#which isn't the vibe from the real dude or the character so far

[clevervonskelli]

I can take them making the Crosby/Landra thing explicit (even when keeping it vague would have been very doable and truer to his own memoir) but him pushing her about what she actually was doing was annoying. The call we'll see next week is fine, but whining about it in a pub instead of just being like "haha pretty sure my badass former-roomate is a spy, crazy times we live in, ammirite?" rubbed me the wrong way.

[aeithalian]

Rick. Buddy. Amigo. Explain something to me. Real quick, I promise.

[The Trials of Apollo: The Tower of Nero, Chapter 4]

Good genetic package, Rick/Apollo? Are you sure about that?

Listen.

Estelle's physical description *clap* makes *clap* no *clap* sense. Why on earth does one of the only fully human characters in this series have to have unique and weird physical traits? Also, it makes no sense in the larger scope of Rick's writing style to have chosen this unless he had some sort of larger intention behind it. Not to mention the theories by fans haven't really done much to fully flesh out any perceivable reason as to why this might be:

Poseidon blessed Sally when she was pregnant - By far, this is the most believable to me, but it's still eh, because this feels very weird and I don't get the vibes from Poseidon that he would have done so to the extent that it shows up in Estelle's physical traits. Also if that were true, it doesn't make sense for Rick to just fully drop it in the story without the intention to flesh it out further, because to my knowledge he doesn't have plans for another novel that takes place after ToA.

Paul isn't Estelle's father - Firstly, this is out of character for Sally, and this doesn't fully justify why Estelle has Percy's eyes. PLUS, salt-and-pepper hair still wouldn't be natural for a newborn

Paul is Poseidon in disguise - This explains her traits the best, but Paul's character is so much more satisfying if this isn't true. It's also total bullshit.

Enter me. I have a theory. Yay. But first, we must discuss.

Firstly, I want to talk about her eyes. Going back to the theories, and based on my fair amount of knowledge of genetics (clarification: I write this as I procrastinate studying for my final genetics exam), the eyes are mostly interesting because Apollo specifies that they are immediately similar Percy's. The thing about eye genetics, though, is that they are what we consider to be 'complex traits', meaning that they are influenced by the interactions of multiple genes from both parents. What I mean to point out here is that Sally could definitely have the genes to produce two children with 'sea-green' eyes, considering her canonical eye color is blue. We don't know what Paul's eye color is, which makes my job a whole lot easier because I can assume that it doesn't directly contradict the possibility that Sally just has really strong eye genes (?). ALSO, who's to say that Poseidon didn't just change his eye color to match Percy's when he was born? Ah, yes, the perks of having a shapeshifting dad who seemingly loves you and your eye color a lot (but is still absentee, WHOOPS).

But what I actually found the most interesting about Estelle was her hair color. More specifically, the fact that Apollo says he's never seen an infant with that color hair. And we know Apollo is somewhat of an unreliable narrator (although this rarely affects his descriptions of people other than himself, and has also mostly evolved into a more honest narration since the end of book 3), but I believe we're supposed to trust this dude who just so happens to have been alive for over four millennia. Based on Apollo's previous descriptions of his own powers (see his conversations with Percy in TTC, when he pulls a Mufasa and basically admits to seeing everything the light touches), we know that Apollo knows and has seen a lot of stuff. So, how is this the first time he's seemingly witnessed this type of hair mutation?

I did some research, as one does. To me, it seems as if Estelle has what's called Griscelli syndrome, which is a type of rare autosomal genetic mutation that typically results in phenotypic hypopigmentation of the skin and hair. (It can also result in neurological disorders and immunodeficiency, based on the type, but I digress.) It's also pretty rare, considering both parents have to be carriers, and even then the child still has a one in four chance of being affected. Current statistics from the NIH say that Griscelli syndrome currently presents in less than 1000 Americans, and is rapidly fatal in 1-4 years without aggressive treatment.

That sad note aside, it's weird to me that the way Rick wrote Estelle's physical description makes it seem as if Apollo had never seen anything similar. I feel like a god of both medicine and knowledge would probably be a bit more up to speed with rare genetic disorders, especially because he's so old. The only explanations are that Apollo, in his mortal state, can't make a diagnosis, OR what he's seeing isn't actually something he can diagnose.

FURTHERMORE, from the same chapter, Apollo says something that muddies the waters even further:

It doesn't make sense that Apollo thinks that Zeus would take such an interest in Estelle. Her nature alone doesn't make me think that the king of the gods would take a sudden interest in a literal newborn, regardless of how much Apollo loves her (and honestly, I don't blame him).

What I think? Rick pulled the strings just tight enough that he has a very interesting plot point to go off of if he ever decides to pick up the pen again and write a new book.

What I think? Estelle doesn't have Griscelli syndrome, she is in much more danger than anyone realizes, and Apollo's subconscious put this together from the second he saw her.

Actually, let's rewind. I'm in the process of writing a fic (stay tuned!) and I had a random thought: do the Greeks have an apocalypse story? You know, like Ragnarök in the Norse mythos, and the Revelation stories in the Bible.

The answer? They don't. I guess that's what you get when the Greco-Roman gods are fully immortal and literally can't be killed.

That didn't stop the rabbit hole, though, and what I found was actually very interesting and I couldn't believe what I was reading.

I give you: Hesiod. More specifically, his poem Works and Days. More more specifically, his 'ages of man'. More more more specifically, the iron age.

For context, Hesiod was an ancient Greek poet who lived in the 8th century BC, and was walking right along with Homer in terms of fame at the time. The poem Works and Days is actually more of a really long Facebook post where he complains about anything and everything, especially in his section on the ages of man.

In summary, Hesiod wrote about what he perceived to be the five stages of human life since the creation of mankind by Zeus' hand:

gold: perfect in every way, pious, and blessed by the gods

silver: real bitches, the ugly middle child, so Zeus killed them

bronze: were so violent they wiped each other out

heroic: golden child, contained the heroes of the Greek mythos

iron: middle-aged men still living in their mom's basement

Hesiod wrote his poem during what he perceived to be the Iron age (it's really just him complaining about being born in the wrong generation), but he ends up listing a lot of qualities: 'everyone works too hard, the gods hate us, nobody respects family values anymore', blah blah blah.

I know what you're thinking: Tia, what does this have to do with an apocalypse?

Well, dear reader, bear with me. You see, every time Zeus didn't like an age of mankind, or it became too violent, or it generally wasn't pious enough, Zeus wouldn't hesitate to destroy that race and start over. Basically, an apocalypse.

So, you may ask a new question: what is the criteria for Zeus to destroy the Iron age? And, assuming that this is the age we're currently in, what would it take for Zeus to destroy everything our beloved Riordanverse characters know and love?

My friend, that is where Estelle comes in. Yes, a baby.

Take this excerpt regarding the Iron age:

"And Zeus will destroy this race of mortal men also when they come to have grey hair on the temples at their birth."

I think you see where I'm going with this.

My theory? Estelle, in her unique position as a bridge between not just the mortals and the demigods (eg. her relationship with Percy), but also the mortals and the gods (eg. her great impression on Apollo), is a living, breathing prophecy. A prophecy that the end is nigh for this current age of mankind.

Furthermore, I also think that Apollo made this connection, somewhere in the back of his mind, the very second he realized that her hair was entirely unique. According to Hesiod (who Apollo also mentions later in the book, so we know he knows who Hesiod is), the day that babies are born with gray hair (or, salt-and-pepper for the sake of the theory) is the second Zeus basically get the go-ahead to commit genocide.

This also brilliantly explains why Apollo suddenly, and seemingly without reason, makes to keep Estelle's existence a secret from Zeus, because he knows that it might be the easiest way to get everyone he knows and loves killed by his own father for "the greater good" as I'm sure Zeus will put it. Plus, in his mortal state, Rick didn't have to explain why Apollo did what he did, since Apollo's been having memory issues since the beginning of the series: why would he remember one line from a poem written almost three thousand years ago?

Frankly, Zeus doesn't care about mortals: the only reason he really cares about anyone is if they have enough power to threaten his own, or if they have some sort of power he can benefit from. This, certainly, falls under the category of the latter. Wouldn't you want a chance to remake humanity into the perfect image that it used to be? You would, if you hadn't gone through a five book long grow-a-conscience speedrun like our lovely Apollo over here.

Fortunately for Rick, this is such an outrageous theory that if it never comes to fruition, I won't be surprised. If he ever writes something similar, though, know I called it first.

EDIT: here's the fic i mentioned i was (am) writing

EDIT: a masterlist of my other metas

(I occasionally update this theory with more evidence, so here is the most up-to-date version.)

[razzledazzlebeach]

I Don't understand the Negan Hype?

After Dead City was announced (which I, for the record, have not seen), many people have argued that if we watch TWD from Negan's perspective, we would think Rick's group were the villains. And that I do understand to an extent. Negan was hurting and guilty over his wife's death, and needed to find a way to survive, so he began to assert himself into the group he was in, eventually declaring himself as leader, just as Rick did in season 2, going as far as saying that it wasn't a democracy anymore.

