#I WANT THE NEXT GAME TO BE ABOUT THE ARCS SO BADLY

[sleepy-crypt1d]

am i?? losing my mind here??

okay, so, like, subnautica, right?

recent news is that subnautica 3 is in production/in the works, hooray!! literally cannot be more excited about this, it’s my favorite game ever and i am so thrilled to see where the next one is headed but, i feel like, what the next one is going to be about is. . obvious?

who knows!! maybe im losing my mind here and i am just a tad too into these games so other people didn’t think about this but, sub3 is gonna be about the architect home planet. it has to be, doesn’t it?? 

the exact quote from the people working on the game is “I dream of visiting new worlds, exploring intricate alien ecosystems and lost civilizations. I don't think I'll ever get tired of the fantasy of making contact with intelligent life. I also dream about going on these adventures with friends. Getting lost, together.” and people are theorizing that the game takes place either in the past, showing 4546B a thousand years ago, takes place in the crater’s edge, or another unseen part of 4546B but. . .4546B’s story is done? the only loose end there is Ryley, who i would love to see again, but the planet’s mysterious have all been answered? i don’t know how they are coming to those conclusions when BZ perfectly sets up what the next game will be about?

“I dream of visiting new worlds, exploring intricate alien ecosystems and lost civilizations” this??? seems so much like they’re talking about exploring the architect homeworld??? new worlds implies we’re going to a different place, doesn’t it? and lost civilizations, yeah, going through the arc homeworld and piecing together what happened??

“I also dream about going on these adventures with friends. Getting lost, together.” some people are interpreting this as sub3 going multiplayer, which would be okay i guess, but wouldn’t this make more sense if it were referencing Al-An and robin???? especially with the line BZ ends with?? ‘with you, I am ready to face whatever awaits us’ like???

also the second game ended with a cliff hanger!!! it ended with showing us the architect homeworld!!! WHY WOULDN’T SUB3 BE ABOUT THAT???? WHY WOULD THEY SUDDENLY SHIFT THE STORY ENTIRELY??

i dont know, maybe im losing my mind here, maybe theorists on youtube know something i don’t but the plot of sub3 seems obvious to me, because BZ literally ended with showing us where the story was headed.

am i crazy? or have other people also realized that exploring the architect homeworld seems like the only logical next step in the story? to find out what happened? we found out what happened to sam and the game ends with robin promising they’ll find out what happened to the architects. why are people thinking ANYTHING ELSE would happen????

who knows, if sub3 comes out and im completely wrong, i will take that L and dig myself a grave but until then, i will hold this thought pretty confidently 

#subnautica #subnautica below zero #subnautica below zero spoilers #subnautica spoilers #subnautica al-an #is it because they hate BZ :(( it's because they hate BZ isn't it :(( god dammit #sleepy rants #these games are legit my favorite games in existence and BZ meant so fucking much to me - i adored that game!! it was so good!! #not every game needs to be a masterpiece - i had a wonderful time playing it and fell in love with the story/characters #that's all a good game needs #the story of the architects is so interesting and i would love to know more about them/their home and so many people just pretend- #-that they dont exist and it takes away such a big chunk of what makes subnautica the amazing game it is #sorry if i come off as bitchy here- i just care about subnautica a lot and seeing people completely ignore a major part of it sucks #al-an's story is so interesting!!! i love the arcs SO FUCKING MUCH!!! when i saw him for the first time i lost my SHIT #I WANT THE NEXT GAME TO BE ABOUT THE ARCS SO BADLY #TELL ME MORE ABOUT THEM #PLEASE #like i cannot tell if these people are willfully being ignorant to basic story telling mechanics or if they just. . . dont get it #it ended on a cliff hanger- the next game will be explaining that cliff hanger? #like sure we didn't get an answer to what happened to ryley word for word but we KNOW that alterra is pretending he doesn't exist!! #we know- in part- what happened to him- that's why it isn't answered #we find logs talking about how the aurora 'disappeared' #with no survivors #alterra is hiding his existence #also WE NOW HE'S IN SPACE- MYSTERY THERE SOLVED #SPACE #BUT WITH THE ARCS WE DON'T KNOW!! #WHY WOULD THEY SET UP AN ENTIRE GAME WITH THE MYSTERY OF TRYING TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ARCS AND THEN JUST DROP IT??????? #WHY DO THEY THINK THAT UW WOULD DO THAT??? #angry

[gofancyninjaworld]

The OPM Manga in 2023

By the numbers:

23 updates (most 14 days apart, shortest interval: 9 days, longest: 33 days).

662 pages (range 12 - 41 pages, mean page count: 29 pages).

Volumes published: 2 (Volumes 28 and 29). 1 bonus chapter included in Volume 28 -- Olfaction.

By the story:

Psychics and Temper Tantrums (chapters 176 - 184)

Well, the Monster Association is behind us but the fallout from it is slowly beginning to settle. Most of the heroes are now back at work and some of the consequences of a world that's increasingly scared of monster attacks are beginning to show up. The first quarter of the year was taken up with Tatsumaki's temper tantrum -- and Saitama once again daring a strong person to do their worst -- it's like he didn't learn his lesson with Garou, which disappoints me. [I love Saitama, but when brains were being handed out, he was not at the front of the queue.]

That said, even though I did not care one whit for Tatsumaki throwing Saitama around (it wasn't terrible, but really it could have been condensed into 1-2 chapters), the start of the Psychic Sisters arc was fantastic, and its ending was very interesting. I made a nuisance of myself at the start of it, pestering everyone in earshot with my excitement that Tatsumaki was taking Fubuki into her confidence to try getting Psykos out rather than trying to do everything herself.

Her complex feelings of disappointment, betrayal, and the sense that she'd made a mistake were some of the most complex and nuanced we'd seen in the story. She may be paranoid and misanthropic, but she's not crazy: there's a basis for her actions, and being knocked back just when she'd taken the risk of opening up was harsh. Unfortunately, Tatsumaki's default response is rage.. and I'm not going to waste time on recounting what happened then.

I felt pain for her here.

The end as well, expanding as it did on Tatsumaki's thoughts about how she'd accidentally woken Fubuki's psychic powers by scaring her so badly and the guilt she felt at having made her sister a target, was great. Her feelings about Blast are great, as this is the first time we get what she actually thinks of him. I still want her to learn that Blast doesn't work alone -- it'll blow her mind. The session ending with her giving the Fubuki group a chance to grow stronger and prove themselves is a fantastic development.

Even when she's giving someone a chance she still has to be scary.

Schemes (chapters 184, 187 - 191)

I really love how seamlessly the Psychic Sister arc flows into the next big theme: that of schemes and threats to the Hero Association's future. ONE has done a lot of work reworking the webcomic story so that the storyline is a coherent whole rather than two-three apparently unrelated storylines. Fubuki taking advantage of the chaotic aftermath to extract Psykos while securing immunity for her sister, and Tatsumaki brazenly using the HA's need to keep the rich clients sweet to scupper an investigation into Psykos's whereabouts was all clever. However, they're just amateurs and their antics played beautifully into McCoy's hands, who leveraged the crisis to make himself appear indispensible to the HA, thus making it very hard for him to be removed, even as he works to implicate the Hero Association in scandals (many of which he's running).

You can't call McCoy hasty: this guy has played a good long game.

The Hero Association is already having issues recruiting new heroes as they're going to Neo Heroes, which is also pinching existing heroes. However, it's not 100% going McCoy's way. Something I started praising in my review of chapter 173 is the greater self-efficacy of the characters in the manga. Sekingar and Sicchi haven't just been sitting on their hands watching McCoy sell the HA down the river. They've teamed up with Child Emperor to find out what he's really up to.

I think that this is the best cover of 2023: a collection of individuals who embody heroism, whether or not they're recognised as such or work in 'regular' ways. Well, there's one impostor…

Critically, they're not assuming that the Neo Heroes are necessarily evil: they want to understand what this outfit is actually doing. After all, heroism is heroism, no matter what guise it takes. To see that Sekingar has so earned Metal Bat's respect that the latter follows him into the heart of danger did my heart good [1].

Please, my poor heart, it'll burst if things get much more awesome.

Ninjas, Ninnies, Nintendos (193 - 199, ongoing)

That Blast has some connection to the ninjas from Sonic's Ninja Village has been clear for a long time in the webcomic. [2] However, it is only here in the manga that we're getting a full explanation of what that connection is.

Yes, yes, my partner may be a monster but he's a useful monster.

The intertwined story of Blast and his attempts to reach his former partner, Empty Void, who was also running a horrifying 'school' for grooming boys into assassins, and that of Flashy Flash and Speed o' Sound Sonic isn't done yet, but it looks to be reaching at least one turning point. It's a pity that the fan translators stopped translating the cover text because that for chapter 199 was incredibly pertinent: 'Staring at the back of a friend you used to stand shoulder to shoulder with.' Sonic has so much to process.

And like that, Sonic's world has been turned upside down.

Since Blast has an ongoing relationship with Empty Void, we get troubling questions as to how long Blast had known about the Village and whether he disapproved, or had been content to ignore it as long as he had his partner by his side and found his talents indispensible. It's going to be interesting when those two meet! Also, if Blast is hoping to reverse Empty Void's monsterization, he'd better hope that the guy isn't like most people who became monsters. Most ex-human monsters *want* to be that way and there doesn't seem to be a good way to undo it. Well, maybe if you chop them up, have Phoenixman (oops, he seems to have lost his powers) resurrect them, then shock them incredibly hard, that might work. It's unlikely that anyone present can deduce what happened to Gale Wind and Hellfire Flame, much less put all the working parts of that together.

