#you really make their characters justice hhhh

[xenocorner]

Here's some little christmas gifts for some amazing mutuals that have made this year a whole lot more bearable with their amazing content and their amazing interactions and just being amazing in general :']

Long post ahead so divider here to spare your scrolling. (I am also probably gonna get a bit sappy so if that makes you cringe: you've been warned lol)

@lilbitofmac Thank you for being my introduction to the fandom here on tumblr :'''D I really think I wouldn't have stuck around if it weren't for your initial warmth and encouragement. Your Tony remains my fave Tony I go feral over your art orz I may or may not have the clingy ironstrange drawing as a phone wallpaper-

Hope next year is kinder on you man! I know we don't really talk outside of tags/replies, but if you ever need smthn I can help with my inbox is always there.

@strxngetimes I'm just tagging this one blog because I don't want to spam all your other blogs lmao. Thank you for sharing your interpretations of the characters with us, not only the rps with other muses but also the headcanons and brainrot. It's always such a pleasure both to see you on the timeline writing with other muses and on the inbox with the disaster man.

I specially like how you include his Cloak in the mix and give it a personality- I absolutely adore the Cloak :'') So here's it being all clingy to the disaster man. Hope to see more of you having fun with all ur muses in the coming year :D

@starkkawajiri Pretty art!! Hilarious and heart wrenching character interactions!!! I love your designs and lore building so much. Fanboying over the same disaster man and making him suffer always brings a smile to my face. I've wanted to draw your Strange for a while now, so this was also the perfect excuse, I love him so much you have no idea-

Can't wait to see more of your amazing designs and lore stuff for this AU! (and anything else you create next year :])

@nekojetto I think your Strange is the purest Strange there is and the fact that it's based off Supreme makes that so much more impressive. Your animatics are simply breath taking, and whenever I go back to check your concepts and sketches for character interactions I always get a smile on my face :D

I'm sorry I haven't gotten to the collab just yet :'') Plz know I still have it in mind, haven't forgotten about it and am still just as excited to finally get to it as I was the first day!

@infiniteeight8 Your words make me cry and laugh so much all the time :'') You write the disaster men so beautifully both in serious, fluffy, angsty and funny situations. Reading ur stuff keeps the creative juices flowing!

I remember you liked the vampire Stephen prompt you were sent, so here's some of that, even if it's more halloween-y than christmas-y.

[2ndbat]

/// Rant: Just a post detailing the things I didn't like in the Beyond comics that I remember or have seen since setting this blog up. I'll probably sandwich some things I did like in here too so it's not all negative. These are all just my opinions. If you like something from this list, cool. You do you, I'll do me.

Okay so starting with things that I read completely through a few years ago. Dick Grayson clones. Not sure why Amanda made these. But the only real thing I personally liked from Hush Beyond was the introduction of a new Catwoman. I also liked that she broke the trope of Catwoman/Batman, making her much more unique to herself. As much as I like Selina/Bruce (and I do), a new generation of something doesn't and shouldn't have to be a carbon copy of the original. Which I think is why I like the cartoon so much. They played with a lot of the same tropes, but they tackled them in different ways. Because Terry isn't Bruce and these villains and problems aren't the same. (except for Viktor)

Next, JLB... Well I have it in my rules and about... but, Zod/Superboy had a great initial backstory. He was the son of Jax-ur and was born in the Phantom zone. Superman and the gang rescue him and Supes adopts him. Would have been great to leave it there. However, they ruined it, the idea of what the Justice Lords actually are, and Wonder Woman all in one fell swoop. Before this arc, these comics were actually going pretty good imo. Please read them and stop as soon as you see Wonder Woman or "Lord" Superman. But then every other comic at the time suddenly was doing something with Earth 3... so I guess maybe they were pressured to as well? Either way this arc sucked. They decided to treat the Justice Lords like Earth 3 characters. Which doesn't work if you actually watched those episodes. Even if you ignore the fact that Luthor's device took their powers AWAY in their episode... The Justice Lords aren't """evil""" versions of the JL. They're versions that go to the extreme to keep people safe. There's a very big difference here in characterization. To add them into the plot and just have them be like --- generic evil superman??? doesn't work. You haven't comprehended anything if that's what you got from the Justice Lord's cartoon plotline.

And they set this up with Wonder Woman from the DCAU having decided to go back to the Justice Lord's universe to help fix things. She's apparently been there the WHOLE time. It's very in Wonder Woman's character to help those in need so I'm okay with her hopping over to set things straight. But she also feels responsibility to her own world, there's no way she'd stay that long EVEN with the romance sub-plot they gave her and Justice Lord's Batman. And any look around my blog should tell you WonderBat is my jam. I go for that in a plotline. Well it helps me hate that plotline more actually, because they had "Lord" Superman kill "Lord" Batman. To stop the fighting "Lord" Superman and Wonder Woman agree to have a baby. That's Zod apparently. Which was squirreled away to the Phantom Zone with Jax-Ur. None of that makes any sense at all ever. It made so little sense it actually makes me really angry. lol. Wonder Woman would never agree to something like that AND "Lord" Superman has never ever indicated that he wanted something like that. Nor do I think he would have killed "Lord" Batman. Considering, the reason they're all the way they are is because they failed to save Wally. HHHH Anyway. Later comic plots I remember hating. Terry is missing and for some reason past/current timeline Tim has the Beyond suit. NGL, if you put anyone besides Terry ( MAYBE Bruce) in the suit, you've lost the plot. You don't get it. Just leave please. I will not see it. Even worse, they made Terry the main villain of that plot line. Brainwashed, but still. :') Not a fan at all of any of this.

Oh there was also a little comic that took place in the past where Barbara revealed to Bruce that she was pregnant with his baby. And Bruce urged her to get an abortion that she didn't want. First off-- I never liked the Bruce/Babs stuff in the cartoon to start with. Second-- Bruce would never. He is so dad coded. :/

And now for things I've seen in passing.

Just getting this out of the way rn--- I assume they've killed Mary McGinnis off due to the boys living with Bruce now and the way Terry talks about her. I don't typically like when series fridge their female characters but, I feel kinda indifferent kinda "Well of course they did, why am I not surprised?" about it. We really didn't get much for Mary in the cartoon besides the fact that she's a normal, caring, single mother. There's not much there. Barely got any time on screen with Terry and most of it was just lecturing him or telling him about whatever chores he needed to do. So maybe that's why it doesn't quite bother me as much as other women's deaths in comics. I still don't particularly like the move, but there are worse things I've seen so far that make me more upset. Probably would have been fine to just have Mary living there with the boys and Bruce instead tbh.

Also weird, it FEELS like everyone and their mother knows Bruce is Batman, the way everyone talks to him. Which is also just weird to me.

Anyway, Damian... Damian.... Where do I start. This one feels like the Justice Lords problem. There's already a set up in the cartoon that would contradict what they did. They had Damian running the LOA from what I can tell. He still had Goliath. Which was nice I'll admit. But 1) Damian wouldn't WANT to run the LOA. 2) I highly doubt Damian would have been okay with what his grandpapa did to his mother. 3) They played it off like Bruce knew about Damian from what I saw. Bruce would never allow Damian to be raised by the LOA if he knew abt him. As I said earlier, Bruce is dad coded.

Then there's Matt. Well I like Robin Matt as a concept. I like the circumstances of it being an emergency as to why he took up the mantle, I like that Bruce recognized that if they didn't train Matt, Matt would try to do the hero stuff on his own. What I didn't like? JOKERS BACK AGAIN BABY, HERE TO BRAINWASH THE NEW ROBIN!!! Seriously, how are you gonna rehash a plotline that was already done LEAGUES better. Please let the clown stay dead!!!!!!!!! That's all I got in me to rant about today. On a nicer note, I still don't know how I feel abt Batwoman, but I like that her design is very Kate Kane but with Nightwing's color palette.

[masakousuke]

Thank you!!!

I really regret the fact that I forget to properly focus on that also- I always somehow have a place for these boys in the bigger AUs in my brain, but it's never quite enough to do them justice.

The truth is that it's one of hmh's strongest suits: a sense of family that comes from the pleasant atmosphere all the boys create when they hang out together. It's a shame to leave that praise unsung.

To top it off, Shige specifically is great in how plain silly he gets to act with Yamabe and company while having his own not insignificant issues. He's a good boy. It's a shame he doesn't have his own little story, like most other characters in the manga.

Hhhh it's hard to not go off the rails. But yes. The hijinks... The sillies... The hanging out that is youth wish fulfillment for someone like me, who's always been a loner... They make me happy C:

In a perfect world there is a non romance-centered hmh spinoff and we know everything about all of these boys lol.

So, about the "art requests" u posted a few days ago

Maybe Shige and Yamabe just being dumb together? They're my fav duo and fav ship

Of course! Happy to get a chance to draw these boys also, even if maybe I didn't quite get the vibe I wanted... To make up for it, I made two dumb doodles instead of just one.

They are very silly and I don't give them nearly enough attention.

Thank you for leaving a request! Ended up drawing Yamabe for the first time ever oop ;P definitely wanna draw them again.

Bonus chibi Shige with Yamabe's scarf.

[icyxmischief]

....HHHH lol as much as I love it smashing (haha) the entire dudebro incel culture, does anyone feel as conflicted as I do about the She-Hulk season finale?

Well played, Kevin Feige. I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, TOO.

Oh God, what's Ambs blabbering about NOW?

Well, I'll tell you, lmao. Keep scrolling if you're annoyed, but I think you will ultimately like that I'm pointing this out.

The fourth-wall breaking narrative tool needs to be done well or not at all. Jen does this a little forcibly often. It works when she's making commentary on the absurdity of a capitalist, cis male centric audience and the over-used tropes that come along with it. I also like that she's reclaiming her own Narrative, capital N, the way Loki did in his own series.

BUT.

