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shotoh · 1 year

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— in which they slowly find themselves enamored by the natural charms of their interviewer

feat. itoshi rin, nagi seishiro, itoshi sae

cw + tw. nothing much just fluff, fem!reader, interviewer/reporter!reader, aged-up!characters, characters are professional athletes and continue playing in their teams from the neo egoist league (except sae)

notes. first time posting blue lock so apologies if anyone’s ooc, either way i might make a follow-up of this (that might be more uh ya know) and/or add characters

ITOSHI RIN

the sound that follows the harsh slam of his locker is a frustrating sigh that has been simmering in rin’s chest since the end of today’s match. the match in which he had lost—and at the hands of isagi’s team which makes the defeat all the more bitter and disgusting on his tongue. it didn’t help that during the game, he was butting heads with his supposed teammate, shidou. once the coach had decided to sub the eccentric player in, their styles began mixing like oil and water. as a result, their win was swooped up from under them.

pxg has been called to host a post-sport interview to review the match with reporters, but rin couldn’t care less to participate. instead, he’s the very last person to leave the locker rooms. his duffle bag is slung over his shoulder, steps ambling down the hallway.

whether he wins or loses, rin never bothers to attend these post-game interviews. he doesn’t need to sit there and have brash reporters shoot the same questions at him, expecting him to “thank his coach and teammates,” “praise his opponents for a great game today,” and say he’ll “continue to work hard to win next time.” gross. he’d rather be caught dead than have any of those words leave his mouth.

as rin navigates through the hallways of the stadium, he’s hoping to be done with the day and think over the turn of events on his own. but when he rounds the corner, he crosses eyes with someone so obviously lost in the facility—a mistake which punishes him as you immediately approach him with doe, bewildered eyes.

“sorry, i don’t mean to bother you, but i was wondering where the conference for pxg was being held,” you ask. a pad of notes are cradled in your arms, pen clipped to the breast pocket of your blazer. it’s clear you’re another reporter.

before he can point you in the right direction to get you out of his hair, you squint. you’re taking a long, hard look at him until your face suddenly glows. “wait, you’re itoshi rin, the striker for pxg!” you practically blurt. with the volume of your voice, rin’s instincts take hold, and he’s pulling you away from the open space of the hallway.

“quiet. you want everyone to hear?” rin chastises.

“whoops. i got a little excited! i-i’ve been wanting to interview pxg’s top player and well…” you could say the opportunity presented itself, but rin makes it clear he’s not interested.

“if you’re here just to hear me mope over my loss, then go home,” the striker affirms to what he thinks will be the last of this exchange until you tug on the sleeve of his jersey before he starts walking away. turning his head back to glance at you, his brow quirks.

“no, of course not! i thought it was incredible how you were able to keep control of the ball from your opponents and even score the first two points of the game all by yourself!” you exclaim, face lifting as it’s teeming with admiration. surprisingly, he can’t help but be a bit amused by the determined expression etched over the perplexed look that was originally on your features.

you swipe your pen hanging off your pocket, prompting it open with a click of your thumb. “and i’m sure a lot of your fans would love to hear from you!”

the athlete cocks his head. “you’re acting like a fan yourself, miss reporter.”

you blink in surprise. the enthusiasm in your words tones down, but you fail to mask it completely. “what? no, i’m just here to get the exclusive on the best athletes of our country!” if your plan is to butter him up to get a word out of him, it may almost work. you send him another fawning look as if to say “can you blame me though?” and that stirs a low chuckle from his throat.

his face lowers until it’s slightly more leveled with your own, and from this angle, you’re amazed to find you can distinguish every distinct eyelash on his pretty face. and you’re even more enamored by the intense color of his teal eyes. at the proximity, however, your face bathes in the heat of the blood rushing to your cheeks. thankfully, the striker breaks eye contact in favor of taking the notepad from your arms, along with your pen which he uses to scribble something down.

“tell you what,” he says as he continues writing, “come to the next pxg match and i’ll give you an exclusive interview, right after i score at least four goals and decimate the other team.”

his declaration leaves you in awe, and your fascination persists when he hands your pen and pad back for you to see a ten digit number, followed by call my manager written next to it.

NAGI SEISHIRO

back when he was in school, nagi was never great at first impressions. and apparently that’s still the case even later on in his career as a professional striker.

he doesn’t even notice you enter the room as he’s preoccupied with tapping the controls for the first person shooter on his phone. as such, he’s woefully unprepared to hear the reluctant, but soft voice that vies for his attention.

“um, excuse me. if you don’t mind, i’d like to get started with the interview.”

taking a slow glimpse above his screen, he sees the refreshing sight of you—his interviewer—sitting across from him in your neat attire and a clipboard on your lap. surprised by the modest smile that greets him, he automatically straightens up and casts his phone to the side.

it’s a big contrast to what he was expecting. usually, scruffy men who claim they’re adept and knowledgeable in the sport would be shoving their mics in his face. when in reality those people are just washed up high school coaches or analysts who act all high and mighty by asking a bunch of nonsense questions. saying this and that about how they would have done it differently had they been in the game instead of him. regardless, they’re such a pain and nagi would rather be napping in his cloud mattress than go through another talk session with those wannabes. however, his encounter with you just might break this boring streak.

he rubs the back of his head sheepishly, playing off the crass first impression. “right. start whenever you want.”

once he gives you the go ahead, you flip through a few pages to your questions.

as time goes on, the sentiment nagi initially held about how the interview might have been a pain and a waste of his time in his already packed schedule begins to sway. throughout the inquiries, he finds himself fixated on you. like the flattering nude color touched up on your plush lips. or how you have a habit of playing with strands of your hair when contemplating on what question to ask next. or the cute laugh you let out that was pleasant to his ears when he gave a much more aloof answer than you were expecting.

well, he can’t change the fact that he doesn’t need to think much when it comes to football. that’s just how naturally talented he is—the sport is second nature to him. honestly, he’s a bit bummed out that he can’t give a competent interviewer like you better responses.

what catches the snowy haired striker slightly off-guard is your next topic of questions about his e-sport endorsements. he wasn’t expecting you to delve into his hobbies. most interviews always glossed over that area in favor of asking something along the lines of “what was going through your head when you made that winning goal,” to which he could only say he was too caught up in the moment to really convey the feelings into words.

but with this opportunity, nagi goes on a mild tangent about the new first person shooter he’s been playing. even if his tone sounds indifferent on the surface, you don’t miss the hidden enthusiasm under the brighter twinkle of his eyes. you giggle which makes nagi pause.

“did i say something weird?” he asks back. you swear you detect a tonal whine in his voice, another endearing trait you didn’t know a 190 cm striker could possess.

“no.. just find it cute how much you can talk about your favorite games like that.”

nagi can’t tell whether the grin on your pretty lips is there to tease him or that you find his boyish charms endearing. either way, his cheeks puff and that only serves to make him more adorable in your eyes.

“well don’t let me stop you! i’d like to hear more about what things interest you other than soccer.” the look on your face fascinates him. you’re not even looking at your clipboard anymore, but right at him. it’s the tell-tale sign of someone who genuinely wants to know him not as the star player of manshine city, but just as regular nagi seishiro. he’s not used to that sort of treatment and as a result, he can’t meet your eyes, not realizing he flushes a lovely shade of pink that reaches the tips of his ears.

nagi pouts, glancing down at his phone that’s been laying near his thigh, untouched for a record of what must be ages, but that honestly doesn’t feel long enough to him. “no fair… you’re just teasing me…” he murmurs, but his fingers are already itching to ask his manager if he can extend the interview to spend more time with you.

ITOSHI SAE

the first opportunity you get to interview the itoshi sae is unconventional, to say the least.

“excuse me! please let me through–!”

“miss, you can’t be here– hey!”

the setting is chaotic, to the point where sae can make out the commotion in the background as he’s walking toward his rest area with his manager and bodyguard following beside him. when he glimpses at what all the fuss is about, he witnesses security personnel wrangle with a stray reporter.

spotting the reddish haired athlete, you find an opportunity to call out to him. “itoshi sae, please, may i have a word with you?”

to your dismay, security persistently blocks your view of the midfielder. despite being obstructed by a pair of burly men almost twice your size, you give them more of a struggle as you thrash around, even reprimanding them to “keep their hands to themselves if they know what’s good for them.” sae can’t help but be amused. a part of him finds your efforts admirable—watching you scrunch up your uniform and crease your notes at just a chance to speak with him.

“mister itoshi is far too busy to entertain any more of you today. please make your way to the exit–”

“it’s fine,” sae interjects to everyone’s surprise—mostly to the utter astonishment of you and his manager. the latter’s eyes widen scrupulously before he cups his hand next to the pro athlete’s ear.

“sir, i believe we’ll be running late to your next scheduled event if you decide to do a last minute interview,” the manager warns warily. “besides, haven’t you talked to enough of the media today? i mean look at her, she doesn’t even seem worth your time–”

“push everything back thirty minutes if you have to.”

his manager gawks. “but..?!”

one side-eye of sae’s piercing ocean eyes is enough for the man to retract his statement and mumble his apologies. that said and done, the security guards withdraw to let you through. you’re astonished by how much the situation can flip with the cooperation of a renown professional.

sae’s staff lead you into his spacious break room, preparing a set of chairs and leaving glasses of water on the coffee table before you start. having already taken his seat, he watches you run your hands through the wrinkled material of your blouse and pencil skirt. after finally fixing your stray hairs in place, you sit in front of him in all your pristine as if the whole conflict from earlier never happened. he wants to give you another point for professionalism.

“once again, thank you so much for granting me the opportunity to speak to you today,” you beam, mocking his manager hovering in the background with your unbeknownst-to-sae sly little smile.

sae grins, charmed. you arrange your notes one last time before moving onto your questions.

during the interview, sae comes to know your professionalism isn’t merely for show. you’ve done your research, analyzed his plays—his techniques, and as a result, ask him the most intriguing inquiries he’s sure no reporters asked him before. and he’s had his fair share of interviews throughout his developing career as a child prodigy. it’s evident you weren’t planning to waste his time and he’s appreciative of that fact.

there’s also an air of zeal you possess that allures him. he can’t exactly pinpoint what it is. your ingenuity? your liveliness? either way, he can’t imagine this to be his last interaction with you, and he makes sure that won’t be the case.

at just a simple snap of his finger, his manager is at his side. you have to hold in a snicker at how the man scurries over to the midfielder like a dog.

the two exchange a few words you don’t catch, only deciphering the dumbfounded look on the manager’s face which clashes with the stoic expression on sae’s. whatever the conversation was about, the former knows it’s a losing battle. at his loss, he pulls out a lanyard from the compartment attached to his clipboard. he gives it to sae, who takes it and leans across the space between you two to place it in your awaiting hands, as if you already knew from the manager’s defeated mannerisms that it was meant to be yours.

