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everlastingfable · 3 years

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a jumbled mess of my thoughts about voltron

This’ll probably be the messiest post you’ll ever read. I’m done trying to finish this and edit it into something coherent, so I’m just combining the 3 drafts I have written out into one massive post. I doubt anyone will read this whole thing, but each draft is a sort of rewrite of the last, so there’s a lot of overlap. But there’s also a lot of new thoughts too as I kept thinking about this. There’s also a lot of unfinished thoughts.

There’s mostly negativity in this btw. This fandom had/has an amazing ability in making you think that this show was utter garbage. on par with riv//erdale or s//pn, but it really wasn’t. Like many shows they had weak points, it was never perfect, but it’s much better than we’re told to remember it as.

Intro from Draft 3 because I liked the way I started it:

This is all of my thoughts about Voltron, the show itself and the fandom. I have tried to write this post out for over a year or two now, so it was originally intended to be my final thoughts about the show. Obviously, it’s evolved since then into whatever this is. There may be some things that I’ll be wrong about, because I’m not about to dig through hundreds of discourse posts and old interview videos to prove a point that I doubt anyone’s gonna care about. This will 100% be based on my thoughts, opinions, and experiences.

That said, I don’t even know how to begin to describe how much I love this show. I’m probably one of the few people who have no regrets about enjoying this show as much as I do. I’d wholeheartedly recommend watching it, because it’s genuinely a good show. Voltron did the unimaginable for me. I don’t usually enjoy sci-fi stories. I especially don’t enjoy mecha stories. Yet somehow, Voltron combined the two and made a show that I loved so much I can’t stop thinking about it even though it ended over 2 years ago.

Draft 1: thoughts about a year after it ended without rewatching any seasons since it ended

It’s been about a year since voltron ended. I never wrote my thoughts about s8/the show then so here it is now. Because I decided to wait a year I honestly don’t remember a lot of specifics. But I still have a lot to say about it. This is very long and is basically everything I have to say about this show. I love voltron. It’s been an important part of my life during college. 90% of all papers I wrote were about voltron. But as much as I love it, I won’t deny that it fell apart at the end.

Note: I tried to categorize these thoughts so I don’t get off topic and can talk about everything fully. But because they overlap so much there’s definitely some minor repeats when I connect two parts but decided to hold off talking about it all the way until the right section.

PRODUCTION

This is something I’ve expressed concern over while it was airing, but in a span of 2 and a half years, they premiered 78 episodes. That’s a lot, especially when you consider that production for s3 started after s1 premiered. There’s a lot of really good voltron review videos out there that aren’t just “oh I’m so cool I hate voltron” but there was one that talked about how the production was a mess and the writers couldn’t make up their mind for the endgame ship. And while that doesn’t sound like an important issue, it really does show when it comes to how characters are written together and (I think) the fandom war.

Summarizing what that video said because I don’t remember who made it, the writers/producers never made up their mind on which ship was supposed to be endgame (klance, sheith, allurance, kallura). And this really does show in the show itself. I don’t like klance. I especially hate it because of my experience with the fandom, but I won’t deny that they were sometimes written romantically. The same goes for sheith. And that’s the problem.

I don’t think the world building parts of the show was fully developed either. Shiro was supposed to be a teen like everyone else but then he was an adult. His and keith’s relationship was honestly vague for a good while. I don’t think anyone really knew how each characters’ relationships with each other was supposed to progress. Was allurance always supposed to be endgame? Because they didn’t really interact that much until like season 6, and then it was kinda sudden from what I remember. There was very little, if at all, parts where we were shown oh allura might like lance romantically. Keith’s relationship with the main cast didn’t exist for like 3 seasons. It was messy.

Speaking of which, keith disappeared for a good portion of the show. I assume it’s because steven yeun was busy. Which is fine but then I think about how quickly voltron came and went, I wonder why they couldn’t slow down a bit so they could still have steven voice keith during those episodes. Maybe it’s because of how much I love keith, but he honestly felt like a central character to me.

If I think about teen titans, for example, this show also had 5 main characters. Sometimes certain characters would get a spotlight for a season, but all-in-all they were fairly equally represented. It didn’t feel like robin was the main character. But that’s how I feel about voltron. Keith, and shiro to an extent are the main characters. A good portion of the plot relies on them. Shiro got kidnapped, keith leads them to the blue lion. Shiro is the leader with keith has his right-hand man and they mostly interact with each other. So when shiro “dies” and keith takes over, it starts to feel like keith is now the main character. Now he’s the leader and the arc is about him growing into becoming the black paladin and stopping lotor, who is his main enemy. But then he disappears.

Again this is most likely because of my bias towards keith, but the episodes after that felt lackluster. Lance didn’t really get his character growth to become a good second-in-command. Because that development was supposed to be based around keith. :P. A big part of lance’s growth is to learn to stop needing to feel that he’s better than keith. And him accepting keith as the black paladin was a huge part of it. But with shiro as the leader again lance loses that development. Keith’s not in the picture anymore, and the person in-charge was already in a leadership position and has nothing to learn by being there.

Before I go way too deep into my thoughts about the plot/characterization, I do want to mention the animation. The fighting scenes are amazing and one of the most beautiful 2d animation I’ve seen. That is, when it is actually animated and not just the camera panning on a still image. Here’s where my biggest concern over the time comes in. 2 years is absolutely not enough time to animate that many episodes. I was genuinely worried for the animation company because it could not have been a good experience. And yes, we got more episodes sooner, the quality definitely dropped and it’s a real shame. Who knows when we’ll get another american cartoon in this style. I love this animation style but it takes time and a lot of skills to do, so not that many companies do it. I honestly wished they took their time with the show not just to get more time to animate, but also to flesh out some of the plot.

PLOT

As hunk said in one episode, they don’t linger on dramatic events that just happened. This show is very fast paced, and that��s not a bad thing. But they never took the time they needed to really feel the weight of everything that happens. Keith’s galra heritage reveal was basically swept under the rug. So was the shiro clone, lotor’s death, zarkon’s death, naxzela, and so many more. In general, that was a big problem with how the episodes went. If it wasn’t for the sheer number of fanfics covering those topics, they were really swept under the rug. It honestly kinda felt like the writers didn’t know what to do with the aftermath of their reveals. But some of these were pretty essential to the plot of the story.

Keith’s part galra! So he doesn’t look it but there had to be obstacles with voltron forming the coalition. He’s part of the race that caused this war. I honestly think we should’ve seen that reveal become part of the plot, or what was the point of it? They could’ve just as easily wrote keith to be a regular human just like everyone else. Taking the time to add that part of his character needs to have some significance in the story. And yeah, they had krolia appear but she wasn’t really a significant character except to kinda magically fix keith’s problems. In general it felt like they forgot parts that they were foreshadowing with keith. Why could he turn purple sometimes? Did that quintessence he was hit with fix him or help him hide the galra parts? Why does he look so human? What is up with him having that quintessence sensitivity? I’m all for shows ending with some questions unanswered because sometimes it’s impossible to answer it all and let it feel natural, but this just felt like they forgot or decided it’s too much of a hassle and just ignored it.