We are being had, folks. I learned about this way way back in grad school, so hear me out:

Yeah, we get it right? The Having the Institution™, the Big Cheese, the Exec, participating good-naturedly in their own ridicule, IS THEIR OWN BEST WEAPON AGAINST BEING CHECKED BY COUNTER-CULTURE.

WHEN "WOKENESS" GETS BRANDED, COMMODIFIED, AND SOLD LIKE THIS, IT PLACATES THE AUDIENCE INTO THINKING WE HAVE "DONE ENOUGH" ON BEHALF OF SOCIAL JUSTICE. (not yelling, caps just for emphasis).

It NORMALIZES problematic content.

Because, see, they've already "gone there" with all the Bad Content: --fridging, --male "equivalent" characters commandeering the show; --convoluted and hackneyed plots; --unnecessary glossy mega-production; --the underpayment of their CGI department; --preying on nostalgia and "vintage" content that "only True Fans get" for maximum emotional impact (Emil Blonsky's appearance as a throwback to the very old Hulk movie..whoops, you didn't realize that's why they did that? welp now ya know! it's a BIG thing mega-corporations are doing right now, and not just in entertainment); --the cheap marketing trick of having guest stars (like Bruce) who appear just to tie in plot points that tease the next big series or movie; --EVEN SAYING IT'S "CREEPY" TO WORSHIP THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND MAKING FUN OF THE "NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT" (this is a callback to the whole "Marvel snipers" joke about how the actors can't share any spoilers ever and aren't even told the whole plot of a film); --and so on; As a result: if an earnest media critic on the internet (which "K.E.V.I.N." also takes a smirking stab at) is still having qualms about the problematic content, they can be written off as fringe weirdos who need to "go outside in the sun and touch some grass."

I know, I know, "Ambs, enough. Just let me ENJOY shit already!"

And you totally can!!!! ALL I AM SAYING: Do I think that enjoying shows like She-Hulk makes a person immediately some kind of drooling passive slave to contemporary culture. No, obviously not. It's entirely possible to enjoy problematic things and still not emulate the problematic content in real life.

Frankly, I'll watch any show with Matt Murdock because he's sex on legs.

Just be AWARE of what the MCU creative team is really trying to do.

[grumpyoldsnake]

[Brief image description: A series of illustrations of Gerou teaching in front of a blackboard. The illustrations repeat, each in a different art style; at the end is a collection of doodles mixing the art styles and a few notes reflecting on the exercise. Full description and transcript starting at the heading below the cut. End ID.] 

Part one of some recent style studies I’ve been doing, featuring Gerou struggling with student teaching! 

I wanted to explore how different artists that I like handle stylization and simplification in comics, and when I asked around several people gave me permission to post the results. I recommend checking them out!

1) Harbourmaster is by @waywardmartian​.

2) Never Satisfied is by @ohcorny​.

3) Broken is by @yubriamakesart​.

4) @doodledrawsthings​ makes a lot of content that is posted to tumblr, most recently a fair amount of A Hat in Time fanart.

Thank you all for the permission to post! ^_^ I'm having a lot of fun with this.

.

Side notes:

I genuinely thought that the Harbourmaster style would be easiest for me, since it contains roughly the same amount of detail as my own style and since I’m like 75% sure that reading it as a younger teen informed a lot of my own style and character designs. Turns out it was actually the hardest! Perhaps because, since there aren’t as many blatantly fundamental differences, I had to pay more careful attention to proportions and specific forms? .

Never Satisfied was interesting! Alongside the work of Doodledrawsthings it’s definitely the furthest from my own style, and choosing Gerou for this honestly doesn’t do that difference full justice. I looked a lot at Fidelia, Sylas’s mom, and Thierry in trying to figure out how Gerou’s facial features would translate. Part two of my plans is to explore different character designs that might make fuller use of the difference in style, heh. (In other news: Colored lineart looks very neat and studying how it’s handled in NS is the first time I’ve been able to carry it off in a reasonable time frame, hah.) .

Broken is just... very pretty, y’all. xD I don’t think it really saved me any time or much ease of drawing over my own style, but it’s very nice to look at. And I think the style differences and specific simplifications do lend themselves very well towards creating more consistency than I ever manage in my own art. Noticing the patterned way of drawing ear details was a fun moment for me, I’d never really thought of codifying anything that way before! .

I did the first drawing in Doodledrawsthings’s style (the 3/4ths view in the turnaround) and thought “Oh goodness this is lovely and quick and feels nice.” It’s very nearly the first time drawing something in a cartoony style has ever come easily for me. But... I struggled much more with every other drawing in that style, ahah. Still, it was comparatively quick and I do love the expressiveness of the stylized eyes. :D This is another style where I think I’ll need to explore a wider range of character designs, though. I think it’s also worth thinking about how character design is fundamentally changed in some ways by the change in style; some of what I would think about designing a character specifically for that style is very different from the details I would normally think about when designing a character.

.

[Detailed image description: 

A series of images repeating the same content in different art styles, followed up by a page of sketches and a page with text notes.

The repeated content is a turnaround of the character Gerou as well as a short two-panel comic showing Gerou as a student teacher in front of a blackboard. Gerou is a thin white man with sallow freckled skin, a large hooked nose, long wavy brown hair, and glowing orange-yellow eyes. In the comic, in the first panel he gestures animatedly with a wide smile and says, “Oh, that’s easy! If you just--” then breaks off. In the second panel he holds up a hand as if asking for a pause, and says, “...wait,” with visible consternation.

The sketches feature continued style experimentation with Gerou making a number of expressions and gestures, including: absolutely failing to maintain a good pokerface; looking stressed; various smiles, from tired to nervous to wide and happy; sighing tiredly; sticking out his tongue with arms crossed huffily;  arguing with someone; drinking tea; and fighting off a dizzy spell.

The text image is headlined Thoughts and reads as follows:

Think less about reducing details and more about streamlining said details into shapes that are easy to repeat consistently?

Experiment with different ways of rendering mouths and eyes; they can change the feel of an expression

There are no rules; vary style as needed with panel size/detail, emotion that needs depicted, etc. Prioritize information conveyed.

Increasing detail on teeth beyond your baseline makes them look gritted/tensed/bared

Sometimes low contrast is nice

Emotion backgrounds are fun!

Gotta learn to loosen up (though I knew that already hhhh)

Simplified hands are lovely. (So, so much easier. Not sure I’m gonna go back anytime soon except for anatomy practice sketching, heh.)

End image description.]

[ashenberry]

I gotta know your opinion on 6-5 (for obvious reasons ;))

TURNABOUT REVOLUTION and absolute BEAST of a case (it’s two in a trenchcoat)

man. Where to start. ok first of all I think ima tackle it through the characters instead of these little case summaries I’ve been doing cause. Beast of a case. anyhoo

Apollo

as whats framed as Apollo finally becoming his own as a lawyer and the resolution of a three game arc. I like the idea of it being up against Phoenix. A lot in fact I love the civil trial and Athena and Apollo get to burn evidence heheheue but. god does it lack buildup. and it takes a lot of the punch out of it. As for Apollo in the criminal trial half of revolution you go little man ❤️ I also love Apollo and dhurkes relationship holy shit. Dhurke I’ve only truly known you for 5 minutes but GOD. they’ve got such a great dynamic and god the afternoon they spend in kurahin it’s.

Most faults I have with dhurke I find to be more of a problem I have with sojs writing than anything I felt the character is if that makes sense? Like that one comment about Apollo n Trucy and an issue I’ve seen people have that dhurke sent Apollo to the states but Nahyuta more just coming out from the fact that the writers are bending backwards here. I also love datz here datz my man truly one of the characters of all time I wish you got a better name buddy. datz

Phoenix

its. 3D games Phoenix. he’s there. I think I enjoyed him more as the opposition than as a playable characters in this case opposition Phoenix was fun! he was a bit of an ass but it isn’t passive agressive and he’s fuckin losing! When we are playing as Phoenix he’s screwing Apollo over in what seems like ignorance and it’s irratating And during the second revolution trial he’s just making one liners. also sorry Maya they’re retreading your farewell arc ❤️ I actually didn’t mind it it works out pretty well ^-^

Dhurke

ok I touched on dhurke a little on the Apollo section but man. I love dhurke. the twist that he was dead the whole time because he fell into the Defense Attorney Trap (in which every defense attorney shows the big bad that they have evidence they’re the big bad. Unfortunately for dhurke this time they had a gun) Is Really interesting and he’s just one of the stronger characters in this case

Nahyuta

WOOOO NAHYUTA GOT SIDELINED IN THIS CASE HAHAHA there is a connection between how much Nahyuta is allowed to talk in a case and how enjoyable it is MAN. I skipped over his confession to the murder I don’t know if there’s like. Life changing dialogue there but man. I think there had to be a stronger Nahyuta apollo connection in this game like really. like the line that apollo has a dragon and Phoenix burning inside of him good shit good shit. I do think Nahyuta can be salvaged as a character but it did not happen in this case that was a half assed redemption.

Rafya

GOD POOR RAYFA SHE she is going through it in this case her dad is dead and her mom is a bitch rayfa 🤝 apollo solving the truth during the rest of the game shes just a middle schooler with the hubris of a monarch and it’s great and you just see it all fall apart in this case rayfa 💔

Garan, Inga, and Amara

garana a shit monarch AND a shit mom unbelievable. I don’t know how much a prosecutor that can say they win at anytime really effects the stakes it’s just a general soj problem the stakes are too high so theres like no tension in that regard and your more just curious how the murder happened. Inga is just a mob boss (got the accent to back it too) but goddamit he’s better than garan in the sense that he’s shown to have loved rayfa. man. Amara. There’s a character thread there that I don’t think at all was intentional because I don’t have that much respect for sojs writers where I don’t think Amara ever wanted to rule. There’s a lot of moments where revealing she was alive would have prevented a lot of shit (tho. evil sister not the easiest) but also the fact that rayfa is the one to take over at the end. a lot of it can be hand waved as like monarchy semantics but I think reading is cooler so

Rest of WAA + edgeworth

hhhh I think they deserved better in the rest of the game but here in revolution I think they all had good roles. Trucy gets the best joke in the case. Edgeworth is used for his private jets. it’s all good this case really is more about Apollo.

