#I still miss my og masterpiece of an answer

[whatohitsonfirewelp]

stoll brother headcanons for the soul please

Here we go away for a second fucking time. Anon this is not directed at you but my fucked up Wi-Fi and I’m so very sorry you won’t ever get to see the original masterpiece.

Two hours I worked on that TWO HOURS

TW: mentions of war, death, blood, hinted child neglect and abuse. None of this is really discussed in detail until the very last hc, but that’s pretty tame.

Travis

Everyone seemed him as an open book. The brother who forgives without a second thought, who doesn’t have a care in the world.

That’s actually wrong. Kinda.

He does forgive easily, too easily, but he never forgets and because he never forgets there is a time when he’s pushed too far and will never forgive that person again.

Travis held onto to the hope that his father and mother do care for so long, longer than Connor.

The day he held Connor, who was bleeding out, was the day he gave up on his dad. The day something in Travis hardened when it came to their father.

It was when he found their mother, long after the wars but before he really left camp for good, that he stopped loving her. She had a new family, a new set of kids, one boy one girl. She had a husband and a house and a smile that was real. Her favorite blue dress no where in sight and those blue nails he could still remember were replaced by a shorter set with the color of peach.

He never told Connor about it. Never told him how he prayed and begged for his father to help, how he found his mother livings life without the sons she had given up on.

He loves, he will always love them. But Travis stopped thinking they’d ever love him. And his longing for them, his naive hope, died the same day Connor lived, no thanks to them

Travis will always back up Will Solance for this. He can never than the son of Apollo enough for saving his brother

Travis didn’t steal. Well, he did, but it wasn’t that simple. He was diagnosed with kleptomania when he was 23 years old

When Travis stills it’s not because he wants to, it’s because he can’t help it. He stopped trying to explain that once he turned 13, no one but Connor ever listened.

He hated it. Hated that he took things he didn’t even want, didn’t have a need for. It was the flowers in Katie’s hair, a stray paintbrush at the arts and crafts table, a box of bandages from Will, it was nothing but it was enough for him and his brother to gain a reputation.

Travis hates lying. Hates it more than anything.

He doesn’t lie, never could, hated the bitter taste of it on his tongue. He’s learned to talk circles around people, to say something that has a completely different meaning than they think.

It’s a habit that his siblings who he raises pick up from him, even those with a differently godly parent. They all learned he hates lying, but no one other than Connor knows why.

He always knows when someone is lying. Can feel it burn on his skin and leave a terrible taste in his mouth, even if the lie isn’t directed at him.

This gift from his father is more of a curse than anything else. And he’s so very thankful that no one other than his brother knows about it. He’s not sure he could stomach being used as a lie detector in any war.

When he goes to college at camp jupiter he tries to start fresh

It’s cutting his hair in different styles again and again until he’s so good at it others are coming up asking him to do theirs.

It’s coloring his hair, changing his outfits and listening to every genre of music there is, hoping that when he looks in the mirror he’ll finally feel at home

Despite how nice everyone is, now he isn’t out casted for being a child of Hermes, this place isn’t home. These people aren’t his family and they don’t want to be. It’s just as suffocating as camp half blood if a bit more manageable

Slowly he talks and less with everyone who isn’t Connor. He’s at college, he’s busy and so are they. They don’t have time for big brother Travis, they have their own cabins now. Their own responsibilities. And they’re getting use to not seeing him every day.

It hurts more than he wasn’t to admit

He goes through just about every major there as well until he somehow ends up deciding he wants to work with kids, when then transfers to him wanting to be a teacher

Connor

He’s the bitter brother. Less forgiving, more prone to snap and snarl. The one who people need to work to earn respect and forgiveness

Connor holds grudges easily, he is bitter and you do have to work to earn his forgiveness. But he always forgives in the end.

As he gets older it’s easier for Connor to move on, he’s shared his anger and hurt instead of ignoring it. He’s okay with where he’s at

Connor despite how much he hates his mother, father, and Luke knows he will never stop loving them

In a perfect world if given the chance, if they proved themselves to him, he’s forgive them for everything in a heartbeat

He hates his mom for leaving them without a second glance, hates her for hurting Travis, but he loves her. He loves the woman who held him when he cried, even if it was rare. He misses the woman who made pillow forts with he and Travis on stormy nights, if she was home.

His dad is and will always be complicated. Connor hates him for Luke, blames him for Luke. Blames him for he and his brother and their entire cabin becoming outcasts in the one place that should have been home. Hates his dad for letting them stay unclaimed for a year. Loves him for keeping Travis alive through not one but two wars. Loves him for never actually milking him despite the unkind thoughts Connor has had, has even shared with him in his anger.

Luke his big brother and Luke on the other side of the battlefield are two very different people in his mind. One he loves the other he hates

Connor ends up as a mechanic once he leaves camp.

Travis helped him find a trading school for it once Connor realized it’s what he wanted to do. Connor will never forget the smile on his brothers face the day he was accepted into the school and the day he had a makeshift graduation

Connor always loved pulling things apart to put them together again. But it was never something he could really explore at camp. He was a child of Hermes, and children of Hermes weren’t mechanics

Part of Connor decided to do it to spite his father another part to try and figure out who he was outside of his godly parent, outside of his cabin and camp

Somehow he reconnected with Leo Valdez, who ends up getting him to visit came again and help out with the next generation of demigods

Connor loves it. They accept him so easily and they look up to him. He’s a demigod who found a future that doesn’t have to do with his godly parent and if he mentions how his brother is a teacher despite being a child of Hermes than Travis never has to know

Connor doesn’t stay at camp often but he does make sure to visit

Connor never really cut off contact with everyone but he didn’t try to keep talking to them when they stopped

Part of it was because he was bitter on his brother behalf. They stopped talking to Travis. And maybe his brother didn’t really try to keep contact but Travis was never one to reach out first

But with time Connor ends up sending the birthday texts and does the odd Iris message here and there. If it goes unanswered than that’s not his problem

He’s in better connection with everyone mostly because of and through Leo though. Leo ends up as one of his closest friends, one of his only friends from the world of being a demigod

Connor hates Percy Jacobson

He will always stand behind Percy in war. Will always follow his lead. And he knows, he knows he shouldn’t blame Percy but he does.

Annabeth Chade had a new best friend when Percy came. She left camp, left what he had then considered home still. Left him, left the small makeshift family of year rounders (which had been such a smaller group before the war)

He’s the reason to many are dead. And really that’s not true. Connor knows it’s not Percy’s fault, that Percy blames himself already. But he hates him anyways

And the worst thing of all, he blames him for Luke. Not as much as he blames his father but he still blames him.

Percy Jackson is when his life took a turn for the worst and while the son of Poseidon had no real control Connor can’t help but to hate him

Both

It actually took a bit of time for the Hermes cabin to accept the

Despite staying unclaimed for a year it didn’t change the fact that they were full blooded brothers who weren’t twins. That for some reason Hermes went back even after Travis was born.

Everyone seemed to think this meant they were his favorites, or at least they were favored in some form by him

Travis was pretty sure their dad forgot who their mother was until he went home with her and came face to face with a baby Travis

When they became head counselor’s it was accepted at first. There was two of them, they weren’t even the oldest children of Hermes.

But they were the only year rounder then, the only ones who have been at camp nearly as long as Annabeth Chase.

They may have raised half the camp, they may have been The big brothers but no matter how much they loved their siblings they never truly felt at home in the Hermes cabin.

They each have a shoebox (that can magically expand) which holds the most important possessions they have, even if it’s mostly for memories

Travis has the first birthday card Connor ever made it. Connor was five and he was seven, he had always made sure to get and give something to Connor but on his seventh birthday for perhaps the first time Travis received a gift. A paper filled with a tiny hand prints and splatters of colors.

There’s also a flower, that he convinced Lou Ellen to preserve for him, that Katie had put in his year. A small reminder of a time when they didn’t hate each other’s guts. When they only had soft smiles for each other and bright eyes.

Travis has at least one card from every sibling. Which isn’t much, no one really paid attention to his or Connor’s birthday, but the fact that there were any at all meant the world to him

He has one picture of his mother and father, funny enough it has both of them. From before even he was born, both with smiles on their faces.

He has many pictures of everyone else in his life and only one with him. He’s with Connor and they’re caught mid-laugh, bandages wrapped all over them and there’s a finger cutting off a corner of it. Travis distantly remembers a laughing Will taking the picture.

Connor has an old stuffed bunny, he can’t remember when he first got it but he knows Travis is the one who gave it to him.

He has a origami flower, a gift from a son of Aphrodite. Connor’s not sure why he kept it but he’s never been able to throw it out

He has letters, letter after letter from Travis. All from when his brother left camp, some from his time in college and some from his time in the mortal world.

They have matching bracelets from their father

Neither have any idea what they actually do, if they do anything at all

Both say they keep it on, as a reminder of each other when apart. Something that shows how connected they are.

Which is true but it’s also nice to have a reminder that even if it was just once, their dad has thought about them.

It’s leather bracelets, with one green gem in each, and a small charm for their father. A shoe with wings.

They both hate strawberries

They never enjoyed them before camp. The fruit always either too sweet or too bitter

It always felt like no matter what every corner they turned there was a strawberry. Strawberry this strawberry that, at every meal every day. Loved by all campers except them.

The smells of strawberries brought them back to moments full of blood and screams. The color made them sick, too similar to the blood of their friends.

Strawberries reminded them of camp, of summer, of war and death. Strawberries was something they hate and would always hate.

#whatoh answers asks #anon #I’m so very tired it’s now 2am #travis stoll #travis stoll my beloved #connor stoll #connor stoll my beloved #whatoh talks pjo #pjo headcanons #I still miss my og masterpiece of an answer #hope you like it anon!!

[captain-mj]

I want that OG Soapghost you told me about

Pretty pls?

Hell yeah!

Soap smiled. “I’m finally a Captain. You know that puts me above you right. Gotta follow my orders.”

Ghost chuckled under his breath. “Really? You think I’ll listen?” He was teasing, looking at from where he was sitting on Soap’s new desk. Soap had an office now which was all kinds of exciting. 

“I know you will.” Soap answered honestly. 

“Congratulations, Johnny.” Ghost said softly. “You deserve it.” 

Soap got the bottle of whiskey out, Scotch because it was his celebration after all, and fixed two glasses. “Yeah, shame I’m celebrating with Ghost though.” 

Ghost stiffened before sighing. “Johnny...”

“Simon.” Soap looked up at him. “First order. Take the mask off.” 

He held the drink between them, pinning Ghost down with a glare. It took a minute, but slowly, Ghost reached up and slid the mask off. And there was Simon. 

“Fucking hell, you’re gorgeous.”

“Fuck off.” Simon blushed and took the drink. “We’re not separate people ya know. You’re still celebrating with Ghost.”

“Yeah, but ya got my meaning. I much prefer seeing Simon’s bonnie face than Ghost’s mask.” Soap moved between Ghost’s legs, hand on one of his thighs. 

“You’re a captain now. Doesn’t that mean you’d be taking advantage of me?” Simon teased, a blush spreading across his face. 

“Aye. Maybe so. I don’t think you mind.” Soap kissed him softly, tracing the scars on his face. “Missed you.”

“I’ve been with you all day.”

“I missed how you are when we’re alone.”

Ghost suddenly jumped. “The door I didn’t-”

“Calm down, darling. I locked it. No one else is going to see you.” Soap reassured and slid his hands up, grabbing Ghost’s hips and then sliding along his stomach. “Like I’d let anyone. I’ll be like Athena and blind them for being so bold.”

Ghost laughed softly, head tilting back. Soap knew exactly how to get to him. He knew how to honey his words and strike the right chords. 

With a smooth motion, Soap had Ghost flat on his back on the desk, one of his legs pushed up to his chest. A thrill went up his spine at the knowledge that no one else could do this. If any of them tried, they’d be dead on the floor. Hell, any of them get close enough, they’d have a few extra holes in them. 

But John MacTavish could. Ghost blushed all pretty when he did. 

“Trying to christen your desk sir? Could’ve warned me.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Soap kissed along his neck, marking the pale skin a deep shade of red and purple. He felt Ghost clawing at his back through his shirt and well that just wouldn’t do. 

Ghost whined when he pulled away but Soap pulled off his shirt and he quieted immediately, looking all over him like he was looking for wounds before relaxing and enjoying the sight. Soap flexed a little and Ghost’s thighs squeezed around him.

“Come on. Don’t have all night.” Ghost took off his clothes and undid his pants. He moved to try to bend over the desk and Soap just yanked him back, pinning him back down. “Aren’t you gonna...?”

“Wanna look at you first. Second order, take the rest of it off.” Soap so rarely got to see all of them and he was feeling lucky tonight. Apparently, he guessed right because Simon slowly undressed for him. 

There were so many scars. From torture, shrapnel, burns, and stray bullets that luckily didn’t end him. Soap loved every bit of it. Loved that Ghost’s stomach had a slight give, mostly because Soap had been getting on to him about eating. The tattoos that intertwined with them all. 

“Fucking hell...”

“It’s gruesome.” Simon mumbled. “Don’t know why you like staring.”

“You’re gorgeous. Bloody masterpiece.” Soap held him by his waist. “One day, I’ll convince you to let me draw you.”

“You have a snowball’s chance in hell.” Ghost gritted out, staring at the ceiling. Soap could tell it was getting to be too much so he finished undressing himself and started to kiss him again. Slowly, he started to relax again.

Johnny grabbed the lube and Simon spread his legs, hands reaching to grab the edge of the desk above his head. He made sure the lube was warm before gently pushing his fingers into him. Always two to start because Ghost loved the burn it caused. 

“Little bit masochistic ain’t ye?”

Simon flushed and pushed closer, trying to get them deeper. “Just a little. Fuck.” He closed his eyes as Soap drove his fingers in deeper, making sure he could take it with ease before pulling away. 

Soap held Ghost’s leg up, hand on one of his thighs to keep him steady. He watched him as he pushed in, forcing Simon to look at him. Those big brown eyes were misty and he was clearly trying to bite back a whimper. 

“Need a second?”

“Fuck off. I know you just ask to fuel your ego you prick.” Ghost spat at him before throwing his head back.

“If I don’t ask, you won’t tell me!” Soap laughed, rolling hips as he finally bottomed out. “Just want to make sure I’m taking care of you, Riley.”

Simon relaxed and moved to hold on to Soap’s arms instead, closing his eyes as Soap started to fuck him. “Hate that name.”

“One day, I’ll make you a MacTavish and you won’t have to use it anymore.” Soap mumbled against his ear, slamming into him to hear him muffle a scream.

“Really? Don’t see either of us as the marrying type.”

“I’ll make an honest man out of you. Promise.” Soap meant it, even they were just bantering. One day, he’d make Simon his. Maybe not legally since his lover was dead according to the law, but in every way he could. 

Simon stopped talking once Soap found his sweet spot, hitting it over and over again. Soap tried to be quiet, wanting to drink in every sound he could get from Simon. He really was stunning. Especially with all the scars. 

Soap sped up, finally getting Simon to stop bothering to muffle himself. Simon pulled him in closer until Soap crushed him against the desk. He kept kissing Soap desperately, shaking when he finally came. 

Soap smirked. “Didn’t even have to touch you that time. I’m getting better.” He thrust in a few more times before pulling out and coming over his chest.

Simon hummed in response and refused to move. Soap shook his head and found the rag he had brought in specifically for this. “You okay? Ya know I need you speaking.”

“I’m alright, sir.” Simon said softly, He held on to him, looking spent.

“Come on, love, let me get you to bed.”

“Yours.” Simon sat up, pulling his pants back on.

“Mine, of course. 

#Johnny Soap Mactavish #Simon Ghost Riley #Soap Cod #Ghost COD #Soapghost #Ghostsoap #Soap x Ghost #Ghost x Soap #Macriley #Call of Duty #Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2

[mgsapphire]

My K-drama recommendation master list Part 2

You can find part 1 here

Look, you gave us relatively new recommendations, what about ones older than 10 years? I'll give you my top 5

Princess Hours (2006) Is a modern Cinderella story. It's 24 episodes long. Available on Viki.

Personal Taste (2010) Honestly, problematic plot if you put your mind into it, but entertaining nonetheless. It's 16 episodes long, each one lasting a little over an hour, available on Viki.

Cinderella's Sister (2010) You hate every character, but there's still something that makes you watch it. Available on Viki.

Thank You (2007) was ahead of its time, it's about a single mother with a daughter who has an HIV+ diagnosis. 16 episodes long, each one lasting a little over an hour. Available on Viki.

Stairway to Heaven (2003) for a good melodrama.

What about romantic fantasies involving fantastic beings?

Guardian: The lonely and Great God(2016) A classic of the genre. It tells the story of a God who was once a man, and is being punished by immortality, unless he meets his bride, who just so happens to be a high schooler centuries later. Available on viki. 16 episodes long with 3 specials, all lasting about 75 minutes.

Hotel Del Luna (2019) it would be unfair to talk about Goblin, without talking about this other masterpiece about a being cursed into immortality and granted special availabilities along with it, but a curse is still a curse, and she must run a hotel meant for ghosts, where after centuries of being, meets a young man who is alive. Availability on Viki, 16 episodes long and each one lastz about 75 minutes.

Tale of the Nine Tailed (2020) You get to see Lee Dong Wook as another mystical being, and Kim Bum is his half brother. 16 episodes long and one special, each one lasting about 65 minutes. Available on Viki.