Okay going into more specifics now, s8 was kinda meh. It especially felt bad because it came out the same day as spiderverse which had a very similar villain motivation, but objectively done better. I think honerva’s motivation came out of nowhere. We see in the flashback episode that she was so intent on getting knowledge that it literally destroyed daibazaal. So, it was established that her motivation is knowledge. Even though she lost her memory and regained it, as haggar she was still very focused on quintessence. We know she was gathering a lot of it, and maybe they said it and I forgot, but we never knew why. Family wasn’t really shown as a motivation for her. Even with lotor it didn’t seem like she wanted to be a family again, but instead was using him for her own unknown motivations. Anyways, the season felt awkward. And the new dynamic they had really needed more time. The last season should’ve expanded to be at least 2 more. It would’ve fit a lot better imo. S1-2 would have zarkon as the main villain, s3-6 would have lotor, and s7-8 would have haggar, who was also the puppeteer throughout the entire show. But she didn’t appear for s7 and her motivations didn’t really make sense in s8 so it evidently felt rushed. There were also so many major characters in s8 we needed more time to see them interact.

So the ending with allura becoming constellations. Gonna be honest that whole last part had me confused. Especially with the fact that I barely remember what happened, why are the old paladins like trapped in the lions? I could excuse the other 4 but zarkon? Especially a zarkon that’s not corrupted? It was weird and didn’t make a whole lot of sense, and that’s all I’ll say about that. I don’t even want to try to suggest an alternative because I think that whole last half of the season is so messy it can’t be fixed. But it was so obviously pandering to the fandom it hurt. Lance getting those marks was so obviously referencing when people wanted lance to be altean in response to keith’s galra heritage. The shiro/curtis kiss was very “look see he is gay and not just because we said so” while nice, was very weak (why wasn’t keith in the shot?).

Despite my complaints, I remember liking s8. I really liked the addition of the atlas, even though it didn’t feel like we were watching voltron anymore sometimes. S7 had to be one of my favorite episodes since s2. Not to say that s7 is better or worse, but I really like it because it felt like a genre shift. I usually don’t like space sci-fi or mecha stories. Voltron somehow managed to combine the two and make me love it. S7 did not feel like either of those. First, a good half of it took place on earth. And I believe two episodes didn’t even have the main cast, and when team voltron finally made it to earth, voltron wasn’t even there until the final battle. I genuinely loved it. I think it was a very well done invasion/apocalyptic story that doesn’t get told in animation that often. But if I think about s7 with the rest of the show, it was awful. It broke up the tone the show usually had and it was a very different way of storytelling that voltron didn’t have before. It wasn’t a space sci-fi mecha story, it was an apocalyptic action story. Voltron was so unimportant they sat on a moon for episodes. It stopped becoming voltron and started becoming a spin-off.

I do have to add that I absolutely loved the color themes in s7. We already had purple for the galra, but in s7 it was very obvious that alteans are themed blue and earth is themed with orange. I loved it so much and it was great. I do like that they gave shiro something to do. Honestly not killing him off in s2 made him an awkward character afterwards. But I didn’t like that they brought back sendak. There was no explanation for it and it wasn’t good imo. He didn’t really do anything besides conquer earth then die. Haggar was also absent the entire season which definitely didn’t help her storyline in s8 because we didn’t know what she was doing the entire time except abandoning everyone who was loyal to her.

I’m usually not a fan of time skips, it has the tendency to gloss over character development or create glossed over recap. Honestly I wish voltron spent more time over the blade of marmora massacre or just the bom in general. They received no rest. Literally everyone part of that group died except for kolivan. Speaking of that episode, there was no explanation for how keith was able to know where macidus was about to appear and that honestly bugs me. There’s so much about keith we don’t know. He has so many abilities we were just never told.

Again a lot of problems within team voltron is that there was never any follow up on things that happened, like keith leaving the team. He becomes the black paladin and no one bats an eye. Lance did make one comment about keith leaving but then it wasn’t ever mentioned again. I get that the writers/producers wanted the dynamic the original had, but they didn’t take the time to work up to it. Keith wasn’t a natural leader, but he suddenly is because he spent 2 years on a space whale with his mom and a space wolf. Like I mentioned earlier, voltron feels like keith is the main character but then they dropped him for a few episodes, realized that he’s important and added him back in while saying “oh he went through a time skip so he grew into the role he needs to be in now”. It feels like a cheap pay off.

I’d like to specifically talk about my thoughts on each season and work back but honestly I don’t think I can remember s3-6 separately. So they’re being chunked together.

Lotor had the potential to be a really great villain. But he had to be foiled with keith. They have a lot of similarities that I think could’ve really played off well together. Lotor isn’t really allowed to have a leadership position. Yeah he was technically in charge while zarkon was recovering, but haggar didn’t really allow him full control. But, he was a great leader. He knew how to read his enemies and form an alliance. Meanwhile, keith had a leadership position thrusted to him, and frankly he wasn’t a good leader. He tends to keep to himself so he never really has to make decisions with a team. It could’ve been great, but shiro had to still be in the story. I’m honestly conflicted about this because on the one hand, I think it really ruined character developments for the main cast, but then I loved the clone shiro plot line. I think keeping shiro prevented keith from growing. He was able to remain dependent on shiro instead of actually bonding with the rest of the paladins. And of course he had to just go awol. Also, lance didn’t really get to have as prominent of a role as I think he could’ve had with keith.

These seasons are also when the lions stopped being sentient robots that specifically choose their paladins to just really cool spaceships. We don’t get that level of bonding that was so prominent in s1 and 2. That’s also something I’m conflicted with. I think the lion swap was a great way for character developments, but it also removed a lot of it. It kinda made the bonding feel useless. The swap also changed the dynamic of the group. Instead of shiro and allura being co-leaders, and everyone else feeling like they’re on equal footing, it felt like Keith was the leader with lance being a needed right-hand man. Hunk and pidge were off doing their thing and allura was a leader but also not. Maybe if they had spent more time working with this dynamic it would’ve felt better. But they didn’t and it didn’t. Voltron also implied that allura was the only one that could control the castle ship, but then she goes to become a paladin and who’s driving the ship?

I do wish we could’ve gotten more about the altean colony and the reveal about lotor’s plans, but that got overshadowed and forgotten by the clone shiro reveal. Maybe I just missed it, but I wasn’t sure what the galra empire and lotor were collecting quintessence for. Was it just to make mechs to rival voltron? Lotor’s death was also very unclear.

The coalition was a much needed thing, but I think very badly executed. They were gathering people from malls. These people are regular civilians who probably don’t know how to fight or fly a ship. I thought it was really weird that they were just getting regular people (aliens?) to sign up like they’re applying to be part of the army. But we never see them maybe join the rebel force matt is part of to learn how exactly to help. I think about avatar and how they also had a rag tag group of people to fight against the fire nation, but these weren’t just regular people living in a village. They were either warriors or very skilled benders. The voltron coalition was just regular people. That genuinely annoyed me because the voltron show just felt like those army propaganda ads, but exciting. Not to mention it was a very hard to watch episode.