“this is..?” you begin inquiring as you eye the card on the lanyard methodically.

sae beats you to your discovery of that answer. “an exclusive press pass, which you can use to reach out to me again following any matches i’ve played in.”

mouth hanging open, you switch back and forth between the pass and sae’s marine eyes which don’t hold a shred of doubt.

he puts it simply.

“i’d like to continue this interview with you again.”

#blue lock x reader #bllk x reader #bllk imagines #rin x reader #sae x reader #nagi x reader #blue lock fluff #bllk fluff #rin fluff #rin itoshi x reader #blue lock x you #nagi fluff #sae fluff #blue lock headcanons #sae itoshi x reader #nagi seishiro x reader

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simsi45 · 22 days

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The Sims 4 Amber House Pack - PUBLIC RELEASE!

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CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE PATREON PAGE!

Oh...my...GOD!!! I can't believe this is actually happening....

After 3 years of hard work, I am here to welcome everyone to:

The Sims 4 Amber House Pack!

It's time to create your own mission style dream house, with this collection of 345 brand new and hella cool build/buy mode items, inspired by Dontnod's "Life is Strange: Before the Storm" game.

EARLY ACCESS: You can get the pack right now, on my PATREON on the 3-5$ tiers, or wait for the 12th of May for the public release!

Please read EVERYTHING included in the post as it contains useful information about the pack!

DISCLAIMER: Simsi45 or The Sims 4 Amber House Pack is NOT affiliated or associated with Electronic Arts, Square Enix, Deck Nine or Dontnod in ANY way. This is a purely fanmade pack made by me, a fan of both games that wanted to get the best of both worlds.

FEATURES:

345 new items (including sofas, tables, decor, windows, doors and much much more!)

Search for "amberhouse", "lis", "simsi45" to find most of the items in the build/buy catalog.

Custom original names and descriptions. (the best I could come up with :P)

Tons of custom recolors (based on original textures) to mix and match items more easily.

Heavy modification on original meshes and textures, including english text turned into simlish.

Everything has been playtested thoroughly.

Included are a couple of easter egg items from The Sims 2 that I thought fit the theme well.

New lot I made showcased in the trailer and pics (found in the gallery under my tag @simsi45_mods) a recreation of Rachel Amber's house.

LOT INSTALLATION:

Included in the pack is the lot recreation of the Amber House that's featured in the pictures and videos.

You can get the lot by:

Using the gallery. Make a search under my EA id: @simsi45_mods and download the lot as usual. I've included customized pictures to identify my own lot more easily. Make sure you have the "enable custom content" tag ENABLED for the lot to show up in the results.

If you have difficulties using the gallery you can download the lot tray files from the bottom of the post, and move them inside your own tray folder. This can be found in your documents/electronic arts/the sims 4/ tray folder. This way you can install the lot without the need of the gallery.

NOTES:

~ The pack is in an EARLY-ACCESS STATE! I have dedicated a lot of time to test everything but I'm a team of just a single person. If you find any issues please let me know so I can take a look.

~ Because of the amount of items the size of the pack is quite big. I tried my best to make everything as compact as possible with the final size being 1.5 GB of required free space.

~ The majority of the meshes and textures of these items are ripped straight from the LIS: Before the Storm game, and then each individual item (both mesh and textures) has been heavily modified and edited to fit and function properly within the Sims 4 game's engine. That's why some items will look identical to the original game, some look somewhat different, and some are brand new meshes I made using the original items.

~ Some of the original ripped meshes' poly counts were WAY too high so I had to lower the polygons so The Sims 4 wouldn't explode when filling a lot with them. I lowered the polygons and edited most of the items as much as possible without compromising their original look too much. In other words I tried to find the best balance between looks and performance and after lots of testing on my moderate PC system, I can confirm the game runs super smoothly on my end.

BACKSTORY ABOUT THE PACK (no spoilers):

This pack started with an idea I got back in 2017 when I first played Life Is Strange Before The Storm. When visiting the Amber house, I immediately fell in love with it as I am huge fan of the craftsman architectural style, it's literally all I'd want my dream house to be. The art team has done an incredible job on it, and as I personally find the art style of the Life is Strange series and The Sims 4 to fit very well with each other, I wanted to make these assets available for The Sims 4. Of course back then this all seemed impossible, however a few years later in 2020 during quarantine I revisited the idea as it had been stuck on my wishlist ever since.

To make a long story short, this project has been in the works for about 3 years now, and after a lot of hard work, head scratching and quite a few sleepless nights I managed to overcome all the obstacles I came across (which were a lot mind you) and I'm honestly hoping you'll be as pleased with the results as I am. Seriously this exceeded my expectations as it started as a small little pack for my personal use, to what I'd consider an expansion pack's (or even more) worth of build/buy content.

INSTALLATION:

Due to the size of the pack I had to split it up into multiple parts. You will need a .RAR extractor unpack it. More specifically:

1 -> Download ALL 6 parts of the pack and put them ALL in the same folder. 2 -> Right click the 1st part .RAR file named "Simsi45 - The Sims 4 Amber House Pack.part1" and click "Extract Here" 3 -> Once that's finished a package file will appear, this is the entire pack and you can now move that into The Sims 4/Mods. Simple as that!

CREDITS & THANKS:

~Dontnod, Square Enix, Deck Nine for the original meshes & textures ripped from Life is Strange: Before the Storm that were used to create most of the items.

~EA for some meshes & textures used to convert some items from The Sims 2.

Special thank you to all the patreon members that stuck with me throughout me developing the pack. Although not many I really appreciate every single one of you for the support you've given me and for sticking around!

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hana-no-seiiki · 1 year

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Hi! I love your work and was wondering what you thought of platonic/romanitc yandere batfamily with a reader who's like five hargreeves???

My first request! Although I have not watched Umbrella Academy I’ll try my best to fulfill your wishes Anon (via research and several clips of this man-child). Advanced apologies for any inconsistencies.

Honestly seeing all these clips makes me want to watch the show itself so I’ll be doing that after posting this fic.

TW/CW: Yandere themes of violence, creepiness, overprotectiveness, manipulation. Uh mention of Tim and Damian creaming in their suits-

current status: unedited

PLATONIC TIMELINE

In this version of events there is no Reginald Hargreeves and siblings (thus no Umbrella Academy as a whole) instead you were plucked from your biological mother by Bruce himself and adopted as a Wayne.

You were the youngest sibling, often called “Five” as a nickname.

Having dangerous abilities such as well- the power to manipulate space and time. Bruce was incredibly strict with his training and rules, but he knew not to push you too far. He has learnt from his experiences with your brothers.

Because of that you grew up pretty egotistical, sassy and cynical — not to mention pretty spoiled.

You’d often dangle your powers over Damian, who had become your rival throughout the years.

He, in turn, would slap you back with the fact that you’re adopted.

And boy did it take a lot of convincing from your father to not go back in time and smother the damn demon-spawn with a pillow when he was still a baby.

Otherwise your relationship with them is very much a typical sibling’s one. With the exception of their overprotectiveness that is real bad (You were surprised to see Damian in the mix as well. Was your brother a masochist of some sort?) and due to your powers and everyone’s overall occupations, a lot more violent.

They will try to sabotage any and all relationships you have whether it’s romantic or platonic.

But, jokes on them, you can just go back in time and stop anything bad from happening.

Really, you can’t help but laugh at their shenanigans.

Like whenever you see Dick disguised as a waiter trying to drug your date but it somehow ends up with him on the floor frothing at the mouth.

Or during this one time Jason tried shooting a friend of yours but found himself with a bullet up his ass instead. That is if you were feeling a little more sadistic than usual, you mostly switch his guns out for staplers.

You made sure to help him patch up though. As much as they were cockblockers, they were still family.

In conclusion, as much as the Batfam are capable superheroes/vigilantes I’m pretty sure they can’t really beat a trained space-time manipulator.

Bruce created a monster and he ain’t stopping it himself anytime soon.

“[Y/N] Wayne. You have to stop throwing your older brother around.” Bruce scolds you for the nth time this week. Though you knew better than any one else within the mansion you were in that is far as he’ll go with his actions.

“If this is about Tim— he was looking through my search history again, and my gallery, and not to mention every damn file I have on my computer—“

“Look, I was just checking up on you—“ Tim’s voice comes from the intercomms. Only to be cut off by a gasp.

From your brief blink in-and-out of existence, Bruce just knows it’s you slamming the poor boy’s face on a keyboard or something.

“[Y/N]!”

“I wonder if it’s too late to get unadopted.”

ROMANTIC TIMELINE

“Where’d you go?”

“The future. It’s shit by the way.”

You, much like the original Five Hargreeves, are a 50 something year-old person stuck in a young adult’s body as a result of fucking up the space time continuum too much.

You have the same origins as well, being born from a butcher who had shown no signs of pregnancy and being adopted by Reginald Hargreeves.

Let’s say you and your siblings were well known but after you disappeared, they all mysteriously died if not vanish like you as well.

You had close ties with the Teen Titans and were planning to join them after you’d master your powers of time manipulation. However that unfortunately didn’t happen.

In any case, you meet up with one of the only heroes you knew years ago and that happened to be Batman and his sidekick, Robin.

Except… it seemed that Batman was way older and Robin had already been replaced three times. The Robin you were friends now calls him Nightwing.

You bring news of the apocalypse and ask them to aid you in searching for your siblings.

Unbeknownst to you, Dick had been searching for you all over since your disappearance. It had partly been the reason why he chose to become his own independent hero so he already had a lead on where to look.

You meet the rest of the Batfam, who grow to enjoy your sassy, witty personality.

To Bruce, you were like a reminder of things before the trauma he’s had to face with his sons. In addition to that, you were roughly the same age mentally so having another “grown up” with him, albeit one that’s more chaotic, was definitely helpful.

To Jason, you were exciting. He’s seen people with powers before but none that seemed so elegant yet ruthless. You were mesmerizing in battle but your softer sides where you’d remind him of the life he has ahead of him and to take care, was even more captivating.