Still, they're going to try. This *is* going to be interesting. Also, potentially heartbreaking.

Reappearances

Genos: the disciple returns to his duty

Unlike the webcomic, Genos has not been completely absent. He's been quite busy: helping Saitama recover their apartment, meeting the Hero Association to discuss important matters, and also, hanging out with Saitama as a friend rather than as a disciple. It's been fun to see that he's finally ditched his flip phone for a smart one, heheh.

Nevertheless, it's not until Dr Kuseno finishes his new upgrade that Genos sets foot in Saitama's house, formally reporting for duty, so to speak. I praise Saitama's self-discipline and good sense in not breaking eye contact and in politely ignoring his disciple's new-found exhibitionism until he had the sense to put a shirt on [3].

Less positive, it's been painful to see that Genos is frustrated at how he doesn't seem to have grasped the kind of growth he's looking for and is unsure whether Saitama truly sees him. It's not been helped by Saitama trying to reassure him, pulling his best 'Reigen' face and instead made everything worse. There are two interesting shames, which will surely be built on at some point. 1: We see Saitama seeing Genos's strength but he doesn't say anything. 2: Genos is right that the strength that comes from within is different from that granted to one by upgrades. We see in another chapter from Nichirin, that having artificial parts is no hindrance to pulling out that great inner strength. The funny thing is that Genos has shown that kind of strength before, when he was fighting Elder Centipede, but he doesn't know it.

Ah, despite everything, those fools are no better at speaking to each other than they were before! It'd be hilarious if it weren't so tragic.

Rarely have the words 'open your mouth and solve your problems' been more apposite. Sadly, that's exactly what they don't do.

Garou: the other disciple tries to learn duty

Now this really threw a lot of fans for a loop -- ONE making clear that he's aware of how young Garou actually is. It was very easy to read Garou as a guy in his early twenties, but strip away the pretensions and he's really young. His over-simple understanding of what was wrong with the world and his over-large sense of responsibility to fix it are thoughts of a teen. It's just a good thing that teenagers don't have world-shattering power, and so can be extreme and wrong without hurting anyone. But it has really jarred with a lot of fans.

I may be giving Bang the side eye as he implements his idea of reformation (apparently, it involves hitting Garou over the head often), but the sense of lightness Garou feels at having a reliable mentor, the relief he undoubtedly feels at having a way to work his crimes off -- being a social outcast may seem cool in a 'reject-the-corrupt-world' way but it gets old fast -- and being able to contribute meaningfully to the dojo's re-establishment is palpable.

His life is sure to start sucking again soon, but for now, it's a joy to see him.

Let him gambol for now. Go Garou!

King: ugh

Sorry, King just irritates me some days and this was one of them. Not because he was running around trying to find someone who could help him: that was fine. But because, unlike the webcomic, once Saitama told him to work out, he's continuing to stick around and play videogames. In a world where everyone is trying their best to make sense of their world and help themselves in some way, however imperfect, the sight of this poster child for mediocre white men overpromoted for looking the part continuing to laze about just pisses me off.

Let him start helping himself and I will praise him.

He's been told what to do but he's not doing it.

GAY!

This year, ONE said: here, my children, I have brought you a pint of homo milk. Drink. What else are we to make of Fubuki triumphantly cradling Psykos as she makes a clean getaway?

This has to be the smuggest 'got the girl' face I've ever seen.

Or Blast continuing to call Empty Void his partner, despite everything that the guy has done, including turning into a monster? He wants him back so badly, and though he says it's strictly professional interest, we think the man doth protest too much.

And then whatever's going on with these two:

Flashy Flash, you ain't got no business calling Blast soft when you're handing Sonic tissues and smiling at him.

Fandom Follies

Do we need to do this? Yup! This year, we discovered that a lot of dudebros who have been against the idea of romance in OPM have just been shippers afraid to come out and own it. The sheer number of Saitama x Tatsumaki fans has been incredible. Nothing wrong with SaiTatsu but the obnoxiousness of fans new to shipping has been hard to tolerate. Learn some manners, folks!

Asides

[1] I think this is great foreshadowing of something Forte says later in the webcomic to paraphrase, risking your life for another hero is something you do as a favour for a friend, not because someone's declared themselves the boss of you and ordered it. It's nice to see Sekingar embodying that ideal.

[2] It's hard to believe it, but to this day (chapter 149), Blast is not yet seen in the webcomic. At this rate, he'll show up at the very end to get jobbed by God (no ID), but not before giving an over-long exposition about what he's been up to. That is, if he's not already dead, only nobody knows yet.

[3] I can see SaiGenos shippers worried that my saying that it's good that Saitama isn't taking Genos up on his obvious attraction means that I might be disapproving of the ship. That is not the case. I'm going to assume that most of us here are old enough to vote, enter into contracts, and pay taxes and so can think of things with nuance and context. A fandom that needs the reassurance of canon to decide what's permissible is a weak, timid, and pallid imitation of one, and one I want no part of. For certain, we're here to discuss the story as it exists, but please, we're also here to consider and explore scenarios and make works that cannot and often should not exist in the canon because they are FUN. Even more pertinent, ONE is on record as LOVING that fans spend their time and creativity doing things with his stories. So please, don't allow any in-universe discussions on what is helpful or unhelpful in the story affect what you draw and write! PLEASE SHIP! Gimme!

#OPM #Meta #opm manga #Blast #Saitama #Tatsumaki #Hero Association #Genos #Garou #King #Fubuki #McCoy #Flashy Flash #Speed o' Sound Sonic #Village ninjas #monsterisation #Metal Bat #Sekingar #Sicchi #Child Emperor #Zombieman #a lot happened in 2023 even though it was a year spent setting the next phase in motion #the 'God' (no ID) stuff continues to get more and more interesting #If there's a way to get at 'God' no wonder he's so concerned about people not knowing too much about him #also the power plays between the HA and Neo Heroes are really nicely grounded: ONE put in a lot of work refining the story

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 1, Wave 2, Poll 5

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included.

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Riku-Kingdom Hearts

Qualifications/Propaganda:

So Riku is neither canonically LGBTQ+ nor canonically disabled but there's quite a slew of subtextual evidence. And this subtext is considered basically canon due to the creator's (Tetsuya Nomura) stance on media, which is that he enjoys leaving clues for players to figure out. So while Riku is never explicitly said to be queer or disabled, there's clear evidence on both accounts.

So first: Riku is gay. There's no doubt about it (despite what the dudebros insist...) Riku is gay for Sora, his childhood best friend/former rival. Long story short, Riku was afraid of Sora's friendship with this girl Kairi, didn't realize those feelings were gay jealousy, and he got gaslighted by the Mistress of All Evil, MALEFICENT HERSELF, into believing that Sora didn't care for him anymore. He went Dark Mode, destroyed their home, and antagonized Sora for most of the first game. But then he gets trapped in the Realm of Darkness after Sora kicked his ass for the millionth time and he realized how *sora voice* stUpid he was being and helps Sora stop the apocalypse (saved the world counter: 1) Then Riku goes through a whole arc of "wow i was an idiot. sora will never forgive me and i have Darkness in my heart and i need to protect sora while he's in a year-long medically-induced coma to undo his amnesia" and. idk. theres a Lot of stuff. So much so that someone made a 6-HOUR video essay about it! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll17V9DJr7g)

Riku is also likely suffering from chronic pain. Throughout the year that Sora is in a coma, he fights Sora's Nobody, Roxas, to get Sora's memories back. During the fight, Roxas breaks Riku's wrist, and it never heals correctly. Throughout the finale of Kingdom Hearts 2, the next game chronologically, Riku wears a wrist brace that goes largely unexplained. During the final boss fight, Riku throws himself in the way of Xemnas (the Big Bad) to protect Sora, getting hurt twice in the process; being struck so hard in the shoulder that he's flung halfway across the battlefield, and then hit in the side so badly that it causes him to collapse as soon as the adrenaline from the fight fades. It's likely that none of these injuries healed properly, as even in Kingdom Hearts 3 (which is like 5 games later. dont ask) he has some interesting tells; his walk is incredibly stiff and his battle stance changes, likely because of the strain put on his wrist for the old stance. (https://www.tumblr.com/nobodyriku/706960754548604929 shows this pretty well, though i can't find the other post i had in mind but whatever)

Anything Else?:

soriku endgame actually <3

Darth Maul-Star Wars

Qualifications:

Maul is canonically disabled; he was bisected at the waist by one Obi-Wan Kenobi, but SOMEHOW did not die, and was in fact teleported into a garbage dump, where he proceeded to live as a spider cyborg for the next 12 years, when he was found and rescued by his long-lost brother. He has used prosthetic legs of one kind or another ever since, and in Rebels, he uses a cane. He is also definitely gay. In The Clone Wars cartoon, he is OBSESSED with Obi-Wan, to the point that Obi-Wan is his entire personality and the entirety of his life goals. All he wants is to kill him and cause him suffering in revenge for being cut in half and subsequently abandoned by his master. However, this obsession is. Definitely homoerotic. Dude fights Obi-Wan naked at one point (the animators forgot that people with prosthetic legs still have to wear pants). He literally builds a hate shrine to Obi-Wan's dead ex-girlfriend, who he killed, AFTER he kills her. In Rebels, once he is able to merge the two holocrons and ask any question he wants, he asks where Obi-Wan is. The answer is Tatooine, of course. He goes there, has one final fight with Obi-Wan, and is fatally wounded. HOWEVER. He dies in Obi-Wan's arms. He dies being HELD GENTLY by Obi-Wan. I cannot adequately explain how insane that is. Makes me froth at the mouth. Anyway.