My roommate is a Gumiho (2021) what's up with gumihos? It's still airing. The title is self explanatory. Available on Viki and Qiyi.

Angel's last mission: Love (2019) is a cute and sad story about an angel who is about to ascend and a ballerina who has a cynical view of the world. Available on Viki. Each episode averages 30 minutes, with 32 episodes.

Doom at your service (2021) About to finish airing. It tells the story of a dying woman who wishes doom upon the world, and the doom who answers her plea. Available on viki, 16 episodes long, each one lasting about an hour.

The Scholar Who walks the night (2015) another Lee Joon Gi entry, but I swear all of his works are great, it's a period drama that tells the story of a scholar who is a vampire and the young bookseller he meets. It's 20 episodes long, each one lasting about an hour. Available on viki. Also, if you've liked Lee Soo Hyuk in Doom at Your Service, I advise you check this one out.

Tale of Arang (2012) two Lee Joon Gi entries in a row? Girl, you have to stop. Anyways, this one is another period piece of a magistrate who can see ghosts and the ghost of a young woman who doesn't remember her life, nor the cause of her death. Available on viki, it's 20 episodes long, each one lasting a little over an hour.

Look, those are fine or whatever, but I started as a K-pop fan, where can I see some idol dramas? Don't worry, I came prepared

Full House (2004) with Rain as the main character is the og idol drama in my opinion. Available on Viki. 16 episodes long, each one lasting about 73 minutes.

Imitation (2021) is currently airing, and it's literally an idol drama about idols. You can find a looot of idols too: Jeong Yun Ho and Park Seong Hwa from Ateez, Chani and Hwi Young from SF9, Park Ji Yeon from T-ara, Lim Na Young from I.O.I and Pristin, and although Jeong Ji So is not an idol, she is the main lead, and I absolutely love her, she's also in Doom at your service. Available on Viki.

Miss Panda and Mr. Hedgehog (2012) features Donghae from Super Junior, and if I'm going to recommend a Super Junior drama, I would rather recommend one featuring him over Siwon.

At a Distance the Spring is Green (2021) is currently airing too, and only has four released episodes, but I've liked it so far. Featuring Park Ji Hoon, and Kwon Dun Bin. Also, I have a lot of opinions about this show. Available on Viki.

I was going to put an IU drama but, all her dramas are good, so go and watch them all, the woman has range.

Dream High (2011) is the king of idol dramas, in my opinion. It talksa about a high school for people who want to be idols. Another one with a long line up of idols, so let me start: Suzy, IU, Taecyeon, Nichkhun and Wooyoung from 2PM, Ham Eun Jung from T-ara. Leeteuk (SuJu and Chansung (2PM) make cameos. Similarly to Imitation, Kim Soo Hyun is not an idol, but he's the main lead. It's 16 episodes long, each one lasting about 65 minutes. Available on Viki.

Wow, quite a few, but they all seem rather popular, do you have some underrated gems? I'm going to have to go down memory lane, but I do

The Queen's Classroom (2013) This one feels like a fever dream, because I'm aware it exists, I watched it back when it first aired, but I can't find it anywhere now. It's based on a Japanese drama of the same name. It's about a strict but warm hearted teacher and her students' lives and struggles. 16 episodes long. DM me if you find anywhere to watch it.

1% of Something (2016) is a really cute drama, the chemistry is off the charts, and if you're looking for skinship, this one is the one for you, underrated arranged marriage kdrama, I'm telling you. It's 16 episodes long, averaging 45 minutes, and it's on Viki.

I'm not a Robot (2017) has a really cute plot, not underrated per se, but not hyped enough. It's 32 episodes long, each one averaging 30 minutes. Available on Viki.

Do you like Brahms? (2020) is a music themed kdrama, really cute and wholesome. If you like 2setviolin and watched their critique on their YouTube channel, let me tell you, the cast actually knows how to play violin and stuff, and there's an actual child prodigy in there. It got so much hate bc of that one yt video. It's 16 episode long, each one lasting about an hour. Available on Viki.

Solomon's Perjury (2016) a good reflection on youth and the pressure society has. 12 episodes long, lasting about 63 minutes each. Available on Viki.

The Greatest Love (2011) is a super entertaining TV show, and just supper funny and cute. 16 episodes long, each one lasting around 65 minutes. Available on Viki.

Two Cops (2017) if you like Kim Seon Ho, I think this was his TV acting debut. It's a hilarious action comedy TV show. 32 episodes long, lasting around 30 minutes. Available on viki.

Do you have any recommendations where time traveling or time is central to the story?

Alice (2020) look, I can't give you a full explanation because it's too mind bending. Let's leave it at detective meets his mother. Available on Viki.

Signal (2016) The premise is similar to that of the movie Frequency (2000) in which there's communication between the past and the present via technology. The plot is based on the real Hwaseong serial murders. Really interesting. Available on Netflix. If you like the premise of communicating with the past via technology Call (2020) is a Korean thriller movie available on Netflix.

Chicago Typewriter (2017) this one is about reincarnation but we get to see both timelines. Available on Netflix.

Tomorrow with you (2017) Time-traveling but make it ✨depressing ✨. The story of a man who time travels, and how that ability messes with his marriage. Available on Netflix.

What about historical dramas? I don't really watch those, but here are some I liked

The Moon Embracing the Sun (2012) is one of the few I've finished. It's really good, it follows the love story of a king. Available on viki. 20 episodes long, each one lasting about an hour.

Gunman in Joseon (2014) Am I recommending you this one because of Lee Joon Gi? Maybe. It has 22 episodes, each one lasting about an hour. Available on Viki.

The Crowned Clown (2019) a story of the Prince and the Pauper if I must give you a description that is relatable, but if you know the book titled Skogland, it's closer to that. It's 16 episodes long, each one lasting about 80 minutes. Available on Viki.

I'm a little ashamed to say this, but do you have any BL? I do, I do

To My Star (2021) is a story about an actor and a chef, and how they learn to cohabit after the actor is forced into hiding. You can watch either the movie version or the drama version, both available on viki.

Color Rush (2020) is a modern romance fantasy about people called Monos who can't see any color unless they meet their Probes, however this may turn dangerous as the Monos may experience obsessive behavior, so what happens when a young high schooler meets his probe?. You can either watch it on its drama or movie version. Both available on viki. By the way, if you're a long time deobi and was wandering what happened to Hwall, he's one of the main leads.

You Make Me Dance (2021) follows the story of a university dancer who is in debt and his debt collector. Available on viki in both versions. The movie is 107 minutes long.

Just Friends (2009) is a short film, but ahead of its time, if you can't tell by the year it was released on. It's a cute story about a man who visits his boyfriend in the military. I found it in dramacool.

That's all from me, if you have any specific genre or them you felt I didn't add in, do feel free to tell me.

#kdrama #netflix kdrama #netflix #kdramas #kdrama recommendations #netflix recommendations #korean actor #korean actress #korean drama #idol drama #ateez #sf9 #t ara #lee joon gi #imitation #iu #at a distance spring is green #tvn doom at your service #doom at your service #my roommate is a gumiho #joy #fantasy

[shiny-procrastinates]

(re)Watching Magia Record S1 - part 1

Hello and welcome everyone to the first post on this watch-along commentary of the first season of Magia Record! Whether you are just now watching it for the first time, or are re-watching in preparation for the second season, or have only played the game and are curious about the anime (in which case I'd be surprised you even exist) I hope you can have some fun reading these ramblings as I try to put my thoughts into words  (actually turned more into narrating the show) throughout all 12 13 episodes.

Before we can get to it, though, I have a few warnings to give:

1 - As much as I'd love to be able to memory swipe so I can watch this fresh all over again, such an ability is sadly still beyond my grasp. In other words, this isn't my first time watching (or second, for that matter; more like the sixth… or seventh…). That being the case I can't claim that these are my first impressions and it's very likely this commentary will be somewhat biased by my previous knowledge. However, I can guarantee one thing: I will do my best to keep this spoiler-free, so you don't have to worry if this is your first time watching.

(I will, however, be assuming that you have watched the OG series and Rebellion, so beware of that).

2 - Please don't come into this expecting it to be Madoka 2

Also no, this is not a continuation of the OG, it’s an alternate universe spin-off.

This one's for first-time viewers.

Well, ok, this sounds like vague tweeting and I'm kind of whining here, but I have seen a number of peeps on the internet saying that Magia Record is bad only for their argument to boil down to "because it isn't OG Madoka!"

Yeah it isn't. I'm pretty sure there's "Side Story" written somewhere in the title too.

Leaving aside the matter of nostalgia glasses and whether the original series was that much of a masterpiece or not (it's been over five years since I last watched it, so I can't say anything either way.) it seems kind of weird to me that someone would bash a spinoff on the grounds of how close it is to the original. Because here's the thing: to me, the whole point of spinoffs is taking an already existing scenario and putting a spin on it to make something new. That's exactly what makes them fun!

MagiReco didn't need to be a Madoka clone or to try hard and beat the original. That would probably have made it bad, actually. What it did need to do was to create an interesting story using the world set up by the OG Madoka and the other spinoffs, and that, in my opinion, it did, so I hope people can give it a chance and judge it on its own merits rather than only compared to the original. I'm not saying you can't hate it, either, I myself have my own problems with it, it's just that I want to see more reasonable reasons than "it's not the OG so it's bad".

3 - As you can probably already tell from these warnings, these posts are bound to get looong, so I'd recommend setting aside a fair amount of time and getting real comfy if you're gonna read it all. I also don't mind if you just skip ahead and only read the interesting parts, I'm not the internet police.

3.5 - I don't want to use it as an excuse, but I think I should make it clear that English is not my native language, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes and awkward/stilted text. It's hard to tell by myself, so feel free to correct me if you find something.

SO, with that out of the way let’s get down to what’s really important:

Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record Episode 1

Whew, now that’s a mouthful.

You know, in my mind I always thought a “side story” was something that happened alongside a “main story”, like another POV, so I’m not sure that’s the most appropriate title, but who am I to judge?

So here we go, we’re off with some beautiful futuristic scenery already, that’s the Madoka series I know.

As the classic Sis Puella Magi plays in the background, two unseen narrators tell us the tale of the so called “magical girls” as we are shown the reality of being one, meeting our first witch for this series.

Risking your life to save a cat doesn’t seem like the smartest of things. Rather, witches eat cats? That’s mean.

No, you really, really don’t. This narration definitely seems made to make everyone who saw the original say this, particularly with how silly are the wishes these girls suggest. 

And hey, look, even this girl who supposedly had her wish granted doesn’t seem very happy.

Hang in there, this is only the first episode.

Man, this scenery really is pretty though.

After an exciting fight with a witch in the train, our girl here silently goes home to find

Whatever the heck this is.

So, our girl here seems to be having strange visions whenever she enters her room, that is very very suspiciously cut exactly in half. Protagonist, you sure have an unique sense of interior decoration.

She goes on with her day, makes two lunchboxes and… oh, it seems she’s all alone.

Is this something you should be telling your own daughter?

Long story short, Iroha’s parents are abroad right now (as is suspiciously the case with many a anime protagonist parents). I actually love the parallel this scene draws with OG Madoka: whereas Madoka’s parents seem responsible and Madoka even looks up to her mom and they’re a happy united family, Iroha comes off as being the responsible one in her family and her parents are gone from the get-go. This way, the lonely atmosphere of the previous scene also starts making sense.

So, it seems like there’s something Iroha wants to do here, and that’s why she decided to stay behind.

Perhaps. Did you wish to save a black cat?

Wow, this teacher is speaking fast. Calm down lady, we’re not here to speedrun the content, geez. Though I guess we should be happy she’s at least giving a proper class, unlike a certain other teacher…

Oh great, it's this guy.

Ok, Iroha doesn’t remember what she wished for and Kyuubei doesn’t know either, although he knows she used her wish for the sake of someone. Kyuubei theorizes that the reason she doesn’t remember might be that not remembering was part of her wish, but Iroha doesn’t think she’d wish for that. I don’t think you’d ever think to wish for something like that until you had to wish for something like that though.

She’s got a fair point. After all, wishing in this universe is basica— the heck is going on in the background there?! O-kaaay…

Iroha was having a weird think-spot mental conversation with Kyuubei there, and missed speedrun teacher’s lecture entirely. Being meguca is suffering.

We get some school motto propaganda, and now we’re on the roof. Oh? Where did all the friendship stuff from the propaganda go? Seems like Iroha’s not following the school spirit. Unless she considers the white weasel a friend, so that’s why she gave him her extra… wait, Kyuubei can EAT? I thought he was some alien machine-like being. H-Huh...

Classmate A: Tamaki-san, maji tenshi!

She’s probably just shy. According to her classmates, Iroha used to be busy doing something or the other, but no one can remember what that is.

Cute. 

But maybe don’t do that somewhere someone could easily walk in on you, Iroha.

Iroha gets a call by the girl from the combat scene from before, whose name is Kuroe. I couldn’t tell from their conversation if they’ve known each other for a while or if they just met each other for the first time in the fight before.

On the train, although she’s the one who called her over, Kuroe remains silent. Iroha, clearly uncomfortable, tries her best to make conversation. Poor Iroha, I know the feeling.

We learn from her that the number of witches around has been decreasing. She comments that being unable to get Grief Seeds is troubling, but it’s better than having witches causing trouble. Poor girl has no way to know just how much of a bad news it is running out of Grief Seeds.

What’s with pink-haired girls and lacking self-esteem? Iroha, are you sure you didn’t wish to save a black and forget that you did? You did save a white one just before.

Kuroe finally decides to talk, and she tells us this:

If you go to Kamihama, you’ll be saved. To anyone that saw the OG, the first thought that comes to mind is that they’ll be saved from their destiny of turning into witches, but it seems Kuroe doesn’t know the truth yet. She just doesn’t want to fight witches anymore. I think.

The train lights up, and…

...this is extremely unsettling considering the truth about witches and the conversation they’re having right now. There’s a lot of this, but this just hits different having watched the original.

Iroha’s not inclined to believe what Kuroe’s saying. Of course, despite not remembering her wish, she’s the type that’s happy with fighting witches if she can save someone, and Kuroe’s not being very convincing either. The whole thing is apparently a rumor spread by some girls who saw a dream that told them that.

Except that Kuroe actually had the dream too.

Like most magical girls, Kuroe made a short-sighted wish, and regrets it. She now wants to be saved, so she’s going to Kamihama.

...or she was, but before that, they’ll have to defeat the witch they let escape the other day, ‘cos she’s back for more.

I actually have so many questions about this scene. Weren’t Labyrinths pocket dimensions? How come this one’s moving in physical space? We know witches themselves move and their Labyrinth goes with that, but I thought it was more, like, the entrance to the Labyrinth moves. Then how come witches can escape if magical girls get carried with their Labyrinth when they move…? Just... just... what?

The answer to all of that is probably “magic”.

Like that, Express Witch Labyrinth crashes right into what seems to be a train station. Labyrinths don’t have brakes, confirmed.

Brutal.

Looks like it’s not only magical girls who have territorial disputes going on. Although it’s nice that they won’t have to fight two witches at the same time, this is not exactly a relief when you consider these two were already struggling with the previous one, and this one just ripped it apart like crab.

As expected, Iroha’s arrows do no damage at all. When all seems lost…

A wild singing mini Kyuubei appears! Is this a shiny?

The singing Kyuubei distracts the witch and jumps towards Iroha, who uses her pro white cat catching skills to grab it, and… something happens. Whatever this Kyuubei did, Iroha’s having some flashbacks now. Sadly, the middle of a battle isn’t the best time to be having a BSOD and, despite Kuroe’s attempts to snap her out of it, they’re sitting ducks right now, a black and a white one.

Thankfully for them, though, they’re not alone in this barrier. This mystery blue haired girl spams flying spears and makes short work of the witch Iroha’s arrows didn’t even scratch earlier. She’s clearly at a whole ‘nother level.

Also, chibi Kyuubei’s gone. Totally not suspicious. Nope. Not at all.

So, from this OP miss get-the-heck-out-of-my-territory, who didn’t even bother saying her name, we learn that not only there is no salvation in Kamihama, there are more, stronger witches, and there are currently no Kyuubei. She gives them the Grief Seeds from the two witches before, and passes on a warning to them. Not the friendliest of magical girls. Though if you consider what happens when you run out of Grief Seeds, one could understand why it’d be undesirable having too many magical girls in the same place.

With this, Iroha and Kuroe take the train back to their town and things are totally awkward again.

Welp, seems like Kuroe doesn’t want to chat anymore, so we’ll have a dream sequence instead.

Forgive my lack of words, but this scene doesn’t need them. This is just… you couldn’t ask for a better representation of what being a magical girl wishing for salvation is like. Everyone has their own reasons, but in the end, having known despair, these girls are desperately clinging to this last hope called Kamihama. It’s almost a pilgrimage.

“Let’s go to Kamihama. We’ll be saved there”

And in the midst of all that is the mysterious girl from Iroha’s dreams.

(the track here, Paradero de Memoria, is also great btw)

Now, with various wishes written all over in the background, we get Kyuubei’s spiel about magical girls. I think this is word-by-word the same from the original too.

We now get to finally know what our protagonist’s wish was.