To Damian and Tim, you took a more obvious parental approach. Which was odd coming from someone close to their age in appearance. Unlike Jason who enjoys more of your soft side they enjoy the side of you that’s uncaring of those in your way.

And when they see you covered in blood after a heated fight? Absolutely gorgeous.

(They may or may not be creaming in their suits)

Now in the case of dear old Dickey, who has been helping you out investigating your disappearance. You two grew a lot closer. Even more so than before.

To him you were gone for almost 2 decades and to you it was twice that time. Still time didn’t stop you two from reconnecting quickly.

He takes the first step in asking you out. His brothers and father aren’t exactly discreet when it comes to their feelings so he (very reluctantly) lets them have a piece of you by moving back to Gotham for good.

In this timeline, Dolores (the mannequin) exists cause yes. So they don’t really have any real competition to fight with.

They are some times where Damian, Jason, and Dick want to destroy the thing for being so precious to you though.

In any case, like I said in the Platonic timeline. Not many things can go against Time/Space manipulation so if they want to take away your abilities or overpower it’s going to be a hard task to go through.

They much rather manipulate and/or coax you to not use it against their desires.

In time, you’ll be the perfect darling and partner in heroism for the batfam 💜

Hope you liked this Anon and thank you for requesting!

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halfamilliontransgendercyborgs · 3 months

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My Little War Criminals. Clever Shot and Boomstick. (Design notes and lore tidbits under the cut)

So to start with Ocelot, I firmly believe in the theory that most sentient races in the MLP world reproduce through magic instead of sex, so crossbreeds become entirely possible. The being said, Ocelot is the result of a pony (The Joy) and an anthro cat (The Sorrow) having a child, thus the mix of cat traits and pony traits culminating in Equestria's most problematic stallion. I of course had to make him inspired by an actual ocelot and even gave him small whiskers on the joint of his back legs. He's a pegasus so he can do impressive aerial tricks with his guns and to silently stalk from up high. Now for his cutiemark, I of course had to have the revolvers (which implies he earned his cutiemark by switching to revolvers thus his cutiemark was discovered because of Bibo's influence) but I also added teeth! To represent his eternal devotion symbolized in the ideas of hunger and consumption. For Bibo, the most important fact right off the bat is that he's an earth pony. Earth ponies are generally seen as stockier and more adept for survival on the ground, which would include forests of course. I'd like to think that people underestimate Bibo at first because earth ponies are often seen as unable to keep up with unicorns and pegasi, but he's capable enough to more than make up for the lack of wings or magic. I wanted his tail to kind of match his mullet but I think during MGS3 it would be cut incredibly short. I wanted him to have kind of patches on his coat as a sort of "natural camouflage". Onto his cutie mark! It's self explanatory I think. He earned it by killing The Boss and taking her title (meaning he would be a blank flank up until the end of MGS3). It represents his talent for war and duty, because regardless of his personal affiliations, he still finished his mission. It also in my mind kind of represents his misinterpretation of The Boss's will, the interpretation that led to the idea of constant warfare so soldiers never lost their purpose, in a sense he "killed" or "tainted" The Boss's original intentions when he took her life, represented by the blood-stained flowers. Anyways that is it, they are toxic codependent pony yaoi and wanted war criminals. Now for some silly headcanons for them. Ocelot has the cat instinct of wanting to groom not only himself but the people he cares about, but since he only cares about Bibo he's the only one who gets this special treatment. It's more of an affection thing but sometimes a hygiene thing if Bibo has blood on his coat. Ocelot actually has paws instead of hooves but keeps them covered. Believe it or not horses will actually eat meat whenever the opportunity presents itself, so Bibo still hunts and eats random animals, sometimes he and Ocelot will go hunt fish (Ocelot is a kitty he loves fish). Bibo is shorter than the average stallion despite being built like a draft horse. Bibo thinks Nightmare Moon is still out there, he's also from Equestria (hence why he believes in Nightmare Moon) where as Ocelot is from a completely different region of the world. That is all I have to offer, feel free to add your own headcanons to this post if you want.

#My art #bosselot #revolver ocelot #big boss #mgs #mgs3 #mgsv #mgs3 snake eater #mgs ocelot #mgs big boss #naked snake #mgs naked snake #MLP #my little pony #MGS AU

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dduane · 1 year

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Triple Vanilla Ice Cream

I think vanilla gets kind of a bum rap in at least some parts of popular culture.* Vanilla is an incredibly subtle and complex flavor if you're just paying attention to it (and the best ways to use it). So I like to take it out and run it around the block every now and then to see what kinds of changes I can ring on the basic theme.

As a result, this recipe, in a number of variants, is a favorite around here. I’ve referred to it now and then online, but realized (when I went looking, per a request) that I’d never actually posted a full recipe. So here it is.

It’s based on the “sweet cream base #1” recipe from the Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book (which we picked up when it first came out, and I’m really pleased to be able to tell you is still in print. There’s also a Kindle edition, which is a nice plus).

The recipe for this goes as follows:

2 cups / 475ml heavy or whipping cream

1 cup / 240ml milk

2 large eggs

3/4 cup / 170g sugar

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended. Pour in the cream and milk and whisk to blend. (Makes one quart.)

If (as may be the case) you aren’t comfortable with using uncooked eggs, or just don’t want them in there at all, there is also Sweet Cream Base #2:

2 cups / 475ml heavy or whipping cream

2/3 cup / 160ml half and half

3/4 cup / 170g sugar

Pour the cream into a mixing bowl. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time; then continue whisking until completely blended. Pour in the half and half and whisk until completely blended. Makes one quart.

Now, as for the three vanillas: Generally speaking, my idea, when I started doing this, was to use three vanillas from different regions, or at the very least, three vanillas made using different styles of preservation/processing… the general idea being that, if it all worked out, the flavor of the finished product would present a sort of spectrum of vanilla flavors instead of one flat background effect.

The three vanillas I routinely try to use tend to go this way:

(a) An alcoholic-based vanilla extract. I routinely use Nielsen-Massey, though frankly there are a lot of far cheaper ones that will do as well, considering that a number of vanillas are involved in this procedure.

(b) A different form of vanilla, ideally of a different origin, and usually in a paste form. (I like this one, which we get from our local grocery.)

(c) At least one fresh vanilla bean. (Meaning, unprocessed except by the usual drying and curing that’s part of preparing the seed pod of the vanilla orchid.)

(You can grow them, did you know? But apparently they require very specific conditions and are not easy to work with. See this article for details. There’s also a useful article here with a lot of basic background on vanilla and its harvesting and preparation. Yet another of those products that one tends to take for granted, while at the production end it’s amazingly labor-intensive…)

(d) And sometimes I might go for a fourth vanilla, if I had another form around.. such as, for example, a vanilla powder.

Or: I make a pretty fair vanilla whiskey. Recipe: Slice open a vanilla pod. Scrape out the seeds in the usual manner. Chop up the pod. Put all of this in a little bottle—maybe about 100ml, tops—and add whiskey. …Generally I wouldn’t use too smokey a whiskey for this: mostly I use one of the more innocuous Irish whiskeys like Powers or Paddy’s.

Leave this alone in a cupboard for at least a month or so. This is what mine looks like at the moment (and you should have seen how dark it was before I topped it up just now!).

As you use it, you add more vanilla beans and top it up with more whiskey. (And there’s no reason this wouldn’t work with other alcohols. Vodka occurs immediately, or Polish pure spirit, as something that would more or less stay out of the way of the flavor of the vanilla. All the same, now I’m thinking about vanilla gin… Hmm.)

…Anyway! A reminder from the food chemistry department as regards alcohol in ice cream: if you add more than about a quarter cup of alcohol (60ml, give or take) to a given quart of ice cream mix, it will function as antifreeze and you’re likely to wind up with a very sweet and lovely slushie, but not much more. So don’t get carried away. Do your math as you put the vanillas together.

I have little experience with non-machine-based ice cream making, so if you have a recipe for a no-machine version that you like, just make a very plain one and add a couple or a few of your chosen vanillas to it. If you’ve got a machine, the procedure is simple: to your basic mixture, add the vanillas you prefer, whisk them in, and freeze as usual. If vanilla powder is one of your chosen ingredients, I’d mix about half of it into the initial mixture, and sprinkle in the rest of it close to the end of the freezing period, as the ice cream’s firming up. Over the next 48-72 hours in the freezer (assuming you like to leave your ice cream alone for a bit to let it develop its flavor), the dry vanilla’s flavor will intensify.

… And that’s it! Noting of course that adding fruit to this mixture (either in the ice cream, or on top) works really well. Or maybe just grate some chocolate on top, as I did for the pic above.

Enjoy!

(Disclosure: We’re in the Amazon Associates program, so if you use the Amazon link(s) above and buy something with it, we get a wee tiny commission. Just so you know.)

*I mean, I'd sooner have "vanilla sex" with somebody who loves me than "woowoo wild insane multiple-flavor sex" with anybody else. (shrug) Your mileage may indeed vary. But I like mine.

#DDfood #ice cream #vanilla

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bung3665 · 5 months

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Some Dynamics and Character Lore From GGZ

Given the title, this won't cover everything, especially the dynamics that are present for GGZ-only characters, but I thought I'd make a post for Hi3 characters that are present in GGZ for those of you who like to draw fanart/write fanfiction. As well as the fact that I like talking about GGZ.

Fair warning: this is going to be long, I have a bad habit of going into too much detail on things like this, so please bear with me.

For this post in particular, I was going to focus on multiple characters but this ended up being so long I relegated to it just being about Kiana and Mei, and more specifically two versions of them. I might make a follow up post for Bronya/Seele/Sin at another time.

Trigger warning for attempted suicide below. I feel like I should include this just in case.

Short introduction but that's all I have to say before diving into the material.

Kiana/Mei

It shouldn't really be a surprise that Kiana's greatest dynamic is with Mei and only Mei. The two are a lot more blatant with their feelings and relationship in GGZ. However, their relationship is also more tumultuous than in Hi3. They are a good example of doomed yuri, besides the ending to the Reborn storyline, which is bittersweet at the least and good at the most.

The writing of GGZ carries the same theme as Honkai 3rd, fighting against the fate of the world and for all that's beautiful. GGZ tends to explore the darker aspects to this setting, often times mixing in heavier themes while doubling down on the struggles of the characters. At times, it can be almost over the top, but I think its cohesive and still a finely crafted story.