Obligatory Jove ‘Jangly’ Justice because I have a brand to keep up with

EVERYTHING SURRONDING THIS MAN IS HILARIOUS JESUS CHRIST. FIRST OF ALL. HIS DESIGN WAS DEFINITLY LAST MINUTE DONE IN A WEEK THIS MAN RECIEVED NO LOVE FROM THE DEVS. SECOND OF ALL HE SOMEHOW GOT INVITED TO THE ROYALTIES HOUSE WHILE ON BABY DUTY? AND HE INTRODUCED HIS BABY BY HIS FULL NAME CAUSE HOW ELSE WOULD DHURKE KNOW APOLLOS NAME UNLESS JOVE HAD APOLLOS BRITH CERTIFICATE ON HIM WHICH IS A FUCKING POSSIBILITY CAUSE I THINK ITS GENERALLY WAVED AT THAT APOLLO WAS SENT TO THE STATES BECAUSE IT WAS EASIER DUE TO POSSIBLE CITIZENSHIP THAT MAY HAVE BEEN THE ONLY PROOF AND THAN THIS MAN IS THE ONLY MAN TO FUCKIN DIE IN A POLITICALLY MOTIVATED ARSON WHERE EVEN THE INFANT LIVED AND GUESS WHOS THE ONLY PERSON IN THE POSITION TO SAVE BABY APOLLO. THATS RIGHT GARAN. APOLLO SIGITAR AU BABY. AND THEN NOBODY CAN ID JOVE AND THIS LEADS TO LIKE 20 YEARS OF A MASS LAWYER KILLING. JOVE JANGLY JUSTICE WAS THE START OF IT ALL. HIS NEWELY WIDOWED WIFE GOES ON TO BECOME THE BEYONCÉ OF BORGINIA.

^some of thats probably inaccurate. mostly about Apollo having proof of us citizenship but like. is there anyway for Apollo to get that information later or it’s kinda like he never existed because I doubt Newley enemy of the state dhurke got him any kurahin legal papers i don’t know I’m not a lawyer. But it’s funnier to imagine that Jove did have all of Apollos information on him that survived the fire.

anywyas all and all turnabout revolution is a very fun cass but I would trade it in a heartbeat to never have Soj ❤️

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 36

time travel arccccccccccccc yessssssssss

I have been waiting SO LONG to reread this arc hhhhh yessss

starting off strong with the sexy roller cover. nice

I love the disconnect of ‘orion pax: outlaw’ compared to the last time we saw him in shadowplay where he was orion pax: supercop

he’s still punching people for JUSTICE or whatever so I guess not much has changed

oh my god this is the issue with the many many two-page spreads...the first time I read this issue I didn't realize that was a thing and GOD I was SO fucking confused. there's already a lot going on in this issue/arc but this made things so much worse hvbhjkdfbsk. I powered thru and still managed to understand most of the arc despite reading half this issue out of order (essentially) bc the website I read it on split the pages up and I couldn't tell they were supposed to be doubled (and also I'm dumb so I didn't figure it out)

anyways, the actual issue...windcharger is out here using his powers to rip a dudes arms clean off. wow!

and there's skids getting punched in the face. Ls

and glitch! a totally minor character of course...

MANNNNN I SO adore the panel of all the lost lighters appearing in a cloud of purple smoke, all posing epically....SO fucking good, peak sci-fi coolness vibes, A++

as usual jro killing it w/the titles, ‘elegant chaos’ is such a great name for a time travel arc

also reading the tfwiki has shown me that many of jros titles are song or album titles, to which I say - that's epic and I love it. with jro doing it, I feel like it straddles the line between referencing music and the very fanfic-esque ‘title things after music’ vibe. I love it

oh god I forgot they use bs cybertronian time units in this sometimes lmao...I mean of course they do but still like, what the fuck is a cycle. is that a day. I feel like these words all have no meaning/the meanings change drastically depending on continuity. I cant keep up and also I'm lazy and don't care enough to try

I love rodimus did u know

poor riptide looks so confused lmao

IS....IS REWIND PIGGYBACKING TAILGATE...THATS SO FUCKING CUTE....I cant fully tell bc of the page layout but ooomg so precious. minibot buddies

whirl saying ‘chuff’ just reminded me how british jro is hvbhakjhdsfbs sometimes it just Jumps Out in mtmte and I'm like Oh God Britain Is Real

I really like the mtmte approach to time travel and paradoxes and whatnot. its just complex enough to be interesting but not too convoluted that it bogs down the story. perfect sci-fi fun!

mannnn chromedome talking abt brainstorm :( I'm sad abt those two hhhhh

and I love how at this point, nobody in the cast ACTUALLY knows brainstorm well enough to know what he’s really doing - including chromedome, who’s ostensibly his closest friend, somebody he’s known for a while - and even the readers don't really know what he’s up to...I like the mystery tbh

cant believe rewind wrote orion pax’s biography, omg. completely forgot abt that detail

cd saying ‘I love it when he talks history’ about rewind....hhhh I love cdrw so muuuuch

godddd the line rodimus says abt whirl - how they need people like whirl around who are ‘happy to get in the way’ of danger and death - that shit haunts me man like...rodimus is basically saying that he’s bringing whirl along to potentially die in place of someone like orion pax (nevermind the fact that whirl dying would ALSO fuck up the timeline)...like, how deep does it go?? is he saying that bc he knows whirl has been trying to get himself killed for a while now, or just bc whirl likes violence? mannn I cant...the character intricacies...man

anyways...I love rodimus he’s such an interesting character. you have that fucked up moment and then in the next panel he’s saying ‘if you want to call it a time phone, I wont stop you’ about the quantum walkie-talkie. he has the RANGE

oh and then rodimus casually volunteering chromedome to do mnemosurgery on anyone who might accidentally find out about them time traveling, which is again fucked up on multiple levels. the raaaaange

vjaksbhdhfusajbfdjk that panel of the lost light squad just standing there like idiots reminds me of that post where someone said abt that panel ‘these characters have a collective 3 brain cells’ or something hvbjadkfnksfdl

rodimus IMMEDIATELY breaking his own rules by trying to reassure pax that they're good guys by pointing at his autobot badge, even tho the autobots DONT EVEN EXIST YET at this point...my boy PLEASE go purchase some brain cells from the store 

and the fact that rodimus introduced himself to pax w/his real name...shouldn't he go by an alias or st??? that seems like a good time travel rule since optimus and rodimus definitely know each other later 

and like, did they not anticipate that some of the people in the past would recognize some of the lost lighters hgbajkhdjfnjksf like cd and whirl get Instantly recognized...great job guys

they are all SO bad at this hvbahskjdhfbasjkf I cantttt luckily for them the orion crew is handing them easy alibis 

‘the dugout’ is that a baseball reference????

also I love the scenery here, the bg looks like rock but there's metal piping and stuff running thru it, its so cool...really adds to the whole ‘cybertron biomes are made of metal’ thing

‘ancient history’ rodimus are you KIDDING ME-

cyclonus time travels to the past and IMMEDIATELY finds a window to stare broodingly out of. icon

tailgate thinking orion pax is SUPER COOL continues here from shadowplay and I love it...tailgate is so cute

and the tg saying ‘don't you think that's awesome, cyclonus?’ hhhhh so cute

one reason I love this arc so much is that this is the arc where the gay Really amps up 

TRAILBREAKER.... oh man ;_;

are you telling me that this outlaw base they're in has ONE bed for all of these people. what the hell vhbaksjhfnsal

cant believe rung sampled roller’s steroid juice box

also cant believe robot steroids exist. except yes I can and I love it

oooh roller’s a 0/1%er? I forgot abt that 

cant believe orion pax just grabs some random phone that belongs to these weird new people and answers it. WHO does that

goddddd megatron and orion’s conversation....destroy me

HHHHHH like...the HISTORY....the regret...the missed opportunities...its all so palpable....goddddddd

and of COURSE, the whole thing is steeped in tragedy...the ideological differences that will become the foundation for a 4 million year long war...megatron, who believes that you need to burn things down and start again to really make change stick, and then orion, who says ‘reform is the answer, not revolution’....AUGHHH the intricacies. mannnn

‘you sound lost’ 😭😭😭

‘its tragic.’ yeah, that about sums up their relationship, especially at this stage and in this continuity 

anyways. [cries about old man megatron talking to young naïve orion pax] goodbye

AUGHHH and then we jump to rodimus ONCE AGAIN breaking his own rules and trying to save trailbreaker...IT HURTS MAN...god I love rodimus, I feel like him being broken up about crewmembers like trailbreaker dying is one part regular sadness over people he knows dying for tragic reasons, and one part personal guilt at someone under his command dying, even if he’s not involved/at fault. I love the dichotomy of this emotional reaction that comes only partially from empathy/emotion, but also comes from a kinda self-centered need for success as measured by people under your command staying alive. and taking into account rodimus’s life it totally makes sense that he’d act like that...GAH I love it. the complexity of it all!

orion pax saying ‘you should read [megatron]. it’s powerful stuff’ I'm screaming, so many LAYERSSSSS

I fucking love time travel AHHHHHHHHH like the opportunity for interactions like these....chefs kiss

‘hey, best friend! miss you!’ rodimus is such a shit hvbdajkfksjhfd 

‘very sus’ rodimus ahead of his time w/the among us lingo

oooh and then they realize that the senate is trying to kill the sparks...gotta save the babies!

tailgate scolding cyclonus for bluntly stating that you'd wanna be subtle when killing newborns...hhhvbhsdfhhhhhh I love them sm

ooooh and rewind has an interesting suggestion - that the senate is actually trying to irradiate the sparks into being outliers...rewind is so smart I love him

and the fact that he’s using history from his database...love it

rodimus sending cyclonus and whirl out like pokemon

ROLLER NOOOO DONT GO OUT THERE

also wow this is literally the 5th (I think) double page spread in this issue...the confusion I felt the first time I read this...lmao 

and now this is literally one of my favorite issues so I'm glad I know what's going on lmao

oh man rodimus telling cd not to erase trailbreakers memory even tho that could jeopardize the entire timeline... :( 

oh man I didn't even notice but roller getting debris blasted into his face like that makes the whole ‘roller is tarn’ theory even more legit considering tarn’s face scars....