Propaganda:

I love this severely fucked-up dude so much. He dedicated almost 20 years of his life to a single-minded obsession with Obi-Wan Kenobi, an obsession which literally kept him alive when he was chopped in half in a garbage pit, stuck in a hole on Planet Sith, and just generally attempting to live after being raised for nothing but violence as a child. He is missing half his bones, many vital organs, and got his two biggest blood vessels sliced right open, and yet REFUSED to die. He then became a spider cyborg. The first thing he did when coming onboard the Ghost was critique the interior design. He took over an entire planet just to get a guy to notice him. He was kidnapped as a child and tortured nonstop for the first 20 years of his life, resulting in an attachment style where he can only conceptualize relationships as a hierarchy (master/apprentice), so he searches constantly for an apprentice, and even treats his brother as one; despite how he very clearly just wanted a brother, he didn't know how to be in an equal relationship. He does absolutely nothing but cause problems for people-- be they Jedi or Sith. Ahsoka once released him from a magic strait-jacket as a "distraction" and he immediately began tearing panels off of the walls and decapitating people with them. He has a death grip on my brain.

Submitted by @convenient-plot-device

#polls #poll #disabled characters #lgbtq characters #disability #lgbtq #lgbtq dcs round 1 #lgbtq dcs wave 2 #riku kingdom hearts #riku #kingdom hearts #darth maul #star wars

[ravenalla]

Please correct me if I’m wrong but from what I know Helluva Boss is written by only three people right? That being Viv, Brandon, and Adam. And while I’m sure ideas are bounced around here and there with the team, the way this season is going is begging for an actual writers room with more experienced people. Not saying those three don’t have any experience, but it’s clear they don’t know how to mesh the comedy and serious moments together well at this point. Part of writing is knowing when you need to omit stuff because it doesn’t fit the tone or story progession that you have established, even if you very badly want to include it. The writing for Helluva Boss in contrast feels they are forgoing any sense of coherence so they can stuff in whatever they like even if it goes against previously established plot points and try desperately to get to you pity these awful characters instead of letting them learn from their mistakes and grow as people naturally. Again, if this had stayed a dark comedy, that would have been passable, but now they are trying to tell a serialized dramatic story with arcs and emotion, and it’s just failing because that is not these writers expertise. This is complete speculation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Viv’s aversion to any form of criticism is affecting it.

How many times must we see something terrible happen to Stolas because the show wants you to keep crying and pitying over without having these characters actually navigating it themselves? How many times will Blitz acknowledge he’s an awful person but not actively try to change his behavior in anyway and revert to the exact same character the next episode? How many times will Moxxie have to learn confidence because it’s the only arc they can think to do with him while Millie is a walking prop and Loona flip flops between liking her dad and physically abusing him for no reason? To the people who keep saying “just wait the shows not over yet!” we are basically halfway through season 2, there is no damn reason why Millie shouldn’t have had ANYTHING on her own yet or why Blitz and Stolas should be repeating the same “uwu he doesn’t love me” scene over and over again. If you give us what should be moments of character development but never actual show it through their actions or behaviors after the fact, it’s not character development at all, it’s cheap scenes you threw in cause you wanted the guise of something serious without actually taking the screentime to commit to it. And yes, the Stolas Blitzo stuff is probably going to pay off eventually, but it’s annoying for the audience to watch this will they won’t they game in almost every single episode just waiting for when the characters will finally change or have at least SOME type of acknowledgement of all they’ve been through instead of just keeping the status quo of another “Stolas looks sadly at his phone,” “Blitzo doesn’t really care about him until there’s one millisecond showing maybe he does 🥺.” Unless your a hardcore shipper, people won’t stick around with that forever.

The show wants to have world-building, quirky characters who are bad people, tons of villains, funny sex jokes, emotional investment, and a complicated romance, but there’s a reason lots of media fails when it tries to be everything at once. The Stolitz plot behind every episode now is sabotaging parts of the show that promised wacky demon assassin adventures, and the less serious moments like the Loona doctor B plot in turn ruins the atmosphere of the dramatic scenes associated with the Stolitz plot. They wanted to show a serious abusive arranged relationship through Stella, but they also wanted her to have be a campy bad guy so Stolas could have a reason to cheat on her so he wouldn’t look like the bad guy. This leaves us with confusing contradictions like Stella written as being legit mad about him cheating and wanting him dead while hinting at them having at least a positive public image as a family once through the background paintings, to suddenly her not having ever cared about him and seeking him out “cause she likes tormenting him” while she also now didn’t want him killed I guess because she’s opposed to the divorce because the Goetia want them together??, but then wanting him killed AGAIN after even though the Goetia probably always wanted that guy alive and her brother has to come in for no reason to make her look like an absolute dumbass.

Same with Loona. They try to give her development with Blitz, but they never do anything with it and by the next episode she’ll be beating the shit out of him again. “She’s a moody teenager!” She’s a woman in her twenties and I don’t care about her sometimes finding appreciation for her dad when she’ll just kick him in the nuts right after because physical abuse against a spouse is serious but with a daughter it’s funny I guess. And again, the entire argument fans have to justify this constant loop of creating and forgetting about character development is “just wait they probably have a plan.” Nah bro I’m pretty sure they just still wanted to throw edgy dark comedy in there and to do that they had to ignore any positive character changes it seemed like happened until a future episode specifically is written to continue that arc. Also the world building and class system in general is just bad when they actually choose to acknowledge it, which is rarely. It’s still so unclear whether hellhounds are seen as actually sentient autonomous people or pets, and it just makes scenes with Loona super weird sometimes. Same with imps, for an apparent underclass they sure seem to be able to go wherever they want and do whatever they want without too much trouble, and until the latest episode we’ve never seen any imp discrimination be a major factor besides comments from Stolas (which we are now choosing to ignore because Stolas can’t be a bigot that has to learn to be a better person, Stolas is perfect 🙃)

Yikes this got longer than I meant it to but overall Helluva Boss just could really benefit from some more inputs in the writing, not just ideas for story or jokes but someone who actually knows how to properly balance and structure this kind of stuff into an episode. As is it feels very disjointed, especially this season. I don’t think this show would ever be perfectly for me, just because I don’t find the humor at all funny and that’s kind of what makes the show, but at the very least it’d be nice if the actual plots and world these characters navigate was fun to watch, but most of the time it’s just not anymore, because you don’t get to actually see most characters interact or what their relationships are, and if you do they hardly ever change from what they were until suddenly it’s relevant for the plot. Blitz is uncomfortable around Stolas and is tired about being treated like a play thing, wait no now he’s turned on by Stolas’s flirting even though we’ve never seen that before and this is right after they literally had a huge fight, wait nevermind now Blitz doesn’t care again. Moxxie is always weak and sensitive when an episode is about him but suddenly super strong and has no problems killing in any other episode (“We’re not going up there just to massacre we need clients! -S1E3, exactly what he and Millie do to an entire audience of innocent bystanders in the Cherub episode and they don’t care). Stolas is super perverted and sees Blitz as an object, wait nevermind we’re just gonna change his entire fucking backstory so his behavior will look justified even though that man would literally have to be a the dumbest person in Hell to not see Blitz did not care and was actively repulsed by him all throughout season 1, yet continued to act that way to his supposed “first friend” because..he thought it was a sexy game or something they were playing? Even as a retcon for an excuse it’s still bad. Helluva Boss has no rules it sticks to, no jokes or character behaviors it refrains from even if it harms the quality, it’s just a badly written fanfic with pretty animation.

#helluva boss critical #helluva boss criticism #helluva boss critique #long post #rant

[spyridonya]

How the Drow Became Problematic Faves - a Badly Written Meta History of D&D

Oh, hey. It feels like newcomers to D&D via BG3 fandom have discovered the Problematic Nature of Drow via Halsin vs Minthara conflict. 

Cut because of talk of racism and it being fucking long.

Let's talk about meta, first. So, the very first usage of 'drow' came from a dialetc of Scots as a term for troll, which was used to talk about all sorts of evil spirits. When Gary Gygax had to make a war game, he decided he'd make evil elves. They were based on 'black elves' in the Prose Edda and saw the word 'Drow' in a dictionary that claimed it was a term for underground elves who were skilled workers in metal. Being a white guy in the late 70s, he saw no issues in making evil elves actually black. For the next decade or so, they were canon fodder for modules and novels and always evil and repugnant. 

In the late 80s and early 90s, R. A. Salavotre and Ed Greenwood slapped on the concept of drow society being an evil dystopian society run by dominatrixes who emasculate men, in the Forgotten Realms setting. There were a few token dark elves, namely the super popular Drizzt Do'Urden, who were good but the majority were not. Like Gary, RA and Ed were white guys who did not see the problem of black elves and putting their kink into deep lore. Not all settings went by this, Dragonlance for example had drow just be ‘evil assholes elves who got kicked out of their society’ and look like just any other elves.  

