#yeah the main plot beats are great but some of these smaller moments go SO hard

[aerophone-amphibians]

Goddamn, MTMTE goes hard on the third readthrough

[turboacek-blog]

Dragon Ball Super, potential arcs

If the anime ever comes back, people already assume they would cover the manga arcs of Moro and Granolah

And probably adapt the movies Broly and Super Hero

But that’s two main arcs and two smaller arcs (the movies wouldn’t be that long even when broken into episodes and the anime fleshing out certain moments)

And don’t know if that would be enough for a return imo

So I’m going to brainstorm ideas to help justify a return as well as just have fun

Android 21 arc

Yeah adapting the Dragon Ball FighterZ story

Mostly the Android 18 version

I don’t think the reviving of the villains will go over as well but the general premise can work

Android 21 makes this wave ray thing that nullifies most of the energy in the world making Goku and co nearly powerless

And without doing the player's soul thing maybe Bulma makes a device like a bracelet that allows them to use some of their ki but it takes a while to make each one so they do need to solve the problem

Along the way the team consists of all the z fighters

Android 21 has a similar story with 18, 17, and a new 16 then her body splits into the good half and bad half and goes from there

Can be a fun arc to level the playing field as now Yamcha could hypothetically beat Vegeta now

Plus depending on how they handle the ending Android 21 could join the Z fighters as she is a fan favorite

Edit: watched DBS: Super Hero

Since she is now officially the wife of Gero and 16 would be her son and Hedo her great? Grandson

Could have some connection with Hedo and Gamma 1 depending on the placement of this arc as before 21 could meet Hedo her grandson

After Hedo can help against 21

Xenoverse arc

This can be handled in a lot of ways

But I’m mainly focusing on the Trunks, SKOT (Supreme Kai of Time), and Fuu aspect from Xenoverse 2 bonus content

In my ideal version, this would be the Trunks that left to join the duplicate of him and Mai in their timeline and through time shenanigans the timelines are fine and Trunks can ask Goku and co to help against Fuu

Can be the repeat of the Future Trunks/Zamasu/Goku Black arc as it’s incorporating Trunks again but this time has a god/Kai approval

Don’t know the details as it would need to be altered a bit to fit the anime as they didn’t do the multiverse stuff the games do

Maybe incorporate the other universes like Jirens 11 or the unknown ones like 1

Edit: realized this is a lot of the Heroes plot so maybe just find a way to connect them somewhat officially

Dragon Ball Online stuff

I don’t know too much about the game but I know it had a lot of stuff that Toriyama helped add that could make its way into canon in some version

Like Tien already has his dojo which was the idea that was first in the game

Some ideas I had without going into detail as these can be one episode “fillers”

Krillin’s dojo, has a dojo similar to Tien for the new turtle and crane schools to exist

Ms. Buu, Buu wants a companion and creates his wife Ms. Buu so can see that happening as even in Xenoverse he just creates kids so some form of Buu having a Major family can work

Gohans book, Gohan writes a book about Ki control that spreads and has many people learn about ki including Mr. Satan, probably more of a post-Z time but can at least get started here plus it ties into his Scholar profession and how he taught Videl in Z

Goten and Trunk different paths, Trunk takes up the sword and is a swords master and Goten with martial arts so they grow in those aspects, in Online they eventually teach so maybe build that idea for the future

Namek on earth, for whatever reason namekians are on earth in DB online and they’re not just descendants of Piccolo and Dende

This could work as Namekians are friendly with the Z fighters and they just need water to live but don’t know what impact it would have

So that was the adaption stuff

Now for my original off-the-wall ideas

Android 8 upgrade, somehow Android 8 gets an upgrade and can compete against the z fighters but is used for evil or something, if Hedo can make androids capable to fight Gohan and Piccolo then anything is possible lol

Adapting some Z movie villains:

Turles and the tree of might, another Saiyan that survived kinda like Tarble but his fruit of the tree of light gives him a power boost capable of actually fighting the Z fighters

Lord Slug, evil namekian can be old yet super powerful like Moro and gets his youth back

Cool Cooler, instead of just Freiza again, I think Cooler could be what Frost was acting as but being a good guy but he has a villain he needs help defeating or something

Janemba is just a pretty strong alien with a good power set, Janemba could take a lot of hits in the bigger form and had the teleport portal blade attacks in his more iconic form

Lastly, the one people are mixed on but for the most part, want

Redo GT

This would have to be after the Z of Dragon ball so it's not likely but if they do go past the end of Z

Black star dragon balls

Just needs fine-tuning, as its main problem was that it was too long leaving it to have a lot of bad episodes,

Plus it can give Universe 7 more world building

Baby saga

Can mostly be the same but obviously more modernized and fix the issues it had

The body-snatching idea was good alone and then adding the backstory was solid on its own

Super Android 17

This would need the most workaround as maybe it isn’t 17 this time but Gamma 1 and someone rebuilt Gamma 2 and they do the fused idea people thought Super Hero would have before release

Shenron/Dragon saga

This can again be mostly the same just modernized

Having there be a drawback for all the wishes they have made is good

The dragons would need some work as outside of Nova Eis and Shin the others can be changed

And the ending can be virtually the same again

And I’m not writing it out but this is again the opportunity to not make GT Goku time

[frederickthegreat]

my thoughts on TUA season 2

(spoilers, obviously)

- opened with Klaus and Ben, my kings. Klaus’s hair looks so weird straightened while short 

- AWESOME opening soundtrack 

- seeing all their powers so controlled makes me wonder how they leveled up to that skill in the alternate timeline. like the only time we saw Klaus use the powers of other ghosts in the correct timeline was when two of them caught him falling out of the sky. however Diego did end up controlling bullets and Allison used her voice to technically kill one of the Swedes

- the homeless man screaming Allison’s name alongside Luther... funny shit

- big teddy bear Hazel

- Elliot was fucking awesome i think he was a great addition as a side character. rip tho :(

- honestly i don’t understand why Diego would WANT to save JFK. like it’s not that big of a deal. does he not understand what messing with the timeline can do??

- Lila... impeccable

- Sissy and Vanya... impeccable <3

- yeah and fuck u Carl

- ugh, Klaus’s beard. disgusting <3

- Ben and Klaus definitely act like they should be, given that they’ve been stuck with each other for over a decade. i’ve seen some people calling Klaus an asshole for not telling his siblings about Ben, which is completely understandable (cause he was an asshole), but I’m guessing it was because he was afraid? that sharing Ben with his siblings would mean that he would lose him to them, or his siblings would find him selfish, or they would ask something of him that he couldn’t give. if that makes sense

- that ghost bitch comment was funny tho 

- to the guy who called Klaus pretty boy at the bar: sir you don’t know what you’re getting into

- Raymond!! he’s such a sweetheart, i really liked him in the show. i’m really happy that Allison has found a bit of normalcy (as normal as the 1960s Civil Rights movement could be). it shows how passionate she is about what she believes in: even though she knows the movement is far from over, even back in 2019, she’s not gonna abandon it

- Allison staring at the moon every night: either thinking about Luther or how the moon blows them all up. maybe both

- of course Luther would be working for Jack Ruby

- awesome cinematography during the mental asylum escape 

- yeah it makes sense that the Handler would still be alive. she was a cool villain. although it would’ve been awesome to see how evil a fish could be

- Diego’s plan was pretty stupid. that’s my boy

- honestly they revealed how Klaus started a cult really well by having one of his followers find him at jail. Klaus, ever the musical aficionado, of course writes his scripture based off of pop songs

- Raymond and Klaus meeting!! that was cool to see how their paths connected

- Lila painting Elliot’s toenails green. ugh i love that crazy bitch

- i LOVE how they incorporated the umbrella man!! tbh i’ve always believed he was the one behind the assassination. Lee Harvey Oswald was framed 

- honestly a bit understandable that Luther was planning on killing Vanya? cause he had no idea who she is now, but them reuniting was actually really sweet. he’s grown up so much

- the Swedes and their cats.

- the Umbrella company building with the nuclear family mannequins... creepy, awesome shit

- baby pogo baby pogo baby pogo baby pogo

- shanked diego shanked diego shanked diego shanked diego

- did anyone else get vibes from Klaus’s episode opening that he was an escort to the old woman? like how he was being shown off at her arm or something and getting out of jail from a call from the governor. idk maybe the lady was just very taken with him, as anyone would be

- Elliot, our helpful king

- Allison and Klaus’s reunion was so sweet!! i’m so glad they got to interact so much more in this season 

- Ben getting Raymond out through a haunting... hilarious

- sweet intimate moment between Lila and Diego

- Ray meeting Luther was hilarious, but i do feel for the poor guy. i mean i’m not in love with my adoptive sister but still

- the sit-in was really well done and beautiful while terrible. the ‘riot’ that ensued was very appropriate for today’s setting 

- D-Dave

- honestly i was scared that Klaus was gonna be overly attracted to him or whatever, which would be weird cause he’s years younger than Klaus, but honestly, at the core he just wanted to save Dave’s life. even if it means never meeting him in a different timeline. he truly loved Dave. and that ptsd flashback was done so well

- i knew Lila wasn’t trustworthy but i didn’t REALLY expect that! 

- Vanya and Luther talking with each other, Luther admitting the apocalypse wasn’t all her fault. beautiful

- the Majestic 12 reminds me of the conspiracy theory that only a few families control basically everything in the world. the Majestic 12 may be based off of that, idk

- idk about everyone else but Klaus’s scorpion and the frog story made total sense to me! frogs ARE bitches

- the diner scene.... ugh. it really shows that the two of them did fall in love and they did stupid in love things, like talking about their family, about why Dave wanted to join, favorite colors, favorite foods, etc. however that’s seen later on when Dave visits the compound

- yes it’s very disheartening when Klaus is attacked, but honestly i think it had to happen, just like the riot had to happen. the 60s weren’t a fun time for lgbt people and poc. it was only going to be a matter of time before the show HAD to acknowledge the consequences of Klaus’s ‘flamboyancy’ in 1963 Texas. it doesn’t make it right or easy to see, but it’s realistic. 

- it also makes sense that Klaus fell off the wagon after experiencing something like that. yes we all would’ve liked him to stay sober, but sobriety and recovery aren’t linear. 

- Allison is so happy with Ray can we please drop this pseudo-incest plotline let’s MOVE ON 

- Texas Grace ! who is not actually Grace rip (i think? i was a bit confused lol)

- the scene with Harlan running off was really upsetting but we got to see those weird light particles that we saw in the first season

- Pogo Pogo Pogo Pogo

- Klaus being a dick to Ben again, as brothers do. i do feel bad for Ben though it must be sooo frustrating. that scene with him and Allison was really sweet and funny tho

- i just have to say that Luther and Diego are so fucking funny this season it’s awesome. like there are a LOT of good lines overall by everyone but they’re hilarious. “At least he didn’t shank my ass” “no bro, he shanked your heart”“Dads part of a sinister CABAL that’s plotting on killing the president.” “a caBAL?”“You two still a thing? *leans in* do we need to talk?” “No, she’s married.” “Woah dude... that’s rough.” and countless others

- the sibling reunion!! 

- Klaus really does get left out of everything tbh

- Ben :(

- sisters and Klaus!! that was so awesome to see. and Klaus’s hairpins, Vanya saying she’s gonna tell Sissy she loves her, their dance sequence, Klaus calling Allison out on that incest. beautiful

- the fucking Swedish cover of Hello was PERFECT i mean i was sad for the Swedes but it was hilarious. there were a couple beautiful shots of the boat on fire though

- god it must’ve been so traumatizing for Allison to be thrust into such a hostile place with no voice and no way to contact her family

-  idk about you guys but long live Team Zero

- calling Ben that he was becoming their father was a bit uncalled for 

- the fact that Klaus didn’t help Dave’s chances, and in fact escalated Dave’s own timeline.. his trembling hands... robert sheehan is an amazing actor

- the Black president bit lmaoo loved it

- the way Reginald spoke to Diego.. i’m gonna throw hands with an old man

- Klaus LITERALLY looked like he was having a seizure and they all just... played it off?? 

- poor, poor Carl. nah fuck him lol

- that bloody opening scene was awesome! and thank god Five got to say fuck. the fact that it was about a candy bar makes too much sense

- Robert Sheehan acting as Ben: amazing showstopping spectacular he’s so talented

- the whole multiple Fives and Luther bit was honestly really funny, and i immensely respect smaller Five over bigger Five. 

- yes Klaus, you survived a family of seven. you got this

- not sad about Carl dying one bit!

- Ben... that was such a beautiful scene. not just the content of the scene, but the cinematography. Ben fading away... Vanya hugging him... ugh. the main takeaway i had from that scene is that at the core of it all, Ben and Klaus love each other immensely. they have a weird, dysfunctional, fucked up relationship, where Klaus is an asshole and Ben definitely shouldn’t of possessed him without his consent, but they’re still brothers, and Ben forgives him. 

- oof Ben’s funeral was hard. also was it just me or did Klaus’s kid actor sound weird? like it sounded like Robert was dubbing his lines 

- all the siblings back together again!!!! Klaus going with Vanya to save Harlan!! Vanya telling him Ben forgives him and that it wasn’t Klaus’s fault Ben got stuck with him!! everyone in the car!!! be still my beating heart

- yeah didn’t see Lila having powers coming tbh. i really feel bad for her she’s had such a rough and traumatic life, especially with the Handler as her only parental figure

- the Swede brother and Five putting down their weapons: “enough.” the Swede wanted revenge for his brothers - an eye for an eye, but there was a mutual understanding between the two of them: they would do anything for their family. if the Swede hurts one of the Hargreeves, Five would never stop coming after him. i thought it was very beautiful 

- mmm Reggie’s foreshadowing coming into play. proud of u Five

- the ending was so beautiful. everyone got closure in some type of way. except now Klaus is alone with nothing but his dog tags :(

- EMO BEN HAHAHA WTFFF?? is Lila in the sparrow academy? why was Ben’s portrait over the mantle piece? did Five disappear?? is the sparrow academy just older versions of the siblings who stuck around?? so many questions

FINAL THOUGHTS

- Ellen Page’s acting consistently blows me away. she is amazing 

- beautiful cinematography, funny writing, pretty good acting. i didn’t like the soundtrack as much as i did the first season’s, but some of it wasn’t bad.

- i’m glad ben got peace, but i’m also glad justin min isn’t gone for good. his social media presence is too vital for us

- i swear to god if they keep treating klaus as a joke and don’t let him get any actual development like everyone else had (he barely got closure with Dave, he reconciled with Ben through a second party) next season, i’m gonna riot. PLEASE i want to learn more about his powers now that Ben is gone. what happened to seeing tons of ghosts when he’s sober??

- Luther and Diego were probably my favorite duo of the season, I’m so happy that they’ve reconciled and are bonding more. 

- just seeing Vanya grow and be happy was amazing 

all in all, really wonderful season. i probably liked it better than the first one. now it’s time to consume fanfiction and maybe finish my own (check out “god doesn’t want him and neither does the devil” on ao3!)

[slashingdisneypasta]

MultiVillain x Reader || Drabbles

Plot: Okay, so this is how it goes. Reader’s in love with (Villain), and (Villain) is in love with them… but no one ever said it out loud, and now Reader is marrying someone else.

Includes: Napoleon Boneparte (Misc), Human!Oogie Boogie (Disney Villain), Oswald Cobblepot (Gotham), Slenderman (Creepypasta), The Clown (Horror Villains)

Warnings: Alcohol intake, talk and hints towards murder of course, and swearing. 