‘tighter the better’ hhh don't say that orion. but also, that’s the companion phrase to megatron saying ‘the deeper the better’ hvbhasjkhdfbaksjlf

I do love the semi-campy action hero antics that orion pax gets up to. its just so fun, even when the stakes are high and things are serious

‘this is the greatest thing I have ever seen’ tg ily

THE REVEAL THAT THE SPARKS WENT TO NYON...so rodimus just saved himself, basically...time travel is so trippy

GODDDD ND THEN TRAILBREAKER...HVHHHHHh 😭😭😭 THATS SO CRUEL MAN

oh man that last panel of trailbreaker holding up roller’s juice box...iirc the first time I read this I thought that was roller (cause of the juice box I guess? idk I'm an idiot) so I was like oh ok he must've come back or something. very much related but I didn't really think about tarn being a particular pre-established character and totally didn't read the whole ‘roller is tarn’ thing that was going on 

which in my defense ruth also didn't pick up on any of that while reading this and eventually like 2 issues before the reveal I had to prompt her like ‘you should maybe be wondering WHO tarn is’ vhbahjksdfbaksjdf

so! issue 37! this issue is a solid favorite of mine, id say definitely top 5 or even 3. I'm super biased bc I fucking LOVE time travel, it’s seriously one of my favorite tropes ever, and this issue hits all the time travel beats I love. characters traveling to the past and interacting with people they know! conversations that have multiple meanings bc of TIME TRAVEL! trying to save someone who meets a terrible fate in your future! fun time travel action! the time traveling characters being generally terrible at hiding the fact that they're time travelers! ITS SO GOOD. 

and I love the clever way everything is tied together here - where we get a nice continuation of shadowplay, with this taking place shortly after that with a lot of the same cast, and time travel classics like the good ole ‘if we hadn't travelled back in time and done what we did, the future we came from wouldn't have existed at all,’ in the flavor of ‘rodimus saving his baby self’ and ‘rodimus NOT saving trailbreaker’ and ‘everyone forgot about roller :(’ 

ok but like, did the lost lighters just go ‘oh well, guess rollers gone now.’ like they DID realize that the outlaw crew would have no idea what happened to him if they got their memories erased, right?? did the lost lighters figure that since roller never reappeared after this time period, that was how history was ‘supposed’ to go and they shouldn't mess with it? am I overthinking it? as usual: yes, probably. I love overthinking about comics, in case that wasn't obvious

basically...I love this issue soooo much. so so good and a bunch of fun tropes that I love. I mean the whole arc is like that for me since I love time travel so much. so I cant wait to (re)read more!!

[cornerstonc]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; 

Mun & Muse - Meme

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OCs still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

My muse is: canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless /

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK (i mean look i really doubt it considering he’s a literal cat and less humanized and dapper than baron but who knows)

Is your character considered strong in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK

Are they underrated? YES / NO

Were they relevant for the main story? YES / NO

Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG. 

Are they widely known in their world? YES / NO (if his world is the cat kingdom, that is)

How’s their reputation? GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL

How strictly do you follow canon?

considering there’s very little canon to work with, i think i stick to it pretty well thinking emoji i usually like to incorporate bits and pieces from various canon sources into my portrayals, so honestly natori here is a bit of a mix between the dub, the original sub, and the manga (tho i have yet to read it orz in that case, it’s more the setting and the rules of his ‘universe’ that have the potential to change)

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.

He's trying his best, ok. He's courteous and strives for professionalism most of all in all his dealings outside family but he doesn't always manage it. Overwhelmingly loyal, devoted, and Tolerant of those who worm their way into his Circle

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).

Honestly I think Natori is just one of those characters that people just don't give much thought to, which. u know, fair. He's a background comic relief character who isn't even named in the dub hhhh

What inspired you to rp your muse?

i uh. hides face i happened to spy him in a clip during a review of the movie and thought ‘oh my god, that cat’s design is adorable Who Is He.’ and like. that night, no joke, went out and tracked down the movie lmao

watched it that same night, too, and his character, on top of his design, i thought was funny and cute, and. yeah. that’s how i ended up here lies down

What keeps your inspiration going?

at this point i think i’m just Stubborn rip rewatching the movie always helps, of course, and music is an ever-present inspiration for all of my muses lmao 

also it helps sometimes to be able to just drabble fics and such on the side thinking emoji sometimes threads aren’t really exploring something i’m interested in atm, so it’s nice to be able to just write it myself and get it out of my system, ha

Some more personal questions for the mun. Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice? YES / NO (thinking emoji i feel pretty comfortable with natori, tbh. he is kind of a character archetype/trope that i enjoy writing, but also one that i feel i’m Not Bad at writing, too. also there’s just something Easygoing about the tcr universe, like the kfp one, that makes me feel at home `~`;; )

Do you frequently write headcanons? YES / NO 

Do you sometimes write drabbles? YES / NO (i try wheezes)

Do you think a lot about your muse during the day? YES / NO

Are you confident in your portrayal? YES / NO (see above on the first bullet point tbh)

Are you confident in your writing? YES / NO 

Are you a sensitive person? YES / NO (scratches head?????)

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?

tbh, i’ve never really gotten criticism on any of my portrayals ._. constructive or otherwise. i did get an anon once admitting they thought my writing is pretentious sometimes, tho. but i’ll admit, since i do primarily RP as a hobby, i’m not terribly interested in polishing my writing skills to. idk, ~professional~ levels, but i certainly don’t mind hearing what people think. in fact, i’m always curious about that!

when i think about it, i’m sure i’d probably be pretty high-key embarrassed by criticism, but! i feel i’m old enough now to know to step away when something like that happens until i can look at it without being too emotional and instantly jumping to my own defense lmao

Do you like questions which help you explore your character?

yES pls ask me any and all questions. even if they’re weird, i’ll find a way to answer even if i have to twist the meaning a la whis jffkd;aei

If someone disagrees on a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?

also yes! so long as the conversation remains respectful and friendly, i love hearing other people’s headcanons on my muses :> especially duplicates-- i love Love getting to discuss a muse with someone who also writes the same one. it’s not very often i get to share that love for a character with someone else aaa

and it fascinates me how we all arrive at our different headcanons, how we can watch the same exact scene and yet come away with wildly different interpretations. it’s my favorite thing

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?

honestly, i’d probably feel kinda guilty, ehe. the characters i tend to write for don’t. usually. get many duplicates, so in the past i’ve often felt that i have to be The Best One There Is and please everyone (or at least attempt to), bc i’m all there is lies down

this is less pronounced with natori, i’ll admit, bc i’ve gotten the very clear idea i’m the only one who thinks this hard on him laughs so it feels less like i’m disappointing anyone with my own headcanons

that said, i’m a. stubborn and independent creature, and depending on what the disagreement is over, it may just result in a shrug and ‘agree to disagree’ aha orz

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?

oof, it’d make me sad, i can’t lie. i haven’t run across anyone saying they hate natori, but i did see someone say they didn’t think they liked him laughs

just that vague dislike made me feel like i swallowed an ice cube lmao but, as always, i won’t like. go after them or anything. no character has a 100% approval rating lbr :v

i will probably post block or otherwise avoid reading more negative opinions tho thinking emoji especially if it’s particularly. uh. vehement aha

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?

i am! i especially am okay with this if it’s a constant mistake, bc, while i’m not looking at writing as a career or anything of the sort, i do just. enjoy learning new things :y

Do you think you are easygoing as a mun?

i am extremely easygoing when it comes to annoying me or things of that sort. ngl u literally have to go out of your way to be rude to me for me to like. lash out or something idk. i cut strangers on the internet a lot of slack

that said, i am a nervous ghost who sometimes needs a lot of reassurance orz and also time to destress lies down

That’s about it, congrats for filling out!

[mysticalmusicwhispers]

Ooh! I'm making my Hogwarts house list too and I was struggling with Hong Kong and Iceland. Wanna hear which houses you put them in!

:D what characters have you sorted into houses so far? Also I want to see that AU when it’s released 👀👀 hogwarts AUs give me life

But to answer your question:

HONG KONG: Gryffindor. First of all, I associate him with red (fireworks, firecrackers, his flag is red, plus he loves to make a bang both figuratively and literally), and second, he doesn’t really fit anywhere else in my head. He’s rebellious, loves pranks, doesn’t care about following the rules if the rules are unjust, loves taking risks, even if it results in failure, motto for living life is probably “yolo”, he has a lot of gryffindor spirit. And even though he’s not innocent (I think his experience under England definitely wasn’t bad and way better than other colonies, and he grew rapidly during that time, but he was still a kid and really lonely at first, not to mention disoriented and sorta confused), he still has an idealistic take on the world. He believes that things will be better, people just have to work towards it. And even though he sometimes despairs that Karens and homophobic, transphobic, racist bitches (I guess in an HP AU this would be people who hate Muggleborns but whatever) won’t change no matter how hard he tries, he keeps on being awesome and trying to make the world a better place (think Justice, a core Gryffindor ideology).