()

Okay, so they both made themselves leaders for the greater good, I can vibe with that. It's the next bit where this argument gets lost on me. Obviously, they both begin to make calls for the group, and these decisions are where their likeness starts to disappear. Negan would kill and enslave people to show that he was a top dog, and nobody would defy him. Even if he was doing this for survival, it still seems super evil to me. He forced several women to "marry him" (ew) by threatening their lovers. For all Rick said about the group not being a democracy anymore, he still listened to the group and his family, he wasn't forcing them into anything, he just ignored suggestions he knew would get the people he cared about hurt. No matter what, survival in a world like TWD is going to be brutal. One of its biggest themes is that you literally can't avoid killing others (Which we saw with Morgan's entire character arc). But bashing people's skulls in with a baseball bat? really? And we know very well that Negan never actually felt any remorse about Glenn or Abraham, which he practically stated in black and white in S10 EP22. He genuinely thought it had to happen.

()

Another thing that comes up a lot is the mass killing of one of Negan's outposts. "Rick's groups murdered a bunch of people unprovoked just like Negan did." And yeah, those murders were very awful, especially since they had just met the people of Hilltop and had no actual encounters with the dude. They mostly just wanted the stuff Hilltop had to offer, while conveniently taking out a potential threat. Although it obviously wasn't a righteous or correct decision, they way they did it spoke volumes about their characters. They did it quickly and quietly when they were sleeping. But most importantly, even though they were killing those people on the pretext of survival, they still felt sick doing it. They had guilt and regret. They didn't show off or revel in the pain they were causing.

In seasons 10 - 11 he starts to become a likable character, I can see that, I just don't know how people overlook the fact that he hasn't really changed. We saw it when he admitted he felt no regret for Glenn and Abraham, and we saw that when he made Daryl get on his knees and put a gun to his head while admitting he missed the power he had. Of course, he let Daryl go, and saved Judith, and the dog, but a few redeeming acts does not change the contents of a character. That was never supposed to be a turning point for him.

(This next point is slightly out of the blue, sorry for the whiplash, Maggie was just really annoying me in S11)

As much as I dislike Negan, I know that Maggie had no right to expect him to save her on the train in S11. She had literally just told him she would be trying to kill him any chance she got, then was shocked when he didn't try and pull her up. THAT is what survival is, not bashing people's skulls in with glee.

Another point to make real quick, I don't think Negan was ever meant to be a "good" character. Before the apocalypse, he was literally cheating on his wife. Negan is an incredibly complex character and is so interesting to watch, there were many moments when he was loving and cared for others, and maybe he isn't pure evil, but he is still a terrible person, who shouldn't be forgiven.

Anyways, I really want to hear other's opinions on this, I genuinely want to understand him better, please don't take this maliciously or get heated!

Edit: it just occurred to me that Negan used such a classic abuser manipulation technique. Daryl punches Negan, Negan kills Glenn, tells the group they made him do it. "I'm not the bad guy okay?? You made me do this!"

[splat20]

Another part of Icewind Dale that's been fucking grueling so far though... Ngl a part of me is actually fascinated by the historical fantasy worldbuilding done by A Certain Kind Of History Dude who clearly has no idea how history has ever actually worked. The hoops they jump through to convince you that history has never been what might be called "political" is, in its own way, kind of impressive.

Conflict has never been about stuff like colonialism, it's all about nebulous human themes like Tradition. Conflict is about Economy and Economy never involves anything like class or culture. Only trout. The entire machinations of this society revolves ONLY around trout. (I'm now genuinely harping about the trout, it's just really dumb ok.) Conflict is about different groups just being fundamentally different, usually with a clear evil one. Conflict is about all groups being greedy about THEIR FUCKING TROUT because it's just a nebulous human condition to be greedy. Racist also. And poor people are just poor because they aren't ambitious, as a little aside.

It's so...... ashistorical but also deeply uncurious about our own actual real life world right now.

So many "high" fantasy books are like this. The Certain Kind Of History Dudes have too much power in this genre. They get praised for their worldbuilding and it's just the most shallow understanding of how anything works ever.

And more nefarious is the way this seemingly innocent ignorance so quickly and easily justifies stuff like "well, it's totally chill for good guys to kill bad guys... because they're from a bad guy society." Drizzt will tie himself in knots if he has to kill the worst human you can possibly imagine, but swats down random orcs no problem. The way that seemingly creates no cognitive dissonace at all for these writers needs to be studied in a lab. It's all fun and games when we're talking about monsters, but then you think about how that translates into the real world using the exact same mechanisms and that isn't fun at all is it? The ways racist men can tell themselves they are good people follows similar mental gymnastics. Why are "humans" deserving of infinite grace and forgiveness even at their most evil but "orcs" are understood to be inherently a lost cause? Why really? What is that mechanism really? It's been particularly egregious as I'm trying to slog my way through The Crystal Shard because, like, we can generously say that the "barbarians" are based on vikings, but ngl all I'm getting from this dynamic is Salvatore playing "cowboys and indians" but with white people. The general underlying vibes... And maybe that's what I'm trying to get at with what I'm describing in the fantasy races too. If you take off the mask, it all just feels like "cowboys and indians." A trope so deeply embedded in American genre fiction which has always just been incredibly racist this whole time.

These books are such whiplash because unfortunately I do love the characters but boy I wish I could save them from these books sometimes. The Crystal Shard has been soooo much worse than the other books so far imo, so I'm hoping the series chills tf out again generally.

[spinjitsuburst]

prime empire thoughts yes please

1- the world of prime empire overall. what are your ideas about it?

I personally they should've played with the ideas of invisible walls or show us how far the game actually expended. idk maybe that's just me but like the world of prime empire in its whole looks overlooked jgsjgl like there's so much you can do.

I also wanted so bad someone from the outside to interfere with the coding or something as well idk WHY DID WE GET SO LITTLE WITH A SEASON AROUND VIDEO GAMES

2- what are you thoughts about scott? (also does he play a big role in cabinet man? (since you also requested asks about cabinet man))

Cuz I think he is greatly underrated in prime empire (but yknow maybe that's just me)

3- jay's skin. I want all your thoughts about jay's skin. Superstar Rockin Jay should've lasted for much longer or at least become a gag in the future (or yknow the fact that there was a cult created out of it)

anyway yeah I like this season a normal amount. Toootally fine with how they handled it.

Can't wait to read your thoughts about it all ( ouo)

GJHJSHFJKGHJKFDSGH HOOOOO BOY

Ideas about the world of Prime Empire as a whole

OHOHO I HAVE SOOOO MANY MY FRIEND

first of all, most if not all the NPCs have some degree of sentience. That's an idea that I think should've been driven more home by the show itself but Blazey and Okino are not the only characters in the game that have free will and the ability to think for themselves. I believe this so wholeheartedly.

Prime Empire was split into different areas that I wish were explored more (honestly a lot of this season boils down to "I wish it were explored more"): Terra Technica, Terra Karana, and Terra Domina. Terra Technica obviously is the biggest area, with the entry point for players entering the game, the Speedway Five-Billion, Scott's Garage and Jay's Club, and at least one other area for the Dance Competition mini-game. I also think this would be where most of the shops run by NPCs in the game would be.

I think most NPCs reside in this area. To really hammer home the fact that they are PEOPLE, not just assets in the game, I think they have homes within the city. Y'know how in Pokemon games (except ScarVi rip) you can just walk into people's houses and there's NPCs inside? Yea it's like that. Except the NPCs leave the houses and explore as well because they have their own thoughts and lives.

Maybe it's just cuz I've been playing Tears of the Kingdom non-stop and it's taken over my brain but I think about the open-worldness of Prime Empire in a similar manner. You can pretty much go anywhere and do anything within the world of Prime Empire. You can scale buildings (if you have the skills unlocked for it) and find secrets everywhere. And most things respawn at certain intervals so players have the chance to pick them up. Kind of like a MMOPRG sorta vibe

BUT there is a sort of thing like you mentioned above - invisible points that you just can't pass. Like the place is enclosed by some giant wall you can't see, and doesn't let you pass through. If you TRIED you would just be running in place basically, never actually getting anywhere. You can see things beyond where stuck at, but they're just for show - there's nothing actually there to interact with, it just gives the guise of depth.

Basically Prime Empire is meant to feel endless, expansive, big, real, until the reality crashes in that it definitely isn't. And sure most people wouldn't care and would have fun playing anyways, but for those who aren't interested after this illusion is broken for them, discover that hey. How do you get out of here again?

Oh right.

They can't.

And that's when people start kinda freaking out. Which I imagine then Jay or the League of Jays step in to try and calm them down and get them to relax and have fun anyways while Jay waits for the rest of the ninja to arrive.

2. Thoughts about Scott and his role in the Cabinet Man AU!

OHHH MAN I LOVE SCOTT DUDE YOU'RE RIGHT HE'S SO UNDERRATED i think he's a super fascinating character to consider in Prime Empire. Given that Unagami clearly had a plan to cube a bunch of players for his portal, he definitely would've come after Scott first. When did Scott figure this out? Did Scott and Unagami interact in-person before this? How was Scott able to evade Unagami long enough to set up his garage's stealth barrier? He's so so so interesting to me

He's clearly a kind person who wants to help people to some degree (sneaking Jay into the garage with him in the shorts, letting Jay run his club from his garage, inevitably sacrificing himself so the ninja can get away, etc.) but he's also very wary and unwilling to risk himself in a lot of ways. He and Jay clearly come to care about each other to some degree in canon, given Jay seems fairly protective of him

and Scott trusts Jay enough to let him into his personal and secret place

LIKE I DON'T THINK THAT GETS TALKED ABOUT ENOUGH. NOT ONLY DID SCOTT AGREE TO HELP JAY HIDE OUT FROM UNAGAMI BUT HE LET HIM RUN AN ENTIRE CLUB OUT OF A SECRET TUNNEL CONNECTED TO HIS GARAGE

there was no reason for Scott to have done either of these things. Was it desperation because Jay's the first person Scott's seen in 30 years? Maybe. But clearly they care about each other to some degree

as for in the cabinet man AU! Jay considers Scott an older brother type figure. He, Scott, and Unagami actually got along well when Scott first got sucked into the game (the game is a lot newer than it is in the actual show given that Jay was 8 when he entered and there is no way he was in there for 30 years lmao, Jay would've been around 16 when Scott entered the game, Scott being 18 or 19, and Jay was around 21-22 when the ninja enter the picture). Unagami was excited to prove himself and give Scott a fun game experience, after all. But y'know, once Milton Dyer realized what happened.... things soured.