It was definitely making fun of how the fandom complains about how characters are getting reduced to a certain characteristic. But it wasn’t done in an entertaining way like the ember island players episode from atla because some of those were legit complaints (like hunk being the fat/food guy) and that stuff wasn’t resolved. Like the ember island players made fun of sokka constantly talking about meat or katara crying all the time, but the show made it very clear beforehand that these characters are much more than that. Is hunk really more than the food guy? As far as the show mentions, the only things he’s done was make the machine to help find the blue lion, and help save the balmera. All of which was in season 1. After that hunk honestly took the backseat in voltron.

I mentioned earlier, but the time skip on the space whale felt like we were cheated out of keith’s character development. I mean we got development, but we didn’t get to see it. The vlog short showed that keith believes a lot of his problems stems from not having a mom (and a dad) in his life. But instead of seeing keith learning to trust and open up to people despite having so many people in his life leaving him, we get a cute montage of him with his mom. As if it makes sense that two years with his mom would fix everything. (side note, I know a lot of people were saying how obvious it was that krolia was keith’s mom, I genuinely did not know until she said so at the end of that episode).

I’m not gonna talk about my thoughts on s1 and 2 because I’m pretty sure I live blogged those and honestly I don’t think I remember it.

CHARACTERS

Now I’m finally talking about the characters and I’m starting off with keith as if I haven’t talked about him enough already. I love keith. He’s undeniably one of my (if not the) favorite characters ever. And he’s obviously a fandom favorite if we’re considering the two biggest ships in the fandom. Or maybe he really is just the secret main character of voltron. We know so much about him, for someone who loves keith, it’s great. We basically know his entire backstory, and yet we know no one else’s (except maybe lotor but even that’s iffy).

I never rewatched a single voltron episode since it ended, and I can’t watch any of the connected shows (meaning shows that have the same ppl that worked on it or the same fans, think dragon prince and she-ra) because the fandom was the absolute worst one I’ve ever been in and parts legit trigger me. I am fascinated with fandoms. I love it. I chose my major because it was the closest I could get to just learning about them 24/7. But the voltron fandom was so incredibly toxic and over two ships? Honestly the fandom itself was a major reason why I couldn’t get super invested in the later seasons. I get afraid when it seems like a certain ship might happen. I actually hoped that certain characters just didn’t interact. (I’m not gonna get much deeper in this because I don’t want to touch this topic with a ten-foot pole, at least not now) Aside from that, I think that the plot and characterizations for voltron got really messy post s2. The lion switch was never handled well imo, and post switch the lions lost that sentient personality that was established in the first two seasons. It also didn’t make sense aside from the writers wanted everyone in the original lions. Or at least, we never got the proper character developments into those roles. Keith left right after becoming the black paladin.

I think another major problem with the show is how some decisions felt like pandering. I remember hearing that they didn’t kill off shiro because he was a fan favorite, so he had to stay for marketing and to make more money. But then keeping shiro alive would’ve derailed the original plot idea. I wish I could see how the story would’ve played out with shiro staying dead.

Draft 2: rewatched the show then started writing this

So I wrote a draft of this like a year ago, realized I don’t remember the show much, so I rewatched the whole show and started rewriting my thoughts.

Pre-rewatch thoughts: It was a good show that was poorly executed

Mid-rewatch thoughts: it’s a really good show that just has some weak points (the second half of lotor’s arc, team voltron’s importance in season 4-6 it feels like a lot of filler episodes until keith shows up again)

End-rewatch thoughts: it's actually a really good show. It has some weak points and some really strong points. Season 8 was confusing though. I went through most of it going yeah okay I guess that can happen.

Final verdict: it's a genuinely good show

What went wrong

It ended on its weakest season, which was also the most abstract and different season. While the main antagonist changed throughout the seasons, it still continued to be the galra empire. Even when lotor joined, the team was still fighting fractions of the galra empire. Meanwhile, season 8 didn’t have any conflict with the galra. The antagonists were honerva and the alteans, who are very different types of villains compared to the galra. There was also little build up to that change. Sure, we got to experience that briefly in season 3 when they went to the alternate reality, but I don’t think that was built up well. Also, the protagonists and the audience are just not prepared. We don’t know how the alteans work like the extent of their abilities, but we were given dozens of episodes to learn about the galra. As a result season 8 just wound up with me feeling confused and thinking “uhh sure I guess they can do that, that makes sense maybe?”

It could not pick who its protagonist is. Yeah the five humans plus allura (and coran?) are the main characters but most shows with multiple major characters still focus one one character as the protagonist. Like atla has aang, adventure time has finn, umbrella academy has five. Voltron just never picks someone and the group constantly changes too, so you end up having to not focus on any character for the sake of time. Of course not all shows do that. Teen Titans had each season focus on a particular member of the team, and tbh I was wondering if that was what they were planning for the show, especially when season 2 was so Keith focused but guess not.

It feels like they did not have the time to fully flesh out the story. Voltron came and went so incredibly fast. They had 8 seasons (technically 6 if you group up the halved seasons). But also the show only lasted 2 years. It honestly horrifies me to think of the time crunch everyone on the team was going through, especially the animators. You can see the drop in quality as there were very few scenes that involved actual animation for the middle bulk of the show. So then, how much time did they have to develop the story, in addition to execs telling them what they can and can’t do. There’s so many arcs that seemed to start then get forgotten, and I don’t blame the writers for that at all. Although I wish we could’ve learned more about Lance and the Altean sword and Keith with his apparent quintessence sensitivity, they probably just didn’t have the time to plot those out.

It had too much outside influence. Such as, the writers wanting to kill off shiro, but then being forced to keep him on the show because the execs said to. And honestly, the fandom. For example, the whole last episode with Lance getting the Altean marks (an obvious omage to ppl wanting Altean Lance).

What went right

There’s a reason why the show became so popular (aside from being a reboot of a popular 80′s show) and it’s because of the characters. I’m not about the whole “we become attached to characters because the writers did them wrong but we fans can see the potential and that’s why fan works are better” bs that I see going around this site all the time. The first season particularly wrote these characters so well. They’re relatable but also intriguing enough for you to care about what’s going to happen to them.

