#you end up caring abt his opinion on you more than you realize

[7waystreet]

hi everyone ♡ LEGACIES ch.9 will be out next week ^.^

it took me a while to write this bcuz after LEGACIES ch.8 was published, some readers were unhappy with how y/n was so kind to kth and so easy to forgive him (same with how she's moving past her issues with pjm and jjk without really putting up a "fight"). i think some ppl want or expect y/n to get revenge back on them for more of an "enemies to friends" vibe but i want to share in detail why i've chosen not to do this:

both y/n and the boys have realized with time how she is NOT like them. that's the whole point.

1. the legacies express negative emotions thru revenge or "action" (for ex. jjk's anger via destroying her watch, pjm's defeat via the shower confrontation he pulls, kth's unresolved grief via the poem fiasco) but y/n deals with negative emotions thru "inaction" (for ex. distancing herself from them, ignoring them until she has time to process her feelings). it doesn't make sense for her to scheme elaborate plans to enact revenge bcuz that is not in her inherent nature

2. y/n understands the legacies are untouchable and that she holds no power to make any impact against them at the uni even if she does try to get revenge with "action". this is apparent from the poem fiasco and this is also why i've included pjm's dad as a reoccurring character, bcuz she learns these things right off the bat with all of the interactions she's had with him. she convinces mr. park to allow pjm to dance by simply using impactful speech, and yes, she could've easily been evil and made pjm's life worse by feeding complaints abt him to his dad, but again, she's mentioned multiple times to pjm how she is NOT like him

3. y/n's strength is her ability to voice her opinions. the theme i've enjoyed incorporating in this story is that rational words > inherent privilege. an idea can sometimes change lives more than the influence of money. she doesn't have to "do" anything except confront the boys with her style of banter or simply share her thoughts thru a convo. she forces the boys to think abt their feelings and reflect on their actions, which is something no one's ever pushed them to ever do. we see jjk respecting her for this and doing a 180 with his malicious intentions, pjm easing up on her after she verbally discourages him from hurting others and focusing on himself instead, and kth only agrees to seek help for his fucked up behavior when he experiences her compassion, which he's never gotten before in that raw way, esp from someone he's brutally wronged. she holds up the mirror for them to look at themselves and encourages them to become self sufficient for their own happiness, instead of making others miserable for their own joy

at the end of the day, all four of them are just college kids figuring themselves out, and they have personal trauma which they have potential to bond over. y/n and kth have lost a loved one while her and jimin have troubled parental relationships, which is why she is able to care for them quicker, as deep down, she can relate. she's been a bit tougher on jjk as they're the same age, total opposites of one another, and don't have a lot in common, so its a slightly diff arc

sorry for rambling, but i had to get this out! i hope you look fwd to the next ch. releasing this week ♡ — with love, ae-mi

[utterdrip]

if it helps. i am also in the “astarion falls for high approval tav sometime around his little treat scene even if he’s not entirely sure what this fondness is quite yet” camp with u at least. people in the astarion tag scare me too much to ever say this on main though. that blorbo take seems to be catnip for people rolling into the replies to say he’d never fall during act 1 even though it’s true of every other companion including lae’zel and minthara, yet no one says anything about them 🤔

HELLO FRIEND 🤝🤝🤝

and welcome yes i used to be firmly in that camp as well!! and honestly mainly because i kept reading Those opinions about him before i really was able to,, mmm commit these hours of playtime myself and sorta experiencing all the different ways this game can play out because like

so i try to see all dialogue trees and even if i do the same things in my playthroughs i will do them in a different order and the game is so different every time, right? what im saying is i had that opinion before i spent all this time exploring early game relationship with him myself,,, does that make sense

BUT YES FRIENDO ! i am glad u were able to share with me at least and tbh i have a video idea for this to Spread My Truth (astarion cares more for the player character in early game more than he himself realizes and many players realize Agenda)

i think people get stuck on “didn’t care for you when we first met” but think that acts i & ii are… short? when they’re not?¿ it also feels weird bc his act ii confession scene, both ways (post araj or orthon) he admits that he initially didnt like the player character but then He Does and its like

sorry this is rambling but i really do not get it friendo like he plainly says “i seduced u bc it was easy but now i feel like an idiot because i have real feelings for you” and ppl are like “astarion doesnt even care abt pc until act iii let alone love them”

are we playing the same game are we romancing the same dude

EDIT: OBVIOUSLY EVERYTHING IS ALL UP FOR INTERPRETATION BUT IM JUST SAYING A lot OF OPINIONS ON HERE ARE LINE OBVIOUSLY I AM RIGHT ASTARION FEELS NOTHING EVER FOR PC UNTIL AFTER CAZADOR AND I THINK THERE IS MORE NUANCE

WHATEVER I DONT HAVE TO DEFEND MYSELF IM HERE TO SPREAD MY “astarion is stupid in love with the player by the end of act i early act ii” AGENDA

[lonesplashy]

Ok I see ppl on Tumblr talking Abt how much they liked the final episodes but honestly I was severely underwhelmed by the fionna and cake ending. If you don't want to see me just list out everything I like and dislike and why according to my arbitrary personal preferences scroll now.

The second half of the fight with scabby was meh and repetitive. At least the gumlee was cute. Fionna is still the bestest even if her final fight kinda sucked. I love her dearly and I hope she is living her best life.

The lack of Ooo Marceline in the end was literally so disappointing too I wish we could've seen her again at SOME point.

And just in general the ending felt really rushed, I feel like if they had some more episodes to work with it would've been a lot smoother.

Simons pov was just so severely underwhelming, it just felt like filler to me.

I literally didn't care if it was going to be happy or sad ending for Simon as long as it made me feel things like the last couple of episodes did but it just felt totally flat. It didn't really feel like an ending at all. I wouldn't even mind the breakup angle they took under normal circumstances if it wasn't for the fact he like. Literally spent 12 years basically being in a constant mental breakdown, and a thousand years before that subconsciously searching for her, and her literally driving herself to insanity and becoming golb to keep him safe, but wow suddenly everything's chill cuz he played a video game. Ok. Simon just realized that whoops he didn't always take Betty's feelings into account and they parted ways.

And I will repeat: I DO NOT MIND THE BREAK UP ANGLE. IT MAKES SENSE OBJECTIVELY. HOWEVER. IT FEELS LIKE THERE WAS LIKE. TWO MINUTES OF THOUGHT PUT INTO IT. DEFINITELY NOT SUPER HEARTSTRINGS PULLING TO ME. DO NOT GET IN MY COMMENTS BEING WELL ACTKULLY THIS IS JUST ME COMPLAINING ABOUT CARTOONS.

I liked the golbetty in the bus and the golbetty statue. I could bs something about them going their separate ways on a journey the other can't go on and insert trigun quote here about how the ticket to the future is always blank but I just really like golbetty. She's great shes monsterous she's perfect.

Just in general Simon and Betty felt off to me during the final episodes, I can't really put my finger on it but they just felt weird. I'm sure Betty's been doing a lot of thinking in the void and all but it still fell to the left of them I think. The whole time I was watching I was just like. Hm.

Edit: got it. Betty has always been wanting to keep Simon thinking about her. Always. With AI Betty head she flat out said "I knew it would drive you crazy but at least you'd always be thinking about me" and it's like a core thing she does stuff for the Dramatics. While you can argue she's been doing a lot of thinking in the void and matured because of it she's also been a goddess of CHAOS. If anything she's gonna go more loony rather than more mature.

Not to sound like a doomed crazy yuri enthusiast but there are literally no normal or healthy actions you can take after literally becoming a god for someone.

Maybe I'm just too committed to the bit but I'm a solid believer that if you start a weird fucked up path you gotta end on a weird fucked up note. Although the severe disappointment of nothing happening is probably the most fucked up thing they could do to me.

Ik it's supposed to be some sometimes life doesn't give you a tidy ending stuff but also this is fiction I get enough fuck yous like this from reality and ignored job applications I want my fuck yous from fiction to be not sadly vague. Or at least better written.

At least Simon's in therapy. About time.

And the little emoticons he's using in his phone. :)

Do feel free to put your own opinions in on whether you liked or disliked the ending just play nice 🤙

[dragonmarquise]

Everyone keeps talking Abt all the crews and stuff, but like, I never see any content for futurism! Sure there wasn't a lot of stuff for them since they were like, a really small part of the plot, but it would still be awesome to see content for them!!!! So I come bearing a question, do you have hcs for futurism?

Ooo, I have a few for FUTURISM! Not as extensive as my stuff for Devil Theory and DOT EXE, but still. :>

(I know some people kinda debate writing it as FUTURISM vs. Futurism, I'm gonna personally keep all caps but I also understand most people probably don't care either way lol)

Also feel free to send in asks about the other crews/characters too! I might not have a lot for each character though. I also have a general list of LGBT+ headcanons for all the BRC characters, if that interests you! Granted, it's probably not as extensive as some other people's lists.

Anyways, gonna put this under a Read More, it won't get nearly as long as the other two headcanon sets, but it'll be long enough that I'll feel bad about posting this without one. ^^;

I like giving all the crew members themed names, and for FUTURISM I went with computer-related terms! Some of them more obscure than others. So for the members (besides DJ Cyber of course):

Jazz (Related to the Chorus/Jazz version of JavaOS)

Quantum (i.e. quantum computing)

Veronica (an old search engine)

Nyx (The name of a prototype Amiga chipset, though also Greek personification of the night!)