Notes:

Inspired by ‘Marry Me’ (Either by Thomas Rhett [The guy’s POV which is what this will be in] or Elle Mears [Your POV, if you wanna see how Reader’s thinking]) and I recommend you listen while you read! ^^

I’m so happy!! I finally wrote something more then headcanons for Oogie! And this is also my first time writing for the Clown, so be easy on me XD

I hope you like this- I for one, am actually pretty proud of it! 

~~~

Napoleon Boneparte (You’re having a nighttime wedding- you made this decision of course so your friend and secret soulmate could attend):

She wants to get married, she wants it perfect She wants her grandaddy preaching the service Yeah, she wants magnolias out in the country Not too many people, save her daddy some money

Before walking into the church, I halt a moment at the side so others may get inside by me. This will be hard. I need a moment, just a moment… to pull myself together. It would be very bad, if I were to panic as Y/N makes their way down the aisle.

Hand on the church, more to hold myself together rather then to hold myself up. Am I doing the right thing? Should I be here? Should I leave? That stupid Capone said I might not be able to control myself and will object when the preacher asks… he’s not right, is he? It’s true, I don’t feel entirely under my own control right now…. But I need to be here. To support Y/N on their big day.

… I do love them, far more than any man every should a nearly married person, and even if I can’t have them for myself, I would, happy, do very near anything to make them happy.

So, if… If they want me here, as they said they do… Then I have to go in. I can’t chicken out now. I am the great Napoleon Boneparte. I can attend a wedding. Bon dieu.

Viva La France.

I can do this.

Forward!

As soon as I walk in, it is as if I am strolling into Y/N’s mind. This is just as they always wanted, with a few obvious added things by the other one that’s getting married today, like the chiselled cat head mahogany chairs… not that I think Y/N would disapprove if they weren’t, in fact, kind enough to just agree right away, seeing as it isn’t only their day.

The white makes a beautiful backdrop for their chosen accent colour, and the people in the room are exactly who I would imagine to accompany Y/N in her daily life, when I cannot be there. There’s not a sour, or in any way unexcited and unencouraging expression in the place.

Honestly, with my whole heart, wish I could feel the same as them.

Then Y/N comes into the room, and steals the breath right out of my chest. Like always.

Human!Oogie Boogie:

Ooh, she got it all planned out Yeah, I can see it all right now

I'll wear my black suit, black tie, hide out in the back I'll do a strong shot of whiskey straight out the flask

Christ, what kinda shindig is this?? I’ve asked everyone and their cat, including somebodies’ mother who looks like a cat, to play a tiny game of Blackjack with me while we wait for the main event, but nothing! Nada! What’s wrong with these people? Are they dying to just sit around and contemplate their loneliness until the two hosts get hitched??

I, for one, am not playing that game today.

Of course, I’m also avoiding Y/N at all costs so maybe I’m not the best example of a man controlling his emotions.

“Oogie!”

My shoulders seize up visibly, at Y/N’s voice behind me and I stop shuffling my cards. I only decide to turn around and face them like a man, when they give up waiting and round me so I can see their beaming face.

Oh, they look so happy.

That’s nice… in a terrible, heartbreaking, awful kind of way.

“Heya, Y/N. You look great!” I start shuffling the cards again in my hand, distracting my hands from and refraining myself from, taking their hand and kissing it, or pulling them into a hug. If I did that, I think theirs an acute possibility I would end up saying something we would both regret, in a moment of determination… and devastation, of course. Can’t forget that.

Really, I can’t. It’s a very prominent feeling right now in my chest, just being here. Just knowing this is happening.

“Thank you!” They beam wider, and oh Jesus. They’re so beautiful when they look happy- I wish I could make them this happy.

… But that’s all the other guy. The one they’re hitching.

They run their bottom lip through their teeth, looking down at the cards in my hands and then smirking in that mischievous way that always somehow makes this blackheart’s insides clench up. In a good way, but still. Tilting their head, they look back up at my face. “Had no luck getting anyone to bet with you yet?”

I let out a deep, theatrical sigh full of frustration. “No! Your guests all suck, Y/N.”

“Even you?”

“No, not me. I’m the King.”

“Right,” They laugh, then goes and sits down at a nearby table. “Well we have 10 minutes until I have to go get ready to walk- I’ll play you if you want!”

My heart pops like a balloon, and goes flying, wheezing around in my rib cage as I just smile at them for a good moment- unmarried, and free, and mine. For ten to fifteen more minutes. Hell yeah, I’m going to sit down and play with them.

Why aren’t I telling them not to? I wonder, as I deal us both cards and they pick theirs up and make cheeky ‘Hmmm’ sounds to throw me off. Why don’t I tell them, right now, how I feel? Why am I doing this to myself? Why am I here, is also a valid question but I already beat myself up over that last night when I was picking out my tie. I’m her friend, and they deserve to be… yuck. Happy, with the person they chose.

And I guess, that’s the answer to all my other questions too.

Let me just enjoy this last game, this last 600 seconds with them.

Oswald Cobblepot:

I remember the night when I almost kissed her Yeah, I kinda freaked out, we'd been friends for forever And I always wondered if she felt the same way When I got the invite, I knew it was too late

And I know her daddy's been dreading this day Oh, but he don't know he ain't the only one giving her away

As soon as Y/N leaves my side to go and freshen up for the aisle walk, I find myself a seat in the very back of the church / auditorium and rest in for the event. I will not be moving from this hidden away spot, in convenient shadow, with my secret flask of terrible smelling stuff that Victor gave me before arriving, until this shitshow is over and I can leave.

I’m only here in the first place, because Y/N asked me. And, evidently, my idiocy runs deep because I accepted such an invitation. I will do anything, for them. I learnt my lesson in dealing in peoples love lives, with Edward and Isobel- I will not let my relationship with Y/N go as badly as that one did, with Ed.

So if I must sit here and watch them marry that moron, (Fiancé’s Name), then that is what I’ll do. But I won’t sit in the front and watch it, and I will be as drunk as whatever this drink can make me.

Maybe I should text Victor, the deadly assassin, and ask what the contaminants are…

An unevolved, ap-like woman walks past my seat and I must be too close to the aisle because I can hear her yap like a strangled cat about what a cute couple Y/N and (Fiancé’s Name) are together and how they must be soulmates, and I don’t think twice before gulping down a huge mouthful of the alcohol. If this is how I die, then so be it, I think bitterly as I slide further down the aisle.

“Fuck!” The word comes out of me before I can stop it, my face probably the picture of horror and disgust. This… drink, if I can even call it that -more of an undiluted acid, if you ask me, - tastes like regret and earwax.

The same ape-like woman from before flashes a stern, disapproving look at me like she thinks she’s my mother, and I show her my middle finger. Uncouth, yes, but affective. This is a bad day, and I am in no mood to deal with bitches like her. She quickly looks away, and I take another, smaller, sip of the drink.

Another moment passes and the wedding doesn’t seem to be even a second closer to ending, so I sit up straight and close my eyes, holding the flask in my lap. Take me back to a better time…

In the silent, middle-of-the-conversation lapse moment, I allow myself to look down at Y/N’s mouth. They have a soft smile, left over from whatever we were just talking about, on their face as they sit comfortably in our silence and I suddenly feel total confidence. They’re here, with me, instead of off with that boy toy / girl toy / gender neutral or fluid toy. They’re with me. That must mean that I mean something to them, right? And Ed said they looked at me like… like, they love me. Or ‘care deeply’, as he put it. But we all know that was just his stiff version of the word ‘love’. Ever since Isobel… had her unfortunate accident… he’s been focused on one emotion only and it is not, love.

Anyway, the confidence spreads through me and I smile. It mixes with my perpetual desire to kiss them, and goddamnit, I should do it. I should just lean over and press a gentle kiss on their mouth- if they aren’t interested or pull away, I can blame it on the wine between us. If not…

Butterflies erupt in my stomach and my chest, and I’ve just lean an inch forward… when their phone rings on the table and I see (Boyfriends Name) flash on the screen.

I rush to lean completely back in my chair, as they answer. I don’t like to believe fate has anything to do with Gotham, but… that was entirely too close.

My eyes snap open and I roll my shoulders back, inhaling another, bigger slug of the contents of the flask and feel even angrier.

That was, most certainly not a better time, you nitwit.

Slenderman:

Bet she got on her dress now, welcoming the guests now

I could try to find her, get it off of my chest now But I ain't gonna mess it up, so I'll wish her the best now

I’ve been sitting in the back of this church, a place I likely shouldn’t ever enter in the first place -Well, at least I’m not Offender. I would probably burn to death, in that scenario, - for over 2 hours and I only got to see Y/N for 45 and a half minutes of that time.

Not that that really matters. Its more important that they see me. I certainly don’t want to see them. I don’t wish to see them, or their wedding clothes, or their wedding guests, or the stupid moony smiles on their faces, or the cake, or their partner. Definitely not their partner. If they show their face before they absolutely have to, or worse, talk to me, I will promptly go home and kill 30 people. I don’t want to be here.

I shouldn’t be here, in fact. If I were a good man, I wouldn’t be here. A good man would never turn up to a wedding that he know’s he’s just going to sit back in and think unholy, too-fond and too-angry thoughts about one of the marriage participants. Marriage is supposedly a sacred thing, and if I were this good man that I’m thinking about, I wouldn’t urinate on it like this.

But I am not a good man.

So, really, what would I know about what a good man, would do in the first place?

Enough thinking about good men, it’s making me queasy and very uncomfortable.

I don’t look around, but I can infer with general certainty, that Y/N will be welcoming all her other guests now that I ‘allowed’ -Not that I could have stopped them. They just didn’t want to leave me in my own company,- them to let me be alone here. And they’re in their wedding clothes, which look lovely on them, and their smiling and their giddy.

Giddy. Ugh, I hate that word, especially in this sense. Defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as ‘feeling silly, happy, and excited and showing this in your behaviour’. And by the Oxford, to ‘Make (Someone) feel excited to the point of disorientation.’. Yes, I looked up these definitions and memorised them before I came, and loathe every single word, in that order.

Because apparently, as if it wasn’t already obvious by the very fact that I’m HERE, I hate myself.

This other person has made Y/N giddy, while I have to sit here and pretend, I’m happy for them both and that I don’t feel like vomiting for the first time in 5 centuries.

But I can’t do anything about it, because I love them, Y/N, and I will… I will not, allow myself to be the reason their wedding wasn’t perfect. So, I wish them the best.

Or I try my damn hardest to.

The Clown / Jeffry Hawk / Kenneth Chase:

So I'm in my black suit, black tie, hiding out in the back Doing a strong shot of whiskey straight out the flask I'll try to make it through without crying so nobody sees Yeah, she wanna get married Yeah, she gonna get married But she ain't gonna marry me

I don’t know if I’d call this a real wedding. For one, its in the entities realm so how ‘magical’ could it really be? And for another reason, the only white thing here is my grease paint. Its pretty laughable. I would laugh, in fact, if I didn’t know it would cause a coughing fit and bring attention to me as Y/N walks down the aisle- O don’t need them looking at me. I might accidentally blurt out an ‘oopsie’ or something not-at-all funny like that, with all the whiskey I’ve injected today. Not that that would be the biggest issue with these kids seeing that I’m here, in the first place. Only Y/N knows, I’m hiding by a tree.  

But, I digress I guess. They’re calling it a wedding. The big one with the beard is officiating -I guess he has an online certificate from before he was brought here,- , Y/N’s wearing a pit of plastic bag on their head like a make shift veil / bit of plastic bag fashioned sort of like a tie, and all the lovely little fingers, or survivors as they like to call themselves, watch. With silly gleaming smiles and hope in their eyes- Pft, suckers.

Honestly the idea of weddings in the first place make me a bit uncomfortable. All those wide eyes watching and perving on your happiness?? Seems pretty creepy to me, and I’ve been told I’m pretty creepy myself! So, I would know!

The fact that possibly the sweetest, perfect person I’ve ever had the pleasure of setting my gaze upon is the one getting married, has absolutely no stake on my take on weddings in this moment.

Absolutely not…

Aha… hahahaha…

I kill myself.

I kill them, too, but let’s put that on the backburner like their fingers, for now.

Let me wallow in self-pity for a while longer before we start making jokes.

Yeah, let me… I take a swig of my flask -a bee-oootiful concoction of all the most toxic hootch I have in my collection, and maybe also some actual poison maybe since I wasn’t paying much attention when I created it this morning and I keep it all in relatively the same place, - and savour the horrible flavour on my tongue. Let me wallow, for a little bit.

This is going to be a bad day, for these little fuckers when I get into the game.

[welcome-to-the-cafe]

SHANG-CHI (2021) Review Pt. 1

Woooo I admit I was more hyped for this film than I had any right to be. Hyped and nervous. This was the media piece that had the potential to be the first "good" piece of Asian-American representation in a long time. It seemed things were falling in place: they got a Chinese-American dude to play the lead. They got a Chinese acting legend to play the villain. Asian-American women for strong supporting roles. They had an Asian-American director. Loads of Asian stunt actors and coordinators. Asian-American musicians for the soundtrack. But still...

I was nervous because of the narrative arc I glossed from the trailers. I expected it to be another american-child-beats-traditionalist-parent story, where the new American experience conflicts with and overcomes the evil (and weird) native heritage. It seemed that's what Shang-Chi, the American boy, would do to his ancient Chinese father. I was very glad that was not the case.

The relationship between Shang-Chi and Wenwu, and the two of them to Shang-Chi's mother, is the central component of the movie, and I was glad it was well written and acted to be very compelling. I greatly enjoyed the two parallel internal conflicts, though I have issue with how they were resolved. Wenwu was a ruthless immortal warlord, but gave it up for the wife, cuz that's the power of love baybeeee. Unfortunately, is past beefs catch up to him and his family, and return him to his old ways...but not completely I think, because now, he loves his son. And Shang-Chi, despite being trained into living weapon, loves him back, though hates him for making him kill. Their fight at the climax is a culmination of their sadness and rage, using the more violent style (Shaolin I think?). Wenwu is a master of this style, and so overcomes his son with it and nearly kills him. This is completely counter to Wenwu's goal of reuniting the family, really showing how far he's gone. Shang-Chi ultimately uses his mother's Tai Chi-based style to defeat his father, and spares him, telling Wenwu to let go and accept his wife's death. *Chef's kiss* delicious, and nearly perfect.

And then comes the dumb CGI monster ...

I actually like that the Ten Rings are directly tied to the evil supernatural monster, and that the monster manipulates Wenwu with his grief. However, I don't like that the monster's physical form is Western-style giant ugly bat thing. Actually I don't like that the monster has a physical form at all. I think it should've been some evil spirit that takes the form of the mom, and then possesses Wenwu via the Ten Rings. Possessed Wenwu and Shang-Chi would then duke it out...ok that would be a detailed rewrite, I will stick with a review. The big CGI monster was dumb. The smaller CGI monsters were also dumb. And the dragon...ok I think the dragon was dumb too. There were a lot better ways to "revive" Shang-Chi after getting beat up initially. It had no character, and no big plot connection. The climax should've been purely emotional kungfu, not a messy CGI hurricane.

Now onto the secondary characters.

I think Xialing and Shang-Chi's relationship was powerful and weighty, but wasn't given enough time, and wasn't resolved that great. Being on a flying dragon and "letting go", is not nearly the same as abandoning her for 10 years. They needed a real heart-to-heart, where they practice kung fu together. In addition, Xialing should've been there to confront Wenwu; after all, he is her dad also. And Wenwu should've acknowledged her too, after shunning her for so long. Damn!

Katy was...funny but she felt more and more extraneous as the movie went on, mostly serving to provide funny reactions. The old lady telling her to "aim for one thing" as a resolution to her main internal issue (fear of failure), felt cheap, like a checked box. Can't we leave that for the next movie? She did give us some of the funniest and relatable bits as a Chinese-American, such as when Ronnie Chieng said "Oh I don't worry I speak ABC", or when Wenwu assumed the warm-but-stern-friends-dad role to her, or the pronunciation struggle on the plane. She didn't have much role in Shang-Chi's character arc, except for serving as the audience for Shang-Chi to reveal his big secret to.

Ok I'm getting really bothered by "Shang-Chi" with the dash and double capital letters. The other characters all use pinyin format, and it's just weird for Shang-Chi to remain in the archaic romanization. Which is...a bit emblematic. Hm...

My main complaint for Ying Li (the mom) was she seemed too...angelic. Her scene with the young Shang-Chi seemed like something out of a mainland Chinese television commercial. But maybe it's appropriate, since she's dead, and that's how everyone remembers her? The way she died, face-up, no visible injuries, with a still-spotless white wushu uniform, was kinda...funny almost. The situation of a bunch of normally dressed gang members strolling into a mansion garden, fighting a wushu-garbed woman...also kinda funny. Her chemistry with Wenwu though, damn. That was some classic kungfu flirting.

Razorfist was funny. "That's my car!", him getting his life saved and accepting truce, him taking the blade off of a dragon-scale sword, all good moments. I'll allow him as the token diversity.

Oh I nearly forgot about Trevor Slattery. Yeah I'll allow him too, he and Morris were unobtrusively funny.

Death Dealer was done dirty. Such a cool design, and he's the first to die pathetically to the gross tentacle bats.

A dumb thing: I actually thought Michelle Yeoh would be the aged-up Fala Chen, because from the trailers I was under the impression Yeoh would be Shang-Chi's mom. Of her character, I liked her important role in helping Shang-Chi connect with his mom's memory, but I feel she should've been introduced earlier.

That's it for the story and character notes. Second Part will be about the meta stuff, like representation, orientalism, casting, etc.

[creativeskullcreations]

HTaHHQ Episode 3: The Vengeance of an Artist (part 2)

And here's the final part! Looks like the prank went pretty well, and Stacy's warmed up to another Puppet. At least, to the point where she won't run in fear. Maybe, she'll even help him with more stuff in the future.

Next episode will be out... idk. Might be the next thing I write actually. Until then, hope y'all have a good time. :D

"Miss Stein, I have a job for you."

"I don't have to do any jobs for you." Stacy told him, voice kept deliberately even. Nick felt a little put out, holding Scout up by her arm. The handpuppet just hung there,

"You doing one for Daisy." he argued, pointing at the little blue annoyance. Stacy huffed and, to his shock, stalked forward to outright snatch the smaller Puppet from his grasp.

"Don't hold her like that!" She admonished, settling Scout on her head. "Daisy will kill you if you hurt her."

'How odd.' He thought, watching Stacy handle the little cretin. Outwardly, he sighed. "Yes yes, I'm well aware of her temper. Now, come along. We have a job to do."

"We have to wait here for Mary." Stacy told him sternly, and he smirked.

"Oh, don't worry about her. She'll be busy for quite a while yet."