Jay and Scott were pretty much on the run together from then on. They care a lot about each other and Jay's extra devastated when Scott gets cubed. Once Jay and Scott leave the game, Scott takes time to rediscover life and reunite with family, but the two stay in close contact and see each other on a weekly basis for a while. Scott's still one of the first people Jay will reach out to if he needs help or advice with something not-ninja related

3. SUPERSTAR ROCKIN' JAY AAAAAAA

okay okay okay okay so obviously you and i met through skybound content so just in case you don't know yet

i'm. a little. unhinged. about superstar rockin' jay

i have so many thoughts about jay's avatar ranging from "this is my Gender and i want to look like a fucking lego" to "WHY DIDN'T NINJAGO LET HIM KEEP ASPECTS OF THIS" to just white noise in my brain and in the center of that white noise is me rotating his minifigure in my mind

HE'S SO COOL!!! HE'S SO COOL AND I LOVE HIM AND HIS DESIGN IS INCREDIBLE LIKE OKAY okay okay okay okay blue and yellow are contrasting colors that mesh REALLY well together and I think the glamrock persona with stars and triangles and shit looks super incredible and it's just a really nice and appealing design and I think that Jay would have like a v-tuber avatar of SSR Jay after the game cuz like LOOK AT HIM. THIS IS PEAK HEGHHAGJFHKGJKJHKJFHGKJFG god im so normal

this is why people call me the ceo of superstar rockin' jay. that design is every aesthetic of mine mashed into one. i'm so obsessed with this design it consumes my core being.

at the end of the day i too. am superstar rockin' jay

i lost track of the point of this question uhhhhhhhh OH YEA I WISH THEY'D LIKE. BRING IT UP MORE OFTEN LIKE JAY WAS AN IN-GAME IDOL!! HE WAS A PERFORMER!! DID HE HAVE FANS??? IS THERE SUPERSTAR ROCKIN' JAY MERCH???????? he should exist outside of prime empire screams

anyways this was a lot of words i love prime empire i love prime empire so much it's so good and more people need to talk about it please please lpease

[eponymous-rose]

So I've been rewatching Star Trek: TNG as comfort TV during/post-move and just got to Yesterday's Enterprise, which I remember liking well enough, but man, it's really unusual in the context of the rest of these early episodes. For one thing, the violence shown is a lot more stark than we've seen in the show thus far - Riker with his throat cut, Captain Garrett with the metal shrapnel in her head, lingering close-ups on dead faces. It's dark and moody and the "happy ending" resolution (as far as we know at this point, anyway) is saving the few survivors of a brutal battle, patching them up, and then shipping them straight back into that battle to be killed.

Given the show's not-so-great track record with its female characters, it's weirdly refreshing that we get a re-do for Tasha Yar. And yeah, she falls in love with a dude and goes off with him on his ship, but she was ready to say goodbye to him and that would've been that - what finally prompts her to step willingly into the meat-grinder is the realization that she had an "empty death" (Guinan had some really raw lines in this one) in the other timeline, and that now her death can have some meaning. It's nicely done, if a bit of a self-flagellating "mea culpa" on the writers' parts.

The alternate timeline isn't the gleeful, campy evil of the Mirrorverse, it's just an exhausted grind through the final days of a losing war. Lots of little touches show how desperate things have become - Wesley's been fast-tracked to a full ensign, Picard is a tactician first and foremost (he takes officers' opinions under advisement, yes, but he's also keeping from them the inevitable, imminent surrender), the bridge is laid out so the captain is front and center with everyone else in the background. As a contrast with the actual Enterprise's chill 90s living room lounge vibe, it's pretty striking. It's like a sneak preview into the bleak and war-heavy sci-fi that would start saturating pop culture a decade or so later, and then it's a firm rejection of that premise - "This isn't a ship of war. It's a ship of peace."

I have a long, long history with TNG - DS9 is my favorite Trek on balance, but TNG is encoded in my DNA. From around ages 3 and 5, my brother and I were watching and rewatching TNG constantly. (My parents would laugh over the fact that my brother didn't know how to read yet but had memorized the episode titles of the first couple seasons.) We had pajamas. We scoured every garage sale and had a giant metal can full of action figures and phasers and tricorders and ships and even, shockingly, that transporter toy that made things disappear using mirrors.

The tactile experience of those toys is burned in my brain - the loose nacelles on the Enterprise model, the click of the left phaser button, the little hole at the bottom of the Borg cube that we once stuck a pencil in and had the tip of the graphite snap off and rattle around forevermore. My brother and I played incessantly with our action figures, to the point where most of them had the paint at least partially rubbed off - we created hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of new episodes over the years. The first time I ever used a touchscreen was at some sort of Star Trek exhibition in Canada in the early 90s that we stumbled across on our way to visit my grandparents.

I'm always fascinated by how kids interact with fictional media - my brother and I were so young, but we obviously knew Star Trek wasn't real. Except... I just always assumed that important people watched it, realized "well, that seems nice", and were actively working to make that future happen. I was (perhaps a little embarrassingly) older when I realized that no, we weren't gonna be out there on science missions to the stars during my lifetime. At least, not in an Enterprise kind of way.

At any given time, there's just this Star Trek filter over how I experience the world - when I got to go to college thanks to scholarships, I had that weighty feeling of responsibility and awe that came with daydreaming about Starfleet Academy. I saw my career shift from the gold of engineering to the blue of science to the red of command. And the older I get, the more I appreciate a show that, for all its flaws, managed to make a utopia interesting and complex.

Because TNG was such a phenomenon when I was a little kid in the early 90s, a lot of my family relationships also have TNG tied up in them. I remember going to my grandparents' apartment and my uncle showing us a fan magazine about the show. I remember another uncle who didn't really "get it" but gifted me and my brother astronaut ice cream because he knew we liked that space stuff. I remember watching most episodes curled up on the couch or my parents' bed with my brother and my mom and dad. When Mom got sick and we talked about death, I remember the way she wistfully brought up the Nexus from Generations or how she hoped she could see the next season of Picard (she didn't, sadly, but she really enjoyed that first season). Hell, one of the first real bonding moments I had with my otherwise hyper-professional and businesslike PhD advisor was when she made a TNG joke, I laughed at it, and she said, "I just love that show, everyone's so nice to each other."

It's just been a lot of fun coming back to this show, is all. I think I periodically forget how much it's affected me and the extent to which it was a fundamental, formative influence. While a lot of it either hasn't aged well or fails to hold up to modern media analysis, so much of it is still lovely, and occasionally there are these moments of shockingly good storytelling.

Star Trek good.

[comicgeekery]

Sherlock & Co. : The Lion's Mane

I just listened to The Three Students and it gave me the brain fever for this podcast again. Here's my thoughts on The Lion's Mane episodes! 1000 kudos to the writers for making The Lion's Mane actually interesting. It's long been my least favorite Sherlock Holmes story, mostly because it's really stupid. Doyle really cemented the trope of "dude who dies muttering the most obscure possible clue about his death". We get "speckled band", "Ballarat", and "lion's mane" where it would have made way more sense to say "Something bit me", "dick Aussie", and "a goddamn jellyfish"! I appreciate the subversion Doyle did of making it look like there could be a murder but for once it's just an accident, but...it just always super contrived. Anyway, S&C did a brilliant job revamping that story! An entirely new setting, a genuinely intriguing mystery, fascinating cultural exploration, and a solution that was beautifully layered, offering solid twists for new fans and listeners familiar with the original story. I honestly had no idea if an actual jellyfish would be involved by the end, there were so many "lion's mane" red herrings! Then, when there was, there were still very much actual crimes happening! Also, the narration, acting, and music were really on point for conveying the wonder of the sea of jellyfish. Way to make a visual work for an audio medium, team! And smaller detail: We're getting more hints that Mariana's got some secrets. She was obviously reflecting on some stuff that the isolated, insular Scottish town brought up. I'm looking forward to finding out more about her. My only criticism of this adventure is the long bit about Harry Potter stuff. After the transphobic associations of A Case of Identity, I'm really nervous about this podcast being a trans-friendly one. And, sadly, I don't think JKR's work can be suitable separated from her awful, hateful activism. Promoting Harry Potter helps give her more money to put toward passing transphobic legislation and otherwise promoting hate. Besides that, queer content has been pretty minimal on Sherlock & Co. As far as I recall there's only been one explicitly queer character, Sherlock's old friend in The Gloria Scott. It just...has me teetering about whether or not I'm safe listening to this show. I know I've said before that I deeply hope Sherlock and John get together on it by the end, but it's been a long time since I've noticed any vibes that felt flirty between them. Maybe this really is another show where they'll just be friends. Which would be valid, just disappointing. But I hope it isn't at the price of realizing this was never a show for me. Hmm. Wow, real downer of a thought to end this post on! Guess my brain went places! Anyway, The Lion's Mane was overall fantastic and I'm glad I got to hear such a complex re-imagining of the story!