Some thoughts regarding popular fandom discussions:

It’s a plot-driven show with character-focused fans

I like to think of there being two ways to tell a story: by being character-focused or plot-driven. Plot driven shows are ones like atla, young justice, legend of korra, etc. There’s a conflict that gets introduced and the story revolves around that conflict. Character-focused shows are ones like adventure time or we bare bears, they’re less concerned about a plot line and focus more on the characters interacting with their world. Of course all stories incorporate both parts, just some focus more on one than the other. So, here’s where I think a lot of the issues about voltron and the fandom comes from. Voltron is a very obviously plot-driven show but the fandom is very character-focused. I won’t deny I loved the episodes about keith. Season 4 and 5 were hard for me to watch because I missed my boy. But that’s where the arguments come from. People get upset that their fav isn’t in the spotlight

It didn’t queerbait

I understand watching a show for representation, I really do, but voltron is not that show and that's okay. Not every show has to be revolutionary in its representation of marginalized people. I won't pretend to know the harmful tropes for marginalized people. My consumption of media is not usually diverse. But I will stand by my stance that a large part of voltron's later seasons is about the casualties of war. So of course a lot of people died. I also firmly believe that the producers had a much easier time adding diversity to their own created characters than the main voltron characters, because of rights and all that complicated nonsense. So as a result the ones who were more expendable and could die were also the same characters that they could add diversity too.

I’m gonna add the definition of queerbait here so we’re all on the same page: Queerbait is a marketing technique for fiction and entertainment in which creators hint at, but then do not actually depict, same-sex romance or other LGBTQ representation.

But here’s the thing. We were told at comic-con or one of those cons that Shiro is gay, and he had a boyfriend. They actually gave us that. Yeah it wasn’t as explicit as She-ra got, but that’s another point for later. There was no lying about it. Shiro is canonically gay, and his boyfriend was Adam. If anything, this whole thing came out of wanting Keith in a relationship with Shiro or Lance. Yes. I will admit, there are plenty of scenes between Keith and Lance, and Keith and Shiro that can be read as romantic. Someone correct me if I’m wrong but did any of the cast members tease the possibility of Kl//ance or Sh//eith (VAs don’t count, sorry but they don’t really have a say in the story)? Because unless they did, and they did repeatedly, the fandom queerbaited themselves. So many people in the fandom were so certain that Keith would be in a relationship with one of them, there was basically an all out war. Even if there was a chance, did you really think the creators (who were pretty active in early fandom days) would continue that development? It was so so toxic they were forced to shut off any possibilities of that.

In regards to minority characters

Again, I'll admit vld is not the place to go for real, proper representation. Their characters tend to be characters that happen to be a part of a minority rather than a minority character. wtf does that mean? Well, you can swap (earth) races for just about any character and it wouldn't make too much of a difference in how they act. There's some lines that wouldn't work like Lance's "I'm just a boy from Cuba" but other than that there would be no significant change. Of course this goes down to preference. Would you want a minority character whose struggles reflect those in real life and as a result be defined by that aspect of themselves, or do you want a character that just happens to be a part of a minority group but whose life is not really affected by that?

Draft 3: months after the rewatch, mostly an attempt to reorganize the previous two drafts

I’m gonna start with the negatives just to get the ranting off my chest. Season 8 was bad. Yeah. No argument there. Although I wouldn’t say it was bad in the same way Game of Thrones and Supernatural was bad. Rather, it was an interesting and complex premise that didn’t have the build up it needed and honestly needed a few more passthroughs to iron out some parts. At worse, I felt it was confusing to the point where I just accepted whatever new worldbuilding thing they threw at me. The issue with Season 8 vs Seasons 1-7 is that Season 8 had a completely different villain, and a brand new cast dynamic. We got 7 seasons (65 episodes) developing the Galra as the villain. We got to learn who they are, their motives, how they operate, etc. Not only that, but they were pretty basic and easy to understand villains. They’re conquerors. They don’t have any sort of magic, they really just use brute force to attack and enslave the planets. In striking contrast, the Alteans in Season 8 weren’t conquerors. They didn’t care about controlling the universe. They also had magic abilities that our main characters don’t understand and didn’t explore. Season 8 had villains who could create illusions, mind control, and manipulate quintessence. The Alteans are leagues beyond the Galra in terms of complexities as an antagonist, but they didn’t get nearly enough time to be fully developed.

Also, Season 8 essentially doubled the cast size. So despite the fact that we have yet to see much of Keith-as-the-black-paladin Voltron group dynamic, now that screentime is being balanced with the MFE pilots and other Garrison characters. Essentially, there were too many characters, and too little time to flesh out the ideas of this season. A side note, Haggar’s (Honerva?) motivations were lame. I think it would’ve been much more interesting if her plans were just to continue the research she did 10,000 years ago with the rift. That would’ve also brought back the rift monsters which we never got an answer for. What even are they? Instead, her goal to have a family again is really weak. Even in the flashbacks she never showed any care for the more familial aspects of her life. It didn’t make sense for that to be her drive. It also didn’t help that Season 8 came out on like the same day as Spiderverse and the antagonists for both had the same goal, but Spiderverse did an immensely better job.

Another thing that didn’t make sense to me was Keith giving the speech to the rest of the Galra. He is not the right character to give that speech. Sure he’s Galra, but he didn’t even know for most of his life. For him to say “we” like he’s also a citizen of the Galra empire feels so weird. He never grew up with the Empire’s influence, and we never saw him experiencing Galra culture with the Blade. He learned about the Galra as an outsider, and despite the fact that he’s part Galra (he doesn’t even remotely look Galra), I don’t think that gives him the authority to say a speech like that. The speech is similar to Zuko’s at the end of ATLA, and that makes me feel like it would’ve been a lot better had Lotor said it. I think even Kolivan would’ve been a better fit than Keith.

The more I’m writing about Season 8, the more I’m remembering just how messy and confusing it was. Additionally, the last bit of Season 8 was so obviously pandering to the fandom it gives me second-hand embarrassment. Lance getting those marks was so obviously referencing when people wanted Lance to be Altean in response to Keith's galra heritage. The Shiro getting married was just to make it more obvious that he’s gay, but had no build up. (There were definitely more but I didn’t write myself a list and I’m not rewatching that season)

Second, “Voltron queerbaited”. [this was posted before here]

Speaking of which, Voltron premiered summer of 2016 and ended in winter of 2018. That’s about 2 and a half years where they aired 78 episodes. That’s stupid fast, especially for an animated series. I’m constantly worried about what the people working on that show had to endure. For sure, Season 3 with Shiro coming back wasn’t written until at least Season 1. I recalled the execs demanding that Shiro not be dead since he was a popular character. It’s honestly concerning how little time they had to work on the show, and it unfortunately showed. In the later seasons, a lot of the shots were just still frames that moved across the scene. And the plot line with Lotor could’ve used some work. Although, I think Shiro being forced in there was also a reason for it being so shaky.

I honestly hate Seasons 4 & 5. I cannot tell you what happened because my brain keeps erasing it. Obviously, the lack of Keith had a huge impact on my opinion of those seasons, but it also felt like a whole lot of filler episodes, and not the fun ones with character development. With Keith mostly out of the picture, and Lance becoming the right hand of Voltron, that should’ve been a great time to develop Lance to become a second-in-command. To have him go through an arc where he overcomes his insecurities. It would’ve also been an amazing time to develop his and Shiro’s relationship. But we didn’t get any of that.