(Quick note on Drizzt, he became iconic not because of his race but so much as being an outsider to two cultures while being a badass. I might not be a fan personally, but I know the appeal of the character.) 

The 90s came along and by the end of the decade, TSR was bought by Wizards of he Coast who proceeded to make the Drow even Grim Darker during 3rd edition  to go along with the times. Yet, too, didn’t stop to think about the problematic issues that were being brought up by more thoughtful fans - WotC hired another module company who wrote about  drow women being so fucking evil, they an orgasm like reaction when embryo killed each other in the womb. 

4th Edition came and went. No one talks about those times. Drow existed as evil. 

2014, 5e comes along and drow are so fucking popular, they’re included in the Player’s Handbook, rather in errata based books, as ‘humanoid’. In fact other evil races were introduced under the label of ‘humanoid’, indicating orcs and goblinkin. About a year later, Matt Mercer switched up his TTRPG to 5e because it was an easier system for his friends to understand, and they began to show their games online under Critical Role while a year after that Stranger Things came out and became a smash hit. 

Between these two, D&D explodes in popularity with an entirely new demographic group that began to outnumber the old guard. This larger and more diverse popular saw drow and other ‘evil races’ and went ‘wtf’. They didn’t exactly like the concept of ‘an always evil race’ and discovered the problematic issues that collected over the last several decades not with just drow, but with ‘monstrous’ races. 

WotC wanting money began to listen - just really slowly, and not so much in Forgotten Realms.They dropped the ‘always evil’ from the stat block but refused to change anything else to their older settings. 

(Incidentally, the company that made Grim Dark Drow really disliked 4e. They decided to make their own take of 3.5e with Hookers and Blackjack and made Pathfinder, which was supposed to be Edgier Game than D&D. However, a lot of people they hired were quick to notice the nature of the game and say, ‘nah, this shit is stupid’. As of now, Pazio is retconning drow from their lore. - That my friends, is called a character arc.)

During this 46 year span, drow have been fucking evil because their goddess made them do it as justification of their evilness - and not because they were black or born into it. In fact, Lloth, Gruumsh and Maglubiyet are the reasons why the Drow, Orc, and Goblinkin society is so evil and they’re also why they can function as a society when in truth, they all should have fallen apart. And no one has bothered to change this lore. In fact they avoid mentioning this lore rather than changing it to avoid conflict with older fans and newer fans. 

Then BG3 hits and hits harder than anyone expected. A lot of new fans come on aboard and really begin to like Drow, who are super sexy evil elves, not knowing the lore and kicking the problematic issues down the road. Larian was a bit quicker than TSR/WotC to realize ‘wow, this is fucking yikes’ and decided to make Seldarine drow. I’ve been playing since I was young teen, in the last years of 3.xe. I saw a lot of wanna-be Drizzt and Good Aligned Drow that were played variably, but there were a lot of people who loved the concept. While Seldarine aren’t a concept in TTRPG canon proper, the idea of Seldarine drow has existed for decades at tables, and Larian acknowledging that is something I love.

But they made Llothsworn Drow as the ‘lore compliant drow’ because WotC hasn’t changed drow in decades. 

The thing is, Drow being Problematic Faves isn’t because WotC is wildly racist on purpose, it’s just that during the majority of Drow being A Thing in D&D, they have been Sexy and Evil Villains and play the role of Misunderstood Outsider (though this recently has been taken over by tieflings).

In fact, I’m seeing a lot of new fans getting kicked in the teeth when characters react to a Llothsworn drow as flat out evil and not being judged by their actions, because they don’t know it’s been a thing in D&D for years with narrative excuses to justify in-universe racism. And then there are some players who make an evil Llothsworn drow and still get upset despite playing into in-universe reasons for the excuses of racism.

We’re seeing it as a reaction to datamined information with little context other than an abused white guy feels uncomfortable with an abused black woman - and it’s super hard to justify in-universe reasons for this because in the real world, a white guy is going to be listened to and believed regardless of it being true or not.

Essentially, the drow are a fucking mess due to D&D ignoring the racial implications of drow in the real world for nearly 50 years. The only way to fix it is making major lore changes, which is something they’re reluctant to do because they’re making their errata books so damn light on lore as to avoid conflict and the model sells.

Will this change with BG3? I don’t know. But I kinda hope so. 

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #halsin #minthara #drow

[markantonys]

I'm kinda frustrated. They're hyping Rand up as the Dragon on the show but they have yet to really let him pop off if you know what I mean? And I get that they're doing more natural power grading in the show and how Rand really doesn't know how to use his powers yet but like I guess I expected more from that Ishy fight rather than just walking up to him and stabbing him? Idk. I guess I'm hoping now that he's declared as the Dragon this will change in coming seasons

the show is really focusing on the importance of having love and trust and friendship and emotional connections in your life, and so rand's battle with ishy was changed from Big Rand Solo Power Show to all of his friends coming to his side to support him and help him win the day. i thought it was an absolutely beautiful change! the book version of this fight didn't hit me NEARLY as hard as seeing egwene and perrin form a barrier between him and ishy while mat, nynaeve, and elayne work on healing him.

it's in direct contrast to what rand's believed all season: that he's a danger to his friends. instead, this scene shows that perrin's take in 2x01 was the right one. they're stronger together! i'm more than willing to sacrifice a Big Rand Solo Power Moment in favor of a scene that captures a wonderful Series Theme, and a hugely important theme of rand's emotional arc, so powerfully. think how much the memory of this moment will mean to rand later on when he's at his lowest and most isolated!

and it would not have made sense for rand to have a big channeling moment because like you say he doesn't know how to do much yet. and that's actually kind of The Point: they want to really sell us on how little rand knows and how badly he needs a teacher so that it will be believable that he's willing to get taught by A FORSAKEN next season.

just like in the first 3 books, the first 2 seasons have been about rand coming to terms with his identity as the dragon reborn. and just like book 4, season 3 will surely have a big focus on him learning both channeling and physical fighting. i for one would much rather delay rand's Big Power Moments until they feel earned rather than give him a couple early-game lucky flukes just to be flashy - they will feel much more rewarding and satisfying when they do come.

#twicetolivetwicetodie #wot show spoilers #wot book spoilers #answered

[callmearcturus]

I find the idea of Benji having like 20 exgirlfriends, boyfriends, and personfriends; while Ethan has dated like 3 people in his entire life, to be hilarious, and now I'm going to integrate it into my headcanons for both of them.

I MEAN I tend to think that before the Prague Job, Ethan was an ethical slut, and it's implied he's having a threesome with Jack and Sarah. (I mean, I literally do not know how else to interpret that line, I have put on my Straight Person Goggles and that line does not make sense unless they are all three dating.) He's flirty and openly teases people.

Then the Prague Job goes fuckways, and Ethan's entire demeanor feels like a very sharp object that neither he nor anyone else knows how to handle. He def fucked Max in the back of that car (I feel like this is even implied by her later dialogue). But its not friendly and fun anymore, it's sharp and dangerous and almost his barricade Ethan is using for his own protection.

AND THEN THERE IS CLAIRE. Claire is trying her best to manipulate the shit out of Ethan, to keep his attention on her and her 'mourning' of Jim rather than the fact Jim is alive and both of them are toying with Ethan.

That extended sequence where Ethan and Jim are talking about "what happened in Prague" intercut with Ethan figuring out what actually happened in Prague-- there's a moment when Ethan pegs Claire as having killed some of the team, but he changes his mind and casts Jim in the role instead because... he doesn't want Claire to be part of this.

TAKE ALL THAT and marry it to the fact that Claire keeps initiating touch with Ethan, tries to get him to comfort her-- that scene with her sleeping on the floor and taking his hand to kiss it is tremendously fucked up.

(I once listened to a podcast that mentioned claire was kind of ethan's love interest and like WOW no. nope. that's not what's happening even a little.)

oh my god i'm rambling but WHAT I AM SAYING is that Ethan has immense trauma that is fueled by sexual manipulation and it honestly feels like it. Twink Ethan as an ethical slut had fun and didn't have to worry about this shit and was all about fair play. Then he has a brief stint as a bad boy that goes badly because robert towne can't write a movie. Then the next we see him he's GETTING MARRIED and leaving the game.

This post is already too long so lets continue. MI3 is fascinating because it's the one I hate the most but Julia and Ethan are tremendous, and the work put into humanizing him is amazing. He's enjoying playing as a doting husband (and 'playing' is inaccurate, he's not lying) and it actively trying to carve himself out of the IMF while multiple people (INCLUDING HIS BEST FRIEND LUTHER) undermine him.

But he still tries, and he leaves, and he's out.

And it all goes to shit. Which is this tremendous tragedy of Ethan Hunt frankly. He put in the work and-- you know the phrase "he's got skin in the game"? Well Ethan had a lot of skin in the game and he let it flay him on his way out just for a chance to actually be out.

GP Ethan is a wildly changed man, but in a way that honestly makes perfect sense to me. The trajectory of his character by design or by accident is an easily tracked arc. (I think McQuarrie gets me on this, or I get him, either or.)

After GP, there is simultaneously an emotional honesty to Ethan... but there's a physical distance. He's older, he's wiser, he's tired, and he's not dragging Benji or Ilsa into a pharmacy closet to have sex. That's not him anymore. But also, there is more raw emotion to everything he does. He feels like he's always on the back foot.