[starleska]

Heya! I am sorry if you aren't looking for f/o's now or anything, or if I accidently like... Submit this wrong or something. But uhh... I saw that you like scientists, and although this character isn't a scientist, he IS a doctor so it might be in the same range?

He's this weird, creepy goober from a game/manga/anime called Angels of Death, and his name is Dr. Daniel Dickens. He's like, REALLY obsessed with eyes and a specific type, to the point of killing people to collect them. It all comes from his backstory and such. Without spoiling too much, he was born with only one eye, and he was bullied relentlessly for it. A lot more happened, but I believe that was a big part in creating his eye obsession, at least in the manga. He's a creepy dude, but I LOVE HIM SO MUCH FOR IT OMG- He's so like... skrunkly imo. He can be very sweet looking one moment, then terrifying the next! I think his eyes look beautiful, too, and I have always wondered what his life would've been like if he was shown so much more love and affection in the past, which I wholeheartedly believe he deserved! He was such a sweet child from what I have seen, so far, but nobody could really look past his appearance.

I don't have a picture of him, plus, he looks slightly different in each iteration of Angels of Death, but I love him SO MUCH and I want to know what you think of him (if you know enough about him, that is). Again, sorry if I maybe formatted this wrong, or you already had him suggested and made a post about him, but I just love him so much! I love my creepy doctor goober! ❤️

hello lovely!!! i hope you're having a stellar day 🥰💖 thank you so much for sending this fascinating fella in, aaa!!!! i absolutely love getting long gushing asks about characters i know nothing about - it's just so wonderful getting to share in your love!! and it's clear you have a great deal of love for this doctor 😉

wow!!!!! okay okay i went and did some reading and watching and oh man this guy is a freak 🥴💖 i am genuinely so disturbed but in a great way - fella's got a real fixation, doesn't he? i've gotta say, i adore his aesthetic - you're right, doctors are well up my alley 😖 but oh my god the glass eye with the double irises and pupils??? that's sick as hell!!!!

i see what you mean about him being sweet one second and creepy the next…i adore the disturbing yandere types, so thank you very much 😳😳 i used to be a big fan of Conway from Pokémon, and he's giving those vibes!!! 🔥🔥

what do i think of him? i want to know more!!! i don't want to go reading too much in case i get spoiled for any iteration, but Dr. Daniel Dickens is - and i hope you'll forgive the pun - eye-catching 😉💖 i am sure he would just love to gaze deep into your beautiful eyes, hm? :3c

[blackstarchanx3new]

FSR Rambles 7 days

Have you considered I've gone mad.

Wacky perhaps?

It's the gay ass forest scene bitches and my long winded thoughts.

WELCOME TO MY GAMER PAD. SORRY FOR THE MESS I JUST GET SO TILTED AT THE TOWERS.

Shadow Link calling VIO weird is so funny to me. Just casual spying. Nothing weird. Noticing every tiny detail about him...Nothing weird.

Shadow related to Vio and that's why he went for him over any of the others. XD

Let's go down the list shall we?~

Red's too much of a crybaby to even consider humoring not suitable for the darkness too much of a wuss. Sorry Red we're thinking with Shadow's logic here, also Red's a big baby.

Blue's too much of an arrogant hot head and I imagine Shadow would assume they'd butt heads too much to work with cleanly. Also, Shadow would be in range to be smacked with a hammer and that sounds unpleasant. Though I do think Blue would be a close second considering he could have his anger pointed at the other 3... Shadow could be like "Oh you know, the other 3 are just too...combative with your greatness"

Green's too much of a goody too shoes. Also I love the vibe we all get that he kinda HATES Green. X'D

(This is like, a prevalent idea in the fandom and I find it hysterical despite me ya know...Shipping Green x Vio x Shadow X'D Shadow tries to get along with everybody more in FSR though)

That leaves the quiet angsty one that already seems to be having doubts going through similar emotional struggles as Shadow Link.

Which one would YOU pick? X'D The choice is obvious.

I brought this up on the actual comic post but I'll bring it up again: I also think the timing for them being split up is very...Sus on Shadow's part. Like, I think Shadow split them up to talk to Vio alone and get the other 3 in parrel imo. And waited till Vio was tired from fighting through the forest to confront him. Everyone else's scenes take place during the day, Vio's is at night. Considering Shadow's the one who presumably used magic to split them up and swiped Red's sword right off his back we know the dude is following em around.

Just a set up page. leads into the next scene. There's not a lot special to say about it. Vio recognizes "Oh shit this isn't right" right away.

I like the last 2 panels of Shadow just waiting for Vio cause he's in control of the situation.

Dark Link finally says something of substance. About himself anyways.

So far he's only been repeating people's insecurities back at them, you'd be forgiven for assuming that he doesn't HAVE a character of his own. Nope he does. XD

He reveals he's sneaking through Shadow's memories which is something he's surprised he can do. Shadow's previous assumption that the curse doesn't affect him at all is wrong considering this information...Or perhaps Dark Link can just comb through anyone's insecurities. We'll see...

We get a panel of what Shadow looks like in the headspace. He has the scar on his chest visible lol. FSR Shadow has a scar from the Four Sword blast he takes in the manga's events. Because angst that's why. Also Vio and Shadow are together, but this was mainly done to show they were together in the real world. Dark Link isn't directly talking to Shadow here like he did with Vio and Green. He's just watching. Menacingly!!!!

Dark Link thinks of Shadow Link as a "Traitor" to his "Master" Vaati.

Conformation he is FOR SURE working for Vaati and not just and extension of Vaati.

He not so slyly mentions he'd rather read with and hug Vio than work...showing a weird urge to be close to the four sword wielders. Which is amusing considering the hug he gave Vio earlier ended in Dark Link strangling him and his hug with Green wasn't very pleasant for Green.

He also whines he doesn't wanna work at all. Realizing he should pay more attention to the flashback lol.

So he's for sure odd.

He really likes hugs and wants to have fun with the Four Swords gang, even though eh doesn't care for how THEY feel during his "Fun".

His body language suggests he's just relaxing and amused.

We don't get a lot to work with for him as of now.

Somebody described him as "pining" in this scene and I find that fucking hilarious so I'd thought I'd mention it. I've drawn him a shit ton with swift violets dude is down bad for Vio. X'D

Back to Vidow- X'D

Shadow further relates to Vio's feelings of being alone and Vio notices his mistake. I've mentioned before but DAMN does he look SAD in the pages where Shadow talks to him: Cause like again. He's not talking bad about Vio at least not directly.

He's insulting the other 3 and gassing Vio up as better but Vio's inability to fit in with HIMSELF really hurts and someone like SHADOW of all people being able to see right through that has to hurt even more.

Anyways I've brought this up again a million times but I find it interesting Shadow doesn't do the typical "Join us" speech of

"You're worthless without the darkness" Rather he says more along the lines of

"You're already great, join the darkness because you're wasting your greatness with those losers"

Like maybe this is normal (The pool of media I engage with is rather small.) but I'm so used to villains telling heroes how shit they are to their face rather than pumping them up. It's a very interesting approach and following Shadow's character later through the manga this is just another reason why I think he was being genuine to some degree when he approached Vio.

I'd go with it was pure manipulation: If Shadow didn't continue to blow smoke up Vio's ass through the rest of their time together. X'D Like if it was "Oh I told you how great you are now I'm gonna shit talk you to show you I'm better" but nah, he like, just keeps being nice lmfao.

We see him snap when Vio lifts the sword up when it shines brightly but I see that as a fear response rather than him like actually mad or trying to put Vio down, he comes off as more anxious than angry to me in that scene? Because he repeats Vio's on their side and when Vio affirms he IS he calms right the fuck back down. Gave him a mini heart attack Vio lol.

Anyways back to what's going on in FSR:

The realization "Oh shit I let my guard down around him" is also a mortifying thought. Like think of how CLOSE Vio LET Shadow get to him. He didn't push him off in the English anyways he just weakly tells Shadow to let go of him. He has a sword, right in his hand lmao. Bro could have like, took an actual swing or smth He points his sword at him but that wasn't a genuine attempt to hit him. but the second Shadow KNEW he wouldn't After he pushed the sword away in the most gay way possible he just kept getting closer and closer and VIO LET HIM.

LIKE.

BRO.

HELLO?

DO SOMETHING?

Nah. Shadow's words make him DROP HIS WEAPON.

The urge to fight Shadow off completely lost. Dude lowkey just gave up.

Benefit of the doubt here for Vio: Fighting Shadow in the woods is a bad idea because Vio is weakened from fighting monsters all day, he's alone They got their asses beat at Hyrule castle with one swing of his sword and there was four of them, but letting him get close is ALSO a bad idea. X'D

Shadow's in a good mood and maybe Vio just didn't wanna piss him off Counter argument, he draws his sword in the first place Shadow could have flew into a rage over just that but this bitch is dangerous Vio, and he STILL drops his guard lol. I just find how Vio handled the woods scene very interesting it really shows the weaknesses he has.

Haha so I've made 2 super gay continuations of this scene but this is a more serious take on it.

Vio's PANICING because the terror is setting in and Shadow keeps pushing.

And then he says it, the thing!

"Wouldn't it just be easier to kill me"

AND YEAH VIO YA GOT A GOOD POINT. WHY DIDN'T HE?