ICELAND: Hufflepuff, I can’t really see him anywhere else? There’s a really good argument for Ravenclaw here (I considered him a Ravenclaw because of that until I started actually thinking about it myself), but to me, he’s not eccentric or scholarly enough to be a Ravenclaw, a house that tends to own its individuality and odd quirks. Like his whole persona is built around conformity and not trying to stand out (although it doesn’t work), but he doesn’t own the parts of himself that are different from others and I don’t think that’s a Ravenclaw thing. He’s also very externally motivated (cares about other’s opinions of him), while both Ravens and Hufflepuffs are internally motivated, but: he’s not really “special” in any way, I don’t think he has too much “innate talent” and is more of a well rounded person due to working at things he wants to get better at, and definitely is loyal to the core to people he loves. He’s really trustworthy because he treats people’s secrets seriously; he knows how personal it is to reveal something you hide and really loves being someone important enough to confide in, it gives him a sense of closeness and approval (pls help me find a better word). Also he might not be patient and really hates waiting, but he wants everybody to have a chance at succeeding (fairness) and does his best to make sure people are included (he feels really awkward tho but it’s okay, his heart’s in the right place) because he knows what it’s like to feel like an outsider.

Edit: also I think they’d (if this is a HongIce Pottertalia AU) have an interesting dynamic with their respective houses; Iceland feeling like he’s too “boring” for Hong Kong, since the Gryffindors are typically like the “cool kidz at school” while Hufflepuff is often overlooked for being not special, and it just exacerbates Ice’s self esteem issues, what he’s always wanted is to blend in, but not to be unrecognizable, to be a nobody. Hhhh potential for lots of angst and misunderstanding.

[the-nysh]

Garou does have a lot of charming and redeeming qualities and most of the fans seems to like him. But do you have any constructive criticism for garou or any quality that you seem to dislike in him? Plus I love your writing :)

Oooh, let’s see...(and thank you! :’3) ‘Dislike’ may be too strong a word...but he does have his interesting character flaws (which, depending on how you look at them, could be seen as more endearing/charm points, heh ymmv) and I certainly have my concerns for him.

The big one is obviously him going around hunting heroes who never personally wronged him (no matter how justified he feels in doing so by attacking the system’s ‘justice’, and even when he announces his intent by warning them first) is still...well, a crime, and beating them up and putting them in hospitals while other disasters are raging, dwindling their numbers when they’re needed more on the front lines is also...not very constructive or his best judgement of the current situation either. He thinks he’s making an impact that way (including wanting to build his notoriety), but objectively, we know that’s unhelpful the wrong approach. 

So you could say he’s stubborn to a fault (to the point he even recklessly endangers himself), indecisive about what he really wants (and who he really wants to be), and in some chronic denial about himself too (a bit of an oblivious dummy because of that), and doesn’t tend to think things through either, so his perspective ends up rather warped short-sighted and overly hasty. He may feel things very strongly (his heart coming from a good place tho) and is often driven by those emotions, but he doesn’t always know why he feels the way he does, or how to deal with them well or channel them in constructive ways. In turmoil from emotional constipation~ So his pent-up anger/frustration can erupt in reactive outbursts or he lashes out on instinct (which can be dangerous;; esp if it gets out of control or he accidentally does things he doesn’t mean to making him feel shitty afterwards.)

From early on, he’s been bound by spite and a world view formed perhaps too soon in his childhood (which is actually limiting *cough* key word). He may think he already knows ‘this is how the world works’ based on what he’s personally perceived and experienced....but that actually makes him rather naive to the real world instead. :O Especially by thinking he could change and unite the world thru fear...lofty in scope, but a bit too idealistic, cause the real world’s not so simple. Ah, and Psykos did call him ‘pure of heart’ too. He prematurely set out calling himself the monster (read: identifying and sympathizing with those who’re systematically treated unfairly), conflating another group as the ‘bullies/bad guys’ instead (based on his own personal and fictional projections a bit too much), and all without even knowing what real monsters are actually like! (Which he ends up hating anyway once he finally meets some for real.) So hhhh;;; (his intentions may be grounded from a place of moral righteousness, but his methods in response to that, by setting out wanting to achieve balance, are certainly...ill-advised) he really lacks that necessary life experience and guidance. :’)

Which is also rather tragic, because when no one was on his side as a kid, he likely lost his trust in adults/authority figures to help him (when alone and powerless) and the reliance on any potential support system from others too (striving to become strong and self-reliant on his own instead; aka the ‘you gotta stand up and save yourself’ outlook) when...after everything learned from ONE, that’s against the whole message about how much we actually need others to function/mature/grow/thrive (connections with others are important!) And Garou...all by himself lone-wolf style, taking all that burden upon himself, believing he had no other option to take either (even when not true to himself or happy about it, yet he still felt he had to perform the role anyway), just ends up being self-destructive...;.; So he couldn’t have gotten far on a path like that, but whew, thankfully Saitama stepped in before any of this could spiral out of hand! (With Tareo’s help!) The lesson finally (and hopefully) liberating him from his previously binding mindset. :’) (Which we still have yet to see what becomes of him next~) After finding himself and the truth, ideally there should be nothing else holding him back (or forcing him to conform to such ‘roles’ anymore) cause it’ll be just what Saitama says, he can still do what he wants, and try again in a new/better way, even after experiencing failure the first time around. So ahhhh...(this got pretty long, heh) I definitely have my many concerns for him, but seeing him struggle and figure out all this for the better makes me rather fond of him and all his flaws instead. <3

[froginvader]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; MUN & MUSE - MEME.

FILL OUT & REPOST ♥ this meme definitely favors canons more, but i hope oc’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. multi-muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

TAGGED BY:  --- stole it :) TAGGING:  :)

MY MUSE IS:  canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless / complicated

is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO. ( He is the main character )

is your character considered hot™ in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK. ( I--- I have no idea??? He’s a fucking frog. I do wanna hold him and squish him tho,,,,he’s adorable. BUT NOT HOT??? GKRTNGLKEGG ) 

is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. ( Yes and no simply because he is a commander of an army and has the keron star, but if you took that Title from him, you’d realize he’s just a lazy sack of potatoes. He’s incredibly powerful though )

are they underrated?  YES / NO / IDK. ( He’s the main character, but people tend to like the other platoon members more than him. It’s fine though, he’s the star in my heart )

were they relevant for the main story? YES / NO. ( No I've just been talking out my ass )

were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG.

are they widely known in their world? YES / NO. ( Yes, he’s the sergeant that was adored by everyone. That status has quickly gone away since his time on Earth )

how’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL ( Formally adored by all as I've said, but there’s still a handful of people that love him )

HOW STRICTLY DO YOU FOLLOW CANON?  —  I try to follow canon as close as I can, but even the show is.   .  .not consistent of it’s own lore and facts about the characters in it. So yeah I follow canon but sometimes I gotta take the hammer and FIX the baby.

SELL YOUR MUSE! AKA TRY TO LIST EVERYTHING, WHICH MAKES YOUR MUSE INTERESTING IN YOUR OPINION TO MAKE THEM SPICY FOR YOUR MUTUALS.  —  He’s an alien!! A frog alien at that! Who doesn’t love cute animal aliens? He’s also very tiny, good for cuddling!! CHONKY CHEEKS TOO--- smooshing them is a dream. Makes cute sounds. And he cooks and cleans! He’s very soft! Despite being at Earth to take it over, he really can’t do it, be it terrible plans or his heart can’t go through with it. He’s a cute green frog alien bls.

NOW THE OPPOSITE, LIST EVERYTHING WHY YOUR MUSE COULD NOT BE SO INTERESTING (EVEN IF YOU MAY NOT AGREE, WHAT DOES THE FANDOM PERHAPS THINK?).  —  HE’S AN ASSHOLE. If he doesn’t get his way, he’ll throw a tantrum until he gets his way, he usually wont do any favors unless he can profit from it (mostly wanting money or getting off the hook of doing chores). He’ll force you to take one for the team (like that time where he tripped Dororo so he didn’t get eaten by the Nyroros). SO YEAH---he’s really selfish depending on the situation. Though, it’s not really his fault. He grew up with everyone brainwashing him that he could get whatever he wanted and was adored too. Emperor's New Groove much?

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO RP YOUR MUSE?  —  I’ve always loved aliens and this show has been my comfort watch since I first discovered it on netflix all the way back when in 2012(?). Since IZ boomed again, I wanted to write someone who was also an alien and thus, frog man became a thing.

WHAT KEEPS YOUR INSPIRATION GOING?  —  ALL MY FRIENDS....EVERYONE IN THE CLOWN SERVER IS SO SUPPORTIVE AND LOVING ABOUT THESE FROGS HHH (esp Spirit, Che, Mori, Jam, Snail and Water--- I LOVE YOU GUYS ;;;;) thanks for being a blast to bounce back and forth with ideas with all of you. My muse has been so strong thanks to you ;;;

SOME MORE PERSONAL QUESTIONS FOR THE MUN.

give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

do you think you give your character justice? YES / NO / I SINCERELY HOPE I DO?

do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO / SORT OF? ( I mostly write them on discord hhhh. I should really post all my headcanons here !! )

do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO / ON A RARE OCCASION

do you think a lot about your muse during the day? YES / NO 

are you confident in your portrayal? YES / NO / SORT OF?

are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO. / SORT OF? ( the amount of typos I make is really scary and embarrassing for me. But I love to write too much to give up. I just wish I had a bigger brain for more flavor text )

are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO. / SORT OF?

DO YOU ACCEPT CRITICISM WELL ABOUT YOUR PORTRAYAL?  — I’ll take it!! I’m still learning about Keroro even as we speak, I’d love to see if people point out stuff I do wrong or even help me build upon him!

DO YOU LIKE QUESTIONS, WHICH HELP YOU EXPLORE YOUR CHARACTER?  —  YES....PLEASE GIVE THOSE TO ME

IF SOMEONE DISAGREES TO A HEADCANON OF YOURS, DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY?  —  Everyone has different opinions, I’d love to hear why the person thinks otherwise but it’s just water off my back u_u 

IF SOMEONE DISAGREES WITH YOUR PORTRAYAL, HOW WOULD YOU TAKE IT?  — Hard to say. I really try my best to stay true to his character but if someone doesn’t like it--- I really can’t sway them either direction. I’ll be hurt but--- You can’t please everyone, y’know?