So Iroha wished to cure her younger sister’s illness, but the sister in question is now nowhere to be found. Worse: everything related to her is gone. Even Iroha, who made a wish for her sake, didn’t remember her existence until now. Oh man, that’s no normal disappearance. What happened? Guess that’s what Iroha will have to find out now.

With that, we conclude the first episode of Magia Record(’s s1)!

This is a really strong first episode in my opinion. It decently introduces our protagonist, sets up the mysteries we will be dealing with from here on and also manages to trace connections with the original, while using the viewer’s previous knowledge to give a whole different impression to some scenes. You wouldn’t be like “hell no” at the rumor there at the start if you didn’t know the truth about magical girls, and I doubt that final scene would hit that hard either. It’s just really good at this and it’ll continue doing that from now on. I love it.

Speaking of the final scene, me having watched the original over five years ago might also be part of it but that is really my favorite scene in Madoka overall. I just really really love that scene. (Seriously, I’ve watched this scene so many times I know it by heart now. Help.)

Alas, I lied, the episode’s not over yet, we still have our classic anime first episode ending-opening to watch. So let’s listen, to Gomakashi:

This logo’s real pretty.

So yeah, pretty standard anime opening. If you pay attention, there are some references to Connect too, what with the selfcest and whatnot. Although I managed to mistake this when I first watched, this one’s actually sung by the trio TrySail rather than ClariS. That’s the VAs for Iroha, Asakura Momo; Yachiyo (the get-out-of-my-territory girl), Amamiya Sora and Natsukawa Shiina, whose character we’ve yet to meet. TrySail has a lot of cool songs, so do check them out if you haven’t already. (free ad)

This time, in fact, the episode is over! Whew, I did say this was going to be long, but not even I thought it’d be this long. By the time this is posted I should have a backlog of these, so my plan is to post one everyday until we are done. I hope you had fun reading this here rant and I’ll be looking forward to meeting you guys again tomorrow, same place, maybe same hour, so we can go on and watch episode 2 together!

(P.S.: I am considering doing a series of posts at a later date comparing the anime to the game, but we’ll see. The first few chapters are fine, but the game is stupidly long, so I feel it’d take a lot of motivation and stamina I’m not sure I have at the moment. There’s also the possibility watching the first arc again would bring back my yt copy-apocalipse grief back and that’d suck, definitely don’t wanna go through that again.)

#magia record #puella magi madoka magica #pmmm magia record #this post apologizes for existing

[snkpolls]

SnK Chapter 135 Poll Results

This month’s poll closed with 2,264 entries. The poll results were compiled by momtaku, /u/_Puppet_, /u/berthototototo, u/staraves

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,980 responses

Volume 34 started off on a high note with “Battle of Heaven and Earth” being our 7th highest rated chapter with an average of 4.61.

Easily the best action based chapter post timeskip

Very action dominated chapter this time. Just pure adrenaline, not many answers. Not complaining though, great chapter!

Best chapter since 122, hype levels were great, pacing was great, just overall great really.

What I loved about this chapter is that this was the first time I REALLY felt the suspense, the kind of suspense where it looks our heroes can not win the fight and all hope is lost. It was a very similar feeling I experienced in the first chapters of Attack on Titan where the fight against Pure Titans always felt like the enemy had the upper hand and our heroes were fighting a losing battle that they could only fight to mitigate the losses as low as possible

A chapter will less talk more fight. It's been a while.

I loved this chapter immensely. For months, this was the first I could finally rate the highest.

We are near the end, oh god, this was a a hell of a journey from 2013 as a manga reader it is for me one of the best manga I have ever read

Everything about this was awesome from bucket girl Ymir to all the previous titan shifters to bird Falco. There was so much I had to wrap my head around, so I’m going to have to read this a couple more times.

So many mysteries I just don’t want it to be rushes uwu and for us to only be getting a chapter per MONTH can you throw us some bones PLEASE

I’m rethinking everything I thought I knew about the manga

We're hanging on a razor's edge between masterpiece and ruin. Whatever happens, please let it be well executed. . .

  WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE OVERALL MOMENT?

2,001 responses

This chapter was filled with lore, action and great individual character moments but seeing the fantastical forms of titans past brought into the fight was our favorite moment with 31.4% of the total. “Mikasa carrying the whole damn team” was second with 24.7%. The arrival of the flying titan (10.6%), the vision of Bertholt Hoover (10%) and Pieck rushing forward with the bombs (6.9%) round out the top five.

One of my all-time favourites probably, I absolutely loved all the character interactions as well as the amazing new titan designs.

Bert back! Bert back! Bert back!!! <333333

I really did like it, all those previous titans forms are interesting and see that the manga is very soon to end, I can't wait to know the end.

The chapter hasn't changed anything fundamentally but was exited to see OG Ymir

A demonstration of the despair and hopelessness of fighting Ymir

Bird!!! Falco!!! And!!! Ghost!!! Bertholdt!!! YES! YES! YES!

Really liked Jean and Reiners moments this chapter,

Bringing back old titans was really badass and intimidating.

Tentacle porn. That is all.

  WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE COMRADE-RELATED MOMENT? 1,969 responses

With a battle involving Alliance teamwork and some visits from old friends, this chapter had many moments between current and former comrades. The wholesome scene between Jean and Reiner packed with an Armored Titan joke garnered the majority of votes (50.2%), with others favoring Armin’s vision of Bertolt (15.9%), and Annie’s reunion at the end of the chapter (14.1%).

jean saving reiner really moved me i really love these characters and after seeing them fighting it was nice seeing one saving the other. i mean jean had a really good reason to hate reiner and he previously said that he would never forgive him but he did and it was nice

Loved that scene between Jean and Reiner. Jean came a long way since his selfish oppotunistic days: Not letting Reiner fall, even though he really hated him. Actually willing to die. Great character development.

I'm curious to see, what effect this might have on Reiner: I mean he was being called a member of the survey corps again and therefore he was kind of being ""forgiven"".

Jean-Reiner-Bromance!

Connie x Levi canon

Ngl, I felt a great satisfaction as ghost Bertolt looked down on Armin who was suffocating from that giant tongue lmao

at this point I think that the ackertalk is sadly never happening. A missed opportunity.

  WHO WAS THIS CHAPTER’S MVP? 1,973 responses

It’s Mikasa nation domination with 52.4% of the vote. There were a lot of great character moments but it’s hard to beat the one who stopped the manga ending prematurely! There was also appreciation for Ymir (12.8%) who brought in some interesting Titan designs and a great fight. 11.8% gave the nod to Falco for swooping in for the last minute save. 6.3% were hyped for Pieck’s no-nonsense charge, and 4.1% liked seeing Levi push himself in battle despite needing another couple of months in bed.

Levi has been severely injured for not even a week, yet he held his own and saved Connie AND Jean. I don't ever want to hear any whiny criticisms about this man ever again.

If Pieck dies we riot

Jean is best

Love Mikasa sm

MIKASA SUPREMACYYY GO BEST GIRL

Loved Reiner and Jean moment as well as Mikasa’s bad assery!

Mikasa was amazing this chapter

Pieck, the only one to make a move against Eren directly while the rest are too much up in their feelings. Best girl moment right there <3

Mikasa was so badass!! Love to see it

Mikasa was the BOMB in this chapter, loved that winged panel of hers.

My God I loved it, Mikasa was so badass, especially in that speech scene with her wings, Falco is best boy, I loved the interactions and everyone saving each other

  THE CHAPTER IS TITLED “BATTLE OF HEAVEN AND EARTH”, WHAT DOES THIS REFER TO? 1,942 responses

The most popular interpretation of the title “Battle of Heaven and Earth” seems to be designating Ymir as the Heaven, and the Alliance as the Earth (42.6%), with the reverse of that being the second most popular (27.8%). In third came the idea that it relates to Ymir using the titans of deceased Eldians (20.9%).

A battle that people might die in (Heaven) or survive (Earth)

A battle which has consequences for both Heaven (Paths) and Earth (The World)

The alliance fighting in the heavens while the colossal titans destroy the earth.

It is a reference to Ragnarok.

multiple viable interpretations. the ascended vs descended, the heavenly winged mikasa vs the now devil of all earth ymir, the winged titan against the earthly titans.

Probably a weird take, but it reminds me 131. Eren being in the Heaven as his coping mechanism and Ymir being on the ground (earth)

I’m not sure but it’s in reference to the 4th chapter titled First Battle. Just like last chapter referenced the 5th chapter.

Heaven: Paradis. Earth: beyond the sea.

all of the above- YOU GET SYMBOLIC METAPHORS, AND YOU GET SYMBOLIC METAPHORS

because the battles are in the sky while on earth the colosus step down on earth

***ohhh heaven is a place on earth***

  WE’D PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT YMIR WAS UNJUSTIFIABLY FRAMED BY HER PEERS. DOES LEARNING THAT SHE FREED THE PIGS AFFECT HOW YOU VIEW HER? 1,952 responses

Ymir apparently freeing the pigs was an unexpected opening for the chapter. For 34.4%  this action meant that Ymir has always been #TeamFreedom. A sizable 18.8% think this relatively minor reveal makes her way more suspicious. Closely following that, 18% think it means nothing at all. It’s just a cool detail that resolved a mystery.

It's trying to say that since Ymir freed the pigs, she created this whole mess which I heavily dislike since it goes against what her character was in 122

When back in 122 everyone was foaming about tHe FuCkInG pIgS, I was rolling my eyes so hard, because to me the pigs were insignificant: it does not matter who set them free, they might have just run away on their own, what matters is that Ymir is the one they blame, which started the whole story. NOW, huh, the pigs might be important, or at least it really might have been Ymir who let them go, set them free. She couldn't get free herself, so she granted freedom to the poor animals.

I always just assumed Ymir set the pigs free, I didn't realize it was something people saw as ambiguous until now…

I wasn't expecting any of that sh*t, and now I'm certain that Ymir is the real baddie here

Peppa Pig is free

  WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN YMIR FREEING THE PIGS AND LOOKING DOWN AT THE ALLIANCE? 1,835 responses

The chapter opens with Ymir after freeing the pigs from the pen, but what does this mean? It’s close, but the most popular option is that Ymir is recalling that the last time she prioritised the idea of freedom the suffering was not worth it (29.9%), followed by the assertion there’s no deeper meaning (22.3%). A close third place of votes believe the connection is that Ymir has given up acts of selflessness as she doubles down on the rumbling (21.8%) and an even closer fourth place see it as her looking down on the Alliance as if they were the caged animals (21.4%).

Did she free the pigs out of compassion, or to spite her master? Is the rumbling everything to put the pigs back in the pen, or to get revenge on those who scorned Eldians?

How it started versus where it's ended up. All this torment and death because of something so minuscule because of human cruelty towards each other.

It seems like a parallel between Ymir freeing the pigs and Ymir freeing the past titans.

It shows she's an actor with agency and motivations, whether in her slave-like state or her god-like position

It was her first act of free will, and her routing the scouts it technically her third, so in a way they are parallel actions.

She looks at humans like pigs

She wants freedom, and the only way to obtain it is to kill the alliance

She's still in a cage, represented by the bones of Eren

She has been stewing in everything she has gone through for 2000 years and that might've turned her hateful.

it is possible that after looking at humanity for hundreds of years that she believes that it is not human's nature to be compassionate like her, but to fight each other until no one remains, and she has decided to speed up to what she feels is the inevitable conclusion so that her ghost can be gone for good.

  WHY IS YMIR THE ONE ACTIVELY FIGHTING BACK AGAINST THE ALLIANCE? 1,919 responses

Armin notes that Ymir seems to be the one in control of the titans, why is this?  The large majority at 54.5% believe her to be working side by side with Eren.  About ¼, at 24.8% think she’s stepping in for Eren while she’s unconscious, while the minority at 20.7% think she’s overpowered Eren and is the real big bad of the story.

If she really wants the whole humanity to perish, then it means she lost all hope in humanity and is like an empty shell who has never experienced any drop of love. I feel that Ymir doesn't really care about protecting or helping Eren. She just wants to see an empty world - without humans.

The chapter was really well drawn. Also I see lots of new possibilities to happen, as Eren being a slave, Ymir perhaps becoming the final villain. it also makes to recall back to chapter 1 when I see Eren crying in front of Mikasa after some sort of "dream". This makes me think that Eren will eventually come to regret his actions but it's gonna be too late. thus he receives this dream but he is never able to see it through. Quite a sad fate. Although that's just a speculation on my part.

Armin questioning Ymir's role has me hoping for an Armin talk no jutsu with Ymir.

Eren and Ymir are unbeatable

Ymir/Eren are the only ones who can build titans right now. They baited Falco and Annie to return to get all of the 9 shifters near the founder again and they are planning something.

It warmed my heart seeing Ymir protecting her otosan as a thank you for bringing her with him on Take Your Daughters to Work Day 🥺

  WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO ARMIN BEING FRENCHED BY A TITAN? 1,957 responses

In one of the weirdest moments in recent memory, Armin gets french kissed by a titan of the past.  42% of fans think it makes sense, as it was the only way to stop him from biting himself to transform.  36.1% feel bad for Armin as he’s gotten molested and now this, he just can’t catch a break.  14.2% are scared to ask if this constitutes fanservice, and 7.8% are too grossed out to think about it any longer.

When I wanted a non-Annie pairing for Armin, I wasn't expecting this. Stop harrassing my poor boy.

the chapter has already spawned Armin tentacle hentai and that makes it the best chapter in the whole manga

Armin capture thing was a little weird but makes sense IMO.

I know Armin being captured in that way has a narrative purpose, but that was disturbing in the end and i hate people will/ and are joking about it.

It didn't cross my mind that the frenching was to prevent Armin from transforming until I saw the vote option. Thank you.

  WILL THE CANNONS AT FORT SALTA DO BETTER OR WORSE THAN THE BLIMPS? 1,920 responses

Fort Salta’s own forces don’t seem very effective as of yet, with the blimps almost completely failing, and now they turn to three cannons.  Not a single respondent thinks they’ll do anything (Not that we gave them the option), though more think they’ll do nothing in red.

Them cannons, it will be effective.

They’ll get hit by the fort’s cannons but they probably won’t be very effective

  KARINA SAW THE ARMORED TITAN GET CHOMPED IN FRONT OF HER VERY EYES. HOW WILL THIS AFFECT HER? 1,924 responses

Even though the Plot-Armored Titan escaped death yet again, all Karina saw was her son’s flesh mecha being chomped from afar. 37.3% are finding it hard to care about Karina’s struggle, but of the ones who did have an answer, 31.2% think the purpose of the death fake-out is so she can better appreciate when Reiner is alive and well later. Just under a fifth at 19.3% think she’ll do something rash while thinking her son is dead, unsurprisingly more than the 12.2% who think Karina would do something nice for once.

fuck karina

reiner always manages to escape death

  JEAN POINTS OUT THAT THE SPAWNING TITANS ARE NOT MINDLESS. WHAT IS THEIR TRUE NATURE? 1,933 responses

It was a close one, but a plurality of respondents (38.1%) thought that the shifters brought forth by Ymir were the real deal, their souls controlled in death. Or their spirits? Their essences? Their… PATHS GHOSTS? Slightly fewer respondents (36.8%) think they’re just empty clones, Ymir simply not bothering with creating new forms since that would probably take a fuckton more years. 23.7% are somewhere between the two other options – maybe these shifters aren’t really present, but some of their will remains.

The fact that Armin saw Bertolt tells me that a part of the titan's "souls" still exist within them and they're being forced to do Ymir's bidding

The founding titan powers give her complete control over sentient shifters, and the attack titan powers (utilized by the founding titan) lets Ymir reach back in time and utilize the shifter's "essence" (maybe they all had a weird dream they don't remember), and obviously the warhammer titan is what allows them to take form. Beast titan go brrrrr

I have a small theory about souls of past shifters being imprisoned in some paths area or insubconscious mind of current titan shifters.

I’m conflicted between the two first answers but I hope there empty clones

At first, I thought it would be like Zeke's titans in Ragako (the anime showed their weird coordinated dance). But looking at Bertholdt, it seems they're not acting on free will but are still a bit conscious.

If you chomp one, do you get its power?

They are empty vessel's resurrected the only reason Armin saw Bertolt was becuase armin was the holder of the collosal titan! In my opinion of course

They are ghost/ spirits of the past shifter, which have a limited consciousness like zombies

They are moving according to the old users skills, like a saved “data”

They are the ones who volunteered to be in the walls when the Eldians escaped to Paradis. They sympathise with Eren and are fighting for him.

They are the real shifters working with Ymir

We see Bert crying right before we see his titan try to eat Reiner —— maybe he’s being forces by Ymir.

The souls of the previous titan holders can see what is happening though paths but they don't have control over it

Ymir created them via the shifters' own memories respectively. The Beetholdt panel might show hesitation of wanting to grab Reiner for example and emphasizes on the theme of Slavery. How to achieve freedom you must steal freedom (Erwn said he stole the world's freedom to achieve his own) or enslave/oppress someone or a group.

Ymir created them while eren is using them

souls being completely controlled but can be revoked original consciousness back,cringe naruto shit.

