#why is this important? that’s the merch I’m trying not to buy lol

[aceofstars16]

Me @ myself: you do not need to buy another thing, you do NOT a need to buy another thing!

[suckitsurveys]

Do you enjoy receiving souvenirs? I do. I love getting magnets and shot glasses from places.

Do you get angry with people easily? Not really, no.

Have you ever had the flu? Probably as a kid.

What about strep throat? Yes, several times as a child.

What would you say is the worst kind of emotional pain? Losing people you’re close to. And not just from death, but in general.

Have you ever been to a psychologist? No, just a counselor.

What’s the worst part about school? Literally everything.

Do you normally have a lot of homework, if you’re still in school? --

When was your last vacation? The end of September. Mark and I took a little trip for his birthday.

Would you ever consider going on a cruise? I would never do an overnight cruise.

What did you last buy from the store? Groceries.

Would you say you enjoy being single or in a relationship more? I definitely enjoy being in a relationship.

Do you try to stay busy a lot? No. I really enjoy doing nothing lol.

What’s your favorite quote? “Love her, but leave her wild”

Do you lie a lot? No.

Do you still act childish most of the time? Not most of the time, no, but I definitely have my child-like moments.

Did you ever enjoy gym class? In elementary school it meant I got to play with my friends, so yes. What is your biggest insecurity? My body.

Have you ever painted a room alone? Not alone, no.

Speaking of which, when did you last paint your room? I haven’t.

What does your favorite jacket / hoodie look like? My favorite hoodie is black and has the TGS with Tracy Jordan logo on the back and a smaller logo with “STAFF” under it on the front. It’s 30 Rock merch and I love it so much. 

What’s for dinner tonight? I’m not sure. One of our meal delivery kit dinners. I can’t remember which ones we have though.

Do you ever drink alcohol? I do.

Have you ever had a terrible hangover? Oh yes.

Do you ever get migraines? Yes. They’re awful, but I can usually catch them because I get the tunnel vision before the pain and I take something right away. If I wake up with one, though, it’s game over.

Do you know how to garden? Yes.

What was the last thing you plugged into an outlet? The coffee maker this morning.

Do people consider you to be a funny person? I think so.

Do you have any bad habits? Oh yes.

Do you like children? I LOVE my nieces. They are my whole WORLD and their happiness and health is the most important thing to me. I love spending time with them and listening to them and watching them grow and become smarter and funnier every day. And I am a HUGE advocate for children and them being treating fairly and appropriately. Children did not ask to be brought into this world. You decided to have a child, now it’s your responsibility to care for a nurture and love that child. You need to adapt to them, not the other way around. There are too many children being abused and neglected and put into foster care systems that do much of the same. That being said, I can recognize that having a child of my own is NOT for me. I can hardly take care of myself and I know, 100%, I could not mentally, emotionally, or physically raise one of my own properly, and there are things about myself I am unwilling to change for the sake of another human. I think if more people recognized this (and abortion wasn’t still so fucking regulated), there would be less abused/neglected children in this world. Sorry to go off on that tangent lol.

If not, why is this? I realized I never actually answered the question asked above lol. Overall, yes, I like children and will always advocate for them, but as a human who loves peace and quiet, holy shit can they be annoying as hell hahahaha.

What is your favorite snack? Chips and dips; mainly tortilla chips and guac/salsa. And popcorn.

Do you own any gaming systems? We have a Wii, lol.

How old were your parents when they had you? My mom was 37 and my dad was 39.

Is there a big age difference between you and the person you like? Mark is 5 years older, which, according to TikTok, is a big age difference.......we met when I was 21 and he was 26, and I see absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Do you trash talk people a lot? Every now and then, usually just in a joking way.

What is the most amusing thing on the internet, in your opinion? I mean, a lot of things on the internet amuse me, which is why I spend so much time there, lol.

Does the future excite you or scare you? Both, which is how it should be.

Have you ever been to Disney World? Nope.

If so, how many times have you been? ---

Do you try to spend a lot of time with family? Yes.

How often do you shower? Every other day.

What would you say is your favorite genre of music? I am so bad with genres. I just like what I like and I don’t feel the need to categorize it.

Do you need to clean your bedroom? Yes. What do you plan on doing with the rest of your life? Live?

Do you enjoy Chinese food? It’s not usually my first choice, but there are some dishes I enjoy. I also notice there is some over-lap in Asian cuisine. Like, I feel like almost every Chinese restaurant has crab rangoon, but I have also seen that at Thai and Japanese places as well. Same with egg rolls. And I’ve also seen pad thai served at Chinese places, too.

Do you smile a lot? Sure. What is your favorite movie from the nineties? Clueless or Romy and Michele.

Which decade were you born in? The 80s, technically. Near the very very end of it.

Are you good at giving advice to people? Depends.

How many huge secrets do you have? None.

How many people know these secrets? ---

How many times a day do you brush your teeth? Twice, usually. I’m better about it at night because I don’t want shit sitting in my teeth all night lol. Do you ever floss? I use those little toothpicks with the floss in them

Have you ever been in a long-term relationship? Yeah, I am in one now. We’ve been together for 11 years and married for 5.

Ever considered suicide? Yes.

If so, did you try to commit suicide? No.

Is there anyone out there who makes you feel completely useless? I mean, it’s not really specific to a person, but anyone can potentially make me feel useless in certain situations. Do you like texting or calling people more? Texting.

What’s your favorite band? Probably Vampire Weekend.

Do you have a lot of friends? I have a good handful.

Have you ever painted something and been impressed by it? Not really.

Would you rather go out to eat or stay in? I like both.

When did you last babysit, if ever? Last month, but I am actually babysitting tomorrow.

Do you have any younger siblings? Nope. Have you ever thought of someone as useless? Yes, my brother in law is useless. He brings absolutely nothing to the table and he’s a huge fucking piece of fucking garbage.

Have you ever considered bleaching your hair? It’s currently bleached.

Do you drink vitamin water? No.

Do you ever straighten your hair? No, it’s already pretty straight. What’s the best way to end a conversation? Totally depends.

Are there any old movies you absolutely love? Of course.

Have you ever had a Big Mac before? I have..  

Do you think you attract the opposite sex at a reasonable rate? I only need to attract my husband and I seem to have done a pretty good job at that lol.

Where is your favorite place to travel? I like going to new places but I have a handful of places I frequent.

What is your goal for the next few months? Workout in one way or another every day (with some exceptions) for the next 4 weeks, and then 8 weeks, and then 12 weeks, and so on. And eat better.

Can you count to ten in another language other than your own? Yes.

Do you own a lot of shoes? No, just a handful of pairs. What is your favorite season and why? I’m into the latter half of the year. Like, June-December. I LOVE summer and all it’s nostalgia and activities, and Fall is gorgeous and beautiful and has Halloween, and the first couple weeks of winter aren’t too horrible and Christmas happens, but then January-May are always HORRIBLE weather and otherwise and I want to throw them in a dumpster fire.

Have you ever played on a sports team before? No.

If you have, what was that sport and when? ---

Have you ever filed a lawsuit on someone? No.

Do you think you’re a good singer? No.

Would you rather wear jeans or sweatpants? Leggings.

Do you think you have a good sense of style? No.

Do you enjoy reading often? No.

Have you ever had a deadly illness? I probably have one right now hahahahaha.

Ever had food-poisoning before? Nope.

Where did you last eat dinner at? My house.

Have you ever shot a gun before? A bb gun.

[xxxdark-imortal-ponyxxx]

What I'm doing here

Since my Tiktok account got banned AGAIN (Thx Jessica 🤬😤) I guess I'm posting here now.

Bit of a rant, but since I started college I’ve been really thinking about how I use social media. I’m a pretty like deep person, and I like to think of myself as like an old soul (born in the wrong era, 2000’s girl at heart lol) but like I can’t always show those super important parts of me. Like, you can’t always get good MLP merch anymore, and I’m still like trying to get used to using the box dyes and styling my hair how I want it to look. So social media is how I get to be the person I really am, without having to deal with normy “clean girl” and “trad wife” losers. Who I am is in what I post. Social media is just the stage where I get to perform on, and show the people who are worth my time who I *really* am.

It’s also where I can push back against what people expect of me. I’m not just some girl from Ohio (if you make stupid memes about Ohio, DNI and f*ck off), I’m like an old soul scene girl, and I love My Little Pony, but with it was more goth and hardcore so I like fanart where they get to be cool and emo and sh*t. And I’m not just an MLP emo fan, I also LIKE GIRLS. Like I like like them, but I’m not creepy about I swear. I just want to cherish and hold them and keep the creeps away like a dark knight and never let them go (but not creepy). Except for Jessica, that FREAK!

People keep telling me that even though I’m like super emo and stuff, I’m still buying into a bunch of consumerist stuff. This one guy (I think he was one of the Owens) was saying something like “bUt IsN’t mY lIttLe pOnY jUsT ToYs” (like some sort of idiot). And like A) theys arn’t just toys they also have a rad *as tv show (which I pirate because I HATE Hasbro) and 2) it’s like the best way to express my complex femininity and connect to other people who feel the same. It’s like a language I can use to talk about real sh*t with people who matter (unlike the stupid Owens).

So like, that’s why I post what I do to this blog. All the images and stuff are from and made by other people that I reblog from, but they reflect bits of me like a fractured mirror. I spread myself like the roots of mushrooms in a network with other people like me.

[dreamii-yume]

New Episode Update Let’s GOO!!!

Warning : This is just Yume having a mental breakdown, seriously. This episode update was WHACK.

~ MAJOR SPOILERS FOR 68-75 ~

I know we ain’t participating and all but the game reminding you that there’s 10 minutes left to prepare is seriously bad for my heart.

Aah, shiet. Vil is still hurt.

He still has small wounds and scratches that he hid make up. Daddy, I’m worried.

Apparently, yeah, I’m not the only one cause my homeboy, Epel just asked to switch the center role with Vil. THE CONFIDENCE.

Aw, he’s worried about him falling over during stage (And make the performance look bad) Come on, Epel just be honest-

...He finally became the ideal poisoned apple that Vil wanted, huh?

Vil being proud a mom.

But the queen inside him is STRONG.

He’ll embrace the villain in him, OUR QUEEN CAN STILL GO. INJURED, WHO?

...AAND he proceeds to roast Epel again lol Typical Vil.

I love how Epel just accepted a nickname like “Doku Ringo-chan” lol It’s so cute, senior-junior relationship goals right there.

HERE WE GO.

Everyone is actually really confident hahaha

I really wish Deuce’s mom, Ace’s brother, Jamil’s sister, and Vil’s dad were here in person to watch.

HECK I WANT KALIM’S WHOLE FAMILY HERE WHY NOT

T-THEY’RE REALLY LETTING US HEAR THE FULL SONG. 

IS THAT JAMIL RAPPING.

Look at Jamil’s solo SD dancing. LOOK AT IT.

I really fucking love Vil’s singing voice aaa

HIS VOICE IS SO GOOD.

Album when disney.

Is Vil okay.

...aight im hearing some high quality panting here

...dont mind me listening to it a bit too much...

...they’re going to be great reference for some spicy- leave me alone

Vil panting is making me feel SOMETHING.

ANYWAY. THE CROWD IS A MOOD.

IS VIL OKAY.

Unmei no megami is giving me idia ptsd here.

Heartslabyul Senpais are watching their kids, looking all proud *sniff

Oh god, after playing Obey Me, it just occurred to me how similar Cater and Asmodeus’ voices are...

Watch these Senpai dorks act like Ace and Deuce’s second family. Trey being the dad, Riddle being the mom, and Cater being the supportive big bro. It’s so beautiful.

Riddle’s voice is a lot more softer now, I just realized...It’s so soothing...

God i miss u too octavinelle never change

Yeah, why tf did Floyd not audition for this

Bro, can you imagine Nobuhiko Okamoto in the squad as well??? IMAGINE-

Of course, he wasn’t in the mood back then. Of course. Why did i even ask.

IMAGINE FLOYD BEING IN VDC NEXT YEAR.

Omg i miss u too octavinelle never change

Azul’s gonna overblot again with Floyd’s marketing skills lol

Jade coming in like welp i guess thats that. Too bad, huh Azul?

GOD i miss u too octavinelle never change

SAVANA BITCHES HI

I wonder if these mfs knew that Vil just overblotted and malmal was the one who fixed the stage lol

oooh Leona’s sus about something he a sharp boi

Speak up my guy—

still so weird leona taking his job seriously

Malleus looking happier seeing this performance rather than Lilia’s lol

I miss the simpery in Sebek

Silver’s not in the verge of falling into a coma for once wow

Chenya’s so cute.

AND WE’RE BACK TO CUTE HEIGH HO TEAM

fcking shotacons man...im not one to talk

Aw, they didn’t show Neige performance...

The simping in the crowd is a MASSIVE mood.

WHO WINS TELL ME

These night raven fuckers better vote for us and not pull a “oh shie my hand slipped lololol” i swear to god- im gonna throw hands

*me holding my phone and pretending to vote as well

Suspense music intensifies be like-

HAAA

BOIS, ITS ONE VOTE DIFFERENCE WHO IS IT AAAA

WHAT.

HOW DARE- HOW!? HOW DID WE LOSE!?

WE LOST BY ONE VOTE!?

EVERYONE’S SO SHOCKED LOL

vil pls dont overblot again-

Noooo grim’s tuna cans-

WE REALLY LOST TO A LEGIT KIDS SONG.

These children do not have the right to be this cute. I wanna take Timmy, Toby, and Shelpie home.

I swear to god one of these dwarves sounds like Cheka lol Is it Toby?

EPEEELLLL DONT CRRYYYY

KALIMMMM DONT CRRYYYY

KALIM HAVING THE AUDACITY TO SOUNDING LIKE A BIG BROTHER AND THEN CRYING HIS OWN RIGHT AFTER LOLOLOL

I HATE THIS EPISODE YALL MADE MY TWO BOIS CRY IM FIGHTING THIS EPISODE. BURN THIS.

This background music too though im deeeeddd

KALIM IM SO SORRY FOR MAKING A SINFIC ABOUT YOU PLS DONT CRY-

Jamil impressed about Vil being “calm” and Vil just going “h e h. you dont even know.”

....ha...

Monsieur Rook. WHAT did you say.

ROOK VOTED FOR ROYAL SWORD. Are you kidding me. You snek how could you- i loved you

WHAT DID I SAY- Ya’ll night raven fuckers shall not slip by their fingers when voting rook.

Vil is in the brink of passing out aaaaa

I have never heard Ace this pissed before whoa- lol he sounds like Deuce in his delinquent mode

Aw...Rook felt that Neige’s performance carries a stronger bond than theirs :’( it’s hard to put the blame on him when he’s saying all these stuff

It’s just like what they said in the past episodes that it’s really hard voting for your own team when you know the opposing team is better.