I genuinely believe Keith was supposed to stay the black paladin and Shiro wasn’t supposed to come back. Keith would be an amazing foil to Lotor. They’re both half-Galra. They’ve both been given a new leadership role that they don’t want. The middle arc always felt so weak to me, and as I mentioned earlier, the Allura/Lotor interactions were awkward. It feels shoehorned in because someone has to interact with Lotor and I guess the writers decided Allura was the best option?

Season 3-6 felt like the epitome of what happens when showrunners are forced to do whatever the execs say and have no time to properly develop their story. I’ll forever be bitter at all the character and relationship development we lost because of that. We never got to see Keith really learn to open up to the team and start to trust others. But Keith still had to get to that point, which is why I assume they had the time jump for him. It’s so disappointing because we lost what could’ve been a great character development. It also made Keith being the Black Paladin again feel cheap. We didn’t get to see the struggle he had to be the leader Shiro saw he could be. He was just suddenly leading them and they worked like a proper team.

Voltron also had a lot of plot holes. Now, I don’t expect shows to answer every question, because it’s impossible to tie everything up and leave no questions unanswered in a natural way. But, there’s a lot of things that felt like the beginning of a plot line or honestly needed some answers. Like, Lance shifting his bayard to a sword. What was the point of that if it was never mentioned again? It felt like that was an important start to an arc for him that just got forgotten. Also, what was up with Keith’s quintessence sensitivity? How was he able to sense where that druid was. How did he know he could summon his bayard to him. I think the part that bugged me the most was that Keith was the only one who did that. Also, Keith’s eyes becoming slitted during his fight with Kuron was never addressed, and I really wish it was. It felt like such a throwaway moment that could’ve been interesting to explore more. Although I’m not too upset with that one as I think we were given enough to piece together a reason for it.

#have fun with this monstrosity of a post #over 7k words #personal #my thoughts about #frxstguardian #kingofthewilderwest #honestly the only two people this post was intended for #I give up!!

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fnafandfriends · 4 years

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Aaaalrighty finished the book so here’s my thoughts.

Overall, I think that step closer is my favorite one from the series so far! Maybe it’s because there was less death and two out of three had happy endings and I’m a sucker for that stuff but I liked it. Anyway onto what I’m using for my au

Step closer: okay this one surprisingly doesn’t change much other than the context and the ending. This takes place at the freddys archive, (which is just the main Freddy’s this au takes place at) and Instead of foxy being the one to seemingly put the curse on Pete, it’s a demon pirate (when I say demon in my au context I just mean a spirit with hella bad vibes who causes problems on purpose, not beings from hell) said demon was hiding from Marion in the back when Pete and his brother snuck in for that whole scare scene, foxy was having mantinence done and saw this kid being a bully and was like “okay that’s not cool” and decided to spook the kid to sort of get back at him for being a bully, he did the whole “you gotta loose an arm and an eye to be a pirate” thing and the demon was like “oh? What a great idea!” And attached himself to Pete thus giving him the bad luck he has. The story follows the book (though the seeing foxy in the mirror and dreams was just his brain messing with him, the pirate demon was red and had a hook so he assumed it was foxy) up until the end, Pete narrowly avoids the truck and meets chuck at Freddy’s. They have a sibling bonding moment and resolve to fight foxy so they go to confront him and foxy is all like “laddie! What ye be doing here so late? And what happened to Ye face? How’d you get hurt??” And is just being generaly a sweetheart and is worried about the kids. This confuses them obviously and when they ask about the whole curse thing foxy is even more confused. Then Marionette shows up and is like “DEMON! LEAVE THIS CHILD AT ONCE!” And then the pirate reveales himself like a final boss and Marion fights the guy, foxy pulls the kids away from the brawl and just breaks and apologizes because he didn’t want Pete to get hurt he just wanted to spook him because he was being a brat. So they somewhat talk it out and figure out the full story while Marion shouts profanities at a demon. Marion defeats it and banishes it thus releasing Pete from the curse. Pete definitely cries and foxy just decides then and there he’s protecting these kids now. As far as he’s concerned they’re a part of his crew. Uh the parents are still divorced but they work something out and are able to stay on good terms. Pete and chuck join the cryptid club btw. Pete gets his license and Emma is just hyped that they have another person in the area who can drive.

Dance with me: okay similarly this one doesn’t change much other than Setup and context. Circus baby’s is closed so isabelle got her prize at some other cheap Freddy’s knockoff. The glasses are also one of a kind. They’re a haunted item and whoever found them was like “we can make these a gimmick prize!” And put it in the prize area for a stupid amount of tickets. The spirit haunting them is just a ballerina, she just can pass as ballora if you squint, and kasey just assumed it was ballora since that’s what the instructions said. Said glasses actually can allow the wearer to see spirits (and nightmares) but ballerina lady only let kasey see her. Because uhh yeah karma. Anyway story goes as it does and kasey turns her life around. Some time later she ends up running into marie who’s in the area for some job thing helping out her family. They end up bonding over shared interests and Marie is able to get the weird glasses story out of kasey, so marie gives her the cryotid clubs number as like a “If you ever need someone to talk to” and winks because let’s be real here kasey is Marie’s type so that’s how the club gets another ‘adult’, though i don’t think kasey can drive yet.

Coming home: okay so I knew before hand that this story couldn’t fit in my au but I can use some aspects to add to what I’ve already got. See I already got susies home life figured out, she has a single father and the mother was never in the picture, but Stanley did what he could to keep his daughter happy. So while Samantha isn’t susies sister, she is susies childhood friend. This story helped me add some details to susies personality and life, like how I’m giving her Synthesia, with the whole associating sounds with color thing (going to do some more reaserch on the condition so I can get the details right). Also Susie naming the tree in the front yard is too precious not to keep. Samantha will not be making any appearances in this au other than maybe a name drop. Because when Susie died she was eventually able to move on and avoids Freddy’s and Freddy’s like places like the plague. (Also I’m weird with characters who share a name with me if she did become a big staple I’d have to call her Sam or something) anyway Gretchen is still susies doll, but she gave it to Samantha before she died, Samantha still has the doll.

As for the stitchwraith story. I’m playing with the idea that the Stitchwraith that the detective is chasing was Nightmare Ennard, but the actual creature committing those crimes is something else, definitely a cryptid. So detective Larkson and NM ennard gotta buddy cop together and find the actual stitchwraith which is uh... idk what kind of cryotid he is, I’m going to wait till that side story is concuded before I settle on anything serious

Also uh I’m still calling the pit rabbit Stitch/Stitchwraith, see he just heard the name somewhere and decided “I like that it’s my name now” but I’m sticking to calling him Stitch for clarifications sake.

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sabrinajennings · 4 years

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A Word About Character Development: Appearances

So this is a super hot button topic in which opinions are widely varied, and I'm actually kinda afraid to put my thoughts out there. So definitely don't think this post is meant to be dogmatic (btw NONE of my posts are meant to be dogmatic). I actually struggle really badly with writing characters physical appearances, so most of my opinion here comes as a reader.