(He comes across as incredibly asexual to me honestly.)

Compared Twink Ethan flirting his way through MI1 to Fallout Ethan getting kissed by the White Widow and having ZERO reaction.

/clutches Ethan to my chest. i love this tired old man.

MEANWHILE: Benji is hot and has a hot bossy streak and has amazing fashion sense. He can get it, he just can't keep it because when Ethan has a job, so does Benji, sooooo yep. lmao.

#meri47 #long post #w h o o p s #mission impossible #ethan hunt #benji dunn

[new-tella-us]

I got the next two! Erik and Sam! Only two more to go.

Next one, Erik (25)- 

He was the second in line for the throne; a decision that not everyone approved of whether that be because they believed that only Istorae’s bloodline could gain the throne or because he was part animal demon –the lowest class of demon. It didn’t matter to him; he never wanted the throne anyway. His mother was different, she was a diplomat through and through and raised Erik to be the same. She wanted him to take the throne and rule with a fair, but strict, hand instead of the iron fist that the Demon Lord ruled with. 

To encourage him to try, Kalipo would exploit Damien and his mother’s horrible living conditions. She would make Erik aware of how badly they were being treated and how, with the Demon Lord practically raising James, there would be no change to their situation if James took the throne. The consequence of that was Erik being the closest to Damien, doing what he could to get Damien anything he needed but also, Erik became slightly distrustful of James. 

Did Kalipo actually care about Damien or his mom? Not really. She wasn’t angry at Omaizel (Damien’s mom), but she didn’t care too much about her fate either. Omaizel and Damien were more... lessons for her son than people she cared about. 

But such a weak motivator was bound to crumble, and it did when Harold offered them a way out. Erik no longer needed to take up the throne to protect Damien, so he left almost immediately. 

When he meets Mika, he immediately turns up the charm. He needed her to let them stay and this was the only way he knew how to make that happen. The others may find it crude but if it worked and kept everyone housed and fed, he’ll deal with their comments.  

The beginning of their relationship is through lots of play-flirting. Erik is flirtatious, Mika is playful. It was natural. They played a game of one-upping each other to fluster the other. It was a cute game to Erik, but the poor girl was so outmatched. The game would serve as his way of keeping Mika’s favor. That was, until he said something wrong. 

This family is a bit prone to saying offhanded comments. Erik is no different. He said something a bit objectifying about Mika, making her uncomfortable, and when he realized it, he didn’t know how to react. This is the second time he did something wrong but, this time, he was confused on what he did. People don’t usually react like that, maybe because of the cultural difference or because he was a prince. He never really had to deal with the consequences of flirtation gone wrong. It made him start to question what he should do if he can’t be charming. What was he if not charming? He was never really able to answer that for himself. 

He didn’t know what to do, so all he could do was apologize. You do have the option to leave or forgive him. The correct answer is to forgive. Mika explains that he can’t be so brash, he’s bound to say the wrong thing if he escalates too much.  

From there on, there’s a slight change to his behavior, he’s still flirty, calling Mika princess and what not but, he’s holding back some of his usual demeanor for a more genuine, questioning personality. He wants to know her, not just seduce her. He can feel a sort of solidarity with her, as she isn’t being completely honest about her personality either. 

The makeout session really doesn’t change too much but, it does seem like his kiss is performative and far too perfect... at least at first. Choose to continue on and he shows a rawer, more unprepared side of him. 

In the Malix Arc, you need to choose to run. Erik is for once being perfectly genuine about his intentions, so Mika needs to trust him. Any other options bring a sense of distrust. She doesn’t get to see the fight, but she can feel the change in the air to the intense purple and red before she gets away. If you run from the Malix Arc, Mika will be okay but the boy you left behind will get some minor injury. For Erik, it’s a stab in the shoulder. When he finds Mika, he’s in his usual form but his clothes are covered in blood and there’s a faint smell of ash and roses from him. He dealt with Malix.  

In the Diana arc, he starts coming into his own, still flirting but Mika sees other sides to him more often. His protectiveness, his generosity, his competitive spirit, he’s becoming his own person.  

Mika confronts Diana with the two choices from last time. 

“I love him” or “Erik isn’t your slave” 

“Erik isn’t your slave” is the correct one. 

Mika tells Diana that Erik isn’t someone that she can puppet or order around. Erik is his own person. If she wants Erik to go back with her, she needs to start treating him like he has a say instead of ordering him around like a servant. 

This is the true ending, so Erik chooses to stay with Mika. 

Next boy! Sam (23)-

Oh boy! Sam! The Demon Lord tried to put expectations on Sam. He was born with the express purpose of being the “Brute Heir”. If Mr. Perfect and Mr. Negotiation didn’t last, brute force would. Sam knew this, he knew from a young age what his purpose was, but he didn’t want it. And no matter how disillusioned with the world Sam became, he vowed to never turn into a person that would cause the world such pain. No matter how much he tried though, being forced into violent situations would influence his mentality. 

He hated the luxury he was born into simply because there was a constant, walking reminder of the injustice of that luxury. Damien. Sam saw Damien as an equal, they were brothers after all. So why was Damien in rags? 

This world wasn’t fair. Sam learnt that early. It wasn’t fair and kindness was rare, even from the “lower class”. Sam grew up angry at that fact, he wanted to do something. To help or at least to spite his father, he would help people. From young, he would steal valuables or food and give it to the poor. 

The Demon Lord attempted to teach Sam to “let the weak die” but Sam refused to listen. This constant defiance grew the Demon Lord’s disdain for Sam. And Dracae? She tried to encourage Sam to be kind and humble. And he was but, sometimes, it felt like her teachings were too much in the opposite direction. Does everyone deserve mercy? Or forgiveness? Just because they apologized? As much as he hated it, his father’s words made more sense to him. 

When Matthew and Damien brought up the idea of going into the human world, Sam was unimpressed. Humans were just as bad as demons, there was nothing special for them there. But as Erik joined in, Sam realized that this was happening. They were going to leave whether he wanted to or not, so he agreed and pushed James into it as well. If some of them were leaving, all of them were leaving. 

Meeting Mika, she was just some girl to him. If he wasn’t injured or gave himself more time to think, he wouldn’t have kissed her so brashly. He wasn’t all there from being low on energy. He would soon regret his actions but had too much pride to admit his wrongdoing unless asked. 

He’s gruff towards her out of a mix of his disillusioned view of humans and his guilt that he never allowed himself to express. If you go down his route, he will keep up this demeanor though, he does get more pleasant. He slowly feels a connection to the human world that isn’t his brothers and that allows him to truly see the beauty of earth, like seeing color at its full vibrancy for the first time. 

He appreciates Mika’s kindness and her generosity. He acknowledges that she’s the one with the power over their fate and she chooses to be merciful despite his and Erik’s massive fuck up. It reminded him of his mother’s mentality and helped make her words make sense to him. 

I would say the “pre-kiss turning point” -that I’m doing for all the boys- comes when Sam asks Mika why she’s being so nice to them. You get two options “I wanted to help you guys”, “I trust my grandfather” (context- In my rewrite, Mika’s actual first encounter with the boys was when she was working at the Pink Lady Cafe. They just arrived and they were with her grandfather) The first option is the correct one. He won’t be angry with you if you say the second one, but the first one reinforces the idea that you’re a kind person. 

From there, he can truly see you as an equal. 

In the Malix Arc, the correct option is to fight. I think Sam is far more obvious on why you gotta fight. Once again, Mika is a good fighter, fighting gains Sam’s respect. It also makes him briefly question the limits of kindness. Mika is a kind person but will fight if you go too far (Obviously, he’s thinking of this stuff after you kick Malix’s ass, not during the fight). But it ends the same, Malix manages to injure Mika. Sam’s rage is far louder and bloodier than James’s. Where James was silent sadism, Sam is animalistic fury. The air smells thick of ash and daisies. Like James, he doesn’t like how violent he got, but he’s less morally hung up about it. 

The new conflict in the Diana Arc (Other than Diana herself) is Sam’s conflict with his mother’s teaching versus his father’s teachings. He knows that his father’s words are wrong. He knows that his father is a maniac only after violence and control, but he’s adopted so much of that violence, and it has served him well. How much of his father’s words does he discard? How much of his mother’s teachings were just naivety? Mika guides Sam through those questions, there is a middle ground to their lessons that Sam can adopt to shape himself into the man he wants to be instead of the beast he was born to be. 

In the end, you get two choices. 

“I love him” or “Stop treating him like a monster” 

“Stop treating him like a monster” is the correct option. 

This entire time, Diana has been calling Sam “The brute”, she’s been wary of him and treats him as someone to be feared but also controlled. Mika doesn’t appreciate that. She has seen enough of his kindness to know that he isn’t someone to be backed into a cage like a wild animal. If Diana is going to speak to him, especially about something as life changing as marriage, she’s to speak to him like he is a sound-of-mind person. 

And as per usual, this is the true ending, so Sam stays with Mika. 

TL:DR Erik has no idea who he is when he's not trying to impress others and Sam is finding the balance between his mother's kind but unrealistic teachings and his father's cruel but useful teachings.

This is part 2 of 3... if I don't cover Diana.