Through PATHS all is possible

  ISAYAMA WENT ALL OUT WITH TITAN DESIGNS. WHICH ANCIENT TITANS DID YOU MOST ENJOY SEEING? 1,926 responses

The most popular design in Isayama’s titan showcase by a decent margin was the “Faceless Titan” (45.8%), with “The Thing Titan” coming in second (34.4%). In third was the “Minotaur Titan” (32.4%) and narrowly in fourth, the “Mummified Titan” (31.3%). Interestingly, 2/4 of the top designs appear to be previous Warhammer Titans, which is fitting with it being one of the most popular titan designs. Well, except for the one we saw in Ymir’s backstory that had hair. We all agreed that thing was atrocious.

I loved the previous titan shifters.

croco titan best boi

There's a lot of titans missing, so I'll say here that I love the dinosaur titan, the bearded titan and the ghost-like titan as well.

that 'wolverine' titan is actually a deer. It kind of blends in with Reiner's armor but you can see the antlers if you look closely.

always wanted to see ancient titan designs since learning about the inheritance and such, so this is a dream come true for a fanartist

Previously, it was left to our imagination what all these past Titan Shifters looked like, but thanks to this chapter (through the power of PATHS!), we got to see many of them for ourselves. A nice treat from Isayama, but also a mind-blowing one, especially with how they intervened in the fight.

Seeing all these past Titan Shifters appear like that was so interesting to me that it  made me analyze each one and try to identify which was an old Jaw Titan, an old Beast Titan, an old Cart Titan, an old Warhammer Titan, and so on, so this chapter also felt like a fun guessing game in that regard!

Adding animals to the mix just feels like a try hard to make them scary. If he wanted them to have some real crazy powers it could've been done better imo, having these many animals just thrown around didn't make sense to me, we already got the beast titan and that bird titan. It's enough animals for me, especially since initially what made titans so scary in the first place was how identical they are to humans, only differing in their mounstrous size.

I never liked the idea of animal titans, it just feels so weird and out of place with no explanation for why or how they are animal-like. That being said, some of the other titan designs were pretty rad.

Show us Kruger's titan though

  WHICH RETURNING TITAN DID YOU MOST ENJOY SEEING? 1,925 responses

In a chapter filled with new titans of the past we also saw some classic designs. By far the most hype-inducing one among fans was the Colossal Titan at 66.6%, followed by the War Hammer at 19.6%, Porco’s Jaw at 12.2%, and Marcel’s Jaw at 1.5%.

I loved how the one, true and only OG Colossal Titan of Bertholdt descended upon them like a fucking God

since there was no ""Other"" option in the ""favourite moment"" question, I'll say it here: Marcel's titan was my favourite moment.

Last chapter I was wondering if there'll be "another Beast Titan clone". We end up getting the entire museum lmao

The Colossal Titan, the God of the SnK world, appeared as the judge (while aldo not being himself, ironically) seriously, it was amazing

The Colossal Titan's entrance was like sweet karma, after how the SC murdered Bertold brutally and never cared one bit, they still couldn't get rid of him. SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKERS kekekek

  THERE’S BEEN SOME DEBATE BUT IT SEEMS FRECKLED YMIR WASN’T THERE. IS THIS SIGNIFICANT? 1,900 responses

Ah, the innocent days of our freckled goddess… she may have turned out to be a regular girl, but where was she when our other old friends were running around? There were a couple of Titans who looked a bit like her, but none with both her little gremlin body and her distinctive nose and teeth. Does it matter? 63.8% of you don’t think there’s anything to it. Maybe she’ll be in the next chapter, or maybe Yams forgot her… maybe she’s chilling with Grisha and Kruger. 36.2% think there could be something more to her absence so far.

i hope freckled ymir came back  ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ

I think it's highkey sus that we didn't see freckled Ymir's titan and that really gives me hope that Historia really will have an important part in the finale since it feels like Yams is saving freckled Ymir for a Historia moment

about freckles... i think her titan was the one that was gonna try and eat reiner/jean. dark hair, thin arms, small facial features.

I feel like her foreground omission isn't a big deal, since we're already two Jaws in, both of whom have more impactful connections to those present.

I want freckled Ymir back

ymir freckles did make an appearance, wasn’t she the titan attacking reiner as he was holding onto jean that mikasa slashed?

I believe Freckeld Ymir's Jaw Titan is shown when Bertholdt's Colossal Titan attempts to eat Reiner. It's very small though so it's hardly noticeable and I can't even confirm that it was indeed her Titan but it seemed like it.

YOU GAVE ME HOPE ABOUT FRECKLED YMIR DAMN YOU and thank you

  SINCE ALL THE TITAN OTHER SHIFTERS SUMMONED THIS CHAPTER WERE DECEASED, DOES THIS MEAN ZEKE IS DEAD? 1,953 responses

Ymir summoned titans of the past according to Pieck, does that mean Zeke is of the past now too?  The fandom is overall undecided on this one, as about half don’t know, at 48.5%.  32.7% are confident Zeke is still around, and 18.8% take this as confirmation of his death.

Zeke may not be dead, because the beast titan summoned last chapter could be Xavier's beast titan too. Because in one earlier Marley arc chapter, someone mentioned that "The beast titan is the same as ever". Meaning, Xavier's beast titan was also monke.

IF Zeke is alive, it means that Pieck is once again somehow "faking" her defeat and goes for the detonator but then she somehow runs into Zeke. They have a lot of history and too much stuff unresolved between them and because of eren/armin and zeke/pieck dynamics is that those 2 stayed on the founding titan..

I think Zeke and Bertolt are both stuck in paths, unable to properly die. I hope Zeke is just shackled making titans like we saw him in 120. That would be poetic, for the one who hates his Eldian blood so much to be forced to enact the one thing that made him hate himself (the existence of titans).

I just realized that in the last chapter I thought Zeke was there but it was the shot of the Marleyan general saying ""I am sorry""... I was writing about how Zeke cannot be dead, what are you all talking about, he is right there, then went and checked 134. Now I'm just sitting here with no answers at all. Zeke could be anywhere, alive or dead, no clue...

  CHEKHOV’S EXPLOSIVES CONTINUE, AND THIS CHAPTER PIECK ENSURED THEY WERE RIGHT NEXT TO EREN. WHO WILL DETONATE THEM? WILL THEY BE EFFECTIVE? 1,121 responses

We asked what you think would come of the explosives that have been built up for eight chapters now, and collated your responses. First, who will detonate them?

Pieck: 182

Mikasa: 140

Armin: 134

Reiner: 99

Gabi: 81

Levi: 71

Connie: 38

Jean: 29

Annie: 23

Falco: 14

Eren: 6

Ymir: 2

Zeke/Onyankopon/Bertholdt: 1

There were also 7 mentions of the cannons that the Marleyans got ready to use this chapter actually coming in handy, and setting off the explosives. It’s also noteworthy that Pieck is thought of more than any other character to be likely to sacrifice her life to get it done. Additionally, many people who put forth Armin detonating them suggested this occurs through his titan transformation igniting them, not just him using the detonator.

In terms of success, 255 said that the explosives would either do nothing or overall be ineffective, with the most commonly given reason being that Eren is not in the nape. 250 said that the explosives will be helpful one way or another, including 7 who said they would end Eren’s life (Most of these involved Mikasa as the detonator). 9 people specified that they hope the bombs don’t do anything, 25 said nobody will detonate them at all, and 2 said it will be effective but will make things worse.

They will play an important role in the Climax, one way or another

warhammer can just throw the explosive after it deals with pieck

His neck is covered with more bones and the blimps didn't hurt them, but the explosives are as close as possible, so I think maybe they could work.

100% those explosives will be used in one way or an other, but i have a feeling that eren is not even there ;)

Annie will likely be able to get close to Pieck, as her titan is very agile and will activate the explosives that will be able to get Eren out of her giant's head

Could be anyone. The way they're set up, they must have some effect.

Could be Jean or Connie and maybe the rumbling will be paused or the Eren's skeleton will collapse as the story continues..

Connie and he will die doing so, doing few damage but someone will be like "hey he gave us a weakness we can exploit"

if they are effective, mikasa but if they arent it will be connie or jean

Doesn’t matter who detonates them it won’t be effective

Eren better pull a Reiner and transfer his consciousness. Isayama introduced that shit on purpose. Peick probably playing dead and will try to detonate to no avail.

Gabi is going to detonate them and save Pieck too. The explosion might help in the fight, but I doubt Eren is in the neck, my bet its Zeke who is in there.

Eren, once all the shifters are dead he will detonate it killing himself and ensuring all titans are reborn in Historias baby, truly freeing ymir and ending the curse of the titans.

Fort Salta Cannons will detonate them. They wont be effective because Eren is hiding in Paradis with the Warhammer Titan power (or he can transfer his consciousness to the rest of his spine in case he really is there).

Levi will detonate them to kill Zeke who is actually the one in the nape

Levi will give up on his dream of killing Zeke and die sacrificing himself to detonate it

Pieck will sacrifice herself to detonate the fuse and when she does she will fall to her doom. She will be content in knowing that it will work. She lits it up and falls at the same time. When shes falling she feels a great sense of acceptance, but all of a sudden Falco swoops in to save her with everyone on his back. As they watch it blow up the body keeps moving for eren was not there to begin with.

I think Ymir will use them against the alliance

Oyankopon drops a flying knee into the plunger in an act of self-sacrifice.

titanfolk: Kaboom?

Isayama: Yes titanfolk, kaboom.

  WHY IS ARMIN HAVING THE VISION OF BERTOLT? 1,928 responses

In one of the more confusing panels of this crazy chapter, we see Bertolt standing over Armin.  39.6% believe it to be a fragment of Berthold brought back through the Colossal Ymir summoned, 25.5% think Bertoto has awareness in an afterlife, 25.1% think Armin is having a memory from his predecessor Burrito, and 7.3% think Ymir is just messing with Armin.

Grabbing Armin allowed Ymir to access Bertolt's titan, similar to how they have Zeke captive for his Beast titan

It's some kind of twist that's coming related to the whole predecessor memory stuff.

Some kind of PTSD vision brought on by being put in a Titans mouth

Since this was an ongoing issue how Armin didn't seem to have access to Berth's memories, he'll probably will see some of them soon. And especially the one, where Eren says to Levi that Armin will save humanity, not him. That will give him the last push to do whatever.

The scene with Bertholdt was a direct recall of when Armin woke up after eating him, and seeing him crying in the form of the Colossal Titan's skull and saying "it hurts" in chapter 85. My poor boy :( He was probably suffering from eternal torment in an afterlife/paths related place. Shifters' Hell would be a good word, as Ymir Fritz kinda had the same experience being enslaved for eternity

Him seeing Bertolt for the second time makes me think these two are going to switch places at some point. That being said it's not the end-end for Armin, and Eren is definitely reserving him a seat in whatever path underground there is.

I thought Armin was feeling the despair/hopelessness that Bertolt did while the warriors were undercover in Paradis. The paralyzing dread of the task before him, even though he is the "strongest titan"

Bertolt's individual "soul" still exists as a singular entity, that lives within Paths. Armin as his inheritor has a soul-link to him, can see him, recall his memories and even feel some of his feelings. However his presence here will serve for Armin to make some kind of realisation that will help conclude the battle.

  YOUR THOUGHTS ON MIKASA IN THIS CHAPTER? 1,942 responses

We knew Mikasa would likely be chapter MVP but we wanted to give her an extra shoutout for a great chapter. Only 9.1% percent refused to play along. A majority of nearly 60% agreed with all our gushing about her performance, selecting all of the above. Of the individual entries, “Bless those ackergenes” (10.2%), “They were goners without her” (8.8%) and “She was unbelievable” (7.9%) were top selections.

Isayama in November said mikasa character is coming and this chapter felt like the start of it and hoo was this Mikasa's chapter. We have known that Mikasa is one of three main MCs, and isayama had been foreshadowing Mikasa's role in the finale so much. I'm excited to read the final 3 chapters.

goat mikasaaaa

HEAD EMPTY JUST MIKASA SUPREMACy

I LOVE MIKASA

Loving all the Mikasa scenes. It’s about damn time,

Mikasa going "Fuck it. Fight me. All of you, I don't care if you're shifter clones, I'll kick your ass." was a great bit of dark humour and a really well done character beat. If she has to go down she'll go down fighting with pride.

  THIS CHAPTER MIKASA FOUGHT TO THE END AFTER LEVI DELEGATED THE ATTACKING ROLE TO HER, A REVERSAL FROM FEMALE TITAN ARC. IS MIKASA HUMANITY'S NEW STRONGEST SOLDIER? 1,940 responses

Levi has always been humanity’s strongest soldier, but this chapter had Mikasa being the only one fighting till the end. This being temporary due to Levi’s worn down body is the consensus, with 49.3% affirming its brief nature while 34.3% venture that Mikasa will one day take on this mantle permanently.13.8% believe she has surpassed even what a healed Levi would be capable of, and 2.7% do not think she’s surpassed him in any way.

I’m glad to see a lot more female empowerment with Mikasa being a major hit in this chapter. I got very worried with the amount of saving Levi had to go through and avoiding near deaths at some points.

Let the Humanity’s Strongest go down like a badass he’s always been, stop making him this pitiful please

LEVI NEEDS IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION HE MIGHT BE HAVING INTERNAL BLEEDING FROM THAT EXPLOSION AND HIS LEG BEING BITTEN MAKES IT EVEN WORSE FUCK

I BELIEVE IN LEVI'S SUPREMACY

Mikasa Ackerman supremacy

that wings really said mikasa is the most freest person now

I’d love it if isayama would stop crippling Levi. I know its to get him out of the fight but cmon

  NOW THAT WE SEE IT IN ACTION, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF FALCO’S BIRD TITAN? 1,944 responses

Most fans are behind this controversial development at this point, with 46.8% loving it, and 29.3% not loving it but feeling that it fits in the chapter. 17.4% have changed their mind from negative to positive after seeing it in this chapter, and 6.5% will always hate this.

Falco's titan is amazing. He saved everyone and it's his second transformation, he is goat.

I liked Falco saving the day :) It doesn't matter to me how he learnt to fly and control his titan so fast. Maybe Zeke helped him via sending visions? Or maybe Falco is talented? I don't know and I think we have more important thing to read about

Falco Being able to fly a few hours after Hange's death makes this chapter less good.

The Flying Titan is questionable but everything else are great

the design of Bird Titan is kinda cringe

Porco must be very proud of his son 

  KIYOMI AND YELENA ARE NOT ON THE FLYING TITAN, ALONG WITH THE AZUMABITO ENGINEERS. ANY PREDICTIONS? 1,911 responses

After Kiyomi forebodingly accepted the risk of the ship sinking that also contained Yelena and the Azumabito engineers two chapters ago, she has not been seen since despite Falco now arriving. The majority of you (70.2%) believe they’re fine, with the ship surviving Falco’s transformation, while just under a quarter (23.2%) believing both drowned on the sinking ship, and a slim minority (6.6%) believe they are with our main crew on the Flying Titan.

Yelena better be okay

I wonder where is yelena

I just want to learn how the rest of the Azumabito family are doing after Falco transformed into the Titan.

  ISAYAMA’S DONE IT AGAIN! WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE THROWBACK THIS CHAPTER? 1,936 responses

Isayama loves himself some throwbacks and this chapter was no exception.  Mikasa giving a speech reminiscent of her Trost speech was the most popular option at 32.9%, with Armin dreaming of Bertolt crying similar to his dream of the Colossal Titan was a close second at 28.2%.  Rounding out the top three was Falco taking a bird form in parallel with the Fort Slava scene we just saw in the anime.

It was like going back to Trost arc amazing wise... It was really a good one full of quotes from previous memorable moments of the series, while reading it i thought "wow, it really is ending

I think it significantly has to do with his memory of the colossal crying after RtS so perhaps it's a near death state experience of his predecessor for Armin

I'm also interested to see what Armin is going to do next. He seems to think back to Erwin whenever he gets himself into a pickle. I'm excited to see how he will use his titan in this battle.

Based on the parallels with Trost the only bomb that's blowing Eren out of his titan is Armin's Colossal Titan.

  DO YOU AGREE WITH ANY OF THESE CRITICISMS ABOUT THE CHAPTER? 1,428 responses

No chapter is free from criticism, so we scoured discord, twitter and reddit looking for the most common complaints. The lack of character deaths seemed to be on many minds. “There was too much plot armor” and “Eren and OG Ymir are too OP” were the two options that got over 30%. Grumblings about the flying titan (26.1%) and Mikasa with a winged background (23.9%)  were also common selections. I think what’s most telling is that ⅓ of respondents skipped this question entirely indicating that they had no major complaints at all

Everything was going 10/10 until the flying titan came and saved everyone. Another chapter with 0 deaths this late in the story.

I really love that mikasa with wings so much. It means for me she's the hope of humanity.she's ackerman so ymir can't control her... she will have a big roll at the end!

Being able to recreate old Titans is too OP

not too sold on the whole spawning in Titans and a flying bird that just recently got their power swooping in to save everyone

I'm completely sold on the idea of past shifters being summoned. Some people may say it's quite an asspull, but honestly, I've had a little problem with this series, which is that the Coordinate has been teased as the power of God itself but we've never seen that in action, so I'm satisfied. I'm not a big fan of the flying titan (teasing things is not the same as justifiying things) and the lack of character deaths made me think Hanji could have died this chapter, which would've been more meaningful honestly. Still, I'm very happy to say Isayama has surprised me once again.

WAYYYYYYYYYY TOO MUCH PLOT ARMOR

I know people are getting stomped on right now, but was expecting at least someone to die.