1. Ditch the numbers: The only time I would ever describe someone by their height and weight would be to the police, and even then it would be their height and clothes size. I would never ever describe one of my friends to another using their size as a description and I hope they wouldn't describe me that way either. Yet for some reason I read descriptions like "She's 5'11", 125lbs" (btw that's probably an unhealthy weight for someone that tall). Reading a description from a friend (or love interest) that way sounds unrealistic.

It doesn't come off any better in the mirror either. How often do you stand before a full length mirror and think about your appearance in numbers?

Exceptions? If your character is especially tall or short their actual height may become relevant (I have an adult MC who is 4'11" and I have mentioned it.) otherwise words like tallish or on the petite side or average all work fine.

2. Instead try proportions: If you must describe your character's body (and you may find you can forgo such a description - l have found many of my favorite authors do) try proportions.

Examples:

'... Her skirt swirled around her ankles in the summer breeze; the vertical stripes drawing attention to her long legs.' (so it's not a great description - told you I struggle--but you get the idea and it is better, IMO, than 5'11", 125)

or "The western cut of the shirt accentuated his broad shoulders, drawing taut across them as he reached up to adjust his bolo tie."

3. Readers don't need full descriptions on page (or chapter, or even part) 1: I think this is a misconception that leads to the numbers and mirror descriptions. Authors seem to feel the reader needs to 'see' the character from the minute they are introduced when in reality what the character is doing is more interesting than what they look like. Plus readers tend to have pretty vivid imaginations so trust me, they aren't going to picture the character as a crash test dummy until you fill them in. If that's what your worried about, that the reader will picture your character differently than you do- well, I hate to say it, but you *might* have to loosen up on that idea a bit. I know you've spent hours plotting every contour of their face and memorized their scars and/or tattoos, and the way the sunlight glints off that one part of their hair, and the idea of anyone seeing them another way is anathema. But it'll be okay. If you work in some descriptive details here and there later the reader will adjust their idea gradually until it matches yours and it will be much more effective than an info dump on page 3.

4. (most) Readers aren't police sketch artists: Maybe I'm just really bad with art (okay no maybe- I'm hopeless at art) but when I read a description like: 'She had a heart shaped face with high cheekbones, a button nose, and hooded brown eyes framed by hundreds of tiny dredlocks...' I have no idea what this character looks like except for eye color and hair. This description may be perfectly clear to those of you who are artists, but I'm going to have to go to goolge images to try and figure it out. (actually I'm probably just going to imagine what I think they might look like my own way and go on). Once again I would never describe my friends like I was talking to the police.

5. Let them Smile: or frown actually. If you want to talk about their face tell me if their cheeks push their lower lids into a squint when they smile or how much their eyebrows close the upper lids when they frown. Describe dimples and scars. Let me know about nervous habits (do they bite their lip or tongue? Cross their eyes in frustration? Can they raise one eyebrow? (and which one or both independently)). These little things provide (to me at least) a much fuller picture than a description of shapes, and they make the character much more 3-dimensional.

6. Please not a clothes-horse: Wedding? Prom? Halloween? Actual superhero? Model actually during a fashion show? Okay then we probably need to know exactly what the character is wearing. Otherwise a vague (or nonexistent) description of their clothing will suffice. In a contemporary story this slows the pace too much, and in a historical work is slows the pace AND feels like you're trying to show off your research. Plus it makes the POV character feel a bit shallow to me if they are always talking about clothes. Tell me they have on jeans and a T-shirt (or their pj's, Or that they changed into their riding habit) and I'm good to go.

Exception: in addition to the above exceptions, if the characters clothing choices are a noted quirk (I have a character who basically collects pajamas), you should mention them, but a brief description will still get the point across. (example: the character I referred to previously will always be wearing a different pair of pajamas in a night scene, but I still don't go overboard with detail ('red plaid flannel', 'princess camo', 'mickey mouse'). The words on a graphic tee are another great example or a collection of eclectic color sneakers. If the outfit requires a multi-sentence description it needs to be a special outfit.

7. Furniture: Furniture descriptions are pretty rare, but I'm still going to mention it quickly. Basically everything I just said about clothes applies to home furnishings too. If you describe the trash can, it needs to be a really special trash can.

8. Building layout: Ooh this is a tough one. I struggle with this as a writer because I literally use like 2 basic blueprints in my head so if I'm not careful everyone's house comes out the same. Obviously you don't want that, but that's probably a rare problem. More commonly I see way too much detail and I get confused. Maps? They are a staple of certain sub genres but I'd rather not see them elsewhere. I would say most scenes are not dependent on the layout of the building so you can probably leave off the turn by turn tour. Action sequences seem most likely to require specific detail about the setup, and 1 method is to have 2 characters planning an attack which will involve going over the description of the building together. If that doesn't work you can have a single character assess the place in their head right before the information becomes relevant. A verbal blueprint in chapter 1 is probably going to be forgotten by the time we get to a fight scene in chapter 15.

But don't forget your characters are human too. (unless they aren't of course). So they might not remember the layout of a multi story building perfectly and realize only after they have made a mistake (oops we were having a major brawl over top of the jewelry store that has motion sensitive alarms and now the cops are here).

Personally I try not to describe any unnecessary rooms - even their location. If you tell me we are at a 3 story mansion, I will assume about 30 rooms even if you only describe 2. If you try to tell me where all 30 rooms are I will probably skip the description and review it if it becomes relevant.

Yikes that was a long post! Hope this helps someone!

#writer #writing #writers #words #descripcion #authors #author #creativity #creative #character development #character design #writing advice

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mysherlockstardis · 4 years

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Shane Dawson comforted me during a panic attack at Universal Studios in 2016

TLDR: Shane comforted me during a panic attack over losing my phone at Universal Studios while nobody (except Ryland) was looking. (Kind of funny, and emotional, please don’t send hate)

Proof: https://twitter.com/shanedawson/status/734264357501165568?s=20

I will not ever, ever, ever, defend the actions or choices that Shane has made.

I can only share with you my one chance encounter where Shane did the most honorable and kind thing to a flustered, anxious fan who had just lost her phone at Universal Studios.

I’ve been watching Shane’s videos for a long time. I was a young girl, who was playing around on youtube after school, and Shane Dawson was a very popular youtuber at the time. I wanna say the year was 2009 or 2010 when I began regularly watching “Shane Dawson”. Over the years, I have seen him leave his old characters behind, and watched as he continued to grow and develop his own unique brand of humor.

As a fan of Shane from his earlier years as a creator, I feel embarrassed that I was watching content that was not appropriate and not the type of humor I approve of or identify with today. Unfortunately, Shane’s popularity stemmed from people, including myself, not realizing how harmful that brand of humor was and what kinds of stereotypes and stigmas he was perpetuating through his successful videos. I was a latchkey kid, only child, and 12 years old. I had a crush on the popular YouTuber who made popular comedy sketches with millions of views. I was ignorant. So, was Shane.

