#you get what i mean? he's a genuinely likeable guy despite being an ass

[isekyaaa]

I really want more non-villain male characters that rank really high in emotional intelligence and use it to their advantage. I want men that know the ins and outs of how people work and tailor themselves and how they act to get the desired reactions and results out of them. I want men that can turn angels out of demons and make even the bitchiest of Karens worship the ground they walk on. But I don't want them to do these things to achieve lofty goals. I just want them to act this way because that's just how they naturally are.

[semisolidmind]

That anon made me think about a hypothetical scenario of Peng trying to move up on Reader, but tbh I don't think Peng would EVER stand a chance against the twice as bad AU monkey husband duo.

Azure contantly gets the L but he is nice to Reader + he's friends enough with the two warlords to not make them immediately consider killing him if he treats Reader a lil too nicely in the beginning.

He's suspicious but he's a likeable guy, so it's not too weird of him to be genuinely polite to the queen of FFM.

Peng, though? bro's getting COOKED. literally. He's not slick like Azure, if he tried anything it'd be over for him. He's a bird-shaped mean girl, so it would immediately draw suspicion on everyone if he suddenly started being super nice to Reader after being so vocal of his disapproval towards a human queen.

I bet Wukong and Macaque (especially macaque since peng likes antagonizing him so much) would love to have a reason to destroy him in a fight 💀

FR.

like, this feathery fuck could make that mental and emotional switch from "ugh, mortals" to "but this one's kinda ok/how funny would it be to steal her" and you can bet the boys (but mostly macaque) would be on them in a second. there is no way they wouldn't clock the birds' intent the minute the bastard sidles up to reader. they sorta trust azure, they're fine with yellowtusk, but the monkeys KNOW that you canNOT trust peng.

any time the bird has the chance to get reader alone, macaque makes sure to be there or at least within striking distance. he knows reader doesn't trust peng either (and why would she, after their history of shit talking and belittling her), so he's not worried about her falling for any smooth talking, but he is worried that they might cross a line.

i could see this situation coming to a head with peng making some sort of big move on reader, mac hears it and stops it, then challenges them to a fight (like a serious challenge, to the death kinda shit).

and while wukong wants to make that bird into a roast as much as his brother, he knows that it'll be important for macaque to beat the shit out of peng by himself. despite knowing how dangerous the monkey bros can be, peng continued to poke and prod and test the limits of macaque's patience. the monkey king won't deprive his brother of getting to serve some well-deserved comeuppance. in fact, he makes a sort of show of it, announcing the fight and inviting his allies to watch.

the battle is a brutal one. normally wukong is the one to fly into a jealous rage at any slight against reader, while mac is the one to keep a cool head. but this time, the shadowy simian lets aaaaall that carefully controlled anger out in a truly vicious display of power. the bird demon has a tough time keeping up with their rival's attacks. though both combatants take some heavy hits, it's clear that peng is losing.

like. macaque could beat peng to death here, and there really wouldn't be anything anyone could do. the bird broke a rule. they pissed off the wrong demon at the wrong time. given their history, nobody has any reason to stop macaque from slaughtering his rival, and it'd be within his rights to kill them for disrespecting his wife. wukong finds it all far too hilarious to do anything but laugh at peng getting their ass handed to them, and reader knows it's going too far but won't speak on peng's behalf (both because she doesn't like them and she feels like she has no right to deprive mac of his revenge).

azure would have to beg a pardon on behalf of his stupid chicken of a sworn brother before they actually die.

wukong is hesitant to grant it. azure knows what that birdbrain did. they laid hands on the monkey king's queen, and he knows wukong has killed others for far less. that miserable pile of feathers should consider themselves lucky that the monkey king hasn't joined in on their punishment. if azure didn't want his lackey to get beaten bloody, he should've kept them in check. not to mention the fact that peng has had this macaque-issued beat down coming for a loooong time.

by the end of it, peng is nothing more than a crumpled pile of bloody feathers in the dirt. azure and yellowtusk have to scrape them off the ground and portal back to camel ridge in disgrace and defeat. they don't show their faces on flower fruit mountain for a good long while.

as for macaque...despite being clawed, tired, and a little bruised, he reigns victorious. in his adrenaline induced stupor, still covered in dirt and blood, he storms right up to reader and steals a nice, long kiss. it leaves her lightheaded, his hands on her the only thing keeping her up. he huskily promises that they'll "celebrate his victory" later. reader feels a little faint.

wukong would normally protest his brother getting peaches all to himself, but after that fight? eh, he's earned it.

[hearts401]

Why do you think Helluva Boss is better, in terms of writing?

OOOH i have a LOT to say about this.

I think it's a lot less rushed. it FEELS a lot less rushed. And thats not saying its all perfect, it went pretty fast too, but not as fast as hazbin.

For example, hazbin had this big deadline and they had to fit in angels arc, the carmilla/vaggie situation, the heaven stuff, AND charlies shit with her dad. So despite it being a comedy, they had to stuff a LOT of things together, which means theres less chance for filler which means it gets rushed. (bc honestly, it feels less like a comedy and more like an edgy teen humor show BECAUSE they're stuffing the comedy in while rushing to get all the important lore bits in)

so helluva boss feels more like a comedy. they have serious moments, but it leaves space for jokes and humor that dont feel out of place (for example, in the hh finale they kept making jokes that rlly didnt fit? like charlie profusely apologizing to angels who are slaughtering her people? or when pentious died and it was a joke but we were supposed to take it seriously???)

helluva boss has episodes with less emotional baggage in them, like the pilot, murder family, spring broken, and CHERUB, and the harvest moon festival, all in season one. and while they do HAVE emotional moments, theyre not super heavy. then you have episodes that feel like a mix, like truth seekers and loo loo land. and then you have heavy episodes like ozzie's and queen bee. its much more balanced (and im focusing on s1 of hb bc its unfair to pit a two season show against a one season show.)

also also also, and this is smth i complain about a lot, Hazbin Hotel is OBSESSED with making their characters as likeable as possible. unfortunately this falls on characters who DONT DESERVE IT. Like angel dust. When he harassed husk, it was supposed to be humor and funny and whatever, but when husk snapped at him, he was the bad guy suddenly. and angel still never apologized. and im not saying hb doesnt have that issue (ESPECIALLY with stolas) but i think its handled better.

blitzo is a good example. i have complaints about the circus situation, but in the end hes still not a good guy, excuse or not. he's rude, he's nosy, he's dismissive. he hunts his sister down despite her making it very clear she doesnt wanna see him. and he brushes off stolas and even uses him under the guise of a sweet date. in general, blitzo is just waaay better handled than angel dust is.

i also like the villains more? theyre not made out to be a joke as much as the villians in hazbin (per my earlier statement about all the humor being stuffed in) crimson is made to be genuinely intimidating, striker, while mocked a lot, is still a very serious villain, mammon is a big joke on purpose, and it makes sense! and then other antagonists (verosika, one and two, ect) are made out to be funny because theyre NOT big villains, they're just bitches who have beef with imp. the worst villain in hb is, of course, the one woman, stella. but thats a conversation for another ask.

meanwhile the hazbin villains are sooo dumbed down. our most serious villain was lute. adam was a huge joke and relatively annoying at times? like most of what he did was watered down by bad jokes (like killing pentious??? ppl seem to forget adam beat alastor without even tearing his clothes and its because everytime hes on screen theres a terrible joke about to be made) and the vees are just??? eh??? i dont have a TON of complaints about velvette aside from how little she actually did to the point where she hardly feels like a villain? shes moreso just annoying. and then vox hypnotizes people and hes like. evil ceo type shit but thats overshadowed by his crazy ass beef with alastor because again, he didnt do much else. and then val had that stupid scene with vox that i hate so so so so much. hes made out to be funny when he SHOULDNT BE!!! They dont take val's character seriously its weird. ick. and also we didnt have many villains to even go off of? helluva boss gave us lots of characters to work with in season one, and all of them are unique in some way, and had time to shine and will have more time to shine later because the story isnt rushing. hazbin INSISTED on concluding this arc in one season when it really shouldn't have. they didnt have the time to do it, and they tried anyway. helluva boss is better because they gave it TIME. striker is introduced in season one and we KNOW he'll come back because he got away! and he does! and hes great because they gave him TIME to be there and be gone and be there and be gone.

and now he's our most recurring villain. and i think hes awesome. crimson didnt actually have a lot of time to vanish and come back, but hes also new so its a bit different. and he had two episodes in between showing up and disappearing, and the second one had more focus on striker anyways.

i think that while hazbin is a 4/10 for me (5 if im being generous), helluva boss is a 6 or 7/10. the worst part about the helluva boss writing is stolas's family and how the women are written tbh.

tldr: helluva boss is better paced and the characters are better, and hazbin hotel is too rushed and forces these characters onto you

[faerune]

6, 20, 23, 27, 34, 42, 43, 44 for angel and mia please!!!

Who falls asleep last, watching the other with a small affectionate smile? ANGEL. He's such a sappy goober. It's hard though because Mia is about as much of an insomniac as he is.

What do they argue about the most? Before being a couple? Thinly veiled I'm in love with you and we can't do anything about it and I don't want to hurt you either way it's going to end badly shit disguised as frivolous arguments. At any time, they argue about Angel being a little too overprotective of Mia both physically and emotionally. He knows she can handle herself but his brain goes Big Strong Man Protect and it's annoying to her. They have regular couple arguments, most things pretty minor. Angel and Mia agree with each other on most major life things.

Who is better with kids? MIA! Angel's a little awkward with kids admittedly. Mia is just a likeable person in general and is able to pretty much be whatever the situation demands. She also likes kids so that helps (not that Angel doesn't it's just...complicated with him considering his son).

Who cooks at 2 in the morning? Mia! She gets really restless sometimes and just needs to do something so it's really a toss up of tackling a complicated recipe at 2am or going for a run (oh to be a slayer with superhuman strength and just be able to go for a jog at night alone).

Do they go on dates? What are they like? YES! Mia is a big date person she loves it. Especially if Angel plans it. Admittedly, she loves going to bougie restaurants or on a boat ride or smth but she treats. Angel plans and she sugar mommas the plan. It just means a lot that he put thought into it. Their go to is a nice dinner though (Mia knows all the best places to eat in LA which Angel greatly appreciates when he starts developing a taste again).

What is their favorite feature of their partner? For Mia, she looooves Angel's back and shoulders. In terms of personality, she loves his determination and goodness. No matter what, he fights and as someone who has faltered in the past when things get hard and struggles she really admires him.

For Angel, boobs ass her eyes and her smile. She really can just light up a room with them tbh. Angel loves how much Mia loves. She loves so passionately and deep despite all the hurt she's been through. She loves people who don't deserve it, she tries to see the best in people. <3 she gives and she gives and she gives.

What is the first thing that changes when they realize they have feelings for the other? Angel keeps her at arm's length (even more than that if he can help it) while Mia unconsciously tries to get closer. It results in a lot of hurt between them in those early days because both of them know this is the only way it can be. It's unfortunate because they genuinely like being around each other! They have a good time with each other and just get along.

What are their nicknames for each other? Mia calls Angel baby allllll the time. Honey, sweetie, pumpkin, tiger, grumpy, big guy, etc. all get thrown in too. She's a big petname person. Also, *****.

Angel is pretty lowkey with his nicknames. Mostly just baby, hon, doll, my love (this one is usually when he's teasing her gently) and none of them get said much in public. He's more of a private person!

[everydaydg]

A quick recap on the rest of 2023's played games!

Part 1!

As explained on a post previously, I sadly wont be writting huge reviews for every game left of 2023

I wanna get to writting about 2024 gamessss

I might revisit a few games from this series of posts in a later date for the sake of giving my full thoughts on them.

Alrighty! Lets do this!

54. Trauma Center: Under the Knife

Honestly I sorta played this one because of a mutual I dont speak to too often.

Anyway this was my first foray into Trauma Center so I was a bit exited going into it!

Needless to say it delivered on a fun dramatic time! I am quite surprised by how good this game is honestly.

The best way I can describe it is an arcade style operation simulator with the most dramatic hospital room visual novel you will read on the side.

That sounds fucking ballistic but it works.

You have a story about an epidemic sweeping the nation as a group of medical experts try to handle the disease as best they can, mainly focusing on the rise to fame of Derek Styles as he becomes the doctor of all time

(not the best one or the worst one, hes the doctor of all time. )

but you can suture wounds in an instant, you inject green goop to regain vitals, stop time itself, have to deal with dealing with 5 patients in a row in like 15 minutes and constantly see your patients having bugs in their stomach.

The story is played completely straight while the gameplay is fast paced operations using the DS's touch screen.

I love it so much.

The controls are really well tuned, its fun to get better at the game and the gameplay loop is engaging.

The characters are surprisingly memorable and fun to keep up with, except angie. I hate angie.

I am not forgiving you for being a total ass to derek and also telling a suicidal patient to go kill themselves

Did we forget that? I mean you probably dont know what im talking about to begin with but im not forgetting whatever the fuck that scene was.

Whats wrong with Angie.

I hate that im supposed to like her later on but no. Shes still annoying as the whole game goes on, shes not likeable at all despite the writter's best effords.

... again the rest of the characters are fun. Derek is a sweet guy, Nigel is my favorite asshole in the whole place, Kasal and Hoffman are fun to see every once in a while

Every time those two appear, you know the plot is getting serious Stephen is... kinda there honestly, I barely recall much from him outside of his cool headphones, Leslie is sweet and... I want to hit Tyler with a football (affectionate)

Fun cast, Dramatic but engaging story, fun gameplay that uses the DS's touch screen well and a good OST

Its a fun time! I highly recommend it if you're looking for a good DS game! I enjoyed it alot suturing patients, usin the goop, draining- I didnt go into it alot but the gameplay is REALLY fun. genuinely.

Its fast, its frantic and extremely enjoyable to master

(Small note but I miss the artstyle of this game, the later entries changed artstyle... it looks nice in those games but the art here has some charm despite its issues)

8/10

55. Space Channel 5 (PS2, Replay)

Oh Space Channel 5... god I have mixed feelings on this game

Music? fantastic

Visuals? groovy, the retro future look is unmatched.