It should come as no shocker that Kiamei is the primary ship of GGZ, it's outright confirmed that they love each other at points throughout the story. Sometimes it is for lesbian bait, but on the whole I think their writing is good and the way they rely on each other for support is nice.

Kiana and Mei are more grounded in GGZ, if I had to word it. They're still incredibly resilient, but there are times where they crack mentally. It happens to Kiana more than it does to Mei (save for the last arc, where it's all about Mei suffering), but seeing them work through these things does deepen the bond they have.

Now with all that said, let's move on to the actual content of this post.

Retrospective

Retro is the story you play when you first start the game, this is the "first half" of GGZ's story in some regard. GGZ's story and setting is divided into separate eras, with the main two being Retrospective and Reborn. Era Zero, taking place before both of them, was never fully completed unfortunately.

In Retro, Kiana and Mei initially start off on the wrong foot. Mei is sort of hostile towards Kiana (a result of her becoming a Herrscher) and Kiana is a bit insensitive to Mei on introduction, but after learning about Mei's past, Kiana manages to get through to Mei after their battle and the two make up.

Will put it out there that much like Kiana in the Hi3 mangas and early Hi3 story, she's a perv here. Yet her crush on Mei is a genuine thing.

Things calm down for a while, but when Bronya enters the picture and Mei begins to dote on her like a big sister, Kiana gets a little...possessive, and jealous. She's quite immature when it comes to romance in Retro. And while Mei is more serene about things she does care for Kiana too.

The two have their own unresolved matters, however. For Kiana, it's finding her dad who went missing when she was young (note: Kiana in GGZ is not a clone like in Hi3, this is the real and original Kiana Kaslana). And for Mei, it's regarding Ryoma's sentencing and his ties to Anti-Entropy. The two bring it up at points and reassure each other that they will find their dads which is sweet.

Things take a turn for the worse when Cocolia attacks St. Freya with the Moonlight Throne battleship. When the ship crashes into the church where the furnace containing the core of the second Herrscher is (yeah they stored Sirin's core there), Kiana somewhat fuses with the core and has a complete mental breakdown when Cocolia reveals the truth about Siegfried and how Kiana murdered him when she accidentally became a Herrscher while young.

This causes Kiana to become a Herrscher due to the rising amounts of Honkai energy in her body. If you're wondering about Cocolia, she dies by heading into the Honkai furnace and gets swallowed up by all the Honkai.

Kiana kills everyone after becoming the Herrscher of Finality (or Herrscher of The End, Final Herrscher etc), and the last person she kills is Mei.

It's a sad scene through and through, and the CGs are great. Even more so because at the end, when Kiana and Mei are floating above the world, Kiana still cries while the world ends.

See you in the next world originates from this scene. Very good piece of music.

So what happens after? The world ends, Mei and everyone die, but what happens to Kiana?

Kiana became a puppet for the Honkai, even after the initial catastrophe that occurred at St. Freya, small groups of people managed to survive the world-wide Honkai eruption. But they too would be wiped out by Kiana.

She didn't move, she didn't think anymore, and she had no emotion. Only when the Honkai needed her to kill whatever remnants of civilization rose up did she move.

This carried on for hundreds of years, or tens of thousands, but by the end Kiana had killed all of humanity.

And then she regained her consciousness and was faced with the reality of how many she had killed and how much blood she had spilled. To save herself from the suffering she tried to end her life, but because she was a Herrscher, she was immortal.

No one could kill Kiana, not even Kiana herself. When Kiana realized this fact she gave up all resistance. She deluded her mind with memories of the past and paralyzed herself on the spear she had impaled herself with, until the day Honkai disappeared from the world.

Quite the terrible end. I won't be covering Reborn in this post, but I thought it would be cool to write about the Fire Moth DLC side story, since their relationship in that story builds off of Retro.

Fire Moth

To understand Kiana and Mei's relationship in Fire Moth, you first need an understanding of the setting. The events of Fire Moth happen during Reborn's story, during the story chapters as a matter of fact.

But Fire Moth itself technically takes place in a stigma space where the world has turned desolate five years after Kiana became a Herrscher and destroyed everything. It should be noted that this is the world contained in the stigma space, so the setting of the story is not taking place in the real world. The backstories and characters are acting upon how they were in Retro (and were materialized by Kyuushou's memories of them).

This is Kyuushou's stigmata space, and she has the stigmata of both Kiana and Mei from Retro. Hence why this world bears so much familiarity to Retro.

Most life on the surface is dead, and the survivors in Nagazora have banded together to form the organization "Fire Moth", or "Moth Who Chases The Flame", under the leadership of an older Bronya.

Houraiji Kyuushou is the protagonist of Fire Moth, and you play through the story as her amnesiac self. Kiana is still the Final Herrscher, and rather than a being who is carrying out the Honkai's will endlessly, or someone who still has enough emotion and humanity to cry, this Kiana has gone deep into nihilism and has become devoid of most emotion.

This is a Kiana who knows what happened thousands of years ago and guilt has eaten away at her and left her with nothing.

CG of Kiana when Kyuushou first meets her in a dream.

To get a good idea of what Kiana and Mei are going through in Fire Moth, how about this short conversation I machine-translated. Might be inaccurate, I don't know Chinese that well! But hopefully it helps. Some of it has been taken from Guns Girl Z Cutscene Interpreter as well, I translated some of the text that was still in Chinese.

(Mei's text is purple, and Kiana's is blue).

Mei…what would you do if the world didn't fall apart?

If it hadn't collapsed...

I would probably have been like an ordinary girl, studying something I like, enrolling in a university I wished to go to, and then starting my own family, and walking through a happy and uneventful life with the person I love.

Kiana, what about you?

For me…as long as I'm with Mei, I'm already satisfied.

Really…don't say such embarrassing things...If it's Kiana then there must be something more worthy of pursuing.

If it's the old me…I do have hundreds of wishes I want to fulfill...

I wanted to attend the same school as Mei, eat our bento together under a cherry blossom tree, and spend our entire lunch break lazily.

I want to travel around the world with Mei, take pictures of us in beautiful landscapes, and keep our figures in a precious photo album forever.

I want to build a small cabin by the sea with Mei, watch the tide rise and fall together, collect seashells on the sand blown by the sea breeze together, and then fall asleep under the embrace of the moonlight.

There are so many more wishes…well there are so many more plans too..

But now…

I just want to stay by your side quietly like this forever.

Mei...please give me your hand.

Yes...

If it's possible, will you stay with me until the end of the world?

Kiana…thank you.

Thank you for loving me so much. For protecting me so much.

But both of us, no, we all, we all understand.

That this is a long-cherished wish that simply cannot be fulfilled.

Because...because all of it...has been destroyed by your hands.

Every promise has been turned into ash... and we can never go back.

I'm so sorry Kiana...I'm so sorry.

It's time for us to say our farewells...

(Kiana alone with Mei's ribbon).

...

I understand.

In fact, I understand it better than anyone.

This is the mistake I made...I've destroyed our future with my own hands.

Such an ending is the best punishment for me.

Alone in a world without you. Even death is too kind for me.

(There's a little bit more to this scene, but it's not relevant to this post).

During the final battle between Kiana and Mei (they're both in the same nihilistic and existential boat here, so naturally they are the two overarching antagonists), when Mei falls in battle, Kiana bids her farewell and calls Mei her "only regret".

At the end of Fire Moth, Kyuushou manages to reignite Kiana's wish from forty-two thousand years ago, which was to bring hope to the world. What Kiana was chasing all this time was a sliver of hope in a world that gave her none.

Kiana relinquishes her existence after their battle, so she along with Mei disappear from the world entirely. No one remembers them and nobody recognizes their names. Kyuushou remarks that Kiana's dream was to live in a world without Honkai, a sentiment echoed by both Kiana and Mei.

Fun fact: if you 100% all of Fire Moth, you get this wonderful CG of the two.

Conclusion

If you made it this far, thanks. I'm a bit out of my element when writing things like this, so if you have any questions on anything I'd be happy to answer them. I appreciate GGZ a lot, so making this was fun and I hope I can do more of it for the others.

I have a nagging feeling this was a bit too long, so I apologize for that. I ended up explaining a lot of GGZ's lore when this was mainly supposed to be about relationship dynamics...oops.

But to summarize, Kiana and Mei's relationship isn't entirely different from what they have in Hi3, but just like in Hi3 they have their own struggles and nuances. Mostly in the formed of doomed yuri but that's beside the point. I like their relationship in GGZ, at times its as simple as a few exchanges before a battle, and at others its the crux of the story itself.

With all that being said, I hope you enjoyed the read!!

#honkai impact #honkaimpact3rd #honkai gakuen #guns girl z #honkai #kiana kaslana #raiden mei #hi3 #kiamei

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dollsorwhatever · 6 months

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Creeproduction Spectra

Figured this would be valuable to post here as well since these are so new lol Despite spending almost an entire day complaining about Creeproduction Spectra having the wrong head sculpt and polypropylene hair, I did actually buy her from Paulmart the day she was first listed because Spectra is one of my favorite MH characters (along with Cleo ofc, and Wydowna- please make a collector or G3 Wydowna Mattel I am begging you) and because I was curious to compare her with my original Sig Spectra that came from the very first batch and is slightly different from later batches of Sig Spectra lol Original on the left, Creepro on the right!

Some things of note: -Can confirm she has poly hair! Appalling. I get that kanekalon is discontinued, but there are nearly identical saran matches for Spectra's original hair colors, so this was purely a result of Mattel being incredibly cheap. Mattel has recently made a pretty significant effort to make new saran batches of g3 dolls that originally had poly, so I really do not understand why they would do this for a reproduction doll that is primarily directed at adult collectors lol It's also horribly layered in a way that I find baffling? Sig Spectra has always had weird layers but the creeproduction has, like, a mullet. I'm not even bothering to style it because she's getting a reroot ASAP.

-Creepro uses the less detailed Spectra sculpt with less prominent cheekbones that was introduced with the final batch of Signature Spectra and used for most of her subsequent dolls until 13 Wishes. It also sits a lot lower on the neck than the original sculpt, which is why she looks slightly less relaxed than my original.