I don't mind the flying titan, but I would've liked just another hint that the beast titan can be any animal. The very first one in Ymir's flashback was an ape, could've been a dinosaur or something!

You never wanted to accept that this series was a shounen manga aimed at little boys, did you?

  DOES THIS CHAPTER ADD EVIDENCE TO THE THEORY THAT HANGE’S VISION WAS REAL? 1,929 responses

On the poll team, our first step in preparing results is looking for spam. We identify that primarily by looking at timestamps and bursts of entries that choose to answer only a single question in rapid succession. Typically we see this behavior on shippy questions and those involving Gabi, so it’s been puzzling that in the last year the only questions to get significant spam are those involving Hange’s vision. Clearly someone, or maybe a few someones, are very afraid of ghosts.

With the spam entries removed, the Yes’s outweighed the No’s by 54-46 percent on the question of whether or not this chapter added evidence to the theory that Hange’s vision was real.

The ghosts of Eldians past are definitely going to feature in the endgame I think. The shifters are the most important but Hange's vision makes it clear that they're all "alive" in Paths somehow. Let freckled Ymir talk to Historia once more!!

I hate conscious development

I bet Hanji is screaming in the afterlife, wanting to be on top of Falco's titan

  HAS THE FOCUS ON BIRDS IN THE ANIME OP/ED ADDED EVIDENCE THAT THE BIRDS IN PREVIOUS CHAPTERS ARE SIGNIFICANT? 1,913 responses

Bird theory (/birds being significant in some large way) has been gaining traction recently in the manga already, and then the anime made a whole ED theme about them and had them in focus in the OP as well.  In one of the most one sided poll results in recent memory, almost 90% of the fandom feels this is evidence of birds being significant, while 10.7% say no.

birb

birb

Birb

Birb

Birb

Birb

Birb

bird

Bird

Bird

bird

birds

  DESCRIBE THE CHAPTER IN ONE WORD 1,330 responses

This month’s top 5 chosen words bear a resemblance to last month’s, specifically with 1-3 being in last month’s and 1 & 3 being in the last two months. “Chaos” is one more on the original side for this chapter.

Amazing [96]

Epic [50]

Awesome [48]

Chaos/Good/Great [27]

Cool [26]

And in a shocking turn of events, this question is being used to concoct recipes again? Well, it’s a bit of a stretch, but it doesn’t sound half bad.

Nuts

Lasagna

Goat

Cheesy

Chicken

Bertholdt

Chomp

Juicy

Exquisite

  ISAYAMA RECENTLY ESTIMATED THERE IS 1-2% LEFT OF THE STORY. WHAT CHAPTER DO YOU THINK THE MANGA WILL END AT? 1,941 responses

I don’t know why Isayama does it, but he keeps assuring us the end is near. But we’ve guessed the end is near since… oh, RTS? Then Marley? Then when the Rumbling started? Remember when chapter 130 was the max? Don’t worry, the ride will end someday. 35.5% think chapter 139 will be the last, giving the final volume five chapters. 33% are sticking with 138, the classic four chapter volume. 28.7% think we’re strapped in for a little longer at 140+ chapters. 2.5% think we’re wrapping up in just two chapters. And 6 respondents think the next chapter is the last! Gonna guess you’re either hoping for Falco to crash into a tree or you’re just tired of this ride. (Sorry, the ride never ends.)

I'm worried about the pacing. While I was glad to have a glimpse of Bert (and Erwin) again, his appearance is long overdue. Along with a whole bag of other characters who need resolutions. I don't know how Isayama will delegate worthwhile endings to this huge cast and themes in 3-4 chapters.

Each chapter makes me feel there's 3 chapters left (and there has passed more than 3 chapters since I thought that for the first time xd)

Another amazing chapter. I see the story ending at Chapter 139. Three more chapters of action, deaths and twists, and one more epilogue chapter.

There's apparently not much of the series left but this chapter still doesn't feel like we're that near the end :/

I was expecting a lot of people to die this time around, but I guess that'll happen later considering we seem to have one more volume left after this one. That actually raises my hopes a bit on the ending not being as rushed as we were afraid it would be. And the return of the anime on top of that? Man, I'm not ready to say goodbye. :(

I'm worried if Isayama will be able to end every character arc. I mean, we're left with 1 or 2% of manga and there is this quite a lot of things to end. I just hope ending won't be rushed.

...it just added a lot of questions like Yams has to give us 5 chapters for the last volume at this point lol.

dunno how this ends with everyone being satisfied. Estimating that 3 chapters are left we need a conclusion to Reiner, Mikasa and the promised Eren and Armin confrontation. While there's mysteries like Zeke's whereabouts, what's going on w Historia, why can ymir manifest herself in the real world, what did eren mean by saying "you haven't gotten to the part where I eat our old man", Bertholdt shard of him getting spared by Dina and Mikasa's see you later scene. Not to mention an epilogue where if alliance wins we get to see how the world treats the eldians now. Im already losing faith that minor characters might be just cannon fodder and I find myself saying "Its Isayama. one chapter where it feels nothing happened doesn't meant we're getting a rushed ending" too often these days.

  WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,960 responses

It feels like there’s a lot to accomplish with so few chapters remaining. While Eren’s POV is still top on our wishlist (29%), “I don’t care just resolve a mystery, any of them” was the number two (19%). The third most common response was for Armin to come up with a plan (14%). Historia, Zeke and the more specific options all scored in single digits.

We need answers. NOW.

I liked this chapter but I’m getting tired of the mystery. We’ve been lead on for too long and there’s too many loose ends that need to be tied up already.

can we get eren’s pov now

Yes ! More Bertholdt please !!! I missed my big sweaty boy !

Where’s Freckled Ymir!!????!?!???!! Is Pieck okay!?!?!!!?!!

When will Levi die lol

Where armin

What happened to Armin!?? And does peick survive?

WHERE IS MONKE?!

Where the hell is eren?

I hope I can see Eren again

i hope isayama let levi kill zeke before he died , i want him to reunite with erwin and proudly tell him that he accomplish the mission

I just hope that Pieck and Armin are okay :((

i just want armin to be okay

I just want Eren/Mikasa, not all this shit(((

I just want to see Bertolt in the next chapter too

Wonder what is going on inside Ymir's head. Would also love to see Paradis' reaction to the ongoing massacre (if I didn't miss it somehow)

  WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,811 responses

While Reddit has historically stayed consistent, it’s been incredible to see the rise of Twitter and the fall of Tumblr as a dominant fandom platform. A year ago only 8% selected Twitter as their primary place for Attack on Titan discussion now that number is nearing 50%.  Last month it became the most selected platform, surpassing Reddit, and this month proves it was no fluke.

wish i had irl friends who read the manga oof

    ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER? 526 responses

🧐

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Hentai

10/10 again !!! Isayama knows what he’s doing and I trust him with the ending❤️

2/10

GOOD chapter, definitely some eclipse vibes lol, Armin seemed to have realized Ymir is the one with the power and that they'll have to deal with her sooner or later to stop the rumbling. Next step is realizing Eren is 100% ready to kill him if he needs to. Maybe they'll stop trying to kill poor Zook for no reason now at least.

I loved seeing the alliance get there asses clapped

I hope Eren Yeager doesn’t love anyone from “Attack on Titan”.

But it's weird, I thought best Ymir was in the chapter too? She owes us so much, even more if SnK's afterlife is canon (Hange couldn't have known of Keith's death otherwise). And technically, Zeke could be dead like the others. First I was so bored by his constant plot armor but now...

The titan designs were got tier. Isayama came in clutch with these designs

There are still a lot of mysteries unsolved about the Titans and Eren's whereabouts is unknown. Would love to know more about the Ackerman blood too.

This poll is biased for not including statements against Mikasa and the Alliance.

If ymir creates the bodies of titan shifters, why did she give falco a bird form if she wants to stop them? Not saying it's a plot hole yet, but I hope there's a reason for it.

The title reminds me of the chinese saying of “天人交戰” which literally translates as battle between the heaven and human but means ones inner struggle. Maybe it is referring to eren’s inner struggle of wanting freedom and having to kill everything standing between him and freedom. Idk.

A lot of people have been trying to make sense why we're learning about Ymir freeing the pigs here of all places, but rather than it being evidence that she's some evil mastermind I think it's a representation of how devastating this cycle of hatred has been. In that first scene we see Ymir as a kind and empathetic girl who decides that though she can't free herself, she can still help these simple animals who she saw earlier also wanted to escape. But in the present, after suffering greatly for her kindness and being forced into servitude that lasted for countless years and even into death, we see Ymir not just as willing to commit a brutal omnicide on the rest of the world but as someone who is seemingly enslaving others in the pursuit of that goal - in many ways, she might be repeating the same crimes that were done to her by King Fritz.

After seeing the first episode of the new anime season and how well Mappa delivered on that, I cannot *wait* to see the crazy battle action of this chapter animated.

Armin, as expected, ended up a failure yet again. This is what Bertholdt, Erwin and Hange died for -_-

GIVE 👏 ARMIN 👏 A 👏GODDAMN 👏 BREAK

Armin is beginning to understand this always was about Ymir. After seeing her twice.

I really wish Armin could do something besides being tortured with doubt and getting captured.  

BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK BERT IS BACK

can levi die already let this old man reunite with his homies in shingeki no heaven. at this point death is like the only peace and/or freedom anyone can get in this series which is kind of a shitty message

I'm a fan of how fucking OP Eren and Ancestor Ymir, which is honestly how it should be. I never expected The Alliance to stand a chance, and they all got fucking wrecked. I'm completely surprised nobody died, I feel like that'll be changed next chapter, though; unfortunately. My main question is: What the fuck do The Alliance plan to do next without Armin and Pieck? Also, seeing the past shifters was fucking amazing and I didn't expect that shit.

Decent chapter. I gave it a 3/5, because it was a purely action, set-up chapter with not so great action scenes, at least compared to other great fight scenes in the series. Still, we got quite a few nice panels and interesting powers, so i will be looking foreard to the payoff.

eren better be in the next chapter idc 🙄‼️

Eren is trying to kill his friends, Ymir is not controling him, he is FREE. Accept it already.

FALCO WILL EAT EREN LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I need this tension between mikasa and Eren resolved in the following chapters....these two are the only characters regarding whom I'm totally not sure what tf will end up happening to them.

Hange would've loved to see all the different types of titans from bygone times. I wish they were still alive, I miss them.

I can't believe that best boy Bertholdt Hoover, the one true God of Destruction, is back, and as usual, the first thing Isayama does is make him cry. Absolutely incredible. This is all I'll think of this month.

I think the Ymir revelation was huge but other than that it was an anxiety-inducing rollercoaster of will they, won't they (die). Nothing much happened. I feel antsy

I think there is a possibility that eren and ymir brought back the shifters because they agree (mostly) with the rumbling and bert is crying because he knows what he has to do to ensure it

I wonder if Ymir regrets setting those pigs free. It was the act that set her life into further misery. I think it's beautiful but tragic how Eren really gave her back the will to fight.

I'm blown away

I'm honestly shocked at how incredible this story has become. Much like Bertholt I feel like I'm fine with whatever happens, because this whole journey and the world are incredibly cruel. And that does not make it bad by any means, it makes it more meaningful.

I'm not a huge fan of the fight scenes so I'd just like to see a satisfying climax and conclusion to the fight soon. Looking forward to Levi killing Zeke and all the reunions.

I'm really optimistic about Bertholdt possibly coming back, oh gods I hope he comes back.

I'm scared because this chapter didn't progress a lot of the story and we only have 3 or maybe 4 chapters left.

Isayama really got to flex his ability to design terrifying monstrous titans again.

It was an interesting chapter. It really works well if you think about it. Regular humans who are humanity's last hope, the strongest soldiers left are against two literal gods. Of course it will not be easy at all, Ymir summoning all those titans and everyone nearly dying multiple times is proof that you cannot defeat such gods that easily. Very excited for the next chapter to see how everything else plays out.

Maybe Anni can use her female titan powers and attract all of the former titan shifters - so that Mikasa detonates the Bombs.

Mikasa deserves a fuckn BREAK. like God she saw her family get butchered TWICE, first by humans, then by titans and now fckn Eren took away the one family she was desperately trying to protect. If anyone should've gone crazy like Eren it's mikasa. She does seem to be at her wit's end and ready to go above and beyond after saving everyone in this chapter and seeing the harm Ymir/Eren is causing. But since she's always done what she believed in, no matter what she does, I just want Mikasa's character to get some sort of happiness by the end of it. Is that too much to ask :/

Nobody said “The Eagles are coming” bad chapter 0/10. I’m kidding. But in all seriousness I really just want to see the ending already. I’m going to imagine it ends with the remnants of humanity rebuilding and promising to never be turbo-racist ever again while a tired Historia looks on with her baby saying “You are free” or something.

PIECK DONT DIE I LOVE YOU!!!!!

PIECK GREATNESS NEXT EPISODE

Reibert pandering for this chapter. It was a tad too fast but I love the focus on Reiner reacting to the CT attacking him. reiner could ALMOST die of the gayest way possible had Jean not butted in.

Screamed when Annie came on

Sets up for a super exciting finale

spare eren POV crumbs? dunno what this man been thinking since chapter 86

stanning bertholdt hoover isn't just a hobby, it's a lifestyle, a reason to breathe, he's also an art, the first gift you open on xmas, a hug from a loved one, he is everything I have ever wanted, and everything I needed.

hOLY FUCKING SH—

I cant see when or how it'll end

I did NOT expect Armin to get tongue porn'd. It's hilarious to imagine Annie seeing that HAHAHAHAHA

I really miss eren so much...AoT without him...it's long time we didn't see him pls isayama):

I rlly don’t see Ymir the same way and I hope it won’t affect the way I see Eren

I still miss Hange :(

I think Bertholdt was crying because his Titan was forced to attack and eat Reiner, against his own will

I think Connie will be the one to help Levi take down Zeke. Levi will live!!!

I thought it was very good. Not peak AOT but great! There was to many saves before death , reminded me of bleach. Seeing the old Titans was really cool and the action was great also.

I want armin and annie flashback in next chapter

i want EMA meet again):

I want Mikasa to choke Eren with the scarf

I want monke boi back :(

I want more Eren

I want more!!!!!!!

I wanted see Historia

I was really excited to hear we were getting more bertholdt

I was vey hyped because of this chapter and it delivered. During all the chapter i was like "someone's gonna die someone's gonna die" and when Berthold's titan appears and eats reiner's titan I screamed, but that son of a bitch is inmortal hahah.

idc idc come back to save pieck and armin please

It gives the idea of how powerful that titan god is, i think it lives up to Rod's description of titam god and how powerful it felt during Ymir's backstory (her form)

It got really hype when all the past shifters came over but Pieck’s bomb failing could be seen a mile away. Over amazing with some nice moments.

it is really, life and death situation. still, looking forward to this especially the ending. how will aot end? surely, it will be a legacy. a great masterpiece made by isayama-sensei.

it maintains a nice pace

It sucks. Manga went downhill since chap 105. The shit needs to end.

It was a classic high tension action chapter which I loved

IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯

It was amazing and full of a lot of lore!

It was amazing! I'd say this could be one of the best chapters written! So much action went on to the point where I hope MAPPA has a decent sized budget to animate it all. I'm really eager to see what the next chapter has in store. The main thing I'm looking forward to that wasn't listed here is basically what will happen to Levi. Is he going to survive through all this, or is he going to succumb to his wounds? Is he going to pair up with Zeke to take down Eren? Or is he going to stay on the "sidelines" untill the war is over?

It was fun, but somewhat inconsequential aside from Falco

It was good, i just need some answeres. Ymirs ability was so sudden.

It was great to finally see previous titan shifter forms, especially the beast titans.

It was just overall so epic

It was really great in terms of action but disappointing as well since there was too much plot armour - I was expecting at least one death.

it was really nice before the episode, it's all getting so intense and i didn't expect ymir to go in with a bang like this

It was really nice, all the symbolism, along with Mikasa with the wings was amazing.

it was super crazy

It'll probably be more enjoyable in the anime (if MAPPA even tackles this). Straight battles have never been this manga's strong suit.

Jean, dare to die and I won't love you anymore >:'(

Its up to ho wmany chapters we have left, if we have like 10 it was a very good one, if we have smt like 3 ( that i dont think so ) it was waste of time

Levi is almost certainly dead/dying

Levi might be a ‘slave’ to being a hero but he’s a victim of his own popularity which is preventing Isayama from killing him off. We know he’s not gonna fulfill his promise to Erwin because Levi never gets what he really wants, surprise surprise. But if he keeps getting injured and left out of action he’ll live the rest of his life with nothing but regrets.

levi please don't die

LEVI PLEASE SURVIVE :(

levi u ok buddy

Levi's leg is not daijobu,,, is he even alive

Lol who TF cares about Bert? He killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Eldians alongside Reiner and Annie. I still say he deserved what he got and is not worthy of any kind of sympathy, no matter how many angsty teardrops Isayama draws on his stupid face.

looking forward to seeing it animated.

Lots of weirdness, but still great

man the titan battles were great, seeing all the previous titans fight was pretty awesome seeing the hopelessness form the alliance really showed the reality of it all, now they lost 2 additional titans leaving Eren with 6 and the alliance down to 3

MAPPA gon be hurting

not enough lesbians

Not for the chapter but, All the openings and endings(lyrics and images) of the series have some details of the things we are experiencing with the latest chapters

That being said that Annie scene was pretty cringe. I expected that, but it was so cliché it's ridiculous.