The gameplay? ... god damm it input detection

This game is so close to being perfect but the speed of the animations makes certain inputs feel incredibly sluggish which is a huge reason why its so hard to recommend for me.

Took me a whole year to get to grips with the game feel of this game... I didnt get it in 2021 and ultimately felt a bit dissapointed after experiencing Part 2.

By 2022 I actually did get used to it and enjoyed it a whole lot!

I absolutely got it, I fell in love with it! The patterns, the story, the characters, THE EXTRA CONTENT WHEN YOU REPLAY CERTAIN LEVELS WITH 100% VIEW RATING!

It was amazing being able to finally see what alot of DC fans saw in the game after a year of struggle... but I coudnt shake off the feeling of how much of a struggle it was to get used to it...

by 2023 I saw someone else try to get into it, only to run into the same problem I had in 2021 which trully cemented how I feel about the game.

I did also replay it that year because why not and yeah! its still great despite the slight background desyncs every now and again and the sluggish animations... but I cant expect everyone to get used to that

Where im going with this is... Its great... but dont expect it to feel right when you get into it. It takes a second to get used to it.

Its not as snappy as part 2 and I dont fault you if bounce off it because of the gamefeel

I cant completely recommend it. Its great! I love it... you might not enjoy it

If you dont enjoy part 1, check out part 2

Its on steam, its a fantastic ride and one of my favorite rhythm games of all time (even if im still a bit mad over the secret notes for full rating)

8/10

56. Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded

(Yknow what maybe its good that I dont have to write a big review on this one. I dont want to talk details about the story asdhajdhask)

Re:Coded fucking rules

This is my second kingdom hearts game aksjdhakjdaskadshdkj

MY FIRST WAS DDD- I AM PLAYING IN THE WORST ORDER IMAGINABLE

But im still having fun!

I uhh the story in this one isnt as hard to follow as DDD but its still a bit wierd in some areas, doesnt stop it from being fun tho.

Id say the main thing that keeps me going back to this game is how insanely good the combat is. This might be... one of the best combat systems on the DS, im not joking.

Fucking TWEWY levels of fun ass combat on the DS.

Pulling off juggles with the command deck is immaculate.

The stat matrix is fun to mess arround with and alows for a great level of difficulty tuning.

You can make the game a living nightmare for the sake of getting more money and better items.

They made a 3D game work... really well on the DS

I will argue it falls a bit flat on some places considering how most of the game takes place in glitch challenges... but honestly... I love those areas

Its a bit repetitive but the combat carries it HARD.

I wont talk a single thing about the story, its best you see it yourself despite its issues as its still... pretty fun ngl.

People are too meaaan to this game man. Its good!

It gets a big recommendation from me

8/10

Alright! next time ill be rambling about astro boy omega factor, gunstar super heroes and yakuza 4 remastered

and a fewwww more if im up to it

If im being honest I would have posted everything in one go but I dont want to leave this in the drafts foreverrrrr.

So I will do it in chunks.

Thanks for reading my disorganized ramblings

[headgehug]

my review of the critically acclaimed movie hot to trot (1988)

with a record breaking 0% yes ZERO PERCENT on rotten tomatoes (proof below) you can'ter deny that this movie is a stable for any list of the worst movies of all time.

featuring cringeworthy celebratory dance sequences, hairdos, and a whole scene where he does the cliche climbing around on the edge of a really tall building, leading man bobcat goldthwait did his absolute damnedest with what he was given. the horse is not funny and the voice actor sounds like a failed radio comedian. the antagonist is annoying and punchable in the worst way. the movie is cut REALLY BADLY-- scenes that needed a little bit to sink in get cut short half a second too early. there are unnecessary and confusing sound effects only sometimes, not even through the whole movie, in the weirdest spots!! according to interviews this movie put him in "comedy jail" and led him to deciding he was not cut out to be an actor but rather a director, just so he could make sure something like this shitshow never happened again (only the first part of that is true lol but come on). to top it all off this movie features some casual assault with a woman forcing a kiss on the main character (like why do people think this is funny??), and, by nature of being an animal movie in the 80s, pretty blatant animal abuse. so does it deserve the 0%? yeah. yeah it really does. oh did i mention also that it implies dead horses are reincarnated into horseflies? yeah. um what the fuck. also the blow up horse sex doll they never mention again.

anyways i'll play devil's advocate for a bit. goldthwait was nominated for worst actor for this movie and i absolutely have to disagree. for what he was given (NOTHING!) he DOES create a likeable character. virginia madsen as allison (😳) is probably the best actor in this movie. she plays a coworker that pretends to like fred (the main character) just because he's suddenly getting lucky on the stock market, but then grows to genuinely like him despite how fucking WEIRD he is and the fact that his best friend is A HORSE! and in the end they enter a horse race together and win blah blah blah she's really cute and sweet and excited. anyways. so if you've seen anything of goldthwait's from this time period you know that he's doing this screamy, stuttery sort of awkward act that was a byproduct of like, 80s comedians just thinking screaming was funny for some reason and also being chronically nervous about performing and using it as a sort of defense mechanism. for the faint of heart it could be a huge turn off, i can see that! but seriously, worst actor, because of a bit directors had him keep cause it made people laugh?? he creates what is honestly an enjoyable character that you feel bad for, you root for, you laugh at how dumb he is, you feel for him trying to impress this girl, you just want him to end up happy. i mean that's mediocre acting at worst. idfk. bro if anything the horse's voice actor should've been nominated for worst actor. apparently after the script had been rewritten for him bc the previous horse guy sucked ass so bad they had to scrap his lines, john candy IMPROVISED most of the new script anyways. so if the movie fucking sucks maybe it's that guy's fault.

anyways! to keep the tradition of this movie being rated disgracefully low, i give it .5 out of 5 stars. but fred and allison will forever hold a very special place in my heart where they hang out with their newfound horse buddies, all watching shitty cable tv on their farmhouse porch <3

screencaps below (these are just for proof, my thirstposts will follow... my journalism is sacred):

terrifying

yeah lightbulb special effects for some fucking reason. never used again in any regard.

the captions for the animals who don't speak human are also amazing:

aren't they cute <3

anyways thanks for reading. this movie made my day if nothing else. thanks for your sacrifice bobcat.

[maxwell-grant]

For the Character Ask: I'm going to go with Ryu (The Shadow would be too easy)

Allright then! Definitely got some thoughts on the Street Fighter characters for this one

1: Don't treat Ryu like he's a superhero, let him get his ass kicked for real every now and then, let him WORK for his victories. And I don't mean "oh the bad guy roughs him up a bit but then he comes back with a insta-win special move", I mean it like how the Street Fighter II V anime opens up with Ryu and Ken getting the absolute shit kicked out of them by Guile, and that's the initial impetus for the two of them to try and improve more as martial artists.

Capcom seems to have far less reservations about letting characters like Ken and Chun-Li lose fights or get beaten badly compared to Ryu, which is kinda backwards considering that, if Ryu's the protagonist of these stories, and these are stories about fighting and action and overcoming the odds through battle, we should ideally be much more invested in how our protagonist is gonna overcome them. The Udon comics in particular treat a lot of the Street Fighter characters like superheroes who can insta-win battles with special moves and this is part of why I think they are terribly weak and uninteresting, it's the last thing you want to do for a franchise where the selling point is watching interesting characters fight in interesting ways. Which also brings me to number 2:

2: Have Ryu grow as a fighter in ways other than just giving him new cartoon superpowers / have him tame the Dark Hadou for the 100th time.

SF has, for a while, been doing this really great thing with Akuma where the techniques he shows off in his ending cutscenes show up in the following games as Super moves, like the punch he uses to shatter Ayers Rock in 2nd Impact became a Super in Third Strike, and the Hurricane Kick he used to destroy a sea vessel in his Third Strike ending became an Ultra move in SSFIV, and so forth. I always thought this was a really brilliant, inspired decision that allows for a sense of genuine progression, and I think it's an idea that would benefit Ryu much more so as a character.

Give him new techniques, have him invent new techniques, have him live up to the idea that he's a martial arts prodigy who in his first tournament defeated the world's greatest fighter with an unbeatable uppercut (yes he lost that fight and won with a superpowered possession-induced cheap shot, but the world doesn't know that) and then introduced the concept of fireballs to the scene, both of which are techniques everyone's using or developed defenses to by now, so he's gotta find ways to stay on top of the game.

3: Kill the idea that Ryu's an "honorable warrior" cliche, he's a guy living out of a duffelbag who, despite being a world-famous champion, chooses to be a homeless wanderer always on the lookout for a good fight and making a lot of weird friends along the way. It shouldn't be hard to make this character likeable or funny.

I think not a lot of Street Fighter fans even particularly think of Ryu as likeable but he really is, I think a Street Fighter story with him as the lead would stand to benefit from emphasizing that, all things considered, Ryu's got a great attitude when he's not distancing himself to fight with soul-rending inner torment or body-stealing dictators (and sometimes even then). In V even, one of Ryu's lines if you hit him particularly hard is a pained "Nice hit!", he's genuinely complementing you for kicking his ass. If any of this showed up more prominently in a Street Fighter film or cartoon, he's the kind of character Tumblr would be affectionately calling a himbo in no time flat (yeah I know, Tumblr calls every character who's beefy and kind a himbo, not my point).

Ryu's not some champion of justice or lone wolf, everyone who jokingly describes Ryu as a fight hobo is 100% right and this is not a dismissal, Capcom's not ironic about it, it's just what he is and that's one thing that helps to set Ryu apart from standard karateka protagonists. Ryu's not stern or humorless, he's focused and driven, and the two being treated like one and the same is a particularly annoying cliche in how Western media approaches Eastern martial arts protagonists. You can have a character who’s philosophical, determined, even aloof and lonely, without making them devoid of humor and wit and charm.

And that leads to my next point,

4: Ryu has a life outside of fighting, even if he doesn't think he does.

One of the things I really liked reading most in my obsessive quests for every scrap of Street Fighter lore was finding the details that were usually left out of the cutscenes or games and only brought up in guides or blurbs and whatnot, things that added texture and depth and details to the lives these characters had outside of the ring. I consistently really liked reading Ryu's because they would describe things Ryu would do just on a daily basis.

Details like, the reason why he dislikes spiders is because one day he woke up with one in his mouth, or how he uses Hadoken to catch fish as part of his diet. Ryu trekking through forests, waterfalls, old temples, roads, cities, and the fact that he canonically walks everywhere because he hates flying and can't afford it anyway. Ryu making enough money to get by via taking in odd jobs with physical labor. An Alpha 3 backstory blurb that describes Ryu stopping to talk down with a painter on his way to pay respects to Gouken. Or scenes where Ryu gets to interact with characters outside of his usual circle, like that ending where he eats burgers with Birdie following their fight.

Sure, Ryu's all focused on the fight, and Street Fighter's gotta have it's fights, but there's a world of stuff that happens in someone's life even when they are laser focused on only one specific part of it (which is a lesson I need to remember more often). I've always been fascinated by the parts of the lives of wandering protagonists that don't get the spotlight because they are not action-packed, quiet moments of survival or misery or joy that they go through alone or with others. I would like to read more of these.

5: If Ryu's the center of the story, he needs to grow with the story. He needs to be allowed to grow up and change.

Ryu is locked in a generally static mold as the iconic face of the franchise, even in V when other characters were finally allowed to evolve and change their designs or characterizations, like Ken or Balrog or Dhalsim, which is definitely a step in the right direction compared to SFIV. And to an extent it's understandable why Ryu's not likely to change much if at all, considering the popularity of said changes isn't exactly guaranteed. But, here's something: There already was a change to Ryu's presentation in recent years that got so popular, that Capcom ended up approving it and officializing it.

And yes, I'm talking about Hot Ryu.

Hot Ryu was, before the memes about Ryu in Fortnite, maybe the most attention I'd ever seen directed towards Ryu, and Ryu specifically, in my lifetime. And I want you to put whatever thoughts you have on the nature of what exactly people were talking about here to look at what was happening regardless: People were talking about Ryu, Ryu's design, what they wanted Ryu to look like, if they wanted this to be his main design going forward (and a lot of people seemed to want this), people were discussing Ryu. It's not like Capcom set out to intentionally create Hot Ryu, all they did was take off Ryu's shirt, rough his clothes a bit, give him a beard and call it a day, but even just this basic shake-up of Ryu's presentation was enough for a lot of people to look at Ryu differently.

A basic shake-up was the same thing Capcom did for some of the other characters in V. And while some were very poorly received (Akuma in particular), others paid off so well (Dhalsim, Balrog, even Mall Cop Guile surprisingly) that few seem to miss the classic designs. That Capcom is willing to do these alterations to the designs at all is already a major difference than how the characters were approached for SFIV, and the idea of tweaking Ryu somewhat to better reflect a different, growing facet of his character? Risky as it may sounds, even if unintentionally so, they already did a trial run for this that paid off better than they could have predicted. 

So yeah, I think Hot Ryu was a great thing, and I think Ryu being allowed to progress and change, as he’s done in other Street Fighter media in the past (the Nakahira mangas, SF II V), could be a really good thing. 

[spaceskam]

a classic case of infatuation

Summary: TK is a very annoying coworker.

Tags: enemies to lovers LiteTM, office job au, Carlos POV

for @lire-casander​ !!! happy birthday! I’m so late but i finally finished it! I hope you like it!

ao3

“Whoops.”

Carlos breathed in a deep breath, his jaw clenching as he looked up. TK was walking away, not even bothering looking back at him despite the fact that he’d knocked his letter opener off his desk and onto the floor. It was infuriating and he wanted to do something about it, but that wasn’t feasible all things considered.

Carlos had been working in this office building with this management, slowly working his way from receptionist to the accounts receivable role of the building and he had serious job security. He considered himself rather likeable and a good fit. He enjoyed his job, even, managing to balance out his work-life and his free time in a way that worked for him best. It was great.

Or, it had been until three months ago when April, another accountant who handled the accounts payable aspect of things, had quit to stay home with her kids and they’d hired a nuisance in her place.

