me 🖤 truly it makes this story something incredibly special for me.

The cackled I cackled when I read (Me to Zoro with a broom in my hand: you better apologize for being an add to Doc, you lil shit!)

Doc isn’t done going through a rough time just yet, and Zoro? Well, his is just beginning. It all comes to ahead when they arrive at Arlong Park. It’s all part of my maniacal plan to bring them closer together lol and create a solid ending (for this season) before going off on a different arc while we wait (not so patiently) for season 2, which I fear won’t come out until 2025 😩😩😩

You are so welcome to come talk to me about anything, at anytime! It is always a pleasure to see your name and talk with you 🖤 I hope you are having a wonderful week. Much love.

[raccoonfallsharder]

Thank you so much for responding to my ask, I found myself nodding my head in agreement to every point you made. I still feel bad for those who continue to overlook Rocket, but yeah, it doesn't really matter. Would love to hear those Loki thoughts as well if you don't mind!

ahh, i’m so glad to hear my five-thousand-page rant made sense and resonated with you! i also feel bad for those who overlook rocket. they truly don’t know what they’re missing.

so my thoughts on loki (below) are ALL over the place. i guess i’ll rant a little about the mcu and then talk about how i view loki in terms of character complexity, and then rant a lil more before i get really sappy. ready? ready.

i’m gonna go ahead and double-down on what i said about the mcu as a whole, and how much we need stories told by writers who love the characters they’re writing for. i think loki in the movies is a good example of a character who had, like, signposts of complexity and development with no actual exploration. we would see his behavior shift at critical moments, and we could interpret change and growth, but we never got to spend enough time with him to really see his thoughts and feelings and motivations. fanfic writers have done more to establish loki as a character with depth than the movies ever did. (hire them, disney!)

to be fair, those were thor’s movies, i suppose. but the dynamic of the movies really relied on this sibling relationship, while only really exploring one sibling’s perspective. like, how do you base a whole section of a franchise on two characters, but treat one as a person and the other as a prop?

then we move into the show.

honestly, i fuckin loved the show. i know you described it as loki getting to speedrun his redemption arc in a youtube video (a description which made me giggle btw), but i personally never thought of it that way. i never thought of loki as really learning anything from that montage of his other self’s life — except, perhaps, that being a better person and having a real relationship with his brother was possible. i always thought of that scene as just a slap in the face to get him to start paying attention.

what unfolds over the following two seasons is, imo, where all his growth happens. still begrudging at first — still eager to double-cross the people holding him captive (no shade; they didn’t deserve his loyalty). ready to use his variant to accomplish his goals. we get to see him start to develop empathy by literally reflecting on himself (hi sophie), and we get to watch that empathy spread — slowly, but surely. (so slowly, by the way. that sequence at the end where he spends a million years watching his friends unravel again and again and again and again and again and again and again? like, the audience may have gotten to speedrun that — but there’s no reason to think he did). by the time loki does what he thinks is the right thing — “for all of us” — it’s incredibly believable to me. whereas in the movies, it often felt like a cointoss — tails i save an orphan and heads, i act like a little shit — this decision to preserve self-determination seems deliberate and conscious and effortful. and he now considers himself part of the universe instead of superior to or separate from it. for all of us.

so. what do i think about the complexity of loki’s character? i think he is very complex and developed, and that his character growth is shared just as masterfully as rocket’s, but — i think this is exclusively because of the tv show.

and i think, again, that this is because the writers of loki loved him. like gunn did with rocket, they held the character of loki very tenderly, found all the places that made him mean, and asked, but why? and what does healing look like for you? and how do we make that happen?

and you know, even though rocket and loki are very different, and their stories “end” in very distinct ways, i think it’s fascinating that so many of the stories we find that have been told with love also include love as a central tenet. i think it’s just so beautiful that when we recognize a character as fundamentally good but deeply wounded, we so often want to reshape their universes to be exactly what they need to make them feel whole and seen and unbroken. we want to give them found families and community and connection, because having those things is always better than not, even if that means you have to be trapped in a tree for the rest of eternity.

i dunno, i just think people overall are really loving, and at their core, they want to put more love in the world. and i think loki (the show) and guardians (the movies) are perfect examples of people actually doing that.

blah blah blah, hire writers who love the characters.