ONLY BERT & PIECK HAVE RIGHTS

overall good! it was alot to process but im on board and excited for the next one

Pls end it Mikasa, you can do it.

Plz yams don't give me hope like this

Professor X vs. Magneto soon

really crazy. You have to admit that Isayama doesn't stop when it comes to creativity.

Really curious about Bertolt apparition

Pretty good. As much as I want the Alliance to win in the end, their utter defeat this chapter felt more realistic, than if they managed to actually do anything.

Really liked Jean and Reiners moments this chapter, overall a good chapter that flew by. Hope quickly turned into desperation but Falcons teams arrival means they got one more chance. Armin capture thing was a little weird but more or less makes sense.

Since the rumbling started, this series has became more dull and predictable. Loads of plot armor, stupid teosts only for shock value and weird pacing are major problems in this arc. Too bad, because the post timeskip portion of this manga up until  the rumbling was one of the best pieces of media I had seen. But now I am only expecting the boring  cliche shonen ending.

Still hate Annie being back, she can still go.

Still think Mikasa is gonna be the one to either kill Eren or bring him back to his senses somehow

The afterlife thing still hasn't answered and I wanna know how's the corps doing T_T

The Alliance got dumpsterd yet no one died. They'll probably die in all in one chapter.

the art, as usual, was really good

There are still some mysteries to solve and things to do (like EMA final convo, which I don't think will last just 2 or 3 pages) in so little time, I'm kinda worried to be honest.

This chapter is full of plot twists, I didn't even expect the storyline to turn out like this.

This chapter is painfull and more action at the same time and i hope there are still chances that there old happy days will be back

This chapter was actually exciting! And thank goodness Bertolt is finally back!!!!! So many people assumed he was finished and forgotten, but a small group of us knew Isayama wouldn't leave us hanging without his closure. I'm looking forward to learning why we're seeing him now and whatever's going to happen to Armin

This chapter was breathtaking and hard to continue due to the speculations that someone was going to die. I feel like the next few chapters is where things start to get serious if not already. I found it very enjoyable yet nervous at some moments.

This was so crazy and hopeless like it's peak apocalypse even more than rumbling. It's a nightmare I love Isayama

Too many last-seconds saves kinda ruins the tension.

umm it would've been better

Ummm this chapter had too much suspense

uuuuuuuhhh nothing else i guess

Very PogChamp

We are going to get the best manga ending ever.

Nobody is free yet...

MAN WTF IS HAPPENING I READ TBE MANGA BHT HAVENT REREAD IT AND I FORGOT WVERYTHING MAN WTF

#snk polls #snk poll #snk poll results #snk 135 #snk chapter 135

[letterboxd]

Satisfied?

We examine what Letterboxd reviews of Hamilton reveal about the musical’s cultural currency in 2020.

In this absolutely insane year, when our love of movies feels helpless in the face of pandemic-induced economic collapse, some extremely good decisions are being made on behalf of audiences. Studio Ghibli on streaming platforms. Virtual screenings to support art house cinemas. Free streaming of many important films about Black experience. And: Disney+ releasing the filmed version of Hamilton: An American Musical—recorded at the Richard Rodgers Theater in 2016 with most of its original Broadway cast—a year ahead of schedule, on Independence Day weekend.

“Superlative pop art,” writes Wesley of the filmed musical. “Hamilton wears its influences and themes on its sleeve, and it’s all the better for it. Lin-Manuel Miranda and his team employ an unlikely cocktail of not only hip-hop and showtunes, but also jazz (‘What’d I Miss?’), British-Invasion pop-rock (‘You’ll Be Back’), folk music (‘Dear Theodosia’) and Shakespeare (‘Take a Break’) in service of developing an impressively vast array of themes. This is a testament to the power of writing, an immigrant narrative, a cautionary tale about ambition, a tragic family drama, and a reevaluation of who decides the narrative of history.”

2016 may only be a half-decade ago, but it feels like an eon in American political years. With theaters dark and America’s long record of racism under urgent scrutiny, the complex smash-hit lands back in the spotlight at an interesting time. Is Hamilton “the most offensive cultural artefact of the last decade”, as Lee writes? Or “timeless and wholly of the moment”, as Tom suggests? The answer, according to a deep read of your Letterboxd reviews, is “all of the above”.

First things first: why now?

Sophie has a theory:

“Disney executive: Hey we’re losing a lot of money because our parks are closed. How do we start making money again?

Other Disney executive: It might be nice, it might be nice… to get Hamilton on our side.”

Sure, business. Still, it’s historically unprecedented that a Broadway show of this caliber (a record-setting sixteen Tony nominations, eleven wins, plus a Grammy and a Pulitzer) would be filmed and released to the public while it’s still, in a Covid-free universe, capable of filling theaters every night. Will people stay away when Broadway reopens because they’re all Disney+’d out?

No chance, reckons Erika. “I’d still kill to see Hamilton live with any cast… I get why producers are afraid that these videos might hurt ticket sales, but I’m fucking ready to buy a ticket and fly to NY one day just to see as many shows as I can after watching this.”

Not every musical fan has the resources to travel, often waiting years for a touring version to come near their hometown. And even if you do live in a town with Hamilton, the ticket price is beyond many; a daily lottery the only way some of us get to go. So Holly-Beth speaks for many when she writes: “I entered the Hamilton lottery every day for almost two years but I never got to be in the room where it happens… however, this 4K recording of the original cast will do very nicely for now! Finally getting to see the context and performances after obsessing over the music for years was so, so satisfying.”

“Finally” is a common theme. Sydnie writes, “I love this musical with every fiber of my body and it was an extraordinary experience finally getting to watch it in Australia”. Flogic: “To finally be able to put the intended visuals to a soundtrack that I’ve had on repeat for such a long time: goosebumps for 160 minutes.” Newt Potter: “Now I fully understand people’s love for this masterpiece of a musical!”

I’ve got a small query for you.

Where’s the motherfucking swearing? Unsurprisingly, Disney+ comes with some limitations. For Hamilton, it’s the loss of a perfectly placed F-word.

“I know Disney is ‘too pure’ to let a couple of ‘fucks’ slip by,” writes Fernando, “but come on, it’s kind of distracting having the sound go out completely when they sing the very satisfying ‘Southern Motherfucking Democratic Republicans!’ line.”

Will agrees: “Disney cutting ‘motherfucking’ from ‘Washington on Your Side’ felt like sacrilege akin to Mickey Mouse taking an eyebrow pencil to the Mona Lisa.”

Nevertheless, sings Allison:

“Even tho Disney stripped the story of its f***s, Don’t think for a moment that it sucks.”

(Yes, she has a vegan alert for Hamilton.)

Does it throw away its shot?

The crew filmed two regular shows in front of live audiences, with additional audience-less sessions for a dolly, crane and Steadicam to capture specific numbers. The vast majority of you are satisfied. “It’s the most engaging and expertly crafted life filming I’ve seen since Stop Making Sense,” writes ArtPig. “The film does an incredible job of placing you right in the action. It feels like the best seat you could get in the theater. You can see the sweat and spit.”

“Translates perfectly onto the small screen,” agrees Ollie. “There’s a level of intimacy that feels hard to replicate in any other filmed production. We see those close ups, the passion and gusto behind every actor’s performance.”

“Shockingly cinematic for something filmed on such a small stage,” is Technerd’s succinct summary, while Paul praises director Thomas Kail: “He knows when to back away along with moving nearer when appropriate, and the choices always serve to govern the power and stamina of the performances.”

Though cast members’ voices were recorded on individual audio tracks, Noah had a few quibbles with the sound quality. “Some of the audio capture is off in the recording, sometimes voices being too soft or too loud. It’s not immersion breaking, but it is noticeable enough to irk me a little in pivotal moments. Some of the shot composition doesn’t fully work either. Of course nothing is going to be as good as seeing it in person.”

Robert, recalling another recent cinematic escapade of musical theater, lets his poetry do the talking:

“This will do for now until the true movie’s made, Though if Hooper directs, there’ll be an angry tirade.”

I think your pants look hot.

Hamilton fans have their cast favorites, but something about being able to see Jonathan Groff’s spittle and Leslie Odom Jr’s scowls in 4K has you losing it all over again. Several specific shout-outs we enjoyed:

“Daveed Diggs the Legend! Go watch Blindspotting (2018), it’s one of the best movies ever!” —Kyle

“It’s hard to believe anyone will ever top Leslie Odom Jr. as Aaron Burr. I already loved him from the original cast recording, but seeing his full performance in all its glory was just godly.” —Erika

“Thankful that it was made possible for me to view with such clarity the phenomenon that is Renée Elise Goldsberry and spectacular Phillipa Soo.” —Thea

“Daveed Diggs was electrifying and Jonathan Groff was absolutely hilarious. If they interacted together the stage would’ve combusted from the sheer will of their talent.” —Nick

This is not a game.

On one hand, the release of Hamilton is sweet relief for music theater nerds riding out the pandemic. A generation of kids knows every word by heart, rapping (this version of) American history like it’s no thing. On the other, the Obama-era musical already feels behind-the-times, even for many Hamilton lovers, and the filmed version has brought that into sharp focus.

“I listened to the OG cast album about 50 times when it came out, the production is about as good as I’d always hoped,” writes Josh. “Since then however there’s been a very important and broader reckoning with the failures of neoliberalism and the Obama years ([from] which this has to be the most emblematic piece of art) and for me personally a drifting further to the left that has resulted in a very different relationship with the material. So my feelings today are a bit more complicated.”

“Hamilton is extremely non-committal about its politics,” writes Sting. “It doesn’t examine much of what Hamilton dictated besides ‘he wants complete financial control of the country’ (which would sound like a fucking supervillain in any other context, including reality).”

That lack of political commitment, reckons Morgan, is what helped Hamilton as a musical become so popular: “It’s fun. It’s catchy. It interweaves trendy and socially relevant artistic tools to infer a subversive subtext, while simultaneously sanitizing and, at times, flat out fabricating the historical narrative and downplaying the brutality of the true origin story, for the sake of appeasing those in power. Classic Bill Shakespeare stuff.”

History has its eyes on you.

Much criticism lies with the fundamental storytelling decision to make a modern ruckus about America’s Founding Fathers, the men (including Alexander Hamilton) who in the late eighteenth century united the thirteen colonies and co-wrote the Constitution. Undisputed titans of history, they also have blood on their hands, and HoneyRose writes that the musical “glorifies these men, and paints them as self-sacrificing heroes, and honestly normalizes and validates slavery, as well as the behavior of slave owners.”

Stevie, who saw the Broadway production as well as the filmed version, confesses: “I’ve tried (I’ve really tried) to understand what makes people lose their minds over this but I’m still completely baffled by the hype… These were horrible men and a romanticism of them through song and dance just seems entirely misguided.”

Sean is not convinced that Hamilton is a hagiography. “I can’t imagine anyone watching all of this and thinking it paints a portrait of the Founding Fathers as anything other than childish, greedy, venal and self-aggrandizing.” Wesley agrees: “I don’t think Hamilton is trying to be a history lesson, so much as a lesson about how we think about history. It’s a compelling human story told in a revolutionary way.”

That “revolutionary way” is the musical’s central conceit: that of a cast-of-color playing the white founding fathers as they bumble towards independence. Journalist Jamelle Bouie, who regards the musical as “fun, exciting, innovative and, at points, genuinely moving,” wrestles with the “celebratory narrative in which the Framers are men to admire without reservation. Through its casting, it invites audiences of color to take ownership of that narrative, as if they should want to take ownership of a narrative that white-washes the history of the revolution under the guise of inclusion.”

It’s complicated for Matt, too: “It’s widely agreed upon that the show encapsulates the Obama era better than anything, how it coddles white liberals with a post-racial vision of history in a superficial sense, overlooking the insidious and oppressive systems that they benefit from (hearing the audience clap to ‘Immigrants, we get the job done’ unsettled me). Of course hopefully its legacy will be that it opened up more Broadway roles for POC. But I really think that the show doesn’t make Broadway more appealing and accessible to POC, it just makes hip hop more accessible to white people, a launching pad of course to listening to Watsky or something.

“No hate though to anyone that’s completely in love with this, it’s definitely worth seeing despite any hang ups.”

I wanna build something that’s gonna outlive me.

The story doesn’t end, just because the music does. Kai_Kenn has a suggestion: “I have been a part of discussions that dissect the culture that created Hamilton, as well as the culture that Hamilton created, and whether or not Hamilton appropriately addresses the modern issues [that] the cult following proposes it does.

“This is an ongoing discussion that I am trying to be an active listener in and, if you consider yourself to be a conscientious consumer of art, you should too.”

Noah is on board with that: “Reflecting on the past and focusing on the future are not two mutually exclusive actions. Both are a must, regardless of who you are or what you do. A five-star experience in a four-and-a-half-star film. I think that’s just fine.”

Related content

Want to see more of the key cast? Watch Daveed Diggs in ‘Blindspotting’; Renée Elise Goldsberry in ‘Waves’, Jonathan Groff repeat his role as Kristoff in ‘Frozen 2’, Lin-Manuel Miranda in ‘Mary Poppins Returns’, Leslie Odom Jr. in ‘Harriet’, Phillipa Soo in the forthcoming ‘Broken Hearts Gallery’, Christopher Jackson in the forthcoming ‘In The Heights’, Jasmine Cephas Jones in ‘The Photograph’, Okiereriete Onaodowan in ‘A Quiet Place II’ and Anthony Ramos in ‘Monsters and Men’ and ‘A Star is Born’.

Ways to support the Black Lives Matter movement

Official Black Lives Matter’s Resources

Teenagers that have ‘Hamilton’ stuff on their bedroom walls

Films where they mention ‘Hamilton’

#hamilton #hamilton an american musical #disney #disney plus #disney+ #lin manuel miranda #leslie odom jr #daveed diggs #founding fathers #constitution #broadway #richard rodgers theatre #jonathan groff #letterboxd #renee elise goldsberry #phillipa soo #christopher jackson #musical theater edit #musical theatre #anthony ramos

[glitterians]

I'm bored, so I'll answer this just because:

1. Andi

2. March 10, 1993

3. Single af

4. None

5. 'Strobelite' is my favorite Gorillaz song, but the user was already taken and Tumblr recommended the 'dawn' and I said "sounds good ig"

6. BTS, MAMAMOO, Gorillaz, Fleetwood Mac, My Chemical Romance, Vetusta Morla and M83

7. The Grand Budapest Hotel

8. I'm terrible at making conversation but I like talking to people

9. I can't focus on just one thing

10. I can eat a lot without gaining weight

11. They only need to take me to eat chicken wings

12. The Dodo videos, I think 😅

14. The baker at the Titanic got really drunk so he could die that way, but the excessive alcohol levels in his body kept him alive and he was one of the few that were rescued from the sea. That was portrayed accurately in the movie, it's like a "blink or you'll miss it" moment

15. The day I wrote I was really in pain

16. Carne en su jugo, traditional meal from where I was born

17. Rooster

18. Fall

19. Let's just say it takes a lot

20. Tokyo and Seoul

21. Spanish is my birth tongue, I obviously know English, basic Korean, a depressing level of Japanese, and I can understand French

22. Brown, but I use colored contact lenses 😅

23. I don't understand this. Korean?

24. I'm really good at embroidery, that's a talent, right?

25. Min Yoongi

26. I went to the Jonas Brothers concert in 2010, hehe, and a bunch from alternative bands

27. This is embarrassing 🙈 I've been reading more fanfics than books

28. Cherry Garcia

29. Both

30. "Strawberry Gashes" by Jack Off Jill

31. Night

32. Nope, I have vertigo

33. 10

34. The chorus of BTS' "Tomorrow"

35. I started listening to Kpop in 2010, but with time I slowly stopped being that interested. Aside from BTS and MAMAMOO, I really don't listen to other groups anymore. I tried to give it a chance again, but it didn't caught my attention 😟

36. Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" is a timeless masterpiece. Also, Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories" and Disclosure's "Caracal"

37. It sounds really cliché, but the personality

38. 93%

39. Nothing, probably

40. Mexican

41. Currently, "En el Aire" by Vega Almohalla

42. A panda, a Domo-kun and an og Alpacasso

43. Witches with Stevie Nicks aesthetic

44. Christmas

45. Pink

46. Boneless

47. Coffee >>>>>>>

48. 🤷🏻‍♀️

49. "Still Loving You" by Scorpions

50. Stranger From Hell

#random

[thots4daze]

Right? [Hanamaki Angst] pt.1

henlo everyone~! this is me reposting part 1 of this gem bc i have no fucking idea where the OG posts are located... oops

same goes for part 2 and since im out here reworking and fixing up my masterlist oop i gotta make sure all my shiiit is out there for y’all lovely dudes to enjoy~!

SO HERE WE GO MAKKI x fem!READER ANGST

Word Count: 2,697

You stood there outside in the chilly night air. Pulsing and thumping beats radiating from the other side of the club's metal door. Blowing a strand of hair outta your face in a huff, you pouted and slumped down to sit on the curb, head sitting peacefully in your well manicured hands.

"Can't believe the asshole …" you muttered to yourself in a heated whisper, not thinking about anything other than your boyfriend, Hanamaki, still inside making off-handed comments about other women.