Aww...He just wanted Vil to believe in himself more...Rook is such a best man. Im crying-

Oh noooo is Vil gonna cry too nooo- daddy turned to baby really quick SOMEONE GIVE HIM AN EMERGENCY HUG

Well- at least...at least the 100 year record of not being able to win is still going, yeah? Um...bad joke? Sorry, i’ll see myself out-

NEIGE NOT NOW AND YOUR VII-KUN BULLSHIT- we’re having a moment here

Neige is such sweetheart but aaaahh— This makes it worse, we can’t even hate him aaa—

OMG JUST WHEN I THOUGHT THINGS COULDN’T- AAAAA

MONSIEUR ROOK. YOU’RE A FAN OF NEIGE!?

MOTHERFUCKER just got exposed by Neige himself lol

Going to Neige’s shake hand events, sending him letters, buying all his merch and shie- HE’S A FULL BLOWN NEIGE STAN

WTF YOU SNEK GET OUT OF THIS SCHOOL-

OOOOHHH THAT FUCKING ALBUM- HIS “LIFE’S WORK” or whatever bullshit IS FULL OF NEIGE

...actually- my japanese is lacking- im not sure lol what is a ブロマイド??? Lol I feel like a clown.

Rook is sweating profusely LOL

...what do you have to say for yourself, monsieur rook.

Wait- huh is that-

IS HE GONNA CRY-

WHY IS EVERYONE CRYING!??!?!?!

HE’S SILENTLY CRYING AS HE INTRODUCED HIMSELF TO NEIGE WHAT. THE. FUCK IS THIS EPISODE.

Neige fanclub??? Eternal Snow??? What kind of creepy-ass- OH, HE EVEN HAS A MEMBERSHIP NUMBER TOO-

Props to Neige with his :) expression unfaltering.

I’m- I’m speechless.

Vil is just looking down at Rook in disappointment like- “you’re more pathetic than I am”

Queen just went “I think you need this handkerchief more than I do now” THAT’S RIGHT. REPENT MOTHERFUCKER.

Rook crying is cursed.

But damn, I’m kinda liking this new relationship this bitchy relationship they have

Neige just dragged everyone’s ass back on stage and his snow white energy just said “LETS ALL BE FRIENDS AND SING”

NEIGE IS FUCKING GREAT- HE REALLY DID GOT THESE BITCHES TO SING HEIGH HO LOL

ACE’S RELUCTANT SINGING AND DEUCE LOOKING LIKE HE’S HAVING FUN

KALIM IS SUCH A MOOD, SINGING EVEN WITHOUT KNOWING THE LYRICS AND JAMIL JUST HAVING THAT “i want to die” ENERGY

AIGHT. ROOK IS HAVING WAY TOO MUCH FUN AND EPEL IS TRYING HIS BEST. HE’S SO CUTE-

OMG NEIGE AND VIL HAVING SUCH GOOD HARMONY—

YAHOO Y A H O O TANOSHIINDA~~ 

YA��LL SURE ABOUT GIVING ME THIS BLESSED MOMENT??

What a somewhat happy ending, even though Rook just backstabbed us I’m crying Beauté 100 points!!!

LOL Vil realizing he’s having fun singing with Neige- “SOMEONE JUST END ME RIGHT NOW-“ The desperation in his voice-

I love how Neige’s yahoo yahoo is messing with everyone’s head, even Vil wants to pass out lol

haha Crowley is so depressed lol

WHA- WHO-

HEADMASTER OF ROYAL SWORD!?

He looks like your typical grandpa- and his outfit looks like that one mickey mouse wizard outfit but blue—

Old man just went “we won lol” just to piss Crowley off I like this guy’s energy already-

Crowley being most likely as old as this guy—

ooohh this man just sensed something in this stage- Leona did too, didn’t he???

* Damn. Crowley talking so fast sounds like he’s making a load of bullshit lol

Anyway, I’m just glad that it’s not mickey mouse who’s the headmaster— I would’ve lost my shit.

We’re back in our dorms and I forgot that the squad doesn’t live with us anymore. It’s suddenly so lonely now...

Grim is getting the yahoo yahoo ptsd too lol it’s too goddamn catchy

oooohh shiet- mickey is calling us again

YES we finally got a good picture of this motherfucker

It seems like nothing is disrupting our communication this time, so MC thought to call Grim but—

Grim is not here.

Uuhhh...Grim? Where you’ve gone??? We’re getting flashbacks of the first parts of the game.

We went out to find Grim and HE’S CHOMPING ON ANOTHER BLACK STONE ON THE STAGE-

GRIM SPIT THAT OUT YOU LOOK TERRIFYING

AAAAAHH GRIM HAS GONE FERAL— He’s attacking US

Is this because we didn’t win his tuna canss nooo

NoOO SWEET BABY COME BACK.

Legit I’m sad, please baby don’t overblot like this...

He learned a new move though- SCRATCH

Ooh— We’re seeing some Ignihyde scenes here~

P U H I H I

Idia getting a lot of emails from bigshot companies whoa—

THAT OLYMPUS—?! EXCUSE ME??? Ortho what- Are we finally getting that Hercules episode—

Damn getting a hot chance in olympus only to put them down the recycling bin oof— Idia why edit : Yume was informed that olympus is kind of a company that sponsored VDC sorry she was mind-fucked at this moment and the ability to understand proper Japanese just went whoosh lol Thanks to @starshiningsirius for pointing it out for Yume~ ♥︎ HONESTLY YUME’S JUST GONNA WAIT FOR ACTUAL PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS AT THIS POINT LOL Don’t trust me for important situation too much lol

Aaaahh...We’re getting this shut-in out of his room in the next episode, are we?

And that concludes the whole Pomefiore Episode! JESUS CHRIST 75 CHAPTERS ALL IN ALL!? How long is the Ignihyde chapter going to be, huh!?

This was a really, really fun episode lol I’d consider this a fan service episode actually cause of all the things we get to experience— The singing, dancing, and the new songs, THE DRAMA. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

But then, the plot thickens, no? What’s going to happen to Grim? In the Ignihyde episode? And those reoccurring memories of us? And our relationship with Tsunotarou lol ALSO WE NEVER REALLY DID FIND OUT WHAT ROOK’S UNIQUE MAGIC IS. DISNEY EXPLAIN—

Thanks for reading this shitpost of Yume losing her shiet lol See you all in the Ignihyde Episode~ ❤

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Dark”

Welcome back, everyone! Can you believe it's been six weeks already? I can't. Something something the uncomfortable passage of time during a pandemic as emphasized by a web-series.

But we're here to talk about RWBY the fictional story, not RWBY the cultural icon. At least, we will in a moment. First, I'd like to acknowledge that shaky line between the two, growing blurrier with every volume. A sort of good news, bad news situation.

The bad news — to get that out of the way — is that we cannot easily separate RWBY from its authors and those authors have, sadly, been drawing a lot of negative attention as of late. This isn't anything new, not at all, but I think the unexpectedly long hiatus gave a lot of fans (myself included) the chance to think about Rooster Teeth's failings without getting distracted by their biggest and brightest production. There's a laundry list of problems here — everything from the behavior of voice actors to the quality of their merch — but as a sort of summary issue, I'd like to highlight the reviews that continue to pop up on websites like Glassdoor, detailing the toxic, sexist, crunch-obsessed environment that RT employees are forced to work in. A lot of these websites requires a login to read more than a page of reviews, but you can check out a Twitter thread about it here. 

Now, I want to be clear: I'm not bringing this up as a way to shame anyone enjoying RWBY. This isn't a simplistic claim of, "The authors are Problematic™ and therefore you can't like the stuff they produce." Nor is this meant to be a catch-all excuse for RWBY's problems. If it were, I'd have dropped these recaps years ago. I'm of the belief that audiences maintain the right to both praise and criticize the work they're given, regardless of the context in which that work was produced. At the end of the day, RT has presented RWBY as a finished product and, more than that, presents it as an excellent product, one worth both our emotional investment and our money (whether in the form of paying for a First account, or encouraging us to buy merch, attend cons, etc.) I'll continue to critique RWBY as needed, but I a) wanted fans to be at least peripherally aware of these issues and b) clarify that my use of "RT" in statements like, "I can't believe RT is screwing up this badly" is meant to be a broad, nebulas acknowledgement that someone in the company is screwing up, either creatively (doesn't have the skill to write a good scene) or morally (hasn't created an environment in which other creators are capable of crafting a good scene). The real, inner workings of such companies are mostly a secret to their audiences and thus it's near impossible for someone like me — random fan writing these for fun as a casual side hobby — to accurately point fingers. Hence, broad "RT." I just wanted to clarify that when I use this it's as a necessary placeholder for whoever is actually responsible, not a damnation of the overworked animator breaking down in a bathroom. Heavy stuff, but I thought it was necessary (or at least worthwhile) to acknowledge this issue as we head into the second half of the volume.

Now for the good news: RWBY has reached 100 episodes! For any who may not know, 100 is a pretty significant number in the TV world because, when talking about prime time programming, it guarantees syndicated reruns. Basically, networks don't want audiences to get burned out with a show — changing the channel when it comes on because ugh, I've seen this already, recently too — and 100 episodes allows for a roughly five month run without any repeats, making it very profitable. RWBY is obviously not a television show and doesn't benefit from any of this (hell, modern television doesn't benefit from this as much as it used to, not in the age of streaming), but the 100 episode threshold is still ingrained in American culture. Beyond just being a nice, rounded number, it is historically a measure of huge success and I can't imagine that RT isn't aware of that. Regardless of what we think of RWBY's current quality, this is one hell of a milestone and should be applauded.

All that being said... RWBY's quality is definitely still lacking lol.

Our 100th episode is titled "Dark" — keeping with the one word titles, then — and I'd like to emphasize that, as a 100th episode, it definitely delivers in terms of plot. There's plenty of action, important character beats, and at least one major reveal, everything we'd expect from a milestone and a Part II premiere. The animation also continues to be noteworthy for its beauty, as I found myself admiring many of the screenshots I took for this recap. There are certainly things to praise. The only problem (one we're all familiar with by now) is that these small successes are situated within a narrative that's otherwise falling apart. It's all good stuff... provided you ignore literally everything else surrounding it.

But let's dive into some examples. We open on Qrow starting, awoken by the thunder outside. Robyn has been watching him and makes a peppy comment about how none of them will be sleeping tonight, followed by a more serious, "Sounds bad out there." Yeah, it does sound bad, especially when they all know — thanks to Ruby's message back in Volume 7 — that this is due to Salem's arrival. I think a lot of the fandom has forgotten that little detail because people often discuss Qrow as if he is entirely ignorant of what is going on outside his cell. Even if we were to assume that he's forgotten all about the pesky Salem issue (the horror of Clover's death overriding everything else, perhaps) he still knows that Tyrian is running loose in a heat-less city with a creepy storm going on and, from his perspective, the Very Evil Ironwood is still running the show. So it's bad, which begs the question of why Qrow (and Robyn, for that matter) hasn't displayed an ounce of legitimate worry for everyone he knows out there. Thus far, their interactions have centered entirely around Qrow's misplaced blame and Robyn's terrible attempts to lighten the mood, despite the fact that a war is raging right beyond that wall. It's another example of RWBY's inability to manage tone properly, to say nothing of balancing the multiple concerns any one character should be trying to juggle. Just as it rankles that Ruby and Yang don't seem to care about what has happened to their uncle, Qrow likewise doesn't seem to care about what might be happening to his nieces. When did we reach a point where these relationships are so broken that someone can be arrested/chucked into a deadly battle and the others just... ignore that?

So Robyn's otherwise innocuous comment immediately reminds me of how badly the narrative has treated these conflicts and, sadly, things don't improve much from here. We are thankfully spared more of Robyn's jokes when Qrow realizes that what he's hearing can't be thunder. A second later, Cinder blasts through the wall — called it! — and Qrow instinctively transforms. 

The only downside to this moment is that the whole ceiling falls down on Qrow and the others because APPARENTLY these cells don't have tops on them. Seriously. As far as I can recall we don't see the stone breaking through the forcefield somehow and this looks pretty open to me.

If it is... you're telling me these crazy powerful fighters who practice landing strategies and leap tall buildings in a single bound —

— can't just hop over this mildly high electric fence to get out? Qrow can't just fly away?

We're, like, two minutes in, folks.

We transfer to Nora's perspective as she wakes up, seeing Klein giving her the IV. He tells her not to worry, that "you and your friend are going to be just fine." What friend? Penny? Klein went upstairs prior to Weiss hugging Whitley or Penny crash landing outside. I had thought them bursting through the door with another unconscious friend was the first time he learned what the big bang outside was, but apparently not.

Penny is, obviously, a mess. While I now understand the choice to make her blood such an eye-catching color when that's crucial to the Hound's hunt, I still think it looks strange visually. Like someone has taken a copy of RWBY and painted over it. It doesn't look like it fits the art style. More than that, it implies some rather complicated things about Penny's humanity, especially in a volume focused around her being a "real girl." Real enough for Maiden powers, but with obviously inhuman blood that isn't even referred to as "bleeding." Penny "leaks" instead.

Toss in the fact that she's literally an android who is made up of tech — recall the running gags about her being heavy, or it hurts to fist-bump her, to say nothing of keeping things like multiple blades inside her body — yet Klein says that her "basic anatomy" is the same and he can "stitch up that wound."

I'm sorry, what? Whatever Penny looks like on the inside, it's not going to resemble a human woman's anatomy, and Klein might be able to stitch the outer layer of skin she's got, but that won't do anything to fix whatever metal bits have been broken underneath. Penny isn't a human-robot hybrid, she's a robot with an aura. Penny has knives in her back, rockets in her feet, and a super computer behind her eyes. When our clip introduced that Klein would be the one to help Penny, my initial reaction was, "Seriously? He's a butler and a doctor and an engineer?" But RWBY didn't even try to get away with a Super Klein explanation, they just waved away Penny's very obvious, inhuman anatomy. Yeah, I'm sure "stitching up" an android wound is just like giving Nora her IV. I hope the surgical sutures he used are extra strong!

In an effort to not entirely drag this episode, I do appreciate that Whitley is allowed an "ugh" moment about the non-blood covering his shirt without anyone calling him out on it. That felt like the sort of thing the show would usually try to make a character feel guilty about and I'm glad that, for once, he was just allowed to be frustrated without comment.

Then the power goes out and May calls, which raises questions about what state the CCTS is in and when scrolls are available to our protagonists vs. when they're not. But whatever. She's checking in because she just "saw another bombing run light up the Kingdom" and —

Wait. Bombing? Salem is bombing the city? I know we've seen explosions in the sky, but I'd always just attributed that to evil aesthetic. Why does this dialogue sound like it's from a World War II film and not a fantasy sci-fi show about literal monsters launching a ground attack?

May looks pretty against the sky though. I like her hair color against that purple.