I have a personal idea that after the events of the game, one member from each of the major crews end up joining BRC, basically representing the unlockable characters in the post game. In this case, Nyx is the one who joins BRC (and in my mind she's the default Spring palette in the game), so let's start with her!

Bi, currently dating one of the Eclipse ladies (inspired by this very good fan art btw :D )

All of the FUTURISM gals have amazing skills both with computers and as writers. Nyx ends up being one of two Designated IT Person for BRC, the other being Cueball.

Her and Cueball get into little prank wars, mostly instigated by Cueball for the hell of it. Her opinion of him ranges from genuine respect for his own computer skills to Chump Lord Supreme. Depends on her mood (and how much Cueball has recently pissed her off before asking her about it, lol)

As for the rest of BRC: "Well, they're still kinda chumps, but I guess they're my chumps now, y'know?"

Not afraid to be snarky, even to authority figures (DJ Cyber included)

Now for Jazz (Summer palette):

Is actually a guy who crossdresses! Does drag shows on the weekends too. :D

She is personally not very picky about pronouns, but most people default to referring to Jazz with she/her while in her writer outfit or as her drag persona (she goes by Jazz for both anyways), and he/him when he's not dressed up. But again, not very picky either way.

"I'm just saying, when the cops try to chase me down, they're gonna be looking for a blonde woman, not a guy with dark hair and stubble. Literally, one time I ran around a corner and managed to take off my wig and mask, then just covered up my top with a hoodie I had. Same pants and shoes, but they didn't even notice!"

Truthfully the crossdressing thing was genuinely just for fun, not to mention pretty comfortable while going around doing writer stuff. It wasn't until a while later that she realized it would make for a great disguise as a writer. :P

Nyx and Jazz are basically Besties and will be more than happy to smacktalk about their respective crews behind everyone's backs, lol

Now Quantum (Winter palette):

Runs an underground (kinda literally) server farm for local web hosting, chat sites, and forums. Anyone remember forums? Man, the good ol' days...

Has a hand in a lot of open source freeware projects. Hates companies like Adobe, Apple, Google, and Microsoft with a passion. Big Linux nerd btw, she will talk you ear off about the pros and cons of different distros if you let her.

Actually on that note, if you're not talking to her while she's out and about as a writer, or otherwise talking to her about computer stuff, she's fairly introverted! Especially if you try to talk to her in person instead of via text/chat/email/etc, she's basically more talkative online.

Also very good at sneaking around. Though not really as like spying or anything like that, she just prefers to not get in people's way or annoy them. Unfortunately she has scared DJ Cyber more than once by sneaking up on him by accident, lol

Wears contacts as a writer, but otherwise wears glasses normally. Has been considering getting prescription heavy-duty goggles for her writer activities, so that she doesn't have to bother with the contacts anymore.

And finally Veronica (Autumn palette):

She is genuinely a jerk. Nyx can be snarky sometimes, but not in an overly mean way. Veronica will be more than happy to be nasty to someone if she thinks they deserve it, even if they really don't.

Always looks down on pretty much any other writer outside of FUTURISM. She's still convinced Felix cheated to get his reputation, especially the whole "did it with no boostpack" thing.

Most people would probably consider her a stereotypical Karen ngl :u

So yeah, she's basically That One Teammate Nobody Likes. Veronica is only still in the crew because her skills are second only to DJ Cyber himself. Hell, he really doesn't like her attitude, but can't find a replacement for her in terms of skills. (He's begged Vinyl to formally join FUTURISM in the past, but she always declined, preferring to keep being a freelance writer. And now that she's part of BRC, she's definitely not an option for replacing Veronica, lmao)

She had a crush on Faux, but these days refuses to admit it was ever a thing.

That's about all I got I think! Hope you enjoy these. :>

Small bonus, specific track from the game that I associate with FUTURISM the most: Funk Express!

[starlitwhispers]

caution: contents may be hot (part 1/2) sylvix / sylvain x felix - Coffee Shop AU a/n: i finally stopped hiding n decided to write them bc i cant stop thinking abt them

Almost every day, without fail, he comes in at the same time for the same drink. He’s typically in a rush, he’s frustrated or angry about something. The red-haired barista thinks to himself, he’s never once seen him in a good mood. 8:00 AM is the typical morning rush for the café as everyone is preparing to head to their 9-5’s so of course it would be crowded with a long line. But he always placed a mobile order, and that way, he could cut the line and just pick up his order. Sylvain smirked peeping up at the clock, it was 7:58 and he would pop in through that door any minute and walk up to the counter for his drink. 

The ticket for his drink had arrived a few minutes earlier, and as per usual, Sylvain was in charge of that end of the counter. A large black americano with an extra shot of espresso. It smelled heavenly when put together, but the barista knew more than that. The extra shot of espresso made it taste like black tar in his humble opinion – but what did he know? Funnily enough, in his occupation, he didn’t care much for coffee. He was much more of a tea kind of guy. 

However, for some reason, this morning was more packed than normal. They found themselves rushed, switching out grinds and foaming milk with more pace. In the literal heat and steam of the moment, Sylvain hadn’t realized his unacknowledged favorite regular had already popped in and was waiting at the counter. His cheeks flushed as he watched the businessman in front of him frown, his brows knotted in irritation. Whenever he came in, he always looked pissed, but today it was an exceptionally sharp expression. 

Sylvain’s hands felt buttery as he fumbled to make his drink in a flash, sloppily pressing the lid to the cup. His fingertips reached for a sleeve which he pressed open to slip the drink into. He appeared unusually self-conscious, perhaps due to the fact he could feel this customer’s piercing gaze scrutinizing his every move. His poor heart began to pound as he stepped closer and closer to the counter to set down his drink. And of course, this was all done with a bit of urgency in his step. 

So, as he approached the regular, he foolishly took his sight off the product and up to the customer, with whom he briefly locked eyes. Surprised by the sudden eye contact, Sylvain tripped over himself. And the cup? 

It went flying. 

All over the dark-haired young man, who – incidentally – happened to be wearing a lighter gray pantsuit. Thankfully, he didn’t seem burnt by the liquid, and by the shade of Sylvain’s face, one would have thought the barista was the one burned. The only words that could come out of his mouth at the moment – 

“I am so sorry,” he profusely gasped. 

Although amidst madness and rush, even his manager witnessed the assault. She rushed over to inquire after the customer’s condition, but he wouldn’t say a word. Instead, he looked at Sylvain, extremely displeased, grabbed a napkin to wipe what he could, and walked out of the café. His manager had continued to call after him, “sir! Sir!” but they received no answer as he made his exit. She returned to behind the counter, immediately resuming work but admonishing and questioning her employee. 

“Just what on earth happened with you? I didn’t hire you to have butterfingers!” She exclaimed, obviously exasperated. “I wasn’t even able to file an incident report since he wouldn’t answer me. We’re screwed if he decides to sue!” 

Sylvain remained quiet, incredibly embarrassed and internally cursing himself. He wiped up the remaining mess with a wet towel and continued his shift for the rest of the day with no more accidents. When he went home that day, he realized that it had been his first bad day at work. For the first time, since he had started over six months ago.  

“Guess there’s a first for everything,” he muttered to himself in pity. 

—

The next day, when Sylvain arrived at work, he made sure prior to clocking in that all his ducks were in a row – meaning, sleeves were rolled up tightly, shoelaces were all tied and tucked, and his apron was properly fastened. There would be no mishaps today and he would deliver the usual to the usual customer at the usual time. 

But, something strange happened, instead. 

His heart pounded as 7:55 came around and he didn’t hear the machine printing off the mobile order. He kept glancing at the clock, as each minute passed, the ticket wasn’t printing. Eventually, the clock struck 7:59 and from behind, he suddenly heard the printer. His head whipped around and he immediately reached for the order. To his dismay, it read “Md Van. OatMlk Ltt”. 

8:00 passed and there was no sign of that dark hair, some well-trimmed suit, or glossy dress shoes. There was no piercing gaze or expression of annoyance, no low “tch” that usually escaped from those lips when the regular scrolled his email on his phone. His presence was missing from behind the counter… and Sylvain noticed it. 

He hadn’t been entirely sure when he began noticing that customer, anyway. He had assumed he’d always been a patron of the café, but then he remembered he only started seeing him about four or so months ago. He was always here, on the dot, every day ordering the same drink, walking in the same way and standing there, waiting, with an existence Sylvain just couldn’t ignore. Perhaps he admired him, they seemed close in age yet here they were – Sylavin was just some twenty-something barista during the week and his regular? Well, his regular came in everyday, sleek suits, polished loafers, and a shiny wristwatch. He looked like the whole package, the whole shimmering, sparkling package. 

And that sparkly looking gentleman decidedly did not come today. The day after the red-headed barista spilled coffee all over him. If his actions had alone been responsible for losing that young man’s patronage, he couldn’t be mad at anyone except himself. As the end of his shift came around, he walked to the break room to wash his hands and remove his apron. 

The manager approached him, her long brown hair bouncing behind her. “Sylvain, you didn’t have any issues today, but I haven’t forgotten about yesterday, you know?” 

“I honestly don’t know what was up with me, besides that guy didn’t come back, so it should be all good right?” 