1| 2| 3

#seduce me the otome #seduce me demon war #seduce me the complete story #seduce me erik #seduce me sam #seduce me #rewrite #seduce me au

[usgsnajs]

God I can’t wait until tomorrow’s episode of secret life… it’s obviously gonna be the finale, and unlike previous seasons I watched live, I have wishes for every server member except for the previous winners to win lol

I want Cleo to win because she deserves this story arc, surviving the zombie apocalypse and turning human as a result, being the last green name, and also getting back with her ex husband lolol (just so you know, I have essays of thoughts about Cleo and Ethos character arcs this season that I cannot put it into words. Just trust me that this and Ethos sections should be a lot longer)

I want Etho to win because oh my god??? What has he been on this season??? First off, he has somehow reached higher set cat status than he did in Limited life, which I thought was impossible, but he just struggles so. hard. in the earlier sessions especially. Secondly, he plays the secret aspect of the game really well, where he almost always comes up with a fake task for him to do in addition to his actual task, and sticks with it completely. He’s just really good at the secret part of it while also hiding what he’s doing really badly, which is the best thing to watch ever. But thirdly and most importantly, the fucking…zombie apocalypse session…He failed his task, and made the ENTIRE SERVER also fail their task just because he didn’t want to give up Cleo and Grian… He jumped in front of Bdub’s arrow to protect Cleo… ‘I’m a survivor’ this ‘I’d probably run’ that, you are a liar Mr Etho Slab!! Face it, you’ve had character development since Last Life!!! Stop thinking the worst of yourself!! Also, in addition to all that, he also fits the fact that all the previous winners played the game differently than how it was intended, with the previously mentioned failing of the task, so he also deserves to win because of that.

I want Scar to win because this entire season has been him fighting against what the secret keeper pushes onto him, with him not wanting to be the villain but repeatedly getting villain related tasks, so him winning in spite of that would be so satisfying. Also the idea of Scar, who has spent previous seasons constantly fighting to make friendships, winning the season where everyone on the server hates him does something to me the vibes are just immaculate. Also also! Please let him win he’s come so close so many times 😭

I want Gem to win because Geminislay next question. lol but actually I think it would be really funny if she joined the server for the first time, killed all her friends, won, and then left. Also something something her bringing the boogeyman curse to a season that was never supposed to be cursed in that way, and then fighting her way to victory is really cool. Also also Gem is just cool so I want to see that victory

I want Impulse to win because he’s gotten so close in like almost every season before this!!! He got second last time please just let him win and go apeshit, he deserves it I think. Also last yellow??? He deserves to pop off in the final session and take the win

I want Bdubs to win because this season has been peak Bdubs allying with half the people on the server, and he deserves to win at his worst /j But seriously his perspective so far has been one of my favorites this season because of how funny he is. He spent over an episode building the world when he didn’t even need to. He was murdered by Scar when both of them were green. He has a room in the Roomies base when he’s not even part of their group. He’s so silly he deserves to murder Scar in revenge for his first death and then gloat as he wins.

I want Joel to win because he deserves to go apeshit and then not die from recklessness. I think he should be insane and murder a bunch of people while still staying alive, like Last Life but without the ending part. His base is filled with joy but he is not, and that’s hilarious to me. Please let Joel win one of these he’s come so close

I want BigB to win because out of everyone in secret life he was the one to truly take the ‘secret’ part of the title to its very max. BigB gaslighting everyone he comes into contact with for literally no reason is my favorite part of secret life lol. He should win just for that as well as having the funniest life series base ever. Also his storylines tend to get ignored by a bunch of the fandom, and while it’s definitely improved a lot this season, it still could be better, so I’m hoping he wins just so more people will watch his perspective 😭

I want Skizz to win because like BigB, he is seriously underrated. He still doesn’t have 100k!! Subscribe to him right now!! But other than that, he also deserves to win just because it’d be funny if, now that he’s lived past the third death, he promptly switched his curse as far around as possible and just won lolol. Also also the Heart Foundation has been one of the silliest groups ever, and their base was really cute while it lasted, so any of the members of that group deserve to make it far if just for that. Plus him immediately going after Tango once he got infected with boogeyman was very funny. You go king! Drag your friends down with you! In conclusion Skizz is very funny and deserves to win purely because of that as well as the underdogness of it all.

I want Tango to win because of the Heart foundation stuff I mentioned with Skizz, but also he deserves to win just so he can break his curse of always having a kinda stupid final death 😔 I think it would be really funny if he broke that curse in the coolest way possible, and then in every season after this one he immediately goes right back to silly final deaths.

(Also if a previous winner won this season again I would not be upset as all of them have storylines this season that are really good for it, I just want them to win a little less than the others)

This season has been incredible so far, and it might even end up being my favorite season yet!

#secret life #Jesus I have to tag all of them now #zombiecleo #ethoslab #goodtimeswithscar #geminitay #impulsesv #bdubs #bdoubleo100 #smallishbeans #bigbst4tz2 #skizzleman #tangotek #shut the fuck up najs #there’s probably so many grammar mistakes in this #I’m writing this entire thing at like midnight sooo #fuck it I’m saying this counts as #long post #definitely is long for me lol #if I forgot anyone I will cry

[friends-to-lovers-tournament]

Friends to Lovers Tournament: Round 1, Side A, Match 2

propaganda under the cut!

Tasutsumu:

Submission 1:

(exploding) sorry if this is badly written i am walking rn . Mods know the series but A3 is about stage actors.

TasuTsumu are literally the friends to lovers ever. They're childhood friends, even. They did everything together. They've acted together since elementary school. but then (VINE BOOM) they both try out for a prestigious acting troupe called GODza... but only Tasuku makes it in (sad horn sounds) Tsumugi lost a ton of confidence after not making it and kinda ghosted Tasuku and ran away from his problems </3 he originally had given up, but missed the stage so he tried out again at the Mankai Company (troupe all of the characters are in). Of course, as fate has it, Tasuku had just left GODza after their... unsavory business tactics, but the troupe had blacklisted him from becoming an actor at any other high end troupes in the area, leaving him to go to the Mankai Company. And of course times 2, he and Tsumugi try out for the same troupe. Tasuku is less than pleased with seeing Tsumugi's face after he just disappeared before, and things between them are tense, especially when Tasuku gets fed up with Tsumugi's lack of confidence after he becomes the troupe's leader. But!! Fate wants them to get along (and be together) and Tsumugi finds this cursed doll that traps them in a time loop of the same day. They're stuck until they resolve their issues. Nothing like a good ol divine intervention to get two friends to lovers back together. tldr Tsumugi owns up to his insecurities to Tasuku and works to overcome it. In the process, while performing their play in an act off (if they end up in the competition i'll actually essay about it) Tsumugi feels that his acting is inferior once again and totally bombs a show. Tasuku finally works around his own regrets of not reaching out before when Tsumugi had "quit," telling him how much he loves and envies Tsumugi's acting, and apologizes to Tsumugi. Then boom they pull off an incredibly gay play about angels and become lovers (not canon but Trust me).

please let me write properly about them and put them in i love my blorbos <3 they were made for this tournament

Submission 2:

absolute best friends in childhood who had a very impactful falling out, but managed to resolve things. nowadays they're in a theatre troupe together where their troupe is quite literally married.

Submission 3:

1. CHILDHOOD FRIENDS

2. Their introductory arc was literally a whole divorce-reunion arc. They divorced because Tsumugi failed an audition into the God Squad theatre troupe while Tasuku got in which was a blow to Tsumugi's confidence as an actor and he ran away and Tasuku was mad at him for that. It was literally so bad that the game had to break its slice-of-life genre to introduce a doll that traps people in a timeloop until they're able to make up, and they (and another guy who's kinda a cryptid) are the only ones aware that the day keeps repeating

3. After one of their shows, Tsumugi overhears some audience members criticising him and comparing him to Tasuku, which leads to him changing his acting style in the next show which completes bombs their show. Out of shame, Tsumugi runs away, and it takes Tasuku some hesitating before chasing after him and finally telling him how he REALLY feels -- that he was guilty for not being able to do anything to help Tsumugi when he failed that audition years ago and ran away, and that he admires Tsumugi's acting for what it is. The anime makes this scene even gayer by having them meet on a bridge in the snow and Tasuku holding an umbrella over Tsumugi's head as he pours his heart out to Tsumugi

4. Tsumugi regains his confidence after hearing that, and they finally FINALLY 100% reconcile

Zenyuki:

they start out strangers who despite their different statuses become friends, who then gradually develop feelings for each other as they continue to get to know each other better! despite being a prince, zen treats shirayuki like an equal, helping her out with her herbalist qualifying exams even staying up late in the greenhouse and getting his hands literally dirty with soil all to help her. shirayuki also treats zen like a friend and doesn't kowtow or walk on eggshells around him just bc he's a prince. they have so much mutual admiration and respect for each other, and they inspire each other to grow and chase their goals! i also really like that the story goes out of their way to show that they have lives outside of each other, that they both have separate goals, responsibilities, and duties but they come together to support each other in working towards them! also that neck kiss scene mmm i think about that a lot

#friends to lovers tournament #a3! #a3! act! addict! actors! #snow white with the red hair #akagami no shirayukihime #tasutsumu #zenyuki #tsumugi tsukioka #tasuku takato #zen wisteria #shirayuki #polls #tournament polls

[courfaeriedust]

Okay I would like to talk about Sam the Quarterback in Kaleidotrope, because I adore her and also her arc is so funny to me.