I'm admittedly grasping at positives here because we finally return to her "You have to choose" ultimatum and — surprise! — May has pulled back completely. Ruby says that once they've helped Penny, "We'll...we'll do something!" which is once again her avoiding making a decision. Ruby still refuses to choose, instead falling back on generic, optimistic pep talks. They'll figure out how to stop Salem later. They'll think about the impact of telling the world later. They'll choose who to help later. Ruby keeps pushing these problems into the future where, she hopes, a perfect, magical solution will have appeared for her to latch onto. When that continues to not happen, others pressuring her to actually do something and stop waiting for perfection — Ironwood, Yang, May — she panics and continues stalling for time. Wait an episode and the narrative supports her in this.

Because initially May was forcing Ruby to decide. Now, May enables her desire to keep putting things off. "Don't beat yourself up, kid. At this point, I don't know how much is left to be done." That's the exact opposite of what May believed last episode, that there was still so much work and good to do for the people of Mantle. This is precisely what the show did with Yang and Ren's scenes too, having people call Ruby out... but then return to a message of, 'Don't worry, you're actually doing just fine' before Ruby is forced to actually change.

None of which even touches on May calling her "kid" in this moment. That continues to be a convenient way of absolving Ruby of any responsibility. When she wants to steal airships or Amity Tower, she's an adult everyone should listen to, the leader of this war. When the story wants to absolve her of previously mentioned flaws, she becomes a kid who shouldn't "beat herself up." I said years ago that RWBY couldn't continue to let the group be both children and adults simultaneously, yet here we are.

So that was a thoroughly disappointing scene. Ruby gets her moment to look sad and defeated, listing "the grimm, the crater, Nora, Penny" as problems she doesn't know how to solve. Note that 'Immortal witch attacking the city I've helped trap here' isn't included in that list. Ruby is still ignoring Salem herself and no one in the group is picking up where May left off, challenging her to do more than wring her hands over things others are already trying to take care of: Ironwood is fighting the grimm, May has gone off to help the crater, Klein is patching up Nora and Penny. Ruby, as one flawed individual, should not be expected to come up with a solution to everything, but she does need to stop acting like she can come up with a solution to everything when it matters most (office scene) and rejecting others' solutions when they ask for her help (Ironwood, May).

If it feels like I'm dragging the flawed, traumatized teenager too much, it's not in an effort to ignore those aspects of her identity. Rather, it's because she's also the licensed huntress who wrested control from a world leader and violently demanded she be put in charge of this battle. Ruby, by her own actions, is now responsible for dealing with these problems, or admitting she was wrong and letting others take the lead, without purposefully derailing their plans. She doesn't get to suddenly go, "I don't know," cry a little, and get sympathetic pats.

But of course that's precisely what happens, courtesy of Weiss.

During this whole scene I kept wondering why no one was celebrating Nora waking up, especially when Ruby outright mentions her. Have they just not noticed given all the Penny drama? Because Nora absolutely woke up.

Aaaand went back to sleep, I guess. What was the point of that POV shot? No worries though, she'll wake up again in a minute.

Willow arrives and announces that they can fix the power (and Penny) using the generator at the edge of the property. I'm convinced RT doesn't actually know what a generator is because the characters are acting like it's some super special device that only richy-rich could possibly have. Whitley says that it's the SDC executives who have their "own power supply" and that it's "extremely unfair." Now, don't get me wrong, a good generator powering large portions of your house can run you 30k+, but you can also get one that plugs into your extension cord and powers your fridge for a couple hundred. There's absolutely a class issue here, just not the one Whitley and Weiss seem to be commenting on. They make a generator sound like the sort of device that only a politician-CEO could possible have and it's weird.

Likely, it sounds weird because it's a choppy way of getting Whitley to bring up the wealth disparity so he can then go, 'That's right! We're crazy rich with a company housing tons of ships! We can use those to evacuate Mantle.' Awkwardness aside, I do like that the Schnee wealth is being used for good purposes, but... evacuate where? To the city currently under attack by a giant whale? In a RWBY that wasn't determined to demonize Ironwood, this would have been a great plot point during the office scene instead, with Weiss offering her services to Ironwood, even if the group decides that a continued evacuation still isn't possible.

Instead, we get it here from Whitley. Do I need to point out the obvious? That Whitley is the MVP of this episode? He's done more good in an HOUR than the group has managed in a year. Give this kid some training and make him a huntsmen instead.

We're given a (very pretty!) shot of the shattered moon because it wouldn't be RWBY if we weren't continually reminded that gods once wiped out humanity before destroying part of a celestial body... and absolutely no one talks about that lol.

Blake's coat might not make any sense for her color scheme, but it does make her easy to spot as she and Ruby run across the grounds. Oh my god, they're actually doing something together! It only took eight years. They even get a lovely talk where Blake admits how much she looks up to Ruby, despite her being younger, and once again I'm struck at how much more I would have loved this scene if it had appeared elsewhere in the series. It is, indeed, as sweet and emotional as all the RWBY GIF-ers are claiming... provided you overlook that this is the exact opposite of what Ruby needs to hear right now. She doesn't need to hear that she's more mature and reliable than her elders when she's functioning under a "We don't need adults" mentality. She doesn't need to hear that not knowing what to do is totally fine, not when that led to her turning on Ironwood, despite not knowing how to stop Salem. She doesn't need to hear that "doing something" — doing anything — is a strength, because Ruby keeps avoiding the big problems for smaller ones she's comfortable with, like standing by Penny's bedside instead of deciding between Mantle and Atlas. Blake's speech is heartfelt, but it's a speech that suits a Beacon days Ruby who is having some doubts about her leadership skills, not the girl whose impulsive — and now lack of — actions is having world-wide repercussions. Everyone is babying Ruby to a staggering degree. It's like if we had a med show where the doctor is standing by the bedside of a coding patient, fretting between two treatments. 'Don't worry,' their colleague says, patting their shoulder. 'I've always looked up to you. You'll do something when you're ready' and then they continue to watch the patient, you know, die.

Also: who does Ruby look up to? Everyone talks about how much they depend on and trust Ruby, but who does Ruby look to for guidance? A number of her problems stem from the fact that she has rejected the advice of everyone who has tried to help her improve: Qrow, Ozpin, Ironwood, even Yang. Ruby is presented as the pinnacle of what to strive for in a leader, rather than a leader who has only been doing this for two years and still has a great deal to learn.

Anyway, they get the generator on and the Hound shows up.

I am begging RT to just make RWBY a horror story. All their best scenes the last three years have been horror I am bEGGING —

Anyway, while Ruby waits to be eaten we cut to Willow and Klein, the former of which is reaching for her bottle, pulling back, reaching again, all while her hand shakes. This is good. This is what we should have gotten with Qrow. Which isn't to say that their (or anyone's) addiction should be identical, but rather that this is a far more engaging and complex look at addiction than what our birb got. Willow tells us that she doesn't drink in the dark despite bringing the bottle with her; tries to resist drinking when she's scared and ultimately fails. Qrow just decided to stop drinking after decades of addiction, seemingly for no reason, and that was that. Why is a side character we only met this volume written better than one of the main cast?

Blake manages to call Weiss about the Hound and she asks if Whitley can handle the airships without her. I mean, I assume so given that Weiss is looking at the bookshelves while Whitley does all the work lol. He makes a teasing comment about how he can if she can handle that grimm and she comments that they still need to work on his "attitude."

No they don't. Weiss stuck a weapon in her kid brother's face. Whitley made a joke. Even if Weiss' comment is likewise meant to be read as teasing, it's clear that we've bypassed any meaningful conversation between them. That hug was supposed to be a Fix Everything moment even though, as I've laid out elsewhere, it didn't even come close.

We cut back to Ruby getting thrown through a wall into the backyard and the Hound creepily coming after her. She's freaked out by this clearly abnormal grimm and Blake is weirdly... not? "It's just a grimm. Just focus!" Uh, it's obviously not. Have we reached the traumatized, sleep-deprived point where the group is sinking into full-blown denial? I wouldn't be surprised. They've been awake for like... 40+ hours.

Because the Hound knocks Ruby out with a single hit. Just, bam, she's down. "Focusing" is not the solution here.

Weiss calls to warn the others about the grimm, telling them to stick together. Willow (understandably) starts freaking out and flees the room (classic horror trope!). Klein is left alone when Penny wakes up with red eyes. Oh no!

Don't worry. You know nothing meaningful happens.

She shoves Klein before (somehow?) resisting the hack, her Maiden powers going wild in the process. Just when it looks as if Penny might cause some serious damage, Nora wakes up, takes her hand, and says, I kid you not:

"Hey... no one is going to make you do anything you don't want to do... It's just a part of you. Don't forget about the rest."

Okay. I want to re-emphasize that I love hopeful, uplifting, victory-won-through-the-power-of-love stories. Istg I'm not dead inside, it's just that RWBY does this so badly. I mean, what is this? It has similarities to the character shouting, 'No! Resist!' to their mind-controlled ally, but this is not presented as a desperate, last-ditch effort by Nora. She just speaks like this is the most obvious truth in the world. If you don't want to have your mind taken over... just don't! It's that simple. The problem definitely isn't that Watts has changed her coding and has implemented a command she can't override, it's that Penny has forgotten about the "rest" of her personhood.

And this works. Granted, not for long, but we leave Nora having successfully calmed Penny down and until her eyes unexpectedly go red again scenes later, we're left assuming that this is a permanent solution. That, imo anyway, is taking the Power of Love too far, overriding the basic reality of Penny being hacked. It’s not a personal failing she must overcome, it’s an external attack. I would have rather had Nora react to the scars she saw on her arm, or have a moment with Klein, or get some love from the group. Not a wakes up, falls asleep, wakes up again to save Penny with a Ruby level 'Just ignore reality' pep-talk, then back to sleep again.

So Penny isn't attacking her allies, or mistakenly hurting her allies with wild Maiden powers. Not that the group doesn't have enough to deal with, but still. Weiss arrives to help with the Hound and attempts a new summon, only to fail when two minor grimm burrow up into her glyphs. I really enjoyed that moment, both for the wing visual and the knowledge that Weiss' glyphs can fail if you break them somehow (which makes sense). Also, I just like that she failed in general? Weiss is, as per usual now, about to demonstrate just how OP she is compared to the rest of the team, so it was nice to see her faltering here.

The Hound tries to make off with Ruby and Blake does an excellent job of keeping it tethered. Ruby finally wakes, only to realize that the grimm is actually after Penny since it's staring at her power up through the window, no longer trying to escape. Moments like this remind me that there's someone on RT's writing team that knows what they're doing, at least some of the time. The assumption that the Hound is after Ruby as a SEW, the surprise that it's actually Penny, realizing it holds up because Ruby is covered in Penny's blood and Blake is not... that's all nice, tight plotting. More of that please!

The Hound drops her and Ruby's aura shatters when she hits the ground. I want everyone to remember this moment as an example of how strong the Hound is. The group may be tired, but unlike YJR they've been sitting around in the Schnee manor for a number of hours, regaining strength. We saw the Hound hit Ruby twice — once through the wall and once to knock her out — and then she falls from a not very high distance for a huntress, yet her aura is toast. That's the level of power and skill the Hound possesses. Decimating YJR, knocking Oscar out, same for Ruby, avoiding Blake and Weiss' hits, soon to treat Penny like a ragdoll. Just remember all this for the episode's end.

Blake tells Weiss she'll take care of Ruby, you go help the others. Yay breaking up the duos more! Bad timing though as the new acid-spitting grimm pops out of the ground and Blake is now left alone to face it.

Weiss re-enters the mansion, knowing the Hound is somewhere nearby, but not where. Suddenly, Willow's voice sounds through her scroll with an, "Above you!" which... doesn't keep Weiss from getting hit lol. But it's the thought that counts! Willow has accessed the cameras she's set up throughout the manor, watching the Hound's movements, and I have to say, that is a WAY better use of her separation from Klein than I thought we were getting. I legit thought they'd have Willow run away in a panic, meet the Hound, die, and then Weiss could be sad about losing her mom.

It does say something about RWBY's writing that this was my knee-jerk theory, as well as my surprise when we got something way better.

The Hound runs off, uninterested in Weiss, and she asks Willow to keep tabs on it. It heads for Whitley next (also covered in Penny's blood) and very creepily stalks him in the office with a, "I know you're here." Whitley is seconds away from being Hound chow before one of Weiss' boars pin it against the wall. He runs, then runs BACK to finish deploying the airships, before finally escaping assumed death. Goddamn this boy is pulling his weight.

I assume all these ships are automated then? I hope someone takes a moment to call May. Otherwise it's going to be super weird for the Mantle citizens if a fleet of SDC ships just show up and hover there...

I don't entirely understand how Weiss saved him though. She's nowhere to be seen when Whitley leaves and he runs a fair distance before he and Willow encounter Weiss again. We know her summons don't have to keep right next to her, but are they capable of rudimentary thought, attacking an enemy — and an enemy only — despite Weiss being a couple corridors down and unable to see the current battlefield? I don't know. In another series I'd theorize that this was a deliberate hint, a way to clue us into the fact that Willow, someone who we currently know almost nothing about, had training in the past and summoned the boar herself. Weiss and Winter certainly didn't get that hereditary skill from Jacques. Hell, we might still get that, Weiss reacting with confusion next episode when Whitley thanks her for the boar, but I doubt it. That scene with Ruby and the Hound aside, the show isn't this good at laying groundwork and then following up on it.

Case in point: Weiss says, "I didn't forget you" to Whitley after he gets away from the Hound, the moment trying to harken back to her promise to Willow. Key word is "trying." Because she absolutely forgot him! Weiss threatened and ignored Whitley until he proved his usefulness. I also shouldn't need to point out that, "Don't forget your brother" does not mean, "Don't let your brother die a horrible death by abnormal grimm." Weiss acts like her saving him is a fulfillment of her promise, rather than just the most basic of human decency. And also, you know, her job.

So that part is frustrating. The entire Schnee dynamic is a mess, from Weiss making a joke of her father's arrest, to Willow (presumably) fixing their relationship by putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder. Okay.

Then Weiss cuts off the Hound by summoning a giant wall of ice. My brain, every time this happens:

YOU COULD HAVE FIXED THE HOLE IN MANTLE'S WALL.

Moving on, Blake's fight against the acid... thing has some great choreography, including Blake using her semblance which we haven't seen in AGES. 

I really like the fight itself, just not what Blake is shouting the whole time. "I need you, Ruby! We all need you!" This has really gotten ridiculous. Ruby is presented as everyone's sole savior despite failing time and time again. It's not that I don't think Blake as a character should have faith in her leader, it's that I don't think the writers should be crafting a story where everyone puts their unshakable hopes in an untrained, disloyal, impulsive 17 year old. I mean, Ruby is currently unconscious, yet Blake is acting like if she doesn't wake up — she, as an individual, if Ruby Rose does not re-join this fight — then all is lost. If Ruby doesn't save them, no one can. Which is, of course, absurd on numerous levels. Blake doesn't need the passed out, aura-less Ruby right now, she needs the still very healthy Weiss pulling out multiple summons and an ice wall! Use your scroll and call for backup again.