⋆ ˚｡⋆˚⸜(♡ ॑ᗜ ॑♡)⸝ ˚⋆｡˚ ⋆

thanks for inspiring this rant lol sorrryyyy

[novaskfpblog]

ITSSS~ ✨small KFP rambling time!!✨ a bite sized ramble ;P

Today! About Kai...because of course

I love him! And a shen or tai lung ramble would NOT be bite sized- sheeesh!

WAYYY wayy back when i saw KFP3 and hell- way before that! I had a thing for coming up with "villain redemption stories" or "villain joins the good guys!!" Stuff while maybe it was cuz Lil me really wanted to see more of those bad guys and DONT BLAME ME! They are great! But these days i feel like i think of such ideas because certain really cool characters dont have enough interactions with other cool characters

Or hell! Any interactions at all...it suckkkss but thats what the power of ✨creativity and imagination✨ is for :] being able to come up with new, heartwarming or interesting interactions for characters who otherwise never had such moments is great! And coming up with villain redemption ideas always opened up the possibility of said characters meeting in the future

Of course not everyone deserve a redemption arc but there is always the thought of...what if???

ENTERING!!!! KAI💚💚

Now on the topic of funny panda movie guy

These ideas of mine eventually applied to Kfp! As soon as i finished watching kfp3 for the first time back then! i came back home, layed down on my bed and started to think how could i?? Redeem that kai dude!!

And well uhh it was not really easy Lil me was...creative i guess- but said ideas i came up with never really reached anything interesting they were just kinda One off ideas to be forgotten in a week- you know??

But this one stuck considering it was kinda the start of me writing down my ideas :0 nothing perfect for something written late at night by Lil me but truly a start! Thats what matters

I came up with the idea of reversing the roles of Oogway and Kai

●■It followed Kai and Oogway being met by an intense battle ambushed and cornered Kai entered a reckless state of fury wanting to show off as much power as he could! This led to Kai being terribly injured said battle was not one to rush and what kai had done could have cost him his life

Oogway made the wise decision to flee said battle and instead go search for help to save his dear friend before it was too late

Oogway discovered the Secret panda village asking for their help to Heal Kai

The Hardest challenge for Lil me was bringing Kai there....i mean we wont just Suddenly NOT want to steal all their chi and true Kai thought that if he had that much Power maybe he could have easily defeated the people who injured him....ashamed and defeated he planned to steal ALL of the panda's Chi and take his revenge..

The more he plotted and conspired as he faked to enjoy their simple, calm lifestyle as much as Oogway did...the more he Deep down started to feel peace

While not outright showing his change the more he learned about chi and its helpful abilities, the more he pondered...he started to wonder what they really fighting for, glory and fame were not gonna cut it....if no real change was being made then what for?.

This troubled Kai, feeling true comfort for the village, finding joy in the small things, the moments he is spending being helpful feel much better than the moments he used to spend destroying.

He never realized that his want for more power blinded him completely to the fact that there was already so much good around him...but now he gets it and the journey was not short

But those months of learning and training came to and end and so we come to the question ■ what is Kai going to do now?? As he stands in the day he planned to betray the pandas...

He and Oogway instead Leave having learned something! Becoming a peaceful warrior

He might not have found the Power to make him unstoppable but all the power he already had! Was enough to do something meaningful and truly special ●■

WELP thats what Lil me thought of back then!! Its not great- but i appreciate it for being the start of a more creative journey :]

Lil kid me would be proud of sharing this HAHA! i never realized how good it was not to have a word limit ✨ still short but- thats the point lol

To whoever is reading♡ wow thanks hehe this aint much but sharing this years old thing was a huge relief...i should write new stuff here...huh 👀

ADIOS for now!! And cya real soon💚💚

[disasteriod]

kung Fu panda 4 spoilers and unedited rambling below

So I watched the new Kung Fu panda movie.

it was ok! But I'm mostly here to critique it.BE NICEYS!! pls don't be too serious let this be fun and games. I'm just a teenage who likes discussing literature.