So this is her big realisation moment:

I think this is one of my favourite pieces of Sidlesmith ridiculousness because it’s just, what??? This team have won basically every game intentionally playing badly, until the timing is dramatic enough to stage a desperate comeback. Every game. Every game, and they just think it’s all because of the Sidlesmith Magic. Like, what is up with that??? Do they think they’re a really bad team and it’s only because of the Magic that they’re able to win? Are they just fucking around til the last minute? Are they instructed to do this by their coaches in order to keep the football-watching population of Sidlesmith happy and secure that the tropes are still going as planned??

And what’s it like to play on that team? If they’re winning every game they must be highly ranked (I am very British please feel free to correct me on how American College Football works), so I assume the entry expectations are high? Do they recruit and then the freshmen come in like ‘yeah I can play good football’ and then get told ‘sure, but not until the final quarter’? How frustrating must that be?? But Sam seems to genuinely be shocked by the idea of playing some other way. But imagine also playing against this team. You start playing. You’re winning easily. You get cocky and then Sidlesmith start playing well suddenly and oops they’ve smashed up your lead and is this even the same team, suddenly you’re way outmatched and there’s nothing you can do and then oops you lost, even though no one should have been able to make up for that lead you had during the first three quarters. And you hear that they’ve done it to other teams, no matter how good. And so the next time you play against them you keep your guard up, you warn all your rookies. They don’t believe you after the first quarter, but you know what you’ve seen. You keep the lead up; Sidlesmith get some scrappy points but nothing nearly to the level you remember them being at last time. And then when you’re begging your team not to let this lull you into a false sense of security, BAM, Sidlesmith take it seriously again and even though you play your hardest you suddenly can’t do anything to keep hold of the ball. AGAIN. And you ask them about it afterwards, because this must be some kind of joke, right? They must be mocking you, or maybe they think you’re a terrible team and they don’t want to make you look too bad. But no, it’s none of that — or at least, they don’t say that. They just talk about the “Sidlesmith Magic”. All of them, with no conferring. If it’s a joke they’re all incredible actors. You seriously wonder if it’s some kind of performance-enhancing drug, this magic stuff, but you find out another team had accused them of that, demanded drug tests, and had to drop a bunch of their own teammates as a result. All the Sidlesmith team had been indisputably clean. So you’re left with nothing, no answers, a demoralised team, and thousands of questions about what the hell the Sidlesmith team are up to.

This got so very off track, but anyway: Sam’s incredible, what the actual fuck is up with that whole thing, and I’m so excited for Sam’s future where she just obliterates every single team in the league.

#Kaleidotrope #Sam the Quartback #She’s so serious!!! #The whole opposing team sidetrack has me wondering in general what people outside Stoneybrook think of Sidlesmith #But that should probably be it’s own post #For Sam I’m imagining in their next year they do so amazingly that all the pro football teams are like… can we play too? #So they set up a bunch of charity games #And those ARE more difficult but they still win #Obviously #alternatively the next year they’re all like #Oh fuck we actually need to do more cardio if we’re doing this properly for all four quarters #This has been Kaleidotrope Thoughts with Em

[beevean]

I'd like to think the IDW hiatus might mean the writers could get their heads back in the game, but I think most of us know we'll end up disappointed with whatever they come back with.

Why should we return to comic that fundamentally misses the fun and excitement of Sonic? Even Archie had better adventure style stories than this. I don't care about IDW OC drama, I want to see Sonic during it out with his rivals, thwarting Eggman's plans with his natural wit.

The Eggperial city is the ultimate example of how badly IDW misses every mark. Shadow and Whisper l, Andriods in the same arc! Are we gonna acknowledge that can of worms? No? Fine. The DC, Sonic, Tails, Amy, Team Dark and Silver and Blaze altogether! Man this is going to insane- Oh.. More OC drama.

I was done years ago. It's such a shame we've ended up here, the IDW comics got me back into Sonic.

Maybe we'll get it right next time...

nah. I don't even entertain the notion. A break of four months isn't enough to fix all the problems IDW is having, which also stem from a significant reduction in staff.

You're right. IDW just isn't fun. It isn't even engaging anymore. Scrapnik Island is closer to what I'd expect from a Sonic series, and barring that, I still think #62 with its Knuckles & Amy plotline was very cute and what IDW could have been, if the writers weren't so afraid of writing canon characters because muh restrictions.

New characters are fine, but IDW's completely ate up the canon cast, to the point that sometimes it feels that Sonic was put there out of obligation to the brand. Remember that the main cover of #50 didn't even feature him.

"the IDW comics got me back into Sonic" and there you have it :) IDW rode the wave of the hiatus between Forces and Frontiers, and most importantly the sheer disappointment the fanbase felt after Forces. Most of the praise IDW and Flynn got in the heyday could be summed up as "see, this is much better than Forces! He gets Sonic! He gets Tails! He gets Eggman! He get drama! Unlike those stupid Pontaff!". Well, now we're back in swing with Sonic games. IDW has little to offer now, except drama between its original characters and most importantly ship tease.

#fans don't look

[about-faces]

Hi, I want to read some DC comics about how Harvey transformed from former DA to the criminal mastermind who ruled half of Gotham's Underworld (against the Penguin). I've already read/seen: Two-Face: A Celebration of 75 Years Batman: The Long Halloween Batman: Dark Victory (1999) Batman '89 Batman: The Animated Series Batman: The Audio Adventures

Any other reading recommendations? Thanks a lot for your help. :)

So you're looking for origin stories, or at least ones that shed more light on Two-Face's origin? Well first off, I'm glad you read the 75th Anniversary collection, because that has three of my very favorites: the original Harvey Kent trilogy from 1942-43, the Grace Dent story from Secret Origins Special (1989), and "Eye of the Beholder" from Batman Annual #14 (1990).

Besides those, and the ones you've listed, here are a few others to check out. Some are great, some are mixed bags, and some are downright lousy.

First and foremost, I STRONGLY recommend the 1989 Batman newspaper comic strip, which I loved so much that I posted the whole two-year saga on its own tumblr account. You can start from the very beginning right here, but keep in mind that Harvey's storyline--which runs all the way to the very last strip--doesn't really start until the second arc.

Next, Batman: Dual to the Death by Geary Gravel is a YA novelization of the BTAS origin, seamlessly combined with the two-part Batgirl origin episodes. It improves on both the animated versions in small but crucial ways, and it's highly recommended for BTAS fans. Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to find.

On a similar note, Peter David's movie novelization of Batman Forever can be found more easily, either in used book form or on the Internet Archive, and it's absolutely worth reading. I love the movie of Batman Forever, but it's objectively a terrible take on Harvey. The novelization adds SO MUCH, including an original prequel scene with D.A. Harvey Dent, and his ending is far more satisfying.

Cartoon Network's CGI animated series Beware the Batman (2013) also features a series-long origin arc for Harvey Dent, but it's one of the worst takes I've ever seen on the character. He's a petty, selfish, ambitious little prick, an absolute scumbag, completely devoid of depth or tragedy. Thankfully, few have seen this arc, since the majority of Harvey's episodes were never aired after the series was cancelled, but they're all available to watch for those morbidly curious to see just how badly someone can screw up Harvey as a character.

"The Big Burn" from Batman and Robin, vol 2 #24-28 (2014), also collected in B&R volume 5. After the huge DC reboot, this was Harvey new origin, which tried some very different things with him. A VERY mixed bag, but one that ended in a hugely exciting way that makes the whole thing worth reading. Follow it up with its sequel, "Ugly Heart," from Detective Comics #1020-1024, collected in Detective Comics Vol 5: Joker War.

Finally, watch the entirety of the recently-released/cancelled CW series Gotham Knights, with Misha Collins performing a surprisingly rich, interesting, and flawed Harvey Dent origin arc. The show got a lot of shit, some of it undeserved, but Collins' Harvey was an intriguing surprise, and I fear nothing we see from Harvey in any Reevesverse media will bring half as much care and interest to Harvey as GK did, for better or worse. All 13 episodes can be watched for free on CW Seed, region permitting.

EDIT: Oh right also the Telltale Batman video game! I haven't actually played that yet because I know enough about what happens and the illusion of meaningful choice indicative of Telltale games that I just don't feel like putting myself through that. People seem to like it a lot, though! I just... don't put me in a position of choosing to save either Harvey or Selina if you're just going to cheat and have him go evil anyway.

#ask hefner #harvey dent #twoface #two face #two-face #dc comics

[victoria1676]

Sagau Brainrot: Reader having the same abilities as Nakajima Atsushi from Bungou Stray Dogs

(Reader is Female here unfortunately so i apologize for those who want it non-binary or gender neutral TwT)

---------------------------------------------------------

Heyo its been a while

Its 2am in the night time but i was lucky to finish this yet i am very tired especially i just finished midterms and still have to make 7 assignments due next week ugh DX

Anyways please enjoy this brainrot that I tried my best to expand it 😭 I'll work on my other brainrots soon and my story as well when i have the time but currently im very packed this month ugh TwT

---------------------------------------------------------

So like I haven't watched Bungou stray dogs in long time and im avoiding Season 4 due to the fact i have already read the manga and knows that Season 4 is the darkest arc including i guess there is a chance season 5 will also be dark if i remember the manga correctly 🤔

Have I read the Beast AU or read it?