But of course, Ruby wakes up and kills the new, terrifying grimm with a single hit. It's a preview of what's to come with the Hound and it's just as ridiculous here as it will be there.

Speaking of the Hound, am I the only one who thought this was... cute?

I can't possibly be the only one. That head-tilt is exactly what my dogs do and my brain instinctively went, "Aww, puppy!"

Murderous puppy.

The Hound realizes none of the Schnees are who it's looking for and runs off. Penny, meanwhile, has been fully taken over because, well, that's just what's convenient now. She resists long enough keep Amity up, then succumbs, then resists to apologize to Ruby, then succumbs, then resists because Nora asked her to, then succumbs once it's time to knock her out. If RWBY was willing to commit to consequences, Penny would have been taken over and that was that. The characters would need to deal with whatever outcome happens as a result. Instead, the show very carefully avoids any of those pesky consequences by having Penny successfully resisting at key moments, despite no explanation of how she's managing that.

She shoves Klein again (Klein is having a Bad Time) and starts walking down the main steps. When Whitley wants to know where the hell she's going, Penny mechanically responds that she must "Open the vault, then self-destruct." I suppose the change Watts made was the self-destruct order? Ironwood obviously wants the vault open, though not necessarily Penny's death. Think what you will of his moral compass, she's a damn powerful ally — a research project, perhaps — and a Maiden to boot. At the very least, her death may give the powers to someone even worse.

God, please don't let them have brought Penny back and made her a Maiden just to kill her again.

The Hound arrives though and, as said, knocks Penny out. We're back to square one with her, then. Note though that this attack is near instantaneous. She grabs its hands one second, is hanging limply the next. Wow, the Hound sure is a terrifying antagonist!

Not for long.

"That's enough," Ruby says and one-shots it with her eyes.

Now, I want to talk for a moment about the implications of that line. "That's enough." Obviously Ruby is #done with this situation and emotionally unwilling to let the Hound kidnap Penny (congratulations, Nuts and Dolts shippers), but there's a meta reading here as well. Not intentional, but glaring to me nonetheless. Basically, the idea that the Hound has, from a plot perspective, done enough. It has served its singular purpose. It kidnapped Oscar and now it dies. Never-mind how insanely powerful we've established the Hound to be, never-mind how Ruby's eyes also work or don't work according to whether anything of actual import is on the line. From a plot perspective "that's enough" and the Hound can be disposed of instantly. It got Oscar and gave us an episode of filler creepiness. Move along now.

The idea behind Ruby's eyes isn't bad, but the execution absolutely is. RT has undermined a huge portion of the stakes by giving their protagonist an instant kill-shot that always works precisely when she needs it to. Starting with the Apathy, we have yet to get a moment where Ruby's eyes fail to save the day when she really needs them to, no matter how incredible the challenge. The Hound was very intentionally written to be a grimm outside of the group's current power level. It thinks, it talks, they literally can't touch it. This creates the expectation that the group will need to grow stronger — or at least become smarter — in order to surmount this new obstacle, yet Ruby's eyes undermine all of that. The group hasn't grown in years, the show just makes enemies weaker as needed (Ace Ops), or has Ruby pull out her eyes as a trump card. It wouldn't be that bad if we'd at least gotten a good battle out of it, one where the group gets close to defeating the Hound on their own, but needs Ruby's eyes to finish it off. Instead, she literally walks up without any aura, announces to the audience that this antagonist's time is up, and blasts it out a window.

Granted, Ruby's eyes don't completely finish it. The Hound pulls itself to its feet and we see this.

Yup, that's a guy and yup, those are silver eyes.

I would like to issue a formal apology to the "It's secretly Summer!" theorists in the fandom. I mean, I still think it would be ridiculous (and at this point highly improbable) that Ruby's dead mother has actually been a grimm mutant this whole time, just hanging out in Salem's realm while she waits for the plot to start before attacking the world, and then sends some no-name faunus dude after the group instead of their leader's mother for extra, emotional torture... but you all were definitely right about the “It's a person” part! I... don't know how I feel about this. Admittedly, it seems to be a logical continuation of the other grimm-human hybrids we've seen — namely Cinder and Salem herself — and it finally explains why Salem wants Ruby alive (even though it actually doesn't because WHY did she want more SEWs for Hound grimm when she wasn't even attacking back then? And already has all these other insanely powerful tools??), but at the same time, it feels like it's complicating a story that doesn't need further complications. The group fights monsters and has an immortal enemy. You don't need to add 'Some of those monsters are secretly human' to the mix.

It doesn't hurt that this twist is giving me Attack on Titan vibes, which, ew. A dark time in my fandom life, folks.

The Hound staggers a few steps before Whitley and Willow dump a suit of armor on it. That's all it takes to kill the most dangerous grimm we've ever seen: a single flash of silver eyes and some heavy metal. This also wreaks havoc with the implication that Salem wants SEWs alive because they create such powerful grimm. Obviously not. I mean yeah, normal huntsmen are going to have serious  problems, we’ve seen that this volume, but any other SEWs nearby will take a Hound out instantaneously. For a villain with so many other powerful abilities — immortality, magic, endless normal grimm, her nifty soup — Salem would be much better served just killing SEWs straight out. Clearly, creating Hounds isn't worth the effort.

The Hound leaves some bones behind and Ruby collapses to her knees, overcome with the knowledge that this was once a person. Again, uncomfortable Attack on Titan parallels.

We finish our premiere with Cinder clearing away rubble to reveal Watts. Honestly, I like that we ended on this because her rescue is hilarious. She just slings him over her shoulders like a sack of potatoes and blasts off with her magic fire feet. Fantastic.

Note though that with this scene we've seen almost everything from the clip and the trailer. What's to come in the rest of Volume 8? No idea. Outside of Winter leading the charge with the bomb, we got it all here.

Time to update the bingo board!

I'm crossing off "Introducing new grimm that are quickly abandoned." Between the Hound and acid-dude both falling to a single blast/cut from Ruby, we've more than earned this square.

It doesn't look as if we'll get another Watts-Jacques team-up now that he's left, but you never know.

Maria's got me worried. I feel like her Yoda fight against Neo is the one thing she'll be allowed to do this volume, but given that we didn't see anyone except Ruby's group this episode, we don't yet know whether the story is now ignoring her and Pietro, or if they'll re-appear in another episode like YJR.  

Qrow is free. Will he get a drink before trying to murder Ironwood? Perhaps.

Still no bingo :(

All in all, the episode was by no means horrible. I think there were lots of horrible parts, but also some legitimately well executed moments, fun action, and scenes that I can easily imagine as squee worthy if you lean back and squint. Everything is comparative and in the growing collection of bad RWBY episodes, this one isn't securing a top slot. Which doesn't mean I think it's good, just... not as bad as it could have been and primarily only bad due to long-running problems, not things this specific episode has done. That's my bar then, so low it has officially entered the underworld.

Still, RWBY is back and a part of me is eager to see where this volume takes us, for better or for worse.

Until next week! 💜

[Ko-Fi]

[lesbiancarat]

PREACH IT!! SAY IT LOUDER FOR TH3 PEOPLE IN THE BACK!! *stands up and claps*

Just your comment, please I want to tattoo that entire response on my forehead so people could understand some stuff fjshdhsh. I very much agree with everything you have said, like I do think the bighit deal was more so with the help of say with western connections (which again does NOT mean pledis could have done this without bighit. They clearly could but I saw a theory on a YouTube comment where someone said they focused on the core fanbase aka in Korea which is their main market and it paid off imo) from helping with buisness side of things like we do have merch to buy directly (which I have my opinion on some merch ideas like why the fudge is bighit selling us water!? Bro you thought that worked with bts doesn't mean it will with seventeen) which wasn't common in the past or being able to film concerts with ease during the pandemic. Bighit clearly acknowledges that seventeen is a monster group in their own right I mean as you said, they break records and are 2nd behind bighits own group. They are EXTEMELY big in Japan. They are their own song makers, bang pd confirmed this when pleids was first announced in a press video so the fact people brush all of their achievements and statements because why, their streaming numbers are low?

And oohh such an interesting point as well! Very much i think the current mindset of kpop fans (or at least some) is that streaming is what equals success which to some degree, yes but as you said, many ignore the casual side of listening. People that find the song due to it being viral for whatever reason, a fancam getting popular like in the cass of hani from exid or whatever reason. Dwc is a great example and I saw those comments under their recent performance of that song and it makes me proud that the boys have a song like that. That it has its own "fanbase" quote on quote with how well loved that song simply is and well known. You don't have to have fans doing crazy streaming to be considered "popular", I mean I could give more examples but I don't wanna make this too long nor cause unwanted fandrama lol. Those casual listeners are extremely important and powerful I mean brave girls is a great recent example of that I think! It very much does seem like that when looking at the views, its mainly the core fanbase which isn't bad nor should we feel bad for not having crazy numbers. They seem more organic if that makes sense? Plus I agree, we can stream and can explain how it works, clearing up confusion about it like no emojis don't take down views and yes youtube does take away views but that is due to it making sure it isn't bots only viewing the video. Explaining that streaming should be done with a chill mindset and its ok if you don't stream. But hey, maybe we're too weird of fans to think like this fjajdjajs.

But some few updates! Seventeen is back on Instagram, fully everyone is posting away. Makes me happy hehe m, a bit funny it took so long for them to comeback but am happy nonetheless. The interactions that seungkwan does makes me super soft. Seventeen are also back with doing proper promotions so yay (also pledis is S Wording people over the mingyu issue finally so bless). As for me on the personal side of things. I have OFFICIALLY finished that video game ^_^ it took me a while but I have finished it, my last goodbye was completed and am at ease so to speak? Lowkey am planning on beating all the trophies in the game cx also may I ask about your thoughts on the album? Favorite songs, have you bought the physical cd?

ok finally getting around to this lol!!

and yeah that's absolutely true, pledis focused on kr promotions/fanbase first and foremost (and then expanded to Japan and is now looking toward the US/western promos in general). which i agree was a good thing. i think some companies get too greedy with wanting a group to be ~internationally famous~ that they ignore their Korean fanbase a bit too much and I've seen groups that have failed bc of it, so I'm glad that didn't happen w SVT

and yeah in terms of merch I'm genuinely grateful as an american that for this cb at least there was a US distributor which made things super convenient but wtf is going on w hybes merch those water bottles are not it TT it just sucks to see bc it's clear that at least as far as merch goes hybe doesn't have an interest in like. doing market research to figure out what carats want. which is funny bc they don't even have to start from scratch they could literally just ask pledis?? and tbh what's sad is i don't think hybe is like. purposefully trying to sabotage SVTs merch from my limited perspective i get the feeling they treat all their groups merch like that :( but since us carats have seen in the past what kind of merch we're capable of getting it's disappointing to see such a downgrade. and like tbf pledis's merch decisions were never perfect like that time they tried to sell replicas of the SVT rings and carats were rightfully pissed bc those are something the members earned, not something to be bought. and i also don't think hybe never has or never will make good merch, I'm sure they're fully capable of it. but it just seems obvious that they've put WAY less if any effort into understanding both the market (ie carats) and seventeens brand compared to pledis so like of course most carats aren't gonna like it :/ i really hope they step up their game and do better research or bring ppl onto the team who better understand svt's brand

and yeah i very much agree with everything u said about streaming! tbh i think this mindset isn't as uncommon as you might think, I've actually met a fair number of kpop fans who are critical of streaming culture but as u know there also are a lot of ppl who are really into it and those ppl tend to have the loudest voices. and unfortunately part of streaming culture is that if you question the methods or don't participate you must be a bad fan or secretly an anti or something ridiculous like that. so ppl who aren't into streaming culture end up learning to not be too vocal about it bc of how bad the backlash can be

yes! I'm glad to see insta line (+ now dk!!) active again. i still wonder why pledis made them stop using their ind instas, like I know all the theories people have as to why but honestly none that I've seen seem to fully make sense. it will probably be one of those things where we'll just never know the full story. but i digress!! regardless of the reason I'm just glad to have them back after all this time ^^

congrats on finishing the game! I'm glad it was able to help you work through your grief a bit and that you feel more at ease now ;-; and good luck with the rest of the trophies if you end up trying to get them!

as always I'm answering this a bit late so you may have seen already but i did get the physical album! it was a birthday gift so i only got it the other day, but according to my mom it arrived almost immediately after the album was released so as i said before, I'm very grateful for the US shop this time around ;-; as for the songs usually it's easy for me to pick one or two favorites but this time around it's genuinely a 4-way tie between heavens cloud and all the unit songs TT (i also love anyone and RTL, they're just slightly lower on the list in terms of preference if u get what i mean). i really hope some time in the future we get some kind of performance or special video or something for heavens cloud, since so many carats and the members themselves seem to really love it. i also think it's a song that brings up such beautiful imagery that it would be a shame if it never got any type of visual representation, you know? I'm also really curious to see a performance of wave, since iirc the members said the choreo is a lot more laid back/different from other perf unit choreos?? + that song also evokes such great imagery for me that like... makes feel like it needs some kind of movement so I'm just itching to see a performance. kind of like... even if i didn't know it was a perf unit song i would think it would be great to choreograph to if that makes any sense dhfkf. but yeah overall i think it's just a really solid album, as expected from summerteen ^^

[draconicdetective]

Who is nelward

Nelward is a musical artist that I got into halfway through last year. He’s got some funny songs and a neat Twitter as well as 90s inspired music videos that he does in a square aspect ratio.

If you want funny music and videos, I recommend Christmas Boys (which came out in March), DVD, get off the pot, and unconditional crust. These each have a different energy and vibe, but are some of the nonsensical and funny songs (... okay most of them are short videos he posted on YouTube and aren’t SONGS but they’re important). He has more funny songs and videos up too.

He also has some just straight jams, like GHOST, Innuendo, and Never Wanna Fall in Love With U. These three are my FAVORITE songs!!

If you want to really relate to the mood and be kinda moody, you can try Fashion (a long time favorite from before I got into Nelward), im getting better, and Tha Dog Song.

This is all completely ignoring his latest releases too (the EP Eat Your Dreams and the single dropped just a bit ago cosmic relief / gumdrops), but that’s mostly because they haven’t entered my main rotation of tunes yet. I’m a man of habit lol.

He’s also made tracks for some games; Nyakuza Manholes from A Hat in Time, and two games that got cancelled during development, Postaloon and Vultus.

Additionally here’s some of his funny tweets!

(image description under the readmore)

I’m even in a fan server that he’s in too where we can talk to him (granted he has the time) but I’m too nervous to do I just have it muted but... I’m in there!