I've already pointed this out: but the very idea Shadow wants to befriend one rather than outright killing all four is very interesting.

He wants a friend so bad it's sad.

None of the Hinoxes or vaati's minions are like, beings he could consider "Friends" Which is sad. Vaati and Ganon aren't his friends. One's his boss and another is a guy who bosses him around lmfao. And in FSR is an abusive dad figure

Rather: Befriending an enemy is an easier option than trusting/befriending his own team. Like ouch. We KNOW from the manga he outright states Vio's the first person he can trust. He doesn't feel he can trust Vaati or Ganon which is just OUCH.

Further: The recruitment plan requires SO MUCH MORE EFFORT than just killing Vio while he's vulnerable which Vio brings up here.

Shadow slyly mocks this notion bringing up just how heartless that'd be. Comparing them all the further.

Interesting thing to note:

Shadow also doesn't outright kill the knights and would rather make them "A big happy family in the dark world" which is interesting. Shadow's avoidance to outright kill people is probs just to keep the rating like, ya know. Not T or M but still interesting from a CHARACTER angle. The only people he outright tries to kill are the four Links. X'D

Another option: Shadow is no stranger to kidnapping. He could have just kidnapped one of them. Would that work as long as befriending one genuinely? No, probably not. Befriending one is a more "Permanent" solution unless you hide the kidnapped one somewhere they can't escape or be found. And then we loop around to "Why not just kill them?"

AU where Shadow Kidnaps Vio and they have a beauty and the beast style romance where-

Here's another stream of thought: Why bother coming to Vio AT ALL if he already has Red's sword? Which we know at this point he does. HE HAS A TRUMP CARD? if they can't get the sword back because their journey IS TIME BASED: They lose.

Why does he go for the risky option of converting one of them to the darkness at all?

And if you STILL aren't convinced this is weird ass hell Okay here's ANOTHER idea I just came up with on the fly while writing this: Steal Vio's sword too. The one Vio points right at his fucking face and he could like...yank away. Shadow doesn't even have to kill him himself if he leaves Vio defenseless in the woods.

Like here's smth as a writer I'm not sure how often regular viewers even consider: Alternate choices.

"Character A COULD have done this...but they CHOSE to do this instead" What they DON'T do says just as much as what they DO, and I'll go further into that with ANOTHER choice that makes no sense to me.

And I'm not complaining about the writing by the way I LOVE how this specifically makes no sense because it leaves the door opening to asking "WHY". And we're ignoring the explanation of "Because x has to happen for plot reasons" because we ask "IN THE BOUNDERIES OF THE STORY WHY!?" because that's more fun than "Well he can't just kill Vio because then Vio would be dead and the story would be over" okay but that's not FUN to ask/fun as a response??? What kind of soulless unfun monster do you have to be to accept that as your reality? X'D

AND WHY ARE YOU READING THE SEVENTH INSTALLMENT OF ME OVER ANALYSING THIS BOOK WHILE RANTING ABOUT MY OWN OVER ANALYZED CHOICES MAKING A FAN SEQUEL IF YOU FEEL THAT WAY LMFAO.

Anyways like have you realized just how ODD Shadow's choice to befriend Vio is yet? Like because the manga plays it off as "Oh well it just happened" We don't get to sink in just how WEIRD it is I feel??? Like ALL the reasons why brain thinks "Holy shit that's fruity" because LIKE- I'VE LAYED EM ALL OUT RIGHT THERE IT MAKES NO SENSE TO DO THIS PLAN UNLESS HE'S JUST LIKE- IN LOVE WITH HIM??? None of Shadow's choices around Vio are rational and it's hysterical.

One of my absolutely favorite lines from this update is "Have you forgotten? I'm the hero! I'm here to save you!"

Because on some level Shadow WOULD think he's saving one of them from a horrible fate being merciful and kind to one of them. If he truly wanted to befriend one. Bro is 100% legit here while being kinda mocking towards Vio's assumptions about him. Emphasizing "he just wants to help".

Vio's utterly flabbergasted/horrified face was fun. There's no thought bubble so it really leaves you to wonder what's going through his head from those words.

The "I GOT HIM! I ACTUALLY GOT HIM!" face is so hilarious to me. Like- He's so fucking giddy here it's hysterical.

Smth to point out particular to FSR Vio: Vio's tugging on Shadow here is a nod to him doing that in the library when he wordlessly wants Shadow to come closer.

I imagine Vio has a hard time talking verbally about what he wants. And he's not even too sure WHAT he wants here. He just wants to feel better.

Smth about FSR Vio specifically is he kinda just wants someone else to do the thinking for once, but feels obligated to think anyway. X'D

He's at the point of "Somebody just help me" but can't put that to words.

His smile tones down into a much more....Pleasant one. He's genuinely happy Vio's coming along lol. Friend acquired.

Shadow awards Vio with the high honor of: Keeping his sword.

Back with my insanity to speak on why as Shadow Link, THIS MAKES NO SENSE TO DO.

I find interesting that Shadow implicitly trusts Vio with smth that he SHOWS himself to be anxious about Vio keeping might I add once again...Like he let Vio keep his sword seemingly despite better judgment. If he took it along with Red's, Vio/the four sword gang would be fucked without it.

Here's my thoughts on why Shadow would let Vio keep his sword: Shadow is TRYING to show Vio he's an equal.

Because let's think of it in story land perspective: Vio only uses his sword in 2 scenes that are like RELIVANT before Shadow tries to burn Vio and takes the sword anyway: *The one where his sword glows (If they're already hanging out with Red's sword in Vaati's pad this could have been kept in imo) *Where he fights Green

It'd be easy to write around Shadow letting him keep his sword.

"Surrender your sword to lord vaati to prove your devotion" or smth.

But nah. he's just allowed to keep it for whatever reason.

Shadow always could have just given him a different sword and confiscated the Four Sword but was like: Nope, you get to keep it.

Like again: This choice is odd no matter how you slice it so it makes me think Shadow wanted to show he sees Vio as an equal by letting him keep the weapon that could be used against them.

Or perhaps: It's short sightedness: "Well we have Red's sword so yours is kinda useless" I'm up for either interpretation really. (If you haven't noticed, I'm open to a LOT of angles from FS because I'm not SUPER narrow in my analysis.

Unlike some people who need to lighten up lmfao. Good god I've seen some people seemingly act defensive about FSR specific ideas...And I can't tell if they're just talking ABOUT me/FSR but like: Bro I'm so open to alt ideas as long as somebody isn't a dick. And you'd know that if you read these, FSR is SPECIFICALLY about the choices and ideas I've decided make the most sense/the most fun route to go down because unlike a lot of people I hold the idea of "If it isn't outright stated it's not cannon" so ANYTHING outside of the author's written page ISN'T CANNON. Literally I never claim any of my rambles are cannon do I think some things are true? Hell yeah, but they aren't conformed at the end of the day lmfao but I'm an artists and I can draw what I want so I got the power to make shit real in it's own way. They're inspections of the cannon and interpretations. I can never be Akira Himikawa and the translators who translated their work to english. I question their choices ALL THE DAMN TIME I can't even get close to fully getting inside their heads. (It's been SO LONG since they made this manga I doubt they remember every single dialogue/expression choice they made and WHY.)

Even the English translation's cannon-ness is up for fucking debate in my eyes, FSR is SO out of the realm of cannon/cannon adjacent it's hysterical. Because my ideas aren't "The one true right and correct ones" they're not even close. Nobody's are. ONLY AKIRA'S ARE BECAUSE THEY MADE IT. Apart of why FSR is so wonky is because it's going off the wonky Viz translation NOT THE OG Japanese! (I'd love to translate FSR into Japanese at some point, but as I've stated in the past it'd be based on the Japanese manga so wording/some things would outright be different lmfao)

Why are some people such freaks about this? X'D I don't engage with FS media that I find butchers the characters but I don't like to rant about it for the most part because getting mad at someone else's interpretation is kinda goofy considering how open the source material IS. Gatekeepy fandom culture is weird. Enough said.

This goes back to my: Link is as fluid as a Vocaloid.

and the "you will never make something as close to the OG as the author would" arguments.

And sometimes even AUTHORS butcher sequels by seemingly forgetting their own characters. (Akira is not an example of this but still)

Anyways back to the page:

Vio's just kinda broken on auto piolet at this point, thoughtlessly thanking Shadow for picking up his sword and walking as Shadow drags him along. Shadow's basically SKIPPING with delight at this revelation.

He "saved "one. And now they can both be true heroes! :D How nice how fun! Vio joined the party!~

I will mention Shadow's so wrapped up in how happy he is he's kinda neglecting how Vio feels about the situation. At least right away.

Shadow's excited to immediately get him into the loop. Shadow's biggest character trait in scenes with Vio imo is his naivety.

Vio's bamboozled at his own actions. Reflecting. It's like he's watching from a 3rd person perspective as he's making shitty choices. X'D

"Crap why AM i going with him????"

Like he realizes in real time he's not doing anything to stop Shadow, he didn't in the moment and now here we are.

And then "This was hopeless from the start huh?" coming to grips with his situation, deciding going with Shadow is for the best for now but not as his ally as nobodies ally. He's alone.

Shadow makes an effort to soothe Vio's anxieties. In his own way of course. He just assumes Vio's got butterflies lmao.

Pushing down Vaati not so casually. XD

Vio starts to pretend outright here. Making his choice that he and Shadow aren't pals.

Vio knows what he's doing right now is cruel but decides it's what he "Needs" to do.

Haha sounds like our Vio.