She sighed, stretching her arms out. “Not sure, it’s only been one day. That suit he was wearing looked awfully expensive to me.” 

Sylvain’s lips pressed into a line before responding. “You’ve always had an eye for those kinda’ things, though. My shift is over, do you need anything else from me before I go?” 

He watched as she shook her head and walked back out to be behind the counter with the other employees on shift. Lazily, he opened his locker to retrieve his other aprons. Throughout the week, at the end of his shift, he would store his dirty aprons in his locker. When Friday came around, he’d gather them all up to wash them over the weekend. For some reason, as he closed the locker, that customer popped into his mind again. 

He swore he’d never thought of another human being as much as he thought about this damned businessman. As he walked out the door of the café and continued down the block, he pulled his phone from his back pocket to check his texts and notifications in general. Nothing of much importance, he saw. It wasn’t as if he had some kind of company email that was always pinging… unlike, someone else—

“Hey.” 

A slightly husky voice he had never heard before broke into his thoughts. He turned his head up from his phone screen and looked to his right. Leaning their back against the brick wall of the nearest building, it was the very man that had been stuck on his mind all day. Sylvain stood there, a little dumbfounded and blinking unsure as to what to say. 

“I said ‘hey’,” his voice asserted once more, evidently vexed. But what the redhead couldn’t believe is what he had been seeing – that irritated, well-dressed guy that showed up everyday for a couple months, he was speaking to him! In all those times he served him coffee, he hadn’t so much as heard one word other than an exasperated sigh or click of the tongue. He was surprised, taking in what his voice really sounded like. And he liked that sound, in fact. 

“Oh, sorry,” Sylvain finally answered, a little slow to react. “Is this about yesterday?” 

“You could say that,” the dark-haired man answered. He stood there with his back leaning against the brick, a little dressed down than usual. Instead of the usual full-on suit, he just had some dress pants with a dress shirt on, no tie, top two buttons undone. His sleeves were a quarter of the way rolled up, and for some reason, Sylvain found himself eyeing his partially bare arms. 

��Are you looking for financial compensation?” Sylvain asked blatantly, clearly aware that he wouldn’t be here unless he was looking for some kind of compensation for what he did. However, in response, the man standing across from him just blinked. 

“I am fairly certain you couldn’t pay me back monetarily,” he responded back, a small scoff behind his words. “I was just wondering what kind of person you had to be in order to screw up like that, and just what you would do if I wanted to see you squirm.” 

“Why on earth would you be wondering about some barista?” 

At that moment, he stood up from leaning against the wall and walked towards Sylvain. As he came closer, Sylvain became more conscious about how he smelled of sweat and how putrid his old and dirty aprons in his arm must reek. Why was he walking up to him? Why come any closer? He suddenly stopped in front of him, only about a foot between them. 

“I’ve always been curious about you, Sylvain.” 

He knew his name? The redhead stepped back and felt blood rushing to his face. “How did you know my name?” 

The seemingly aloof gentleman in front of him rolled his eyes and pulled a business card out from his back pocket. Using the corner of the card to point to Sylvain’s chest, he locked eyes with him as he answered. 

“Your nametag, you fool.” Afterwards, he pressed the business card flat onto Sylvain’s chest, his fingers grazing his pectoral. Sylvain quickly brought his hand up to catch the card before it fell. The dark-haired man tucked his hands into his front pockets and began to walk away. Sylvain looked down at the small piece of cardstock in his hand, bewildered. 

“Felix,” he continued, introducing himself a few steps away. “Fraldarius. When you get curious, give me a call. And next week, don’t spill a shitty cup of coffee all over me.” 

Before Sylvain could answer him again, he had already walked quite a bit from him. He watched as this ‘Felix’ disappeared into the throngs of people in the streets. But somehow, he knew if he continued to watch, he would be able to spot his dark hair if he wanted to. 

Felix, huh. 

He now knew his name, something he hadn’t been expecting to learn… ever. Six months ago he was just a rookie barista, two months into it he started noticing this Felix guy coming in everyday, and yesterday he flung an americano all over him. And today, he had a business card with his number, email, and name on it. Not only did it say that personal information, it had his company and his company’s address. Sylvain felt like they were more than just strangers now, more than just strangers with one conversation shared between them. 

Then, a thought struck him. Felix had mentioned he couldn’t pay him back monetarily, did he have something else in mind?! His heart began to race again and he swallowed. Now he had another thing to worry about. It didn’t sound as if he was going to raise an issue with the café after all, but what could he – a simple barista – do for this hard-to-please suit? 

He rubbed the back of his head in grief and confusion. What was he to do…? With himself, these thoughts, and this… Felix guy? Who knew a cup of coffee could cause such anguish? 

Not Sylvain, that was for sure. 

[ghoooooooooooooooost]

ok my opinion now that i finished y8's story (spoilers)

tldr; overall it's a flawed but better end for kiryu than 6 imo. n ichiban is there <3 don't play this as your first yakuza game please don't you will get so much more out of this if you actually know who tf anyone is

it wasn't as awesomesauce as it seemed like it was gonna n it fell into the usual rgg problems - while surprisingly fixing a big one

kiryu's story effected me a lot 🥲 while ichiban's was just mostly "well i get to see ichiban yay". not to say i didn't care at all lmao the hawaii plot definitely still had it's strong moments (especially the scene w chitose after the bryce boss!!!) it just didn't hit the same overall

positive: KIRYU. i honestly loved most of the kiryu stuff. letting him look back outside of traumatic flashbacks.... letting him have a nice time..... giving him all these new friends that won't die on top of reassuring him that his old connections are still alright.... getting his ass punched by akiyama lmao. it really makes you realize how weird of an ending y6 would've been if that was truly kiryu's last game. so nice to finally be able to acknowledge previously tossed out characters/story beats in-game. seeing shinada mentioned… i cheered (i wish he was actually in there tho). on the hawaii side: tomizawa n chitose r sooooo good i didn't even think i'd end up liking chitose but i lov her.... n ichiban is the ichiban as usual

n the main villains don't die this game!? they're expected to live w what they did, even the evil cult leader!?!? kiryu's line abt not being able to change anything if you're dead wow wow wow hearing that after the prev games where a lot of them die even when they were able to change wooooooow. the pre-credits ending was sooooooo strong. I LUV KIRYU :( :) :(

<3 the tweaks to gameplay were nice too + it was a very pretty game

it had to grow on me but i like kiryu's y8 look a whole lot it's very nice n goes well w his softer expressions

negative: not as well optimized for pc (or in general) as y7 it feels like? i already said i liked kiryu's plot more than ichiban's... yeah. pretty mad that hanawa died but whatevar i guess... i understand saeko's conflict w ichiban but don't really like how they wrote her at times it made me kinda frustrated. esp w the joke at the end. really the whole y7 party took a step backwards in some ways (tho they're still great mostly) it's just saeko got it the worst. also i really don't like how long they took to get me to actually like yamai bc his reason for being in hawaii was constantly in the back of my head n then at the very end after all the fun stuff already happened they were like "actually he didn't try to assault her she framed him" fuuuuuuck you at least tell us that way earlier instead of suddenly detouring in the penultimate chapter. "well they had you warm up to him so you'd know something was up! they wouldn't make an sa-er likable!" listen. listen. i love rgg but if you think i trust them w women.... n if you think i forgot y4......... i didn't realize they still had the dating thing from 7 in there either till i saw someone else mention it n i refuse to touch it :/

too many blonde blue eyed white ppl in the substories wtf why do they outnumber the natives

my one gripe abt the kiryu side is that we didn't get to see him actually reunite w haruka n haruto IN GAAAAME BEFORE IT ENDED. LIKE WE KNO HE WILL BUT I WANTED TO SEEEEEEEE ON SCREEEEEEEN

my current ranking:

y0 = y7 > y3 > y5 > y8?? (not entirely sure bc its like. the highs n lows are so drastic) > kiwami 1 = y1 > kiwami 2 (don't get mad at me) > y6 (doooon't get mad at me i started liking it less when 8 was announced) > y4

gaiden not there bc its a short side game but i liked it so i'll mention it. didn't play the og y2 </3

[treecakes]

Hi, sorry to do this, but I notice you vent about the TGCF manhua art quite a bit… Which within itself is fine; it’s your blog and your opinion and you don’t have to like it, but…

The main thing is, when you type a post with barely any text and then put most of your thoughts in the tags, it will show up when other people look through the tags…since that’s how the Tumblr search function works.

So for example, if I’m interested in finding posts on various manhua (not solely related to TGCF), I end up having to scroll through quite a few posts of yours where you’re just dissing the TGCF manhua. Which is again fine in it being your opinion, but it makes it a bit harder for people browsing like me who just want to enjoy various manhua and weren’t intending to view multiple negative posts in a row that could lean toward discourse or drama-stirring.

I’m not even that into TGCF or the manhua myself, but I do like different donghua and manhua and it’s just a tad awkward scrolling through an already mostly quiet and empty tag and just coming across multiple posts that seem designed as a personal opinion that is meant to be shared to one’s blog/followers rather than the full public of Tumblr[’s search function] (I realize the tags can feel like a quieter place to communicate your thoughts, and this is true for reblogs, but for original posts, it only draws more eyes to your post if someone’s searching up key words in the search bar).