His name was TK Strand and he was one of the most cocky people Carlos had ever met. Whereas Carlos tried to get along with everyone and went out of his way to be exceptionally nice even when he was having a bad day and had stayed late on more than one occasion to help other people in his department out because he knew they had children to go home to, TK was full of himself and seemingly bored with his job if the way he found any excuse to walk  around all day said anything. Carlos couldn't even complain about him to anyone because everyone else in the office found him endlessly charming and didn’t understand why Carlos was so bothered by him.

But he was and TK seemed to get off on getting a rise out of him.

On more than one occasion, TK had hidden his car keys or mistakenly mixed their mail or spilled a bit of water on his shoes. Every time he passed his desk, TK would knock something off no matter how much Carlos tried to make it where there was nothing to knock off. Hell, he even once managed to replace some of his deposit stacks and had Carlos scrambling when he almost presented his boss with the Communist Manifesto in comic sans instead.

“Maybe if you didn’t feed into it he would stop,” Michelle had suggested once, stirring her coffee with that annoyingly knowing smile, “Or maybe he’s just acting like a little boy vying for your attention.”

“Then someone should’ve taught him that doesn’t actually work. We’re grown ass men and we’re at work, he needs to grow up,” Carlos insisted, eyes narrowed. He had such a distinct memory of TK leaning against the receptionist desk, probably bothering her with his annoying smile. The memory was probably distinct because he did it damn near every day.

Truly, it was a problem. Shouldn’t he be working instead?

“Then try to ignore him, I definitely feel like that will help.”

It did not help.

“TK!” Carlos snapped, getting up from his desk with a sudden desire to tear him a new one. TK paused, his fingers dancing on the top of a divider for two empty cubicles as he turned to face him. He was smirking and his head was tilted to the side like he just knew he was going to have fun with this.

As if he wasn’t driving Carlos insane.

“Yes, Sir?” TK responded, still grinning. 

“Pick it up.”

“Pick what up?” 

“You know what.”

TK huffed a laugh and took a languid step forward, his head still tilted as if just challenging Carlos to say something about it. Which was stupid and infuriating because clearly no matter what he said, TK wasn’t going to act like a coworker. He was just going to be straight up annoying forever.

“Pick it up,” Carlos repeated. TK rolled his eyes.

“Fine, Dad,” he said, strolling past him just close enough so they bumped shoulders. Carlos watched him pick up the letter opener and wave it around, slamming it on his desk once he was done with his show. “Happy?”

Carlos didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath until TK walked away.

“Talk to him,” Michelle suggested again that night as they sat at the bar. Carlos was uncharacteristically pissed and craving a drink, his eyes trained on the neck of his beer as if that would do anything. His stomach was tense with irritation.

“I think I’m going to quit.”

“What? Why would you do that? You love your job,” she said and maybe that was an overstatement, but he definitely worked hard and didn’t hate it. Didn’t hate it until someone was there to distract him and frustrate him to no end.

“Yeah, but I’m going to end up hating it at some point if he doesn’t stop,” Carlos told her. She frowned a little, purposefully exaggerated.

“Then go to your boss if it’s that bad.”

“It… It isn’t that bad. I don’t want to get him fired, he’s just driving me crazy,” Carlos insisted. They fell silent for a moment as Carlos glared at his beer and she stared at his face. He knew that her silence was her reading him and he was quietly dreading whatever she came up with.

“Have you ever considered that maybe the reason you’re so annoyed is because maybe you like him?” Michelle suggested. Carlos scoffed.

“I don’t like him. What’s there to like? He’s annoying and won’t leave me alone and‒”

“And gives you a lot of attention and goes out of his way to make sure you think about him and is undeniably good looking?” Michelle suggested. Carlos glared harder and she let out a laugh. “I’m not saying he’s going about it the right way, I’m just saying maybe you’re just angry that you like him despite the fact that he’s ticking you off.”

“No. No, I’m going to talk to Tommy in the morning about maybe just getting me away from him,” Carlos decided.

Michelle didn’t try to talk him out of it.

He spent the night tossing and turning, thinking about what the hell he was going to do about this situation. He was going to march up to Tommy and explain the situation: TK was a nuisance and he needed to be moved away from him. Or‒no, that sounded like he was in grade school. He was going to explain that maybe he needed to put in his two weeks because of irreconcilable issues. He didn’t want to do that though and he didn’t want to threaten it either. He just wished there was an easier way to go about it.

The next day, after psyching himself up, he did approximately no tattling.

When TK walked by his desk again, Carlos didn’t react at all. Even when he circled back around to knock more shit off at least three times, Carlos didn’t respond and didn’t move to pick anything up. He just pretended it wasn’t there.

“Aw, are you mad at me?” TK said, a teasing tone in his voice as he sat across from him in the breakroom during lunch. Carlos continued to keep his eyes down and his breath even. He was just going to ignore him until he got a hint. “Oh, come on, Carlos. Play nice.”

Carlos rightfully ignored him.

He felt like he’d earned a medal of some sort by the time the day was over and he hadn’t reacted to TK at all. After lunch, TK had backed off for the most part and he’d finally had a soothing few hours at work before his shift finally ended.

And then he was locked in an elevator for six whole floors alone with TK.

“Look, dude, I don’t know what I did to upset you, but I’m sorry,” TK said around the third floor. Carlos, after his day of strength, huffed a laugh.

“You don’t know what you did?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. TK blinked, his lips parting for a moment like he was genuinely confused and Carlos really understood what Michelle meant by him being undeniably good looking.

“Wait, what? What did I do?” TK asked, stepping closer again. Carlos scoffed.

The elevator doors were about to open, but he’d clearly lost his mind because Carlos reached out and pushed the button to make it stop in the middle of its journey before 

“You won’t leave me alone. You bother me constantly, I never get a moment to not be annoyed by you. You literally make me dread going to work. I’ve never had a coworker I’ve considered quitting over until I met you,” Carlos vented. TK’s eyebrows furrowed and he looked actually a bit upset.

“Wait, don’t quit. I was just messing with you. I thought we were having fun,” TK said. Carlos’ eyes widened.

“Fun? You think being poked and prodded and relentlessly annoyed by some guy you don’t even know is fun?” Carlos asked. TK blinked once, twice, before taking a step back and putting a considerable amount of distance between them.

“I’m sorry. I thought… Well, I guess I don’t know what I thought. Maybe that we were friends. That you’re cute and make that stupid serious face when you’re working where your eyebrows get all furrowed and I start thinking that you’re going to give yourself a headache. I don’t know. Sorry that I bothered you, I’ll stop,” TK said. Carlos blinked, staring at him incredulously.

“Are you five?” Carlos asked through a breath, almost annoyed that Michelle was right, “Annoying someone isn’t how you flirt with them.”

TK licked his lips and looked around, eyes stopping on the button to put the elevator back in motion. Then he looked back to Carlos.

“Would it be totally out of line for me to ask you to let me try again?” TK asked, that annoying little smile returning despite everything. Carlos let out an exasperated breath.

“For real?”

“I mean,” TK said, laughing softly, “Yeah. I’ll fuck off if you say no, but, like, if you’d be okay with it, can I woo you in a different way?”

“I don’t exactly have faith that you can woo anyone if your go to tactic was being an annoyance,” Carlos said. TK grinned.

“Don’t knock it ‘till you try it?”

Carlos stared at him and TK stared back for what was probably an uncomfortable amount of time. He kept hearing Michelle’s voice in his head that maybe it was pissing him off so much because he was interested. Wouldn’t hurt to try seemed to be her method.

Carlos breathed out and started the elevator again, staring forward and immediately stepping out when the doors opened.

“Good luck. I’m not easy to win over,” he said simply. TK laughed behind him.

“Come on, Carlos! Have faith!”

Carlos made his way to his car and took a deep breath, sitting in the silence.

For the first time in weeks, he found himself not dreading work the next day.

[superman86to99]

Superman #84 (December 1993)

Superman takes a short Paris vacation! Like, one day short. What's the worst that could happen?

Oh, man.

So, for the past few issues, we've been hearing about children being abducted in Metropolis. Now we see that they're being kept inside a giant toy house by some creepy bald man in Quasimodo clothes who seems to be obsessed with toys -- a "Man of Toys," if you will. Side note: no wonder the children haven't been found... all the articles about them are just gibberish! (See clip below.)

The kidnapper thinks that these kids' parents don't deserve them, and that they're much better off here, in an underground hideout with a man who threatens to starve them if they don't play with him. (And I do mean literally play, with action figures and stuff.) Meanwhile, as these children cry for help, Superman is having the time of his life. While helping move a stranded ship with some huge-ass chains, Superman spots a sunken galleon with a treasure chest inside and fantasizes about keeping the booty...

...before turning it over to the authorities anyway, the big boy scout. Then, he wakes up Lois at 6 AM and tells her they should go to Paris right now, which usually means your significant other is having a mental breakdown, but in this case they can actually do it. And so, after deciding that he deserves to use his powers for fun every once in a while, Superman and Lois drop everything and fly to France with super-speed for the rest of the day/issue.

Anyway: back to the child abduction! Cat Grant and her son Adam attend a Halloween party at Adam's school, but there's a disturbed weirdo in a hideous costume lurking among the crowd. Yes, I'm talking about Jimmy Olsen in his Turtle Boy suit.

Shortly after that, a guy in a dinosaur costume (see, all the creeps are dressed as reptiles) lures Adam out of the party with the promise of "superb video games." What child could resist that? Of course, that turns out to be the kidnapper and Adam ends up in his hideout along with the rest of the missing children and, worst of all, not a single "Lextendo" console.

The kidnapper gets angry at Adam when he refers to the toys at the hideout as "old-fashioned junk" (he was REALLY looking forward to those video games), and even angrier when Adam tries to free the other kids. Adam is brave and puts up a good fight, but...

And those were Adam Morgan's final words. "Uh-oh."

Next, we have a pretty harrowing scene of Detective Turpin letting Cat know Adam’s body was found, and Jimmy and Perry White taking her to the morgue to identify the body (most people probably wouldn't bring their former boss to something like that, but Perry sadly knows more than most about losing a kid). As for Lois and Clark, they were gone so long that the Daily Planet had time to print a headline about the murders. The issue ends when the lovebirds walk into the office smiling like two people who just spent the night fooling around in Paris... only to feel like jackasses when they find out what happened.

To be continued!

Character-Watch:

And that's it for little Adam Morgan who, unlike the also tragically diseased Jerry White, didn't even get any post-death appearances. Adam went from a little kid scared of Superman, to a huge brat, to a character who was approaching likeability as of last week. That's why I hate it when DC kills off young characters like Adam or Liam Harper: in long-form storytelling, children represent potential. Look at how much Wally West or Dick Grayson evolved over the years compared to their mentors! Sure, there's a huge probability that Adam would have ended up disappearing from comics for 25 years anyway, but who knows, maybe we'd now know him as Teen Gangbuster or something. GangbusTEEN.

This issue also represents a turning point for the kidnapper, who is never named or seen clearly in the story itself but I don't think I'm shocking anyone by spoiling the fact that he's Toyman (it's in the cover, for one thing). In his last two appearances before this storyline, Toyman helped Superman save some kids from Sleez and looked genuinely sad to learn about Superman's death, so this is a pretty dramatic change for the character. We'll find out why he went from big softy to child killer in Superman #85 (but don't get your hopes up).

Plotline-Watch:

The most disturbing part of the issue, all things considered, is still the part where Toyman climbs into a giant crib and hugs a huge stuffed bunny. Look at serial killer Tommy Pickles here:

Don Sparrow says:  “Even with the upgrade, Toyman is still just a man in a suit, a common complaint about Superman’s rogues gallery.” Funny you should say that, because I JUST shared an old Wizard interview in our Twitter in which Dan Jurgens talks about how Doomsday came out of his frustration with the fact that most Superman villains are dudes in suits (plus other interesting tidbits from the era, like how it was actually Roger Stern’s idea to bring back Hank Henshaw, so check out that link!).

Don again: “The entire Superman storyline of this issue feels like filler. Diving for buried treasure and soaring off to Paris -- it all feels like wasted time next to the Adam storyline.” I have a theory that the entire ship sequence is there as an excuse to put Superman in those big chains and make that Spawn joke (which I didn’t get until now, since I’ve always read this issue in Spanish).

Superman says that pulling that big ship was "a little easier than expected" -- that's either another hint that there's something going on with Superman's powers since he came back, or a subtle dig at the state of American ship manufacturing.

Another adorable "window tap" scene for the books, and this is the sexiest one so far. Is it me or has Jurgens started copying more than just Teri Hatcher's hairdo from Lois & Clark? (For anyone who thinks Lois has gotten implants, I refer you to this clip.)

While in Paris, Lois asks Clark if he's ever wondered what would happen if his rocket had landed in other countries. Don: “Clark’s conversation with Lois sounds like a bunch of concepts for Elseworlds stories. We eventually would see a Russian Superman, and a British Superman, but not yet the French Superman. (Hire us, DC!)” Yep, got my French Superman pitch ready, Jim Lee. Or just let us do Russian Superman again, since Red Son wasn’t even the first time you published that idea.

Don once more: “Another thing that makes no sense about the ‘new’ Toyman is his resentment of technological toys—when in previous appearances he himself had deadly high-tech toys to vex Superman over the years.” I especially resent his hatred of video game consoles. Incidentally, I wonder what types of games are available for Adam’s beloved Lextendo. Star Lex 64? Mega Man Lex? Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles & Lex?

No one is more upset at Lois and Clark for going AWOL than Whit. NO ONE. He's so furious that his usually grey mustache turned black.

Patreon-Watch:

As always, shout out to our patrons, Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Samuel Doran, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush and Raphael Fischer! Last month’s exclusive Patreon article was about the recently unearthed sequel to Superman 64 for the PlayStation, featuring Metallo, Parasite, and Lois looking even hotter than in this issue:

Hot damn. Find out more at https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99!