IF SOMEONE REALLY HATES YOUR CHARACTER, HOW DO YOU TAKE IT?  —  LOL its fine? Keroro is a little shit. Though I WILL show them all the good things about him. I WILL DIE ON THAT HILL BLS

ARE YOU OKAY WITH PEOPLE POINTING OUT YOUR GRAMMATICAL ERRORS?  — Yes please.....I’m so trash at writing that I really need it. Please point it out or help me fix it ;;;; I’ll appreciate it. Just don’t be a jerk about it, yeah?

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE EASY GOING AS A MUN?   —  Yell heah. I just vibe. I’m very friendly but I’m not sure if people think I’m scary but I’m very chill! Don’t be scared to talk to me

[needsmoresarcasm]

Favorite Books of 2019

I read a bunch of books in 2019. I loved a lot of them. Here are my ten favorites.

10. Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, Gretchen McCulloch

Most books about internet culture are garbage because they are written from the perspective of someone who is outside internet culture. Gretchen McCulloch, I am positive, is a part of internet culture. She was on fandom mailing lists and had a LiveJournal, I’m sure. She had to be to write Because Internet, which is an incredibly well written book about how language has evolved to fit online discourse. Because Internet is so fascinating, as it is able to explain thoughtfully (and compellingly) many things that internet people understand inherently. It parses through the evolution of a keysmash or an emoji. And it really helps show how language on the internet is not somehow the deterioration of language, but just another natural step forward.  9. HHhH, Laurent Binet

Originally written in French, HHhH deals with the entire genre of historical fiction. The narrator in HHhH is writing a novel about the murder of Reinhard Heydrich, a high-ranking Nazi official. That novel-within-the-novel is the bulk of the actual HHhH. But the narrator, who has spent years researching the actual facts, struggles with how much history and how much fiction he should be putting into the book. And so the book explicitly plays with the reader’s expectations, and comments at times on paths the story could take. The book works without the metatextual commentary, it’s propulsive and a little wry. But the added layer really just adds to the intrigue: what’s historical fiction supposed to do? And does any of it even matter? 8. Out East: Memoir of a Montauk Summer, John Glynn

Out East is a coming out memoir that deals with entirely internal struggles and not external hardships. Of course, there is an incredible amount of privilege at play for a coming out to be devoid of external hardships. And yes, the memoir, about a group of (mostly white) friends who rent a beach house in Montauk for a summer, is steeped in privilege, which John Glynn is acutely aware of. But John Glynn is not asking for your sympathy, he is instead telling a deeply personal story about self discovery and sexuality in the 2010s. He captures the world-shattering confusion and fear of learning that you don’t know yourself in a visceral way that still somehow maintains perspective. I cannot say that this book is for everyone, but man, was it for me.

7. Red, White & Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston The year was 2019, and everything was awful. Enter Red, White & Royal Blue, a wildly escapist fantasy that dared to dream: what if the world wasn’t on fire? So Red, White & Royal Blue is truly the most escapist novel out there, a fun romp of a romantic comedy that is entirely unconcerned with the disasters of reality. No, we’re just going to take the biracial son of the first female President of the United States and the charming, responsible prince of England and let them fall in love. Let hijinks ensue. Let this wonderful, bubblegum, fizzy drink of a novel enter your brain and wipe away all your worries. God, I had a blast reading this novel. Make everything gay 2020.

6. Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Ruin and/or Improve Everything, Kelly & Zach Weinersmith

Soonish is the exact kind of nonfiction that I want. It made me feel smarter and also made me laugh. Soonish takes on exactly what its subhead describes: ten emerging technologies (robotics, fusion power, asteroid mining, bioprinting!) that may or may not prove disastrous. It walks through the current science and then the possibilities, and how far off those possibilities are. And then it walks through the potential benefits and consequences. It’s an incredibly accessible read, written with the right balance of information and levity, striking that xkcd Randall Munroe balance. And it also has very funny comics and illustrations interspersed throughout, which will just bring your life so much joy.

5. Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson

Too real. Just Mercy is too real. This is not the right space to get into all that this book says about racial injustice and the flaws of the American justice system. It says a lot, and it says it extremely powerfully. But Just Mercy is Bryan Stevenson’s memoir, too. And it’s equally powerful for what it reveals about Stevenson. It’s so incredibly intimate, and Stevenson really lets the reader into his mind. And I think that openness really makes the whole thing land. Because Stevenson is hopeful and dedicated, and being that close to his inner thoughts ends up turning his story into something inspiring, not enervating. There’s an anecdote about an old woman on a bench outside the courthouse that Stevenson describes, and Stevenson’s retelling is so sure of the overwhelming, indomitable potential goodness of the human spirit that I may have shed a tear. Or two. Or a hundred.

4. The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller

I’m not usually one for deeply tragic stories, but The Song of Achilles I guess is the exception that proves the rule. Locked into the Iliad’s telling of Achilles and Patroclus’ fate, The Song of Achilles feels tragic from the first line. But every sentence builds their relationship and makes you invested, even as tragedy looms. The writing is gorgeous and almost musical; the passion swells and crashes like an orchestra. The book smartly focuses on Patroclus’s humanity to ground Achilles. It’s through Patroclus that we see and understand Achilles, which makes the sharp turns, where we see through Achilles, cut even deeper. In any event, the whole affair is horrifyingly romantic, and I loved it.

3. Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi

Everything about Homegoing is spectacularly audacious. It is an economical 300 page book with the weight, scope, and ambition of a thousand page page epic fantasy series. Homegoing begins by telling the story of two sisters who, by the whims of circumstance or luck or fate, end up on wildly divergent paths. In Ghana in the 18th century, one is sold into slavery and the other marries an Englishman. Homegoing then follows the parallel paths of their descendants through eight generations. Though Homegoing only devotes a single chapter to each character, it manages to develop those characters and their specific settings in more detail than some entire books can. And these chapters are great not only because of what they say about the larger themes of racism and colonialism and family and history, but because of the nuanced, particularized stories they’re able to tell about the individuals.

2. Picture Us in the Light, Kelly Loy Gilbert

Contemporary Young Adult books can feel hit or miss for me. Many of them end up feeling a little shallow or juvenile. And this isn’t a criticism of the books, but a necessary side effect of the fact that I’m not the intended audience. But Picture Us in the Light knocked me over with more force than any “adult” book I read.

Picture Us in the Light, at first blush, is a typical story about Danny Cheng, a Chinese American high school student worrying about getting into college, swirls with weighty plot elements--suicide, citizenship, poverty, familial sacrifice--but never resorts to melodrama. Each issue is treated with a deft, steady hand. But more than anything, it is just the story of Danny Cheng trying to figure out his life. His voice is specifically crafted to reflect everything he is: an aspiring artist, the child of immigrants, Asian American, maybe queer, a Californian, and, maybe most importantly, a teenager. Because Picture Us in the Light turns the youth of its genre, its audience, and its main character into an asset; it channels that unformed teenage energy of wonder, uncertainty, and anxiety to heighten every emotional beat. And mostly, it brims with empathy and optimism for Danny and, really, for everyone.

1. The Starless Sea, Erin Morgenstern

The Starless Sea is the reason I read books. As a kid, I fell in love with reading by devouring entire series, getting lost in a fictional world for days or weeks or months at a time. What made reading so addicting was the feeling of being entirely immersed in the currents of a story. It’s a feeling I don’t get from books much any more. I read too fast, I think too much, and, mostly, I’m too easily distracted. But The Starless Sea brought that feeling of having just spent two weeks reading every Redwall or Lord of the Rings or Ender’s Game book and no longer being able to discern reality from fiction. And for that blissful literary hangover, it was the best book I read in 2019.

The Starless Sea is about Zachary Ezra Rawlins, a video game design graduate student, who comes across an old, unmarked book in his school library. In that book, he comes across a story that impossibly contains a moment from his past, and the book proceeds to unravel that mystery. However, this plot summary is misleading in its linearity; The Starless Sea is structured as books within a book, chapters will switch from the story of Zachary to the story Zachary is reading to maybe a different story altogether. And in this way, it unfolds as a puzzle box, or maybe as nesting dolls, or maybe a Mobius strip (or maybe all three), where figuring out exactly what stories are being told only adds to the experience. 

You won’t find a review of this book that doesn’t call Erin Morgenstern’s writing beautiful or atmospheric or dreamlike, which is appropriate because Erin Morgenstern’s writing is beautiful and atmospheric and dreamlike. Between the whimsical descriptive flourishes and the outward spiraling fantastical plot, the book is always on the verge of floating away or spinning out. But Zachary Ezra Rawlins grounds the story; he’s real and genuine and good, and never have I rooted more for a character. He believes in the power of a great story, and that’s ultimately what this book is about: the ways in which a story can sweep you away. And, truly, The Starless Sea just washed over me, lifted me up, and swept me away.

[usfv-archived]

xgodlike said: 💖 - What’s something you like about your muse?💔 - What’s something you dislike about your muse?

Questions for the Mun . Accepting ! 

💖 - What’s something you like about your muse?

.Oho , ok I like a lot of things about him but if I have to pick one thing I like the complexity of his character. Now I know some people say he’s kind of boring , but he’s complex in that I feel like morally Valentine is more in the grey area of his motives you know ? Like, his sense of justice is all like you know he really does find himself doing what’s best for America as a whole even if the means of how he’s going about it is questionable you feel me? Makes me think. lol 

💔 - What’s something you dislike about your muse?

.OH GOD, really hate that whole thing with L.ucy and how that shit was handled like EXCUSE ME? Also I hate how inconsistent Araki is with how Valentine is supposed to be with his wife like he sets it up that they are like in love and all and then after he’s like ‘ huh where’s Scarlet? OH WELL.’ HHHH angy. 