I honestly hate that they chose to reproduce this sculpt instead of the original (her HC doll also lacks cheekbones btw) and she would have been lesser compared to my original even if she didn't have poly. Spectra's original sculpt is one of my favorite MH heads they've ever done so it's pretty annoying to see them using the simplified version for her new dolls, especially considering they made switch in the first place because corporate allegedly thought the original was "too scary" for children. Despite my disappointment at her lack of cheekbones, I do actually really like her face and I find it a little hilarious that I managed to get such a good one after all the complaining I did lol

-While Creepro Spectra has a shorter neck than her original doll, she has a longer neck than the other Creeproductions; this is because the other Creeproductions (both waves) have shorter necks than their original dolls, but Spectra's original doll already had a much longer neck than the other characters. I guess she had some extra neck to spare compared to the rest lol (it's more accurate to say that the neck length is still the same, but all of their heads sit lower on the neck knob than their original dolls for some reason) -Her screening is mostly based on the version used for the late batch of Sig Spectra, but interestingly has a side glance! The only other version of Sig Spectra with a side glance is a variant from her second or third batch (with cheekbones) so it's interesting that they chose a side glance for the reproduction.

-Her earrings match the first batch Spectra (black chains instead of silver like subsequent batches), but the rest of her outfit is more reminiscent of the batches that came after. For example the belt on the first batch is much more simple than the one used on later batches, and the creepro comes with the more detailed belt. -Skirt is slightly shorter and her boots are also darker (improvements imo) -The silver necklace and bracelet shackle are made of a much more transparent plastic than the original (not an improvement) -Her top is mostly the same but the construction is slightly less fitted and the pleather feels a bit cheaper.

As much as I actually sincerely like her, I think it's overall a mixed bag; the poly is the worst part imo. I can look past the sculpt being wrong because she is really gorgeous despite that, but it's unacceptable for any doll to be rooted with polypropylene, and especially not a reproduction. And I can't help but think about how amazing she would have been with her original sculpt. Luckily I can reroot and I look forward to giving her knee length saran hair..... but I shouldn't have to do that! According to the retailer who first got these, they will get a wide release on Amazon exclusively in April of 2024 and he only managed to get them directly from Mattel because they hadn't decided to make them Amazon exclusives until after he ordered stock. So keep an eye on Amazon in a few months! Also according to a very reliable inside source on Reddit, there will also be a new batch of wave 1 Creeproductions in 2024 as well!

Don't buy from scalpers!

#monster high #creeproduction #spectra vondergeist

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charon-cries · 2 months

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how do you determine your color palette...? color is something i have a lot of difficulty with and i really want to learn how to at least figure out a color palette 😅

i guess another way to phrase it is how did you go about learning color theory?

the number one most helpful thing i did for myself when teaching myself to color was to realize that every artist colors differently.

i already knew color theory in advance, i memorized every word i had been told throughout every highschool art class i had taken, but knowing the actual facts and knowing how to apply them are very different skills!

if you haven't learned the facts of color theory, i highly suggest these two videos (thing 1) (thing 2). <- the most important part of watching those videos is to hold them in your head as facts. if watching them doesn't make you necessarily understand how to apply them, that's okay! these videos are to give you the skills to be able to study color.

for a simple example, when it comes to picking colors based off the mood of your piece, pretty much everyone knows that blue will make an image feel more sad and emotional. yellow feels happy, red feels angry, pink feels affectionate.

a great way to teach yourself how to APPLY mood through color is to go back to a drawing you're already very proud of, and just mess around recoloring it. pick one thing you want to work on and try to use your color choices change the emotional effect of the piece.

it's incredibly helpful to use a piece that you have already colored, preferably one you're the most proud of. this is so that you aren't stressing yourself thinking about things like proportion or composition, and allows you to think solely about your color choices.

here's my example! for this example, my goal was to make this one feel far more bleak than my original finished piece.

i achieved this change by shifting the colors to all be more cold and desaturated, as well as making the blacks of his undershirt and tie look more washed out. most people associate cool colors with sadness, and dull colors with defeat. mixing those two makes the mood more bleak. color placement can also change a lot— for this version, i placed a lot of the blush color (which i desaturated significantly) higher up his face, which gives him a more horrified and thoughtful expression

once you've done exercises like this once or twice, a great way to decide how you want to color is to find out how other people pick their colors. one way to do this is color picking studies, and another is to watch youtube videos like this one where an artist explains their personal thought process while choosing colors.

if you'd like to know how i, personally, go about picking my colors, i would be happy to make a separate post outlining my process! it would take a pretty long time, though, because a lot of my process is to not leave things alone until i'm satisfied with how they look

the thing about being a self-taught artist is that everyone tells you that the way to get better is to "just practice," but that's not the whole story! art is a skill you have to build, and i've found the most effective ways to improve are to do studies, and to learn how to spot your mistakes and problem-solve until you can fix them.

i hope this was a good way to get you started on learning how to internalize and apply color theory! the more you study, and the more you learn, the better your results will be

youtube

#color theory #echolocating #art tutorial #art tips #artists on tumblr #digital artist #tma #the magnus archives #jonathan sims #how to color

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who-do-i-know-this-man · 1 year

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I made a mistake. Several actually. Several very severe mistakes. And this post isn't meant to make it all ok, I have accepted that many are rightfully mad at me, but I do hope that I can at least have some context to the mistakes I made and why I made them.

First let me say that I am privileged. That much is true. I am a white man in the american suburbs. I have the luxury of not only not being personally affected by many social issues but not even having to witness them. But I still want to be a good person. And part of that is learning about these social issues by talking and interacting with people online. But I'm still not perfect. I'm barely an adult and I have a lot of growing to do as a person. And hopefully with this in mind it will make some of the mistakes I will go over just a bit more understandable.

Back in mid march I made the submissions post for this blog, and did not expect to get as many as I did. I then spent a month taking as many submissions as I could and putting them in a list. All in all I ended up with over 2000 characters. From that alone it should be understandable why I couldn't research every one before releasing the bracket. I even ended up with many mistakes like incorrect labeling and duplicate characters.

However the first true mistake came later. I was making the poll posts themselves and I got to Lance. I knew I should have done something at the time but I didn't exactly know what. It was one poll and I was doing 16 polls per day minimum, but ideally double that so that I could have a backlog of posts. So I didn't spend as much time thinking about the issue as I should have and the conclusion I came to was that at the end of the day it was a fictional character, and if I properly content warning it it will be fine. Anyone who is sensitive to that imagery can block it. This is largely where my ignorance came in. While it may sound improbable to those who do know more I promise you I genuinely thought that I was doing no harm. And while I won't lie and say I am now a master in the topic now I do have a better understanding of the harm that this decision caused. Additionally my pride got to me. I am very proud of having "the biggest bracket on tumblr" but I had already had quite a few be disqualified for being duplicates or real people, so I didn't want to make the bracket any smaller and lose prestige. This was far from the main reason I kept him in, but it was morally wrong.

People's response to the original poll was mixed. There were people who immediately asked me to remove him, but others were on my side in saying that he should stay since he's a fictional character and his morals don't matter. So I defaulted to the stance I already had, and did nothing. This was a mistake. Above all else I should have prioritized everyone feeling safe and comfortable on my blog.

But the last night it was about an hour later then I should have been asleep and my brain was incredibly stupid, and things started to go down hill. I got the first ask in a while about Lance, and I decided to put an end to the issue. My way of doing this was doing a poll. In my mind this was my way of accounting for my ignorance. I don't know much about how severe this issue is, so I'll put it in the hands of people who did.

This poll also got mixed results. Some said I should just have the conviction to eliminate him myself, but others brought up things about that character I didn't know, like how he apparently has a character arc of learning fascism is bad, or that he has other visuals where he's wearing different outfits. I also got messages from fans of the series who thanked me for giving the character a chance. This made me feel comfortable in being a "neutral party". However with the notes I felt that I should "do this right" which unfortunately led to me doing the exact opposite.

I deleted the original poll, where 70% were in favor of disqualifying him. I didn't think it was a big deal since it had only been up a few minutes, but this was yet another mistake. I made a new poll, which included info that had been told to me since the previous poll. But the problem was that what I had actually written was not good. It was almost midnight at this point, so while I tried to remain a "neutral party" I ended up having the info show a very clear bias. And considering the character in question, people began to wonder why I was trying so hard to keep him in the poll. This led to many replies on the poll that began to overwhelm me. I was starting to realize the mistakes I had made and just how deep of a pit I had dug myself in. I panicked. I turned off replies and deleted all the ones on that were on the poll so that I could say everything I wanted to say interrupted. This backfired, and led to people going to the reblogs instead. And me deleting all the replies looked BAD. While I was trying to get the things I wanted to say out the post had spread. Spread even outside of the people who normally know this account. People who knew nothing of the history and structure of this blog, who thought that I had seen a character who was a Nazi and thought "sure come right in" and I was now trying desperately to keep him in.

This understandably made people very mad when that was their perception. Many many people were saying terrible hurtful things to me. Their heart was in the right place but even now I do not agree with the kind of harassment some stooped to. At this point I was in a full blown panic attack. Every bit of damage control dug me deeper into the pit. I decided that I needed to deal with this situation with a clear head so that I didn't make more mistakes in a panic. I deleted the poll about Lance's elimination and went to bed.

That brings us to this morning. I have announced that Lance is disqualified, and deleted the original poll containing him. I promise you all that I will try my hardest to prevent anything like this from happening again on my blog. I want to make things as right as I can. And I hope now you all will believe me when I say that I am not a Nazi, or an antisemite, I'm just a privileged idiot who made some dumb mistakes.

#long post

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7grandmel · 2 months

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Todays rip: 02/03/2024

One-Winged DJ

Season 7 Featured on: The Year of Grand Dad Sound Selection [Side A]

Ripped by duuzu, digboye, COCONABE, l4ureleye, Netyasha Roozi, Jiko Music Performed by Chase Beck

youtube

You may have noticed that I try to keep an air of suspense when doing posts on the King for Another Day tournament such as Thank You, Everybody!. That is, of course, to not spoil the victor of Season 4 Episode 1's year-defining event - but at this point, it's a bit of a fruitless endeavor to try and uphold. Because DJ Professor K's victory celebrations haven't just been contained to his awarded day-long takeover during Season 4 Episode 2 - the takeover that gave us incredible rips like AIN'T NOTHIN' LIKE A CHUNKY BEAT, 88811, Ska Cha Cha (Rotten Mix) at an absolute breakneck pace during the SiIvaSummer All-Star Festival. Because during that takeover, a new flame was kindled - a flame by the name of Jet Set Radio Evolution.