Plus as mentioned, the manhua tag can be pretty quiet, so it’s just a bit inundated at the moment with the TGCF manhua hate (it’s not just you that does this). And the perpetuation of “not really actual manhua content” is only exacerbated with the fact that manhua in general is such an underrated medium, and the tag is already flooded with people mistagging different manhwa as manhua etc.

That’s why I thought I’d mention it, although usually I wouldn’t try to say anything! Apologies for the long message. You can go back to hating the TGCF manhua now, but I hope you’ll be willing to at least take the tagging stuff into consideration. 😅

yeah i know how the tumblr tagging system works and i decided i don’t like. particularly care. it’s how i post 🤷 also correct me if i’m wrong but i’ve literally made two posts abt this in the last like. week. that’s it. 😭 i don’t go out of my way to make original posts abt this series bc like. it’s not the focus of my blog? and i was just annoyed i kept getting messages and rbs abt it on my silly little poll blog 😭😭 i don’t make a point of clowning on the manhua

[m0tel6mxzzy]

I’m an OG gossip girl super fan but I didn’t want to watch the reboot. I’ve seen you posting about it a lot so I decided to give it a go! So here I am to ramble in your asks, sorry!

I’m on e5 right now. Do you think they’re trying to recreate character roles? I read your post about Monet being Blair coded, obviously haven’t watched far enough in to see that yet, but I’m seeing a lot of Dan in Obie, a lot of Chuck in Max, Jenny in Z.. it just feels like it’s not lining up properly?? I wonder if I need to just look at it as an entirely different show rather than as a reboot or being connected to OG gossip girl at all. Also I’m a bit put off by the teachers being GG and the fact that we as an audience KNOW that. It felt more immersive to me, when we were just as confused as the characters in OG. IDK! I like it. But I’m stressed!

no worries anon i love asks! so i 100% feel like the rb characters are heavily based off the og characters, but in some ways similar to the books. i think it’s more so the dynamics between og characters that are being replicated. like intentionally it’s not supposed to line up 100% but so far placing luna has been the hardest, which also bothers me bc she seems to be the least developed character thus far despite being a stronger character than obie imho and i feel she could totally have more screentime if the teachers were cut.

i think they should’ve been given far less than they were given anyway. i think the teachers being gg is in response to the reveal in the og. essentially, “we’re all gossip girl” which is better than having a random twist ending that does not at all make sense and feels incredibly out of character. that kinda moral to gossip girl rb could’ve gone with the teachers being hidden under the end. these are my opinions:

[blair and serena: monet and julien/luna

blair and chuck: audrey and max

blair and nate: audrey and aki

serena and dan: julien and obie (their conflicting beliefs often drive them apart)

jenny: zoya (in the books, jenny idolizes serena instead of blair, similar to how zoya idolizes julien rather than monet)]

and i have no idea where to place luna. i feel like she’s the aspect of “old serena” from before serena improved her grades and stopped caring abt popularity and taking advantage of that status, and julien is the “reformed” serena that tries to halt any competition with blair and try to ignore her own wealth, even when sometimes that does more harm than good.

i also feel like obie is supposed to be a “rich dan” but i don’t think he’s been developed enough as a character despite getting so much screentime. in the books, dan is this pretentious dark and tragic writer stereotype who smokes and chugs black coffee, which i love bc as annoying of a “not like other guys” person he should be translated onto screen, it works for him and gives him indirect characterization.

i do not get much from obie outside of him flip flopping his values based on what sounds good tho, whereas dan was set on his beliefs but did have moments of reflection, like when he’d realized he’d misjudged blair as a person, that she had a soft side and like rufus had said—was secretly going through a lot. i think monet and zoya out of all the characters have been the best established in terms of their linked to the og characters, and their arcs kind of set the foundation for the show and bring it into the old gg universe imho.

julien did the same as obie (flip flopping, will she or won’t she back stab zoya) but it’s much clearer she wanted to be a good person, whereas obie never seemed to account for his mistakes and wanted everyone but himself to change.

and what makes me perceive monet as being “blair coded” is the fact both of them have very similar personalities and issues. they’ve bribed their teachers to change grades, can be incredibly manipulative toward longtime friends, seem to dislike their friend’s bf who rejects the status quo, their mothers are at times one might say emotionally neglectful, they each pick on and ruthlessly bully the younger student that idolizes their lifestyle, etc,.

[kidpunkjunk]

how good is arcade gannon... really...

the best. hes literally the best. thats the answer thats it thats all hes the most good.

i was about to make a big long think piece but you know what no, fuck you, i shouldnt have to. i shouldnt have to explain or debunk or anything, if you have any kind of comprehension at ALL youd understand. he is, morally, one of the best people in the entire wasteland. he tries so hard and succeds as best he can. he wants the best for himself and everyone around him which cant be said abt most fuckers in the fallout world. hes so selfless and caring and just. fuck dude.

imagine coming from one of the most vile terrible factions in the fallout universe, imagine growing up with those ideals and yet realizing no hey fuck that, thats bad actually. he subverted the mindset he grew up with so extremely, joining a group almost the exact opposite of the envlave. and even within them you could argue hes one of the optimistic and idealist people. like. shit dude. "he joined bc of their resources and knowledge" are you kidding ?? his main goal is to help people, thats his main drive in life and you dare imply its anything else? you dare imply hes shallow and selfish and would use them just for their books? fucking really? sure its a PLUS but youre emptyheaded thinking thats the only reason.

i will never shut up abt his parallels to carla. he is out of time, hes a prewar relic, he doesnt belong in the shithole that is post nuclear wasteland america. hes something out of a pristine photograph, as perfect as one can get without trying, while remaining humble. hes honestly too good for the world he is in. "how good is he really" too good, hes too good, and i dont mean that in a "its unrealistic how good he is" way, i mean that his world doesnt deserve a man so good.

when they said he uses his enclave knowledge in the independent vegas ending (best ending btw) they dont mean the fascist ideas they held or the conservative mindset they had, dude they were SMART in the enclave, wildly intelligent!! fucking !! sentient deathclaws the fuck !! they had fountains of knowledge, rivalling the followers and the brotherhood. say what you want, yes theyre horrible people, but their scientists were near genius' !!! which made them all the more terrifying!! like Caesar if he wasnt a goddamn dumbass !! their best president was an ai !!! and you misinterpret that so insanely its not FUNNY. hes using all this forgotten knowledge, knowledge that would be lost forever, for good, and you think they meant he was instating fascist regimes into freeside? really? really? and he doesnt. he doesnt want to be his dad. he doesnt want to not want to be his dad or whatever the fuck. he wants his dad to be proud of him. bc thats his fucking father. enclave or not, whatever the hell, thats his father.

he hates the ncr because the ncr sucks. only good idea that the enclave held: ncr sucks. they do. theyre imperialist, theyre capitalists, they suck. regardless of who installed that opinion in him, its right, its correct. bootlicker.

i believe that during the battle arcade, like the other remnants, kept their face hidden so they could go abt their lives after. its entirely believable that noone knew it was him in the tesla armour and he could return to freeside. enclave knowledge and tech is invaluable, im sure julie was willing to not ask too many questions for such helpful and valuable prewar recources. and after he returned im positive that he did not strive for a place of leadership within the fort, i highly doubt it. give orders? where did it say he started giving orders? where? point me to it ?

this is the story of a man with a troubled past, who comes from.horrible roots, who wants to be better than what he was set up to be. its the story of a man finding his place in a world thats not fit for people like him. its the story of a man who wants his parents to be proud of him, without being what they wanted him to be, a thing so many people go through. its the story of a man who fears he is destined to be horrible but defeats his perceived fate. its the story of a good man. arcade gannon is a good man. and thats why hes my favorite character. fuck you.

[love-toxin]

Dylan and Ryan. I wish they had made more of that relationship. Especially them and kaitlyn.

Them and Kaitlyn where the three of them are left alone at the truth and dare scene, and Dylan's callback to it later where he says something like "was I imagining it or was something about to happen there." And "We missed our chance." Like that implies we were so close to some kind of bisexual threesome! Lol projecting a little maybe but the dialogue and insinuation is there! it just fell so flat and disappointing. A throwaway line that alot of people seem to miss.

I really enjoyed the game but it felt so incomplete and rushed, especially towards the end. Like where was my group reunion??

(spoilers!!! rants!! also some until dawn spoilers for context!!!)