However, Shane has survived years on this platform, because he evolves and changes. He makes mistakes. He apologizes and he tries to move on and grow. I think he has always done that.

Anyways, I digress.

In 2016, I went to Universal Studios. It had been a long day, and I am one of those people who always has my phone in my hand. Late at night, my family and I arrive at our car and I realize I can’t find my phone. My phone is my life, because yes I am one of those people whose phones are their lives. I was freaking the fu#k out. Also, I knew my phone was at like 14%, so I knew it was probably dead or stolen.

So, I come sprinting around the corner, on a frantic search outside universal studios. I slow down to take a couple of breaths and I look up to see Shane and Ryland Adams.

It was 2016, so Shane’s channel had evolved to like those food review videos and DIY’s and like Shane sitting in front of his camera in a kitchen making jokes. But I had started college and I wasn’t watching youtube videos as much anymore.

But, when I saw Shane, I reflexively yelled “Shane Dawson!” and stopped dead in my tracks.

I can’t reiterate to you how scary I must have looked and I will put a link to the photo, because you can low-key see the weird panic, fear, and excitement I was feeling in that moment.

I was out of breath and in shock looking like a deer in headlights. Shane and I made eye contact, and let me tell you. Shane looked worried. He looked so worried. I can remember that his face was saying something along the lines of “Oh my god, is this girl about to faint on me?”.

I was in a full blown panic attack, but Shane just calmly calls back “hello!”, and opens his arms like he’s ready for me to jump into them for a hug. Or like he might need to try and catch me if I pass out.

But, I end up low-key throwing myself into his arms and I need you to know that he hugged me so fully. He hugged me, like I was his friend, and I could honestly sense the concern he had for me in that moment.

I was bedraggled, out of breath, in the middle of an anxiety attack, and so completely starstruck by his presence.

Fun fact: I remember watching Shane’s vlogs back when he was close friends with Brittani Louise Taylor and they did one at Universal Studios (maybe 2010,2011). And the 2x times I had been to universal studio before the time I met Shane, I would always think of Shane hanging out there and how cool it would be to run into him while he was vlogging. I digress, again.

So, Shane takes me in his arms, and Ryland doesn’t do anything to ruin the moment. He doesn’t tell Shane they have to leave. He doesn’t try and end our conversation. I didn’t know who Ryland Adams was in 2016. I wanted to be mature so I introduced myself to him and like shook his hand and apologized for not recognizing him, because I was freaking out and I didn’t realize how horrible that sounded. Ryland totally brushed it off like a sweetheart.

I told Shane about how I arew up watching him, and how I bonded with my best friend from high school over our shared love for him. Because yes, I met other people my age who became fans of Shane as young ignorant children with too much time and internet access (arguably).

I do remember wanting to ask him about his old content, but deciding not too. Because even then I knew that I was glad he had changed as an artist. I was glad he had grown from the content that had made me feel rebellious and at times uncomfortable as a child. And btw, Shane had no control over who watched his videos just like Jake Paul, but unlike Jake I don’t think Shane ever targeted a 12 year old audience, I think those were just the people who were watching him.

So, then came my big dilemma. I wanted a picture. I wanted a picture with Shane Dawson so bad.

BUT I HAD LOST MY PHONE

I was freaking out. I wanted a picture and I was so afraid he wouldn’t be able to give me a picture. Logically, I knew Shane could never, ever give his personal phone number to a fan he just met on the street. I wouldn’t have expected him too or wanted him too, but I was not in the right mind.

I was not in the right mind at all. Bless Shane, because he knew to give me so many hugs. So, so, so many hugs, I wanna say 4 or 5 genuine hugs. Like basically holding me, because I was so flustered.

I felt guilty because I really needed to find my phone, and I didn't want to waste his time, but I really wanted a photo before I walked away. But, my panic attack was literally worsening by the second as I considered every second I was sprinting towards my phone as another second my phone could be stolen. Please let me be clear when I say that I knew that my request was going to be denied, but that I am a 23 year old who doesn't like social media, so the most obvious solution was not presented by me.

I ask him, “Can we take a photo, I don’t have a phone. Could you text it to me?” BAHAHAAHAHAAHHAHHAHHAAHAH

I had a twitter and I still have that twitter, but I never go on it. I never considered that Shane could use his social media.

But thankfully, Shane does. He very sweetly offered to take and tweet me a photo of us. He ends up taking a couple and I know he said he wanted to take a second photo to get his angles or something, but I totally know it was for my sake.

Listen, I can’t defend what Shane has or has not done behind the scenes as of late. I can’t defend anything he did on camera a decade or less ago. Regardless, this man rose to popularity and has remained popular and it wasn’t always for the best reasons, but people have loved him through every change he’s made.

Both him and his base were ignorant 10 years ago, but I think we have all evolved and learned better. I think Shane cares about his fans deeply, and I think that the internet has made it impossible for people to move on from their mistakes. I think we have all done something stupid that we regret. And thankfully, for most of us, our mistakes are not forever ingrained on the internet.

He owed me nothing. He didn’t owe me time. He didn’t owe me a photo. He didn’t owe me hugs or any attention. He wasn’t at an event getting paid. He wasn’t vlogging it for millions of people to watch. He was trying to be there for a girl who wasn’t making any sense. A girl who was stumbling to talk to him because she had no clue as to what she wanted to say to the person who felt like a friend she hung out with after school. Even though that friend made poor choices and was a pretty bad role model. He was still like a friend.

I just wanted to let people know that morality is hard for all humans. What he did was wrong. What he didn’t do was wrong. He’s messed up over and over, but I do think he has a profound love for his fans. I think even adults like myself make poor choices, and do stupid things, but we aren't famous so nobody knows or cares.

I think showed a lot of good character that day, even if he's made horrible consequential mistakes that will follow him forever. I will always remember the kind man who saw a crazy fan great kindness.

I plan to pass this story along, because I want people to know that I think Shane has grown and changed, and made mistakes, and he will grow and change again. He is young, and society has much to improve on.

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fabfemmeboy · 5 years

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Things about the Season 3 Finale of Handmaid's Tale that Don't Make Sense

I will say first that I preferred this episode to much of the season, even if there were parts I thought were unrealistic to the point of absurdity while I was watching it. But after a day and a half, the list of nonsense keeps growing.

June was walking with an armed escort since her walking partner is dead. While some of the girls were sneaky about their soap, it was a lot of them - and some were downright Not.Subtle. I'm not just talking about Janine, either, but let's start with her. Why didn't the guardian - whose whole job is to make sure the handmaid in his charge can't get up to something - not even notice? it wasn't like she just grinned, either, she was giddy and spoke and talked about how she couldn't wait. If my job is to make sure the person I'm guarding doesn't get up to something, in particular if I'm used to seeing myself as above the person I'm guarding, then I'm asking questions. I'm demanding answers. I'm checking the bag. This guy stands next to her and stares into space. Did she just get the guy who's really bad at his job? (How convenient!) Is he so used to assuming that "those silly women chattering on about nonsense" can't be plotting anything serious? (Really bad outlook for a guard to have) Given some of the other guardians we've seen and how they handle far less communication between handmaids, why doesn't this guy seem to give a shit? Is he secretly in the resistance, too? Is literally everyone except Fred, Serena, and Aunt Lydia?