Hideki Naganuma's style of sample-filled funk music is DJ Professor K's headlining ripping source, the one most closely associated with the game that the character originates from. Yet its a style that can be expressed in so many ways, not needing to be derivative of any prior existing songs from the two Jet Set Radio games - September, for instance, is able to sound authentically Naganuma-esque whilst being built off of a song as far away from his style as possible. Jet Set Radio Evolution, then, is an entirely made-up game - its name and logo deriving from a declined proof-of-concept, but its "soundtrack" completely made up by the SiIvaGunner team. This is far from the first fake game on the channel, and not the first one to be done without much of a shred of irony (Kirby Rip Attack is due for coverage on here) - but, notably, its a fake game born specifically to keep DJ Professor K's impact on the channel alive in the Seasons past his takeover. And, well, it took a few Seasons, but during Season 7, the team started going truly ham in utilizing its true potential.

There are a number of these Jet Set Radio Evolution rips I want to cover on here, both ones from DJ Professor K's takeover and from its revitalized usage during Season 7 - but to me, it was One-Winged DJ that really showed just how much flexibility rippers have with Naganuma's style of music. One-Winged Angel has long been seen as a sort of legendary track to rip due just how extensive of a song it is, a song that has a distinctly menacing feel to it that I can't imagine is easy to translate into a rip. Rips like One Winged PSYcho - V.S. Sepsyrop feel like absolutely herculean endeavors, and during Season 7 in particular we saw an absolute tidal wave of rips using it, as if it were just any other meme source in the channel's backlog and not this legendary 7-minute long work of art. Hen'yoku no Piraman was the first of these I covered, and while One-Winged DJ is likely far from the last, it still manages to feel like it sticks out from the crowd in just how dense of a sound it has - likely a result of how many people contributed to its creation.

There's the obvious highlight, of course: Chase Beck, the voice of DJ Professor K himself, returns to the role with new lines to supplement the original choir in latin of the original song, and it immediately gives the rip a charm to it, especially all these years after the original event and after Chase Beck's last "needed" performance as the character had long since passed. Before that even gets to kick in, though, its hard not to notice just how many different parts of Jet Set Radio's soundtracks are utilized right from the beginning: a bassline and voicelines echoing That's Enough, samples and pacing from Sneakman, the interlude's melody broken by the noise and chaos of The Concept of Love, and all throughout using small little sound effects and one-second samples from all over the games' soundscapes.

This is the kind of rip I could sit here and dissect for pages on end, yet I believe the point has been made abundantly clear already. In a Season already FILLED with celebration of every part of SiIvaGunner's life, One-Winged DJ is an absolute flex of a celebration, reminding us all of why DJ Professor K truly earned his win whilst showing just how much there is to still be done within the ever-appealing Naganuma style. I'm beyond proud of the rippers involved in how this rip turned out, and hope that the Jet Set Radio Evolution rips continue to impress into Season 8.

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rhapsodynew · 13 days

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"Pictures from the exhibition". How Emerson, Lake and Palmer decided to turn Mussorgsky into a rocker — and what came of it

Nowadays, the combination of rock and classical music is no surprise to anyone. And anyway: what can surprise us at all? But in the post-Woodstock era, the impossible seemed possible, and the most daring experiments found an appreciative audience.

On March 26, 1971, the band Emerson, Lake & Palmer took to the stage of the city hall of the glorious city of Newcastle to play the music of the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in a way that no one had ever played it before.

Mussorgsky wrote "Pictures from the Exhibition" in the form of a series of piano pieces dedicated to the exhibition of works by his late friend, the artist and architect Viktor Hartman. After the composer's death, the work was repeatedly arranged for the orchestra. The idea to adapt the suite came to Keith Emerson after he and his wife attended a performance of "Pictures" at the Festival Hall in London in April

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The very next day, Emerson purchased the sheet music and invited bass guitarist Greg Lake and drummer Carl Palmer to rethink the score in the form of a rock piece. Emerson, Lake & Palmer used several pieces from Mussorgsky's suite, adding their own pieces. Emerson and Palmer took over the arrangements, Lake added lyrics to the three movements.

In December 1970, ELP performed "Pictures" in London with the intention of releasing the record as an album. The concert was even filmed. However, something went wrong, and the musicians were not satisfied with the result.

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The second attempt took place in March of the same year. The performance in Newcastle was recorded on a mobile studio. In this region, ELP had strong public support. More importantly, there was a real organ in the hall. Emerson promised not to bang on the keyboard with a hunting dagger, as he had done earlier during the concerts of the band The Nice.

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Keith Emerson played five different keyboards on stage that day. With the growing popularity of progressive rock in the early 1970s, electronic keys became ubiquitous and for some time even competed with the electric guitar in terms of visual appeal. The audience was literally mesmerized by the witchcraft with sounds and timbres.

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The album begins with a leisurely "Walk", but gradually increases the tempo, like a kettle heated to a boil. The fury with which Keith Emerson hammers on instruments during the recording of "Pictures" is amazing. It becomes clear why he was called Jimi Hendrix Organa.

Having launched Mussorgsky into the stratosphere, ELP complemented the album with Lake's gentle song "The Sage", "Blues Variation" and the turbulent whirlpool of "The Curse of Baba Yaga" with a whirlwind of Emerson keyboard textures, which in places pulls on natural hard'n'heavy.

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The completion of the album — the majestic "Bogatyr Gate" — to some extent anticipates the "Bohemian Rhapsody" of the Queen group.

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"Pictures from the Exhibition" was released in the UK in November 1971. Atlantic Records postponed the release of the record in the United States, fearing failure. But after "Pictures" topped the import chart a month later, the album was hastily released overseas in early January 1972. By April, the record had sold over 500,000 copies.

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The mix of classical and rock was a novelty that intrigued young listeners. Interest in the "Pictures" was spurred by the growing sales of pianos and piano lessons for teenagers.

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The original may not need rock processing, but the idea of performing a classic suite by a Russian composer from the 1800s in front of a screaming rock crowd is incredibly audacious. And, of course, I need to thank ELP for the fact that under their influence thousands (if not hundreds of thousands!) of listeners decided to listen to the real Mussorgsky and expanded their musical horizons.

In 1999, "Pictures from the Exhibition" were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. But not in the version of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, but on the album by pianist Vladimir Horowitz. Which is quite fair.

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charlottan · 5 days

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"Ship of Theseus" by Victor's Midnight Revival ranked

As everyone knows, the famed jazz fusion band Victor's Midnight Revival is no stranger to revisiting old songs. And nothing exemplifies this better than their standby "Ship of Theseus", a jam they have returned to again and again on EIGHT different albums throughout the years, so far! Here's a FAN RANKING of each iteration of this timeless tune.

8. Ship of Theseus II, from 1962's Dare

VMR's 13th studio album was a venture into post-bop as well as the stylings of avant-garde jazz, with mixed results. It featured the first (studio) revisiting of their song Ship of Theseus. It's serviceable, though not for me.

7. Ship of Theseus VI, from 1989's Tribute

The Revival had been through a lot by the turn of the 90s. Many stylistic shifts as well as the departure of four of the band's original members meant the the band was further out from its origin than it had ever been yet. They were treading uncomfortable waters, and it showed. Their smooth jazz classic Tribute might be a terrific album, but I don't think they were entirely comfortable enough with it to do Theseus justice. It comes off tacky and irresponsible, like they were forced to put it out by their label. Only at this point, they were self released on their own label, Midnight Records. They had nobody to blame but themselves! However, I would still recommend listening to this version, as it is a very unique look at the creative minds of the band at the time.

6. Ship of Theseus I, from 1955's Victory

Their breakthrough post-bop classic featured the very first iteration of Ship of Theseus, and it's quite solid. Nothing near as great as it would become, but promising.

5. Ship of Theseus III, from 1968's Lotus Flower

This is where it gets interesting. Lotus Flower was perhaps the first sign of things to come for VMR, as it saw them shaking up their sound massively with a voyage into psychedelic jazz fusion. The horns are hazy, the arrangements are complex, and it makes for a prime example of this terrific song.

4. Ship of Theseus VII, from 1996's Jazzology

This is where the Theseus really starts to shine. Jazzology was a monster of slick and cool nineties acid jazz, and its interpretation of SoT is no exception. Brassy, in-your-face, funky, it is everything the song is meant to be.

3. Ship of Theseus V, from 1980's Victory Lap

The final album made by the band with their original lineup intact, Victory Lap was a monolithic achievement by the band, encompassing nearly every style they had played with in the 32 years since the release of their debut dixieland album Victor's Hot Nuts in 1948. This time the piece was rendered in groovy disco, and to great effect. Instantly danceable yet recognizable and catchy, Ship V is constantly in my listening rotation, even moreso than the rest of this terrific album.

2. Ship of Theseus VIII, from 2003's Kick Out the Jams

Mwah. A masterpiece. This is what the song was made for. Their first jam band album, and what a strong start. This iteration of the tune stretches the first 13 minutes of the album and features terrific playing by every member of the band. It's tight, it's fun, it makes you wanna dance. Nothing more to be asked. An all-time favorite VMR track for me.

Ship of Theseus IV, from 1972's Inner Power

Here we are. My personal favorite studio performance of SoT, from their jazz-rock monster of an album Inner Power. I couldn't put this any lower in the ranking. It is simply the best version of one of their most signature songs that they ever put to wax. Features an incredible solo by the band's own Victor Bruno on trumpet. The rest of the band brings the heat as well, especially Jackey Russo on the guitar and that tight, tight Paul Conti on drums. Magnificent.

#victor's midnight revival

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bookaddict24-7 · 15 days

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REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

EVERY WEEK I WILL POST VARIOUS REVIEWS I’VE WRITTEN SO FAR IN 2024. YOU CAN CHECK OUT MY GOODREADS FOR MORE UP-TO-DATE REVIEWS HERE.

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135. Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SILVER IN THE WOOD was a bite-sized fantasy novella with a surprisingly cozy romance that put a bit in the backseat for the main events of the book. I think Tesh did a great job of exploring past regrets and what it can be like to live with those regrets, and just how scary they can be to face when it's time.

There's also a great chunk of magic, wonder, and folklore that aids in the idea of not judging others by the way they look, or in some over-the-top situations, by the stories and rumours heard around town.

I liked that Silver gave the MC the benefit of the doubt and lowkey loved his fascination with the older man.

I think this was definitely a little surprising novella that would be a great summer read for anyone who likes to read outside while the sun is slowly setting.