In the writers' room, Mary slammed her hands on her desk in frustration, a mess of papers spread out in front of her. "Why the fuck does he always wait until Friday to request plot and script changes?!"

"She'll be done soon enough, but it gives us enough time for you to help me." Nick told Stacy, who frowned. This wasn't good at all.

"... I still need to stay with Danny though." She tried, desperate to find any reason to refuse. This wasn't at all like when Scout took her to the playroom.

"He can come with and help." Nick told them, turning and starting to wheel away. "Now, come along. We're wasting time."

Danny seemed happy enough to tag along, but Stacy kept a tight grip on his hand as they followed Nick down the hall and to the elevator by the door. He inserted his key card, and then stood aside to let the kids on first. Stacy climbed into the tiny box nervously. The only reason she was deciding to trust him was because she knew the playroom was up there, and she could hide in there with Danny if needed.

Up, up, up they went, to the highest floor. And then down the winding halls to a plain door with a hazard sign and the words KEEP OUT underneath it in bright red. It was also covered in various science themed stickers, like cartoonish beakers full of bright colors, and various medical tools. It didn't take a genius to know who slept in here.

"Why are we outside of Riley's bedroom?" Stacy asked, and then immediately regretted it when Nick coughed lightly into his fist. That was the cue that he was about to go into a monologue. She recognized it, because he used to do it at least once a episode in the show.

"Well, since she stole my beloved paints, I've decided to do some research into her "science", and found that replacing her beakers with these ones made of sugar glass will be hilarious." He held out the beakers, and scoffed when he noticed Stacy's look. "Oh don't give me that look, she keeps all her dangerous chemicals elsewhere. She just likes to keep her beakers for the show up here where it's "safe". It'll be great when they melt during Monday's filming."

"And why do you need me?" The girl asked. She fought the urge to cross her arms and tap her foot, though her impatience still leaked into her voice.

"I'm banned from Riley's room." Nick deadpanned, and it took everything Stacy had to not facepalm. Of course. "Also, Danny told me you're good at breaking into places you're not supposed to be."

"Danny! That's a secret!" She rounded on him, feeling her face go hot.

"But Nick asked!" The boy insisted unapologetically. "And besides, you said it was a good skill."

"No, I said it was a good skill to know, not a good skill by itself. Also, stop telling people stuff about me!" She looked mad, and Nick thought that was a good thing. Certainly a better look then the scared little girl he and the others usually saw. Now if he could just encourage her to lose the baggy shirts... but no. Plan the makeover for another time. For now, it was time for revenge!

He cleared his throat, wheeling closer and holding the box of beakers out. "Will you do it, or not?" He asked bluntly, and Stacy crossed her arms.

"I am not getting involved in your stupid little-"

"I'll give you fifty dollars." He whipped out the fifty from a hidden pocket in his sweater, and the girl stopped mid sentence. After a beat she snatched the bill, turning and crouching in front of the door. She tucked the money under her right glove, pulling out a couple of slim tools as she did so.

"I can't believe I'm selling myself for a fifty." She muttered as she unlocked the door. It was surprisingly simple, and it made her feel uneasy as she put the tools away. She grabbed the box of beakers, then handed off Scout. She peered inside, noting the lack of Riley or Rosco. "It looks empty." She told Nick, who waved her on.

With a nervous swallow, she entered the too bright room, the door closing most of the way behind her. There was a large table in the middle, and a messily made bed shoved in one corner. The walls were covered in shelves that were full of books on all sorts of subjects. Any other time, and she would've loved to see just what kinds of books were there. But, she had a job to do.

She crossed to the shelf that held the box of beakers, and quickly swapped it for the identical fakes. Holding the box of real beakers close, she crossed the room back to the door. she heard something open behind her, Riley's voice drifting through. Thinking quick, she ducked under the table, hopeful it would be enough.

"Let's see, if we do the mentos experiment again that should be good enough. Could have the kiddies make volcanoes..." She muttered as she wheeled past. Stacy stayed huddled down, hands over her mouth to muffle her breathing. She watched the stand stop by a shelf, followed by the sound of fabric hitting fabric as she threw something to the bed. "Maybe baking soda? That might work better. Or maybe as a comparison between the two... Yes! That would be fantastic for an experiment!" Pencil against paper, and then the sound of things being moved. Stacy threw a desperate look towards where the door was still ajar.

Technically, Stacy could sneak out if she was quick. Riley was still talking to herself, and seemed distracted enough. But, she didn't know which way the Puppet scientist was facing. If she was facing the door, Stacy would be caught immediately, and then they'd all be in deep dookie. And she couldn't check, because, again, deep dookie if she was caught.

But, she couldn't just sit there for forever. And so, with a deep, quiet breath, Stacy leaned carefully out from under the table, just enough to check where Riley was looking. To her luck, it looked like her attention was completely absorbed by the books. A glance back at the door showed it had opened a little bit wider, with Scout, Nick, and Danny all peering in at her. Okay, she could work with this.

Carefully, she set the box of beakers down with as little noise as possible. With any luck, they wouldn't be noticed under the table. She then resettled into a runners starting position, noting how Nick was on her left and Danny on her right. 'Perfect.'

With a bang she burst through the door, grabbing Nick's sweater while scooping her brother up in her right arm. She managed to turn and drag them both out of sight as a startled "What the-" followed her out of the room. She turned another corner before finally letting go of both of them, hopeful that Riley hadn't seen them. And that she wouldn't try and follow them.

Unfortunately for Nick, he had been precariously balanced on one wheel during the escape. So, when Stacy let go of his sweater, he tipped over immediately with a loud thump. Scout landed on his chest, having been safely in his arms during the whole thing.

"That was totally awesome!" She yelled, as Stacy tried to shush her. She was still holding Danny, who was clapping, and thus didn't have a hand free to stop the Puppet from flinging herself at her face.

"Scout, shut up!" She hissed, grabbing her. She covered her mouth and waited to make sure Riley hadn't heard. "You can't let her know we're up here, or we could get in trouble."

"Oh please, like I'd let that happen." Nick had somehow righted himself, "standing" straight as ever and talking in a low voice. "Besides, you at least get to be up here since you became Scout's babysitter. Don't pout, it's true." He told Scout when she opened her mouth to object.

"Yeah, but we should still get out of here before she finds us!" Stacy insisted, ignoring Danny's pushing at her arm. She finally noticed as he kicked her side, jumping a bit and putting him down. "Oh, sorry Danny." She grabbed his hand, not wanting him to wander off and alert Riley.

"Right. Come along, this way." He led them down another hallway, a different way to get to the elevator without having to backtrack. This time there was no place to slide a key-card, which made sense. They were already in the forbidden area after all. They got inside, staying quiet the whole ride down.

Once back on the main floor, Stacy expected to go back to the Sound Stage, where her and Danny were before. Instead, Nick led them to the writing offices, and she watched as the Puppets and Danny disappeared into Mary's office. Stacy hung back, lingering in the hall to look around a little.

The doors had windows with frosted glass on them, like in the old noir movies her dad liked to watch. As a result she couldn't see inside, so instead she crouched down to peer into the keyhole of Mortimer's office.

The Puppet was there, bent over some paperwork, hat sitting on the desk next to him. Stacy thought he looked weird with it off, and not how he was supposed to. She looked away after a moment, content the magician wasn't doing anything potentially dangerous to anyone. Instead she finally followed the others into Mary's office, where her stepmother was berating Nick for something.

She stepped into the room, letting the door close softly behind her and cutting off Mary's tirade.

"Oh, there you are! Go get your stuff Stacy, we're leaving now before I commit a murder." She told the girl, who nodded and quickly left the room again. Danny followed a moment later.

"Mommy's mad." He told her, and she nodded as her voice rose behind them.

"-and how DARE you do this to me now! You know better! Do I really need to talk to Mortimer about this again?!"

"Real mad. Let's hurry so we can get home!" Together they rushed to collect their bags from Stacy's locker. However, during the walk back, she couldn't keep her mind from wandering to the little adventure earlier.

'Maybe Nick's not so bad. He didn't say anything about my lock picking skills at least. Maybe... Maybe I could do more jobs for him. Later.'

[go-events]

GO Rom Com Spotlight: @fremulon

The delightful @fremulon​ (also curtaincall on AO3) has claimed When Harry Met Sally to adapt for Good Omens in the Good Omens Rom Com Event.

For reference, here’s a little background about the source material!

About When Harry Met Sally: In 1977, college graduates Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) share a contentious car ride from Chicago to New York, during which they argue about whether men and women can ever truly be strictly platonic friends. Ten years later, Harry and Sally meet again at a bookstore, and in the company of their respective best friends, Jess (Bruno Kirby) and Marie (Carrie Fisher), attempt to stay friends without sex becoming an issue between them.

We spent some time chatting about how the adaptation is coming so far, as well as future plans for it! Now, get to know @fremulon​ a little better!

* * *

goromcom: So I know everyone must be getting sick of my little quirk of pointing these out by now, but when I open a chat with you, Tumblr tells me that you post “about #b99 and #parks and rec." Big Mike Schur fan?

fremulon: Oh, yes, I am a big Mike Schur fan--my url, Fremulon, is actually the name of his production company! I think his shows tend to strike a really nice balance between being funny and making you care about the characters/plot, and that's something I'm always trying to do in my own writing, as well.

goromcom: I’m a big fan too! B99 is such a relaxing change from the usual tone of police/crime shows, and of course I was just bawling for a week over the series finale of The Good Place.

But on to your rom com!

You chose to adapt When Harry Met Sally. Has this movie been a favorite of yours, or is there some other reason you chose it?

fremulon: It's definitely one of my favorites! I also have a personal connection to the movie, since my parents watched it on their first date. And I thought that the themes and characters would be a good choice to adapt for Good Omens--I've seen a few people around the Internet point out the similarities between the stories.

goromcom: You know, I didn’t see it before, but now that I’ve thought about it, I can see the parallels there! Very interesting.

What's your favorite moment of When Harry Met Sally, and are you looking forward to presenting it in your adaptation? Any loose plans for that scene that you can share?

fremulon: HA. Okay, well, I'm not sure if it's my favorite moment but it's for sure one of the most memorable--I'll keep it PG and just say "the deli scene." And I had to think through how I was going to work that, since it plays very differently between two men (or, male-shaped beings) than between a man and a woman. So the conversation's going to be a bit different but the, well, the climax, if you will, of the scene is going to stay very similar. After all, Aziraphale does make interesting noises while he eats...

goromcom: "Climax.” I’m dying. Ahem, moving on. Do you plan to stick very closely to the story beats of the original story, or make bigger changes?

fremulon: Well, the good thing, or maybe the tricky thing, is that it's not a very plot-heavy story--there's much more conversation than action. Which luckily happens to fit in pretty well with my writing style! So the main arc of the story, such as it is, will be very similar, but some of the side plots are going to have to change.

goromcom: It sounds like a great fit, then! Lean into the meat of the story but then get to do a little plotting work with the B/C storylines. Lovely.

What's an interesting decision you've made in your planning so far--a notable casting decision, a changing of venue, or some other plan you have to paint Good Omens all over your rom com?

fremulon: I've decided to keep Aziraphale and Crowley an angel and a demon, instead of making them human. So the central question that they have to contend with is going to change from "men and women can't be friends" to "an angel and a demon can't be friends." The original movie is unfortunately pretty gender-essentialist so I'm also excited to bid that a strongly worded farewell.

goromcom: Yeah, I agree, it’s a much more interesting central plot idea without gender stereotyping entering into it. There are plenty of meatier differences that people have to overcome to be friends or romantically entangled than just the genders we identify as, right? I’m looking forward to this take.

But I don’t want you to give too much away, so I’ll move on to the last question. It’s stolen from The Good Place: The Podcast, so you may have heard this one there as a Mike Schur fan. Tell me something "good". It can be something big or small. It can be a charity you think is doing good work, or you can talk about how great your pet is.

fremulon: I was just at the library yesterday, so I'm going to say LIBRARIES are good! I am so, so glad to be able to access books legally for free (and since I do most of my reading on my Kindle, I don't even have to leave the house to download ebooks). And libraries provide lots of other really important services, too; Internet access and printing, for example, or youth programs. Support your local libraries, friends!

goromcom: Always a worthy cause, libraries--an important resource for the community that is historically underfunded and in the crosshairs of some of our smaller minded politicians.

Stay tuned for the debut of the GO adaptation of When Harry Met Sally, coming soon!

[whirlybirbs]

“ so , how does it feel to know me? a blessing , isn’t it? “ with hopper? please!

—-  SO MUCH FOR THAT  ;

summary: hopper interrupts a home invasion. cue the bullets, russians, injuries, freak-out’s... everything you didn’t want. date night, ruined.word count: 2.2kpairing: hopper x teacher!reader, from my fic moonrise radio.a/n: we love some good ol’ action to further the drabble plot machine.

Hopper knows something’s not right -- he can feel it in his gut, sitting there like hot, molten piece of lead that makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand upright. 

It’s a feeling he’s never really gotten used to. Even after Vietnam, even after all those years working homicide in New York, even after The Upside Down, the feeling still makes his skin crawl. It’s one that can only really be described as dread -- a deeply-rooted recognition of something being wrong. 

He knocks on your front door again, only to be met with silence.

His watch reads 6:43pm.

If Jim knows anything, it’s that you’re not standing him up -- especially when you’d excitedly accept his offer for the ride to the drive-in’s. You’d been nothing but honest and kind and sweet and pretty and an absolute dream, and even though doubt bites at his mind, Jim Hopper pushes it far away.

He decides to snoop.

Snooping is what he does best. 

He leans, peaking around through the front window and spies nothing out of place, really. The lights are off, as if no one’s home, but your faithful jet-black Camaro sits a few feet behind him in the drive-way to contradict that possibility... unless someone came along and picked you up? 

Hm.

Then, something catches his attention.

Light flickers, blue and inky black, across the window in nothing more than a passing reflection. 

Over the couch, your television sits.

It’s on.

Jim chews his lip. 

He has two options in that moment -- walk away, decide this was maybe never meant to be, go home, and order take-out from King Chef. Or, he can reach for that doorknob and hope you don’t bear spray him again. 

He exhales, planting his hands on his hips. 

Then he sees the boot mark right below the deadbolt.

His eyes widen in realization.

There’s no question in his mind when he doubles back to his Blazer and pulls out a handgun from the center console -- he’s fast to check off the safety and pull the hammer back; he bites his tongue, wishing he’d just trusted his fuckin’ gut from the get-go.

The door is unlocked.

It swings open without a sound.

The T.V. is loud -- blaring some MTV music video that echoes off the walls of the house. It’s late now, nearly 7pm, and the sun has crept below the hills of Hawkins and drenched your home in all types of shadows. Jim’s footfalls are quiet as they can be as he raises his gun and begins to move through the home.

He stops short at the couch, noting the remote on the floor feet away and the mess of blankets dragged from the pastel pink sofa. 

In front of the television, that old radio you’d first heard those faux-Russian communique's on lays. 

It’s smashed to smithereens.

Hopper turns, then, and sees you in the kitchen.

Your eyes are pulled wider than a mile in fear as you rock in the high-back chair, trying desperately to scream something, but it comes out as nothing more than a muffled cry. There’s a tight strip of black duct tape along your mouth, a matching strip across your torso and hips. 

If there’s anything Jim’s learned from moments like these, it’s that your brain never really understands what’s going on until it’s too late.

In his circumstance, he doesn’t realize what’s going on until he’s being charged by a man a little smaller than himself, decked in all black, screaming in a language that sets off thirty thousand red flags in his head. He sees the knife first -- Jim doesn’t even have time to react when he’s tackled into the sofa. 

His gun clatters across the foyer, sliding onto the patterned linoleum of your kitchen floor.

Your eyes widen, trained on the handgun sitting feet from you. 

This has not been a good hour.

When the doorbell had rung at 5:30, you’d excitedly chirped that Hop was early for your date -- not that you minded -- before you were suddenly being forced backwards at knife-point by two men screaming in Slavic tongues. 

They’d then, unceremoniously, searched the house for that damn radio after binding you to the kitchen chair and interrogating you about some Energy Department in the most broken English you’ve heard in a while.

On MTV, Bonnie Tyler’s Holding Out For a Hero begins to play.

And now, here you are, hopping up and down in this fuckin’ chair, trying to get closer to the gun as the two grown men in your living room recreate Street Fighter and make quick work on destroying all of your furniture. 

Almost there.

Sqreeak, sqreaak, sqreaak. 

Jim takes a nasty upper cut to the jaw and hits the floor so hard the whole house shakes. 

You freeze, panic lighting up in your chest as the assailant leaps onto him -- in a well-timed moment of mis-calculation, you forget about the lip in the kitchen and suddenly, you and the chair are toppling to the ground. The sound is loud, followed by your muffle groan of pain, and it sends the Russian’s head snapping to the sound. 

Jim plants a hard kick to the guy’s groin, sending him into a feeble curl as Jim rolls away, hair wild and nose bleeding profusely. He’s fast to punch the guy while he’s down, absolutely wailing on him.

You’re kicking now, trying to get Jim’s fuckin’ attention -- and only once the man before his feet has stilled completely that Hop rises from the ground and moves into the kitchen, knife in his hand.

“MOO!” is the sound coming from your mouth as Hop plucks you and the chair up, squinting at you, “MERE’S MOO!”

His lips part and his brows knot.

“Moo...?”

You serve him a look and he’s fast to rip the duct tape from your nose and mouth, wincing slightly as you curse and hiss, eyes ringed with make-up from the tears that had gathered there -- you speak so quick, Jim has to gawk.

“There’s two,” you gasp for air, “Jim, Jim, get my hands free --”

“You gotta be fuckin’ kidding --”

He saws at the tape. 

Then the footsteps start from the stairwell. 

You both freeze, gazes connecting.

Back door, you mouth.

Jim nods.

You claw at the tape on your ankles, jaw clenching as you stand -- Jim’s hands are on you in an instant, worry lighting up his face; he’s quick to note the black bruise forming around your left eye and up your cheek. 

You’re fast to snatch up the gun by his feet and hand it to him, though, moving past the fear in your chest and gesturing for him to follow you towards the back sliding door. 

“дерьмо!” you hear from the living room, rolling from the larger Russian’s tongue in a carnal bellow, “вернитесь сюда!”