Anyways Nelward is just a fun dude and i love him and i think everyone should listen to his music and tunes and buy his merch! I have one CD and I want to get his other. He signs them if you ask and I had no idea when I bought the EP...

ANYWAYS if you have any other questions lmk aaha... i don’t think you wanted an extensive page about why I like Nelward but you have it now, so!

The screenshot is of 3 tweets from nelward @nelward64, all from April 19th.

The first one reads “a “hot take” is when you take someones hot pizza right from under them when they aren’t looking”

The second reads “im getting my vaccine revoked for spreading the truth that santa is real wtf”

The third reads “having a really awkward christmas right now”

[purplesurveys]

1270

Would you mind living to 100 years old if you were in semi-decent health? I don’t think so, actually. I don’t really have...goals...? on how long I’d want to live or up to what age I’d like to reach lol, but making it to 100 would be pretty cool I think.

How did your parents meet one another?   They were sort of coworkers. They had jobs assigned to the kitchen but they had different designations, i.e. my dad was a cook and my mom had been a waitress, so I’m guessing they also got to hung out a lot. Have you ever failed an important test? Which subject?   Hmm, I’ve failed tests before but I wouldn’t say any of them were important. I never failed a final exam and I passed all the college entrance tests I applied to.

When's the last time you got heartburn? What do you think caused it? A couple of years ago when I got a Double Down from KFC lol hahahaha. I remember not being able to finish it.

What's your favorite red fruit?  I don’t like fruits.

Do you enjoy sour candies? If so, which ones?  Depends on how intense the sourness is because I hate sour food, but I do occasionally indulge in sour worms and tapes.

Would you want a chance to visit Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory? Sure.

Have you ever accidentally broken a window before?   I don’t think so, no.

How old were you when you got your first crush? On who?   My first real crush was on Andi, when I was around 12.

What can you see if you look outside the closest window?   I’m at the rooftop, so no windows.

What was the last disagreement you had with someone? What was it about?   I don’t remember...I feel like I may have had one with my mom recently, but I can’t seem to recall what it had been over.

Which place is like a second home to you, and why?   Starbucksssssss. I love the atmosphere.

How would you feel if your parents posted your baby pictures online?   Oh my mom does that a lot. I never saw anything wrong with it.

What is one quirk about each of your parents that you can't stand?   My dad is TERRIBLE at replying - he will read it but there’s no telling if he’ll ever reply even if the matter is urgent. My mom is absolutely the most uptight, on-edge person I’ve ever known. Even when I simply call out “Mom” at home she’ll respond with the most nervous “WHAT?!” and I have to tell her to please calm the fuck down I just wanted to ask if you want fucking doughnuts lol

Have you ever suffered from amnesia before?   No, that sound terrifying.

Do you live with roommates?   I live with my family.

How old were you when you left your parents' home?   I’m still here. I guess when I start earning more I can start plans on moving out.

Do you have nice neighbors or annoying ones?   I’m neutral about them mostly because we never talk, but they do say hi to my dogs sometimes when I walk them and that is nice enough for me.

Does your body feel older than it actually is?   Yes. I literally just rubbed ointment on my shoulders before this survey because they were acting up again, as they do on the daily.

If cats went to school, what kids of courses would they take? Probably like art and music and philosophy, ha. They’d be all sophisticated. < This was such an unexpected question haha but this answer seems to nail it!

Were you always picked last in gym class?   We didn’t do any picking in PE.

What would you do if aliens took you back to their home planet? Be concerned about the oxygen level and if I’ll die as soon as I land there.

What is one major lie you got away with? Cheating on a test.

Has someone close to you ever passed away from cancer? One of my great-aunts. My grandpa had like eight siblings but that great-aunt was the one who liked to baby us the most, even if we weren’t even her grandkids, so in a sense I grew close to her.

Do actions speak louder than words? Sure.

How do you like your eggs?   Scrambled, omelette with lots of fillings, or sunny-side up with a really runny yolk.

What is your favorite clothing pattern to wear? Not a fan of patterns but erm I do have some stripes in my closet.

What is something that'd be difficult to do in zero gravity?   Sleep.

Did you use to have an imaginary friend? Barely. I got bored after pretending for five minutes.

What are some of your short and long term goals? Short-term goal would be to be better at saving. Long-term goals include getting a promotion and being able to have my own place.

What would you do if one of your stuffed animals came to life?  I don’t own any, but that would be scary, of course. I think any inanimate object coming to life would freak me out.

When was the last time you felt an earthquake?  Around a month ago, I think? It was at 4 AM and it happened to be a stronger quake than the average – lasted longer, too. I literally felt woozy after.

What's your favorite dinosaur?   I don’t have any.

Which form of martial arts would you be most interested in trying?   BJJ or judo.

Which type of shoe dominates your wardrobe?   Nike.

Have you ever passed out before? What was the cause?   A handful of times; I don’t handle hunger/dehydration well, haha.

The last time you were high, what was it off of? I have never been high.

If you were able to redecorate your room, what would you do differently? Move my bed back to the wall; get a a new desk that’s more fit for work; buy several floating shelves so I can display my merch in a nicer way; then if I had some extra monies I would probably buy a TV stand and a TV. A floor lamp in the corner of my room would also be nice.

When's the last time you overreacted, and what was it about?  Sunday when Taehyung tweeted for the first time in over a month and I wasn’t able to check the notification instantly because I was stuck in a live game that I couldn’t get out of hahah, hence me screeching. And I knew I overreacted because my sister messaged “what’s happening” on our family group chat as I was yelling hahahafjkdhlgd.

When's the last time you threw up, and why? May last year when I was sick.

[ofdreamsanddoodles]

if you don't mind me asking, how do you deal with consuming content with 'problematic' aspects? for example, i see you reblog posts criticizing things like racism in tma, and you can still make content while being able to recognize those things. it's hard for me to continue enjoying something when it has even 1 thing slightly bad in it, but i know that's not a healthy way to consume content. is there anything you keep in mind when interacting with a given series? u don't need to answer ❤️ ty

also a note on my ask -- of course you don't need to answer, and you aren't a therapist & etc. i just admire your ability to both recognize flaws in works but still enjoy them, and thought since you seem to have critical thinking skills you might have a perspective that you could offer. being on tumblr from a young age seems to have affected my ability to separate things in my mind, lol. thanks so much for reading even if you don't feel comfortable answering.

I mean... you’ve kind of answered your own question? The only way to consume media is to remember that everything has flaws. My brother came by while I was typing this up and told me the answer is to “just vibe” because everyone is more or less terrible in one aspect or another but obviously, that’s not the answer you’re looking for.

I guess the short answer is just... you have to learn how to trust your own set of morals and understand that you shouldn’t feel guilty if a story you like betrays you. And yes, that’s hard, especially when you grow up surrounded by very rigid rules on what’s “okay” to watch, but if you’re just looking for some tips, here’s a list that I hope will help:

Find people you trust and see what they think of the situation. Think about whether or not they’re coming from an informed place. A friend of mine asked me if I knew about a Jewish tradition a while back. I had no idea what they were talking about. Turns out, it was something popular with German Jews. None of my family is from Germany. Sometimes, just being Jewish doesn’t mean I’m the right person to ask.

Find people who are complaining & see why they’re upset. Think about who is annoyed by this and how many of them there are. Think about what they think the proper response is, if any. Think about whether you have the right to wave off their concerns. Think about how those concerns are treated, both in-fandom and by creators. I saw a lot of people in the tma tag complaining about twitter “overreacting” to MAG 185, but if Jonny felt the need to issue an apology and specifically say that he realizes he’s crossed a line, chances are, the complaints were probably warranted (a thing I’d like to add is that apparently, RQ also issued an apology for a fluff episode they released, which I thought was kind of silly, because the episode was essentially just joking about martin forgetting a word. But also, as a neurodivergent person who sometimes struggles with speech, I do understand why that might upset people. not all apologies have to about incredibly important topics, but even the ones who aren’t show a lot about the cast behind it. Alternatively, if RQ had only apologized for this episode, and not MAG 185, that also says a lot about where there priorities are, and what fans they care about keeping)

Think about what will happen if you continue watching/reading etc. It’s not so much “is it okay if I keep watching this?” but “if I continue to watch this, will I convince myself that this problematic aspect isn’t actually a big deal? Is it so ingrained in the show that I can’t watch an episode without seeing the problems in it? What will I say to others, if they want to watch this?” For example, if someone sees you’ve reblogged a scene from a show you like and asks what it’s about, how many excuses are you going to give? How many trigger warnings are there, and can you justify them? There’s a difference between a piece of media having a character say homophobic slurs, and a piece of media saying a gay person should have homophobic slurs thrown at them.  Also: If you think you cant justify getting someone else interested, you probably shouldn’t justify contributing to the show. This might be obvious, but there’s a very big difference in pirating a tv show and buying its merch. 

Think about the fandom. If you continue talking about this, who are you surrounding yourself with? Like, there are a LOT of weirdos making content for kids shows, but that doesn’t always mean the show itself is weird. What it does mean, though, is that you should be careful navigating your enjoyment. Sometimes, the only way to enjoy something is to talk about it with a select few friends. Sometimes, it’s to enjoy it by yourself. I do believe it’s possible to enjoy a show in spite of the canon, but at the same time, if you’re watching a show that’s attracting a lot of racists, think about why that might be. 

some more thoughts under the cut, because I already wrote them out before I realized I could just make a list.

The thing about consuming media is that it’s very subjective. I know a lot of people who have given up on tma recently and while that’s not wholly because it’s “problematic,” it definitely plays a part in it. People have different meters for what they can excuse in media. The important thing to remember is WHY they left, and if you’re able to keep that in your mind while also continuing to engage in contact with the media. Will you be able to remember that Daisy traumatized Jon more than any other avatar if you consume context calling her Basira’s hot murderwife? Can you talk about the Flesh and acknowledge the racism in the creation of the Haans?

Personally, I don’t think you can produce positive content about Daisy and also acknowledge the harm she causes. You can’t point at a character and say, yes, she has committed actual police brutality, but I think she deserves a cute lesbian romance anyway. That’s not really a thing tma has done wrong as much as it is a problem with the fandom, but like, at the end of the day, it’s all just a matter of critical thinking. Who is being hurt by these portrayals of the characters? How? Most of the problems with tma aren’t things that are, like, baked into the actual worldbuilding and for a lot of people, that’s enough for them to still justify making content for the show.

If your complaints sound like “oh, if only they didn’t do xy, this would make for a good show,” then you’re probably fine. But if it goes into “i like this, but only if I can ignore (major plot point)” think about why you feel the need to keep watching. There are shows I’ve stopped watching based on principle. There’s manga I read that I only talk about with my brother and no one else, because I don’t want to be exposed to the fans. It doesn’t have to be as simple as “well, this artist did a bad thing, so now I’m going to ignore it forever.” If you think the creators of something are bad people, don’t support them. You can still pirate it or whatever, but if it’s something like hetalia, where the point of the show is just “let’s put all these stereotypes in a room and see how they react” then yes, for your own sake, you should stop watching because this is how stereotypes become normalized, and no one should be consuming media where nazi germany as the protagonist.

Really, at the end of the day, it’s just a matter of becoming media literate and that’s a process that takes time. Remember that being interested in something that isn’t 100% doesn’t make you a bad person, and listen to the people around you. Try and be a safe space for the people who do have complaints and remember not to place your enjoyment of something over the comfort of others. Other than that, just... do your best, I guess?

[c-c-cherry]

Team Buccalarti goes to a spot in the U.S for a buisness trip. After they have a few days to go have fun at Disney or something of the sort before they have to come back to Italy. The only thing is, they don't know that much english, only a few lines from movies and words that sound cool to them. Probably Bruno and Leone know the most english.

OK FIRST OF ALL YES CANON—THEY WANT TO DO EVERYTHING.

These activities are semi-based on my experience as a Canadian going to Florida (I’ve only been to like 3 states oops)

Bucci gang Florida trip? Bucci gang Florida trip.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

-my homies struggling to understand anything that's going on yet they still have the fiery passion to go and enjoy themselves—we love that. 

-I think Fugo would probably understand a bit more English than the rest cause he’s a Smart Boy™ and Abba would have English experience from dealing with shitty tourists when he was a cop. 

-No one really knows how Bruno knows shit. He just does because he’s Bruno.

-Narancia just goes around screaming shit like, “Bond. James Bond.” and “Here’s Johnny!” because he only knows English from popular movie quotes. 

-He told some lady in the Walmart parking lot “I see dead people” and she called him a sinner and tried to beat him with a newspaper and a mini bible.

-Bruno showed her who the true sinner was.

-They take a lil trip to the Botanical Gardens and Giorno is SO HAPPY he starts blooming all these rare flowers everywhere and one of the workers starts freaking out because they’d never seen flowers so beautiful and all the tourists flock over to where Giorno is standing and they have to pretend that they don’t know where the flowers came from

-They go see one of those turtle rescue places and Giorno gets really excited—he’s really quiet but he does that cute little quiet excitement thing and it automatically gives everyone a serotonin boost the moment he runs over to the rescue tanks and they practically have to pull him away from it at the end of the day

-They get so much turtle merch from the gift shop—Giorno walks out with like 20 of those recycled plastic “saves the oceans” bracelets wrapped around his arms and they buy Narancia a turtle plushie that they call Coco Jumbo II and they get a hat for Polnareff

-Miami Pride was going on at the same time and they walked into the streets ready to support the homies but they didn’t expect to see so many naked people covered in rainbows and glitter.

-They loved it. Leone met so many goths and they all complimented his makeup and asked if he was single and Bruno was just standing there the whole time like

-They go people-watching while Bucciarati and Abbacchio are off doing important things and try to find THE Florida Man. They don’t find him and Narancia is very sad.

-Beach day beach day beach day (need I say more?)

-Narancia really wants to go to Legoland but they don’t have enough time between meetings, but Mista agrees to take him and skip out on one of the meetings

-They have so much fun :)

-They pass by an Olive Garden and get excited because there are signs everywhere claiming its “Italian cuisine” but when their food is brought to them they’re just like “...” 

-Narancia does take advantage of the endless breadsticks, however.

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I can’t elaborate on what exactly they would do on their special Disney Trip because fun fact: I have never been to Disney World!!!!

My dad used to work for Disney’s production studio in Hollywood/California working on movie and TV show production and he despises the movie industry now because it truly is depressing to see how awful things can be behind the scenes of it all (Hmm...maybe that’s why he moved to Canada, far, far away from California lol) soooo I don’t think I’m going anytime soon hehe

I hope you enjoyed this lil head canon thingy!! 

I have a lot of asks about Headcanons in my inbox right now, but I think I’m going to stagger them a bit (maybe post a hc ask between fic chapters?) Just know I’ll probably get to yours eventually!