He realizes he just doesn't go about things the way Link would, or how the rest would.

He also dampens his expectations. He doesn't know the other's situations. So he assumes they're all fucking dead and he can't rely on them lmao. He really feels alone. Cutting himself off when he realizes the very idea they could be alive is an optimistic idea considering he knows ONE of them doesn't have their sword from Shadow's sly remark.

Diving into head cannons again: Feel like he'd be more worried if he knew for sure in this moment it was Red. X'D Cause like: I combed through the manga awhile back, Vio seems to have the best relationship with Red out of all of them? When I was seeking for "moments where Vio was touched by someone else other than Shadow" I noticed he pats Red lovingly on the head and is the one to save Red from getting crushed by the eye monster. We don't get like, VERBAL interactions from them but from the context clues I'd say Vio got along with Red the most.

Vio ended up in the most direct danger in the woods, Link waltzed into the pyramid Shadow didn't put him in there so that doesn't count. X'D I'd say Blue was in the 2nd most dangerous position considering the elements could kill his ass.

Vio's going off his own experience here on if he thinks the others are okay.

"I am surrounded by idiots" taken to the extreme.

"but even if I'm the only one here I'll still do what needs to be done"

Real Mikasa's speech after losing Arin from the Struggle for Trost arc vibes I realize. X'D

False confidence at best and lying.

He dampens his own desires just to do what needs to be done. His devotion to Zelda more important. Saving Zelda all that matters.

I really wanna dive into Vio's relationship with Zelda. (Feel like it'll be more prominent in the stories AFTER FSR's main story if we get that far sadly agh.)

[bloomingdead]

“I was kidding about being a ship hater but I also want to blast Ereloy fans with my eye beams and insult their favorite character character by calling him ugly.” Whatever, dude. If you want to remain toxic and bitter, that’s on you.

bruh took everything i said out of context and harped on my ugly erend joke (he is). i do wanna blast u diehards w my eye beams!!! gtfo of here! erend is still one of my favorite characters, and he's obviously the closest friend aloy has at this point (maybe other than her sister but imo they're still working on bringing closeness to their relationship).

people really seem to think that because i find shipping him with aloy inappropriate, and you guys greasy for doing it, that i must hate him. i don't. he's charming, with a way about him that's hard to ignore (himbo energy). he tries his best to be there for the people he cares about and loves super hard. he's great at public speaking and rallying people to his cause, whatever that may be in the moment. he's incredibly loyal to his job even if that means bending avad's requests to fit what he deems most important in the moment. plus avad respects him so much that he doesn't care!! and his underlings on the vanguard will NOT let go of the crush he had in hzd, to his humiliation as we see the confrontation with aloy followed by his drunkenness at barren light. he has good taste in music, the soul of a metalhead, and a heart of gold. he lost his sister as aloy came into his life, and there's every context clue to show that this crush fizzled out as he came to respect aloy more as an equal. he said something along the lines of "i thought i was a bigshot talking to a pretty girl from a tiny tribe... now i see i was lucky just to get a minute of your time" and the ereloys takes this as some proclamation of love when to me and many others it comes off as a transition within their relationship towards mutual respect and appreciation.

let's be real about who's truly bitter. you old bitches who keep trying to ship aloy with a man at least 10 years her senior, or those of us who just want to enjoy the game for what it is without diehard shippers telling us what was literally written into the story by its creators is wrong. just because he's age appropriate for you doesn't mean it's okay that you project so much onto aloy that you can't remember she's at most 20yo. or the contrary, you're so fuckin young that you can't see how inappropriate it is because they all seem like old ass adults to you. it just gives "you're really mature for your age" vibes. ew. not to mention, as one of my lovely anons did, that this spike in hetero ship content for aloy happened AFTER seyka was introduced. >inb4 "a BiSeXuAl WoMaN iN a ReLaTiOnShIp WiTh A sTr8 mAn Is sTiLl QuEeR" bffr, as a (now out&proud lesbian, i must add) woman who's dated hetero men in the past, does that man know he's in a queer relationship or consider it to be one because his girl is? in the case of erend and the nuances in his character which are intended to relate to a type of man we all know, (that you guys bulldoze with your hc's,) fuck the fuck no. most cishet men don't.

this is the kind of discourse we get when fanon becomes more important to people than what's literally written into the story. i love erend! yeah i am a little irritated that people started popping their horussies out for their favorite (hetero) ship after we got a canon (GAY) romance in the game. if you guys had any critical thinking skills/media literacy, you'd have gotten the point by now that even if aloy isn't a lesbian, she's never going to end up with your favorite male character. you'd also understand why the gayshippers are irritated with you guys doing this in the wake of homophobic review bombing. because now we know aloy is capable of romantic feelings and no one but seyka has brought that side out of her so far. you can call it bad writing all you want, it's my opinion vs yours. doesn't change the direction the series is going in terms of aloy's romantic future.

[lurkingteapot]

Only Friends เพื่อนต้องห้าม Ep 5

I'm finally caught up and oh, OH, this was a ride. This was very much Sand's episode, and I have a feeling when he finally does something to disappoint me he's going to devastate me … and I welcome it. He's such a well-written character so far. Feels very, very real.

Ray … it feels like he's genuinely got feelings for Sand, but he's also very much not over Mew and NOT ready to put a name to or commit to being more than fwb with Sand.

Mew kind of grew on me even more this episode, except for his inexplicable-to-me attraction to Top.

I missed Namcheuam this episode and hope to see her more next week.

Nick trying to be more like Top this episode was awful to watch, Boston seeming to react to it in a positive way was possibly worse.

Boston is the epitome of 22-y-o "I'm just telling it like I see it" and doesn't care what or who he hurts in the process. At this point I'm pretty sure the fact that Neo plays him so charmingly is his only saving grace. And the person who filmed him? probably Drake's character. Wonder whether he'll get a name eventually … which reminds me we still haven't met whoever it is Papang plays.

ANYWAY. That' the tl;dr; rambling live watch commentary below. I'm going to dive into the tag and try to see what I missed.

oh Sand, I LOVE you

new bottle design?

I love Yo, I love her so much

Sand, I'm sorry, but ชัวโมงผิเษศของไอ้เรย์ is the sweetest thing and I also take back every word I said about Sand not falling for Ray, clearly I have bad people reading skills

god Nick's e-girl look in this opening clip, I cannot

wait, does this mean next episode is Namcheuam's? everyone else has had theirs, right?

did you run out to a bakery for those croissants, Sand?

asdfasdfadsf I love them

HAHAHA NICK oh man oh man

Sand was like "… dude"

asdfasdfas Ray can't even take care of himself, wtf Nick

I can't get a read on Ray. is he trying to distract himself? is this a legitimate attempt to get over Mew? does he even know himself? idk idk

oh Nick. spite may be a great motivator, but I'm not sure this is going to work

oh fuck that's SO dangerous what are you DOING keep your eyes on the road when you bike!

YIKES

that was very VERY lucky, oh man

I love Sand and I'm really afraid that when I eventually find a flaw of his it'll be really disappointing

those helmets look like they'd do NOTHING if they faceplanted

I LOVE this, goodness

Sand, you want to be a stylist, huh

it is a very tight shirt

please don't get frisky in the CHANGING room. Boys. I know you're 22, but --

I love themmmm

Top, if you could stop it with the fucking negging that'd be grand

oh, it's the dealer (?) guy

And Mew clocked something because he doesn't just LOOK smart

Boston checking Nick out, huh

Nick's got his number but he refuses to save (or whatever the metaphor is here)

Neo's really good at looking smitten with someone, which is a shame because I'm pretty sure Boston isn't into Nick like that

Nickkk don't ask questions you don't want the answers to

Boston, you're being an asshole rn. you KNOW that's what Nick hopes for.

oh I love this shot

I love that Nick kinda detests Top while Top detests both Nick and Boston and Boston is jealous af of Mew

Sand is back and Summer just disappears. I feel sorta bad for her, but … SANDRAY

JEKD, huh? neat though. the music has The Smiths vibes

annnd Summer's given up

Aaah Blind Dining/DInner in the Dark is so cool!!

Is the staffer mad about the "glasses off same thing" comment? I think I might've been in his place.

oh that's bound to go wrong-- oop

also dudes you're being SO noisy. honestly how quiet it is here is very unlike my experience.

oh Ray, oh baby

OH it's the baseball bat rooftop

Ray, rapidly re-evaluating what's going on

oh, I love this

A mum who uses rude-familiar language with her kid, huh. We've seen it in dads, but I don't remember hearing it from many mums before.

I bet this debt collector business is going to come back and bite them in the ass, boy-who-cried-wolf style

ahahahah I LOVE Sand turning the tables on Ray like that but also I hope Ray's voice is as good as Khaotung's

oh this is so sweet

wonder if/when we'll get a "you hafta tell her, she knows!" type scene in here because I sure was thinking it

Mum is like -- yep

Okay, okay but -- Mew, your acting said you don't believe him, what's the game here??

Also "use a condom" is probably the best advice to come out of Boston's mouth so far

Top, you're making it very hard to believe you love anyone but yourself, sorry

I can't believe we're not even halfway through the show

Mew does not seem super into it and also that sofa looks very VERY uncomfortable, material-wise. Plasticky.

22yos is2g

early morning hours and booze and honesty

OH the way Sand's hand sorta twitched when Ray said that

Ray. Love. It's not your fault. Depression is insidious.