You, then, unceremoniously shove Jim Hopper off your back deck.

You follow, hitting the soft grass with a groan as gunfire suddenly lights up the back of the house and the windows shatter, raining down through the slats in the wood -- for a moment, you both roll in pain; but it doesn’t last. 

“Time t’ go!”

“No shit, Jim!”

He snatches your hand, dragging you from the grass and around the house -- you both break into a sprint towards Hop’s cruiser, ignoring the man who’s now in chase.

Jim muscles the gun from his waistband and chucks you the keys. “Drive!”

You catch them, by some grace, and fumble to find the ignition key on the ring as Jim lays down fire that seems to not phase the huge Russsian coming right at him in a ski-mask. 

“Shit, shit, shit shit shit shit, shit shit --”

“Ты мертв!”

“FUCK OFF!”

Your hands are shaking, keys jingling as you try each and every fucking one. Anger flares in your face, eyes darting to Jim on the front lawn popping off rounds.

“Jim, what key!?”

“GOLD!”

You finally get the key, the Blazer roars alive.

The second Jim’s ass is in the seat, you floor it. 

You skirt around the cul-de-sac as gunfire ricochets off the side of the car, your own scream fading into the peel-out as Jim curses and flies into the side of the door. An apology flies from your lips as you put the pedal to the metal and fly out of your street, onto the main road. 

Jim’s twisted around the back of the seat, eyes set on the fading house and figure standing on your front lawn. He doesn’t even try to follow.

“Where should I go?” you ask, panic hitched in your tone.

“Starcourt,” Jim barks without hesitation.

“What?!” you cry, flinging your head around to look at him with an exasperated look, “What the hell do you mean, Starcourt?!”

“Just,” Jim seethes, jaw set tight, “Trust me --”

“You said --” you screech, finger raising as you head down the main straight in town at 80mph, “You said that... that those communications are fake!”

“Yeah,” Jim snaps, “They are!”

“Oh, okay, great, Jim, then why don’t you explain to me why the fuck I was just bound and gagged in my own kitchen! By two men! WHO DON’T EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH --”

“Murph’, calm down --”

“No! No, nope, no,” you shove his arm, “Do not tell me to calm down, Jim Hopper --”

His mouth snaps shut and he turns, sitting forward and exhaling tightly through his nose. His eyes flutter shut as he speaks, trying to imitate the same calmness he wish he had.

“I’m sorry.”

“I am freaking out --” your voice cracks and you regret it immediate, facade of fearlessness cracking under the sudden dive in your adrenaline. 

Jim’s face softens, finally getting a good look at you. You look like hell. He’s sure he does, too, after the royal beat down he was served by Svedka in your living room. His hands move, carding through the blood matted tendrils by your temple. There’s a mean gash along your hairline that’s slowed up. The blood flakes away and Jim can’t help but wish he’d fuckin’ got to your house sooner. 

“Hey, hey,” he calls, voice soft, “Look at me.”

You blink his way. You shrink.

The tears making your eyes swim break his whole heart on sight. Your lip quivers. Jim feels like he’s been punched in the gut. When you speak, your voice is as meek as a mouse.

“... That was really scary.”

“It’s over,” Hop says confidently, “Over. We’re going to go see the people who can make sure it’s over.”

“The Scoops Ahoy people?” you ask weakly through an attempt at a laugh.

Jim exhales softly in a chuckle, leaning to press a firm kiss to the side of your head. “Yeah, sweetie, you could say that.”

The rest of the ride is relatively quiet, filled by your sniffles and Jim turning to peek over his shoulder ever few minutes. When you finally pull up to the bustling Starcourt, you’re surprised when Jim gestures to the back and points.

“Head to the loading area.”

You squint, but follow the direction.

Rounding the parking lot, you see hordes of folks coming in for some Sunday evening shopping -- lone teens and families alike. The neon of the store fronts bounce off the windshield in slivers of purple and green. 

Suddenly, as if out of no where, a gate appears around the back of the building and you’re pulled to a stop by four guards in Starcourt Mall gear. Jim’s face pulls into a heavy frown as he rolls down his window, flashing some sort of identification in his fold-out wallet. 

“I’m here to see Owens, it’s an emergency --”

“And who the hell is she?”

Jim’s eyes narrow. You wring your hands on the steering wheel.

“... Officer Collins, is it?” Hop says slowly, “Do you see the bullet holes in the side of my cruiser?”

Silence flies between the four of them.

“And do you see the injuries on both myself and the lady driving?”

More silence.

“And did you not hear me say,” his voice raises an octave, vein in his neck popping as he begins to scream, “That this is an emergency?!”

The gate lifts with a BRRZZZZT. 

And that’s how you find yourself in a very sterile interrogation room, pacing back and forth and back and forth for what feels like hours. It’s horrible -- the lights buzz and flicker fast enough to give you an even worse headache than the head injury does and it’s cold and you just wanted to go see a damn movie with Jim. Maybe kiss a little, fool around, have fun. 

But, no. Here you are.

Finally, after an hour and a half, the door opens mid-conversation.

Jim is looming behind an older man.

They both look apologetic.

“And this must be our new Bond Girl, huh?”

“In the flesh,” Jim rumbles, “Murph’, this is Dr. Sam Owens. He’s a friend.”

You narrow your eyes. The man offers his hand and you shake it, speaking slowly. “I guess Jim and I are gonna miss our double feature, huh?”

“I’m afraid so, Miss Murphy,” he says, gesturing to the table and chair in the center of the room, “Now, why don’t you tell me about those men that broke into your home?”

He pulls the chair out for you.

You sigh.

This is going to be a long night. 

So much for that date.

[dicecast]

How're you finding The Dragon Prince? I saw you mentioned that you find it frustrating. I've watched some of it, but I haven't had time to get very far.

Hey thanks a lot.  Yeah mean and @afriendtokilltime are watching it while in quarantine and....it is kind of a mess.  As of this writing I am 2 episodes away from finishing season 3 and its kind has been a whole mess of complaining around the apartment for the last few days.  This show fails in so many different ways but its like...really close to being absolutely amazing.   I have complicated feels

First off a Disclaimer 

 I thought Avatar was mostly great, though it had a lot of problems which I think its overall success and enthusiastic fan base kinda clouded, which are mostly found in the first half of season 1 and the last half of Season 3.  Mostly that any time the show attempts simplicity, it does it badly.  I thought Legend of Korra had some of the best moments in both shows, but also some of the worse, often seconds away from each other, but it at least tried some new things.  WE talk about the problems with Avatar here 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/11553648 

And Legend of Korra here 

https://soundcloud.com/randomshoes/fatal-flaw-legend-of-korra

So Dragon Prince has the components to be in my mind, even better than Avatar and there is a ton of stuff i like.  

The Animation is amazing and unique

Some really cool fantasy vistas and locations 

Cool distinct types of elves with cool unique magic and powers and cultures 

Some great efforts towards increasing diversity in terms of race, and sexuality.  Ironically it is actually less diverse in some ways than Avatar/Korra 100% non white cast, but it is very nice to have a fantasy world that is inclusive in regards to race and sexuality.  Sadly it actually has a lot of problem with gender which i could talk about in a whole post another time if you are interested. (Dead Moms, so many dead moms)

I like both of the main characters, which is unusual for a fantasy series.  Callum is fantastic, Rayla is great, and of course Claudia is by far the best character in the series.  All of them have interesting motives, characterizations, dynamics and I enjoy seeing them on screen.  The problem is that the show rarely uses them well 

Magic looks awesome in this series, especially Dark Magic 

The Show wants to delve into more complicated themes than most fantasy, and attempts to get at moral ambiguity, pacifism, questions of monarchy, the nature of villainy, racism, and pulling away from fantasy cliches, and it is really admirable.  Unfortunately the show is really bad at actually delivering on any of these interesting themes, which makes the show a colossal mess 

This show has a lot going for it.  Except it...kinda fails on so many different levels.  Each one of these could be a whole detailed post, so if you are interested let me know, but i’ll try to be brief on what doesn't work 

The Role of Dark Magic.

  Dark Magic is the core of the show’s plot and conflict.  So its pretty frustrating about how the show completely fails to actually use this plot element correctly, because in contrast to like Maho from Legend of the Five Rings, or Mages from Dragon Age, its never really established why Dark Magic is evil.  Like Claudia kills a deer in order to cure her brother of total paralysis, which...yeah that sounds like a good deal to me.  Some of the characters get angry at Claudia for killing butterflies to make really good pancakes but like...pancakes are made with eggs.   Which I suppose could be acceptable if the show as embracing a Jainism style world view, but it never bothers to deliver on that perspective or makes an argument for it, it just expects you to accept Dark Magic is wrong because Viren is a bit of a dick.  And honestly, since humans are born without magic and Dark magic is a way for them to have a home, the opposition to Dark Magic frankly just feels...conservative.  Like for all its inclusive casting the show really has an anti progress traditional feel to it which rubs me the wrong way.  Which directly leads into

Problems with Themes.  Fantasy stories usually are about moral themes, and Dragon Prince is no exception, a lot of scenes are delivered with a strong moral overtone.  The problem is that it is utterly confused and inconsistent, usually approach the topic of Dark Magic.  In the first 2 seasons, Viren is chided for “doing things the easy way” and even if ignore the libertarian undertones of that, most of the time, there isn’t really a hard way solution, and a ton of situations have Viren just being correct and characters ignoring him, or treating him like his ideas are far more nasty than they really are.  This gets even more confusing when it comes to the shows attempts to address racism, because it keeps treating humans like they are the group with privilege, but according to the opening narration, the entire human population were basically forcibly located to the Western continent, which is often considered a genocide) and Rayla is casually racist to Callum regularly.  More importantly, the show seems to want to do a Princess Mononoke pacifist argument, but keeps messing it up by its desire to simplify the conflicts it sets up. This gets worse when the show doubles down on the pro monarchist sentiments that underlie almost all fantasy. Which leads to

Being unwilling to commit to flawed characters.  Dragon Prince seems to not want to just be another cliche fantasy story and keeps trying to add details to prevent the characters from just being cliches.  however it doesn’t seem to want to commit to this, and keeps reverting to simplistic morality.  Again going off the racism angle, Callum has comments which imply Elves are seen as like Demons to the humans, and its implied that propaganda is regularly spread concerning them.  And it seems like Dark Magic is just normal in the human kingdoms, that is why they were kicked out after all.  But any time we have a “good” character, they just...don’t have that Bias.  King Harrow is just inexplicably good when it comes to certain issues, which basically means in a story about racism and people learning to look past stereotypes, all of the good guys are already doing that from the start.  This is at its most frustrating with the 5 kings council scene, where despite the fact that it is 100% true that moonshadow elves did in fact assassinate a monarch, the most annoying character in the series is like “Well I read the script and I know this is a wrong action so screw you”.  In a story about overcoming racism and nationalism, there is a is a total unwillingness to have characters have real flaws in that direciton, Verin starts out as a sympathetic villain but then basically turns into Jafar in the 4th episode and it just goes down hill from there 

There are some really bad characters in this, Ezran is intolerable, Bate just wastes screen time, Queen Aanya is the worse thing in the show, and i’m not even getting into the minor characters.  the show also really has some problems with certain female tropes, I don’t think it passes the Bechtel test until season 3 and the writers continue their “Saintly missing mom trope” from season 1 even more so here.  

(remove these two and the show is just massively improved) 

The human kingdoms are boring and we spend 2 whole seasons there.  The appeal of this show is Xadia and the elves, having to deal with discount children’s version of Game of Thrones is just frustrating.  

But everything above are problems with the story and the characters, and that isn’t actually what makes this show so goddamn frustrating.  This show has some of the worse examples of storyboarding, editing, pacing, and just basic narrative structure I’ve seen from actually competent people.  LIke its on Netflix, a company that doesn’t seem to understand what pacing is, and these are the guys who made legend of Korra which was more montage than show at times, but nothing prepared me for this nightmare.  A lot of it comes down to it being 9 episodes per season, which is even worse than Korra, which was rushed at 12 episodes per season, but even within that, every single episode is just a glut of content jumping from story beat to story beat without taking a breath.  Most of the story elements have no set up, let alone build up, the editing constantly takes you out of emotional moments to deal with a totally different subplot, sometimes entire necessary scenes are literally just...not there and we keep missing establishment shots. 

This show is just screaming for self contained one shot episodes, where the characters can have mini arch within the episode and just kinda chill out.  Despite the fact that I like Rayla and Callum, I actually don’t know them all that well because most of their screen time is running from one plot event to the next, rather than the smaller moments between scenes that really grow the character.  Just some episodes to breath, watching this show is exhausting because you spend most of it utterly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of plot happening.  Maybe season 3 will surprise me, but each one of the seasons thus far have ended on a narrative dissonant note and I’m sure this one will follow suit.  I think the reason why this show is weirdly addcitive is the same reason why Baby shark gets stuck in your head so easily, its a bunch of leading tones.  Like the editor in my just wants to hack this show to pieces and recreate it where characters, themes and tones can evolve organically.  

In short, a show with a lot of good in it, but I kinda of hate it, but I can’t stop watching it.  

[jessi-writes-fandoms]

A new beginning: An OC story

Chapter 3

Drift stood outside the medbay fidgeting with his digits nervously. With only five days until their next stop, today Drift had to ask Remedy out. “What if she says no? What if she knows of my past and gets scared? No Remedy would never hate me for my past, she’s so forgiving.” Drift continued to argue with himself about wether or not this was a good idea or not. As far as he knew, Remedy was unaware of his previous actions during the war, hell Remedy left Cybertron when the war was just getting intense so surely she had no knowledge of Deadlock whatsoever. He let out a shaky breath and walked into the medbay.

Ratchet was showing Remedy some of the more basic medical procedures that would be common while aboard the Lost Light. Remedy then heard the door open and due to her curiosity she immediately looked up seeing Drift walk in, that goofy side smile plastered on his face. Remedy gave her friend a warm smile before asking Ratchet if she could have a couple minutes with the mech, Ratchet nodded giving the two a warm smile and left the two alone. Drift walked over to Remedy, his pedes heavy, the feeling of more doubt setting in. Remedy noticed this and immediately had him sit down next to her, she looked at him confused about this strange behavior.

“Drift are you alright? You seem off.” He gave her a reassuring smile showing that he was in fact fine and in no need of any medical assistance, seeing how she cared so much for his wellbeing made his spark beat harder. “I’m perfectly fine, I came here to ask you something. Our next stop is supposed to be a beautiful sight, glowing plants and waterfalls, it’s beautiful! I would be honored if you joined me to see the sights.” He then took Remedy’s servo into his and gave her a pleading look. Remedy was stunned by his sudden proposal. Her processor running a million miles a second, something inside her was telling her to say no, all the previous sparkbreak and pain flashing before her. She looked back at Drift then shook her memories away. “I’d love to go with you Drift, it’ll be fun and give me some time to relax. Drift leaned over and gave the femme a huge hug.

Later that night Remedy was in her shared room with Nightshade humming happily and thinking about her upcoming date with Drift. Nightshade took notice of Remedy’s overly giddy behavior. “Someone’s in a good mood, did Swerve offer you more free high grade?” Remedy was pulled from her thoughts as Nightshade waved her servo in front of her face. “I have a date with Drift! Yeah that’s right, he asked me out I have a hot ass mother fucking date!” Remedy was practically jumping up and down frantically with excitement and wrapped her arms around the larger femme, pure joy and happiness clear on her face. Nightshade patted Remedy’s helm and pulled away from her strong embrace.

“Rems are you sure you wanna go through this? I know you really like Drift and all and you see him as this prince charming and shit but don’t you remember the last time a relationship didn’t work out?” Remedy thought for a moment but shrugged. “Remedy the guy cheated on you and you beat the shit out of him and then you went through a major depression for primus knows how long. How could you possibly not remember that?!” Remedy looked off to the side in attempt to avoid the topic altogether, she remembered what happened, she remembered all her past relationships, some healthy some toxic beyond belief. Something about Drift made Remedy happy, she saw true love in his optics, he saw her as more than just a pretty face, he saw her as her own independent bot. “I know you’re trying to protect me, I know you want what’s best for me but seriously, Drift is the one who will make it all better I just know it.” Nightshade sighed in defeat, she knew arguing with the femme would be futile and only anger her, she gave Remedy a reassuring smile and wished her the best of luck on this new journey.

Remedy waltzed her way to the medical bay to finish up some work Ratchet asked to do, it had been a couple days since Drift had asked her out, the scene constantly replaying in her processor. “Well I haven’t seen you this happy in eons.” Remedy was snapped from her thoughts when she heard Ratchet’s voice, he was sitting at his work station looking over some datapads. “Well I do have a date tomorrow night, with a very special mech.” Ratchet looked up from his datapad giving a fake amused look to the young femme. Really now, and who might this mech be?” He gave her a small smile and handed her a small box with a data pad under it. “I assume this is from your admirer, Drift.” Remedy had a shocked and confused look on her face as she took the items Ratchet gave her. “Why would he leave me a gift? Wait how did you know Drift asked me out?” Ratchet gave her a small smile and set his datapads on the table. “Well Drift came in here a couple cycles ago and for some odd reason he assumed he needed my permission to ask you out. He’s a good kid, he’ll treat you like a princess.” Remedy rolled her optics and opened the small box, inside was an assortment of her favorite energon sweets, she then lifted up the datapad with a message written on it.

“Remedy, I remembered you telling me how much you loved these, luckily I had some saved when we left Cybertron. No amount of sweetness can compare to yours, you’re so caring and beautiful and I can’t wait for our date tomorrow night. ~Drift

Remedy read over the message a few more times then looked over at Ratchet. “Don’t look at me, I didn’t tell him to spoil your ass.” Remedy sighed dreamily at the thought of someone actually loving her and taking the time to do something so sweet for her. Ratchet shook his helm at her childish behavior and urged her to get her work done.

The day had finally come, the crew finally reached their stop before continuing on their wild goose chase for the Knights of Cybertron. Their stay at this new planet would only last 24 hours so Everyone on board was in a hurry to see the sights. That evening Remedy was getting ready for her date, waxing her paint job and looking herself over multiple times. “How do I look?” Nightshade sat up from her berth letting out an annoyed groan at her friend. “I already told you, you look great and if he doesn’t say anything then he’s not worth it.” Remedy giggled and rolled her optics at the seeker. “So are you coming to see this planet before we leave? Ultra Magnus suggested everyone leave the ship at least once to check it out.”