[flufferdust]

Under the right wing 1/3

Characters: Apollo Justice, Kristoph Gavin, Clay Terran

Words: 1780

 [[MORE]]

[Apollo sniffled, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead as he twisted the key into the lock. He was used to opening the office during the week, but this morning forcing himself out of bed was much harder than usual. He cleared his throat, opening the door and resetting the alarm when it started it to beep before flicking the lights on.

His head throbbed and he reached into his pocket for his tissue packet already dwindling in number to blow his nose with a thick honk before he let himself settle into the clients chair.

Maybe the day would be short. He couldn't remember a day aside from one that the office closed early, but surely if there weren't any big clients or much paperwork he could leave after just a few hours.

A steamy, hot shower with a vapor rub ice cube sounded heavenly and the idea of a nap, even a short one, seemed almost too good to be true.

I’m fine, Apollo told himself tiredly, muffling a loud, harsh sneeze into his elbow and feeling his head throb once more. I’ll be fine.

He let his head lull back tiredly until he heard the handle and leapt up despite his dizziness.

“Good morning,” Kristoph said, shedding his coat and hanging it on the coat rack.

“Good bordi’g, Bister Gavid. How are you?”

Yikes. Was that his voice? His boss seemed almost as surprised as he did.

“Well, you sound pleasant this morning.”

Apollo resisted the urge to sniffle. “I thigk I caught a cold.”

Kristoph smiled lightly, settling down at his desk.

“That’s a shame,” he replied. “You biked here, didn't you? Glad to see you made it.”

Apollo swallowed thickly. He’d been part of this agency for almost half a year now, but he still couldn't read his boss. Hopefully he wasn't angry? He sounded fine, mildly surprised, but only as surprised as Apollo had ever seen.

“Be too,” Apollo said lamely, clearing his throat to try and fight off the tickle growing in the back of his sinuses. It quickly backfired and he buried his face into his elbow with another harsh “HUH’JRSHHHOO!”

Goosebumps lined his arms immediately, his face heating up from the echo of his sneeze reverberating off of the walls.

Kristoph didn't reply, opening a folder on his desk and flipping through it. Apollo reached for the last tissue in his pocket, wiping the base of his sore nose gingerly.

“Justice.”

“Y-Yes sir?”

“I need you to do a follow up on the Sheffield case. The next trial is tomorrow.”

Apollo blinked. “Uh…”

Sheffield case… It sounded familiar but he couldn’t put his finger on it….

“Call theb?”

Kristoph lifted his head, adjusting his glasses.

“Yes. Unless they are in the office already, that's how follow ups work.”

“R-Right, suh-sorr-sorre- EH’DDJEWWW! HAP’JSHIEWWW! Ugh… 'scuse be…”

Kristoph pursed his lips ever-so-slightly before offering him a fake smile that Apollo could see for miles.

“And Justice?”

Apollo blew his nose into the soaked tissue, sniffling miserably as he glanced around to find that as he thought, there wasn't a box of them anywhere.

"Don't do that into the phone. I'm relying heavily on this case."

Apollo felt his face heat up once more, a careful hand extending a finger under his chapped nose.

"R-Right. Sorry, sir."

The morning took a lot longer than he’d hoped it would. He sniffled and held back powerful sneezes as he tried his best to keep his voice as professional as possible despite the croak setting in.

By lunch, he’d opted into taking a dreamless nap at his desk, waking a half hour later in a puddle of drool. He mopped it up tiredly with his sleeve, trying to force himself back into working order for the rest of his shift.

Kristoph didn't speak much, aside from orders and Apollo swallowed back his sore throat trying his best to keep it together as best he could. His head was throbbing, his throat growing more and more raw with every sneeze and he felt increasingly dizzy as the congestion plugged up his sinuses and ears.

“B-Bister Gavid…” he asked quietly, as the clock reached 5:15 p.m. “I really dod't feel well… If it's dot a probleb, cad I go hobe early?”

Kristoph slid his glasses back up the bridge of his nose into place and looked up from his page with a sigh that didn't sound frustrated or sympathetic.

“We always lock up at six. You can't make it 45 minutes longer?”

Apollo clenched his jaw guiltily. The way his boss asked, sounding genuinely confused, almost hurt more than if he’d been yelled at. It toyed with his thoughts and he lowered his head slightly. Maybe he was being a baby. If he didn't seem sick enough to Kristoph, maybe it really was just a touch of manflu.

He suffered through the last 45 minutes in somewhat of a daze, sniffling back his runny nose and trying not to count the seconds until he could home and blow it. When 6 p.m. finally arrived, he gathered his things without looking as though he was in hurry and waited for Kristoph to make his exit before locking the door.

***

Apollo stumbled into his apartment almost a half hour later, ripping off his coat and tossing his bag against the wall as he kicked off his shoes. He dragged his feet into the kitchen, filling a glass from the counter with cold water and gulped it back before grabbing the ice cube tray from the freezer and trudging down the hall with it to the bathroom.

It seemed almost too good to be true, he thought in a daze. To finally be home, to finally get some relief. He turned the shower head on, cranking the faucet to the hottest setting before twisting the tray and letting all twelve ice cubes gather over the drain. He swallowed as they began to steam up, pulling the hem of his shirt up over his head and snatching a handful of tissues from the box on the back of the toilet and settling down onto the covered seat to blow his nose with a thick gurgle that filled the tissues immediately.

He crumpled them, tossing them away before grabbing a fresh batch and continuing to blow with a soft cough as he got used to idea of breathing even a little through his nose again.

He sucked in a deep breath, flaring his nostrils as the strong scent of menthol hit him like a brick wall and he hurriedly took his pants off, sliding into the shower to welcome it.

Apollo's mouth fell open, despite the horrid taste of the steam as he felt his nose being to stream freely, the potent steam breaking away at his congestion way faster than he’d expected.

“hh...hih-ihh…” he moaned desperately, impatiently as the tickle grew and faded on repeat, taunting him until he braced himself against the tile and stared out at the light on the ceiling.

“HHHR’DJISHOO! D’JSHHOO-IJ’SHOOO! HUH-R’DJJJJISHHH! HEH’JOOO!”

He sniffled wetly, feeling the immediate effects of the disaster on his face before he titled it into the stream of water to rinse off. He swallowed, glancing around through streaming eyes to find a washcloth.

He finally spotted one in the corner, pressing his nose to the inside of his elbow as he reached for it.

“AH’JISHIIIEEE! JUH'SHOOO! HhhH-! huhh...hihhh… ddgh…”

He tightened his grip on the washcloth, leaning all of his weight against the wall as he continued to hitch and wait for the next wave. When it failed to come, he cupped the cloth over his nose and mouth, giving it a good rub before exploding into it instantly.

“HRHH’PFFOO! HEHJ’PFFF!! EH’PRFFF! Ih.. ihhh… Ih’DJPFFOO-HE’PFFF-D’HPFFF!”

He sniffled, his mouth agape once again as he leaned forward to rinse his face and the cloth in his hands before he noticed that his eyes has stopped burning and watering. The steam was mostly water now, the Vicks cubes that had been covering the drain completely melted away.

He cleared his throat, noticing how little of a voice he had left after such a long fit and lowered himself onto his bottom, letting the hot water pelt him for another twenty minutes.

When he finally made his way out of the bathroom, he collapsed onto his bed in his boxers, sniffling thickly and glancing as his phone started to buzz next to his head.

“H-Hello?” He croaked.

“Dude! What's wrong with you?!” A voice boomed. “How can you send your best friend a text saying you feel awful and then ignore their calls and texts all day? You’d better tell me you were asleep.”

Apollo swallowed.

“C-Clay,” he said softly, glancing at his missed calls to find that there were 17, 14 text messages to accompany them. He’d been in such haze the entire day he hadn't even thought about looking at his phone. “D-Doh, Sorry, I was at worgk.”

“Work?” Clay replied. “Are you kidding me? Gavin didn't give you the day off?”

Apollo sniffled, turning his head away from the receiver to sneeze at his wrist.

“HUH’JISHHOO! D-Doh… Oped to close.”

Clay sighed.

“And not a second earlier, right? Jeez, Apollo, I don't know why you stay there.”

Apollo lowered his arm to wipe it on his boxers before clearing his throat.

“Bodey. Reputatiod,” he muttered. “Bister Gavid did’t seeb codcerded, so baybe-”

Clay groaned audibly, and Apollo could imagine the guy running a hand through his thick black hair and down his face like he always did when he was exasperated.

“Dude, Gavin didn't notice because he's got a black hole for a heart. Take it from me, you sound bad. He should’ve sent you home when you got there.”

Apollo sniffled, twitching his nose again as he felt his chest tighten.

“O-oh.. hih-hh...gkay…” he muttered. “hihh-huh-”

“Bless you.”

“HR’UHJSHHH! Thaggyou…”

“Is there anything I can get for you?” Clay sighed. “Besides a new job?”

“I’m f-fide,” Apollo croaked, reaching for his water bottle and taking two pills with a swig. “Just godda take sobe cold bedicide a’d sleep… I have worgk toborrow…”

“Y-Yeah… Okay, if you need anything I'm just a call away,” Clay replied softly. “Don't be a stranger, Pollo.”

His only reply was a congested snore.

[bae-leth]

After competing GD has your opinions on the BL ending changed? I recently completed BL (after doing CF and GD) and it's been my least favorite of the routes although I still liked it. I felt that Dimitri focused more on short-time happiness and didn't change that much for the long term unlike GD. Like in GD both the goddess's children and those who slither are mostly gone thus preventing any more future conflict. But in BL they're both still around, but weakened, and the world is much the same.