A chuckle erupted from behind you, "Really? You can't believe it coming from him?" You turned your gaze upwards at a slow pace, not really giving a fuck who it was. Though you knew already. Your heated gaze meeting almost drowsy ones as you let out a huff once more. "Mattsun …" you growled out low in your throat, but stopped mid vibration as you realized that he wasn't completely wrong.

He offered you a lit cigarette, which you took gratefully. Not like you smoked all the time, just this one time … it seemed appropriate. Especially seeing as how your wonderful boyfriend wasn't the one trying to comfort you. Instead it was his best friend. How ironic, you thought.

Still you sat there mulling over the night's events, arms still crossed over your knees as your new little black dress was collecting dirty and who knows what else from the concrete curb outside the club.

"Want to talk about it?" Mattsun asked after a few moments had passed between the two of you. The only sounds coming from the atmosphere around you; the beats dropping behind you inside the building, the crunch of loose pebbles and concrete under your heels and Mattsun's dress boots, the inhale and exhale of nicotine from either of you. Traffic slowing down on the other side of the street. It would have been therapeutic, pleasant even, had the circumstances been different.

"He doesn't seem to take the relationship seriously anymore …"

…

It had been a few days since the club incident. Mattsun had just listened to you bitch and complain - rightfully so. Offering another cigarette before you both headed back inside to finish up the night with drinks and dance.

You were slowly getting out of your funk as the days distanced themselves from that fateful night. It must have been because your anniversary was closing in, and you were excited to go out to your favorite restaurant and even surprise Makki with some new lingerie you had recently picked up. A great way to end the night in your opinion. Not to mention, how was he going to resist?

It was the big day, you woke up early to make a good breakfast for him. Knowing he had volleyball practice after classes today. Yeah, it pissed you off that he couldn't skip just this once … but at the same time you understood how important the sport was for him. You had known since you were all back in high school. It was what made him "free" almost. Where a lot of his fondest memories stemmed from. Still… just this once? Couldn’t he skip? Or at least leave early?

When he finally woke up and met you in the kitchen for breakfast you voiced your concern and request. "We have a big match coming up soon, Y/N. You know that." He fixed you with eyes that weren't as playful or as soft as they normally would be.

"Well, ok, what about leaving a little earlier than? That way we can still go to dinner tonight." Makki looked like he was mulling it over as he shoveled eggs and bacon in his mouth. "Yeah, I guess I can try to get off a little earlier." Bringing his plate to the sink he turned kissed the top of your head and began his routine to head out for classes.

He missed the small frown that made it's way to your face as you thought about how he didn't once wish you a happy anniversary.

…

Classes couldn't end quick enough in your opinion. Throughout the day you normally would meet up and catch glances of Makki. Today was no different. Even though you spotted him from down the hallway as you turned out of your Physics lab, hand raised in a wave, he seemed to only spare you a glance as he continued on with his conversation with the small group that gathered around him. Filled with both male and female classmates.

"Taka!" You smiled as you looked up into your boyfriend's face. He gave you a wide smile, pulling you into his side, "Still dating Y/N, huh?" Someone in the group joked with a laugh. Even though you knew it was a joke, it still hurt. Especially since you didn't know this asshole. You were gonna speak up but Makki beat you to it.

"I know, it's like I can't shake her, no matter what I do." He joked back. You puffed your cheeks at his reply and tried pushing yourself away from him. Makki turned to look at you when you succeeded, "Babe?"

"No, no. Have fun here, see you later, Hanamaki." He stood there shocked, slack jaw. You only ever called him by his surname when you were extremely pissed. But he didn't chase after you. He knew you. After a little cool down you would be back. Right? Yeah. You always did and he was always there to hold you and rock you in a tight embrace. He just knew it. It was just something you guys did. It was ingrained in your relationship with one another. Ever since high school. He smiled smally to himself and continued on his conversation with the group around him as you continued to storm away and back to classes.

…

It was finally time to relax. Well, relax as much as possible before having to get ready for the evening. You're sour mood from earlier dissipated soon after the incident. He was only joking. Makki was always like that. Always had been. Right? He didn’t mean what he said. It was all a joke. Yeah, exactly.

Looking at the clock next to the bed you figured you had a good two hours before Makki would be coming home and getting ready before you would head out for dinner. So, taking it upon yourself you set out to get cleaned and dressed and just wait around watching TV.

Grinning to yourself, you put on an upbeat playlist and showered. Stepping out, still dancing around in a towel to the music, you decided to wear the lingerie under your dress for the evening. A little black and white lace number. It was simple and classic. Can't go wrong with the classics.

Once you finished dressing and fixing your hair and makeup you were all ready to go. Only thing left to do was wait for Makki and get your heels on. Checking the time you still had a few minutes before he would be heading home. You texted him a little reminder that you were home and ready to head out when he was. There was no reply. To be fair you really weren't expecting one. He was still in practice after all.

But when another forty-five minutes passed and there was still no reply from him or any indication that he had even read the text, you were being to get frustrated. You texted him again, this time a more angered tone in the words you used. And the waiting game began again when you had just decided to call him. It rang and rang… no sign of it ever being picked up.

Letting out a frustrated growl you stormed your way to the kitchen and pulled out a cold beer from the fridge, before popping the top however, you decided against it, placing it back in the cold box and opting instead for the whiskey. Pouring yourself a generous amount and downing it quickly before repeating step one.

This pattern continued until you passed out on the couch, phone nowhere near you, whiskey glass dangling precariously in your slack grip. It wasn't until the clicking of the door closing and the stumbling mess that is Makki made themselves present that you sat up quickly. Makeup still in place, hair a little distorted. Though your appearance was a masterpiece compared to what he looked like as he stood there hunched over in the doorway, trying so desperately to remove his shoes.

"Where the fuck have you been?" You tried to sound threatening, though sleep still laced your voice and it came out more groggy and gravely than you wanted it too. Standing up, you placed the empty glass on the coffee table before crossing your arms as you stared at him, waiting on an answer.

"I went out with my girlfriends, Mattsun and Oikawa," he joked with a wide grin set on his features. Needless to say it wasn't funny to you. "Taka! We were supposed to go out tonight…" you whined, annoyance clearly laced in your body language and voice.

He snorted and almost waved you off. Almost. "Why? What's so different about tonight than other Fridays? You knew I had practice, and me and the guys usually go out for drinks after. You know... you know that." He ended up hiccupping at the end of his explanation.

Rubbing your temples with your fingers, you took a deep shaky breath, "I can't believe this…" you muttered so quietly under your breath that Makki snapped at you to speak up, "I said I can't believe this!"

"Can't believe what?" Confusion etched on to his features.

"Taka, it's our anniversary today. We were going to go out to dinner. Just you and me. Not the gang, not our families. You and me." The realization dawned on him as you continued to ramble on about being disappointed in him for skipping out on your important date.

"Babe. Y/N, I'm so sorry. I lost track of time and completely forgot about the date… Let me make it up to you," he stepped closer, pulling you into him. Pressing his chest against yours, hands traveling from your back to your ass before giving it a firm squeeze.

"You're not taking this seriously!" You pushed away from him, both of you in a more than tipsy state. Swaying in spot.

Makki's eyes hardened a little, "If I'm not mistaken, that's what you love most about me. The fact that I'm funny and crack jokes." Another groan escaped your painted lips and he couldn't stop his gaze from quickly glancing at them.

"Yes, I do. I love how funny you are and that you can just let go. But not when it comes to our relationship, Taka. Have you even thought about the shit you've been pulling lately?" In an instant his gaze was back on yours.

"Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know. How about just last weekend at the club when you were talking about how hot the other women there were in their tight dresses."

"Can't I appreciate other women?"

"Not when you're boasting about how good their clothes would look on our bedroom floor!" Tears were brimming in your eyes, you could catch that much, thinking back to that horrible night.

"Or, or, what about just earlier today in the hallway between class? Hm?" They were now flowing freely down your cheeks, taking your makeup with them. But you didn’t care. He needed to know, and you needed to rant and rage. "Telling your friends that you didn't know why I was still around? That you just can't shake me?"

"Y/N you know that that was a joke-"

"But how many times do I have to hear it, or even do you have to pull that same joke? Are you really not happy with me? Our relationship? Like, I can't really tell when you're joking and when you're not. It's driving me crazy. I don't know what to do."

"You want me to change, is that it?" You shook your head, "You're not listening to me. I don't want you to change, I just want you take us more seriously."

Makki was quiet as he stared at you. Or rather, it felt as if he were staring through you. It didn't make you feel any better, but you deemed that it was needed. Maybe not in the way you wanted to let him know your troubles and awful thoughts but it was still something.

Thinking back to that night when Mattsun had listened to you, giving you advice, even he admitted that his best friend was an idiot and a total asshole. "It'll be difficult, but if it's how you truly feel, he needs to know. It's not ever gonna get better if you don’t talk about it. Whether it fixes anything will be up to you guys…"

He was right, in the end. Makki stood there, still staring. You figured he was just processing all the information. Taking it to heart, trying to figure out his next words. Making a mental note to fix something about his attitude towards the situation; now and for the future.

But that seemed to be too much to hope for.

"Bold of you to assume that I haven't been serious. Can't you tell?"

"Are you fucking kidding me? See! This is what I mean… I can't believe you…" throwing your hands up in defeat you storm past him to your shared bedroom, making sure to grab your purse, phone and a charger before heading back out to the front room, where he still stood there.

Rolling your eyes you pushed past him to the front door, slipping on your heels, not having bothered to change out of your dress, and were about to reach for the door when he caught your delicate wrist in his large, warm hands.

"Y/N…" he whispered, "I'm sorry OK. I fucked up. It was just a joke. You know how I am." Looking up into his eyes you felt the tears prickle in your eyes again. He looked so sad and defeated. Broken even. You shook your head and yanked your arm out of his grasp, "That's just it Taka, I do know you. And you can't change the way you feel and how you handle situations. I love you."

And with that, you pulled the door open before closing it behind you, pulling out your phone to call and get a ride. There was no way that you were going to be staying here tonight. Before you could call anyone though, there was a short honk in your direction. Looking up you noticed the same pair of droopy, drowsy eyes looking you up and down.

"Hey, Y/N. Looking good."

"Issei…" you muttered with a small smile, "Wanna hang out?"

He stared back at you, glancing up at your apartment window, where the lights were still on. You didn't even dare to glance backwards, knowing that you would find another pair of eyes staring at you. "Uh, sure… everything OK?"

Shaking your head slightly, you gave him a sad, small smile, "I don't know…"

…

Makki stood there, jaw slacked as he watched the door. Still closed, still unmoving. The same door you just walked out of. It was similar to every other time though, he told himself. Every time he took a joke too far and you didn't understand his true humorous genius, you would get mad and go out with some girlfriends, or lock yourself in the bedroom and he would have to fend for himself.

Yeah. This was just like every other time that this same situation played out. You leaving, blowing off steam, and then coming home to him. For him to hold you and rock you back and forth. Offering kisses and hugs that only seemed to spur on your love for one another. Typically leading up to fantastic make up sex.

A drunken smile spread itself across his features as he thought about it. How he couldn't wait. You would be back, you always came back.

Right?

#z is here #z reposts #makki angst #hanamaki takahiro #hq makki #angst

[thinking-is-an-act-of-rebellion]

I know no one asked for my two cents but I need to ramble about Elu

After watching that masterpiece of an episode, here I was wondering « okay but how exactly did Lucas finally come to believe that Eliott truly has feelings for him ». When Basile did that talk on Monday it was visibly a breakthrough, but we kinda felt that it wasn’t enough, that Lucas still had doubts (as shown by the chats we got during the week and that ig story yesterday, with Lucas outside Eliott’s but not daring to go there and knock on the door). So I was like, what was the déclic you know?

In the og, as we all know, it’s Even himself who texts Isak and tells him he loves him and he’s sorry for not telling him he’s bipolar. So it’s a pretty significant change to have Lucille text Lucas bc no one can find Eliott.

First off, of course one could say that the fact that Miss Lucille-« you’re nothing to him » actually reached out and asked him, is pretty meaningful. But also, and most importantly, I think it was the realisation that he actually knew where Eliott was. Why? Because Eliott told him about his safe place, his shelter. He told him and only him. And when it comes to finding him, Lucille is out of answers bc he never confided in her, but he did so in Lucas. He probably remembers that conversation in la Petite Ceinture, « t’es le premier », « là c’est spécial ». And so that’s when he realises that Eliott cares about him for real, because he gets proof that he knows meaningful stuff about him, stuff Eliott didn’t tell anyone else; he gets proof that he was visibly super special to Eliott; that, maybe unconsciously but still, Eliott went to the one place where no one can find him except Lucas and so maybe on some level he wants to be found. By Lucas.

@callmetillie (you got my rambles en avant-première as always haha)

@biconicalexia @moonymoon @srodvlv @sophtalle I can’t stop talking about this show can I

#skam france #elu #skamfr #i’m rambling don’t mind me #eliott demaury #lucas lallemant #lucas x eliott #o helga natt

[kristiemewisstan]

RED TAYLOR’S VERSION THREAD:

Oh I’m so excited to hear mature Taylor sing these songs

THE GUITAR RIFF AFTER TWIN FIRE SIGNS AND FOUR BLUE EYES JUST DID SOMETHING TO ME…ugh beautiful

aren’t we all just lost Maserati owners going down dead end streets that can’t solve crosswords cause there are not any right answers BURNING RED

THINK YOU SHOULD THINK YOU SHOULD KNOW I I I I I I I I I LIKE IT

All I can think about when I hear this song is that stupid fucking goat…NOW IM LYING ON THE COLD HARD GROUND *GOAT SCREECHING*…the way I used to think it was “when the stratosphere, comes creeping in” instead of “saddest fear” haunts me

let’s be real. i listened to the 10 minutes version of all too well first thing. It’s brilliant Taylor killed it and I love the production changes that we’re made on the songs cause they are brill

They way I was so excited for my 22 birthday and we went into lockdown less than a month before it so I got to listen to 22 alone in my room and couldn’t keep anyone next to me…… oh my god my 22nd year was all spent during covid god damn pandemic had to go and ruin what I thought was going to be the best year of my life lmao

this was my exes ringtone for like 5 years so if they called I would just listen to the song and be sad about not answering instead of answering

this was my other exes ringtone LMAO THE TOXICITY THAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP DESCRIBED IN THIS SONG taylor your indie records are 1000% cooler so pop off queen

I FULLY EXPECTED THIS TO BE MAD MORE POP-Y BUT IT JUST SOUNDS MORE COUNTRY… IVE BEEN LOVING YOU FOR QUITE SOMETIME this song gets so much unneeded hate cause it’s a bop and if you can’t realize that you don’t have ears

On to what is probably my favorite song off red and y’all can attack me for it later… THIS IS THE LAST TIME IM ASKING YOU THIS…there is some dissonance added in the production and it’s GIVING eerie vibes

TOOK OFF FASTER THAT A GREEN LIGHT GO… the best in this song is unmatched on the album it just makes me want to bounce

the forbidden love/secret relationship vibes of it all… this song always gave me “song fic” vibes because it’s the direct kinda angst I love also the banjo is GLORIOUS

NEW TO TOWN WITH A MADE UP NAME I feel like this song was the first time I ever heard taylor say anything against fame and then a few years later we get reputation which is *chefskiss*

you good to go? THEY KEPT IT… this song gives me so much nostalgia cause it was like one of the only songs my friends wanted to listen to for WEEKS… LEAD THERE TO NIGHT ED GOING HIGH!!!

surprisingly after my last listen to og red this was the song stuck in my head after… oooooo the small production changes are already SERVING

this was my ex girlfriends ringtone for a long time and it still depresses me to listen to but ITS SUCH A GOOD SONG… I THINK ITS STRANGE THAT YOU THINK IM FUNNY CAUSE HE NEVER DID

This songs deserved to not be a bonus track on the og album… It’s so good!!! THE WAY SHE REFERENCED THIS SONG IN THE 10 MINUTE VERSION OF ALL TOO WELL! FUCK YOU JAKE GYLLENHAAL!!! the cellos ruin me

THIS IS WHERE THE FEELING SINKS IN I DONT WANNA MISS YOU LIKE THIS… this song is another true masterpiece that should have been a full album song

WHAT IN THE PRODUCTION CHANGES… okay girl heat home go off I guess

Overall:

I fucking loved it and will always love it thank you for your time.

#red taylor’s version #red tv #taylor swift

[therappundit]

Pundit Ponderings on ‘DAYTONA’ and ‘TESTING’...

How was your Memorial Day weekend? I spent mine hitting rewind on all of the great music that dropped on Fri., or as I dubbed it: #May25ToLife - a day that shall live in rap infamy!

Rap fans, we waited a looooong time for these new Pusha T and A$AP Rocky albums. So did they meet our expectations, exceed them, or leave us disappointed? While I know it has become customary to drop a full review within minutes after an album as dropped, I think it’s kinda disrespectful to the art form to claim that you have fully experienced a body of music that quickly (hell, I think *this* review may even be too premature!)...but nevertheless, I am just excited to have both projects in my collection, so I wanted to share my initial thoughts.

Is DAYTONA the instant classic many of his peers dubbed it to be, less than twenty four hours after it’s release?

No, but it’s pretty damn good. 