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136. Drown Country by Emily Tesh--⭐️⭐️⭐️

While I enjoyed DROWNED COUNTRY, I think I liked the first book more. The story still had that whimsical feel to it, and the concept of hunting the monsters was more interesting than the first book. But I think the first book did a better job of creating that strange cozy yearning between the characters.

The story is told from the POV of Silver, resulting in the other character being almost...flat? It was like he was lost in the background for a majority of the novella.

And although I enjoyed that monster hunting aspect, I think it also took away some of that cozy and woodsy feel that I originally really liked about the book. I won't even lie that I had to restart this one a couple of times because I wasn't entirely sure I was getting the full story because the tone change from the first book was so obvious.

I think the first novella on its own would be sufficient for any future readers!

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137. Mindy Kim & the Big Pizza Challenge by Lyla Lee--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The MINDY KIM series never fails to disappoint.

In this cute addition, we get some pretty big events happening in Mindy's life. Not only is she doing trivia, but she's facing the trauma and reality that her family looks a little different than her classmates' families, and the child-of-immigrants worry that our parents might not be able to keep up with native-English speaking parents. Plus other pretty big life events I won't spoil in here. All I will say is that I got teary-eyed.

We also saw the bully in action again--I think there should be a future book dealing with said bully, especially since we know a lot of little readers will be able to relate.

I loved this addition and like always, Lyla Lee has created another memorable MINDY KIM novel!

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138. The Girl From the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Loved. Loved. Loved.

I loved the whole thing. The small town, the way the friends slowly began to wonder what was happening, and the level of character growth that we get to see for the MC was great. It was hard to watch her push those she cares about away from her because of her fear, but it's also incredibly relatable (especially at that age).

The artwork was beautiful and body positive, which I think makes it easier for younger readers to see themselves in the story.

Overall, this was cute and had some pretty great messages in there.

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139. My Love Mix-Up!, Vol. 5 by Wataru Hinekure (writer) , Aruko (illustrator) , Jan Mitsuko Cash (Translator)--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One of my favourite things about this volume was the beautiful level of communication. Especially where there is a scene where the MC is contemplating something horrible that happened and his boyfriend pointedly tells him that they agreed on better communication. I LOVE TO SEE IT.

Volume 5 also tackled something the characters hadn't quite faced yet: discrimination for their relationship. I DID think that before this, they were having a surprisingly easy time of it. But I did appreciate that this was finally tackled and that it was even a bit over-the-top--almost as if making up for the times it wasn't mentioned in the past. It also dealt with a huge stereotype of queerness--the fact that queer people are promiscuous. Huge side-eye.

This is probably one of my favourite volumes of the series--not just because of the dealing of a difficult topic, and the communication, but also because of the cute little bouts of jealousy and the obvious character growth and relationship growth. This was adorable and I loved every moment of it.

I am SAVOURING this series--kind of like I did with BLUE FLAG because I know I will have a bit of a hard time finding another series like this when it's done!

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140. Be Careful What You Wish For by R.L. Stine--⭐️⭐️

This GOOSEBUMPS story irked me. Some of the stories grab my attention immediately and have me hooked, this one just made me feel sad (as well as annoyed.) The concept was interesting and I was curious about what would become of the MC.

The MC is bullied (because middle school is a cesspool) and she honestly has reached her breaking point. From the moment she finally snaps after a particularly bad moment of bullying, she is immediately painted as the villain--a child who has mentally reached her breaking point.

Not only is she punished for her emotional reaction to her bully, she is also punished for helping an older woman who grants her three wishes (as a favour?). On the surface, the opportunity to make wishes seems like a blessing, but the MC's inability to escape her bullies and her life, which has become woven into these horrible girls, seeps into her wish making. In the end, Stine makes her the villain because how dare this middle schooler wish for an end to her bullying?

While it was interesting to see how these wishes would morph and changed, I found it both sad and kind of crappy that the bullied girl is the one who ends up getting screwed over.

I know it's just a short little horror book, but I'm wary for kids who are bullied and they see themselves becoming the villain of a story in their attempts to free themselves, or heaven forbid, mentally be unable to cope any longer with the bullying.

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141. A Court of Thorns & Roses by Sarah J. Maas--⭐️⭐️⭐️

Re-read April 2024

I think re-reading this as an audiobook helped more than when I read this back in 2017.

When I read this the first time, it literally felt like a fever dream. I went in expecting the world (because my friends had loved this book), and came out heavily disillusioned. It felt like the took forever to get to the interesting parts and I was very bored--but it still read quickly? Sorcery.

Now, the second time I've read it, I went in with zero expectations and that definitely helped. I sort of remember what to expect and I think seven years have helped me see this story a little differently. It was still a bit long-winded in getting to the interesting parts, but I did enjoy reading this and knowing some truths that are later twists in the story. I giggled when certain characters were introduced and questioned how a love could be found there--but redemption arcs, I guess.

This is an interesting re-reading experience. Will attempt re-read of book two eventually.

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142. It Came From the Closet by Various--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

IT CAME FROM THE CLOSET is a total gem of an essay collection that will hook you from the very first essay, until the very last piece of work.

My friend has been wanting me to read this ever since they picked up their copy sometime last year. I hedged on following in their footsteps because essays and I have a mixed relationship. But once I started, I was so glad I finally did. While some essays were more impactful (for me) than others, I absolutely know that every single one will affect every reader differently.

One of the things I love about this collection is how it challenged me to view horror differently. As a queer person, some of the concepts introduced in IT CAME FROM THE CLOSET never even occurred to me. But having read these theories and analyses, I can definitely see it so much now.

I grew up LOVING horror films. It was a tradition for my much older sister and I to watch them every Friday night. We would rent a multitude of horror movies from Blockbuster (that were not suitable for wayyyy underage me), get some candy and popcorn, and sit and binge these films. Two of the films that have haunted me since childhood were Jaws and Candyman, which are both featured in essays here. I was a baby gay who didn't fully understand her queerness until adulthood, but having read some of these essays, a lot makes more sense now.

Since there are so many essays and many passages were highlighted by me, I will only focus on the ones that were especially impactful to me:

"Imprint" by Joe Vallese is an analysis of the film Grace. I haven't watched this film, but this essay was incredibly vulnerable and so heartbreakingly beautiful--but in a weird way, it was also hopeful? Like, in spite of the pain and the loss, Vallese still fought through to find their happy. The honesty in this essay took my breath away because while yes, many of these essays touch on personal experiences, I never thought they would reach this level of depth.

"Three Men On A Boat" by Jen Corrigan analyzes Jaws and it was so incredibly eye-opening to read this interpretation of the film that once made me so scared, I couldn't even take a bath. The undertones of queerness explored in this essay will forever have me watching the film in a different light. Also, this damn quote: "By not coming out and declaring myself, I have the clinging feeling that I'm not being queer enough" (Corrigan 97), which I connected to because even though I'm out, having not dated anyone that isn't a cis man, makes me feel like a fraud. A lot of these essays helped me in that forever internal battle of what is "queer enough".

"Long Nights in the Dark" by Richard Scott Larson is about Halloween. This essay...just wow. The heartbreaking correlation of childhood innocence and the confusing process of figuring out your identity and who you are was intense and so important. My heart broke for young Richard. It was a rough essay--not just because of the obvious, but because as children, we sometimes ask ourselves the same questions because we are young and we truly are full of this naive and traumatized curiosity. Also, what an interesting interpretation of the queerness in Halloween!

I want to give a shoutout to Joe Vallese who also edited the collection. His introduction was POWERFUL.

Anyway, read this essay collection. It was incredible and eye-opening--especially if you're a lover of horror films!

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143. As You Walk On By by Julian Winters--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

AS YOU WALK ON BY is one of those books that you need to cook before it gets into the meat of the story. It took a hot second to get to the scene that inspired the BREAKFAST CLUB comparison, but when it did, I was hooked.

Although, I really liked the MC, he had so much growing to do. I think it was incredibly understandable, however, that he had to grow into the person he was going to be by the end of the book. It's hard to face some of the truths in your life. It's hard to let go of the safety net that is that old childhood best friend, even if they say a few homophobic or sexist things--because they are all you know and if you have them it means you're not alone. It's hard to find your identity when, for so long, it was intertwined with this person who you so blindly loved. And while it's okay to have the good memories with that person, they don't erase that need to let go when you've outgrown each other.

I thought the parental relationship in this book was SO IMPORTANT. Some parents get so hung up on making sure their kids don't follow in their footsteps without thinking that sometimes those are the very steps they want to follow. I liked the father and son relationship because it was imperfect, but full of so much heart. It also showcased the importance of letting your children thrive and listening to them rather than just steamrolling past them with all of your personality-killing expectations. Although, I can sort of understand this when the context of race is brought into the picture.

The romance was cute and honestly, I loved it. I saw it coming from a mile away, but I'm just happy that the MC got to experience it during the wildness of his adventures in the book. I LOVED the Bi-rep. There was so much representation and it was done so well! I loved all of it!

AS YOU WALK ON BY was a great reading experience full of complex relationships--both new and old--and realistic character growth because old habits are very hard to break.

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144. Ask for Andrea by Noelle W. Ihli--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Just wow.

I completely understand the hype behind ASK FOR ANDREA. This book was eerie, creepy, uncomfortable, terrifying, and heartbreaking. I'm not normally a thriller reader, but this book had me ENTHRALLED. I couldn't look away.

ASK FOR ANDREA also made me think of the real life murder victim and if they are haunting their respective killers, just waiting for them to be caught.

I think the scariest and saddest thing about this book is the complete randomness of it all and the despair one feels while watching him try again and again to kill once more.

Incredibly emotional, unique, and addicting, ASK FOR ANDREA is a must-read for any thriller fans!

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145. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa--⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

When I tell you that I have had the boxset of this series on my shelves for over 10 years, I'm not being facetious. This series has haunted me through my 20s and straight into my 30s. I don't know why I never picked them up, because THE IRON KING was a pretty fun read!

I love the idea of this girl, who is actually very special, is bullied and she has to prove to everyone that she's more than just the ordinary human girl. These are some of my favourite storylines because I love a good underdog who's not actually an underdog.

Also, this had a lot more romance than I was expecting. I didn't read the synopsis, so I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I didn't realize there would be a love interest. Granted, it makes sense and I'm glad there was one (and a well-written one at that). But this was written in the early 2010s, so I should have known better. The enemies to friends to potential lovers trope was adorable in this one--although, I was sort of rooting for a different love interest.