Firstly, I feel like the characters weren't fleshed out enough. In the previous movies, all the bad guys had a detailed backstory. Tai Lung was a candidate for the dragon warrior trying to make sure he became the dragon warrior. shen was getting revenge and also conquering china after being banished, Kai was getting revenge on the successors of Oogway because Oogway betrayed him, and also more power. The chameleon? Her entire backstory was 'nobody would teach me Kung Fu so I became a sorceress, and then I'll steal kung Fu, then I'll conquer everwhere,' and I feel like the motive is very weak. Like she 'learnt' Kung Fu, why would she want to conquer the world? Her greed? But that isn't explored further either. She just demands a lot of gold and wants to attack places and that's it. Her personality isn't explored a lot. Her backstory is basically nonexistent. She deserves better. But otherwise, her model design was awesome. The amalgamation of a bunch of Kung Fu masters looked epic.

I also think this movie had too much stuff in it. What was the blood moon about?? It was mentioned twice and then never again. It didn't really have anything to do with the chameleon's defeat. O also, why doesnt the chameleon have a name?? She's just the Chameleon. Maybe there isn't anyone in the movie who knows her personally enough to use it?? I don't think so. Maybe her name is mentioned in the English dub. Another thing was peng and li having their own little character arcs in the background. I personally think it made the movie too much and unfocused the focus. They didn't do anything major to help po defeat the chameleon either. Another thing. I wish the machiney metal circle bits and metal bits were explored more. They appeared once and that was it. I still don't know what their purpose is. they just look cool. What about the ancient magic?? It was never really explored about. Po didn't defeat the magic, he just broke the floor. Who was the stingray at the start?? And a bunch of other stuff.

I could see a lot of parallels from the other movies, like the sword bit at the beginning in the hall of heroes was a refrence to shifu, and the urn broke again (rip), and shifu not accepting the new dragon warrior ect. I like those. But the last one was a bit ehhhh because I thought shifu already went on his character arc? Ig it's called an arc for a reason.

I'll add more when I digest the movie a bit more and collect the rest of my thoughts that have scattered to the wind.

Overall, it was a silly lil movie. I enjoyed watching it l, but it had so much more potential.

[iphisesque]

I have a question. I've read your answer to why you ship uhm gojo and megumi? sorry I don't watch jjk. but it made a lot of sense and I feel the same towards many pairings. what is different between that attitude towards someone like gojo (like appreciating the dynamic but lowkey hoping he dies and the lil guy gets revenge a la stoker etc) and a more lets say... enthusiastic one towards someone like idk john winchester? besides that JDM is hot cause yeah. they're both groomers but is there some difference I can't see? I ask because I want to become The Understander. thank you for your work comrade

oh there's very little difference in fact i would wager that john winchester is probably worse than gojo (if you're a johndean truther at least which i am). i want to say the main difference i perceive in these relationships is dean and megumi? they're obviously vastly different characters, and i actually find megumi quite similar to sam: megumi's arc is primarily about his struggle under the boot of jujutsu society and it would be incredibly satisfying if its resolution was him pulling an india stoker, while dean's arc was a lifetime of near-unrewarded loyalty and its resolution was his father's death to save him (vastly simplifying both plotlines here of course). which isn't to say i wouldn't have loved it if dean had snapped, i would probably have found it very rewarding as i do in most stories where an incestuous relationship ends with the child turning against the parent; i do also love stories where the characters are trapped in an inescapable cycle though, and dean's storyline in early supernatural encapsulates that very realistically and beautifully, so much so that i don't wish for a different kind of resolution. between me and you, i might also enjoy a resolution where megumi ends up perpetuating the same cycle of abuse he was a victim of, but that would be a bleaker and un-cathartic ending that would work better in a different genre or from a different author, i don't trust akutami to handle such a complex storyline nor do i think it fits the vibe of the work itself (as opposed to the more straightforward catharsis of a victim killing their abuser, which he's already depicted satisfactorily more than once).

[scammydoesstuff]

Alright, I should prolly clarify; this is all just my opinion and I just wanted to draw out my general reactions while we've been watching TYBW. They're mostly sentiments shared by my boyfriend, John, who's been watching it along with me and drawing these just made us laugh. So take it with a grain of salt. I'm not here to argue right now.