CAN U IMAGINE....GOD.....it's so unfair that ryan's the one gettin all this pussy i wish it were me 😩 LMAO but fr i noticed that too and i was like....👁....waiting for my threeway kiss!! i always feel bad about choosing one love interest over the other in that scenario too so it's only fair they get the ot3 pairing!! and the game seems to be riddled with throwaway lines like that so it's unfortunately hardly surprising TwT

i was complaining abt the ending to my coworkers too! i can see what they were trying to do to keep to the horror movie theme but i agree, it felt so rushed. plus, in my (probably controversial) opinion, i would argue that it even somewhat takes away the consequences that come with all the choices you've made in the game up until the end.

like yeah some people live or die, or all live or all die, but it really felt to me like those more personal choices just fell totally flat, unlike how they did in until dawn. i wouldn't have been upset at all to see them do the same thing for the ending and show all of the counselor's police interviews post-tragedy (in fact, that's what i thought they were setting it up for with all of the "evidence" you collect, i thought you'd have to prove your innocence at the end) because it would have tied it up so much nicer than a bunch of ending cards and a godawful podcast end credits that made me regret every single piece of evidence i picked up in the game.

like imagine laura's cold stoicness when being interrogated, because she's been in that exact situation and is on the defense, and her reaction when she's told that max is dead despite everything she did to lift the curse? or nick being shown pictures of abi in the poolhouse or jacob in the cages and coming to the realization of what he did to them? dylan and kaitlyn's reactions when they're told that ryan was shot and killed by travis hackett? or max rushing through the questions and repeatedly trying to get up because he needs to find laura, and starting to panic because he's reminded of those two months he spent in a cell? or, on a lighter note, jacob getting excited and waving when he sees emma passing by the window of the interrogation room out of frame, and turns back to the camera with a big, goofy smile on his face because he's so happy she's unharmed enough to flip the bird at him.

like there's so much emotion you could pack into those short interactions that would translate better than the plain obnoxious ending we got with characters nobody even cares about or knows. I'll never forget the immediate stab in my heart in the first ending i got in until dawn when i had mike shoot emily, and the switch in matt's expression when the interrogator tells him she was murdered that instantly made me want to go back and replay it just to get a different reaction AND to see the other reactions from the characters that didn't survive. sigh. i suppose I'll just have to dream about those sweet, sweet reunion hugs and kisses. i still think it's a crime that max and laura's touch-starved asses don't even get a measly hug at the end. I WANT TO SEE THEM LOCK LIPS. LET THEM BANG ONSCREEN!! GIVE IT TO ME SUPERMASSIVE 🔫🔫🔫

[tridaxpod]

i'm sleep deprived + spiraling a lil so this probably won't be nearly coherent as the version i've been writing up in my head But i've been thinking a lot abt some stuff greg has said about krika. if you know me you know that I treat bionicle canon very paradoxically, specifically when it comes to the different mediums its been adapted to and sources ppl have gotten information from; basically i treat the movies and novels as concrete, everything else less so, which i'm aware makes my takes very biased and subjective but point is i've never really cared much at all about what greg says. his forum posts are incredibly loose and "watery" to me, neither here nor there, never really truly sticking in my brain and impacting how I view the series. i don't dwell on them too much,

all except for his take that krika never truly cared nor was remorseful, and that he was just a "survivalist."

when i see a Farshtey Forum Post™️ i don't vibe with, i just mark it up to "hey i disagree with this interpretation" and move on, because that's all they really are to me, just different interpretations. while authorial intent is deeply important and often key to analysis, at the end of the day an author can't make you read a story the exact way they intended. but that's just it, this take on krika as a character has germinated in my head for days and i don't just disagree with greg, i think he's flat out wrong about his own writing here.

i'm aware that's a super ballsy and kinda pretentious thing to say, i promise i'm normally not that obnoxiously pedantic or whatever. i respect greg, i recognize his original intentions as an author even if i often find my own takeaway to be different, but this one time i just don't think he realizes that what he meant to write doesn't at all lineup with what we got in the character.

let's go over the traits of a survivalist:

a survivalist is defined as:

a person who tries to ensure their own survival or that of their social or national group. "a paranoid survivalist bracing for Armageddon"

now if you see his actions in-line with the aspect of being focused on the survival of a group, you could potentially argue that this absolutely applies to krika, but greg worded his characterization in a much more self-serving way, so i'll be approaching this from that angle.

krika's actions, while passive and ever erring on the side of caution (to an unsustainable degree i'll add), could more often than not lead to his destruction; and ultimately they did just that.

was siding with teridax an act of self-preservation? absolutely, but one i'd argue is understandable somewhat. i will admit that greg hit the mark with claiming that krika knew nothing good would happen to him if he defied his more ambitious brothers, but you know what would also lead to nothing good teridax’s rule? sparing miserix.

okay, yeah, miserix wasn't free, nor was he at all in safe conditions, but he was still alive. something he very much was Not supposed to be once teridax took over. krika was tasked with killing their former leader, and instead chose to leave him in a limbo state of sorts, a form of captivity where he could be killed, but could also one day break free. there's no other way to swing this, the mutran chronicles state word for word that makuta who opposed teridax's reign were hunted down and had their masks mounted to the wall as "reminders" of why one should remain loyal to teridax only. there must have been a time in krika's life where they spent every day walking by that wall and seeing the faces of the fallen brothers and sisters staring back, the glaring hole where miserix's mask was supposed to be mounted, a glaring reminder of his own defiance. someone interested in their own survival wouldn't do that.

a survivalist also, in my humble opinion, would not have tried to convince gorast of all beings that the plan will get them all killed. a survivalist wouldn't have tried to talk to a toa. not one built up to be as cautious and passive as krika is. there's also his line about how he has put so much pain into the universe, and now wants to put a strain of mercy out there. you could read that as self-serving i guess, but i don't feel that at all with it, it feels much tighter narratively-speaking when viewed from a lens of remorse.

so, that's what i'm ranting about here yeah? that i think krika was meant to serve in the narrative as this remorseful demon archetype? well, while i am making this post to argue that he Does fit the sympathetic villain mold, there's another i wanted to raise as well: krika is a dark mirror of the three virtues.

him choosing to not kill miserix, but to also side with teridax anyways despite knowing full well the dangers, and to try and save the other makuta from their certain deaths? it's a malformed sense of unity, if you ask me. a brotherhood is a brotherhood, no matter how far they stray from the light, no matter how hard they fall, and i think krika knows that. which brings me to my next point; duty.

this is where this is arguably gonna get into more subjective and headcanon-y territory, but whatever it's My unmedicated brain day and i get to choose the ramblings. but anyways, greg says krika doesn't regret being a makuta, and i disagree with this only...somewhat. i wanna point out some notable dialogue real quick.

"Once I was alive like you: solid and whole, needing no one and nothing. I was Makuta Krika, my name whispered in legends throughout half the known universe"

also, i can't find it for the life of me, but i think we all know his line about how gali should have been a makuta. to me, these lines paint a sense of pride in the brotherhood, but...not the brotherhood as we know them, instead in the brotherhood of the past. krika states that he has lost far more than time or treasure than the other makuta; he's lost what he was, what he was apart of, a strong and powerful group of creators who held the very ecosystem in the palm of their hands. krika is, for all intents and purposes to me, a nostalgic and mournful being. a ghost of what was. but what does this have to do with duty?

same principle as unity, i think krika still views what him and his people used to be as something noble, and feels a sense of loyalty to that. "you're too clever to be a toa."

yes, he acknowledges the flaws they have, i.e "toa were what we could only pretend to be", but compared to the other villains in the series i don't think "wanting something in return" nescesarily mean evil. terribly flawed, but not outright vile.

tbh, the sense of unity and duty in his character to me heavily overlap, mainly -- again -- in his treatment of miserix and in wanting to save the others.

but what about destiny?

simply put, i think destiny is the very core of their character.

in my time in the bionicle fandom recently, i've seen more posts portraying destiny in the series as a very grim thing, something fatalistic and looming. now, that's a narrative i don't personally agree with at all, however i will relent that it does fit krika horribly well. i think krika was incapable of seeing themself as having a fate beyond the brotherhood, an existence beyond them. they are sited as appearing sorrowful, hoping against hope, apparently even holding a sense of resentment for his own element:

"Take to the shadows. They are, after all, the prisons we have made for ourselves."

but they were so miserably passive. doing nothing big to spark change and aiding in spreading that darkness. why? because he saw it as his "place." his role in the cosmic order of things is a makuta, a fate he must follow through no matter what crooked path it brings him down. he even seemed to be passive to the fact that he would surely die soon, hence his line about what a makuta leaves behind when they die. a regretful, but resigned existence. united in duty, bound in destiny.

You are already doomed -- and that is perhaps the one thing you and I have in common

which, i suppose you could say does make krika just as bad as his brothers and sister; complicity is just as bad as direct violence, i know that to be fact. but there's one thing krika did, at the very end of his rope, that means a thousand words to me: trying to reason with gorast.

it's only one action, but it could have been the start of many. it's only one choice, but it's still a choice as apposed to just rolling over, one made in a group where those who spoke out had been hunted down like animals for doing so in the past. it could have been something bigger.

but it wasn't.

back on my soapbox about ill-fated destiny, krika ultimately seemed to have one. think about it, he's cautious his whole life, to avoid ending up like all those dead makuta, and when he's finally not he gets struck down. it's a tragic narrative, but an impactful one. it's a brutal fate, but still a sign that change can exist. i know greg has said some weird shit about redemption, but that leads back to my point about his forum posts meaning very little to me. he can say redemption is unobtainable, but the text itself, at least to me, says otherwise.

but that leads to me one last point which is that, i frankly disagree with any notion that the makuta were always evil. they were far from perfect, once again we track back to krika's speech to tahu, but evil? no way. i can't see miserix as a villain or "survivalist" for example. and, to be frank, "always evil" has some shitty implications and is something this community should ignore. i do think the text itself manages to avoid the pitfalls of this trope as the makuta have always read more similarly like ring wraiths from LTOR or the sith in star wars, but if we’re going to lean more into them being a species with a culture in fanon, any chance to avoid these aforementioned pitfalls should be taken. bionicle is first and foremost a LEGO series, we're given instruction manuals but also encouraged to let our creativity run free and uninhibited. which is precisely why greg's commentary means so little to me in the first place, which is why i have this stance on krika as a character. the story of the bionicle is presented as a legend, and no two people tell a legend the same way.

waxing aside, at the end of the day, i guess the easiest way to put all of this would be that i see krika as a narrative foil, as a dark parallel. he's a commitment to a destiny that ended in punishment, he's a duty to a long-dead cause, and he's a unity that lead to the mass death of a whole species. he's both a cautionary tale and a tragedy, one specifically framed in the building blocks and values of the matoran universe. but also, a sign that once, there was a light where there is now shadow. and krika may not be perfect, or even good, but something deep down inside still was. where there is darkness, a light will always shine. where there is destruction, there is creation.

and that is precisely why i love them as a character so, so dearly, and why they have remained in my top 5 for years.