[thedispatched]

Why can’t people realize that Weibo and China crackdown is a totally different playing field? I’m a lumi and trying to wait it out and have hope, but I’m really exhausted with some lumis posting what they think and this investigation information on weibo like it’s okay. It’s not okay because that starts bringing in hate comments and racism when he is laying low. This crackdown is to take out the the toxic fans and lumis not thinking smartly is going to hurt him more than help him. They are dragging him and his name through the mud again and it makes me so angry!They need to understand it’s not about being the loudest but being extremely cautious rn. What really gets me is that c-lumis are trying to educate non c-lumis on this but they don’t listen! They think they know more than a c-lumi which is so dumb because c-lumis know about weibo more than anyone else. And No lumi is better than another. Just because some haven’t been as vocal doesn’t mean anything. Support doesn’t have to be the loudest or the most outward. People can support quietly too. It’s like this logic I see fans pull all the time that if you don’t stream all day or buy the merchandise you are less than a fan. 😕 I’m not less of a fan, I’m just making smart choices. seeing everyone throw hate to lumis and now lumis hating each other, it’s just a difficult time.

hi! i think you're the first anon i've had that actually said they're a lumi. welcome to my blog!

you pointed out something that i never really thought about and also said somethings that made me think about my opinion on ifans and it took a lot in me to not on go that rant lol.

when you said 'that starts bringing in hate comments and racism when he is laying low,' i never really gave a second thought to investigations being bad. i've said before (i think) that fans just talking about the situation in general and being unnecessarily loud about it creates more issues. but holding their own investigations specifically can actually cause a problem. you're right about him laying low and bringing up their investigations make it harder for him to do so as it does what you said about hate comments and racism.

i've always had an issue with fan investigations in general just because we will never actually know the whole story and imo these investigations only go off on one side, especially when you include bias. when you constantly bring it up and say 'he's innocent' or 'he's guilty' you're adding more fire to the fuel. like it's different than just aimless back and forth, y'know.

i'm not sure if what i said made sense but hopefully i got my point across.

i've noticed a lot of ifans (in general) always think they're superior. they think they know better and more than the domestic fanbase and it's insanely frustrating. how can you know better than those from the same country and those who speak the same language?

i've seen way too many ifans act like they're superior to the domestic fanbase and i know a lot of people also hate to be wrong.

regarding what you said about lumis, i'm honestly surprised they have the guts to post this on weibo. and they don't even wanna listen to c-lumis, i would scream if i personally saw that. i'm frustrated just hearing it.

i agree with what you said, 'it's not about being the loudest but being extremely cautious rn.' i need that on a billboard. i need more people to get this through their head.

why do people think being loud is a good thing? i understand being defensive, but at least think. and this goes for just anyone.

i hate the idea that there's only one way to support someone. there is no wrong way to support someone. idk why some people think otherwise.

(don't even started on the 'you aren't a real fan if you hate a song.' 'you aren't a real fan if you don't have any merch.' etc 🙄)

a lot of fans tend to do things that they think will help but in reality would just hurt more. sometimes they have good intentions, but the most important thing to do in any situation is think smart.

i really hope things get better within all fandoms and i wish you the best 💕

[hereisisa]

Hey you know what? Elsamaren will canon in Frozen 3 😱 according to some EM fans, Elsa deserves someone to love just like Honeymaren.

LOL!

No.

I’ve replied to a similar ask a few times but here we are again...Let me make it clear for you:

Disney will not turn Elsa into the most disliked thing on the planet: a lesbian (I’m a lesbian), because of this reason itself, and because:

- they will not be able to distribute the movie all around the globe. There are countries where the censorship will NOT allow them to distribute it, and why should they lose money? LOL

And if you think they could always cut those scenes, then you agree with me HM is a insignificant extra which scene could be cut without influencing the whole plot.

- even in the countries where homosexuality is well accepted, Disney will lose money. The exemple (I always do): in my country, Italy, when F2 came out, 2 parties’ leaders said they were happy Disney didn’t “go that road” otherwise they wouldn’t take their daughters to see the movie. Together, these 2 parties have 50% of the italians votes. 50% of italians will NOT take their kids to see the movie with a lesbian Elsa. And tbh I think even a huge part of the other parties' voters will agree with them.

Do you have any idea of how huge the loss will be for Disney?

Not just in terms of box office, but in terms of merch sales, which is the BIGGEST source of income for Disney.

Parents will not “buy t-shirts with a lesbian princess on it” for their daughters.

Hell, I wouldn’t do it either! And not because I dislike it, but because I fear she will be bullied at school!!!!

So you have to add to the HUGE number of parents who will not buy merch because they are homophobic, the ones like me who will try to divert their daughters’ interest towards other princesses or franchising because “it’s safer”.

- Frozen it’s the story of Elsa and Anna. Even if Anna can have a romantic plot because the heteros are many, boring, and will accept a not-developed shallow romance as rep, the focus of the story will always be Elsa and Anna.

The problem of HM is that she’s a woman, and this puts her in direct competition with Anna.

So: EM will not have romantic scenes because they’ll not turn Elsa into a lesbian, and they’ll not even have regular friendship scenes (not more than Elsa+Anna) because the sisters’ bond has to be shown as stronger than any other.

I’m not saying EM will not interact, they could NOT bring her back in the next movie (I hope so), or give her a cameo, or a couple of scenes, but you have to remember that:

- her only scenes was cut cause kids didn’t like it and kids are the ones who decide - in a 90 mins long movie, where they have to fit: Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Sven, Kristoff, and now the spirits too, Nokk, Bruni, Gale, the Giants, and then the new characters they’ll surely bring in (no new characters, no story), a probably cameo for Oaken and the trolls....there is little time for everything else. - whatever she will get, will be irrelevant compared to elsanna. And it will be irrelevant even compared to KA cause they’re canon and hetero.

You’re not gonna see Elsa saving HM, you’ll see Elsa saving Anna. You’ll not see Elsa risking her life for HM, you’ll see Elsa risking her life for Anna, you’ll see Anna is her true love, Anna is the most important thing of her life, etc...

Because this is Frozen.

- They also hinted to the fact that Elsa is asexual. And they litterally turned her into a goddess of the woods, a Christ-like persona, ethereal and magical, to avoid giving her a love interest.

- If you think Elsa deserves a gf just because you want a gf, then you’re misguided. Heteros would tell you she deserves a dude. I could tell you Elsa deserves, as asexual, to stop having imposed gfs and live her life happily alone, loving her sister more than everything.

So, maybe, you...(sorry I’m talking to “you” like you’re one of them, maybe you’re not), they should lower their expectations.

[mrskurono]

YESSSS HE’S A FAT LIL THING 🤩🤩 honestly i don’t prefer plushies all that much for merch like all they do is live on my bed rent free but i just have a weakness for the round palm sized plushies. i just love them, they round. it’s always so cute i wanna eat it.

OH !!! did u try finding the acrylic stand on amiami? i believe they have almost all anime merch there and it’s in english. it ships from japan though so be wary of shipping costs lol. but also like if that piece was released too long ago, they may have already run out of stock and most likely won’t restock so, don’t be too hopeful... ? idk what else to say i’ve been disappointed one too many times when i see smth i like but realised it was released months ago so there’s no more stock of it and it’s no longer being sold 🤕

- 🪢 tbh i don’t know what i expected when i asked maybe deep down i already knew i was just gonna get it HAHSH

My brain saw “he’s a fat lil thing” and “I wanna eat it”  and you know what....maybe keep the suna toy away from me, I would 100% put it in my mouth bc ima munch on him like he a whole ass snack (but i still dont like suna ok i hate him) Mostly im a blanket hoarder (i got a Mahito blanket and a Rin Okumura blanket (that i did bring with my to the hospital when I was in labor as my comfort item)) but my last plush was a Nnoitra plush from Bleach and I fucking slept with that thing until his outfit was no longer white but a god awful tan he was disgusting XD Kageyama is serving as my boob buddy bc after a child now my tits touch and i hate the way it feels....so i just jam my husband in there and call it good yknow, boob separator Kageyama. When he ain’t playing volleyball he holding my tiddies up 😏

It was a limited time thing v.v I checked everything I was so pissed I wanted that beautiful bastard on my mantel I hate him so much but I wanna look at his face ;;--;; I almost never get into the time sensitive merch bc Im shit at remembering to order things (hence why just going to an anime store was so much better for me bc im dumb and can’t remember anything) I want a Tanjiro plush after I looked at the lil round things you said you had....Now I’m gonna end up impulse buying now >:o

If you’re here for bad advice on monetary decisions...THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS YES IF ITS NERD STUFF NERD STUFF IS IMPORTANT AND SHOULD BE HOARDED LIKE A DRAGONS KEEPSAKES

[thewritingstar]

ROCK’in around the Christmas Tree-Secret Santa Gift

so for the Secret Santa (on one of the servers lol) I got the lovely @michiamotippete !!!!!!!!

I whipped up a little Kiribaku holiday fluff (and minor steam) for you and I hope you enjoy this and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

For the @kuroshironekoserver event!!!

---

The cool cold air had taken Japan over during the winter months. Decorations for the beloved holidays had covered their city and everyone was rushing to finish their holiday shopping as Christmas day approached. 

Kirishima found himself inside the mall along side Mina and Sero. It was rare for them to have free time together since being a pro hero meant being on duty for most of their time. Of course Kirishima wanted all his presents to have meaning, but he desperately needed to find one for his boyfriend. 

Believe it or not, Bakugou was hard to shop for. He went ahead and let everyone else give him All Might merch and shirts but he didn’t want to fall under that category. Though he did buy themselves matching Ground Zero and Red Riot items because he knew he secretly loved flaunting his own stuff and not so secretly wearing his boyfriends. 

But he still need the gift. Ya know the big present that you save for last, the one that makes next year's presents even harder because you have to outdo yourself? The gift that makes the person receive it blush slightly as they try their best not to cry. The gift to end all gifts and makes you wanna spend the rest of your life wrapped in their arms? Yeah that. 

Easy peasy ...right?

“I don’t know why you’re worried bro, just sit naked on the bed and tie yourself up, he’ll like that.” Sero said and the heat rose to Kirishima's face before pushing him to the side. 

“Just because that's all you’re doing for Denki, doesn’t mean that will work for me.” Kiri quickly said and the boys went back and forth teasing before Mina complained about her shortage of caffeine, making them stop and get some coffee. 

“I still don’t know.” 

“Get him a rock.” Mina said. 

“I am not giving Bakugou a rock.” He stated and shook his head as he downed his coffee. 

“Well i'm out of ideas.” Mina shrugged and pulled them into another store. 

“Gee you’re so helpful.” Kiri shot back sarcastically. 

They trio ended up leaving the mall a few hours later. Each of their arms carried a few bags but even out of all the gifts, not a single one was for Kirishima's beloved boyfriend. 

“Don’t pout hun. I’m sure the perfect idea will come to you! You still have a week or two left. He’ll love anything you give him because he loves you.” Mina smiled as she kissed both of their cheeks good bye and hopped off the train with Sero as their stop was before Kirishimas. 

“Thanks Mina. See you all soon.” He waved goodbye and before long, he was departing the train as well. 

---

“What's with that face?” Bakugou asked as he stared intently at Kirishima. 

The red head broke from his daze as he refocused his attention on his explosive boyfriend who was currently ranting about being forced to work with Deku for the third time this month. 

“Oh uh nothing babe, sorry, just tired I guess.” He shrugged it off but it didn’t seem to get past Bakugou. The blonde let it slide for now as he finished up his homemade curry and brought his plate to the sink just as Kirhsima followed.

Kirhsima could feel that Bakugou was holding back from asking about his bluff so he did the only thing he knew to distract him, he poked his side. 

A sinister smirk grew on the red heads face as he saw Bakugou's hand tightened on the sponge and the signature scowl appear. 

“Ei.” He said with a dangerous warning but Kirishima was already gone with his playful mind and poked him again causing the blonde the drop the plate and drag him off to their room neglecting the dirty dishes. All Kiri could do was laugh as he was tossed onto the bed. 

“Don’t test me.” Bakugou snarled but it wasn’t meant as a threat but more...loving.

Pushing his limits, Kirishima sat up tapped Bakugou's nose. 

“Oops, hope I don't end up on the naughty list this year.” He winked before he was met with a deadly smirk and crimson red eyes. 

“Guess we’ll find out.” Bakugou let out a dark laugh. 

---

The next week came faster than the winter breeze and Kirishima still had not found the gift. He spent the morning going on a solo run as Bakugou was called into work early and he had a few hours until his own patrol started. 

His mind was racing for ideas but all the good ones had been taken. Two years ago he gave them matching promise rings, a thick black band and Baugous had an orange accent while his had red. The year before that was a photo album and poems he had written about him during their years at U.A and even the year before that he had creative gifts. 

But this one was big. It was their second year as pro heros and their fifth year officially together, though Mina likes to joke that they had been dating since that day they competed together in the sports festival. Somehow, he believed her. 

But now his thoughts went back to what Mina had said at the mall and a small smile came to his face. He checked his calendar and saw that he had three days until Christmas, enough time. He smiled as he popped his headphones back in and began to jog off his designated path and towards the perfect gift. 

---

The sun peered through the curtains as it stirred Kirishima awake. His arms tightened around the waist of his boyfriend and he nuzzled his nose deeper between the crook of the blondes neck. 

“Merry Christmas.” Kirishima sleepily slurred in Bakugou's ear and he was met with crimson eyes as Bakugou had turned in his arms. 

“Merry Christmas.” He repeated softly and planted a sweet and gentle kiss to Kirishima's lips. 

They had agreed to open their gifts once they woke up but five minutes later and Kirishima was back asleep with Bakugou following close behind. They luckily had the day off and decided that maybe sleeping in was the true gift, even if Bakugou protested a little. 

By the time they decided to open up their personal gifts, the sun had started to set and they were in front of the fireplace. The smaller gifts came first which consisted of hero merch, a new apron for Bakugou, new weights for Kirishima and a whole bunch of smaller items. Their living room floor looked of that of a five year old on Christmas day, paper everywhere. 

Bakugou wanted to give his final gift last and Kirishima nodded before handing over a small box to the blonde. 

“Now before you open this, I am aware of what is inside.” Kiri stated. 

“Well I fucking hope so.” Bakugou let out a laugh before tearing the wrapping paper off. 

He revealed a wooden box and cracked open the box. 

Kirishima waited anxiously for his reaction. 

First the blonde furrowed his eyebrows. Then he tilted the box slightly. His eyes darted back and forth between the box and the paper. 

“Um.” He said. “Rocks?” 

“Yep!” Kiri smiled and Bakguous lips tightened into a thin line before setting it down. 

“Thank you?” He tried to be polite but Kirishima's laugh sounded through the room. 

“Let me explain.”

“Please do.” 

Kirishima scooted closer to him on his knees and picked up the first rock. 

“When I was thinking of what to get you, I was lost. I mean what do you get the most important person when they already have everything?” 

Bakugou hummed. “I am important.” 