But if you're really curious about my actual opinion (and without going into too much detail): I just don't particularly like Yhwach as a villain and the motivation of the Quincies in general are mostly lost on me. Granted, I haven't read the manga for this and maybe it's better explained there, but that's why I'm talking about the anime and not that. In the anime, the villains suck in terms of motivation and literally only feel like they exist and are doing the things they're doing just so we can watch our favorite characters do really badass shit. Like, that's all I'm getting from them. I don't feel like our characters are really growing any more than they already had from previous arcs and it doesn't feel like there's any real point to all of this past 'look at how bloody and gorey we can get with this show. In't it cool?'

I'm pretty much at a point where I'm only still watching cuz I really love Urahara as a character and I really want to see his Bankai be animated. There are a few other things I've been enjoying, but that's the biggest reason I keep watching at this point. It's just nice to see him again.

But I'll leave it there. I am gonna give it the benefit of the doubt and wait till the anime has finished before coming to any final thoughts. This is just a very brief summary of how I've been viewing it so far and just something I did to make myself and my boyfriend laugh. I only share it because I like the lil doodles. I think they're cute.

[starrcrossrose]

Okay for the risk of a long post, I’ll put all my answers under the cut but I wanna play!

Here are my answers to these 😗🐢✌🏻

1) First exposure to TMNT was I think the 2003 series?… wait NO it was the movies from the 90’s! But I don’t remember them super well so I’ll just say 03.

2) Watched 03 on weekends or sometimes after school as a kid when I’d visit my Nana’s house (she had cable tv, but my mom did not so tv time was sacred and special to us at Nana’s 😂)

3) I loved them, the theme song was awesome, and I was always always ALWAYS a Leo girlie

4) I was always a casual fan of TMNT and enjoyed almost every new bit of content when they hit big screens. However, Rise of the TMNT did me in. I have been a goner since late 2020, but DEFINITELY since 2022 when the movie released.

5) I’m most familiar with Rise by now, but have definitely done more digging now that I’m IN. Second to that would probably be the Bayverse movies and then 2003 (again, only bc I didn’t have cable or internet so most things I loved as a kid were watched in spurts and all of them incomplete lol)

6) I own SOME official TMNT merch. I have a couple of comics (IDW Collections volumes 1 and 2, the 40th anniversary comic, and the TMNT X MMPR volume 1 comic), as well as a couple of figures and some games. But most of what I own currently is fan made bc Rise got NO good merch. Not a single thing.

~Favorites~

7) Rise is my favorite, hands down. But there are things about the other iterations that I do love. It’s just that Rise has everything someone like me LOVES, so it’s perfect for my silly brain

8) Leo. Always Leo. And Donnie is always fighting for that top spot but I always end up caving into being a Leo girlie. Especially with Rise where Donnie WAS my favorite… until season 2 🤣 sorry lil dude

9) tbh Rise Leo is my favorite of the Leo’s ONLY because I loved the divergence from his typical outward character traits. It was fun to see who he COULD be if the weight of responsibility and leadership were not forced upon his shoulders at a young age. And, at his core, he is STILL such a Leo. He just buries a lot of those things under his cool guy persona. There is nothing I love more than a well written, multi-faceted character

10) Rise Leo 💙✌🏻

11) I have come around to loving lots of the Raph’s, actually. I really like Bayverse Raph, and I like 07 Raph, 03 Raph, and Rose Raph for very different reasons. Rise is special to me tho bc he has such eldest sibling energy and problems that I heavily relate to

12) Oh I ADORE Bayverse Donnie he’s just such a gentle, quietly unhinged dude. But RISE DONNIE. HE IS EVERYTHING IVE BEEN SAYING A DONATELLO COULD BE! Little mad scientist who can make anything out of everything and is so unhinged in his projects and his love for his family. But every Donnie is so good, so cherished. (Except for maybe 2012 Don… sorry buddy your writers failed you just a little)

13) Favorite Mikey is also Rise Mikey and now probably Tales Mikey. Because I think he deserves to be a little more of a gremlin. Channel that youngest energy (even if he’s the same age he just has that “youngest” privilege in a lot of ways I think). I loved how he got to be more blunt and feel an array of emotions instead of always being the party guy in the recent two iterations.

(This is where I add that I wish I knew the IDW boys better. I’ll get there someday)

14) Mmm I actually really liked 03 and 07 Splinter. Wise, tired dads with good character designs. And yes I also like Rise Splinter (again, complex and multi-faceted and you have to actually pay attention to get the payoff of his own character arc. It was refreshing to see the Sensei also experience growth even tho he’s an old man).