And believe it or not, Don Sparrow has even more to say about this issue. Read his section after the jump:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

I should start off my section with a big caveat:  I flat out hate this issue. There were several weird decisions made in the post-Death-and-Return era (most of them along the same lines of making the Superman titles more grim-and-gritty), and this story was one of the worst of them.  My theory is that, despite the praise and record-breaking sales of the Death and Return storyline, the Superman creative team felt pressure to have more extreme storylines, perhaps in response to the wildly successful Image books coming out at the time.  Between this story, and the upcoming “Spilled Blood” storyline, the Super books take a hard—but temporary--turn into more violent and upsetting storytelling—even though these stories are by the same writers as the previous few years. While death has always been a part of comics, and Superman comics was no exception, there is a jarring glibness and unfeeling toward the way violence is handled in these pages that is quite different from the stories that preceded it.  It’s made all the more jarring by the fact that well-established personalities suddenly veer wildly out of character, Toyman chief among them.  

We start with the cover, and while it is technically well-drawn (by the familiar team of Jurgens and Breeding) it’s also a very upsetting visual.  I think they should have gone with the pieta type pose with Adam and Superman, OR the scary badass bowie-knife Toyman (who apparently has a Cheshire cat smile now) but not both.  But the cover is a good hint at the tonal dissonance of the comic within.

We open with a splash of the now-extreme 90s looking Toyman, with his serial killer shaved head and spooky cloak, ignoring the pleas of hungry kids he has locked up in a tiny jail cell for days at a time (if that sentence doesn’t ring alarm bells for how wrong this is for a Superman story, I don’t know what will). For much of the issue Toyman’s eyes are obscured by glare on his lenses, further de-humanizing a character who was once one of Superman’s more empathetic bad guys.

We cut to Superman tugboating a huge tanker with giant chains and it’s a cool visual (one repeated in the Batman V Superman film).  It feels especially out of place to focus on, given how upsetting this issue is otherwise, but throughout the whole comic, Lois is drawn smoking hot, especially on the two page spread on pages 9-10.

The scenes depicting the actual murder, while still wildly out of place in a Superman comic, are well done, and give a real sense of darkness and menace, which I suppose is the intent.  Perhaps my least favourite visual is the Big Bird stuffie, silently bearing witness to what’s about to occur.

The edges of the panels on get more slashy and off-kilter (to me, looking very much like the layouts more typically seen in Image comics of the day) and I suppose I appreciate the restraint of how little Dan Jurgens shows of the death of a child, showing only a bloody slash on a black background.  This is still a pretty baroque image for a Superman comic, but certainly less violent than it could be, given what is happening.

Cat Grant’s silent horror is well staged, and powerful in its way.   Lastly, Clark Kent bending in sorrow and regret is a powerful image.

While this issue is handled marginally better, and more maturely than other comics on the shelf at this time, I still believe it is one of the biggest mistakes of the era.  Giving a long-established character an unceremonious death for shock value is gross on its own, but making it a child definitely crosses a line for me.  Making it worse is that, while the Toyman is a criminal and a killer, he has shown in past issues (a similar kidnapping storyline involving Sleez) that he genuinely cares for the well-being of children.  So for a long-time reader, this also felt like a betrayal of a long-established, fully developed character.   Adding to the ugliness of this is that Adam dies heroically, trying to free the children who have been caged, unfed, for days, but even in that regard, he fails.  The headline at the end of the issue confirms all the children are dead.  Adam’s death did not buy the other kids enough time to get away. It was all for nothing. Had Adam died, but the other children lived, maybe this issue wouldn’t leave quite as bad a taste. [Max: It’s weird because it’s all told in a way where it’s told in a way where it would make sense, narratively and within the story universe, that the other kids survived, but then it’s almost casually revealed that nope, they died too. A scene of one of the kids relaying Adam’s heroism to Cat in a future issue would have gone a long way.]

Superman doesn’t come off well in these pages, either.  It’s honestly the type of story they should just stay away from, because the more you think about all the calamity that is going on around the clock, the less defensible the whole Clark Kent persona becomes. Superman carving out time to romance his fiancée directly led to the preventable deaths of innocent children—how do you come back from that?

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

I’m always looking for hints that perhaps Jimmy or Perry know Superman’s secret identity deep down, and Jimmy’s anger at Lois and Clark on their return to the Daily Planet offices would seem to give that theory some credence, as he’s as angry at them as if he knew Clark really were Superman.  Either that, or he’s ticked that it fell to him, and none of them to escort Cat into the morgue. [Max: Has this issue finally converted you to the “Jimmy is terrible” side now, Don?]

I don’t think I’m the only one who disliked the new Toyman—SPOILERS BE HERE: years later, in Action Comics #865, Geoff Johns retconned this whole story, reverting Schott into the criminal who over-relates to kids, rather than the child-killer of this story.  Apparently the infantile Schott, who speaks to “Mother” a la Norman Bates, is a robot so lifelike it fools even Superman, and the “Mother” he’s constantly replying to was the real Winslow Schott trying to recall the malfunctioning robot. [Max: That’s one Geoff Johns retcon I really didn’t mind, even if it felt kind of derivative of his similar “all the Brainiacs are robots made by the real Brainiac” reveal.]

[retphienix]

I did it :)

So, I cried. That's a given.

Also this might be the most overwhelmingly happy ending in the series so far, you know, if you're used to every entry ending with "KIRYU DIE?????"

Bonus points because this ending DID NOT immediately reveal that he lives! I know my intro here is all unserious and the like but genuinely, that does a lot for making the scene so much more impactful and it worked here even though I know he returns for Y6.

So, I'm gonna do this post like the last big post because there's too many thoughts to expel.

Timestamps as I rewatch so I can share my thoughts. Then a short conclusion because honestly? This game has taken all my words multiple times.

I just want to calmly and happily say my final piece at the end :)

0:39 - Spoiler, this ending SUCKS because it doesn't include a final rhythm battle for Haruka! Now I think I read somewhere that there's a member of that assassin clan she can dance battle as a final challenge but I clearly didn't do that right and missed out and that's beside the point- THERE'S NO RHYTHM GAMEPLAY IN THIS FINALE >:(

9:00 - I EARNED IT, I'M USING IT!

13:00 - Spoiler for later, Shinada doesn't get to say this from what I recall. Instead Baba gets a different wake up call, but that works out :)

17:00 - Not now, but this will come up, I offer to you my johns for what happens in the first boss fight. My eyes were dry as hell so I missed some QTEs which means I didn't get the flashiest stuff to happen. This actually happened at the end of Y4 also but I restarted just to capture good footage- not this time.

17:30 - MOUSE. MOUSE MOUSE, A LITTLE RAT, MOUSE. Love to see it.

19:00 - The audible sigh I let out when they played the same song I've heard like 40 times in my playthrough was palpable. I do dig the song! But there are what? 4 Idol songs? They really needed more or to not saturate their use so much :(

19:40 - I legitimately gasped and went "Oh no... of course it's you!" at Baba's role in this. It added a lot of weight to the way he practically begged Haruka not to show up.

20:50 - So here's the gist. Majima's plan didn't work out, we know that. Majima has a REALLY good line and motivator moment where he says he's following orders now to protect Haruka because she means more to Kiryu than anything (and that's how Majima rolls), Majima then reveals some shit which can be amounted to "I think you've gotten weak and wanted to protect you!!!!" which does ring slightly hollow since we saw Majima at a ridiculously low point earlier. So either his low point was him contemplating Saejima's survival chances, or his low point was sincere (it sure sounded it) and his worry over Saejima being weak was just also happening at the same time. I don't really mind either way to be honest, we beat him up. I fail some QTEs.

33:00 - Baba deciding not to fulfill his orders on his own accord is actually extremely important and good as hell. It shows that all this changed him and gave him the motivation to forge his own path- or rather it began to though he's overwhelmed with doubt. It's extremely good.

33:50 - The fact he intentionally leaves evidence shows how much doubt he has though, he's giving up entirely more than forging his own path, he's just refusing to follow the orders of another but hasn't found the strength to continue on his own. It's really good is all.

38:00 - This was the first cry I had beating the game x.x Shinada is just a phenomenally likeable character, and watching him accept where his life has gone and what it's meant to others is way more touching than I'd assume considering it's a tale of a baseball star.

40:50 - THIS WAS HYPE AS HELL AND LEAD TO MY SECOND CRY. THIS PRISON FAMILY HAS NO RIGHT BEING THIS ENDEARING. Also, more or less, they get to deliver the message Shinada was supposed to lol.

42:50 - THIRD AND BIG AS HELL CRY. SHINADA YOU FOOL, YOU'VE A FOUND FAMILY AFTER-ALL!!! I genuinely adore this moment so much is all. It's such a wonderful payoff for this loveable fool. After all the runnin' away he has a home.

43:36 - I love Shinada so much the silly fuck.

46:00 - I got a laugh out of Akiyama KICKING ASS in the news footage (didn't mention but the first brawl cutscene was rather lacking wasn't it?) and Kiryu just like... punches a guy. It's hilarious to me. Also you best believe- I UNLOCKED IT, I'M USING IT!!!

48:00 - Now this is a, well, it's a bad reveal. Like look, there is a metric ton of good going on in this finale- but the reveal that Aizawa is his son and is evil and is the final boss is just too much zero-build-up-payoff. It's the worst part. It's not like extremely detrimental or anything- like it doesn't take away from the good stuff- but it's just entirely uninteresting and bad. It makes Aizawa's interest in Morinaga bizarre and uninteresting since he got no payoff, he had buildup with Saejima and then in the final scenes he's just like "Yeah, Mori was nice but who gives a fuck I am the one who killed him (I think he said) and I aspire to be strong as fuck because all of YOU IDIOTS have FRIENDS and CHARISMA >:(" and like, who fuckin' cares bud.

52:00 - Now I'll more or less sum up all of Akiyama's payoff here. 1- I unlocked it so I'm gonna use it! 2- He offhandedly says he wants to be a legend in this town, which in Y4 he already was- he was a myth, a city mystery- but of course he means like Kiryu not the loch ness monster. 3- He gets to be a legend by being the only civilian (or person in general) the Omi would bow to. It's kind of not built up at all and is a bit lame, but to be honest Akiyama has a pretty bit part in this entire game. He's kinda just a convenient returning character with motivation to assist Kiryu and a career that allows motivation to get involved through Park. To be blunt, his part in the story is weak. I wish it was stronger. But it's inoffensive and he at least gets something- as minor as it is. Getting to say he's king of the world is something, you know?

56:00 - I will say that the build up of "Oh shit, these are Kanai's men!" and the reveal that "Oh shit! They are WATASE'S men and all the clans who the Tojo were seeking alliances with!" is a good one. Watase is a fine enough character which I bring up only because I was told he was a standout- but he wasn't for me. His scenes are great, his growth with Katsuya is nice, but he's barely in the game and really only exists to be betrayed and then to be like "I'm one of the good yakuza despite being a war-lusting one because being a good yakuza is just complicated enough to allow this overlap" which is interesting for sure, but I don't know. Unless he does stuff in the subsequent games I didn't catch much in this one. Maybe he does- I assume he runs the Omi now!

1:00:00 - I kinda summed it up but yeah. Here's the final boss, Aizawa, a character we were mislead on and who's motivation is empty as fuck. It's, whatever. It's not the good part of the ending. The good part is everything prior and directly after. Like his entire deal is anti-silver-spoon talking points but also he includes being charismatic or capable as silver spoon-isms??? He pretty much just wants to be leader because he's strong. He'd arguably be more interesting if he just said it that way.

1:11:00 - The lyrics to Dream are anything but subtle and I love them and I love Haruka. Sliding this in here- Majima gets no payoff >:( Park's dream is accomplished in seeing her star on the stage, but no Majima moment? No sight of him accepting her loss? Lame.

1:14:00 - I genuinely LOVE that Aizawa focuses in on Kiryu's gunshot wound. He still accepts it as a fair fight because Kiryu presents it as one, but even then he pays mind to it as you'd expect someone wanting to fight at their strongest would- he wants to fight Kiryu at his best and he's accepting this because Kiryu presents as his best even when wounded- it's pretty cool. Fight happens. It's fine stuff, flashy and fun. Still maybe the weakest final boss yet because he has no build up. I'd be the first to admit without looking it up I can't list every final boss thus far, but like, Nishi was built up, Mine was built up, Goda was built up, I just, in this moment, don't recall having a big "WHO THE FUCK, THIS MEANS NOTHING?" fight in yakuza and this is certainly one of those.

1:25:00 - I cried AGAIN. Haruka just hit me with a truck of emotion here is all.

1:41:15 - This is a beautifully shot, emotional, and tragic looking ending. Heck, at 1:43:00 I initially thought he was being awoken in a hospital bed and I was like "Heh, there's the old Kiryu dies fakeout!" but no! They hammer home, they go for broke, they give a TRAGIC AS FUCK bitter ending on top of an ending that's like 99% happy as fuck in terms of offering everyone involved hope for the future. This was a good end :)

So then, some overall thoughts I maybe didn't get out- I mean there's no way this post touches everything but I want to at least try to because I like sharin' the experience and what I got out of it.

The fighting styles were mighty uneven as far as strengths or fun factor. To be blunt,

Kiryu has an overpowered counter attack and heat mode and since heat mode is underwhelming as hell that means he has JUST a counter attack- his strikes don't really hit all that well considering the improvements other characters saw this time around, so he's a bit one note here.

Saejima feel even meatier than before, nothing particularly 'stands out' but the fact that he has super armor as long as he has heat is a pretty big factor in making him feel good to use.

Akiyama got the short end of the straw this time around. His new gimmick is the launch combos and they are... well... less than shit at least from what I could feel during gameplay. They don't hurt much, they burn heat like crazy, and they can MISS, all while being a move that targets just one enemy- has no counter to blocking or armor- and provides no armor in turn.

Despite not losing anything, he kinda got screwed.

(I'm lead to believe Akiyama is invulnerable during his aerial combos which my blurb in my finale post complained felt worthless and cited that as a reason.

If so then I was wrong but I still hold all my other complaints towards it, just not the 'it has no armor or invuln' bit assuming that's true.)