Kirishima playfully rolled his eyes before continuing. “Well I thought back to every important and meaningful moment of my life, and you were always there. So I went back to every place that meant something to use and collected these.” he gestured to the rocks. 

“I know it's lame and doesn't make sense but I worship the ground you walk on, so I thought if we could have a tangible piece of our journey, it would be worth something. So this one, it's from the field of the sports festival. Of course it's not the same rocks as before since you destroyed most of the field anyways but it was the first time you trusted me to help you, the first time you noticed me.” 

Bakugou stared at the other rocks in the box. He noticed that they now had small slips of paper attached and what they represented. 

“The beach with our first kiss. The campsite with the stars. The cliff where you said you loved me for the first time. It's all here.” Bakugou said as he took them one by one in his hands. The precious memories he loved came flooding back. 

“I thought that maybe we could start a little rock collection.” Kirishima chuckled. “Maybe when we travel or something.” 

Bakugou sat silently observing them all. 

“ I mean if you don;t like it that's okay too. I guess getting rocks isn't that great-”

“I love it.” Bakugou stated. His eyes met Kirishimas and he could see the truth in his eyes clear as day. “These mean alot to me. Makes me think about how lucky I am to even receive these.” 

Kirishima smiled and scooted closer for their noses to touch. “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” Bakugou said and pecked his lips. “Now it's my turn.” 

He stood and left Kirishima, grabbing a wrapped box on the mantle. “It's funny. The whole rock thing.” He came back to where he was and sat down before handing the gift to Kirishima. “We had the same idea.”

“You got me a rock too?!” Kirishima sounded a bit more excited than what it should have been. 

“Sort of, just fucking open it.” Naugou smiled and watched as his boyfriend torn the paper. 

“Kat-” 

“Not that its a competition, but my rock is much better.” Bakugou said with a smug smile as he watches his boyfriend's shoulders tightened back 

Kirishima sat as all thoughts left his mind. The instant the lid open, tears weighted in his eyes. He was focused on the perfect diamond sitting in the velvet ring box that he almost missed Bakugou's proposal

“So Eijirou Kirishima, will you do me the honor and accept this rock and me as yours forever?” Baugou asked.

In less than a second, Bakugou was laying on his back as Kirishima had literally bulldozed him to the ground and was practically straddling him. His face became wet with sloppy kisses and he could feel the tears dripping down his face. 

“Yes Katsuki, a thousand times yes.” Kirishima said breathlessly. “I love you so much.” He cried. 

“I love you too.” Bakugou responded by tightening his arms around him. He then let out a laugh as Kirihsima was busy looking at the ring on his finger, holding it up like a chick would in a Hollywood film. He just watched from underneath him thinking about how fucking lucky he was to be eventually wed to the kindest and hottest man alive. 

The rest of the evening was spent with them huddle in front of the fireplace talking about the different memories of the rocks and their plans for the future. Katsuki discovered that Eijirou secretly had a wedding all planned out on pintrest and kept waving his hands in his face since he couldn't keep his eye off the ring. 

“Merry Christmas baby.” Katsuki kissed his cheek and pulled him even closer. 

“Merry Christmas.” 

----

“So what did Bakugou give you?” Mina asked them as they all sat outside for coffee the next day. 

Kirishima and Bakugou looked at each other before he held up his hand. 

“A rock.” 

Mina stared at the shiny ring and practically shattered the glass behind them. “OH MY GOSH CONGRATULATIONS YOU TWO!!!” She cheered and almost let her tears fall from the overwhelming joy of seeing her best friends finally getting engaged. “That's amazing and Bakugou what did your fiance give you?” She asked and Kirishima’s face rose to a pretty shade of red. 

“Rocks.”

“Oh you also proposed?” She got excited again. 

“No, like literal fucking rocks.” 

Her eyes snapped to Kirishima. “Kiri, love, that was a joke.” 

“They are special rocks that hold are memories, shut up!” He looked away but Bakugou kissed his hand. 

“I liked them.” Bakugou shrugged. 

“Bakugou baby i am so sorry.” Mina laughed. “But anyways. I'm the maid of honor right? Cause if im not, you won't have a wedding and that's a promise.” She threatened with a smile. 

“Of course Mina!” Kirishima smiled. 

“Okay good!” She giggled. “Now show me that pretty rock again.”

----

I hope you enjoyed this!!! This was super fun to do!!

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 245: The Second One

Previously on BnHA: We kicked off day one of New Internships with a fun-filled morning of shenanigans. Highlights included: (1) an old bearded man gallivanting around town telling everyone the world is going to end (and making a surprising amount of sense); (2) Bakugou and Deku attempting to rough up a group of impassioned hobos, only to have their thunder stolen from right underneath their noses; and (3) Hawks, the thunder-stealer himself, who proceeded to be all “what’s up fellas, hey Endeavor did you miss me?” Endeavor, who totally did miss him, pretended like he had not, and meanwhile Hawks introduced himself to Endeavor’s new trainees: Finger-Smashing Kid, Kid Who Used To Work For The Guy You Just Murdered, and Shouto (Just Shouto). Then he pulled out a copy of Re-Destro’s book and was all, “hey Endeavor have you heard of this book which was really important to the plot in the previous arc? I think you should read it, for reasons!!” and Endeavor just kind of stared at him, which wasn’t exactly inspiring. Anyways let’s see if these two idiots can manage to pull this off.

Today on BnHA: Hawks shoves the Liberation Army’s book into Endeavor’s hands while staring at him with the intensity of a thousand suns, and then, to avoid suspicion, proceeds to hand out another 500,000 copies of the book without even being asked. He then flies back to the PLF headquarters and is all “good news gentlemen, I gave out copies of the Army’s book to everyone in Japan!” and they’re all “that’s great, Hawks!” because somehow it turns out that this was actually a good plan. Back at the Endeavor Agency HQ, the kids meet Endeavor’s 30+ other sidekicks, who are all “now let’s all stand around and wait for Endeavor to tell us what to do.” Over in his office, Endeavor shrewdly deduces that Hawks was trying to tell him something, and pieces together the hidden code Hawks left in his book, which basically reads “IN FOUR MONTHS WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE.” Back at the PLF, the League cheerfully discusses their plot to blow up the entire world come Springtime. Which apparently everyone is on board with. So, uh, does anyone else feel like they accidentally fell asleep during a really important part of the movie, because uh. What.

(All comments are my unspoiled reactions from my initial readthrough of the chapter. I did a quick edit for grammar and clarity afterward, and added a few ETAs in the process, but aside from that there are no changes.)

okay so two things: (1) as I mentioned in a previous post, Caleb Cook reported that this chapter took him more than 4 times longer than usual to translate. so like, what does that mean?? guess we’re about to find out!

and (2) HAWKS’S REAL NAME. I started typing up this recap early just so I could liveblog my reaction, since it seems that the databook has leaked, and I figure I’m going to stumble across this sooner rather than later. so I’m just going to look it up now here goes!!

AHHHH TAKAMI KEIGO AHHHH

lol. I have no idea what that actually means. let me look up some more stuff about this

oooh thank you reddit!

ooh damn, I love it!? “hawk” + “vision” lolol HORIKOSHI BACK AT IT AGAIN. but “watchman” is a really nice bonus what with how it relates both to the whole spying biz, and in a more general sense toward what he is trying to do as a hero trying to protect society. plus the name “Keigo” just has a really nice sound to it in general. kind of a boyish, youthful sound. not too hard or soft. idk. I like it. that was my favorite character in Bleach too

also apparently both of the kanji used for “Keigo” mean “enlightenment” oooh. my god I could analyze this all day. this being Thursday night, I’ll have some time to ruminate before I read the chapter tomorrow, so if I have any epiphanies I will add them in later!

(ETA: no additional thoughts on this right now, but there is now a ton of other content out from Ultra Analysis, so let’s take a quick look at some of that!

Haagen Dazs’s gender:  I now feel vindicated in continuing to refer to him as a “he” even after the face reveal! let this be a lesson to everyone never to judge a shounen character solely by how pretty they are. not that it wouldn’t have been nice to have another female villain! anyways the important thing is that I still don’t have his name memorized and never will!

Thirteen’s gender?!: now this, I don’t really like. Thirteen was already in the previous databook IIRC and their gender was ambiguous. which to be frank was awesome. having a canon nonbinary character was sick. why you gotta do this now Horikoshi smdh.

Reason for Shouji’s mask: nooooo poor Shouji. people in quirk society are jerks! lol I get the arms being scary, but his face?? now I really want to see what he looks like though. it would be cool if he became more accepting of himself as a result of hanging with his chill classmates and decided to ditch the mask. anyways my boy needs a hug.

and there’s a lot of other stuff, including a whole series of cute segments showing the characters’ relationships with each other, but I think I’ll save those for another post because otherwise this would get way too off-track. but man, so far I’m really loving this.)

okay kiddos. it is now Friday, and time to take our horse to the hype town road. I have been waiting all fucking week for this shit so it had better not disappoint!

“Rising to Action” ooh, nice. guess this is not much of a “sit still” gang, here

okay so we’re picking off right where we left off, and guys, I just need to know, does anyone other than me find this kind of hilarious

like, I don’t know why but just. Endeavor’s face. omg. he just looks like he’s trying so hard to figure out what’s wrong. I think what it is is that this is the exact same bemused/perplexed expression that Shouto gets on his face all the freaking time, and it just tickles me to no end that the apple apparently doesn’t fall far from the tree. ahh Shouto I know you don’t want to hear this but damn boy you look like your dad

anyways. I think we can all agree Endeavor should not be looking this adorable and what the hell. let’s move on

LOOOOOOL

why is this so funny ahhhhhhh. they’re so fucking serious please stop. I mean, but of course they’re serious, though. the weird one is me, right? whatever!

so now here’s the handoff. between these two super-serious dudes

Endeavor you had better not do like me and be all “of course I’ll read it!” fully intending to follow through (really!) but then you never do and everyone is super disappointed and you start to read something else instead, all the while feeling incredible guilt! my point is, Endeavor, I hope you don’t have ADHD or we’re all fucking screwed omg

lol though thankfully we have a backup!

“oh boy!” clamors Deku, a gleam of excitement in his eye. “homework!”

OH MY GOD

WHO ARE YOU, OPRAH

ff now he’s just SLAPPING THEM INTO THEIR HANDS omg. this is amazing

love how Katsuki is keeping an extra 1.5 meters of space in between him and the others because cooties. or something

anyways! I really want them all to read it actually so this is awesome! KACCHAN YOU ESPECIALLY. I want you to read it and then give it a disgusted 1 star review on goodreads. show me how much you’ve grown kiddo

lmaooo

Todoroki Shouto. god’s perfect idiot. bless this child. someone explained Occam’s razor to him one day, and he just sat there nodding like “yes that makes perfect sense” and proceeded to apply it to every fucking thing in his life from there on out. “what’s Hawks doing carrying around 10,000 copies of The Book of PLF and just handing them out to strangers like an old lady on Halloween? processing... processing... oh I see, he probably just REALLY LIKES THE BOOK how keen”

this is what Hawks is up against. this squad of certified morons with two whole brain cells shared among them on a good day. boy literally brought three backup secret messages just in case Endeavor was too dense to figure this out, only to watch these kids exclaim, with perfect sincerity, “GOSH, HAWKS MUST REALLY LIKE THIS BOOK, HUH”

and meanwhile the best Endeavor can do is “............something.......... feels.... off.......” fml. we’re all gonna die. Hawks, I’m sorry. you tried!! next time give Momo your secret message instead!

so now he says that he’s actually recommending this book to all of his acquaintances omg. don’t tell me this handsome canary is actually going around handing out books to every single person he knows?? all to cover up this one action of giving Endeavor the book with the secret message highlighted in it?? okay guys help me decide: is this brilliance or stupidity? like, what is even going on inside Hawks’s head. “I’ll just fly around handing out copies of Atlas Fucking Shrugged to everyone I meet. that’ll seem really natural”

I s2g Endeavor if you don’t follow up on this...! THE WORLD IS COUNTING ON YOU YOU BIG MEATHEAD. GET TO READIN’. MAKE LEVAR PROUD

and now Hawks is flying away with his hands in his pockets

godspeed you dramatically casual bastard

now Deku is all “you know, he’s not much older than us, but he really seems like he’s got his shit together!” which, yeah. don’t you hate that? the truth is though it’s all an act, and he’s actually just as screwed up as the rest of you! the moral is: never trust any 22-year-old who seems like they’ve got their shit together. because, no. he sits on a throne of lies

Endeavor are you actually being thoughtful??!

oh my god. we may actually have a chance here. praise be

now we are cutting to the Endeavor agency! guys, fucking look at this fucking ‘E’, though

ngl that shit is dope. I’m mad. I would buy his merch just for the logo and I hate that about myself

holy shit

the... flaming hot... oh my god

holy shit there’s so many of them

(ETA: hold up -- “Bakugou” and “Shouto”? this is a crucial detail here; they’re using Bakugou’s last name, but Shouto’s given name. so either they’re calling him Shouto because they know his pop, or -- more likely -- they’re calling him “Shouto” because that’s his hero name. in which case, “Bakugou” most likely also refers to “Bakugou” as in the hero name, not his actual name. meaning that still is his hero name. meaning he is still undecided. fucking... Katsuki. honey. why.

ffff and the new databook seems to support this too. instead of a hero name, Horikoshi just wrote “XXX” indicating he still hasn’t made up his mind. welp. looks like it’s back on that slow burn character development train, folks. maybe by the end of this arc, though? please? Horikoshi? Horikoshi damn it look at me.)

so this is how the number one operates, huh. meanwhile All Might only ever had one sidekick, and reluctantly at that. he really was so far out ahead of everyone else that he was basically untouchable. crazy

anyways, yes! they don’t know anything about anything so please teach them!

good grief this girl says Endeavor has over thirty sidekicks?? lmao and her name is “Burnin’.” please tell me the missing g is an actual part of her name please I need this

wow, Burnin’ really went and tried to pick a fight with my famously hot-tempered son knowing full well what his personality is like. and just look at him keeping his cool and firing back though

oh, Katsuki. [hair ruffle] he will thrive here

damn these guys are passionate

Endeavor seriously picked these people as his sidekicks? that Endeavor? they didn’t annoy the shit out of him?? that man is an enigma

btw can we all just stop here for a moment and give a shoutout to this horse-looking dude because. look at him. amazing. new fave

anyway so now the mummy-looking guy is explaining how they organize their shift schedule

so professional. this really is the big leagues

yoooooo my boy is FIRED UP. READY TO SAVE SOME BITCHES! YESSSSS WIN AND RESCUE LET’S DO THIS

LET’S FUCKING GOOOO omg I love him so much. Kacchan you need to cool it or I’m going to spend this whole fucking chapter ruffling your hair