Nightshade let out a sad sigh and laid back down on her berth face down. Remedy look at her friend, obviously wanting and explanation for her behavior. “I’m not going, I don’t wanna go by myself and I have no one to go with me.” Remedy Grabbed her large servo in an attempt to pull her off the berth but to no avail. “Nightshade c’mon Rodimus is going he said it’ll be fun, although his definition of fun seems to involve impulsive behavior so maybe it’s safer you stay here.” Nightshade quickly sat up with a loud groan, she gave Remedy an Annoyed look. “Fine I’ll go, only because you wont stop bugging me. And Remedy, be careful on your date with Drift.”

Remedy look at the seeker confused at her warning. “If you think Me and Drift are gonna-“ “NOT THAT REMEDY!” The smaller femme was taken back by her friend’s sudden outburst. “Remedy you’re not gonna like hearing this. I had heard some things about Drift, bad things.” Remedy tilted her head even more confused. Nightshade sighed and places her servos on Remedy’s shoulders. “Drift was a once a con, a horrible con by the name of Deadlock. Whirl told me all about it, he killed many. From what Whirl told me, Deadlock was a terrifying bounty hunter who later traded his guns for swords changed his name and became this whole born again spiritualist or whatever.” Remedy burst into laughter, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing from her friend. “So you’re telling me that Drift, the sweet quiet mech who asked me out is actually some murderous decepticon named Deadlock?! Shades that’s quite a story and my god it would make for a human soap opera plot line but seriously c’mon.” Nightshade gave her a serious look. “If you don’t believe me go ask Ratchet or any of the others, they’ll tell you the same thing. Just, maybe ask about it tomorrow I mean the guy did ask you out and you’d be a glitch to stand him up.” Remedy nodded her helm and left the shared berthroom to find Drift.

“So... you nervous? You look nervous, like you look like you’re gonna fall over and die.” Drift and Rodimus were headed to meet the others outside the ship, Drift had told Remedy to meet him there. “What if she doesn’t show up? A femme like her, any other attractive mech could have asked her out and she decides to go with him.” Rodimus looked slightly offended by Drift’s assumptions. “Hey I would never ask Remedy out behind your back! And I really doubt she would say yes to someone else when she already said yes to you.” He put his arm around Drift’s shoulder in reassurance, a cocky smile on his face. “If you’re so worried about losing her then do something that will make her beg for you, talk dirty to her. Tell her ‘Damn girl are you from outer space? Because your ass is out of this world!’ Believe me chicks dig that shit.” Drift gave the orange mech a disgusted look, the fact that Rodimus even suggested such a stupid pick up line. “Rodimus I want her to love me, not slap me.” After a few moments of silence that led to laughter the two mechs headed out to the main entrance of the ship.

[tamgerines]

KH3 First Impression and Complete Thoughts

BACKGROUND: i've played kh1, com, kh2, bbs, 2.8, and a bit of khux. i've watched coded and 3d on yt, so i know the story relatively well. this is an impression of my first playthrough. i did my run on standard mode and watched the secret ending on yt. i mostly did this for story, so this will have my initial impressions based on my run that will not cover extra content like the phone mini games and cooking.  my opinions are subjected to change if i ever do any later playthroughs. pls, feel free to disagree w/ me.

!!! WARNING: THERE WILL BE A LOT OF STORY SPOILERS!!!

AUDIO: 

Music: utada is queen!!! that opening song!!! also i kept noticing how lit the songs are in each world esp frozen???  and aqua's. worth a replay just for the soundtrack alone.

Voice Acting: everyone sounded great for the most part. sora’s va have certainly improved and sounds less strained. his vanitas voice has suffered significantly though lolololol. i think i read that someone called it a wannabe dark knight voice? the organization sounded incredible, w/ my fav being xemnas, marluxia, and larxene. the disney and pixar va’s are incredible w/ my fav probably being randall in monster’s inc. 

some ppl did not get vas like xaldin and laxeaus. and phil in hercules. which were all very disappointing bc in the scenes that they were in, they would just stand around woodenly, and it’s very noticeable. 

VISUALS: 

mostly a+. environments are beautiful. water and frost textures are amazing!!! you can really feel that waterga and blizzaga. fur textures in monster's inc. could use some work. little details like the sails moving in potc rly make the worlds come alive. this could be a me prob, but environments in certain worlds make it very hard to see map markers, treasure chests, and disney emblems (which are supposed to be hard to find, but still). mostly in tangled.

strangely enough, this is the only game where i prefer in game graphics to cgi. it's already highly expressive and there's something creepy and uncanny about the cgi esp in the final fight. and it's mostly bc sora's thin chapped lips throughout the entire game suddenly becomes full.

DESIGNS: 

i don't love everyone's outfit or sora's outfit changes in this game besides toy story. this is something i alrdy knew going in, but i've always felt like the outfits in kh1 and 2 rly suited each of the character's personalities. and this is not just destiny trio but even chars like roxas, the twilight town kids and the hollow bastion crew. the move towards a uniformed look makes no sense to me like is it to unify the key bearers as one force against the organization? i could understand why destiny trio was wearing plaid but why the twilight town kids also? by the end of the game, almost everyone was wearing black and it's just boring to me. like there's a right way to do uniform while retaining characters' individual looks, and that's the wayfinder trio in bbs. in this game, not so much.

an aside, but i'm sort of disappointed in the hud moving to 3d too. the 2d portraits have always been part of kh so it's kinda a bum to see it go away.

i don't love the lvl designs but it might also be due to a narrative and pacing issue that i'll expand on. any case, vertical maps are a challenge to figure out. i don't consider myself bad at directions but there are so many moments, esp in hercules and tangled where i would be like where the heck do i go next (and i have the map) only for me to look up and find a shotlock teleport point (and this isn't so much a thing that heightens the difficulty but a time waster).

lvls and bosses in previous kh games have always been known for their gimmicks and mechanics, but in this game particularly i found it to be more tedious? and this mostly applies to frozen: who the fuck designed frozen? who the fuck thought it's a good lvl design to have sora climb a mountain, get kick off it twice, and climb it again as good lvl design? who?

all the disney bosses started blending together for me bc they're literally all giant monsters and rly easy. i think the mistake here is the fact that the disney worlds are put back to back whereas in kh1/2/bbs you have the interruption of original worlds and an actually playable important parts to the main story, in this game all the important storyline in radiant garden are locked in cutscenes interspersed throughout the game between finishing disney worlds.

a lot of ppl might disagree w this, but i miss the cinematic reaction commands and limit attacks. we still have them but i find them to be on a much smaller scale in the form of drive finishers and situation commands, but i find them to be less imaginative in kh3 in order to be less """"disruptive""" to the gameplay. i've always found cinematics charming in previous games as a way to show sora interacting with his party members during combat. little things like beast putting a hand on sora's shoulder, aladdin leaning on him, or riku bumping his fist have a way of making the friendships he forms feel organic. outside of link commands/ summons, in this game, he........just throws a lot of ppl around or is thrown around?

GAMEPLAY:

already sort of went through parts of it in the previous section, but overall combat was smooth. i love how mobile sora is in this game. the improvement to his running speed and addition of all the mobile skills like dodge roll, super slide, flow motion, blizzard skating, etc. makes combat feel fast paced and juking so easy.

magic is super improved on ever since 2.8 and feels satisfying to use esp bc i feel like ur given a lot more mp now and with the ability to save the last of your mana for cure, it feels like you're not always budgeting your magic.

underwater combat was smoother than i expected.

it's a mistake putting almost all the commands on the triangle button. there's so much options you can do in combat and you'd mean to activate one thing, but then an attraction flow comes out and you just want to die. it gets a bit easier as i went on and got more used to the controls, but in general, i still think it's a mistake to not to have an ability or something to disable certain features like in kh2 fm.

gummy ships continue to be a thing. why. i don’t like how i have to turn the camera myself now ;;;. 

i'm not a speedrunner or anything, so i can't say too much else about fighting. the physical combos to me did feel like he was spinning a bit too much tho.

STORY: oh, fucking boy.

i'm not mad, i'm not disappointed, and i'm not even surprised. i already knew that post bbs, kh has already departed far from the franchise i loved as a kid and still today, at least story wise. but let's walk through it.

Disney Worlds: the disney worlds was literally a retelling of their movies. and unlike in kh2 and bbs, where visits to disney worlds were split into two parts, with the first part following the disney story and the second part being heavily tied to the main kh story and thus having original content, the disney worlds in kh3 only get one long visit. and the integration of kh into disney was just done so poorly. remember how kh villains used to kidnap princesses? remember how they used to actually conspire to take disney characters' hearts and turn them dark? remember, you know, when they were still evil and actually interfered with the worlds? in almost every world in kh3, an org member just comes says vague menacing things to sora, calls him stupid, and then leaves. yeah. and oh, maleficent and pete looks for a black box only to not find it, and leaves. AND THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING ELSE FOR THE REST OF THE GAME.

the pixar worlds + bh6 were the only ones with any actual new content and they feel so fresh. i esp loveeeeeeeed toy story omg. the script was so good, funny, and heartwarming. the pixar consultants should have helped kh all the way tbh.

like previous games, there's an attempt for each disney world to thematically tie into the main kh story. in this game, it was as heavy handed as ever, probably even more so. 

Original Worlds: onto the meat of kh, the main story was rushed up until the end. you have a slew of disney worlds, then bam, they slam you with all the human bosses and the important story stuff. 

the ‘awakening’ of roxas, xion, and ventus were very rushed. you literally have one moment they’re no there then two seconds of white screen and all of a sudden they’re there. 

there’s a shit ton of shoehorned character redemption arcs: vexen, demyx, saix, eraqus, xehanort, xemnas, ansem. all were done either offscreen or by some miracle, they reached an epiphany after sora beat his keyblade into their heads. 

the only death scene that i actually liked, that a lot of ppl complained about, was vanitas bc yes, although i thought his character had so much potential, it was at least a consistent and sympathetic death. bless him, born a villain die a villain. same with xemnas bc i loved his last speech. 

xehanort was a shitty villain through and through. no one understood his motivation; it’s like nomura took a page from thanos’ guide of how to write villains, gave him some stupid ass goal to have a keyblade war to restart the world, and then just have him...get everything he wanted? his estranged friend comes back in ghost form for whatever reason and is just like ok we’re cool man even tho u took my student and indirectly murdered me and then gets taken up to heart heaven, like O K. and like what’s the most frustrating is that it’s implied they’re keeping him as a villain??? bc fucking ymx is like ooohh imma just go back to my own time via time travel. it’s too late for u sora hurdur. 

and the younger members of the organization, the ones that we do know were in khux. we don’t get to know how they became nobodies and they don’t get a redemption??? really???  

you can tell they tried, TRIED, hard to give everyone closure. and they miserably failed to close plot points. they actually opened more. who the fuck is the unnamed girl in lea and isa’s storyline? why the fuck did you mention her if you were going to play the pronoun game and not name her??? what the fuck was in the black box??? why are they looking for it when no one know what’s in it??? why the fuck was repliku inside of riku the whole fucking time??? why have org members be norted if they can still have agency and choose to betray xehanort??? why the fuck was BOTH sora and riku in different worlds in the secret ending????? ? ? ? 

and tho i’m very glad that wayfinder and sea salt trios get their happy ending, the destiny trio had their characters assassinated. kairi was teased to become an independent character of her own and fight alongside sora, only to get shafted to become a damsel in distress, again, literally replaced by xion in one of the last battles, AND referred to as ‘motivation’ for sora by xehanort lol. sora, the guy who’s always going my friends are my power, ONLY grieves about losing kairi, accrediting all of his strength ONLY TO HER. riku, who spent the first game desperately trying to get kairi’s heart back, and who protected her from saix in the second, suddenly doesn’t give a shit about her and is just there as sora’s moral support. it’s so frustrating that nomura has the audacity to say that this series is primarily about friendship and then pull this shit lol. it’s transparent. 

CONCLUSION: 

i think for me, the quintessential kh trilogy has always been kh1, com, and kh2. as far as i’m concerned, the story should have ended there for destiny trio. and it’s like nomura said, how he feels more sympathetic towards villains now, i think nomura’s ideas have outgrown his main character. 

sora’s journey worked in 1, com, and 2 because he had an overarching goal to find kairi and riku and return home. not everyone has to understand heartless vs. nobodies or dark vs. light but at least, anyone can understand the desperation of saving your friends. when that framework is taken away, sora’s goals and motivations become unclear; he’s a kid and has little reason to be caught up in xehanort’s plans, the keyblade war, or the organization’s agendas. and his failure to grow with the increasing complexity of the plot, to investigate for himself the bigger picture or even come into a similar realization of his own darkness/ balance like riku, makes him unfit; he’s a reactionary character instead of an active one. that’s why this game, being experienced from his point of view, felt mostly like a catch up to speed for sora and a set up to nomura’s next big thing instead of a genuine ending.  i honestly don’t think nomura knows what to do with him and with kingdom hearts anymore. 

kh3 is a game wrapped in nostalgia and promised something bigger than it could fulfill. and aside from better graphics and improved gameplay, the story wasn’t worth the wait. 

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT 4X02 - White Out

White Out? More like Girl’s FrostBITE Out!

...They don’t get better from here.

This is one episode that prior to this rewatch, I constantly found myself coming back to. A lot of that comes down to the dynamics, and I’ll get into that soon enough, but I think there’s more to the story here than is often given credit for. It’s definitely not the “best” episode, per se (Though for me, that just comes down to some episodes simply being better rather than failings on the part of this one), but if I had to take ten episodes to a deserted island, this would be one of them without question. I’ve watched it by now at least five times and in lieu of an actual Christmas episode of the show, I’d this episode gives off constant Christmas-y vibes for me with the use of snow and the theme of hope and right now, that’s exactly what I need and want! I’ve been looking forward to doing it for a long time and now’s the perfect moment to gush about why I love this episode!

So, if you want to read my review, please head below the cut because this could very well be one of my most personal reviews in a way!

Main Takeaways

Past

So look, I love the past segment for it’s themes and David’s backstory and Anna’s support and all that, but I LOVE it for one thing and one thing only: BO PEEP! THIS WOMAN ROCKS! She’s hammy as FUCK and everything from her costume to her over the top accent to her NAME spells that out. She Cruella before Cruella was Cruella! Robin Weigert did an AMAZING job capturing that funny yet intimidating presence. That hamminess is exactly the kind of thing that a show like Once Upon a Time was made for. We’re supposed to encounter ridiculous shit all the time and Bo Peep is such a beautifully blunt part of it! She’s probably my favorite one off character for that reason. AND at the same time, her character is a a perfect challenge for David. Her character’s abilities juxtapose David’s original flighty instincts and put him in a position where if he wants to look after those he loves, he has to step up and fight. She presents a strong ultimatum. YET, she’s kind of like Biff from “Back to the Future:” symbolically the representation of all of David’s fears but at the same time, someone who he can beat. She’s such a balanced antagonist and is so underrated by the fandom at large! I would’ve KILLED for her to come back in a later episode, even just to spew some snark!

Okay, now that I’m done gushing about Bo Peep, let’s get into the meat of the episode.

Anna and David just have a great rapport. They were so close to making my favorite dynamic and that’s because Anna is a great support for David’s journey here. Her optimism is presented in a light that gives way to both cheeriness and a bit of annoyance which is just the kind of character that Anna is.in addition, David’s story about his father (Which is SO much harder to hear in hindsight, btw) makes his stubbornness toward fighting Bo Peep make sense while still being framed correctly as something he needs to step up and overcome. Overall, the storytelling is very effective here in terms of buildup and most of the payoff.

I will say though, I wish that David’s turning point -- or rather, what he says to be the payoff -- was a little bit more strongly written. When Anna asks what changed his mind, it feels like Jane Espenson improvised it because the connection to Elsa’s story wasn’t all that strong. In truth, he changed his mind because Anna was taken, as shown by the fact that prior to that, he was going to give up, and I feel like if the change of heart connected more to his father than to Elsa’s story, than the resolution would’ve connected better for me.

Present

For as much as I love the main interactions between Emma and Elsa (And we will GET to that shortly), I want to gush for a moment about the fantastic supporting cast here, and by that, I mean David and Killian. Killian basically just exists to be himself in this episode and serve as support for David and Emma, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with him just doing that. But David’s support is what really steals the show here. This is clearly a man who internalized Anna’s lesson about not giving up and passes it on well. He is everyone’s rock throughout this panicked situation and because of that, everyone’s able to get through.

By contrast to what I said about David’s resolution in the past, Elsa’s resolution in the present is far stronger. Elsa’s friendship with Emma and David’s connection to Anna and her lessons makes Elsa’s show of abilities feel earned this time around. Just listen to the music when Elsa makes the hole in the ice! It’s one of my favorite pieces of the score in the entire series. It’s so triumphant and hopeful. It has the tempo of a heartbeat and really feels like Anna’s spirit is part of it as the hole proceeds to form! The storytelling melds together to make this scene into something truly special.

So for as much as I do love the episode, I will admit to take issue with a two things here and both of which have to do with Snow’s plot (Though neither involve Snow herself). First, fuck C*leman. That’s all I have to say on that matter because he doesn’t deserve any more attention. Second, yeah, the dwarves and Granny are excessively harsh towards Snow here. Like, they are going after a new mother who they know knows fuck all about power systems  while knowing full well that Emma and David are investigating what happened.