[radioactivism]

Butch - quest would start after he leaves the vault; wandering hair stylist? guy who eventually would grow into your cool barber who's heard every story there is to be told. gets some tattoos. traveling w/ the LW could help bridge a gap for him as a character where he goes from whiny and childish to whiny and adultish

Jericho - well now i dont like him. i'll be real. but a(n ex-) raider companion could be so good in theory. expand upon him coughing up blood and claiming he needs to take a break into a personal quest abt the consequences of his past actions. cut the terminal entry where he's an attempted rapist -_- has a synchronous bad attitude when clover and himself are together, they both like killing stuff and explosions but they hate each other and argue about raider politics. their debates on current territorial squabbles are legendary.

Clover - quest is obviously abt rescuing her and helping her realize it's, uh, not good to be a slave. results would go one of several ways depending on player actions: 1) she's rescued and learns to be "good" (<-bad ending), 2) she's rescued and learns to be vindictive and get revenge (<-good ending), 3) she's rescued but hates you for trying to change her and mess w/ her business and becomes a player rival that wanders the wasteland and has a chance of spawning to kill you

RL-3 - quest to find his original commanding officer, or most likely their remains. starts w/ more dialogue from tinker joe? depending on player choices (especially the enclave vs. brotherhood choices) he can be driven deeper into imperialist daydreaming, or brought (slightly) closer to the real world. "good god have i become a commie sympathizer" --RL-3 when he admits that the USA is dead

Star Paladin Cross - quest abt how she knows ur dad obviously. or like, what she was doing at the time anyway since i dont rly care that much abt james himself. lesbianisms with catherine? perchance? does NOT get along with jericho, clover or RL-3, though she's tried to get through to jericho several times. they don't normally interact but the LW bringing ppl together gets them in the same room occasionally. she and RL-3 argue politics even more than RL-3 and my LW do.

Charon - more opinionated than he comes off; doesn't like to talk to most people but if the LW or especially Star Paladin Cross start spouting some nonsense that irritates him he lets you know. argues w/ Cross a lot bc of her idealism abt the brotherhood vs. his firsthand knowledge of how they treat ghouls, etc. Quest would be abt cleaning up Underworld maybe? or rather like, supporting it and making it safer. He clearly cares abt the inhabitants there even if he doesn't say so.

Fawkes - you thought i would do Fawkes first didnt u well he's perfect so i dont have to. maybe expand his quest so you get to see more of his origins (via terminals, notes, etc.) and to speak to more super mutants? would be nice for them to formally banish him or s/t instead of just becoming totally aggro. for the world building.

dogmeat - dogmeat

i feel like i need to Fix(tm) the fo3 companions like some are good (Fawkes my love) but overall we all know they werent rly the focus of the game and werent meant to do much more than serve as an armed pack mule But i love fo3 and i love everyone in it. beware

[marukrawler]

I feel, quite disappointed with MS1. I feel like it had so much potential ? I don't really get why they cut MS in two parts. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adored Wiseman, but I really really wanted to see Sellon and Anubias get more development and maybe even get a good redemption arc ? I ship ShunSellon and AnuDan hard so yeah, I guess I'm super biased, but I feel like both Sellon and Anubias could've made great love interests if they were even more fleshed out. Both dynamics are very interesting to me.

I mean, ShunSellon could have been amazing ! Sellon regretting her betrayal towards Shun could have been a nice turn and a great start for a redemption arc on her part, maybe her even ending up realizing she had grown affection for Soon and Chris would have been very sweet. Shun could've had great moments in all this too ! At first, of course he wouldn't want to give Sellon a second chance, but he could grow to understand why she did what she did and could've helped her with her misconceptions about humans...anyways, Sellon really needs to be talked about more.

When it comes to Anubias, I would have adored more interactions with his team. I feel like he never had good moments with them, he only interacted with them to give em orders and then immediately go back to thinking abt Dan. He could've had more sweet moments with Ben, Robin, Jack and Noah. As for his relationship with Dan, even if probably wasn't the intention of the writers, it could be seen as a crush. I mean, from the beginning, Anubias seems very little invested in Mag Mel's plans, he likes brawling and he likes to do it with Dan most. He could have dropped out that some point, deciding that he likes his team and brawling too much for destroying it all like Mag Mel wants. Him ending up with Dan could've been hella cute (I love rivals to lovers), but they didn't even need to, he could've become a great friend to Dan and also become the rival Dan fights the most.

Also, Sellon and Anubias' older sister and younger brother dynamic could have been legendary during their redemption. And there's no harm in them keeping a bit of mischief even if they become better people UwU

Anyways, Sellon, Anubias and their dynamics really needed more attention in my opinion...

(Take a shot everytime I said "could've" or "could have")

Peace out ! UwU

Hi, sorry for the late reply!

MS1 fell short in a couple of areas but overall I enjoyed it. However, I agree with you that rather than making a whole new season with only 20 episodes that ultimately did nothing for the overall story, those 20 episodes should’ve been used to properly flesh out MS1’s storyline.

MS1 has a fairly large cast but not enough time to spend on them or enough time to deviate from the plot and, I don’t know, revisit Gundalia and Neathia or Vestal? Especially considering that Mag Mel threatened to destroy multiple planets and all. And yeah, the dynamic between Shun and Sellon and Dan and Anubias could’ve been touched upon more.

I think in order for Sellon to have an arc like you mentioned, you’d have to rewrite her significantly. To the point where she would almost be a shell of her former self. Sellon loathes humans for their compassion and their friendships and she’s deeply devoted to Mag Mel no matter what. Sellon found acceptance with Chris and Soon and perhaps even a second chance with the Brawlers after she had betrayed them and she tossed it back in their faces with a laugh. Sellon risked her life repeatedly in order for her master to reign victorious in the end, and didn’t care for her own death so long as she could catch a glimpse of the magnificent world Mag Mel would create. Sellon was absolutely aware of the consequences of her actions and she didn't care. You’d have to rewrite her character to be like Anubias for her to even have a chance at redemption.

With that being said, I don't see how Sellon isn't Shun's love interest already? She verbally expressed interest in Shun despite him being human and made sparkly shoujo eyes in his direction LMAO how is that not enough.And Anubias and Dan had that whole mental link, pink sparkles moment that Drago and Wavern had so. Canon™

Speaking of Anubias, he did have some nice moments with his team. Whereas Sellon’s orders were absolute to Chris and Soon, Team Anubias didn't always obey Anubias but that didn't mean they looked down on him.

They were all a tightly knit unit and kept the name “Team Anubias” even after he died. You see Anubias being a mentor to Noah.

Not to mention, Anubias and Sellon feel differently when it comes to serving Mag Mel.

If anyone should’ve had a chance at redemption, Anubias would’ve been my choice because the pieces have already been laid in place for something like that to happen. (And if anything, it would’ve been more believable than either Masquerade or Spectra’s redemption lolol) 

But while we're on that topic, I wanna talk a bit about redemption arcs because to me, it’s not something you should hand out to the characters you like willy nilly. This post perfectly puts into words how I feel about redemption arcs, and it’s the reason why I’m always very critical when it comes to these, no matter which show I’m watching.

In my opinion,giving Sellon a redemption arc wouldn't make sense because, with the given storyline, it would come out of nowhere and wouldn’t be earned. Handing out instant redemption to an antagonist with no redeemable qualities or remorse is the reason why Spectra can walk around and be friends with everyone like he didn’t do a bunch of inexcusable things back in S2. I think both Sellon and Spectra should stay evil and irredeemable because given their motivations and personalities and how they’ve been written thus far, anything else would be completely ludicrous.

The questions; “what message would it send to redeem this character?” and “would it be logical or satisfying on a narrative level to redeem this character?” should definitely be asked and thought over, and I don’t think the writers of S2 did that when they decided to redeem Spectra and Gus in favor of Volt, Lync and Hydron.

[ruvatia]

Sorry if this is a bit much with everything going on, but could I request a scenario where the Paladins + Matt & Lotor have a black s/o and they’re scared abt everything that’s happening in their country and are sad that racial injustice is happening? I’ve been rlly worried the past few days, but if this is smth too uncomfy I understand ;w; Thank you 💖💖💖

This got really long, I apologize but I turned it into half-headcanons with just the main paladins-- i apologize for not doing all the characters you’ve mentioned, but I don’t think they would fit all in a single post anyways www

On another note I hope you and every other reader take good care of their mental health; it’s important to be aware of what’s going on but it’s also important to be in the right mindspace to be able to tackle everything that’s being shared. It’s pain that’s been boiling for a very long time and there is absolutely no shame in taking some downtime to recover before heading back into current issues.