Overall, this was fun! There was always something happening and the action scenes were pretty awesome. That ending scene was super badass and it was completely worth the build up.

I'd recommend this if you're looking for another fey book to read. I think because it's older, it's underrated. But if you're a fan of Holly Black, I think you're going to love this one.

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147. Dungeons & Drama by Kristy Boyce--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My friend reading this finally convinced me to try it out and I'm so glad I did!

DUNGEONS AND DRAMA is such a cute contemporary read that it'll leave you feeling giddy by the end. I may have messaged my friend asking her why I was feeling so giddy over these two fictional characters.

Okay, so this book has the typical fake dating trope, but of course it'll probably lead to more because how could they not when these two have such great chemistry between them? But beyond their relationship, I loved the friendships that the MC gained from this "grounding". That and the new appreciation she gained for her dad.

My biggest complaint is the mom in this book and how there is a lowkey undertone of parental alienation towards the dad. He's made to be the villain (initially) because of his love for his store and how (according to the mom) the store was more important than his marriage. I found that while the MC does gain her own opinion about her dad, the mom kind of gets off easy from this initial alienation. That and the fact that she both treats her working at her dad's place as a "punishment" and that she lowkey underplays how important theatre is to her daughter. I get that she did something wrong and should definitely be grounded, but jeopardizing your kid's passion and talent to teach a lesson is a very risky punishment.

But all of that being said, I DID enjoy the conflict resolution and how everything came out in the end. This was adorable and despite the few parental things that gave me the ick, this story was adorable and quick and so, so fun. Especially watching them fall for each other.

If you're looking for the perfect summer read that will have you hooked until the end, DUNGEONS AND DRAMA is the book for you!

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Have you read any of these? What were your thoughts?

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Happy reading!

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imaginethezeldaverse · 10 months

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"Ah, sorry I'm late, Bludo, it took a while to find the right herbs" your apology sincere as you carefully handed the large jar to him. Being a medicinal herb specialist, you were always happy to help the ailing chief with his problems. Admittedly, the Gorons were happy to have you, his original pain medicine beginning to lose its effectiveness after having taken it so many times to soothe his aches and pains. In you would swoop, like an angel with leaves (as Bludo loved to joke) to mix a concoction of Korok fronds, Goron hot spring water and broken-down hearty truffles. The result: a salve capable of relaxing the muscles in the boss's back - only this time with more potency and without the risk of tolerance buildup. The Goron patriarch beamed with joy, knowing he could count on you to fix him up something nice for his awful back was worth the wait, he figured. He was incredibly grateful for your talents, and even moreso that his assistant-turned-entrepreneur legend was the one to introduce you. You'd met Yunobo in your travels, crossing paths in Hyrule post-Ganondorf as you tended to the wounded and the sick. Though you didn't possess the same healing qualities as the Zora did, you were blessed to have the capability of mentally archiving a vast amount of knowledge of plant-life and all of their properties. He was sweetly reserved, that you remembered - but there was fire in him (as you would find out quite literally!) and he often aided you in transporting people since his Goron strength allowed for it with ridiculous ease. From there, his journey back home was at its beginning, and he begged you to come with him - his chief in desperate need of something to relieve his old back of its soreness. The rest was history. "Ha! Ya always know exactly when to show up, kiddo" Bludo guffaws, taking the jar from you and planting his hand over you to rub the top of your head. You laughed softly at the old man's affections. People often warned you he was rough around the edges, but you swore Bludo had been nothing but kind to you. Whether that was because you supplied him with the holy grail of pain relief remains to be seen. "Anytime, Bludo, I'm always happy to help you," you affirmed, matching his grin with your own. "Y'see, and you're nice t'boot," he continues, finally reeling his hand back from your now tousled hair, "Now I know why the boy likes you so dang much, you're a one inna million." You feel your heart initially flutter at this information, but that pales in comparison to the sheer thump you feel in your chest when you look behind Bludo. The "boy" in question - was standing not far off from you both; his initial intention was to welcome you back from herb hunt. As soon as the words left the Boss's mouth, Yunobo froze. You can tell by the way he looks ready to run that this was something you weren't supposed to hear; at least not this way and definitely not from anyone else. His cheeks color several shades of crimson, and although you want to look anywhere else to give him some reprieve, you can't help but have your eyes glued to his humiliated expression. Bludo looks between the two of you, unsure of exactly what's happening. "Yunobo..." you begin, earning a yelp when the Goron hears his name. A few steps forward, only a hair past his mentor do you stand when you ask "...Is that true?" His world is melting all around him as he processes your question. Is it true that he looks forward to your visits every time you come to Goron City? Is true that your laughter dances like a song inside of chest? Is it true that he thinks you're the most beautiful, intelligent, wonderous person he's ever had the pleasure of meeting? Of course it was. It was all true. But he wasn't ready to tell you that yet. Given who he is and the power he wields, he wanted more time. More time for you to get to know him, to feel truly comfortable around him. More time to veer past President Yunobo of YunoboCo, or Sage of Fire Yunobo - but rather simply Yunobo, just a Goron from the city. He swore he planned to tell you. You've been on his mind so much already, he just...he just...! Within a mere second's time, Yunobo curled up into a ball and zoomed out toward Death Mountain - actual fire trailing behind him as he rolled away. Your hand came to your face in surprise, you'd never seen him be so agile before! Once the initial shock of his departure wore off, something sad crept into your heart. For all the long months that you had visited and stayed in Goron City, all the lovely conversations at Hyrule Castle, the shared meals, the many many times you reassured one another through your own individual weariness'... You were honestly hoping it was true.

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rriavian · 8 months

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Why a Vortex? - The Corinthian in 1x10

This was intended to continue my last post about the Corinthian being smart about how he handled the fight with Dream but it got derailed so. Yeah. Still writing part 2. I'm gonna have to reorganise my blog to make things easier to find. As always this is show based because while I know comic spoilers I haven't read them yet. Is this also technically part 1 of a series of posts discussing the final convention confrontation?

Erm. I’ve already had to shift the theme of this so it might be.

I’m focusing on the plan to use Rose to fight Dream because I’ve always thought the plan itself was more than a little stupid. It might be because we never really understand enough about what a dream vortex is (which yeah I have thoughts about), but the whole ‘replace Morpheus as the heart of the dreaming’ always felt like an assumption rather than a truth. Rose can pull down barriers between dreams and, when taught to, restore them but she can’t control the dreams themselves. She can’t replace Dream. It's made very clear that her powers would destroy her too, eventually, alongside everything else.

This is a bit of an aside from the main point but, while I think the existence of a vortex is a massively unfair and sadistic phenomenon, I do think it serves to show what Dream is quite nicely. He’s not only managing the incredible amounts of information in the subconscious but he’s keeping it separate. Distinct. Preserving individuality.

He allows privacy.

You can yearn in peace, fear in peace, not alone but…protected. The most innermost self is allowed to remain hidden. But the vortex strips that away. It’s an invasion, a deconstruction.

But back to the main point.

So the Corinthian may (in my opinion) have a stupid plan. But it’s indicative of his own perspective and interpretation of Dream and links directly to why he’s rebelling in the first place. I don’t actually think he entirely believed that Rose could replace Dream. I think he thought she could wound him, maybe even kill him, but not become him. The Corinthian’s final taunt about being regretful he won’t be around to watch Rose destroy Dream is—interesting to me, because I never believed she really could, and I think even for the Corinthian it’s a lovely fantasy that he’s enjoying.

He wants Rose to force Dream to feel how he feels.

The Corinthian wants to set Dream up against his own terrifyingly powerful opponent. His own inescapable threat. He wants Dream to try and fight someone who’s already decided they’re against him and will not be swayed. Which is also interesting because it’s concentrating on the result, allows for an interpretation to go either way, compatible with both positioning Dream as wrong, or Dream as right. If Rose is right to destroy Dream then it suggests the Corinthian does understand why he’s being uncreated. But if Rose is wrong to do it, just as Dream is wrong to do it, then perhaps he wants Dream to understand that through the threat of a vortex.

Either way it’s an attempted lesson.

An attempted nightmare - at giving Dream one of his very own, to prey upon something the Corinthian thinks needs fixing in his creator. Arguably a nightmare that started the moment he decided to ensure Dream would remain trapped by Burgess for a significant length of time.

For all he told Lucienne she would be unable to change Dream, the Corinthian is still seemingly acting to argue his own case.

Perhaps deciding whether uncreation is right or wrong in the traditional sense isn’t the point at all. Or not the whole point. In the context of the rest of the exchange at the convention the Corinthian's original intent might have been a mix of critiquing Dream's reasoning as well as his chosen method of punishment. The core of that might be that it’s not actually about the morality of the decision (that’s a conundrum for the one making the choice) but more the feeling of the one being acted upon. To me, his point is more 'your reasons make sense to you but your actions in response to them are still wrong' and I've got a 100 year long thesis on why I am actually still performing my function perfectly.

Here is my presentation on my conclusions so glad you can attend.

But Dream's response, while giving more of an explanation as to why those conclusions are wrong, essentially is 'yeah no you haven't proven what you think you have, you may have actually proven you're worse, and I'm still going to uncreate you'

So the Corinthian is like fine.

Here's my back up thesis have fun dealing with a vortex.

So then we get the 'I'm only sorry that I won't be around to watch Rose do the same to you' line.

You could say that when the Corinthan's attempt at demonstrating why he's right doesn't work he closes the attempt at a dialogue entirely. The nightmare/lesson he's set up will still come to pass though. Last words are important, and these are the one's the Corinthian chooses. He’s making his rejection clear by supporting Rose, but also still wants Dream to understand him, chooses words that allow him both. Even if his creator still doesn't understand his position, the Corinthian has found someone else who is going to make him understand it.

In the end he at least wants Dream to see that whether right or wrong it's a position of complete powerlessness.

No agency, no recourse to alter one's fate; it’s uncreation, it’s complete destruction, and that’s what really matters about it. The Corinthian wants Dream to really feel that. To feel something other than what he sees as ‘just another Tuesday as the ruler of the Dreaming’ because to the Corinthian that final moment is everything. Right or wrong it’s wiping away all that he is. The last line is his way of being like 'see how you like it'.

It’s ‘you destroyed me’.

It’s ‘You destroyed me and I wish I could stick around long enough to finally watch you understand the desperation of what that feels like’.

#dream of the endless #the corinthian #sandman meta #as always I can talk for days about just one line #this has been in draft forever but I wanted to read over it a couple of times #corintheus #technically

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