The common jab at Pusha T is that his subject matter is relatively limited. As a rap specialist, it is fair to say that he leans rather heavily on the cocaine rhymes. But if you dismiss the wisdom that goes into his bars you’re really missing out on one of the most skillful writers the rap game has ever heard. With the effort that most rappers put into a whole verse, Pusha can express the same perspective with one well-phrased, clever rhyme. Take this example of his way with words on the stellar “The Games We Play”:

“Play amongst the stars like the roof in the Wraith / Get the table next to mine, make our bottle servers race”

Flossy bars don’t come any better than that, folks. Pusha's lyrics stay at this level of sharpness throughout DAYTONA. Sharp, and brief. Each track rolls into each other as one sonic assault, never giving the listener a moment to breathe, and then after 21 minutes...boom, it’s done. Much has been said of the strength of brevity with DAYTONA, but if you’re going to compare your own work to other celebrated hip-hop classics, like Raekwon’s Only Built For Cuban Linx... a.k.a. The Purple Tape (which he does deeper into “The Games We Play”), just know that the Purple Tape is a heralded 16 song album. Most classic rap albums are over 10 songs long, so it’s hard to say a shorter album is on par with other rap classics unless it covers a wide range of topics, which DAYTONA does not.

For me, the brevity is not the issue. If there is a flaw it’s that DAYTONA feels like the least personal project that Push has ever released. There’s no “S.N.I.T.C.H.” or “Sunshine” - and certainly nothing reaching the subtle depths of a Clipse album - on DAYTONA. This is steely, braggadocios Push-A-Ton. And sure, we love that Pusha, but are 7 tracks of that Pusha enough to make for a modern classic when we have already seen a few great albums from similarly skilled MCs, such as Roc Marciano, in 2018?

The answer is maybe, thanks to Mr. Kanye West. Say what you will about Ye (I know I have), but he...has...still...got...IT! I would put the production on DAYTONA up against any other Kanye West-helmed project. The edge is there when it’s needed, the samples, the piano keys, synth, and originality come in abundance on what could easily be considered the hardest production of any hip-hop album this year.

At the end of the day I’m not bothered by the questionable choice for an album cover (really, does an album glorifying drug money need to flaunt the loss of Whitney Houston to drug addiction on the cover?), or Kanye West’s highly questionable politics when it comes to enjoying a Pusha T solo album. DAYTONA is a feast for the ears that’s blessed with a great performance by Push, minimal but memorable features (I kinda dig Ye’s manic verse - perhaps on the strength of the Seal line - and Rick Ross delivers one of the year’s finest verses on “Hard Piano”), and some of the best beats I have heard in a long time. It might not be a classic, but who ever said it had to be?

Stand-out Songs: all of ‘em. 

Contrarily, the early reactions to A$AP Rocky’s long awaited follow-up to At.Long.Last.A$AP,  have been much less kind...

Is TESTING a failure?

Short answer, HELL NO. 

Does it miss the mark of being the masterpiece it could have been? Yes, but it is still a very good piece of work. 

The worst thing TESTING had going for it was timing. Within hours after rap fans had become fixated on each bar of Pusha’s new album, the rejuvenation of a Drake feud, and Yeezy once again being hailed as a brilliant producer, A$AP Rocky drops his most experimental, woozy project. Back to back, the combination did not work out in Rocky’s favor. Shifting from the menacing beats of DAYTONA to the sleepy trip that is TESTING meant that by 2 A.M. early Friday, too many armchair critics decided that Rocky’s new album was trash, mostly because they didn’t have the attention span to try to analyze it at that hour.

But here’s the deal: there are some bars on this album. Albeit, not a ton. Lyrically, this project is not the crown jewel of Rocky’s career. It lacks the creative writing, flow, and focus of his previous work. Given his real life celebrity status, that shouldn’t be a shock - he even addresses it as a theme on the album, which makes for some of TESTING’s more poignant moments. Such as on “Changes”:

“My biggest distractions is that I get distracted / People suing me for shit that didn't happen / I wonder how the world would be if they didn't have me / Wake up to my explore page See my exes engaged, or either gettin' married Or had a baby with some nigga Or either three months, post-natal post, post-nup, that little nigga pappy I wonder if they really happy or just gettin' at me”

To Rocky’s point in that first line, such personal moments come sporadically because he really does sound distracted. The messages of each song feel like a rough cut of what might have been if Rocky had just worked a little more on his verses. That all being said, the amount of work that went into the production of TESTING almost makes up for the scattered verse structure. In time, I really do believe Rocky fans will begin to appreciate the layers of samples, merging of classic rap sounds with cloudy emo, and realize that TESTING has more successes than failures. In a way this feels like Rocky’s version of The Life Of Pablo: no, it’s not all going to make sense, and it has sloppy moments...but it’s really where his head is at right now, and doesn’t this sound cool as hell?

Stand-out Songs: "Hun43rd”, “Buck Shots”, “Gunz N Butter”, “OG Beeper”, “Black Tux, White Collar”, “Changes”, “Brotha Man”

*Some additional great rap projects that dropped this weekend*:

Tuamie Presents: Emergency Raps, Vol. 2 (featuring Henny L.O.)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/emergency-raps-vol-2/1390337693

Black Soap, by MIKE

https://mikelikesrap.bandcamp.com/album/black-soap

#A$AP Rocky #Kanye West #Drake #g.o.o.d music #OVO #Pusha T #Clams Casino #Testing #DAYTONA #King Push #a$ap yams #ASAP Mob #MIKE #Black Soap #Tuamie #Henny LO #Fly Anakin #Mutant Academy #May25ToLife #Memorial Day #PunditPonderings #Purple Tape #Raekwon #Rick Ross #Yeezy #Kid Cudi #Roc Marciano #Rap Genius #TLOP #emergency raps

[earlywrites]

there’s no place like 127.0.0.1 commentary part II: ‘keeping up’

Welcome to part two of the commentary for my fic there's no place like 127.0.0.1! Let's dive right into Sunday morning. As before, here there be spoilers for the majority of Season 3.

“[...] And, for your information, the internet exists. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but you can find anything on there. Literally anything. Including a Keeping Up With The Kardashians fact-checker resource.” 

Keeping up with the Kontinuity Errors is a blog, currently run on the Cut, that breaks down episodes of KUWTK scene by scene, using social media and paparazzi photos to determine when each scene was actually filmed versus the date/timeframe that is claimed on the show. Here is the post on the first episode Robot and Angela watched, wherein the Kardashian-West clan et al travel to Armenia and also may or may not be in Jerusalem at any given time. I didn’t choose particular episodes for rounds two and three, but I do have a fondness for the one where Kim loses her diamond earrings in the ocean, and Kourtney goes:

“How about, the loser gets to do the dishes from last night. And this morning.”

I actually wrote this section before 3x09 came out, so this ended up being a sad piece of foreshadowing.

:(

“That’s the cholesterol,” she retorts, as she marks out new columns into her notebook. “Your diet is terrible.”

“No, Elliot’s diet is terrible,” he says, licking maple syrup off of his fingers and setting his score sheet up on his knee. It still gets a little sticky, but whatever. “I don’t get much choice in that matter. Occasionally, when I get the chance, I eat a vegetable.”

Literally how is Elliot a functioning human being. Robot brings this up in Part I, but that post was getting full, so I'm putting the discussion here, and, look. Everything about his lifestyle, his love for junk food and the fact that he probably gets 0 sleep now given Robot’s nocturnal cycle points to him being deeply, incredibly unhealthy. Having Robot making some effort to take care of their body, even as a semi-joke, is my way of somewhat justifying how Elliot is still alive, lol.

“[...] vaguely considers beating one out – because it’s been a while, and Tyrell’s snarl under the press of his hand at his throat is still tucked away in his spank bank, awaiting withdrawal [...]”

I feel like 3x09 proved unequivocally that Robot is absolutely into playing rough.

[source: @knownoshamc, x] 

“[...] I bought a few titles that looked interesting. And a few things just to mess with him - did you know there’s a game where you can date pigeons? Like, actual birds. It’s apparently very popular.”

Yes, of course I’m referring to the masterpiece of visual media and storytelling that is Hatoful Boyfriend.

He stares at her, breathing heavily, and thinks about picking up his laptop and smashing it against the smooth surface of the coffee table, watching it splinter and crack, then taking her MacBook and sending it flying across the room, shattering the glass of a window, compromising the integrity of the perfect little box she’s living in, the one she’s caged him inside. He visualizes it, until he can feel the weight of the laptop in his hands, sees in the reflection of her eyes – big, blue, steady and unwavering – how the arc of destruction plays out, walls crumbling around them, fragments spinning out in slow motion, catching the light.

Elliot and Robot are highly creative, and are shown to manipulate the world around them to fit their perspective - in that vein, from Robot’s point of view, that scene would play out similarly to Cobb and Ariadne’s first dreamsharing experience in Inception.

Then he sits down next to her.

I separated this line from the preceding paragraph because this, for me, was the biggest character moment for Robot in the fic -- rather than doing what he wants, and releasing his rage, being his usual rash and destructive self, he chooses not to, and essentially releases his anger like air slowly leaving a balloon (minus the squeaking, lol). He tried to bait Angela, to get under her skin, after she made an astute judgement about him and exposed a major vulnerability of his, but she was unwavering, meeting him eye to eye. I think this point was when he gave into trusting her, knowing that she knows his weakness -- his deeply complicated, protective, antagonistic relationship with Elliot, the fact that he doesn’t want to face that he misses him -- and allowing her to keep that secret for him.

Completing Portal 2 in co-op mode ends up taking the rest of the afternoon, only pausing for snacks – and Angela takes his blithe comment on Elliot’s nutrition seriously, because of course she fucking does, and prepares shit like carrot sticks and celery with hummus which are both incredibly bland and deeply unsatisfying, so in retaliation he spends an inordinate amount of time dicking around with the portal mechanics so her character keeps falling to its untimely end. But he quickly gets bored of that, and of Angela making empty threats to beat him over the head with her MacBook (yeah, like her noodle arms could ever manage it), and does end up working with her to beat the game. The entire concept is problem-solving and teamwork, which is genuinely engaging, even though it’s obvious Angela picked this as some kind of teambuilding exercise for the two of them — which, on paper, is annoying as hell, he’s not some fucking suit in an intern program. Still, she’s not a bad partner – they bounce off each other well, sometimes literally, and she’s the one to actually figure out the shoot-while-jumping sequence needed to get through the penultimate level. For some reason, though, her favorite characters, if you can even count them as characters, are the cubes. The cubes. She fucking loves those dumb, inanimate objects. GLaDOS would definitely take her ass in to test for whatever malfunctioning part of her cortex causes her to express affection for a cube.

Hey, look, it's a game where two characters work together to aid the agenda of an evil megalomanic who's actually manipulating them and ultimately wants them to die to serve her true purpose, while ignoring warning signs saying not to trust her. Sound familiar? ;) But yes, for those unfamiliar with the Portal series, here's a little article about the essence of the co-op game; the purpose was to directly parallel it with Robot and Angela's doomed plan under Whiterose's thumb. Totally check out the games, if you haven't already! The co-op is a lot of fun, and the penultimate level took my friend and I like an hour to figure out how to complete (whereas the last level? Total cakewalk, even if The Cake Is A Lie :P)

“And we will have to manage Darlene,” she continues, bringing several onions on a chopping board over to him. “I don’t know what her motives are in coming here to look for Elliot, but either way, we have to play it safe. I’m going to give you your phone back tomorrow and if she calls, you can answer it, but… tell her you wanted to go off the grid this weekend, or something, clear your head. You can use the fact that you’ll be at work to keep it short, just enough to keep her from looking in any further.” “That excuse won’t stretch too far – isn’t Elliot getting fired tomorrow?” he asks, peeling the skin off the first onion and starting to slice it up. 

“Yes,” Angela says. “Mid-morning at the latest, but she wouldn’t know about that, so even if she wants to meet she’ll have to wait until the end of the day – if she presses for the lunch break, you can say you’ve made prior plans with me. [...] Okay, so, you’re just going to sit tight until security escorts you out, as we discussed, and don’t make a scene [...] Once you’re out, keep your distance from the data recovery center but stay in the area in case Irving and Tyrell need assistance with the execution, in which case I will contact you directly and escort you through any E-Corp facilities, since your card access will be revoked. Otherwise, go somewhere public, so that you have an alibi that can be corroborated by at least several witnesses concerning your whereabouts at the time the building comes down – but keep a low profile, get a Starbucks, or something. Make sure not to take your laptop out of your bag unless there’s an emergency, you don’t want anyone making assumptions about what you were doing during Stage Two once the dust clears and the feds look for someone to pin it on. And, if you need to call me, ring and let it dial once, hang up, and then immediately ring again. That way I’ll know it’s you calling, and not Elliot.”

We never got to really find out what Robot & Angela’s original plan was for that day, if Elliot hadn’t taken over for the events of 3x05-06. I assumed that, after Tyrell and Robot’s altercation in 3x04, the reins had been handed over to Tyrell and the Dark Army to execute, and Robot’s job was essentially support-if-needed, Angela still acting as his handler and liaising with Irving. This is my interpretation of what the OG plan might have been like -- at the beginning of 3x05, Angela encourages Elliot to pick up his phone as it rings, and then seemingly clicks that it’s no longer Robot, but still calls out to Elliot to grab lunch later. Later, she didn’t pick up her phone when Elliot called her, which I wondered about at the time since we weren’t given an indication as to whether she knew who was actually calling, and so this is my justification for that too. 

“We’ll toss those in olive oil with the carrots and set them to roast in the oven for about twenty, and in a couple of minutes I’ll get started on the steaks [...]”

I made a few fun Matrix shoutouts in this fic, and this is another one -- Cypher eats a virtual steak dinner as he trades the crew on his ship to the Agents in exchange for insertion back into the matrix, rejecting his harsh reality for the comfort of an artificial world. The recipe I had in mind is something along the lines of this one.

His memories are a muddled patchwork, haphazard at best – the clearest ones he has are also the darkest, ones Elliot didn’t want to deal with, shoved into a box and couriered to his doorstep with DO NOT RETURN TO SENDER in big red lettering, his burden now to bear. It’s no sweat, he’s stronger than Elliot, anyhow, which is probably is the point – the nightmares of yesteryear don’t faze him much, especially now their bitch of a mother is slowly rotting away upstate.

3x07 heavily implied Robot had already emerged before Edward Alderson died, and was the alter in control when Edward collapsed at the cinema -- but, in Season One, Robot begged Elliot not to let people ‘try to get rid of [him]’ again, implying there were stretches of time in Elliot’s life when he wasn’t present. Mr. Robot’s timeline is muddled to hell thanks to Elliot’s unreliable narration anyway, but I figured that Robot’s memories would be somewhat similar to Elliot’s with more gaps in them, and more strongly feature the abuse exacted by their mother, per Robot’s role as a (deeply flawed) ‘protector’ to Elliot. Also, I’m not sure whether Magda Alderson is actually alive or dead, but ‘slowly rotting away’ can mean both physically rotting in a grave and just generally living a stagnant existence (in a nursing home, presumably), so that’s up to interpretation! 

He’s not much one for wine, but this one’s pretty good – it’s apparently a 2008 Penfolds Grange, whatever the fuck that means, and they’ve made quick work of it as the evening has wound down.

The Penfolds Grange vintage 2008 Shiraz (South Australia) scored a rare 100 points in both The Wine Advocate and the Wine Spectator, two of the world’s most influential wine journals, when it was released in 2013, and I believe was initially priced at around $600-700. Price probably gave her this bottle, so it’s a good one to crack open when intending to destroy his company.

“I guess… I’m nervous, about seeing her again,” she murmurs. “It’s been so long, and so much has changed… it’s weird, because all I’ve felt up until this point is excitement, like, this is the whole reason I’m going through with all of this, to finally destroy E-Corp and create our new world, to share it with her – and yet, now we’re here, I’m not sure if I’m ready.”

Her whole deal with Whiterose is bordering on obsession, at this point. It’s somewhat disconcerting, but then again, he supposes that’s Angela – she’s just intense like that. “Look, Angela, don’t set your expectations too high on that one,” he cautions. “I don’t think either of us are going to see Whiterose again, at least, not in the immediate future. She’s not the type to just swing by to pop off some champagne for a job well done.”

Angela looks at him, frowning slightly, and then her expression clears. “Of course,” she says, finishing up her glass. “You’re right, Whiterose has more important things to do. Maybe we’ll just have to have our own celebration.”

“Maybe,” he replies, looking at her narrowly. He has an odd feeling that she wasn’t talking about Whiterose. But then, who else would it be? Darlene? No, that doesn’t quite add up.

I mean, look, at this point, it’s very obvious to we the audience that Angela is talking about seeing her mother again, and she then makes reference to Elliot believing in the #cause once he gets to see his father just before the brownout comes in. These scenes always made me feel sad to write.

The inset on the face says 29, and the hands glint at a little after six. Early, but not quite early enough to justify a little more shuteye.

In 3x05, Elliot says the Dark Army tried to execute Stage Two at 6am. Robot waking up with a start around the time the Dark Army try to attack but being completely unaware of it happening is the beginning of the end for his usurped revolution.

So that's it, for now. If you’re still here -- thanks for reading, friend! Hope you enjoyed this self indulgent spiel -- catch you on the flipside :P

#earlyfic #dvdcommentary #TNPLH #mr robot fic