Do these aspects ruin the storyline for me? The first one makes it really hard to watch the segment, but as for the second one, somewhat. It’s out of character, I admit, and the subplot itself feels more like an excuse to establish Snow as the new mayor than anything else, but it’s harmless in the grand scheme of things and gives way to cute lines.For me, Granny’s character ultimately doesn’t suffer too much from it for me and just acts as an example of how some aspects of their new lives have affected their personalities.

I saw a thread last week about the plot holes in this episode (Why didn’t they go to Regina to get Emma out of the ice wall, why not just make a smaller hole with a fireball, why not take Emma to a hospital afterwards?) that just got on my nerves a bit. Maybe it’s because this episode just means so much to me, and honestly, no offence to anyone involved in the thread (I’m pretty sure one of them reads these reviews and if that’s true, I hope you know that I mean that in earnest), but I feel like (1) the plot holes in this are so small that it’s honestly needless nitpicking, something that just gets on my nerves and (2) misses the forest for the trees. It’s missing the story, character payoff, and dynamics in order to complain about matters that just don’t matter, and I feel like that happens a lot in this series. I mean, I can be pedantic about filling the plot holes up myself (They didn’t go to Regina because Rumple shop was closer to the ice wall and by the time they could’ve, they had a solid lead on Anna’s location and that was their bargaining chip with Elsa, fire blasts in this series tend to just be giant in general, and the loft is closer than the hospital and the priority was getting Emma warm), but even as I was writing that, talking about the story elements felt like the more fulfilling thing to write. And I get that plot holes have their times and places to be picked on and picked apart, but I’m also of the mind that some episodes just don’t need it.

All Encompassing

The theme of this episode is not giving up and that’s a theme that really sinks in throughout this episode. While more of a direct story point as it pertains to Anna, David, and Elsa, it’s more indirect in the ways that it applies to Emma and Henry. At the beginning of the episode, after receiving Regina’s note, Henry gets depressed at the prospect of Regina not wanting to see him for the time being and Emma, unable to get through to him, laments her failure. But both of these characters learn through David that to stop trying is a mistake. Thus, Emma gives getting through to Henry another go, one much more successful and Henry gets through to Regina. And both of these developments have a very organic feel towards how they come about and are fantastic with how they resolve.

When people say that the Frozen characters got too much screen time, I often go back to this episode. While Anna and Elsa are big presences in this episode, no one is sidelined as an expense. David, Killian, Emma, Snow, and Henr all play integral roles in the story and blend well with the Frozen characters.

This is one of David’s best episodes. His character gets to be both a powerful lead and support across the two segments and shows a well rounded versatility to him that often isn’t explored all that much and so well.

Stream of Consciousness

-I love the angles of the cars in the opening scene with Elsa. Not only are they all great shots with fitting sound effects, but narratively, they serve two story points. First, they play to Elsa’s fears. She’s alone in a town that has technology she knows nothing about. Second, the cars themselves show their speed, and that helps make Elsa’s choice to create the ice wall make so much sense to me.

-Will my heart ever not break at the sight of the “Leaving Storybrooke” sign? No, it will ALWAYS break!

-The more I see the Josh Dallas Fabio hair, the more I like the Josh Dallas Fabio hair, and I already loved it!

-”I’ll find out your name at the wedding.” I’m really sad that David never got to go to the wedding now. :(

-I LOVE the Baby Neal scene in the loft! It’s nice and goofy and gives off a small domestic moment without overstaying its welcome.

-”3? I see the optimism returning.”I never noticed this joke before! This episode never runs out of funny things! XD

-Dude! Full props for Emma for going to bat for Regina! She really does get it and gets that Regina’s doing what she can to spare Henry from experiencing any of the pain she’s feeling right now. And while it hurts, sometimes people have their own ways of coping with things, for better or for worse. Like, that was just a fantastic moment!

-Also, props to David for helping alleviate Emma’s guilt! Great parenting and it shows how much he understands both Emma and Regina, so it’s also a good Regina and David moment!

-...There is a lot of Captain Charming squeeing going on right now in the ship section.

-”I found it in the store filled with things.” Elsa, that was the least helpful explanation I have ever heard! XD

-I LOVE that deafening sound effect right after Elsa puts up the ice wall. It’s so terrifying and allows for the fear of the situation to really hit the audience.

-Elsa’s “evil lady” act is so fucking adorable! Yes, you’re very scary, baby! XD

-”I’m starting to get why Regina was evil. It wasn’t her, it was you.” I know a lot of antis take issue with this line, but sometimes a line is just meant to be a joke and given how the preamble to Snow’s rant was about how tired she was, I’m gonna pretty sure this was a freakin’ joke, and a great one too! XD

-”It [the cold] never bothered me.” Oh my God, ALL of the Frozen references! While there were probably one too many of them, they never fail to crack me up.

-Minor gripe, but I do wish that we saw some of Emma’s magic fluctuating a bit more prior to her scene with Elsa where they discuss a lack of magical control. Apart from the time portal shenanigans and the crane game encounter (Which she forgot and came after this episode), Emma’s had pretty good control over her magic as of this moment in the present.

-”You only want to know more because if I sleep, I’ll die.” ...Yes! That’s why you should talk! About your son! The main reason you want to stay alive! ...Like, that was a legit terrible line! Just have her fall asleep because that was dangerously close to anti Swan Believer material and in a bad way!

-Not gonna lie, Butcher Bo Peep is reallllllllllllyyy pretty. I am legit attracted to her.

-David giving Anna the horse is the equivalent of Emma repurposing her red leather jacket, granted in a smaller way.

-”I hope I’ll see both of you at the wedding.” Oh man! Ruth couldn’t come either! Rip my heart out, why don’t you?!

-David, I get the symbolic gesture, but that is a HORSE! A horse is a useful animal for a farmer and that horse might love you and its home! XD

-Not gonna lie, I’m pretty sure “I missed my room” was the line that snapped Regina out of her full-on funk. It also cracks me up! XD

-”This is kind of cool. Pun intended.” And THIS is why I love you, Emma! <3

-Ingrid, I’m no germaphobe, but EW! XD

Favorite Dynamic

Frozen Swan. Emma and Elsa’s first episode together is the dynamic equivalent of a Lindt truffle. It’s well rounded, satisfying, and exquisite with a delicate contrast. I think an episode like this is so important for Emma because it shows that while she has walls, they’re not as paralyzing as people think they are. In a lot of respects, this is a Season 4 Emma looking back on some of her more Season 1-esque qualities. But Elsa’s no slouch either! This dynamic does so much to show how Elsa’s more than just a two-trick pony of ice magic and sister longing. She cares about helping innocents, is competent, and her excitement towards finding another magic user is adorable. My favorite part of their dynamic is how they compare their worries about handling magic and leadership. Those are two very big connecting points for these characters and I’m glad they were touched upon.

Writer

Jane Espenson starts off our season here and she did a bang up job with the writing here. The past lends itself to generally great storytelling and the present has this great feeling of tension throughout it as everyone’s either trying to save Emma or reason with Elsa. The only moment to breath is the Snow plot which I feel was just straight-up made for purposes of levity and to make the plot point that Snow’s the mayor. Besides that, I do think the writing is strong here. The theme of not giving up is so solidly present throughout the episode and lends itself well to everyone’s journeys. Apart from one or two weird lines and character moments, the dialogue itself was well developed and the pacing was en pointe!

Rating

10/10. I really wanted to give this episode a Golden Apple, but as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t justify it. It doesn’t mean my love for this episode is any less valid (I’m saying this more to myself than to anyone in particular), but yeah, I can’t give it that score if I want to be honest with myself. The chinks in the armor of the episode are small bit by bit, but they do add up. That said, I love this episode so much! We get so many amazing character moments, a good (if not somewhat loose) story, and a strong message about the benefits of perseverance. The ending is so optimistic and feel good that my earlier claims of it being one of the closest things OUAT has to a Christmas episode aren’t too far off.

Flip My Ship - The Home of All Things “Shippy Goodness”

Captain Swan - As you might have guessed, Captain Swan goodness makes up a GREAT deal of why I love this episode. I read this once before and please let me know the source of it if you know it, but “it’s says something about your ship when one of your favorite episodes of theirs doesn’t even have them kiss.” Well, this is easily in my top 5 favorite CS episodes of all time. They get so much development, both while together and as they communicate with other characters. First, I love the “ice bucket” banter. Emma just can’t take that hotness between them! Second, that Captain Charming scene just fucking says it all! “I wouldn’t risk my life for someone I see as loot. Whatever we become, it’s up to her as much as me.” I CAN DIE A HAPPY WOMAN NOW! Put those words on my fucking tombstone, ok?! If we JUST had these two lines, this would still be one of my favorite CS episodes, but oh my golly, we have MORE! “Emma, say again.” The fucking worry in Colin’s voice. Just...I cannnnnnn’t. *wails* Just...Killian is in such distress throughout this entire episode. He’s so worried he’s about to lose another person he loves and it kills him and it kills me. And once she’s safe, ICE WALL CUDDLES!!! That hug is so fucking romantic. I don’t know what’s better! The Captain Charming conversation from earlier or the Ice Wall Cuddles, but I love both of them sooooooo fucking much! The way she cradles his head and the way he carries her!!! It’s perfect!!! And then the hand hold. Just..I’m so happy!!!

Hopeful Hero - ...I love Snowing, but I’mma ship this ‘till the cows come home! David and Anna just have a fabulous rapport and had there been a kiss akin to Snow and Hercules’ from “Labor of Love,” I wouldn’t have complained!

-----

And there you have it, one of my all time favorite episodes! It’s a bit flawed, but I just adore it with every beat of my heart. Did I change your mind on it or even make you love it more if you were already a fan? Let me know!

As always, thanks to the fabulous folks at @watchingfairytales for making this awesome project and shoutout to my awesome and supportive friend and regular, @daensarah! (If you want notifications for when I post these, hit me up!)

Next time, we go further down the road of the Frozen Arc and just a warning: Things are about to get rocky. XD

Season 3 Total (19/230)

Writer Scores:

Adam and Eddy: (9/60) Jane Espenson : (10/40)

*Links to the rest of my rewatch will no longer be provided. They take posts with links outside of searches and I spend way too much time on these reviews to not give them that kind of exposure. Sorry for the inconvenience, but they still can be found on my page under Operation Rewatch.

[runningwolf62]

@wardencommanderrodimiss @pachelbelsheadcanon

The new chapter is here featuring emotional whiplash and allegiances finally.

On AO3

What happens next is a series of incidents so coincidental and yet so perfectly aligned Larry would be tempted to call it fate. He had headed to a book store to chill and he would swear he’d just gone in to look for a book for Nick or Edgey as a Christmas present. Nothing dramatic, he’d just been caught up on his word count for the day and he’d wanted to shop and treat himself and get things out of the way so he didn’t come out of December confused and lacking presents for anyone.

And while he was there he’d remembered his promise to himself to get Tallstar’s Revenge, after WolfDragon had recommended it. So there he was in the children’s section, looking through the Warrior cats section - which he had half a mind to sort because someone respected neither series nor numbers and honestly it was a disaster trying to find anything, was this supposed to be alphabetical, because he was not going to find Tallstar’s Revenge at all like this - when the book caught his eye.

The Magic Bottle.

A simple title really, but the art on the cover was beautiful. Larry abandoned the Warrior Cats books for a moment to pick up this one, whoever the cover artist was they were fantastic at their job because Larry was for sure curious now. He flipped it over to scan the back, and cracked it open.

Well it turned out Elise Deauxnim could both write and draw, and Larry was enthralled. God where had she been when he was a kid, this shit was fantastic. He ended up buying it and after asking a worker, maybe making an excuse of shopping for a niece (listen that was the simplified version of what Pearl was and if he liked the book this much he might tell Nick to get it for her for Christmas so you know, valid) he also got Tallstar’s Revenge.

Now Tallstar’s Revenge was great, especially by Warrior standards, but he kept coming back to The Magic Bottle, the art, the characters, the pacing, it was fantastic. It made him want to write kid’s books.

Why not? You’re a really good writer and it’s not like you’re unfamiliar with kid’s lit

Thanks!

But she’s super good and I wouldn’t even know where to begin!

Stripes stop selling yourself short you’re a fantastic writer

Stripes?

I’ve mentally called you that for years deal with it

I guess it beats Orange.

“Graypaw what have I told you about talking to basketballs”

What?

Okay I’m sending you that parody as soon as I find a link to it but you should go for it! You’re talented currently inspired also unemployed

Thanks

Hey, I meant now more than ever is your chance

So what should I do?

Google this author see what else she’s written and maybe write her some fan mail

“Hi I’m a twenty-something dude, huge fan”

Look Mr. smartass if you don’t want my help

I’m just worried I’ll come off as weird!

Then lie, say it was for a nephew or something and you were really impressed too and it made you want to try writing children’s lit, how did she get started

Think she’ll answer?

She might

Worth a try

Well I did read it so only fair I review it.

Atta boy, go get ‘em

Larry grins to himself and does exactly as Wolf suggested, googling Elise Deauxnim to find that she had a PO Box. With some help and a little more encouragement from Wolf, he sends off the letter. Then he tries to calm down by focusing on his NaNo, which is mostly just him writing oneshots and a chapter or two of the fic. He hasn’t brought in Godot yet because he’s not sure what the absolute hell is going on there and he doesn’t like thinking about that day in court. He keeps sending out his resume but after how he lost his last job he’s thinking it’s a good thing he has as much in savings as he does, and he’s thinking about emergency commissions.

Until the letter arrives. He’s not sure he believes what he’s seeing but a photo sent to Wolf on discord proves that not only did Elise Deauxnim not think he was a creepy loser, she was encouraging him. She wanted to see some of his art and writing so she could tell him where he might find some agents interested in him.

DUDE

RIGHT I’M FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW!

AGGHHHH!

That’s amazing!

AGGGHHH!

I told you you were an amazing author

OH GOD WHAT DO I SEND HER

Not the Warriors Fanfic

OBVIOUSLY

Look, take a deep breath, and like, think of a story

Doesn’t have to be great, just some kids story thing

Do some art with it

Oh god, dude that’s terrifying, every idea I had just vanished.

Alright, listen you don’t have to write the damn thing just the first three pages of something

Uh, what are kids into these days?

Great question

I’m super good at drawing cats, what do I do with that?

Write Warriors but gay

Don’t we call that Wings of Fire?

Shots fired

More seriously, what do I do with that?

Well you’re good with a very open world series with a set of rules that is easily adapted to a setting

And cat anatomy

So I’d take those elements and make it into something

That’s a horrifying Chimera.

…

You know, that could be a plot hook

What?

Well like kids love monsters right?

Write a series with a Chimera as the main character, it’s part lion

Dude, you’re a genius, I owe you my life, and the response of “no thanks I’ve seen it, I don’t want it” is probably valid

Well get to it writer-boy, you’ll do great

What he ends up with is a book series about various mythological monsters on an adventure, and an offer from Elise Deauxnim to be an apprentice under her. He says yes, of course. He moves out of his apartment and to a smaller and cheaper one closer to where she works.

It’s awkward at first, on both ends. He can tell he’s not what she expected but he tries. She helps him with his writing, telling him what his strengths are first and then slowly moving to where he needs some polishing. It’s still strained though.

The breakthrough comes one afternoon, when Larry’s phone alarm goes off. He reaches over, swipes it off, and then flips the sketchbook page he’s on to start drawing something else.

Elise, - she insist he call her Elise which is weird to him but she’s a firm but matronly woman and so he obeys – looks up at the sound.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to disturb you,” he offers a quick sheepish grin but she only looks more confused.

“Did you force yourself to get a drawing complete in a certain amount of time? You know that won’t make it turn out well.”

“Oh, no,” Larry flips back to the previous drawing to show her that it’s far from complete, “I got art block so rather than sit here and think about how I had the perfect image if I could only draw it for the next hour I worked on something else for ten minutes.”

“You’re quite talented at drawing cats,” she remarks, and Larry grins.

“I’d hope after how long I’ve been drawing them.”

“So this ten minutes of drawing, does it help?”

“Kind of yeah,” Larry pulls his sketch book back to him, looking at the sketch of Cherrywing and Spiritstar, he should draw Maya and Mia sometime. Maybe- no probably not for Christmas but at some point he should. “It forces me to relax and focus on something else, and get the creative juices flowing while I work on something that’s just for me so there’s no pressure or anything. That’s why I can only do it for ten minutes or I’d never get any actual work done!”

“That’s very clever,” she’s focusing on him now and Larry can only shrug, it’s just something that’s worked for him.

“Are those your cats?”

Oh no.

“Uh no, they’re-” he scrambles for a moment, “they’re just cats.”

Elise looks at him with a look of doubt but doesn’t press, instead she turns her focus on the picture, her eyes softening as she looks at Spiritstar and Cherrywing sitting together, “you have a real talent for capturing the emotion of a scene, there’s something very peaceful and loving about it, even for a sketch.”

Larry blinks in surprise, “thank you!” That was very much what he had been going for and he was pleased that he had succeeded at such.

Elise smiles at him, “you have such a talent for landscapes too, the nature looks natural while still framing them.”

Larry rubs the back of his neck with a grin, “now you’re going to give me an ego,” he jokes but he hopes she understands how grateful he is.

By the way she looks at him she does.

-

Merry Christmas Nick!!

merry xmas

 Hey Maya, Merry Christmas!

Message failed to send.

Figures.

Message failed to send.

-

You okay man?

I

I appreciate your concern Larry but yes, I am fine

If you need to call just let me know

Before you joke yes I’m single this Christmas

That’s a kind offer but I am with my sisters

THERE’S ANOTHER ONE?!?

Her daughter has a dog named Phoenix

Holy shit

Quite

-

Merry Christmas Stripes!

Merry Christmas Wolfman!

-

Larry has to say, having your mentor frame and hang your finished and signed piece because she likes it so much is like having your parents hang art on the fridge but somehow a thousand times better.

They spend the winter working, her on her story and on helping Larry grow as an artist and writer and working on her own story.

Larry helps where he can with that, mostly by trying not to bother her when she looks busy but she does ask him to do some illustrations for her, citing his abilities with landscapes. He accepts and pours his heart and soul into it.

SHE’S GOING TO HATE IT

NO SHE WON’T JUST GIVE IT TO HER

AAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHH

Dude

Fine! Fine!

You’ve got this, you’re a really good artist and you’ve said she’s proud of you

As she should be

So you’ve got this

Thanks man

Go get it writer-boy

You gonna buy my book Wolfman

Of course

Larry can’t help but smile at that.

But you’ve got to publish it first

Rude.