15) Favorite April is also absolutely 03 and Rise. Fierce ladies who will absolutely put themselves on the line for their turtle friends in very upfront ways. I did also enjoy 07 April but just didn’t get as much time with her as I would’ve liked. That movie had a lot of sequel or spin-off tv series potential but alas.

16) Casey… is harder for me to answer. But tbh I really like IDW Casey, and I also love Casey from Rise bc it was such a different take on the character. I don’t remember too much about 03 Casey as far as personality so eh. He was there but doesn’t stick out as strongly to me.

17) RISE SHREDDER IS PEAK, YOU CANNOT PRY THAT PLOT AND INCREDIBLE DESIGN FROM MY SILLY LITTLE GRIP

18) Mmmm… favorite Villain… I mean Shredder is the classic but I think I really like the Kraang in Rise bc they’re actually scary in the sense of the power they hold. But I also liked Superfly in Mutant Mayhem, he was interesting. I need to keep reading and watching other series to get to know the other villains better. XD Bishop is a good one too

19) Favorite ally… gosh this one is also hard to answer bc I don’t know many of them well enough yet to give an opinion. For now I will say Casey Jr from the Rise Movie

20) THEME SONGS. I will always love the 03 theme it was MADE for the era is was airing in 🤣 the Rise one also slaps. But tbh I think TMNT has stayed pretty consistent in having good soundtracks and theme songs throughout time ✌🏻

21) Favorite story arc isssss also hard to answer. Again I didn’t have cable to I never got to finish arcs and see them out from start to finish. And Rise was too short to have anything more than “Growing into being heroes and defeating Shredder” arc into “traumatize every single one of them down to their bones and almost kill Leo right in front of me and my salad” arc for the movie. 🪦 and in 03… I also never saw enough of it to fully finish arcs either. I’m sorry I’m a fake fan 🫡😂

22) My favorite pizza is Hawaiian and when I found out Rise Leo liked it too I actually yelled 🤣

Okay I will answer the rest later! 💙💙💙

In honor of TMNT's 40th Anniversary, here are 40 questions for people to send you about TMNT!

~~ Background ~~

1.) What was your first exposure to TMNT?

2.) What was your first exposure to [TMNT iteration]?

3.) What was your first impression of [TMNT iteration]?

4.) When did you become a fan of TMNT?

5.) Which iterations are you familiar with?

6.) Do you own any TMNT merchandise?

~~ Favorites ~~

7.) Which iteration is your favorite?

8.) Which turtle is usually your favorite?

9.) Who is your favorite version-specific turtle?

10.) Which version of Leonardo is your favorite?

11.) Which version of Raphael is your favorite?

12.) Which version of Donatello is your favorite?

13.) Which version of Michelangelo is your favorite?

14.) Which version of Splinter is your favorite?

15.) Which version of April is your favorite?

16.) Which version of Casey is your favorite?

17.) Which version of the Shredder is your favorite?

18.) Who is your favorite villain?

19.) Who is your favorite ally?

20.) Which theme song is your favorite?

21.) What is your favorite story arc?

22.) What is your favorite kind of pizza?

~~ Fandom ~~

23.) What is one of your favorite TMNT fics?

24.) What is one of your favorite TMNT fan comics?

25.) What is one of your favorite TMNT AUs?

26.) What is one of your favorite pieces of TMNT fan art?

27.) What is something you love to see in TMNT art/fics?

28.) What is one thing you would like to see explored more in TMNT art/fics?

29.) What is one headcanon that you have?

30.) What is one common headcanon that you reject?

31.) What is one piece of TMNT canon that you dislike/ignore?

~~ For Artists/Writers ~~

32.) What was the first thing you've made for TMNT?

33.) What is your favorite thing you've made for TMNT?

34.) Which character do you write/draw most often?

35.) Which character relationships are your favorite to write/draw?

36.) Which character do you have the hardest time writing/drawing?

37.) Do you write/draw for one specific iteration, or multiple?

38.) Do you generally stick close to canon, or diverge from it?

39.) Do you have any TMNT OCs?

40.) Do you give the turtles tails?

[hollyberry06]

So explain to me…

How watching a character arc in a fuckin anime put a ton of shit I’ve been struggling with into perspective? To the point where I actually feel significantly better?