Oh no, are Nick and Boston going to interrupt AGAIN

Oh Sand :(

Bostonnnn

Sand looks like he's going to KILL Boston and he'd be right to

Boston is just. Terrible.

oooooof this is a party gone wrong for real

they were so cute and then it all went wrong

shit, Sand really is in love with him and HURT.

BABY

Sand, I don't think you should be driving

[bonesandthebees]

Hi!! I just reread starman waiting in the sky last night and I forgot how good it was, honestly the way you write crimeboys is fucking epic, I admire a lot of your writing lol, it actually inspired me to write as a hobbie :D thanks for that :))

Anyway I saw you've watched at least a couple animes and I was wondering if you have any suggestions? Trying to get into it but so far I've only really watched a couple studio Ghibli movies, some of bleach and weathering with you +your name

-🐦‍⬛ anon if that isn't already taken :D

aww thank you so much!! man it always means so much to hear that I inspire people to write. seriously that's wild to me, writing is something I've loved ever since I was a little kid so giving someone else the drive to try it out is just aaaaa ty <3

oooo okay I definitely haven't watched a ton of anime or anything but I definitely have a solid amount of shows ticked off my list

(this got long surprise surprise so I'm putting it under a read more)

so based on what you said you've watched so far, you mostly seem to be into anime that's more of a mix of slice of life with vague fantastical elements. the only thing off the top of my head I can think of that fits that vibe is fruits basket, which I'll be honest I only got a couple episodes into but didn't end up completing. that's not because it was bad or anything, I actually really liked the characters, it just didn't grab me. but I've heard amazing things about it! also, when I'm talking about it I'm referring to the more recent remake from 2019 as I've heard that's the better one (?) but also I've never watched the og version (which is like from 2001) so I can't say that for sure that's just what I've heard people say

now onto recommendations of things I've actually watched

I haven't seen bleach but from what I know it's a shōnen manga, so if you like action/adventure kind of stuff the best anime I have ever watched (and tbh one of the best pieces of media I've ever seen hands down) is the anime Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. like, it's widely considered one of the greatest of all time and for good reason. the series is so well-written. all of the characters are so interesting and well-formed, their relationships are nuanced, the story itself deals with a lot of very heavy topics very skillfully while still keeping a lot of moments for humor. and also if you like my crimeboys fics, the center point relationship in fullmetal alchemist is between two brothers who love each other so fucking much just aaaaaa Ed and Al my BOYS. seriously I would not have the crimeboys brothers brainrot today if I hadn't been obsessed with fmab as a teenager. now fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood is on the longer side (like 5 seasons I think) but it's so so worth it I promise. also, if you do watch it make sure you're watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. like with the aforementioned fruits basket, there's an older version of the series that was made in 2003 (just called Fullmetal Alchemist) and the plot of it deviated from the manga, and from what I've heard it isn't considered to be as good as FMA: Brotherhood. Brotherhood was made in 2009 and follows the manga completely, and while I haven't watched the 2003 version and can't say for sure if it's worse, the general consensus is Brotherhood is the far superior version.

okay that's my one long ramble the rest of the recs I'll give quicker blurbs for

Death Note (yes I know I'm basic but I love it ok): great if you like watching two guys play mental 4D chess. one guy basically has the power of a god to kill people with so he decides to execute criminals with it, the other is the investigator trying to find out who the dude with magic powers killing people is. very fun on the mind games front

Ouran High School Host Club: COMPLETELY different tone to the rec above. Ouran is very goofy and silly with a surprisingly nuanced take on gender for being made in 2006. it's genuinely such a funny show but the characters also have real heart and you really do love watching the relationships that form. it's such a classic I'm pretty sure most people who like anime have watched it. just trust me on this.

Madoka Magica: magical girl anime except, uh, it's not all fun and sparkles. saying anything more will ruin the twist so I won't tell you too much, but I will say this show has very fascinating relationships and GORGEOUS animation like holy shit. if you like my fic starman I feel like you'll enjoy this. if you do decide to watch it try to finish at least up to ep 3 before deciding if you'll continue with it or not, bc that's when the show 'properly' starts imo

okay that's all I'll say for now! hope you find something you like out of these!

[otakween]

I'm Standing on a Million Lives - Volume 15

I'm impressed that this series has made it this far. Literally no one talks about it, but there are much dumber things being published, so I guess it deserves its spot. It's definitely a mixed bag of highs and lows, but I'm mostly enjoying the ride. Still have no clue how many volumes there's going to be. No end in sight yet.

Ch. 70

Iu is goin badass mode and I'm loving it. Kinda giving Joan of Arc vibes.

The disconnect between Iu casually chopping off someone's fingers in one panel and then freaking out because she killed someone in the next was pretty wacky. Like...girl...what did you think was going to happen? Either way, I guess she got over the shock pretty quick because by the end of the chapter she's just slaughtering everyone lol.

It's kind of surprising that it took the characters this long to be worshipped for their immortality/resurrection ability. Then again, I guess living long isn't as rare in this world since there are sorcerers and dragon bishops and what not.

Ch. 71

This chapter was 100% fantasy politics. It was a struggle reading through all those silly made up names, but there were some interesting nuggets here and there.

We're jumping from one hot button to the next, first was human trafficking as seen in...many places, and next was attacks on journalistic freedom which the characters compare to recent events in Hong Kong.

I hope they give the new girl more to do than be a genki background character. She's on the cover after all! I will say her singing Immigrant Song was pretty hilarious. Certified Shrek moment.

It's kinda funny how this world/game uses community service as its goal. It's not like a twisted death game where you have to kill the other players you just have to...contribute to society lol. I guess that's what makes it interesting because the challenges take a lot more brain/strategy than a death game or RPG-style game might.

Ch. 72

Eh, this chapter was kinda messy. Overall I enjoyed it, but why did they have to bring in a damn awkward narrator every two seconds!? The mangaka does this occasionally and it drives me nuts. This story does not need a narrator and it definitely doesn't need one spelling out exactly what's going on to the reader! It took me out of the story every time. :(

I did like Iu's internal struggle and her analysis of the tricky spot she's been put in. As I've said before, this mangaka is skilled at explaining difficult concepts (politics, sociology, war strategy etc.)

Thank God they sent Glen to help Iu and not Yusuke. This way it's a child asking an adult for help and not a "dumb" woman needing a man. Also, Iu needed Glen because she's emotionally intelligent (unlike Yusuke) and was good at calming her down and validating her choice.

Ch. 73

Okay, I kinda struggled to stay awake reading this one, it was a pretty boring info dump about the politics of the area Yusuke's in and how neither side is great.

Changing someone's entire political trajectory with one song? What is this, an idol anime!? (That scene was stupid lol)

The concept of force feeding someone monster meat to turn them into a berserker is pretty chilling. Fantasy human trafficking is even more brutal than irl trafficking I guess.

I continue to really dislike the made up names of this world. In this chapter it was the Sotaga vs. the Faida. IDK why but they just don't sound like real names to me, my brain rejects them. (IDK what magic makes some made up names sound good and others sound like you threw Scrabble letters at the wall...)

Ch. 74

This chapter was all about berserkers and how they relate to all of the ongoing storylines. I find this kind of fantasy slavery pretty interesting. Instead of IRL slavery where slaves were/are used for work, they're transformed into mindless weapons. Very dark, but I could see this kind of exploitation happening if monsters were real.

Of course the main big bad, president dude is wearing a turban...as this whole arc is a thinly veiled reference to extremists in the middle east. (Just feels weird to make this fantasy world so similar to the real world).

Some pretty brutal kills in this chapter, especially Ling getting curb stomped. I do enjoy that most of the gore is stake-less so it can get extreme like that. (Well I say "gore" but the player character deaths are actually bloodless).

Damn, dat fanservice at the end there. Overall this series hasn't been that fanservicey so it feels a little weird when it's tossed in like that. The art was decent, so I ain't mad.

The over-the-top evil all around (including Yotsuya's sociopathy) is a little eye-roll worthy. Verging into cringey edgy territory a bit.

[spaceorphanssecondbreakfastclub]

SO's Bookclub : The Séance

Title: The Séance Author: Joan Lowery Nixon Genre: YA Mystery

Goodreads Summary: Lauren is reluctant to participate in the séance, and she feels the first foreboding of evil shortly after the room is darkened. When the lights come back on, her fear turns to shock: Sara Martin is missing, even though all the doors and windows are locked from the inside...

Review:

So... I guess I'm going down this road now. Because I really want to see how these books hold up. Also, I want to throw out there that these covers are all really intriguing - and I think part of the reason I picked them up as a kid. Each one has a little bit of a spooky element to them.

This one I liked a lot better than Christina Lattimore. I really doubt any of these are the epitome of great literature, hence their fading into obscurity, but I at least didn't want to throw the book across the room in the same way.

The thing about this one - and something I just want to clock as I read through these because I never really noticed as a kid - is the atmosphere of these books. As I'm reading through chronologically, our setting is still set in the late 70s/early 80s (this book being published in 1980). And the atmosphere of this book really feels like an early 80s horror film. And I guess I found that the most interesting element?

I mean - life was just different back then. Before technology really began to run everyone's lives, what did kids do? They went to seances? Okay - maybe not, but there was just a different way kids kept themselves busy. But, also adding to the atmosphere, there's a creepiness the permeates throughout the book - because there's this knowledge that technology is going to save you. So when Lauren is alone with another character - there's a tension there that may not be there in a more modern adaptation.

I'm probably overselling this book, though, it still is a product of its time, and there are still issues due to that.