Yeah I’m of the opinion that the gd route does not deserve the final boos it got

okay HOOO I’m going to use these two asks to talk about my opinions on BL and GD! (no opinions on CF yet because sadly I am still on.... chapter 2.... sobs)

(spoilers for both GD and BL ahead)

Out of the two, I still prefer BL, but that’s mostly due to my own preferences. Right up until release, the main reason I wanted to play 3H was to see Dimitri’s character arc for myself - that’s why I jumped on BL faster than Felix runs from his feelings, and finished it way quicker than GD. Not that I didn’t care about the other characters (I love them all to bits hhhh and watching them grow was a joy) but Dima was definitely a priority for me. Experiencing his story was the highlight of my playthrough, and I definitely have a lot of bias towards the Lions as a whole...

However! Some things did fall short for me. Dimitri not having a coronation scene, for one. I am... still so mad about that.... One of the biggest was the lack of Lions + Dimitri character interactions post-timeskip. Dimitri has really interesting dynamics with the rest of his house, but you never really get to see them being explored both pre/post chapter 17, since it’s primarily Byleth helping him through his trauma. Of course, that’s a given, because Byleth is a MU and would naturally get the spotlight, but aaa... I really do wish we saw more of ‘team collectively helping Dima heal’, rather than ‘team makes interesting observations but never really get the conversations they deserve.’ I guess I expected something like this because BL is such a character-driven route.

The pacing was something I actually thought was alright in BL. GD though... hhhhHHHHH

imo they tried to fit way too much in Deer. There was a lot of emphasis on Edelgard + rescuing Rhea right up until chapter 19 or so, and then she’s swept aside... really quickly? 

The Shambhala stuff gets dropped on you for literally one chapter. It’s a very cool map! but you only see it for a single chapter before uhhhh Nemesis comes out of nowhere. And then you get a whole load of lore dropped on you right before you fight Nemesis. 

The pacing was just so tight in the Deer route, and I really think it’s because they essentially fit most of the Lions’ ‘taking down Edelgard’ chapters and then tacked on the Shambhala/Nemesis stuff at the end (because Hubert has a letter for them.... Ah, Hubert..). 

I really enjoyed the premise of fighting Nemesis and the Elites in Deer (Claude in that final cutscene was just. chefs kiss MWAH) but I wish they had more of a buildup. Same with the slitheries, too - Thales got a grand total of one chapter before he was obliterated.

ALSO WHY DO THE ELITES NOT HAVE SPECIAL PORTRAITS... SOBS.... I WISH THEY DID.... I WANT TO SEE WHAT MISS FRALDARIUS LOOKS LIKE....

Regarding the slitheries: in BL they are wiped out, but the game never really tells you this (especially if it’s your first route, like it was for me!). You end up killing Cornelia, Arundel and the... Myson man? (I’m sure he’s important, but all I remember about him is him pissing me off LMAO). So in BL you do end up dealing with the slitheries, but it’s never really touched upon at all, since the whole route itself primarily focusses on Dimitri and his character arc. I’m fine with this, since they’re explained when you play GD (and presumably Church) but honestly from what I’ve seen, the slitheries just seem to be a weak point in the story overall. :/

tl;dr I like both BL and GD! but GD deserves more justice for its ending. 

also i was totally convinced that Nemesis would be the final boss for church route.... but he’s the final boss for Deer... so now I am confused :(

[simfur]

20 Autobot Leaders Rated by How Much I Want to Punch Them

Starting with the big guy, the granddaddy of them all, G1 Optimus Prime. He’s like a father to me. I can’t in good conscience punch him, even if he sometimes deserves it for bad puns. 1/10 punchability I just can’t do it 

Rodimus Prime ranks high in the punchability for some because when Optimus died in the original movie, it traumatized kids so much that all their negative feelings got channeled into unbridled rage towards the guy who replaced him. However, I hate those guys because they became insufferable as adults, so that really just lowers Roddy’s punchability for me personally. 4/10 punchability he still kind of deserves it though 

Grimlock led the Autobots for a length of time I can’t remember after Optimus died in the Marvel comics. His was a reign of terror. I can’t decide if his jughead crown is kickin or if i want to kick it off him. 7/10 punchability he gets some lenience for his childlike innocence

Another Marvel comics leader was Fortress Maximus, who was also Cerebros. He was also the leader in the Headmasters anime after Rodimus flew off into space forever but I don’t think he actually had a personality in that. He’s a matryoshka of Autobot leaders with each getting smaller and more punchable than the last, ending in Moody College Student Spike Witwicky, who is thankfully the first one on this list who I don’t have to climb something to punch in the face. 9/10 punchability I’m a very short person so I might have to climb something anyways but that isn’t going to stop me

Last Marvel comics character, I swear. Captain Picard Hi-Q binary bonded with Optimus for a while, then Optimus died (this was about the third time), and Hi-Q eventually turned into Optimus so we just considered Optimus alive again. Don’t think too hard about it. 3/10 punchability I really like Star Trek TNG so I probably wouldn’t punch him

Ginrai’s robot self looks exactly like Optimus Prime, but he isn’t. Why he looks like him is sort of hand-waved away in the anime. The real-life reason, of course, is because he was just the Japanese release of Powermaster Optimus Prime. Ginrai is really good because he talks like an American teenager even when his robot form separated from his human self to become the Autobot commander at the end of Super-God Masterforce. 0/10 punchability I just can’t really punch a guy wearing converse, skinny jeans, and suspenders

Star Saber makes me forget that the Autobots were ever good guys. I don’t think he even has a personality outside of “noble and heroic leader.” He adopted a human son and tried to send him to a Catholic school but he doesn’t even buy him a uniform. The kid barely even goes to school in the end. 9/10 punchability don’t adopt a human if you’re not prepared to care for him

Optimus Primal is a good Autobot leader because he never even set out to be anything more than a captain on one ship but ended up sacrificing himself to bring life back to the planet, probably sparking a religious following. He won the “Power of the Primes” vote so he’s got to have a pretty low punchability, but he also looks like his malleble gorilla face would feel nice on my powerful fist. 5/10 punchability when POTP stuff starts coming will his name change to “optimus primal prime”?

Lio Convoy being a cat makes me not want to punch him so much. However, he isn’t a good father. Don’t worry about the kid not really being his son in any sense of the term. Why is ineptitude at fatherhood a recurring theme for Autobot leaders? 8/10 punchability Lio Junior deserved better

I’ll admit that Beast Wars Neo is the only thing on this list that I haven’t seen or read any of, so Big Convoy is mostly here for completion’s sake. Hence I’m rating him entirely on his appearance. Mostly I wouldn’t want to punch a mammoth, because they’re extinct, but I think he could take it. It would be a good workout for both of us. 10/10 punchability no hard feelings, we’re just two dudes lovingly punching each other

In Japan, he’s known as Fire Convoy, continuing their tradition of Autobot leader names, but in the west he’s the first-ever reboot of Optimus Prime. I don’t have a lot of opinions on him as a person or leader, but his existence opened the floodgates of Optimus Primes to come, which I have mixed feelings on. 5/10 punchability I can’t think of a reason to punch him, but I also can’t think of a reason not to

Armada Optimus Prime suffers from being Armada Optimus Prime. I think this was when they really managed to distill “Optimus Prime” down into its truest form. No longer was Optimus Prime a character, but a concept that extended beyond fiction and into our world. Optimus Prime means something. Optimus Prime is a figure for justice, honor, and liberty. 8/10 punchability I still can’t forget Energon though

Do I have to say anything. I’m not even somebody who vehemently dislikes Hot Shot, but for the love of god, why did he ever get to be a leader. 6/10 punchability I’d punch him but I wouldn’t put a lot of force into it, he’s not even worth it

Movie Optimus Prime is. uh. something else, all right. I can admire the movie taking the idea of Optimus Prime and going “okay, but what if he was also a murderbeast?” because I think that’s something we all really wanted to see play out. In practice it kind of scares me. 2/10 punchability I’m worried if I went for his face I’d no longer have mine

Animated Optimus Prime is a good boy. A baby boy. He’s trying his best in a world that seems against him. We all love him. 0/10 punchability I simply can’t bring myself to mar those luscious lips

I’m sure Animated Ultra Magnus did some great things during the war, but, yunno, seeing how Cybertron under him during peacetime is sort of a Stratocracy, I question his fitness to be the leader of a planet. They really gonna let the government run experiments on civilians? Okay. Alright. 4/10 I don’t want to punch him per se but I do sort of want to lead an armed rebellion against him

Hhh. HHHH. HOOGH. HHHAAAHH. HEH. HHhhhHHH. Just seeing Sentinel Prime’s face fills me with anger. If let loose, this rage could level mountains, sink continents, and incinerate entire solar systems. If there is any good in the cosmos, Sentinel Prime will not go unpunched. His face will be shattered into pieces with the sheer power of my unbridled fury. 10,000/10 punchability I have already punched him, spiritually, and I will do it again

I mean, alright. Prime Optimus Prime is kind of the distilled essence of Optimus Prime. If you took all the other Optimus Primes, and took all the things they had in common, and then took out a little bit of the anger because let’s be real here all the other Optimus Primes are quite a bit angrier than this one, you’d get Aligned Optimus Prime. Which is kind of how the Aligned continuity as a whole works. So, yeah, That Sure Is Optimus Prime. 3/10 punchability his soft-spoken words of wisdom would calm me down before I ever even raised my fist

Heatwave is the quintessential non-Optimus Autobot leader. He’s noble and courageous with a good sense of justice, but he was thrust into leadership without being the best and it and is a bit of a hothead. You can use that exact sentence to describe so many of the bots on this list. 4/10 punchability I don’t want to use violent methods when it comes to Rescue Bots but sometimes Heatwave’s personality warrants it 

I honestly can’t believe it took 30 years for a Bumblebee to be leader for reals. It happened so gradually that nobody was surprised when it happened, and yet it also feels like nobody can really accept it. I know I can’t. He doesn’t even look like any Bumblebee. Is this how longtime G1 fans felt when the Unicron trilogy started reusing names for different-but-not-wholly-different characters to keep the trademarks? 8/10 punchability we know you stole your schtick from Hot Rod via Hot Shot so stop trying to act like you’re so special