Shinada wins out for being unique and being a weapon oriented character that actually does well with weapons. Weapons have always been something I pretty much ignore in Yakuza and the series itself has always desperately tried to make them interesting with things like weapon skills, Kamiya works, and the like. But other than the god weapons like the golden gun weapons just never felt good to manage.

Using them, sure, that's fine, but managing them? Durability and skills and limited movesets and all that? Nah. But Shinada really does a lot to make them less shit! His innate abilities that raise durability a metric ton REALLY make weapons feel better to use with him- and his unique movesets with weapons are pretty damn good (mostly. The pipe/'normal one hander pole size object' moveset is worthless as heck, it regularly misses).

He's fun.

===

Revelations were a miss this time around for me. Since you couldn't have seen them if you tried on my blog let it be known- I ONLY got the quest related revelations for each character- which is to say- ONE rev per character.

Revelations in 5 are weapon based, and not just 'bat or pole or gun' or whatever- they are DISPOSABLE TEMPORARY weapon based.

What you are supposed to do is go to the specific place on the map where that one revelation weapon spawns, hope like hell you find an enemy, and wail on them like crazy. If you use a weapon x amount of times then you'll get a revelation according to the internet. This is beyond ridiculous and means a normal playthrough will get none of these, while a focused one will be bored out of their mind GRINDING to get these.

I did not bother.

===

Now.

Yakuza 5.

This might be my favorite Yakuza overall.

I still think 0 is probably the best overall for most people, it has the best style, it has from what I've experienced the best gameplay, it's story is tear jerking and exciting and fun.

But as a yakuza game overall, I really have to give it to 5 personally. Because 0 tried to work within its bounds- it made itself a great entry point to the series or a great addition to Yakuza 1 / Kiwami as background.

But 5 is building on 4 previous games and it does so fucking phenomenally.

There's something to be said about a later entry in a series gaining extra payoff thanks to multiple entries of build up and character depth and 5 fucking does it.

I just. It explores the motivation of some fan-favorites so well, it expands characters so fucking well, I know I've harped on about it but just Saejima- man! Saejima goes from a run of the mill "Decent" character to a fully fledged and explored entity! And I LOVE him!

And no he's not the only shining spot, like hell he is, but he's such a posterchild for what 5 does right in my eyes- take something that's already good and breath some life into it. Also I adore it's laser focus on a singular theme and all the ways it wanted to explore it.

Like. I think Kiwami and Zero take the cake for the most fun I've had " 'playing' Yakuza so far, but 5 takes the cake for the most fun I've had 'in general' like gameplay and me just thinking about it because there's so much to think on.

More time will tell as I compartmentalize my thoughts and perhaps forget some details as one does, but right this moment- this might be my favorite Yakuza game.

I love it.

Also, woot! I beat Y5 before Monhun Rise came out :D Now I can start that game without putting a story on hold!

...

Except I also told my sister that I'd start Omori after Y5. So I guess alongside monhun I'll be playing through a game with a hefty and wonderfully done story. Which is what I didn't want to do with Y5.

I just can't win, lol.

[popculturebuffet]

Darkwing Duck Reviews Halloween Special: Fungus Amongus and Ghoul of My Dream

Happy Halloween! Halloween Havoc races to the finish with another Darkwing Double Feature! Love is kinda crazy with a spooky girl like Morgana, and in this case “kinda crazy” means a board of ghouls stealing pizza, sentient mushrooms, grumpy spiders, student lone debt, and a gremlin who somehow sees himself as a valid romantic option. It’s a Darkwing Duck Halloween under the cut.+

We’ve made it! While I got less Halloween reviews done than I would’ve liked, I’m still happy with the ones done and there’s still two more to get in the pocket before the day’s up. So with Halloween today it seemed fitting to talk about the Justice Ducks resident sorcerer and Darkwing’s Girlfriend, Morgana Macawber. Morgana was the only one of the four to stick around as a recurring character out of the four Justice Ducks: Gizmoduck would show up once more after the four parter, and sadly Neptunia and Stegamutt just seemed to vanish but the crew clearly liked Morg a lot and her relationship with Darkwing, so she stuck around for the rest of the series, and is even the focus of the final episode “Malice’s Restaurant”, as well as a sizeable part of the comics. And it’s easy to see why as Kathie Sourcie had great chemistry with Jim Cummings and Morgana’s very presence, being a sorceress raised by the munsters and living in a creepy mansion, allowed for diffrent stories than what Darkwing usually dealt with. While magic didn’t feel like it contrasted with the world, as Darkwing’s world feels like your standard superhero fantasy kitchen sink where anything is possible, most of his foes were either super villains or the kinds of super spies you’d find in a comic book. So fighting ghoouls, goblins, and Satan himself, yes that’s an episode that actually happened, no it’s sadly not on Disney plus, and yes I will be covering it eventually, was a nice out of genre experience and a nice way to put our daring duck of mystery out of his element.

She brought something diffrent to the table, both forcing Darkwing to grapple with letting someone into his life, and with having something to focus on other than Gosalyn or crime. So I wanted to see how this plays out, so expect me to cover all her episodes and not just the Satan one or the Valentine’s Day one, though like my Tom Lucitor retrospective, expect this one to also take some time. So with that all set up, Halloween is the perfect time to begin our journey with her first two episodes.. and Morgana’s Villian Career. Yeah while she only had about 9 episodes to her name, 2 of them are as a Catwoman or Black Cat style antagonist, someone whose likeable and who are hero is attracted to, but is on the wrong side of the law.

She eventually came around, but it’s still an intresting way to start things and an intresting dilema for our hero I wish stuck around for just a smidge longer. These aren’t bad episodes with Ghoul of My Dreams being a pretty good one. If I had to guess though the reason the dynamic fizzled out.. is they simply didn’t have a lot of ideas of how to use her as a bad guy. Part of the reason i’m covering these two episodes together is that they follow basically the same plot beat, the only differences being Darkwing meets Morgana in the first one and they know each other in the second, and that the evil entity who ends up turning against her she works with is different for both. The third act is also entirely unique to each episode, so it feels less like them lazily repeating themselves on an episode and more like they genuinely realized they didn’t have a ton of ideas for Morgana as a villain and thus had her reform with the Justice Ducks two parter. And I can’t blame them: fan would get annoyed if basically every Morgana plot played out the same, and this way she could know Drake’s secret identity, and thus allow the stories to use Gosalyn, though I do wish she’d shown up in one of the villian ones just to see how that played out. But still her time as a Villian is there, and is even a plot point in the valentine’s episode, so let’s see how it played out and see what I think.

Fungus Amongus

The plot here is fairly simple: there’s been a rash of mysterious thefts in St. Canard, and Darkwing is stumped.. until Launchpad asks if they can go for pizza, because he’s hungry and Darkwing is the terrible kind of boss that doesn’t’t care about meal breaks. It makes our hungry hero realize that each of the thefts are connected to PIzza Toppings, and after thwarting the bats and spiders stealing some anchovies, figures there’s only two left: Green Peppers and Mushrooms, and so he decides it’s time to split up gang and while Launchpad guards the peppers, Darkwing goes to visit the head of the mushrom company, who naturally turns out to be Morgana. The two end up taken with one another, to the board’s annoyance as Darkwing is onto them and could stop their whole evil plan and they want to just murder his ass and be done with it. But Morgana proves seduction’s a bit more useful as she sweetalks our hero into leaving, and points out given he’s also a creature of the night in a sense, she plans to turn him.. or kill him if she has to. More on that in our next episode. The facade dosen’t last long as Darkwing goes to help launchpad at the pepper place, and ends up finding out oh no the hot lady he met five minutes ago is bad! While the board plans to feed Launchpad to mutant mushrooms, while Morgana seemingly turns Darkwing into her mindless slave.. but really just played the board and switched sides, not wanting to hurt the guy she just met because he’s cute, they defeat the mushrooms and the board who turn into mushrooms in the light because....

The day is saved though we do get the one standout bit of the episode. Darkwing despite his attraction to her, wants to turn her in, while Morgana simply teleports her house away. And thus the dance begins. As for the episode... as you can tell by how brief I was... for one i’m not doing my usual died in wool recapping for these two to get them out on time. And i’m also not because this one.. is pretty thin. The mutant mushroom and boards’d esigns are cool and Morgana is intresting.. but having seen Ghoul of my Dreams first.. it’s just not as fun, funny or good on the Morgana Darkwing dynamic. Morgana just decides because she wants to ride that dick she’ll be good for a moment, and throw away her hard worked scheme, and the board is turned into mushrooms because.. well see the lex luger pic above. It’s not a TERRIBLE episode, just not a terribly intresting one. It has good elements, but they just don’t come together well and the pizza scheme isn’t as funny as the episode thinks it is. I can kinda see why this one was buried deeper into the series and Ghoul of My Dreams is where they put focus. I just don’t have a lot to say about this one, it’s just bland and uninteresting. It’s kind of why I just sorta plopped it next to Ghoul, I needed to review it for completion’s sake, but lord if I can think of a lot to say about it that isn’t tied into the next one. So since I can’t...

Ghoul of my Dreams:

Now this is better. The basic plot is still simple but allows for a lot more intresting set pieces: It’s a slow night in St. Canard, to Darkwing’s natural annoyance, until a bunch of fire fighters start sleepwalking and throwing gold to some spiders and bats. Something is afoot and since the bats belong to Morgana, Darkwing goes to investigate her. Granted we just MET eek and squeak, but it’s easy enough to assume Morgana struck again off screen and some time has passed. And i’ts honestly what makes this episode more interesting: now it’s more of a cat and mouse game, with Morgana using their chemistry against him, but still being genuinely drawn to him and not wanting to hurt him. It’s better than “I met you five minutes ago might as well throw away my money for you”.  Instead Morg truly likes Drake, but wants to keep doing crimes to, in easily the best joke of the entire series “Finally pay off my student loans”.. which makes her already not really a bad guy. I may not haves em but I know people who do. Those loan people do not play around. It’s investing and Sourcie and Cumming’s chemstiry really makes it pop. Sourcie really is what makes the character, giving her energy, sedcutivness when called for and a really sympathetic quality that makes her face turn, sudden as it is, believable. It’s why I really like the character. And I get why some don’t: Her romance with darkwing is sudden,  her face turn is even more sudden, and she gets in the way of Drakepad shippers. The first two are valid criticisms, while the last one is understandable.. depending on motive. If your just bummed this relationship you don’t like is forced into the show and gets in the way of the one you actually enjoy.. trust me...

BEEN THERE. And far far worse.. I didn’t start up an entire retrospective on the guy who DIDN’T get the girl here for nothing. But if you say “oh well it’s homophobic or you hate gays” if you don’t ship drakepad, which I have actually heard for both this ship and delpad.. kindly go fuck yourself and stay away from my posts. It’s NOT homophobic to ship a character who is CANOCIALLY into women, with a woman. Launchpad had a girl of the week or two in ducktales, Drake’s attraction to morgana is canon and he also had some ship tease with Neptunia. They both like women.. but there’s nothing saying they DON’T like men, don’t want to date men, or aren’t attracted to them.

Been waiting to reference Schitt’s Creek at some point here now i’ve started watching it. It’s biphobic to say this sort of harmful shit, and it doesn’t’t help there are plenty of gay people who genuinely believe bi and pan aren’t sexualities and harm their own community by doing so. Saying this kind of shit just fuels their fire and bi people like me and pan people like my firend have a hard enough time with straight people being dicks about this. You should know and be better. Don’t bring that shit into this fandom. We’ve already ridden incest out on a rail we don’t need this. I already put up with enough bullshit being a loud house fan and having to deal with ACTUAL homophobic ships like Sam/Lincoln, aka setting up a character you don’t know to be anything but gay, versus her girlfriend whose canocially been shown to be bi if preferring women, whose the proment and well like love interest of a woman, and pair her with her younger brother to clearly troll people. Now that’s a homophobic ship and that you shoudl be angry about, not “oh no the person who likes women in canon.. LIKES A WOMAN IN FANON”. It’s part of what made shiping delpad hard at times because people got really dumb about it to the point someone drew some very horrible fanart just to clog up the tag. Knock. it off.

And if your curious for my actual thoughts on Drakepad: in the classic series.. i’m not a fan, but I get it, and I do think they could work... it’s just. that Drake treats Launchpad really bad, including throwing him out of the house for a year without telling him why over something that really wasn’t his fault, not feeding him, not treating him as an equal after a while. This would have to change for them to work but I could see it happening, as the comics and one of the peisodes make a point that Drake can be a pretty shitty partner to Morgana too.

And just to show i’m equal opprtunity, despite shipping Delpad in the past, i’ve moved on to Penpad and Drakepad , ironcially enough, i’m not as big a fan anymore. LIke the above, Della just dosen’t respect launchpad as a human being. She was willing to keep the Halloween thing up JUST to scare children, looks down on him, and whie is his friend, is not all that close. I could see them happening, and do still think it’d be cute, it’d just take a ton of work and there are better ships for both. And yes I do ship Drakepad in the reboot, but there the two aren’t employer and employee, but equals who genuinely love and respect one another, listen to one another, and value each other. In the Reboot they have genuine chemistry and I could see them together, while in the original Launchpad and Morgana both really deserve better.

Now that’s settled, we get a fun scene of the two primping for each other. then flirting a bit, though Morgana, in AWFUL looking black lipstick wins with the move above and has her spider web launchpad, who hates morgana.. which is one part common sense given how darkwing gets around her and one part ho yay. But yeah this is pretty much Launchpad for both these episodes.

And darkwing dick is calling the shots so fair enough. But Morgana is once again nto wokring alone and is working with a creepy, well designed gremlin, named Nodoff... eh i’ve heard worse, whose giving her sleeping dust to knock out her targets and hits on her constnatly. Naturally he plans to betray her as soon as he can, and is likely only tolerating her because he wants to hit that.  There dynamic boils down to this.