Lauren (and I'm blanking if she's ever given a last name) is more interesting than Christina Lattimore, and a lot less whiny. But there are still some trappings that I'm finding are staples of Nixon's writing. She lives in a small town in East Texas. Her guardian is a very religious aunt - and the church does play a role in the novel, especially playing against the idea of hosting a séance, and the prejudice spewed against the family of the girl who hosted. And the fact that Lauren is constantly worried about getting into college.

I will say - Lauren is an unreliable narrator - which works better than it should, since the novel hinges on information not given to the reader.

The other thing, though, that really interested me - was the first victim Sara. Because she's a 'bad girl'. In classic 80s horror tropes - the girl having the most sex is the one who dies, while the virgin (Lauren) survives. Sara is a girl who flirts with all the guys -- even guys who are much, much older (a theme that isn't really looked down upon, it was just expected that men of all ages would just pick up a teenage girl, despite being a minor). Does she actually have sex? The book is a bit murky on actually having it spelled out, but it's somewhat implied.

Adding an interesting twist, though is the fact that she was driven out by her mother because she was such hussy -- but the mother was the same way - even explaining that she's a woman who just needs a man in her bed cause she can't do without.

Idk - beyond giving me real Jen Lindley (from Dawson's Creek) vibes, it was interesting that the book doesn't necessarily condemn Sara's actions (beyond killing her off, which I suppose says enough) but tries to explain the reason as to why she is the way she is.

The other thing I want to clock is the usage of the teenage male hero in these books. Because so far, one turned out to be a dude the main character walked away from. Here, there's the slight hint of romantic possibility that is left open ended. I remember these books all having some kind of romantic twist in them, but I'm kind of surprised that it's just not the focus of the novel, and both Christina and Lauren have been so busy with their horror plights that it's not really a focus of either novel. I kind of wonder if Nixon through it in there because there's always a romantic element in these novels.

Anyway, despite me writing a novel of a review, the book doesn't really get that into the character work. Most of the other characters aren't really that developed -- we barely see the second victim, and all of Lauren's friends are just sketchy archetypes. What really does work for this novel is the atmosphere. It is spooky (again in that YA, early 80s way) and the book just does pretty well with keeping the tension going throughout.

So, yeah, for a book that really doesn't have a lot going for it - I definitely had a lot of thoughts about it. I didn't even get into some of the minor things - such as there's a description of a guy who had a hair color the same as his skin, and I could not figure out if this dude was super pale or black. (But figuring there really haven't been any black people yet explicitly stated in either novel - probably not the latter.)

Overall, I think it was a fascinating read -- again, read in only a few hours. Much better than her first book, but I remember, as a kid, not loving this one much either -- and I didn't find this one that bad. So, i'm looking forward to continuing this project.

Rating: 3 Stars

[leseigneurdufeu]

it's webtoon time: 💣, 🏰, and as a treat 🐕

💣 a story you hate with a burning passion but can't stop reading

Long-time followers might have noticed it, or maybe I just like and don't reblog those posts? can't remember, but anyway Lore Olympus. I noticed a drop in quality in both art and plot and went into the Lore Olympus Critical tag and it basically put a spotlight into what I hate about that series (which i just disliked) but boy seeing people who fastpassed it speaking of weird events to come just makes me want to see it with my own eyes and I just keep reading it. It's a dumpster fire and I'm chained under it. I just can't stop reading this.

And it only gets weirder every week.

🏰 Favorite historical story

Whale Star: The Gyeongseong Mermaid. Now, I know I'm the queen in this life counts as historical story, but it's in a european-coded past that isn't real Europe, so I'll go with real history. WS:TGM is just THE best historical story I had read in a while, and probably the best on the webtoon app. The art is gorgeous, the plot is superb, and despite being paper and not audio, it expresses beautifully the disability of the main character (she's mute) and how it changes the world for her from the point her chords are damaged and on.

🐕 Infodump about niche stories you love

I don't have much to say about the niche stories i love rn, so I'll just make a list while browsing my account. The Sound of magic: annarasumanara is pretty, Behind the Gifs is hilarious, anything by Gaumeo is gorgeous and well written, Toaster Dude is absurdly funny, and Madam Outlaw, Ghost on the Roof, Senorita Cometa, Spaceboy, and Nonesuch don't get nearly as much love as they deserve.

Then there are a bunch of canvas I love too, like Sugar and Swords or, again, anything by Gaumeo, or even the slightly nsfw Carry On: the Road to Rackenroon, who are even nicher by virtu of being canvas, not originals. Only thing I don't really like about CO:TRTR is, again, the mild nsfw and the fact male victims of SA are, this far, treated as a joke, although it could change in the future.

But back to Sugar and Swords I actually think it has strong Viva la dirt league vibes, VLDL being a youtube channel which I can't recommend enough for anyone who likes meta humor and video games (and DnD). S&S is about an NPC in a skyrim-like video game who is sentient and regularly confronted to weird bugs, players breaking the fourth wall, and eldritch horror (er I mean regular playing mechanisms which just seem weird from the inside). And it's very good. The art is pretty, too.

[wonryllis]

Heyyy L&DS anon here!! sorry it took a while to reply im not on Tumblr as much :(( as for your reply, I think with sylus and jay I see the resemblance somehow idk I feel like it matches the anger issues and the way he looks somehow? idk how to explain it tbh I just see jay in him BUTTTT now that you've mentioned sunghoon... I see it way more like the cold exterior and loves you secretly but doesn't show as much and DOMINANT HELLO?!?!? im just really pissed tho that there isn't a lot of sylus memory cards available and its hard to level him up. I wanna have more special moments with him :(((

Zayne bruh I love that man and I soooo agree with you about his voice, it's so husky and deep, legit sends shivers down ur spine. yk that event that's going on rn where u can get the 5 star memory of zayne if u log in for 7 days? I got that and oh my.... the way he pulls in the mc for her to listen to his heartbeat??? ON MY KNEES. OMG ive also got this other 5 start memory of him when he comes back from his business trip and ignores the mc so she asks for his attention and suddenly he pulls her onto his lap and THEY FREAKING DO THE DIRTY AHDSDKSDLSAKJD its not mentioned explicitly but u can tell by the actions, the heavy breathing, the look he has in his eyes. dude their attention to detail is actually insane I love it!!

Lmao sorry ive ranted once again but im really glad I have found someone to rant to about cuz literally no one in my known plays it 😭

also hold up, are u British by chance? I saw you used 'lads'. that could just be my assumption tho...

Anyways love you and your theme!! N109 Zone ftw

it's okay love, i don't mind at all you can take your time i appreciate you showing up and matching my lads freak? lol.

hmm true though i do find some fo their features similar in a way? idk but yes i do feel it and it's hot. i also feel like the princess treatment behaviour of jay gives him sylus vibes?

YESSS sunghoon's tsundere type character is what makes me associate him with sylus DOMINANT YES GOD YES dom sunghoon & dom sylus for the win. on my knees for them 😮‍💨

same bae same, the lack of sylus cards is a major tragedy for me too like i know it's because he was introduced later than the other leads and hence it's gonna take time for him to catch up but like the way i have to do so many pulls to get a glimpse of his cards HURTS. there's so many of his 5star memories i want but it's just even hard to get his 3star ones ‘m distressed!

his voice (eng obv) is just a different kind of hot man i keep getting this urge to make him lose that composure lmao.. wish they some kind of an option like that instead of just pre set dialogues and texts but well the game is already top-tier so it's fine.

and yes oh my god i got that too and couldn't help but gasp during that scene, like it was just a simple hug but it did things to me 😭😭 zayne’s been wrecking me real bad these daysss

OH NO OH NO OH NO OH MY GOD FOR REAL???? i saw a few of his memories on yt AND THEY WERE HOT HOT! GOD I NEED THIS MEMORY which one is it kskkskjxdhj WHAT DO YOU MEAN “pulls her into his lap and they do the dirty” NAURRR I NEEEDD THATTT like i have like three 5star memories of sylus & zayne and also myths of sylus, zayne & rafayel and i also have seen a lot of content already in terms of kindled moments but experiencing it on my mc IT'S DIFFERENT and I need to experience this business trip zayne 🫣🫠

honestly though lads is full of tiny little details down to the core and it makes it so damn interesting! i was reading zayne's anecdotes yesterday and the last two were so so so sad i cried 🥹 it was hot reading all the medical jagraon from his pov but the nightmares and the fact it all came true and stuff was heartbreaking. AND NOT TO MENTION SYLUS' MYTH, after knowing this when you look back to all the things he's said and done so far it all makes sense but in a drastically heartbreaking way 🤧

ALSO PLEASE TELL ME YOU SAW THE NEW “nightly rendezvous” EVENT IM SO SO SO GONE I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT MY EYES JUST SAW gotta save diamonds for sylus and zayne there ain't no way ‘m letting these cards slip KSNDKKSJXJSJ AHHHHHHHHHHH IT'S SO HOT LIKE BORDERLINE FREAKY IM UP IN THE AIR and i’ve watched it just once like i can't even bring myself to watch it again ‘m nervous as if it's happening to me 💀

lol it's fine we're both ranting and rambling atp anyway ‘m glad too i found someone to do this with i get so excited when your ask comes in, this one made me smile and giggle so much!!

ahh oops nope, ‘m not british🫢 i just used lads cause i saw that being used everywhere🫣 love you too my precious lads anon may we thirst over sylus for eons. (thank youuu, N109 zone’s leader ftwww)