SHIRO:

If you were saddened, Shiro would suggest that maybe you switch to something else; if there was something that he knows will distract you and temporarily have you be a little more at ease, he’d do that!

But also maybe add a little twist-- extra soft blankets (fresh out of the oven! Screw the bills you’re worth it), extra cheese on your favorite dish, whatever it is that can make your smile a little wider, bigger or brighter just let him know!

Would give you hugs if you asked, but usually Shiro pets your head and brushes your cheek for comfort

He also does this when he wants to ask something of you, but thats another story

Why the TV was still on was a mystery to you, you’d stopped listening a long time ago. Your partner besides you noticed, and you felt the hand around your shoulder tighten his grip a little, bringing you out of your thoughts.

“Hey, maybe we should watch something else?” he asked softly, brushing your cheek with his hand. “I can’t really listen to this anymore.”

“Yeah… Sure.” you replied, though it felt like an automated response more than your actual opinion.

“Okay, I’ll switch to that weird show Pidge recorded the other day, we agreed to watch it, right?” he replied, quickly grabbing the remote to change the program.

The first episode started playing, but the moment that it did, you felt cold as Shiro left your side.

“Where are you going?” you asked, your interlaced fingers the only thing keeping him close.

“Ah, I thought I’d make us something. We both kinda skipped dinner….”

He’d thought about putting something together that you’d like, maybe order dessert to surprise you but seeing the look on your face, leaving your side was the hardest thing to do right now.

So he gave in, and your both fell asleep until the doorbell rang with your delivery.

KEITH:

I have this headcanon that Keith isn’t very good with physical touch but after the end of voltron and after enough time of humanitarian relief, he learns how important it is for someone that’s in a specific state of mind

So the best he has to offer when his words fail is physical touch

Over your time together he’s learned what you need depending on your mood, and it helped him out lots when you were more vocal about it-- if anything he liked it when you asked for things that he could easily deliver, he’d do anything to see you smile

A hand came over your phone screen, Keith’s fingers lacing into yours and making you drop the device onto the crevices of the sofa.

“Why did you--”

“You’ve been staring at that thing for the past hour, biting at your nails.” he said in a worried tone. “That’s enough. We’re going to bed.”

“But it’s just--”

“We’re going to bed.” he repeated in a harsher tone, lifting you off your seat.

Keith sat down onto the bed first, pulling you into him. You both fell onto the bed, Keith quickly pulling the covers over your shoulders before his arms came around you.

“My alarm is my phone.”

“That’s nice, but we both know we have nothing to do tomorrow.” he replied right away, making you chuckle.

“Keith…” you called, your hands sneaking up to his face.

You brushed away some of his hair from his face as he gave you a complicated expression, unable to reflect the small smile you wore. He knew things were shit outside, that being apart from your family and other loved ones was a toll on both you and that lately negative thoughts have plagued you more often than not but Keith, despite his good intention was still somewhat of an awkward man.

“Thank you.”

He kissed you in reply and you both left it at that, glad that he had someone like you to meet him halfway.

LANCE:

Lots of hugs the moment he feels something is off with you

Will be a brat™ for the sole purpose of distracting you, bET

I feel like post-series Lance tries his best to be as observant as Allura and tries to understand others better-- but it didn't take a genius or incredible empath to know why your eyes looked like they were about to overflow at the sight of the news.

I’d like to think that Lance, with a big connected family is one of the paladins that very easily gets what you’re going through, wouldn’t be surprised he’s been called one or two things in his past either

That being said it doesn’t mean that he completely understands your personalized struggles with racial injustices that you encounter everyday; as another minority himself + coming from a culture and upbringing that might be different than yours, its a very different experience.

Memories flooded as the news anchor spoke about “lootings” and as you scrolled down your feed to see feeble attempts at sympathy from local peacekeepers. You sigh and retweet another thread, only to find something equally as shocking right after. You stopped commenting in quote retweets a while ago, you felt like you were constantly repeating that none of this was okay and that a reform was desperately needed. Rather than typing out your thoughts you typed out your name, address and email over and over again, signing one petition after the other.

Hearing sigh after sigh, Lance eventually put an arm around your shoulder. He startled you, but his soft voice made both your shoulders and your guard lower.

“Hey, do you want to make a midnight snack with me? I’m getting kinda hungry.”

“What about that new rule we were talking about? Not eating 4 hours before we went to bed?”

“Every diet has one or two cheat days, don’t they?” he replied, kissing one of your eyelids. “Come on, I’m sure your neck is sore from being like that for so long.”

In the end you both made some soul-food until a food-coma knocked you out until tomorrow. In the morning, you realized that Lance must’ve woken up in the middle of the night because you remember cuddling on the couch, and yet you’re waking up on the bed. Of course, still in his arms.

HUNK:

Having a sensible heart, I feel like both you and hunk would struggle a little about maintaining a healthy distance with current events.

Though overtime he would understand that keeping in touch with everything that’s going on is important, but not at the sake of burning out

His best bet, to him, to pull you out of a such a dark space is with comfort food

“Ok ppl feel like they want to eat a horse but they actually cant when they’re in that mind space Hunk, let’s make something sweet and small; something direct and straight to the point! Let’s add smiley faces on it!”

Your turned down the volume from the news, let your head fall backwards and brought up your forearm over your closed eyes. It felt warm and made it you realize that you had probably been staring very intensely at the screen as a wave of comfort hit your eyes the moment they were drowned in darkness. Letting out a deep breath, you stilled and let yourself bask in your thoughts until a familiar voice brought you back.

“Maybe a little bit more sugar? No, then it would be disbalanced. The base is already so sweet-- Ah, I have to take the cupcakes out or else they might get burned!”

You felt a smile grow on your lips, making you ignore the horrid news being broadcasted to turn to your partner that as usual, seemed to juggle ten thousand things to create a whole meal.

“What’s going on over here?” you asked, leaning over the counter to note that one of your favorite dishes was made and machines that were mostly used for baking had been brought out.

“Oh you know, just a little pick me up for my most favorite person ever.” he shrugged, but a smile soon came to his face. His hands were full but he leaned over, his lips meeting your cheek. “Things outside are a little dark, so I thought we could both use a little something nice.”

He turned on the machine after dropping a drop of dye to make it your favorite color and within a few minutes the icing was finished. Hunk scooped up a small amount on his finger and brought it to his lips and nod.

“Wanna taste?” he asked you, his finger dipping into the icing.

A mischievous grin spread on your features as you took his wrist and let his finger fall on your tongue, the sweetness quickly spreading through your mouth. The yellow paladin shivered as you let his digit hang in your mouth for longer than necessary, letting out a satisfied hum when you returned it to him.

“Tastes perfect.”

PIDGE:

She knew what could be fixed, she knew how to fix it but this meant she was also aware of how long such a transition would take

I think Pidge would be similar to Shiro: whatever she remembers that helps you be at ease, she would defect to that in hopes to maybe distract you for a while.

I don’t think Pidge is a very touchy person either, so if she reaches out to you _physically_ in worry, it’s a very clear sign she’s serious/anxious

I feel like she would reach out in other ways and then if she knew you were in a specific state of mind where touch was not useful, or if she just also wanted to try things out lol

As you watched the twisted information that was being shared on screen, another message caught your attention. Rather than a small red icon in the corner, a small window appeared in the middle of your computer screen.

<I found a way to modify notifications sent to another device.>

The video had stopped, every horrible gif about police brutality was paused and there was nothing else but the small window pidge had thrown onto your screen. You chuckled, and felt a pressure behind your working chair.

Another message popped up.

<You’ve been catching up with twitter for the past two hours. Surely you’re done now?>

A soft laugh came from you, making Pidge release a breath she didn’t know she was holding. You typed out an answer:

<Is it possible to be completely caught up with twitter? I follow like 500 accounts.>

<Okay, but half of them are just cat videos and the other half are just retweets of said videos.>

<Oh here I was thinking that this was an intervention to brighten my mood. We’re dragging each other’s follows now?>

<Oh please like you don’t want to be dragged, with that kind of follow list.>

<I can’t believe you’ve done this.>

You both laughed, before Pidge turned around and tapped your shoulder. She let her hand float in the air, yours coming to join it as a soon as your turned her way.

“Wanna take a nap?” she asked, letting her head fall onto your shoulder. “I had Chip make some hot chocolate, Hunk style.”

You squeezed her hand, putting your computer on sleep mode.

“Yeah, that sounds nice.”

[1111jenx]

Hii, love I hope you are doing extremely fine and sorry for the bother ✨✨

Would you mind providing insight on what happens when someone's North node is in your 8 house and yours in their 12 house.

His Pluto, chiron and lilith also falls in my 12 house.

One of the most scary synastry of my life honestly 😂😂😂

I really love your blog and the way you go deep into the subject. Waiting very eagerly for the reply💕💕

Helloooooo

First of all thank you so so soooo much for your kind words this is so sweet and wholesome!!!

And yes ofcourse, I'd be more than happy to answer this question:)

Its funny how I was just talking abt how scary 8H and 12H synastry actually is just now anddddd today as i go through my asks i saw this😂

I'll focus on y'all North Node today for some changes hehe

NN 8th house synastry:

Obsessive tendencies from both sides, but more apparent on the 8H's side.