Larry tucks his phone into his pocket and hands the portfolio over to Elise. She accepts them with a smile and begins to flip through them, seeming oblivious to Larry’s nervous shuffling. She pauses at one and studies while Larry does his best to not explode or start nervously babbling.

“These are beautiful,” she remarks and Larry can feel his shoulders sag in relief, “you’ve done fantastic work.”

“Thank you, I went to the park a lot to try and get all the details right.”

“It shows,” she continues to leaf through them, Larry feels more confident so he begins to point to details he feels proud of or wants to make sure she notices.

“These are just the illustrations my book needed if you’ll allow me to use them.”

“I, uh, yes!” Larry stares at her eyes about to jump out of his skull, wait until he tells Nick! He’s successful now, look at him!

Elise laughs fondly and hands them back, “hold on to these and let me talk to my agent but that’s exactly the kind of work I couldn’t find anywhere else, your watercolor style is just what I needed.”

Larry is going to cry and just manages to thank her long enough for him to slip out and tell Wolf everything.

I’m proud of you Stripes

I’m proud of me! I feel like I’m really making myself a new person!

He’s tempted to also tell Nick but he decides to wait. To drop the book on Nick’s desk at his office. That’s how he’ll do it.

Okay so get this

Yeah?

Apparently my last name “can’t be taken seriously by publishers”.

And I thought elementary school kids were hurtful.

Oh my god

So she’s going to have me use her last name.

WHAT

Her publisher loves the idea too.

Makes me look like family.

Which sells or something?

Hey I’ll take it, I’m getting paid.

So what name should I keep an eye out for

Larry pauses, they’ve never told each other their real names, years of being Wolf and Stripes and now occasionally Writer boy and Wolfman on top of having internet safety drilled into them has always stopped them.

Look for Laurice Deauxnim.

As your number one fan I want a signed copy at some point

-

“Larry,” he looks up from his typing craze at the sound of his name, he’s made a lot of progress on this chapter and with Elise’s help he’s hoping to get it done and sent to publishers by May. That’s his new year’s resolution, getting published this year.

Elise pauses her typing and he hears her sigh. He looks up to her, her face is set and determined but when she looks to him he thinks he sees regret.

“Larry, I’m afraid a situation has come up and I know it’s very last minute but unless you want to come to a monastery with me I’m afraid you’re going to have to spend the next week or so without me.”

“What?” Larry feels a surge of panic not unlike the time he discovered he hadn’t saved in an hour, “a monastery? Why are you- where are you going?”

“Hazakura Temple,” she replies with a pause, Larry has never heard of it but he pulls it up on google quick enough. A teaser for an upcoming edition of the “Oh! Cult” Magazine pops up with some lovely images. Looks cold but interesting.

“Sure I’ll come. I’ve had art block for the past week maybe trying to do some temple scenes will help!”

Elise pauses and smiles kindly, “if you really want to…”

“I need some winter scene practice too,” Larry is not looking forward to wandering around the cold but Elise was going there for some reason, maybe he’ll find a muse there as well.

He flicks his finger over the picture hanging on the wall, the one that still made him smile to see there, “and I’ll give you a winter scene to compliment the summer one.”

Whatever hesitation Elise seems to be having vanishes as she laughs softly, “alright. Make sure to dress warm.”

And in honor of @pachelbelsheadcanon‘s fantastic art, here’s a list of the allegiances. 

SpiritClan

Leader

Spiritstar – a cream she-cat with darker paws and face

Deputy

Darkleaf – a dark brown tom

Medicine Cat

Cherrywing – a cream she-cat with darker striped paws and face

Apprentice: Splashpaw

Warriors

Firebirdstorm – a bright orange tabby with spikey fur

Orangestripe – an orange tabby tom with scruffy fur

Beetlelight – a brown tabby tom with a white chin

Apprentices

Splashpaw – a white she-cat with brown paws and face

 Demon’s Group

Demon – a dark gray tom with thick fur, especially on his chest, formerly Sharppaw of SpiritClan

Viper – a gray she-cat with cold blue eyes, formerly a rogue

Timber – a brown tabby tom with messy fur

Bird – a calico she-cat with mostly dark red patches

Wolf – large thick furred gray tom

[teamflby]

RWBY Volume 6 Episode 3 Rundown

Spoilers below the cut as usual

So let me start out by saying one thing, and this is going to come off as extremely arrogant but I’m going to do it anyways:

I fucking called that Ozpin did nothing wrong, and his actions were dictated by years of experience and knowledge literally no one else had. The people that overreacted and wanted him burned at the stake for telling a few lies can go suck it, because he literally did nothing wrong.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get onto the main point of today, and that is simply this: 6-3 was probably the best episode in the series next to 3-12

Yes, you heard me of all people say this. 6-3 is by far the best episode of the series next to 3-12, and has been the episode fans like me have been waiting for since 3-12. Now I’m going to explain myself and talk about the good first, because I do want to talk about some things that I felt weren’t up to par. But just know that like 90% of this episode is either good-extremely well done and the other 10% is mediocre-subpar, but never actually delves into full on bad or anything.

The episode focuses on Ozpin’s and Salem’s backstory, something I knew was coming sooner rather than later and something I was a bit fearful of when I saw it was happening this week. My biggest fear was that it was going to be generic and bland and the focus was going to be all over the place, rather than grounded in Ozpin as a whole. And... I was right about some of it. The backstory is relatively generic, BUT generic is not always a bad thing. There was genuine spice in this episode and story that made me happy, and a lot of Hoenheim vibes with it too for my Fullmetal fans. I’m going to give you guys an abridged version of it, and then talk about what I liked and what I didn’t.

So basically, Salem was Rapunzel’ed in a castle and Ozpin (who’s Ozma at this point) goes up to that castle and saves her because he believes in truth, justice and the American way. The two of them fall in love and have their magic together (since all humans have magic at the moment) and they live happily ever after until Ozpin dies from an illness. Salem doesn’t like that and goes to the god of light to get him to revive her, and he says no and Salem throws a hissy fit. She then goes to the god of destruction and asks him to do it, which he does until the GoL shows up and is like “she asked me first and I said no because reviving people from the dead is no bueno” and the GoD is like yeah you right and kills Ozma. The two make Salem immortal as punishment for being a bitch so she can never be with Ozma. Salem gets mad and pits the humans against the gods, until the gods Thanos snap everyone except Salem away and then leave the world and destroy the mood in the process. Salem hops into the GoD pit since she thinks it’ll kill her, but since she’s immortal it just makes her all Grimmy (pun 100% intended). The GoL revives Ozma and tells him to gather the relics and let the judge the humans once more, but Ozma goes back and finds Salem and they get it on and try and play God themselves. Then Ozma realizes this is a mistake and they can’t do this, so he gets killed and the cycle of reincarnation repeats itself over and over again. He gathers the relic of knowledge and asks his three questions, and he immediately finds out that he can’t defeat Salem at all and that it’s impossible, so ergo:

Ozpin is fighting a losing battle

So that’s kind of a lot to unpack, but not too much that I can’t talk about it all. For starters, let me just say that the fact that Salem was the one who was the obsessed, pseudo evil one here and not Ozpin. Let’s be real here, Ozpin was never the evil one, especially when you pit him up against literal evil incarnate. I expressed this last rundown, and I’m glad they doubled down on the fact that Ozpin himself is not evil. He’s quite literally a man that was forced into his own destiny, and while he did have the choice given to him by the GoL he’s just trying to do what he can to bring humanity together so that way he can show the Gods that humans are good and won’t get Thanos snapped again.

Also, speaking on the Gods I think they were handled relatively well. I thought that they reminded me of the Forest God from Princess Mononoke a little too much, but they weren’t harmful at all. I think they looked a little dumb, but they sounded nice and did their job well. Granted, I think that the way they destroyed the moon was stupid. Like, they just up and left the planet and destroyed the moon in the process. Some could argue that it’s symbolic now and whatever, but really? It’s not. It was just “look we answered that question you all wanted to know since the Red Trailer!” Not that there’s anything wrong with some fan service now and again, but like... this was one of the more poorly executed versions of it.

The real highlight of the episode for me was the cinematography and actual structure of the episode. The episode never takes focus off of the story and you’re constantly engaged with Ozpin and Salem the whole time, and that works extremely to its benefit. After 6-2, I was worried that this episode would cut back and forth between things, but it focuses entirely on Ozpin and Salem, and I think Ruby is the only other person in this episode outside of them and the Gods that even has a legit speaking role? It just works out extremely well at the end of the day, and I love that. Also the shot selection was just... mmmmmmm. There were a few standouts to me, like when Ozma gets told about his actual goal and why he’s being brought back, he falls onto his knees and behind him you see Oscar staring down at him in absolute fear and worry about this job being too big for him. There’s also the scene were you see in shadowy detail Salem trying to kill herself after first becoming immortal, and Ruby watches on is horror as it happens. There’s a few more that are also really good, but those two stood out the most to me. Another small part of me I really liked was how we only focused on the kids and not really Qrow when we saw them in the story, which gives me an indication that next time he’s going to play some big role because now he won’t be mad about trusting Ozpin, but how they’re fighting a losing battle. Which brings me to another thing I loved...

The fact that they can’t beat Salem. It’s made abundantly clear that Salem is immortal and cannot die, and it’s starting seem like there’s no way to do so. Personally, I think the silver eyes thing will be the bridge to that defeat of Salem (how I’m not sure), but at the moment there’s no way, and that’s a good thing. For the entire time of the show, we have this confidence that there’s a way, that Team RWBY can pull it together to do so, but then the episode ends with that resounding “No. You literally cannot.” and it just sets a tone that I love. All the girls look dejected as the camera pans out, and you’re left feeling that same dread Ozpin has felt for hundreds if not thousands of years. That’s what we felt at the end of 3-12, and that’s what we’ve needed to feel since then. This was the first time in my opinion that any type of real weight can be felt on the cast since then, and man does it feel good to finally feel it.

Now onto the smaller things I didn’t like: I think the score was kinda lame. RWBY music has always been an issue for me, and I think their scores are horrendous. The instrumentals that play in the back never entertain me, and I think they were somewhat of a mood killer here, but not enough to drag me away from what was happening on screen. I think the story as a whole was a little cheesy and campy, but honestly cheesy is good, especially for RWBY which kinda revels in it from time to time. This was a good kind of cheese, and while I think it could’ve been presented better, I still like.

Now, my final thing is a small worry that I won’t touch up upon too much: We are three episodes in, and we’ve gotten plot and lore and exposition that is Volume finale level. So that raises the question: Now what? Where do we go from here? I’m a bit worried that M&K metaphorically blew their load early and don’t have enough to keep up for the rest of the Volume since this is the trend, but for now I’m going to bite my tongue on it since it’s not too much concern. All in all, this was a great episode and did a masterful job at finally answering our questions about Ozpin and Salem (who might I add can certainly get it).

FINAL VERDICT: 9.5/10, A great story wrapped up in a RWBY-like charm that shows what Miles and Kerry are capable of when they’re on the top of their game.

[sleepy-hailey]

Pacific Rim: Uprising

So as some of you might know, I like giant monsters and I like writing stuff (in theory), so how about I try combining the two things. In like a tangible way, not like the Kumonga (giant spider from Godzilla series) fanfic I have been working on for well over a year that still is not halfway done.

I am going to give my short and spoiler-free thoughts here and then go into more depth under the cut.

I really liked it. I laughed out loud at some of the gags, my mouth hung agape during some of the action, I whispered excitedly to my girlfriend next to me who had her own adorably goofy grin throughout, my feels got poked here and there, and I left the theater really happy. It was not perfect by any means nor was it as good as the first, but I will honestly probably watch again while it is still in theaters once it goes discount.

Now for my detailed thoughts where I spoilerize the whole movie.

Having said that I liked it, the first thing I want to talk about is, from what I’ve seen, the biggest point of contention. They fridged Mako Mori. For those who don’t know, “fridging” is a short hand for “Women in Refrigerators” which is when a character, usually a woman, is killed or otherwise brought to dramatic harm for the narrative benefit of another character, generally used for making a guy sad and angry. What separates this from general tragedy in fiction is that usually the character whom the harm befalls was a character in their own right and what happens to them has nothing to do with them or their narrative.

Mako Mori was the deuteragonist, or second main character, of Pacific Rim 1. What made her different from just being a supporting character was that she had her own story entirely independently from the other main character, Raleigh. Her story was about how her family was killed in a kaiju attack, she was adopted by the legendary pilot Stacker Pentecost, she longed to become a pilot herself and strike back against the monsters that had taken so much from her and others and to prove to her adopted father that was as strong and capable as he. In Uprising she is killed in a helicopter crash to prevent her from delivering her negative views to a committee about deploying drone Jaegars. She is mourned briefly (but with incredible acting by John Boyega) and it’s revealed that her dying act was to send information that advances the plot one step.

This is a really crappy way to see a character out. This is right up there or worse than things like Tokyo S.O.S. where the entire previous movie was about building up the character of Akane only to shuffle her off at the start of the sequel for “Special Training in America”. This is worse than the Power Rangers’ peace conference they kept sending Rangers too. I mean, in the 2nd Mortal Kombat movie, they kill Johnny Cage in the first five minutes and THAT was better than Mako’s exit because at least he died doing things in his character, ya know, fighting the bad guy, and it raised the stakes by saying “oh this guy beat the tough guy in the previous movie but THIS tough guy killed him like nothing”. The other main character from the first, Raleigh, is just never seen nor is his fate brought up, THAT would have been preferable to this.

I’ve heard rumors that this was done for political reasons to get better box office in China. The first movie’s bad performance in China was largely blamed on the fact that it featured a Japanese woman protecting China, or so it is said. I’m not sure if I believe that was the actual motivation, but with the lousy killing of that Japanese woman and then having a Chinese woman go on to protect Japan, well, I see where the rumor is coming from at least.

So yeah, tl;dr, the way they killed Mako sucked and I don’t blame anyone if that’s a deal-breaker on their enjoyment of this movie. If they decide to bring her back as a cyborg or say that she survived the crash, but they put her in hiding for her protection, or whatever in Pacific Rim 3, I’m all for it. It would be dumb, but not as dumb as how they wrote her out in the first place.

All that out of the way, there was a lot I liked. The Mako thing puts a big “but” on my feelings, but I still liked it. There were other little issues I’ll talk about too, but none of them are comparable to the killing of Mako.

STUFF I LIKED! Jake Pentecost! I have yet to see John Boyega not be a delight to watch and this movie did not break that streak. His character was funny and charming in a dorky way. He also had to do most of the emotional lifting on this movie (with his dead disappointed dad and his newly dead sister and his shame at his past bad behaviors) and he carries that weight like a friggin champ. Also I really liked how they seemed to be leaning towards a OT3 with his copilot, whom he does call sexy and seems to have the most feelings about, and that engineer lady, who was just kinda there to make it less gay I guess.

The cadets! These kids, I may not remember all their names, but they brought a great feeling to the movie. I’m not gonna lie, I like kids’ stuff sometimes (a lot of the time depending on your definition of kids’ stuff) and kids in action/adventure is easy to fuck up. They brought in a lot of energy and the idea of “the younger generation” being able to step up and even being pushed to do so before it might be seen as appropriate due to a rapidly deteriorating situation is certainly relatable. Also they actually killed one of them as a way of saying “no, their youth does not guarantee their safety for the finale”. Also they used a giant robot to flip off a giant monster and I have to respect that.

Scrapper! Most the Jaegars in this movie felt more than a bit derivative of the ones from PR1, but that little girl was a delight. I liked the idea of a mini Jaegar able to run with one person and move into smaller areas faster. I loved how she rolled up into a little ball to preserve momentum and to protect the pilot during impacts. I loved her being used to do field maintenance on one of the bigger Jaegars in the finale. I just really feel that scrapper was an unsung hero of the movie.

Newt and Hermann! PRECIOUS GAY NERDS! If you watched PR1 and 2 and you actively deny that these two are in love, we are not friends any more (feelings of ambivalence are fine, but it won’t win you any points in my book). These two stole the show every single time they were on screen and that is impressive for a giant monster movie to make me actually more into the scientist characters than the pilots. I know some people were pissed about Newt being brainwashed by the Precursors, but it’s not like he was a willing ally. I mean, he was all but crying when he was strangling Hermann (who also seemed to be effing reassuring him that it wasn’t his fault and aaaaaaa I’m gonna cry). And honestly, I think giving the Precursors and the kaiju a human face and voice, and one as interesting as Newt’s, was a great idea. It actually made me hate the Precursors in a way beyond the generic “they’re trying to destroy the earth” way. If a third happens I want Newt to be struggling back and forth under their control. Also he and Hermann should kiss.

This does segue into my favorite complaint against most things by the way; it should have been gayer. I use this complaint so much that it’s basically a running joke with my friends, but I mean it every time. Newt and Hermann are in love. Their plot in the first movie was all about them coming together and how it made them better and helped them to aid in saving the world. In this movie, I don’t even know where to start, it’s just unambiguously a sad romance where two people’s lives split when they both know they’re happier together. Like even the people making the movie straight up say that, yeah, that’s intentional and it would have been explicit if the powers that be didn’t fear losing money by having gay stuff. Also there’s no way way Viktoriya’s hostility towards Amara didn’t stem from misplaced feelings of attraction, I honestly expected (hoped with my gay heart) that Vic would kiss Amara during the finale.

I liked the kaiju! THIS SHOULDN’T SURPRISE ANYONE! Now the three main kaiju that attack Japan, none of them really stood out too much to me other than one of them had a cool thing where their face opened up and one of them liked to dig I guess(?), but that wasn’t all we got. The Jaegar/Kaiju hybrids that attacked in mass were pretty effing cool, honestly with their color variation from white to kaiju blue glowy bits and weapons and yeah. Then we got the Ultra Kaiju that was a combination of the three big un’s that attack Japan, that thing was quite the friggin monster. It may seem like a silly thing, but a kaiju that is a giant to other giants always gets me, like, terrified if done right. Were any of them better than my girl Otachi from PR1? No, but I wouldn’t mind having toys of any of them on my desk either.