(ETA: incidentally, here’s something I neglected to point out earlier: in spite of being a belligerent asshole in general, Katsuki for the most part is actually surprisingly respectful to most adults, especially heroes. so it’s interesting then that so far, this doesn’t seem to apply to Hawks. he almost seems to consider him another rival rather than another mentor/teacher-type figure to learn from. I wonder if this is because -- as Deku pointed out earlier this chapter -- Hawks is much closer to them in age than the other heroes. it’s interesting that that was pointed out -- and that in the very next panel Katsuki was grumbling about how Hawks pisses him off, at that.

anyway. this BakuHawks rivalry seems to be an established thing now, so I’m very curious to see how this develops.)

lol now Mummy Guy is all “that’s great! now we just need to wait for Endeavor to tell us what to do!” and Kacchan is like “WHAT”

I mean, he’s got a point lol. “we’re so busy!” “great let’s get to work!” “actually we don’t have any work yet!” like, what a fucking tease. don’t worry Kacchan, they’re just waiting to make sure they assign you boys a job that’s plot-related so we don’t waste any time

ahhh, and now we finally come to the moment we’ve all been waiting for! the part that apparently took four hours to translate! ENDEAVOR READING A BOOK

yeah he was acting like he had a freaking gun to his head. why don’t heroes have secret code phrases they can use to let each other know some weird fucking shit is up? or maybe they do, but since he’s being recorded and since PLF has some heroes on roster who probably know those same codes (looking at you, Slidin’), Hawks didn’t want to risk one of them figuring it out. that makes sense

ahhh, here we go

don’t tell me Caleb tried to translate this whole thing. though I gotta admit I am hella curious

anyway. so the rest of this page is Endeavor metaing about Hawks, and it’s some good stuff, ngl

he really is fond of him, huh. look at all those pictures. how many mental snapshots did you take of this kid smiling?? he’s so adopted it hurts

and look at the concern in that last panel! “why is he acting so weird, that’s not like him, I’ve got to get to the bottom of this.” damn, Hawks really did put his trust in the exact right person and it’s paying off

ENDEAVOR STOP MAKING THESE SOFT WORRIED FACES ABOUT HAWKS RIGHT THIS INSTANT I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THESE FEELS

god damn!! I don’t know why, but I continue to be surprised and impressed at how the character development of Endeavor is actually a subscribe and save deal and not just a one-time purchase. fucking look at Todoroki Enji, proud annual recipient of a different “world’s worst dad” mug every Father’s Day, actually caring enough about another human being to notice the subtle changes in his behavior and realize something is wrong. bruh. good for you!! human compassion is a damn good look for you, negl. fucking growth right here and I’m here for it

anyways, on to the hidden code!

and here are all of the highlighted portions for your code-breaking pleasure

fucking feel like I’m reading Detective Conan right now. yeesh

oooh!

BINGPOT LOOOOOL WHY DID I GET SO EXCITED OKAY LET ME GO BACK AND READ!

“the” “enemy” “liberation” “army” ahhhhhh! HAWKS YOU SNEAKY SON OF A BITCH. GOOD JOB ENDEAVOR!

and now we’re cutting back to Hawks, nooooo I wanted to see Endeavor’s reaction! come on!

lmao although it’s worth it to see Hawks mentally roasting Endeavor exactly like I was mere pages ago omg

his fucking face omg. that’s right Hawks, he’s not the brightest crayon in the box. not the sharpest tack in the bulletin board. he’s a few fries short of a happy meal. the elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top floor

but give him some credit, though! because he did figure it out! not necessarily because he was clever, but because he knows you!

oh shit lol

OH SO YOU PLANNED THAT PART TOO. WELL OKAY THEN

goddamn. he really is a clever bastard. and okay but in all seriousness, I fucking love that he has enough faith in this weird connection between them that out of all the ploys he could have gone with, this is what he chose. he seriously put all his eggs in the “Endeavor will figure it out from my face” basket. and it fucking paid off. this is awesome

AHHHHHHHHHHHH HERE WE GO

LOOK AT HIS EYE OH MY GOD. YOU CAN SEE THE EXACT MOMENT WHEN HE REALIZES HOW SCREWED THEY ALL ARE, YES, FUCK, THIS IS WHAT I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR OH GOD

and we’re cutting back to Hawks again! I’ll just assume the rest of his message went something like “we” “are” “boned” and Endeavor’s face was like :o

BACK AT THE OL’ VILLAIN HOTEL!!!

LOL WHAT IS THIS

THEY HAVE A FUCKING COUNCIL NOW

whose seat is that over on the left? Hawks’s? is Gigantomachia actually wearing a shirt?? AND SHOW US TOMURA’S FACE HORIKOSHI YOU COWARD

lmao oh my god are they really buying this shit

look at him. so trustworthy. nothing to suspect over here! just a 100% sincere born-again villain committed to the cause!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

NOOOOOO MY BABIES ARE EXPOSED. HORIKOSHI YOU BETTER PROTECT THEM I SWEAR TO GOD!!!

wow is the whole conversation just shifting over to the topic of Deku now, seriously?

oh my god oh my god oh my god. like. it’s been so long since the forest lodge and Kamino that I almost forgot that the League already knows these kids. they did fight Deku and Shouto briefly in the woods, and then they had an extended fight against Katsuki later on, although Dabi was unconscious for that part. anyways, shit. just like that they’re on their radar again I’m getting chills omgggg

(ETA: at least they’re underestimating them, though. “looks like he hasn’t gotten much stronger.” boy have you not heard about his bloop? that bloop will fuck you up just you wait!)

so now have some weird panels of Hawks walking through a door

(ETA: ohhhh you can see the door closing on the tip of his wing close-up! sneaky!)

ooh! wtf are you serious he can use his feathers to eavesdrop?!

(ETA: it only just clicked on my second read-through that Spinner of all people appears to be the mastermind behind this plan? like, am I reading this right? is he Tomura’s second-in-command now or what? damn, boy, good for you.)

okay, question. if he could do this the entire time, why did they even need him to pretend to join the League at all? I guess you never know when having a man on the inside who can possibly influence their decision-making will come in handy. but still, it seems to me like he could have easily done the spying bit without ever having to join up. ehhh but I guess there’s probably a range limit, and too much risk of the feathers getting caught and destroyed... eh, fine. I’ll allow it

AHHHHHHHHHHHH

WHAT THE FUCK WHAT EXCUSE ME WHAT?????

AND OF COURSE THAT’S THE END OF THE CHAPTER, LOL, FUCK. EXCUSE ME WHILE I GO STAND IN A CORNER AND SCREAM

lol “danger lurks” fucking you think?? what the hell! so they have an actual plan already, with the details outlined to the extent that they actually have a freaking timetable and everything? and the Liberation Army is on board with this whole thing too? the “destroying everything” part and all? this is too much to process all at once fuck me I can’t

okay! so four months from now is also when the kids will enter their second year! so that means Shinsou can get in on this action too. I’m trying to think of other significant plot things this could potentially imply, but none are coming to mind right now, other than it’ll be the anniversary of USJ. but that’s basically it. -- oh, wait, this also means that there’ll be a new first-year class of students at U.A. too! so that could be interesting. some potential new characters, and a chance for Deku and the others to be senpais. incidentally, to the best of my knowledge the kids will all stay in the same class and Aizawa will continue to be their homeroom teacher in year two. so nothing will change really aside from them becoming 2-A rather than 1-A. and Shinsou joining them, as mentioned. omg

anyway! let me see, any other stray thoughts before I wrap this up? I guess it’s worth noting that Toga’s eye is fine. the League has healed up pretty nicely in general actually. like, that’s seriously impressive for a group that doesn’t have Recovery Girl on staff. how long has it even been since Deika? a few weeks? this is almost ridiculous

and the “boom” -- is that literal? like they’re actually planning to blow everything up? or is that a metaphorical boom. fucking what kind of plan did they come up with where they actually think they can destroy THE ENTIRETY OF JAPAN all at once? is there a doomsday device?? what exactly is this “power” they’re talking about? HAWKS WHY DIDN’T YOU PUT THAT IN YOUR STUPID MESSAGE YOU BOOB

hahaha. anyways. it came down to the last two pages, but that certainly was a reveal worthy of all the hype. to sum: yikes

[padalickingood]

-NEED HELP MOVING OUT-

Hi everyone! This one’s gonna be a long one but I hope I can implore you all to take a quick minute of your time to read this and hopefully share it with others TvT. I’ve really been taking my time procrastinating from writing this because I never liked talking much about my own personal situation and dumping that on people, but I’ve unfortunately reached a point where I'm a bit desperate for any kind of help If I am going to try and make this happen.  

Recently I’ve started a serious goal of saving up enough money in order to move out by early next summer. I have attempted to make plans to move from my family home many times in the past couple of years and unfortunately have never managed to get anywhere near to achieving that goal due to my financial situation. Things have gotten increasingly stressful and emotionally exhausting in my current situation and I’ve officially hit that point where I’m willing to ask for assistance online.  

As a freelance artist, even with my Etsy, Patreon, ko-fi, and commission work combined I barely manage to make enough for basic living essentials which doesn’t include any sort of insurance or homeowner/apt owner expenses. Currently I do my very best to pay for as much as I can on my own and even so I still require support from my parents by them allowing me to live with them and them providing internet etc. What I pay for out of pocket is limited to things I need personally such as food, clothes, basic living supplies, art/store supplies etc. I’ve also recently limited myself from buying anything that is not completely necessary for essential living like eating out, movies, buying gifts over a certain price limit for friends, as well as canceling any travel plans from here on out. 

At this point I feel like It’s important for me to explain why I am a freelance artist as opposed to having any other type of job that could potentially be easier and pay better. This may be a bit of a tl;dr but I feel like it should at least be mentioned because the impact it’s had. Several years ago (I wanna say 2013 ish?) I dropped out of my community college because of essentially having a breakdown. The entire experience had left such a negative impact on me that my mood had very noticeably 180’d from high school to 2nd year of college. It was probably the closest I've come to being any level of depressed, which is not a word I throw around lightly as it’s something I don’t think I've felt anywhere near the level of those who struggle with it. Overall those years were so incredibly demoralizing and difficult for me that I made the tough decision of leaving school, something I had never even considered doing in my past (I never even skipped class in high school up until last day of senior year lol). Deciding to leave when I did though was probably the right decision because to this day, I still feel the lasting negative effects those years had on me. After I left school, I picked up a retail job and worked there for about a year and half. It wasn’t something I was really eager to do but was necessary as I wasn’t going to school anymore. With no degree though a minimum wage job was my only real option. Unfortunately, my experiences working weren’t all that positive either (as something I'm sure many of you also experience). I struggled to maintain motivation and continued to feel incredibly negative. It got so bad that it effected my relationships with family and friends as it kept me in a very antisocial mood. I ended up quitting that job shortly after and decided to try and go full freelance. Ever Since then I've worked on building up my store, commissions and anything else I could to try and make money from my art. To this day I still struggle with building up my online presence to the point where I can make a living off of it, but one thing that drastically changed for the better was my mood. My mental health has always been an absolute priority for me and I make a conscious effort to never force myself into anything that I know will have a negative impact on my health, which is why I dropped out of college and quit that job. I knew that if I stayed there it would have absolutely gotten so bad that It would have left much deeper scars than it has. And Although working in Freelance is no easy task and comes with its own degrees of stress, I find it far more rewarding and worth managing that stress. 

But as a result of those years I’ve been afraid of going back to either school or a minimum wage job. I know if I return to a job like that it will pull me back into a mental space that I'm just not willing to sacrifice myself to, and as far as College goes, I simply can’t afford it. However, with deciding to become a freelance artist I've dedicated my time to trying to build myself back up with my art and create a presence online where I can simultaneously do what I know makes me happy while also earning a living off of it. My progress has been slow and over the years I've felt like I've hit a standstill which brings me to my overall goal of wanting to move out. As I mentioned before I had been making attempts to move since around the time I worked in retail. Things haven’t panned out since then as I am still struggling to try and build up my store/Patreon/overall customer basis online. Unfortunately, also within these past few years tensions have been at a pretty constant high in my household because of it. There’s an added weight of still being so reliant on my parents after all these years and it being used against me, that the stress I’ve accumulated from it has kept me from being as productive as I would like. Recently with some current events I’ve just about hit a breaking point and am willing to do anything I can in order to save up so I can officially move out. I’m incredibly tired emotionally from still being here and I’ve started to take serious steps to making this move happen. Luckily I’ve been able to find a friend I can move out with so I won’t be paying rent on my own and I’ve calculated how much I could potentially make a month if I stick to a packed workload schedule. It’s not ideal but I’ve committed to this freelance work and I’m willing to work as hard as I can to reach my goal, and if all goes well then by this time next year i’ll be able to move out.

In writing this I hope that I can ask for support in helping me raise enough so I can try and move out of an unhealthy situation into hopefully something better.  

And to be clear I'm not doing a kickstarter or gofund me. That’s just simply not something this warrants. I know have options and I know that all I need to do is to work much much harder than someone with a 9to5 in order to earn what I need. The only reason I decided to write this out is to share WHY your support is so incredibly important to me and why sharing my work to anyone you can is very essential to my livelihood. Right now, I am very far away from earning nearly enough on a monthly basis in order to move out within a year, but I'm hoping that can change for the better. I simply ask for those who support my work to continue to do so and for those who haven’t and are absolutely financially able to consider supporting my work and share it with anyone you know. Whether it’s commissions, store merch, Patreon rewards, ko-fi etc. Every tiny bit helps me so much!  

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Here are the ways you can support me!

✪ Patreon: With the cheapest tier being 2$ a month you guys can get early access to all of my artwork a month in advance as well as other bonus content at the 2$ and above tier that is exclusive to patrons only. I have details about my rewards and goals on my Patreon that you don’t have to pay to view! Simply visit my homepage and browse through the rewards and bio to see if it interests you! 

✪ Ko-fi: I recently added a moving goal fund there which will show its progress with each kofi donation! The goal is ambitions and I don’t really expect to reach it but I wanted to just aim high and try and earn as much as I can. Also, I do sketch commissions there occasionally and may do other types of small commissions. So, if you’d like to support me while also getting something for yourself keep an eye out for my announcements on my twitter! 

✪ Commissions/adoptables: I’m going to officially be opening up my commissions soon but before that I wanted to try my hand at selling some adoptables! I’ll have more information about them after I finish up my current batch of commissions but I'm going to try and stick to those for now with some small YCH commissions sprinkled in between. After those though I’ll be opening up regular commissions again ^^ 

✪ Etsy:  I’m actually not sure If I'm going to keep my store up for much longer since I get charged a fee on each listing but before it closes you could help support me by buying merch from my store! 

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And lastly, I want to thank everyone who took the time to read through this and for those who follow me/support me in any way that you can. Even your reblogs/retweets on my work mean so much to me and help me so much I could never fully express how much I’m thankful to have such an amazing and lovely following of people <3 Thank you for your time