There’s also tons of fun dream sequences including one at the top with darkwing being confronted by his enitre Rogue’s gallery before seeing morgana, NOdoff using baseball on Morg’s next target and some great ones at the climax. It’s part of hwy I like this episode better: While someone using dreams for stuff has been done a lot, it’s given a creative spin here as instead of killing them, Morgana’s simply using them to steal. Good stuff.

Darkwing foils their first attempt, though gets blamed for it because St. Canard is about as grateful as New York when it comes to superheroes. Morgana knocks darkwing out with some dust via Eeka and Squeak and admits Nodoff is working for her, though fobids him to harm Darkwing. This.. dosen’t last and we get another great setpiece, of sarkwing on a high dive. Thankfully, Launchpad finds him, and they find Morgana, who gives off the student loans comment. But in the struggle to stop her, Darkwing accidently puts her and the city to sleep.. and Nodoff is now super powerful and imprisons morgana. Darkwing i s back at her house, wondering what to do, but the bats give him a clue.. by flying him thorugh the door to fight Nodoff. It goes about as well as you’d expect with him freeing Morgana.. then trying to murder them both. Darkwing however pulls an Elm Streett 3 and says to think happy thoughts and take control of the dream.. which ends up at Darkwing’s Wedding to Morgana to his horror..... remind me whose the hero again. The woman who, while doing crimes is trying to pay off unfair debts, or the guy who finds the idea of commitment horrifying.  

Anyways we get some more great bits, I brush over them so I don’t ahve to talk about them conantly, including darkwing getting a cake on him, before Darkwing turns the tables by finding the hourglass full of the dust.. and in a clever finale, loading it into his gun and firing it on nodoff. This puts him to sleep.. which puts him in the real world, while Launchpad uses a giant alarm clock to wake everyone. They throw NOdoff back into the dream world.. for some reason.. and the episode ends iwth morgana kissing darkwing and the episode possibly having been all a dream.

This one, while I was again breif, is a classic, with a much more interesting dynamic. Instead of a morgana who goes from willing to kill we get one whose conflicted over things, who clearly wants to be a crook but may like darkwing more than that, as evidenced when he talks her out of taking Nodoff’s offer of riches. It’s good stuff and the gags are back to the show’s usual top notch level. It’s a creative, fun episode that really helps Morgana come into her own and I look forward to more of her. Overall i’d recommend skipping fungus amongus, but DEFINTELY check out ghoul of my dreams, as it’s throughly fantastic. I’ll be back in a bit for one last Halloween review and as always you can find my backlog on my blog. i recently covered Tiff of the Titans and there’s regular ducktales coverage every monday. Until then make sure to vote, wear a mask and check your house for gary busey till we meet again! Play us out Gerard Way!

[subliminalcherry-blog]

Long Ass Enta Rant

The only thing more problematic than defending Enta’s behavior because he’s “14″ and “we all did dumb things as kids” (I sure as hell didn’t do the things Enta does toward my crush at 14 but I’m not going to get into that) is claiming that any hate/criticism directed at Enta is based on homophobia?? Or an adult not understanding how a child’s mind works when they’re in love? 

And after seeing so many posts in the tags about it, I’m going to explain why that’s a garbage conclusion to come to.

Like, y’all do realize that Reo and Mabu are the fandom’s favorite characters, the most popular characters to come out of the show while it’s airing regardless of whether people read the Manga first or not, and they’re both undoubtedly, definitely, and indisputably gay? And they’re both ADULTS out here relentlessly murdering people but they’re still well liked. 

Where are these homophobia claims coming from? They’re both baseless and stupid. A characters sexuality should NOT be a shield from criticism. Ever. 

For people who shit on Reo and Mabu fans for still liking them but in the same breath, criticizing Enta, People can continue to like Reo and Mabu despite all the things they do because we can acknowledge that they’re the bad guys and they’re intended to be the shows main villains or at least so far that is what we are being lead to believe. No one tries to justify the things they do.  No one is saying Reo is in the right for trying to kill multiple children and MAYBE succeeding the second time around. They’re villains. They don’t try to justify their actions or so far have not made themselves out to be victims. And most of all, we don’t see their fans jumping to their defense every time they do something inherently wrong. Most of us were just as shocked as anyone else that Reo’s crazy ass shot Enta. But moving on.

 In the case of Enta, what’s worse than the things he unapologetically does is his fans acting like the things he does aren’t bad and use his age and sexuality to guilt people and deflect criticism from him as a character. First of all, gay people do not need to be coddled and treated like they can do no wrong. Real gay people are human beings who make mistakes and eventually own up to them. Enta has not and has only continued to make mistakes while learning nothing from them. I understand that Sarazanmai is short and fast paced, but that’s still no excuse in my opinion. Second of all, No one is vilifying Enta because he’s gay. That aspect of his character is largely irrelevant compared to the things he does. Enta is not being singled out because he’s the only openly gay character of the main trio. He’s being criticized because the things he does are inherently wrong and mostly without justification. And he’s not the only one being criticized. 

Kazuki, Mabu and Reo have all come under fire for the things they do. Chikai maybe has faced backlash as well, especially for what he does in episode 8, but I haven’t went out of my way to look for it. The only one of the relevant cast, Sara aside, who hasn’t done a thing to warrant backlash is maybe Tooi. You can bring up the fact that he killed someone and his brother covered it up, but he was a child, even younger than Enta and he did it in self-defense - and was lead to believe that was something he must do to project his brother who shifted the blame onto himself. It is in my opinion that Chikai pretty much conditioned him into thinking this was an acceptable lifestyle and choice, but I’m not entirely confident that it was written with that intent so just take that for a grain of salt.

As per the Ikuhara character standard nowadays, Enta is a piece of shit. He makes himself out to be a victim and his fans treat him as such. He refuses to see the error of his ways even if he hurts the person he cares about the most and wants to connect to in the process. He’s not entirely unsympathetic and sometimes he may even be understandable, but he’s shown to take things to illogical extremes, as Ikuhara characters tend to do. He acts entitled to Kazuki, and only loves the idealized version that he once knew or ultimately made up in his head, refusing to accept that Kazuki doesn’t reciprocate his feelings. Enta is the type of character that everyone would hate if he was a straight male character doing these things to a disinterested female character. But suddenly because he’s gay it’s justifiable and endearing and anyone that doesn’t like him is a homophobe? That’s ridiculous. I don’t give a shit what a character or human beings sexuality is. A piece of shit is a piece of shit. 

I’m not even going to lie. I wanted to like Enta at first. I was following Sarazanmai since it was first announced and when the character designs first came out, Right off the bat, I wasn’t a fan of his design or how aggressive he was toward the other characters in the trailers. For me, those were red flags. But I still tried to like him regardless. when he kissed Kazuki, I got excited until the implications of his actions fully set in for me. Kissing someone without their consent isn’t okay, especially if the person is asleep. That was already another red flag for me. And then they reveal that he just stepped up to the next level of creepy by making him sniff kazukis clothes and suck on his recorder for indirect kisses? He has delusions about him? And people tried to justify it because he’s 14 as if it wouldn’t be creepy if it happened to someone in real life or again, if a male anime character did it to a female anime character? Only scenario I could see this not receiving hate wildly in is if it was a comedy anime or something but then we’d still have a number of people labeling the character as a creep.

Enta’s love for Kazuki is unhealthy. It’s more than just being a dumb awkward gay 14 year old who has their first crush on someone. He’s just a character in a long line of Ikuhara character’s that don’t display their love for another person in  way that is understandable or healthy. I don’t see how relatable this character could be on a surface level when you think of all the things he’s done. He’s not a borderline rapist like Ringo from Mawaru Penguindrum, which I’m grateful for because she may be one of the most unlikeable characters Ikuhara has ever written, but he’s basically Lulu 2.0 from Yuri Kuma Arashi except a guy. He even ““dies”” in the same way as her. 

While Kazuki is no saint and getting some of the backlash he deserves, Enta is not entitled to Kazuki and part of the hate directed at Kazuki shouldn’t have anything to do with his feelings or the lack of them toward Enta or being too dim-witted to acknowledge them. Enta is not a victim just because his love is unrequited. He’s a flawed character, borderline unlikeable for some including myself and relatable for others but a flawed Ikuhara character nonetheless. The criticism he receives is not baseless. It’s not based on homophobia. He’s not being singled out because he’s an ““awkward gay 14 year old” as if a homophobe would sit through this show for 8 episodes anyway just to come to that conclusion. Episode 1 was a turn off for even people who aren’t homophobic anyway —

He’s criticized because he’s a flawed character that shows no remorse for his actions, acts entitled, acts like a victim in situations where he’s in the wrong, is a creep and is currently fighting Kazuki for the title of the most unlikeable, most unsympathetic character in the cast for me and no amount of ““self sacrifice” is going to change that for me until i see him change. I think next to Tooi, he’s better written than Kazuki, who imo has been bland and never stopped being bland. But that doesn’t necessarily make him a good character or ““well-written” either. 

At the end of the day, it boils down to your opinions and perspectives. It just gets tiresome seeing people trying to write off criticism toward Enta as irrelevant just because he’s gay or because he’s “14″ as if this “14″ year old wasn’t written by a grown man with a history of writing problematic underage characters? Ringo didn’t initially get a slap on the wrist when she was shitty until she truly earned her sympathy card. None of the characters in Yuri Kuma did either except Lulu who ended up dying despite being the most likeable character in the cast. 

The amount of people I see defending him makes me think this is a lot of you’s first Ikuhara anime. Most of us who have seen Ikuhara anime before would have expected a character like this due to his repetitive story-telling and character molds. Like I said before, Ikuhara has a history of writing problematic characters. Everyone in the main cast is in a way, even Tooi. Sara is squeaky clean for now, but she may end up being a morally grey character as well.

I just can’t take the opinions of people who make baseless claims like that seriously. Or people who try to justify Enta’s actions because of his age either. He’s a FICTIONAL CHARACTER. not a real 14 year old. I don’t get why people are so defensive over him either. I get that we can relate to characters sometimes, but the amount of projection I’m seeing is almost as unhealthy as his obsession with Kazuki.

Anyway, come for me if you want. Send hate or whatever. If you wanna discuss your perspective on Enta’s character, feel free to do that too. 

If anything, y’all should be mad that all the most outwardly problematic characters in the show are gay and barely have any justification for their actions. I mean Kazuki tried to kidnap someone and impersonated Sara because he wanted to form a connection with his brother, but he not only failed at getting Sara kidnapped, he also learns from his actions and tries to form a genuine connection with Haruka on his own. Being dismissive of Enta’s romantic feelings for him shouldn’t be an subject of criticism and shouldn’t warrant a justification. If you aren’t interested, you aren’t interested. Onto Tooi - We don’t know what Tooi’s sexuality is, but his justification for killing a guy was self defense and he was most likely conditioned into believing that the lifestyle he lives is acceptable by his brother.

 What’s Enta’s excuse other than that he was jealous? Reo and Mabu didn’t didnt have a genuine excuse to kill all of those people, including trying to kill Harukawa and then shooting Enta. I understand that they’re threatened with death, but They could have just threatened Kazuki and Enta into giving up the dishes of hope since they had a gun. Just saying. 

Anyway rant over. If you lasted this long, what are you doing with your life. And what am I since I sat down and wrote all this shit.

[nordic-breeze]

I was going through my files and I came over this document I sent to my friend @distant-rain pretty much the same day I realized I had fallen in love with Arthur, after weeks of being in denial or shrugging off my daydreaming of this cowboy as nbd or thought experiments and boy was I confused. 

I knew next to nothing about RDR1 when I wrote this December last year and I didn’t know much about RDR2 post chapter 2 either except for Arthur’s fate, which I had just learned of, and oml was I upset and confused. Though also scaringly accurate about certain things.

Now over six months later, I love this cowboy even more. And I kept true to my word. If anyone wanna read the rambings of a fangirl who had just found her new obsession be my guest.

I was blown away by how massive this game is. The level of detail is incredible and I greatly appreciate the effort put into creating this world. Yeah, we’ve all heard about the horse testicles shrinking in cold weather but it’s not like it’s just one bizarre detail being essentially a dick joke in an otherwise average game. No, RDR2 is detailed enough that it actually makes sense to add in peculiarities like that. The amount of wildlife alone, I mean, ever since the PS2 era I’ve been used to seeing animals in games but R* created whole-ass ecosystems in RDR2, several of’em, from snowy mountains to marshlands, with animals that act so much like actual animals. Just listening to the birds singing, it’s like being out in an actual forest!

Characterization is another thing that amazed me, in particular the protagonist. I knew nothing about the first RDR when started playing RDR2, nor did I know anything about RDR in general other than it was western-themed and made by the GTA-guys. I expected somewhat of a similar characterization as GTA where every character is a stereotype or a caricature. I genuinely liked GTAV’s story for what it was and even though every character was more or less an asshole, some of them were also weirdly likeable and even earned my sympathy (and hint of affection) occasionally.

But it never really went deeper than that nor was it particularly long-lasting (still way more than I expected tho). I bonded with one of the characters more than I thought I would but not nearly as much as I would had the characters felt more like actual humans and not like the epitome of stereotypes. But it is what R* wanted and it worked. I expected the RDR2 characters to be the same but to my surprise the characters, especially Arthur, are fleshed out, complex, even relatable (depending on your actions I guess). Unlike GTAV, they act and react like actual human beings. Well, human beings that have lived their entire life (more or less) as outlaws. In a country and time period foreign to me. But still they felt human. Ofc I’ve not gotten to know any of the NPC’s as well as Arthur but from various missions and eavesdropping on their conversation I’ve gotten to know them a bit. Hosea is my favorite. He seems like a good man despite being an outlaw and I love how everyone goes to him for advice and how supportive he is. I also wish more people (esp a certain Dutch man) could listen to him more. I also really like Charles. He definitely got morals and could be a good influence on Arthur and the others. I haven’t seen much of Sadie yet, but think I’ll like her too. Lenny seems nice. That one scene when he and Arthur went out drinking together was absolutely brilliant! And lil Jack’s adorable ofc. Only one I don’t like is Micha or Miach or whathisname. I know no one in the van der Linde gang are saints but that guy is a total psychopath. I kinda wish Arthur had gotten his way there when he said they should just leave him in jail as he was nothing but trouble and it annoys me how Dutch is sticking up for him. Yeah, speaking of, not too fond of Dutch or that German guy either atm.