N OT U N D E R M Y W A T C H

My personal reason is that i was able to get a summary out of it and since that summary made me cry and learn what happened to Beast Dazai I cried the fact i loved him so much and that au was painful 😭😭

But anyways this is my personal opinion however if you want to read Beast AU Bungou Stray dogs I recommend that you guys prepare tissues cause the angst of that au is very sad but if you able to handle then props to you UwU but i can say is that the au is very interesting and I don't mind you guys reading it UwU However you must read the Original Bungou Stray Dogs since Beast Au is the parallel universe of it. The manga is currently still on going but the Anime is out by 3 seasons and season 4 currently coming out soon.

So yeah lets go to my Brainrot UwU

---------------------------------------------------------

Warnings: Mentions of Abuse

----------------------------------------------------------

So this won't have the creator au thing this time unfortunately but it is more like I want to go back to the original concept of what sagau a.k.a self-aware as I am referring to the self-aware au were no god reader but just a regular reader who plays the game and is not aware the charas are self-aware and they are all fond with her whether it is platonic, romantic, possessive or obsessed with her.

As I mentioned reader has the abilities of Atsushi from Bungou stray dogs and has the same past as him however it's a bit different for the reader as her past is something I came up a bit sad about but not something excruciating to add since we all know how Atsushi's past is like especially you can see the worst of it in the manga 😭

Beast Beneath the Moonlight will not be an ability since the reader is not from the BSD world but this ability is something like a curse that the reader has to go through in tough times and has resented having it because if she wasn't born with it then she would have never been given up by her parents to the orphanage or thrown to such pain of being thrown back to the orphanages after all her previous foster parents deemed her a "Freak" or "Monster" and so on but they very physically hurt her since the reader was a very like a normal kid a first glance only these parents got the taste of fear seeing her curse.

Luckily around the age of 12, she finally got herself adopted by a person who is a writer and was one of the people who was like her, having a strange curse or rather an ability. It took time for the reader to get used to her new father and slowly trust him as he did not even react badly to seeing her transformation except he decided to help with her powers. Now grown up and able to live a normal life and keep a secret of her powers, the reader found herself loving a certain fantasy game called Genshin Impact that was recommended by her friends.

The game was very amazing and Reader loved it so much and also ignored the huge negative side of the game and tried to enjoy the lore and exploration.

Only she found herself Isekai out of nowhere.

There are endless possibilities about how Reader will appear in Genshin and I had to revise this many times LMAO

So like I decided she has been in the wilderness for like a week and there have been rumors spreading to all Teyvat of a strange dangerous Beast that usually prowls or appears at night time either running around or scaring away Treasure hoarders and sometimes the Fatui. And I guess it is up to you guys who would find her first OwO!

I feel like everyone would be fascinated with Reader’s transformation and I am sure there have been times reader suddenly gets cats attracted to them causing poor Venti to sneeze so much due to how many cats are near reader XD

Reader be getting along with Diona or any cat-like hybrid. As someone commented, the reader is like them, in which the reader fires back at them saying "I'M A TIGER NOT A CAT!"

But honestly people would find the reader 's abilities very fascinating.

And then they realize the reader could heal her wounds after some panic, getting stabbed or injured and trying to take her to a healer but instead her wounds healed rapidly.

I also imagine readers have similarities with Atsushi but personality wise it's up to you guys how you imagine a reader's personality is like with having the same Abilities like Atsushi.

But yeah what do you guys think? XD

This will have part 2 soon but a different version.

Part 2 will mainly be a cult au where the reader does not control the charas in the modern world but the reader is born in Genshin and is still a god but I guess it's still a sagau but a bit different since cult au and sagau are similar yet different I guess 🤔

The reason why I sound a bit excited in Part 2 of this brain rot? Because reader will be in the Fatui 

But she will be someone who is usually in the shadows doing most dirty work and is always near Tsaritsa like a Shadow UwU

I won't spoil much but you can ask me more of this brain rot if you like XD

So goodnight! ^^

#sagau #genshin impact self aware #genshin self aware #self aware genshin #genshin sagau #genshin impact #genshin self aware au #self aware au #sagau brainrot #bungou stray dogs crossover #bsd crossover #genshin crossover

[jamietarttsnorthernattitude]

I didn’t make the connection between Jamie’s breakdown in “Mom City” and playing at Wembley in “International Break” but whoaa of course he would freak out and be triggered by it. I’m super bad at commenting on AO3 but I wanted to let you know I thoroughly enjoyed the fic you posted today!! And I can’t stop thinking about how Jamie has Ted’s voice echoing in his head, telling him to forgive his dad, and then Tartt Sr gaslights Jamie about the Wembley situation so badly that he’s the one expecting an apology from Jamie??? As if the entire Wembley incident was Jamie’s fault and had nothing to do with Tartt Sr’s actions??! I also loved how you captured each character’s voice <33

God, you are so nice to send this. Made my day! (this is the fic referenced if anyone hasn't read it and wants to)

I can only imagine Jamie walking into Wembley and picturing the last time he was there but obviously he’s excited to debut for England. I added the panic attack for extra drama but I could see how in the show he might’ve pushed it away and then that combined with the upcoming City match stress it snowballs into what we see in Mom City.

I’m sure Jamie’s Dad has been gaslighting him his whole life so I have no doubt he would view the Wembley incident as all Jamie’s fault since Jamie was the one that punched him. I’m sure he’d completely ignore any of his verbal abuse or that he pushed Jamie first.

Jamie takes Ted advice to heart even if I think Ted might’ve actually meant to forgive him for himself, not for his Dad. There’s a difference between forgiving and moving on from someone and forgiving them and having a relationship which seems to have gotten lost in translation. It's like they're playing a game of phone tag. Jamie is a very literal person (thinking Secret Santa was a secret) and so Ted basically speaks in riddles as far as he's concerned.

And to be fair to Jamie he's contactly sending him mixed messages. The transfer the morning after the ghost ceremony, saying he can't come back to Richmond and then taking him back, etc.

Combine Jamie probably wanting his father to be an actual non piece of shit father with Jamie thinking he’s doing the right thing by forgiving his father and it’s not a surprise that Jamie ends up seeing his father again.

And I understand where Jamie is coming from but I am so angry about how the show portrays it. If it wasn’t the final season and next season could explore Jamie meeting with his father it would be different. But the show basically said “oh his Dad’s sober now so things are great even though he abused Jamie in so many ways.”

What really gets me is THEY DIDNT NEED TO DO THIS. Jamie had a phenomenal arc over the three seasons. He improved both professionally and as a person. He has a great Mum! He has Simon! Roy Kent is his best friend! The rest of the team loves him. They don’t need to reconcile him with his father to give the character a satisfying ending. Not everyone should be forgiven. And especially when the only thing someone does is get sober.

I could go on forever how dangerous the narrative is.

But anyway, thank you for the ask, I really appreciate knowing you enjoyed the story and your thoughts :)

#jamie tartt #ted lasso fanfic #ao3 #fuck jamie’s dad #asks always open #thank you #fic: I say I don’t care I say that I’m fine #whumptober

[local-writer]

So, who all here plays tower of god new world? Idk much about the game other then the snippets of lore I've seen (bc I don't have the proper device to play it cries), but if there is something to be spoiled then be cautious! There will be spoilers in this post for the game, and minor spoilers for the webtoon if you squint.

So, let's start with this bit of lore from new world

Now, I'm not sure if this is 100% true, but if it IS, then omg do I have this wild theory. What I get from this is that the residents of the tower (regulars) are the ones being referred to as the small humans, and the big humans being the irregulars.

So what if Jahad, the family leaders, Arlene and V were sent inside? Like, it wasn't just about the adventure, they came in to tear the place down from the inside for their goddess.

But I also have a theory that the tower corrupts people, and that's why Jahad decided to lock the higher floors. Or in other words, no longer carry out their given mission. Originally I had wondered if there was something malicious on the higher floors and that's why Jahad had locked them, to keep this entity sealed away. But now I'm having second thoughts.

Honestly, this is such a big lore bomb and I REALLY hope it's true because that would make the story of tog so much more interesting.

Now, next I wanna talk about Rachel. Credit goes to Dr. Bonehead on youtube for this theory, I'm only sharing my thoughts on this. Let me know if y'all want a link to the video if you wanna watch.

The possibility that Rachel was from the outside of the tower didn't really cross my mind, but now, I can see it being possible. How would she know about the stars, or what life is like on the outside? Of course there's the possibility that she's heard stories from someone (possibly Arlene), but what if it's because she once lived outside? It would explain why she wants out of the tower so badly, because she just wants to go home. I've been coming around since getting back into the tog lore, but this theory is what finally made me crack and gain a soft spot for Rachel.

I also really like the idea of Rachel being Arlene's maid or someone that assisted her, because we still don't know why or how Rachel knows about Arlene, so this is a theory that has been stuck with me since watching that video.

What if Arlene really did force Rachel to look after Bam? I mean, Rachel clearly did not want that, so I can see that being a possibility.

Tower of god is just so interesting and I love the theories about the lore, so don't be afraid to share your thoughts with me!

I hope siu will start focusing on more interesting things after the marriage (*cough* harem *cough*) arc is over, like Jahad and the family leaders for example. I'm so interested in them and what they were like back then and what they're like now! I also really wanna see Khun Eduan 😭

Anyways, until next time ✌️

#tower of god #tog #tower of god theories #tog theories #Jahad #Rachel #Arlene #V #Khun Eduan #tower of god new world