Soul-deep relationship, can linger in one another's life for quite some time.

NN acknowledge and take pride in how much power they have over the 8H person but they dont realize that as they go deeper into the relationships, they are getting more and more invested.

NN person see the 8H person for what they can become. They see potentials and hidden power within 8H grasp.

NN changed 8H life significantly in some way. (romantically, sexually, financially). If well aspected (venus aspects, harmonious 8H) i'd even say that NN got involve w 8H finance and help them a lot, 8H=other people's money.

A lot of time for romantic context, NN often end up introducing the 8H person to deeper themes of intimacy and sexual experiences. Think that girl from 50 shades of gray entering the red room

Will be extremely hard to forget one another. Will always have some kind of entanglement or cross path later on in life.

Both parties consider the other person as one of their "soul family".

Twin flame placement in my opinion. Astrologers believe this can even go as far as a marriage placement.

8H person subconsciously can rely on the NN person a lot.

In a nonromantic context, this indicates a supportive friendship but also a transformative one with loads of ups and downs. Fights often but are very loyal to one another.

NN 12th house synastry:

NN person will see the 12H at their worst, literally. Will see through their facade most of the time and understand that there are a deeper and more spiritual side to the 12H person.

12H person sometimes can seem a lil spacey, but this should be encouraged as it is healthy for the relationship.

NN will support 12H's needs for depth while helping them slowly build their self esteem. Can seem like NN really knows 12H's struggles and pain despite not knowing them beforehand.

12H may rebel though. As in sometimes they might lash out at NN person for some petty reasons and have a harder time effectively communicate if they're in a bad mood. They refuse to listen to the NN person since they feel extremely exposed. NN may feel very left out sometimes.

A need to keep their relationship as private as possible.

12H may feel that in a way, NN "saved" them from some kind of addictive or toxic patterns that kept reoccurring in the past.

Painful attachment. There will be a lot of tears involved.

In romantic context I observe that couples with this are very involved in one another's lives and tend to know almost everything about each other, even the hidden secrets. I think that depends on the 2 people's charts, if there are too much chaotic energy like Pluto and Mars or a lot of squares in prominent placement can cause them to go crazy on each other and will hurt the other person for fun. will try to "get back" at the other person for wronging them if things go wrong.

An entanglement. Both parties can be clueless as to what they are. Hard to put a label on things.

This is a very very shallow summary as to what the NN synastry dynamic will play out between you and your partner😋 As per usual, pls be careful love and trust me, 12H synastry and 8H synastry going to literally shift how you see things in life. This indicate that you both are extremely significant in one anothers lives in some way.

love,

saint jenx🕊

[kimmkitsuragi]

it was such a great imax experience im so happy i went and saw it a 2nd time

okay writing this a second time (bc i accidentally deleted the first draft lmfao) so hope it makes some sense at least. (nvm this is all over the place and very filmbro-ish at times im sorry for everything but doubt anyone will read it anyway so...)

(if anyone does tho feel free to share ur opinions, but watch out! im merely a random person on the internet who doesnt know anything abt anything so dont take anything i say so seriously)

i feel like i finally cracked what bugs me so much abt the negative reception of this movie at some circles. a lot of people criticize it not for reasons it can be criticized, but for not being didactic. a film's job is not to be didactic imo. it doesnt have to hold your hand, sit you down, and say "atom bomb is soooo terrible btw all these people are terrible people for making the bomb okay????". at least that's not my expectation from a film, and i kinda find it ridiculous that a lot of people think that way tbh

and it is so sad to see ppl disregard media because they find it "boring" (aka too long without hand-holding and so little action) or "uncomfortable". it really shows that people stopped caring abt stories in the first place... and ive seen so many people who dont even intend to see this film try to criticize it according to some moral values that may not even directly have anything to do with the work

and btw when i say movies are not supposed to be didactic, i dont mean it in a "it doesnt matter if this movie has an actively hurtful or offensive narrative on purpose" kinda way. which is so not the case with this movie. i feel like everyone who calls it war propaganda or whatever has either 1) not seen the movie and making it all up as they go or 2) seen the movie but with piss poor media literacy so they didnt really understand what it was trying to say.

i personally liked how the film decides not to show the japan bombings or their direct aftermath visually. it could very easily go into the territory of tragedy porn, especially from the lens of an american director. it was not nolan's tale to tell. and i like how he was aware of this. and it also adds to the film's stance on oppenheimer, which is him being a spineless coward who doesnt want to face the consequences of his actions, or in the words of the film, who commits a sin and tries to act like the victim.

for me, the greatest and most satisfying part of the narrative was when the characters have to face the fact that they're "not that important". obviously, this realization happens directly with rdj's character (strauss) at the end. but i think the same can be said abt oppenheimer as well. the final scenes are great at portraying this (actually, the whole film after trinity is great at it imo). for me, it is clear that even if oppenheimer didnt make the bomb, someone else wouldve done it anyway. and someone wouldve used it. "once the nuclear genie is out of the box..." oppenheimer's individual actions cant change anything. he cant stop the bombing, he cant stop the h-bomb program, he cant even change people's ideas about him. in the grand scheme of the nuclear arms race, he truly is not that important even as the father of the bomb. this is very interesting for a biopic, because in the end it shows oppenheimer being powerless against his own creation. and that's why i think the main takeaway shouldnt be the "oppenheimer created the atom bomb and killed thousands of people". yeah that's true but this is not the story being told here. the story of nuclear war is far bigger than oppenheimer or strauss or anyone else. the takeaway for me was more in line of "now we're living in the atomic age, and the chain reaction that could -and perhaps will- destroy the whole earth is already triggered". the earth is a body of water, and human beings are merely droplets in the water. when it starts to rain, the ripple will reach the whole surface. individual droplets won't make a difference then.

(this is a metaphor i completely missed in my 1st watch btw and when i realized this in my 2nd watch it was so. fucking. satisfying. i love that ending so much)

with all that being said, it is also so impressive to me that nolan tells such a story in the form of a biopic. even if i say he's "not that important", surely oppenheimer as a person, as a myth, as a character was in the center of this work. the story is told as how nolan personally interprets oppenheimer. the editing was also impressive in this regard, even by nolan's standards. the changes between the povs of oppenheimer and strauss was integrated so well. because we are used to nolan juggling the timelines; but he is juggling timelines, and the povs of the two opposing characters now. anyway, what i wanted to say about this approach to editing was this: he manages to tell the story very successfully in both the small scale (ie the political tension between characters) and the big scale (ie the nuclear war is so much bigger than you guys' pissing contest) and it felt so very satisfying when everything falls into place nicely.

while doing all that, it also manages to (very subjectively) reflect oppenheimer's inner conflicts. honestly, these parts were the most technically astonishing scenes of the whole movie, so fucking crazy. big i love films moment for me. and im guessing those scenes are one of the main reasons why many people seem to think the film paints oppenheimer as a sad lonely hero, or something. well obviously i disagree with that statement, as i already told that the film takes a different stance imo. it was clear for me that the film is showing oppenheimer as a man who stands for nothing (save for improvement of science, maybe). even the other characters are confronting him about this all the time, so it's not even like a super hidden message or something. and even in those scenes that show his mind shattering after trinity, he was not painted in a sympathetic light if u ask me. he is constantly conflicting himself regarding where he stands in the matter, and especially considering the said matter is the creation of the biggest mass destruction weapon on earth, i wouldnt say that is very hero-like of him. so no i dont agree w those sentiments, and im also willing to give nolan a pass for these scenes, because holy fuck man.

(i havent even written anything about how the film is a technical marvel in so many ways but consider this my statement: holy shit man that's insane)

obv there are things that the film could've (or maybe should've) explored more, especially regarding the identity politics of oppenheimer being a jewish man. i get that nolan decided to focus on the communism perspective more, and maybe if he wanted to explore everything, then it would be trying to do too much. so im not really sure how he could tackle this better. (there's also his relationship w jean, which also left me feeling like hmm idk there could be more to this). but as i said, im not really sure, and even if i did have an idea, i feel like i would be falling short trying to explain it so yeah (the film is also 3 hrs long... while it was a delight for me, i dont know if making it longer would be a better option lol)

so all in all... while i can see that there are some problems, i certainly appreciate everything this film is trying to do, and succeeding in most of them (imo). the second half works so so so much better than the first half. i felt like there are some pacing problems in the first half especially the beginning, but man. after trinity, this movie starts to become so fucking ridiculous. especially in imax. i previously said the sound design haunts me. WELL. now imagine how im feeling now that i FELT all of that in my chest for the last half especially. everything from the chillingly silent moments, to roaring explosions. AND cillian's incredible acting that goes with all that. i went and saw it this morning, now it's evening and im still reeling. i wish i could explain why i find this so fucking astonishing in a better way but that's all i can do rn

pls dont boo me this is literally all i can do since now i am become headache, destroyer of minds. i dont even know if any of this makes sense but welpppp as i said i dont believe anyone will even read this fully bc why would they :p anyway anyone who enjoys cinema should see this in imax right nowww im not even kidding. (i wish i could have the real 70mm imax experience but alas i live in a shitty country.)

going to see oppenheimer again tmrw this time on imax ✌ most filmbro thing ive done probably