But all in all very impressed by the large open world, the level of details to well, everything and the characterization. Soundtrack is great, graphics are stunning, animations smooth, the horse-riding simulation is just extraordinary and you never know what’s gonna happen as you ride through the map. The amount and variety of random events and encounters are truly impressive. Often comical, like that wildlife photographer who keeps getting almost eaten up by the wildlife he’s trying to document, sometimes eerie like the serial killer side story, or sad like when Arthur met with his former love. Or a combination of said elements like the pig farmers I ran into. With no pigs. But were still veeery well fed. You know, when people are just a liiitle bit too friendly? That eerie feeling you get when you just know something’s wrong but you can’t quite put your finger on it. Until you can. I thought they were husband and wife I really did. You shoulda seen my face when I realized they were in fact brother and sister. Me and Arthur had the exact same face. They were living as husband and wife tho. Well, up until I killed them.

I also love the contrast between the more ‘modern’ world and the simpler life. I could go into town, buy food at the saloon and rent a room or take a bath at the hotel. Or I could ride a few mins out into the wilderness, hunt and gather my own food, cook it over a bonfire and sleep under the stars. Electricity exists, but people are still completely dependent on oil lamps and open flame. Trains and trams exist, cars have been invented, but people still mainly travel on horseback. This contrast between old and new as an era is ending and the modern era is about to begin has been an amazing experience considering the level of detail the game has. The colonization of the new land, which has been largely unknown to me, the contrast between this and modern-day America we see on TV. So many people did not even speak English, I often find abandoned buildings, or burnt-down buildings, some with bodies inside, leaving me wondering what happened to them, I found a ghost town whose inhabitants had been wiped out by a plague. It was tough for many I reckon.

In fact, I find the exploration of this foreign but also somewhat familiar, beautiful but harsh world and its many random events and encounters waaay more interesting than the actual main story itself, which is why it took me forever to reach chapter 3. In fact, the story is probably my least favorite part about RDR2, as backwards as it may sound. I’ve never been into western stories or aesthetics, and I’m certainly NOT into the whole ‘outlaws till the end’ stuff ugh. I fail to sympathize with the whole ‘boo-hoo the world no want outlaws like us no more it’s unfair’. Ugh, go cry me a fucking river. And then go get a job. A real job. Yeah, I get it that adapting to society is tough, life’s tough deal with it and stop preying on others. Wow, robbing two trains in short time and staying in the same fucking area actually has consequences, I’m so shook!

So yeah, story-wise I don’t quite ‘get it’ and Dutch is really starting to get on my nerves, which is probably why I prefer to just ride off alone and experience the world. I guess RDR2 story will rely heavily on being torn between gang loyalty and your own morality and principles but since I have virtually no concept of group loyalty that is all lost on me. My own morals and principles all the way. I’m like, ‘these people suck, take Hosea, Charles, Sadie, Tilly (maybe John Marston and his family) and leave these bitches behind’.

At the beginning, I did kinda liked Dutch. He seemed genuinely sorry for Sadie, took her in and saved her life, even if it meant another mouth to feed in dire times. And he showed Kiran mercy despite hating the O’Driscol’s. But as I’ve progressed thought the game, his grand speeches about sticking together, sticking with him, slowly but surely has turned from pep-talk to keep people’s spirit up to sounding like a cult leader desperate to keep his following no matter the cost. Yesterday when I was playing, I overheard him quote some quasi-philosophy book to Lenny and used the words to twist them into his own convictions to support his decisions. And when Lenny objected, Dutch literally said ‘you’re breaking my heart, kid’. Wow Dutch, talk about manipulating your protégé.

It was the mission when those lawmen approached Arthur as he was fishing with Jack that really made me consciously see Dutch in a new light. Up until then, RDR2 had mostly been fun and games but that conversation left me feeling a bit uneasy. But I just figured it was the main story finally picking up pace and also, I figured I was near the end of the chapter. I carried on, suddenly eager to see what would happen and was thoroughly surprised by how the chapter ended. In a bad way.

While both chapter 2 and chapter 3 begins with a ‘new start’ vibe, chapter 3 felt very different from chapter 2. Mostly it was that feeling that Dutch’s obsession with ‘sticking to this life’ is going to get people killed. Idk, it’s this eerie feeling something’s wrong but can’t quite put my finger on it-feel again. But thanks to internet being internet I already knew some spoilers so I couldn’t help but to look up something and… well, let me put it this way. I’m never going to finish this game. Ever. It breaks my heart because in so many ways it’s truly an amazing game and a fantastic experience. But I’m just not that into the story, I don’t like where it’s heading and I don’t want to see what’s coming to character(s) I’ve come to care deeply about.

I still want to explore the world more, see what unfolds, do more challenges, add stuff to my compendium, maybe get some trophies… but I doubt I’ll ever progress much story-wise. Quite the contrary, I might reload an earlier save and just stay in chapter 2 forever.

(wrtten a couple of days later)

Seems my instincts was right on the money, esp concerning Dutch. Sad thing, I do believe he is sincere. In the first few chapters at least. He is manipulative but I also believe he’s convinced himself that he’s doing the right thing. And then his obsession will eventually get the better of him and when people and the lifestyle is slipping away from him, he doesn’t handle it well at all. Ugh, it’s so frustrating, I just wanna gather all my favs and yell: “leave nooow, before it’s too late!

It’s not for the sake of spacing it out or making it last. I just don’t want to progress in the story at all. I hated losing Horseshoe Overlook. HATED IT HATED IT HATED IT!!!! Yes the new place is beautiful, yes I know it’s the life of the outlaws and RDR2 does show that life for better and for worse whereas most stories tend to romanticize the whole thing, yes as outlaws they can’t stay for too long in one place. But as mentioned I have a hard time sympathize with and immerse myself into that lifestyle. Yes, I got all my upgrades and a whole new area to explore, a bigger nearby town, and closer to that big city. Still hated it. Horseshoe Overlook was my place. The Heartlands was home. And the view was stunning! And I liked Valentine. It was small and dirty but I had good memories from there. Until I had to shoot up half the town. My motivation for continuing the main story is at absolute zero.

It was more what the transition represented, I guess. You never know what will happen in RDR2. And it’s true, for random encounters, and many of the individual missions. But when it comes to the story as a whole, I feel like I already now can predict how it’ll play out. Every chapter begins with the gang on the move, finding a place to settle down and have a fresh start, even chapter 1 (as they were on the run bc a heist gone wrong or something). Then they settle down, go into town to get to know the area and establish connections and looking for easy money, often at the expenses of others. X random events later, they get too overconfident or careless, screws up or get hunted down, it ends with a shootout, then they are on the run again, finds a new place to settle down where Dutch promises that THIS TIME IT WILL BE DIFFERENT until they’re wanted on the entire map and can’t go anywhere cos the wild west is ending. I really liked it at Horseshoe Overlook and whenever Im in that area again I’ll just get sad.

I had no idea I’d gotten so emotionally invested so I was really surprised at how much I disliked moving camps and all. I’ve also gotten so fond of Arthur. I was so busy with exploring, doing challenges, learning to hunt etc I didn’t even realize it happening. Until one scene had me almost tearing up! I think because, we as the player really have to look out for him. Even though I make sure that he eats regularly, he’s still underweight. When out riding I usually set up camp when night falls so that Arthur can get some rest. Something I’d never think about in any other game. And I always give him coffee in the morning. Then it’s his journal that gives such valuable insight into who he truly is as a person. There’s no doubt he’s so much more than just a mere outlaw. He writes surprisingly well and is open and is surprisingly honest about his thoughts and feelings. How torn he is between the life of an outlaw and wanting to be a better man, a better person. How he admired Charles because, for him it was ‘so easy to just be good’ whereas he himself always feel torn between good and evil. And his journal entries when he meets his long-lost love Mary and saves her brother from the cultists. The expression on his face as he said goodbye to her on the train station… how utterly heartbroken he was… how she still loved him too… man, that one tore at my heart. Still does when thinking about it.

I wish I could take Hosea, Charles, Sadie, Tilly, John’s family and maybe Lenny too with me, run off and start anew. Charles would have good influence on Arthur and encourage him to turn his life around and find his place in society and encourage John to be a better father and role model for Jack and they could all learn how to live as free men and women without robbing or hurting anyone (unless they deserve it). Like, Charles is an excellent hunter and tracker. He’d totally get enough food for the gang and maybe even enough to sell. He could train Jack too. Hosea was always more of a conman/grifter than a brute/robber. He could con bad guys or rich assholes Robin Hood style. If anyone gave him grief, John and Arthur would settle the score. Arthur could sell animal pelts and John could take up carpeting. They’d be such a happy lil family. But, RDR1 is yet to happen so it’s all just wishful thinking *sigh*

[bepolite-beefficient]

How would the mercs react if their crush hated them?? (I asked this before but wasnt sure if you got it ;~; sorry!!)

My apologies! Here you go hun, Enjoy!Scout: Well, being the type of person he is he’ll think they’re playing hard to get. So he’ll hang around them even more, trying to get through to them. It’ll take a while for him to actually get it through his head that they genuinely don’t like him. He’ll somewhat back off but he’ll still try to talk to them.Soldier: You can bet your ass that he’s going to bring it up. He’s not going to be gentle about it either. He wants to know why the object of his affections hates him so much. This results in a shouting match between the two that leaves him feeling a bit sick to his stomach.Pyro: Poor baby, he doesn’t get why they hate him. They think he’s pretty nice, right? Despite that he’s not going to force his attention on them if it’s only going to make them suffer. He actually gets over it pretty quickly as long as he doesn’t dwell on it.Engineer: A bit like Pyro but it crushes him when he figures out that his crush hates them like they do. Most of his life he’d been able to make conversation with anyone and was considered a pretty likeable guy. He’ll be pretty down for the next few days while it sinks in and after that he’ll always be a little quieter around his crush.Heavy: It doesn’t necessarily bother him. I mean, of course he’s not happy about it but it’s not their affection was guaranteed to be returned. He just wished at the very least he could have at least been friends with them so their hatred definitely puts a damper on that.Demoman: He’s happy in the slightest- but I mean really, who would be? He’s going to be more mad about it than anything. Not at his crush for feeling the way they do, it’s not like he can stop them from disliking him. He’s just mad for the sake of being mad. For the first week or so he’ll be snappy and hard to be around but he just needs time to himself.Medic: Well, if he cried over every person that hated him then he’d never had gotten to where he is now. He’s not overly concerned with what others think about him but he doesn’t take it very well when his crush makes him aware- pretty forcefully- about their outlook towards him. He understands he’s not the easiest person to get along with but what the hell did he do to deserve that? So the way he retaliates is to treat them the way they treat him so they aren’t on the greatest terms.Sniper: He separates himself from everyone. Sniper doesn’t open up to many people as it is and the one time he makes the attempt to let someone in just to get shut down like he did. If anything it just enforces his anti social behavior so whatever progress he may have made gets undone real quick.Spy: P e t t y. If they’re going to turn him down like that then he’ll be damned if he makes their life easier on them. He doesn’t even bring up major blackmail or anything, he does small things to get on their nerves. Those small things always pile up to become a big thing. He thrives off of it and it’s his own little way of dealing with it.

[orange-antics]

Eddsworld miscellaneous hcs

ok there's probably like 100 of these already or something, but I thought I'd add mine anyway, because hey, it's fun and I'll probably change or add a few later. (Also this ended up waaaaaaaay longer then i meant it to be wh o ops so uh be warned its pretty damn long-)

Tom:

Shortest! (i know it's normally either edd or tord, but after seeing saloonatics, I just couldn't resist the idea of the grumpiest one being the smallest. Cute right?)

Relatively strong arms, more fat around his stomach and torso then his legs.

Occasionally works gigs at local clubs and stuff for money.

Doesn't have much social media aside from Facebook so he can occasionally stalk his old college mates.

He actually likes sports like football and tennis. (His favourite sport is seeing how many bars he can hit up in one nigh-//shot//)

His hair smells like pineapple! (And the rest of him like booze-)

He's up for pretty much anything if he's drunk enough to have fun and not remember enough to regret it

But not bowling.

N e ve r bo wl ing

He's still got a scar on his left arm from The End. :( But Matt and Edd helped him to fix it up, so it's all good!

He's actually a pretty chill and sensible guy, and despite being snarky and sarcastic whenever he can, he genuinely cares about his relationships with people, scared that one day they'll get bored of him and cast him aside. He's really just a goofball with big city dreams of becoming a rockstar.

Spends like two hours in the shower crying and listening to MCR

His favourite show is Bad Education. It's good for when he needs cheering up.

He likes snacks and foods that are crunch, and salty, spicy, and sometimes savoury. So Crisps, Pringles, Doritos, chex mix etc.

Edd:

Second shortest/third tallest

Kinda chubby tbh but he's the BEST at hugs.

His forearm game is actually pretty strong because of all the time he spends making art to pay for their bills (because hey, someone's gotta do it amirite). You don't wanna head into an arm-wrestling contest with this guy.

Makes money by selling his art and also taste-testing all the latest cola products! (Just...not the diet ones).

Aside from a devianart, redbubble and maybe even a tumblr for art commissions, he doesn't really care about social media. Or regular media. Politics who?

His favourite sport? Seeing how many cans of cola he can get through on an especially difficult project. (Cricket always looked kind of fun though)

Smells like cola and not taking a shower in days because he HAS to get the lineart perfect and edd are you ok when was the last time you slept- (jokes aside, i can see him smelling like graphite and paints and sharpies from his art supplies).

Can pull the perfect poker face like damn son having a baby face sure comes in handy when lying to your roomate about why there's broken guitar strings hanging out of Ringo's mouth again

Has a scar on the inside of his eyelid from the time Tom 'accidently' poked him in the eye with a pencil (...may or may not be based off personal experience)

Edd is pretty friendly and open with people, he likes getting to know them and joking around. He's the Ultimate Punmaster ™, and loves nothing more to poke fun. He sees the world through the eyes of a cartoonist, and will never miss a comedic opportunity.