The action! I mean, duh, it’s an action movie, if you don’t like the action you’re not gonna have a good time. I can’t say it was better than PR1, but I CAN say it was better LIT than PR1 with all the colors of the kaiju and jaegars shining brilliantly and all their moves on clear display. And they did a damn Rider Punch from the atmosphere to kill the Ultra Kaiju. I even loved Newt and Hermann beating up the guards in the elevator in their feisty nerd way.

Oh yeah, the other thing I didn’t really like was the ending. Like the very ending after they Rider Punched the Ultra Kaiju to death and captured Possessed Newt. I get that they were trying to have a light moment much like the end of PR1, but Jake and Amara having a snowball fight right after a fight that left them both pretty banged up and one of the cadets dead, along with probably a lot of civilians, was just kinda weak and odd. And where the flip was Shao? She was instrumental in saving the world, you'd think they'd give her a parting scene/shot. Then came the sequel stinger and I just wasn’t feeling the idea of a movie where we invade the Anteverse. I mean, it might be cool, but it just made me think of a movie with humans running around in giant robots and stomping on aliens, but it being ok because it was us doing it to them this time.

So yeah, those are some of my thoughts on Pacific Rim: Uprising. I get why some people hated it or just didn’t care that much about it, but I enjoyed it even with it doing Mako dirty. See you in the drift, nerds!

[randomwoohoo]

Here’s the 3rd Ch of this AU. This chapter came little bit late because of my job. Thank you for checking it out~ Link of Fanfiction.net

Nick  : Previously on Zoomorphia!

Judy  : Zootopia, a modern civilized city populated by all kinds of mammals, is threatened by mysterious mammal-like monsters, Savage; therefore, Savage Control Unit or SCU was formed in order to exterminate those monsters, still... the team alone isn’t enough if you ask me.

Nick  : When wild Savages appeared, we changed into Hybrid to save the day. Last time, we even got a chance to use Police form which has a pistol to shoot down the monsters and a vehicle for chasing.

Judy  : Currently, there are new missing mammal cases and night howler cases. Oh! Besides, it seems we’re lucky that we weren’t punished anymore.

Nick  : If you called a light duty a punishment, I would be glad to receive it.

Judy  : Don’t be down in the dumps, Nick. You look cool when you’re in action.

Nick  : If so, I don’t mind get some action, Carrots.

Judy  : That’s a spirit! Wait, what!?

Nick  : Now the Chapter 3!

.-.. . - .----. ... / -.-. --- -. - .. -. ..- .

“-You’re under arrest for Midnicampum holicithias trafficking.” In the night, Senior officer Judy Hopps locked a gray fox tod’s arm behind his back, pressing him against a wall of alley. “You should dub it ‘Night howler’, Carrots. It’d save us time.” Her partner, Senior officer Nick Wilde, advised. They were capturing an illicit night howler dealer.

    The criminal fox in denim clothes was alarmed by a smaller mammal. He could not escape bunny cop’s grasp no matter how hard he struggled. “How can you betray your own kind? Aren’t you a fox too?” He asked the fox cop. “And a real handsome one” Nick, smirking, self praised. The trafficker’s face flamed with anger as he insulted the red fox. “You filthy son of a-Ouch!!”

“Don’t you dare address my partner like that!” Doe squeezed the speckled coated fox’s wrist. Nick stuck his tongue out at the grey tod.

    The partner thought this week would be simple, just handling illegal night howler trade which occurred sporadically. However, they were wrong...

“Now… not only mammals in nearby towns went missing but also citizens of Zootopia...” Chief Bogo the Cape buffalo informed sternly at the podium. He pointed at a push pin-pocked Zootopia map that was covered in photos of missing mammals. “There’re 8 missing mammal cases so far. This must be some gangs’ doing, yet nothing can be concluded. Today, we have victims’ family or associates here in ZPD. They’re willing to give us info which can be useful for cases. I will arrange interviews. Meanwhile, whoever doesn’t have an urgent matter, look up the overall cases.” He exited the bullpen.

    Every officer seemed serious in equal manner. Some left the room to perform their tasks. Fox and rabbit cops got off a chair, walking up to the map. “This moose… have I met him before?” Judy was staring at a picture of a dark brown slim bull. “Yeah! I definitely have seen him before! At the diner in Savanna Central!” She remembered the moose she saw few days ago when she had a lunch with Clawhauser, Fangmeyer and Nick. “Civilian has gone missing right under our noses… scary...” Tod remarked.

    The other officer came to scrutinize the map. “Can it be…?” The male bengal tiger scowled. His expression concerned doe. “What’s wrong, Jackson?” She inquired. “Na- na- Nothing-” Jackson Rajah, the bengal tiger ZPD officer, stuttered. “By the way, how is Fangmeyer?” He changed the subject, talking about Jasmine Fangmeyer the bengal tigress transferred to special unit, SCU . “Jasmine? Little bit tired from Savage hunt but she’s fine. She’s just visited ZPD recently. Didn’t you meet her?” Bunny’s question caused tiger speechless. He mumbled something and before she could catch anything-

“Hopps, Wilde, follow me. One of the victims’ family is ready for interview.” Bogo opened a door and called for the duo. “Let’s go, Carrots.” Said Nick, buttoning his uniform collar for neatness. “See ya later, Jackson.” Judy bid farewell. “Take care.” Rajah waved his paw goodbye. The partner walked out the room.

-- .. ... ... .. -. --.

“Tadashi Hamada, 21-year old raccoon dog, a student at Zootopia Institute of Technology, has been missing for a week. Last time you saw him, he was working on his project at his campus, correct, Ms. Hamada?” Nick, holding a report, reviewed the case to two tanukis sitting opposite to the duo in an interview room.

“Yes” Cass Hamada, tanuki in mid-thirties, dressing in a short sleeved v-neck and a pair of capris, topped off with a silver-turquoise necklace, confirmed. “Please officers… My nephew is a good kit, an honor student. He would never just disappear.” Her voice quavered a moment.

“Tadashi’s bike was left nearby his lab! He absolutely didn’t run away!” Hiro Hamada, a 14-year old tanuki, wearing casual clothes and blue hoodie, spoke up.

“We believe you, Hiro.” Judy ambled towards civilians. “We will find him. I promise.” She clasped both tanukis’ one paw. Nick, pursing his lips, knew well… Again... She didn’t make a promise just to soothe the family but she genuinely believed they will find Tadashi and bring him home . In the past three years, notwithstanding how remarkable the doe is, the tod had witnessed she got hurt because she believed too much… The moment one’s hope crumbles is undeniably painful…

.--. .-. --- -- .. ... .

    A wolf security guard was stationed at the gate of Cliffside Asylum, being on the lookout. Ever since a group of juveniles annoyed the canine and Savage appeared there, the place had been peaceful and calm.

“Good afternoon~ How’re ya doing?” A jolly male voice broke the silence. The guard’s jaw dropped once seeing who was the voice owner. “O-O-Officer N-Ni-Nick Wilde!?” Wolf stammered from excitement of meeting a semi-celebrity, Nick Wilde, the first and only one ZPD officer.

“Am I bothering you?” Fox approached the other canine. “No! O-Of course not, sir! Wh-What brings you here?” The guard was still nervous. “I just happen to be around here, so I pay a visit.” Nick behaved friendly in order to put the wolf at ease. Nonetheless, his words increased the wolf’s agitation. “You… come to see me?” Stunned, wolf wondered.

“Thanks for cooperation last week~ Y’know, contacting SCU when Savage showed up~” The fox gesticulated, attempting to elucidate his appreciation. “My great pleasure to help, sir.” Wolf smiled slightly. “Sorry that you had to experience a mess.” Tod expressed sympathy. “It’s okay, sir. Actually, nothing has happened much around here, so a little bit excitement is kinda nice.” Guard giggled.

    As wolf’s guard was lowered down, a raccoon ran past the gate. “What?” Wolf took time to register what had just passed the gate. “Oh no! Halt!” Wolf guard snapped out, about to follow the intruder. “I’ll chase him. You stay here.” Fox officer touched wolf’s elbow softly to detain the guard then he dashed off. “You’re sure? I gonna call reinforcement!” Wolf held a phone, pressing the number. Tod about-turned, ran backward and yelled. “No! Stay there! Don’t let anyone else come in! And better not tell anybody cuz if they learn how you let a lad passing through, you’ll be in trouble!” He made the guard realize that the intruder was able to pass through the gate because the wolf solely focused on the fox celebrity, thereby neglecting guard’s duty. Wolf guard nodded, putting down the phone. Nick gave the thumbs up then turned back, speeding up towards a building.

    Inside the Cliffside Asylum building, Jim Tuck the teenage raccoon in black jacket and yellow t-shirt began to explore a ruined story, sneaking around mutely not to draw anything’s attention to himself. However, something patted his shoulder, startling the raccoon. He stepped away hastily.

“Cool down kid~ Don’t start treasure hunting without me.” Nick raised both paws, gesturing he meant no harm. “Geez… Do you really have to tail along?” Jim’s heart still beat fast. He was losing patience with the fox police officer’s waggishness.

“I thought we’ve approved this plan. If you leave here alone, guard will at the very least try to capture you. I guarantee it won’t end pretty~” Nick emphasized on the ‘at the very least’ part. He continued explaining. “But if you walk out with me, pretending you get caught by police...” Tod quieted down, wanting Jim to say how situation would play out. “I will obtain flash drive and simply get away. Okay, fine, argh.” The raccoon grunted. “Exactly~ Let’s roll~” Fox clapped his paws.

    Since the only legit entrance of Cliffside Asylum is through the front gate, Nick had done his homework, studying each guard’s behavior and their shifts; thus, he came up with the plan to enter the building during a shift of one particular guard who is a wolf and a sucker for bigwigs. Fox plotted to distract the guard while Jim trespassing on property and then Nick would go after. When the raccoon achieved the goal, the fox would lead him out and lie to the guard that he arrested the teen and took him to ZPD but actually would drop Jim off somewhere else. This is the plan Nick and Jim agreed upon.

    Whilst Jim flashed the light in left paw and rifled through a crumbled laboratory, desk to desk, Nick investigated deftly in a dim area owing to his night vision. He came across the wreckage of devices scattering all over the floor, broken black metal pieces , maroon handle-like sticks, sliver syringes and purple half spheres. He immediately recognized the parts… MidniDriver… but in various sizes, from large enough for bear to small enough for tiny otter. Furthermore, he discovered a burnt paper sheet, picking it up to read.

MidniDriver project It seemed to be a hard copy about MidniDriver. Nick skimmed through it. The main idea was...

Binary bridge system is developed for connecting two users’ belts. MidniDriver requires apperception, instinct and blood of predators but the main body must be preys. MidniDriver application purely on predators can cause critical side-effects because the core of device is-

This was as far as tod can read. The rest was gone. He interpreted that basically MidniDriver places the predator’s software in the prey’s hardware, yet Nick pondered. But back then... Carrots and I transformed into- His recall was interfered when Jim appealed for assistance.

“Wilde. Little help here.” The raccoon strove to pull out a jammed desk drawer. Fox folded the paper and kept it in his pocket. He neared Jim, assisting him. “On the count of three. One, two, three!” They tugged the drawer open together under Nick’s signal. Fox slipped, bumping his button against the floor full of concrete fragments. “Ow~” He, gazing down, touched his bum gently.

“Found it.” Jim whisper-shouted, lifting a thumb-sized flash drive from the drawer. “So this is what you’ve been searching for.” Nick arose then snatched the flash drive from Jim’s paw. “Hey! Give it back!” Jim reached to retrieve flash drive but Nick dodged before the raccoon could lay a finger on the object. “Gimme dang thing!” Jim repeatedly attempted to regain possession as Nick could dodge every time. Fox’s ears flicked, responding to a noise from the hallway. Jim flashed the light at Nick’s face, intending to catch him off guard. Tod threw the flash drive away, which raccoon did not predict. Jim released the grip, going after the thrown object flying to the hallway.

“Nice throw, Slick~” Rabbit police officer caught the flash drive, shocking the raccoon who froze still. “Nice catch, Carrots~” Fox officer strutted past the raccoon. “How can you get in?” He advanced towards his partner. “Well, I deceived a guard that you contacted me for support, so I can enter here, no sweat.” Judy answered, tossing the flash drive up and seized it when it fell down. “Sly bunny~” He opined. “Clever fox~” She complimented, inserting the object into trousers’ back pocket.

“What’s the meaning of this!? Did you trick me!?” Jim bellowed, ignoring the circumstance he might disturb the threats in this place. He connected the dots, comprehending that Fox offered to assist just for learning what he schemed to steal and confiscating it in the process.

    The duo’s eyes met. Both thereupon laughed. “It’s called a hustle, sweetheart.” They stated simultaneously, smirking at Jim, making him retort. “You dirty-”

    The roar drowned out other noises. Three mammals were able to identify the source of horrendous cry. “Time’s up! We must leave now!” Nick told Jim. Although the pair should skedaddle right away, citizen’s safety is priority. They had to make sure Jim fled securely. Besides, the raccoon was a minor. It would be too cruel to abandon him. “My flash drive!” The teen persisted in reclaiming. “Beat it!” Judy commanded. Tod dragged raccoon, saving him from an ambush. Couples of orbs glowed in the dark...

-.. . -.-. . .--. - .. --- -.

“Are they alright?” The wolf guard worried about two officers who accessed Cliffside Asylum to pursue the criminal. Next, he felt déjà vu, ears perking up to catch the scream from the building, rotating to glance at mammals running. The guard did not even behold what they were escaping from but wolf had scrammed.

    Three of them managed to get out of the asylum. Nevertheless, the trio of little Savages kept chasing them. “That way!” Judy directed Jim to the other way. “Noted” This time, he consented to follow her order readily, veering off, departing the place.

“That was rather easy.” Nick raised eyebrows. He assumed it should be harder to cast the young raccoon out. The duo slackened their pace to a stop, swiveling to face the monsters, a scurry of purple flying squirrels which possessed 2 compound eyes, insect mandibles for mouth and feet resembling beetle claws. “Ready, partner?” Judy brought out MidniDriver, an arm-sized black morpher with silver syringe on the left and maroon motorcycle handle on the right. “Hang on!" Nick endeavored to draw out the device hidden in his pants. “Quick!” She rushed him. “This thing’s so big! How can you carry it with ya like all the time!?” Tod finally drew out the morpher successfully. “I have my own method.” Doe replied sincerely.

    Bunny and fox put on MidniDriver . He pulled the syringe that was retracted mechanically. “ DRAW BLOOD ” Blood flowed into his syringe then it teleported into the syringe of Judy’s device. She pressed the syringe which sprang out on its own, “ INJECT ” injecting fox blood to herself. Nick flopped standing up, lying unconsciously on the ground.

“Transform!” Judy sprinted forth, twisting the handle anticlockwise. “ IGNITE ” Device’s handle whirled back after she let it go. MidniDriver released purple steam, followed by the scorching purple mist explosion. A flamingo red bio-armored blend of rabbit and fox, Hybrid, emerged from a haze.

    The lustrous metallic doe, added fox’s tail and fang pattern on muzzle part of helmet, in Nick’s casual clothes color scheme barreled towards the monsters. They leapt, spread their patagia and soared into the air. Hybrid halted, watching out for Savages’ next move, seeing that they were gliding around the twosome. Nick and Judy perceived well that they can only combat at close range in a current form, Hustler form; hence he proposed. “Shall we shoot ‘em with a bow?”

“Great idea.” Judy was going to grasp the maroon handle. One Savage dove to pounce on Hybrid ’s right shoulder joint. Slipping, the doe swept a squirrel off. It flew away while others swooped on Hybrid from behind, causing the pair to stumble.

“These little fella are fast!” Tod exclaimed. He swing a fist. However, the monsters took flight before the fist hit them. One ascended, nibbling rabbit ear. Hybrid was not hurt. The ears appear soft and flexible, yet hard and strong like steel. Doe shook the small monster off. The rest of scurry crashed into flamingo occiput. Hybrid almost tumbled.

    Albeit squirrel Savage s barely did any damages, their celerity really irritate the duo. Protracting claws, Hybrid gyrated to scratch the monsters. They missed. Judy’s eyes locked at one Savage which glided towards insensible fox officer. “Carrots!” Nick alerted. Judy pushed the syringe. “ ACTIVATE ” Hybrid hared off, overtaking the squirrel. She crouched down over tod’s body to protect him. “Eek! Feral bun bun gonna eat me!!” Nick imitated girl voice poorly. “Hush!” The doe concentrated on the monsters wheeling around above the pair. Both bid their time patiently.

    Savage s charged at Hybrid . At that instant they sensed monsters’ presence close by, Hybrid bounced up, spinning in mid-air, stretching out to clutch two squirrels with both paws and stab another squirrel with sharp left toenails. Two Savages deceased as soon as the claws impaled them, force crushing their bones. Duo landed on feet next to fox body. Left foot scraped against the floor, injuring the last squirrel monster worse. They all vaporized, ceasing to exist.

“Yet another victory~” Nick announced delightedly but Judy asserted differently. “Not yet… The roar we heard previously doesn’t belong to any of these-” The same roar as before interrupted the doe.

    Savage , four-eyed purple kangaroo with an extra pair of folded limbs at flanks, came out of the building. It bounded ahead as Hybrid strode over fox’s body then approached a huge marsupial determinedly. Judy hopped and kicked the monster whilst it stood on tail to shove its opponent away with feet. Both sides moved back, still Savage moved farther than Hybrid did. The pair backflipped before landing safely. Kangaroo overleapt. Hybrid jumped to the monster, aiming to strike it in mid-air.

    However, Savage extended its extra arms, flapping membrane wings. “What!” Fox and bunny cried out. Their punch failed to hit because kangaroo shifted upward. The four-eyed monster drop-kicked Hybrid. The duo descended to the ground.

“Ouchies, I call in sick tomorrow.” Nick whined. “It’s my body that got attacked, plus this doesn’t even hurt. It’ll scarcely affect ya.” Judy countered. They observed kangaroo beating its wings, rising higher and higher, beyond 6 stories.

“You know what they say. The higher they rise~” Tod uttered “The harder they fall.” Doe completed the clause. Hybrid performed a kip-up, stooping down, twisting Midnidriver ’s handle anticlockwise. “ CRITICAL BREAK ” Hybrid skied aloft, reaching Savage instantaneously at 75 feet above ground. “Did you know? Rabbits can jump as high as the moon.” The united twosome quizzed. Hybrid span from left to right, body in a horizontal position. Leg shin smote the monster. Kangaroo plummeted to earth.

    Hybrid plunged to the floor majestically, standing upright, viewing Savage vaporizing. “Mission accomplished!” Nick lifted a closed left paw. “Mission accomplished” Judy tapped the left fist with the right, sort of like Hybrid fist-bumped oneself

-- --- --- -.

    Jim Tuck managed to withdraw from Cliffside Asylum. “I understand! I messed up.” He was later arguing with an eurasian brown bear who had a prosthetic right arm. They were surrounded by intimidating mammals in a gloomy room. “Darn right, Jimmy. The flash drive is now in the police paw. Slim chance we gonna acquire it.” The bear signaled his underling. Full grown opossum seized raccoon’s wrist. “Wait, John!” Jim hollered the bear’s name. “It’s Mr. Silver to you!” Opossum shouted at raccoon.

“Mr. Silver. Yes, you may be right but I have something you might want more.” What Jim said interested John Silver the bear. He waved his paw, telling opossum to unpaw the teen, which opossum did so. Jim rubbed his own wrist, discerning no injury; therefore, he moved on, bringing out something underneath his hoodie jacket. He laid it on nearby table. Other mammals ,including John, goggled at it, a sealed test tube of purple liquid. Jim stole the chemicals secretly from the same drawer before he found the flash drive.

“Deal’s done. Let my brothers go.” Raccoon demanded. Bear gave his underlings a look. They nodded. A few mammals grabbed hold of raccoon. “Hey! Let go of me!” Jim wriggled, yet it was futile. “The thing is… I’m thinking about extending our contract.” John Silver the bear grinned.

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