Be warned! He's actually fairly smart, and can read people well, knowing just how to really get under someone's skin. It's a good thing he can't be bothered with any of that though.

Gets his best ideas either in the tub or when hes just about to sleep. Because of that, he keeps a water-proof and regular notebook. Nearly had a heart-attack countless times because he accidently swapped them around.

Despite his complaints about absurd plot conveniences, he actually likes Doctor Wh- i mean "Proffesor Why", there's just something about the concept of time travel...he also likes cartoons! Like, a lot. He'll watch most anything and everything if it's animated and the writing is decent.

Likes anything sour, sweet, and chewy! So Jelly Babies, Wine gums, Sour patch kids, that kind of thing

Tord:

(Most of these are heavily based upon his life as Red Leader so sorry if you were looking for more domestic Tord. Maybe I'll do seperate hcs for that one day)

Second tallest! Quite a bit taller then Tom, a bit taller then Edd, just about average height, if a bit taller. He's closer to Matt in height then Edd.

He's actually quite well-built! You wouldn't think it because of the baggy hoodie he wears but he's got pretty good muscle, and his endurance and strength is well above the others. This mostly comes from the logic that he's been training and leading the Red Army, so it just makes sense to me that he'd resemble a soldier physically, yknow? AU-wise, or before he started the whole world domination thing, he'd be a little more scrawny, but he could still kick everyone's ass (he probably tried copying numerous anime battle stances lol-)

He's pretty well off, it turns out you can get quite rich by adopting some uh...rather unconventional means of money-making. Of course you could always say he just sold his inventions.

Does having your own private network of underground intelligence-gathering units count as social media? No? Nevermind.(He has a hentaihaven account-)

He likes dodgeball, archery, and you guessed it, arcade shooter games. Anything where he can point and hit something basically.

He smells like gunpowder, dirt, oil from machine maintenance and the cold? Like if the cold had a smell, he would have that smell, does that make sense? He also probably smells like Old Spice because idfk it just reminds me of him ok.

He doesn't exactly get out to socialise much, be prefers to stay at his desk, or curled up next to the fire with a mug of hot cider when he wants to relax. Sometimes Paul and Pat will drag him outside when they think he needs a breath of fresh air, and they'll go visit the nearest marketplace for food and other supplies. He likes strategic games like Chess or Draughts, and it's a good way to show off and get practice at the same time.

Scar-wise, he probably has quite a few from his fights. Post-the end, I'm not sure what would happen to him, since I've seen people go in a lot of different directions. I DO think he'd replace him arm with the robotic one, since that seemed too heavily implied to not happen. Regarding his face, I think the burns and stuff would probably heal over time, and depending on the technology in the future, he'd either still have some heavy scarring, or maybe he'd develop some kind of treatment so that it restores him to almost fully healed. He could always go the cyborg route and end up half-man half-machine like we see with future Matt and Tom.

(About the patch on his face, I have a theory about how he he aquired that scar/injury. See, I don't think Tord founded Red Army by himself, no. I think he was introduced to it by Paul (who we see in the same classroom as them in Poweredd) who was kept back a few years cause....uh...yknow- Anyway I have a theory that Tord eventually climbed the ranks until he became second-in-command, and he then murdered Red Leader and took his title. Their fight is where he got that injury. It's not really canon-supported much, but I find it an interesting concept!)

You've probably guessed, but I kind of disgree with Tord's portrayal sometimes. I think I prefer the darker, meaner side to him. I wouldn't say he's (completely) evil, but I'm not really one for the whole "self-hating, regretful angsty Tord who just wants some love and support" and stuff. I mean, it's cute with ships amd fluff, amd ideally he does make amends and rejoin the group, but I just like the thought that he's genuinely not a nice guy yknow? Like, he's actually done some fucked up stuff, and The End is probably just one case. (Of course this is all opinion based so feel free to disagree if u wanna wheeze-)

Has the WORST sleeping schedule. Has been known to fall asleep in the bath/shower.

He prefers movies to shows. His favourite is the Kingsman series (he can relate on many different levels).

Likes bittersweet things, (just like his personality amirite-). So cake with coffee, or tarts, liquorice, hard candy, that kind of thing.

Matt:

(My favourite-)

He tol. Tallest of them all!

Someone once described him as "borderline twink" and tbh i agree. I feel like he'd have a slightly feminine figure (which is perfectly normal!) and he both rocks it, and knows he does.

He works at a nail salon every now and again, his self-confidence and bubbliness makes him get along well with customers. (Also Matt would definitely wear nail polish ok dont even try to convince me otherwise. Actually speaking of,)

He has EVERY kind of social media possible. Instagram, twitter, facebook, tumblr, facebook, snapchat, you name it! He's especially prominent on instagram. He likes to keep an ~aesthetic~

He likes gymnastics and dance, activities like that. Anything which puts him in a creative spotlight. He'd probably take up acting classes, and then insist on only being given monologues.

He'd probably have quite a pleasant and nature-y smell? Like uhh citrus-y, pine tree, a hint of flowers, that kind of thing. Although he'd DEFINITELY slap on way too much cologne on a date or something and end up smelling like he just emptied out a bottle of febreeze.

He'd probably go out quite a lot! I can see Matt being a social butterfly, his friendliness and general likeability probably mean that he's got a few friends and stuff around. I can also see him as the kind of person who'd enjoy taking walks in the park, sitting below a tree, that kind of thing. He probably runs a self-love session (that works a little TOO well). He wants to get out there and show off his beautiful face, so it doesn't take a lot to drag him outside (provided you keep a mirror on you, that is).

He doesn't really have any physical scars. I mean, i do hc him with freckles, but they don't count so. he has a mental scar. After he hit himself with the memory eraser gun, he completely erased his memories. It took a while for him to settle onto the personality he has now. His face was the one thing that he knew for certain held a sense of familiarity and stability, so that's partly why his narcissism boomed so much. He sometimes gets random flashbacks of being a zombeh leader, being less of a nicer person, and it can be quite unnerving for him. He also has other memory issues, which is why he can forget things so easily, and comes across as an idiot most of the time.

He can be quite oblivious, but I dont think hes a total idiot. He can read people fairly well, and is emotionally intelligent. He says stupid things sometimes despite knowing they'll get a reaction, just because he wants to, and thinks that life should be as fun and full of joy as possible. He's too trusting, and wants to see the good in everyone. At the end of the day, if you disrespect him (and his face), you'll see that he can be more then just the nice guy.

LUSH!! Matt is HERE for all those lush products. I'm talking bath bombs, lip scrubs, shower jellies, all that good stuff! And ofc he has like 100+ products for his hair and skincare routine, because let's face it, it's Matt. I also like to think he owns a bunch of bath toys and rubber duckies, and like the kid at heart he is, he'll sit in a bubble bath playing with them, and re-enacting all of their adventures.

He mostly prefers youtube videos over TV, so you bet he's subscribed to all the beauty gurus, vloggers, people like that. He does think children's cartoons are nice to watch though, so every once in a while he'll force Tom and Edd to sit with him and watch the latest season of My little pony.

He likes anything sweet and fun to look at! Especially if it's trending, so he can post pictures of himself eating/drinking it. So if there's another rolled ice cream/new starbucks-ccino/unicorn themed food item floating about, he'll probably be trying it.

(Ah man this turned out way longer then i thought. It went from simple headcanons to like full blown theories whoops- maybe i should make seperate posts if its too difficult to read? Anyway let me know what you think nonetheless!)

[ko-fanatic]

Only Five Yen (part one)

Rating: Teen and up

Fandom: Ouran High School Host Club, Noragami AU

Trigger Warnings: Bullying, mentions of suicide and self harm, a couple slurs(?)

Summary: Shiro was crying, alone in the bathroom, and grasps at the single straw he was offered. Unfortunately, this Tamaki guy might be worth even less than a straw...

Shiro hated this. Just because the people in his class were jerks, just because they wrote mean shit on his text book, didn't give him an excuse to be this... weak.

His sobs echoed around the deserted bathroom, all the other, more motivated students were listening to their teachers and preparing for exams. He was safe. He was... pathetic. His teeth dug into his lip with a blunt sting as he let his notebook sit on his lap, looking over the scrawled kanji on the cover.

Crazy.

Freak.

Kill yourself.

And what if he did? He'd bet they'd all be so fucking sorry when they found out they were responsible. That they were murderers. Or they'd laugh and say about how he was always messed in the head. Probably the last one, thinking about it; he wasn't likeable or sweet enough for a martyr's death, nowhere near. It almost made him jealous of the bullying victims who were picked off for being “weak”, for showing kindness and never hurting a fly.

He screamed and kicked, not that it did him any good. It didn't matter if they'd told him to jump off the roof, if he yelled, it was his own damn fault, apparently. Fuck. Middle school was just so depressing. He remembered when kids only ran from him while playing those silly games, and they were laughing because they were all having fun. Now, they laughed as they ran away, yelling “psycho!” as he screamed at their backs.

He wanted to be a kid again. He was always so impatient to grow up, wishing away days, hours, years... He'd taken it for granted, and now all he wanted was to sit at the piano with his little childhood sweetheart, who he couldn't even remember the name of now.

The guy's bathroom was always kind of gross; toilet roll on the floor (wet), dingy tile, and graffiti on the stall walls. Witty remarks such as “Shoto's gay” and other scrawling. However, amongst the other obscenities and insults, something caught his eye.

In handwriting that was actually somewhat neat, someone had written something very odd for a middle school bathroom, and his brow furrowed, the last few tears falling from his lashes.

Delivery God Tamaki, open 24/7! Any problems, solved!

The mysterious Tamaki's number was there below, and Shiro felt the odd want to... actually call it. Any problem solved, huh? He really was grasping at straws - no, less than that. The number could be for anyone, any kind of person, and he was really going to do it?

The phone intermittently let out it's small beep! as he dialled the number. He was hesitant, and it was all tortuously slow. He really was being a dumbass. He was just... tired. Tired of school, tired of those jerks, tired of dragging himself through life; it wasn't going to change unless he tried. If you could call this trying. It was action though, despite it being questionable.

He held the phone to his ear, and it took less than two rings for the call to be picked up. Eager, then. Or useless and just as desperate as he was. They were kind of a match then, at least.

“Hello, delivery God Tamaki, at your service!” An overly cheery, male voice greeted. Ugh, this was so suspect; like he'd be hauled into a windowless van as soon as he stepped foot outside, “Hello? Are you still there?”

Despite it all, the man sounded... kind, and really, that was all he was asking for at this point. “Y-yeah,” He stammered, swallowing hard, “I just... I...”

“You need help, right?” The voice said, and it sounded so soft, almost like he was smiling encouragingly. If he thought about it, he'd probably find it plain depressing that he was getting warm fuzzies over something so painfully benign, “I can tell. No one sees my number otherwise.”

Shiro was about to hang up, or throw his phone at the cubicle door, when the man said something so genuine, it stopped him.

“I want to help you, don't worry. Asking is the most difficult step to take, but it really is brave.”

Brave. No one ever called him that. He went from a brat to a psycho, no one turning to look at him, to see the damage. It wasn't like he was bleeding or bruised, after all. Still, they still told stories of that one student who used to cut his wrists - laughing like it was funny. Worked himself to death, they said, followed by good riddance.

How could they be so heartless, anyway? He might not have been a nice person, but he'd never do that; he'd rather be dead than that twisted.

Before he knew it, he was sniffling once more, tears dropping onto his lap and darkening little spots on his trousers. “Please...” He began, voice quiet and weak, “Please help me, Tamaki-san...”

The phone hung up, and there was the awful drop of disappointment in Shiro's gut, before a knock at the stall door caught his attention. “I'll happily help, not to worry!” A cheery voice announced, the same as the one that had been on the other end of his call. What the hell?!

He bolted forward, unlocking the door and slamming open, teeth bared. “How the fuck are you here, already?!” He demanded, “I just called!”

“It's called good customer service,” The man muttered, and Shiro was surprised to see someone so... young. The guy looked like he could be some kind of model; his blonde hair that was in perfect place, not a flyaway or split end to be seen, and those eyes seemed almost violet in the clinical lighting of the school bathroom.

“You put your number here? Of all places?”

Shiro jumped and whipped his head around to the side, gaze landing on some other pretty-boy teenager with red hair. The other guy pulled a face as he surveyed the mystery stains on the wall, obviously disgusted with the state of the bathroom; Shiro didn't blame him.

“It's called advertisement, Hikaru,” Tamaki huffed, cheeks flushed and a little flustered, “If you're going to be this negative, then you can stick to the other jobs. Why'd I even bring you?”

“Because everyone else was busy,” Hikaru scoffed, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. They were just going to keep bickering by the looks of things, if Shiro didn't get their attention. How professional.

He cleared his throat, the other two in the room actually shutting up and turning to him. Shiro fiddled with the tattered cuff of his school jumper, suddenly feeling rather awkward. “Actually, I don't know why I called your number,” He lied, not interested in having the two morons help with a problem that even the teachers couldn't solve, “I'm fine, so you can just go.”

“Yeah, because people who are fine cry alone in the bathroom,” Hikaru snorted, and Shiro felt his face heat up in embarrassment. He scrubbed his sleeves over his face, drying the tear tracks but still leaving that red puffiness around his eyes, lips pulled back in a snarl.

“Be nice to the customers!” Tamaki scolded, succinct and authoritative, surprisingly, and placed a comforting hand on Shiro's shoulder, “It's alright. Like I said, you're brave for seeking help, no matter where it comes from. It's a bullying problem, right?”

Shiro lifted his head, staring into those purple tinted eyes for a moment. He didn't answer. “Who even are you?” He asked instead, “How did you know?”

“Isn't it obvious?” Tamaki grinned, seeming to be genuinely happy at the question. It wasn’t cruel, or obnoxious; it was that same softness the man had in his tone. Shiro almost felt… at ease. So, of course, the universe had to bite him in the ass once more, “I’m a God.”

Scratch kind and gentle, this guy was crazy.