For reference, Rebecca and her martha traveled about 12 miles by modern roads, likely much more than that when you factor darting through woods and back yards. How the hell big is the martha network that one in Lexington knew about this plot? How does a martha from central Boston, whose duties generally aren't going to let her go too much outside the city, get information all the way out there?

Oh, and how the hell did the martha get rohypnol? You can make it impossible to get antidepressants, but date-rape drugs are still floating around? Was the use of that particular substance deliberate, given the assault in Gilead, rather than simply making it sleeping pills or whatever Mrs. Lawrence took?

Speaking of whom - so Lawrence is just going to let it go that June either let his wife die or actively killed her? The look at the end of the funeral last week seemed to indicate he knew or at least suspected. But this guy, who clearly adored his wife and tried to protect her for *years*...doesn't even take his anger out on June? She's mouthing off to him and he just shrugs and lets her do it?

Rebecca looks to be about 8-10 and doesn't really remember before. She's one of the oldest kids in the bunch. The younger ones have literally never known a pre-Gilead time. Why are none of them upset at being taken somewhere? Why is not one of them crying for mommy and daddy? Why aren't any of them whining that they want to go home? Hell, it's been several hours and a lot of walking - none of them are complaining that they're bored or tired or itchy or hungry or bored. Has Gilead managed to break children of complaining? Because *that* is quite a feat! But seriously, if at age 6 my neighbor (whom I knew and trusted) had told me "we have to go now, be very quiet" and made me leave my home without my parents, I would have tried to be quiet for awhile but would have had a LOT of questions. Like why aren't Mom and Dad here? Where are they? Are they ok? What's happening? Why do we have to be quiet? Why are we going through the woods and not on the street? To avoid being seen - but why? Why can't the guards see us? They see us all the time. And if the answer came that she was taking me out of the country, I would have a lot more questions about why and why couldn't mom and dad come and what would it be like there.

And by the way, "you can be anything you want to be" doesn't really work in a world where there don't seem to be professions other than "martha" or "commander" or "lady of leisure" or "sex slave." Getting to wear whatever you want doesn't really make sense if everyone wears the same thing, either. It's not like the kid is going to think "oh, good, I can wear red because I like that colour but here only those women wear it." Like...that's not helpful. And I get that nothing she could say would be helpful to these kids because how do you explain a completely different world to someone who has no concept of what that world includes? But these are not helpful answers. So let's go with what the kids might have a concept of - what refugee children talk about when they leave: violence. Guys with guns on every corner (yay canada!). People who disappear without warning. Though maybe the kids won't have any concept of that, either, because the commanders' families are kept so isolated and protected.

Were all the kids from commanders' families? They made it sound like Rebecca was an anomaly in that regard, but technically all the guys in suits with wives and handmaids are commanders. And those are also the only homes that have marthas. Everyone else has econowives, and everyone dresses in grey - even the kids. So these children, in their pale pink and blue, they all have to be the children of commanders/wives/handmaids, right? Why were only Rebecca's parents looking for her? Sure, she'd been gone longer, but if it's getting dark and my child isn't home, I'm going to be pretty freaked out and calling the guys with guns to find her, especially given the community turmoil lately - Nicole was "kidnapped," Serena and Fred and the guy from DC were all "taken" by Canada...considering how protective everyone is of their children, particularly in this world, they don't seem to pay very close attention to the kids' whereabouts.

This has bothered me since Emily at the beginning of the season but came up again: When you're trying to avoid being seen by helicopters overhead, TAKE OFF YOUR WHITE HAT! It's bad enough you're in red...though I suppose given how few handmaids were on this adventure at least a few of them could have changed into spare martha dresses so they blend into the woods a little better. (June has several dresses, you can't tell me marthas - who cook and clean - only have one. You're telling me that the woman who thought to soap the back gate so it wouldn't squeak, who has gone undercover before, couldn't think to change into less visible clothing?) But at the very least, the white thing on top of your head is going to be incredibly visible at night, even without flashlights. Take it off ffs!

Was Janine always going to be going? Why are no other handmaids trying to get out? We have a handful of marthas who see this opportunity and are getting on a plane, but only Janine - crazy, traumatized, batshit-screwy Janine - has the wherewithall to think "...if a plane's leaving, it could take me with it too"? Has she finally stopped trying to get back to baby Angela? And if so, can she give June lessons in that because this whole "I'm staying behind to find my daughter" thing is getting to be a really old plot device.

Were we supposed to be surprised that June was wiling to forego her seat on the plane? Because from the reactions of the other characters, I think we were supposed to be, but I was never under the impression she was leaving with the kids, I assumed she was going to stay and try to do another of these hair-brained schemes in a way that got more people of colour killed because that's what she does at this point.

Why the hell did you think there wouldn't be guardians at the tarmac? Even if Rebecca weren't in the group, even if no one were looking for these kids (and they should be, btw), but just in general: it's a plane that brings things into Gilead. They're not checking for contraband? Because if they're not, then the guardian are a) stupid and b) missing out on fantastic bribery/extortion opportunities.

Did June tell Lawrence about giving away his art collection? Because poor Billy is in enough trouble already, but he thought at least he's be able to go raid that house. But now that Lawrence stayed behind, I'm just picturing the bartender showing up in a truck to take out paintings and being greeted by a very angry commander.

Not one child pops up or down from the group at the wrong time. Clearly these writers/directors have never seen an elementary school concert.

Back to the tarmac. They made a big deal about June bringing her gun. Why the fuck is she throwing rocks? Is it because she's worried she's not a good enough shot? If so, why bring it? And even then, since your goal clearly isn't to kill him - just distract him - given that you're throwing rocks which aren't going to hit him unless he's a blind moron...why not shoot his car? Shoot, as long as you hit *something* he's going to turn to look for the source, you duck, repeat, same as the rocks only at least that way poor Janine gets the fuck out of Gilead. And all the other marthas.

BTW, when June takes off running to draw the gun away from the tarmac...did everyone else go board the plane? They could have, but somehow Janine was still in Gilead. Were the rest of the rock-throwers? Because most of them are going to end up dead otherwise. But the plane only seemed to have a small handful of adults, and the only one we saw enough of to recognize was Rita.

Ok, so we get to Canada, and I have to ask: Do they just have a hanger ready for refugee planes at all times? Because this operation was very well-stocked for a plane that just departed 40 minutes ago, and given that they had no idea kids were on-board, I suspect there wasn't a whole lot of communication beforehand about the plane coming, so how did the refugee assistance people even know to go wait at a hanger? That's also a really nice hanger for a random cargo plane. Was all of that arranged in advance? Because otherwise I imagine a sudden flurry of calls to Moira and co from the head of the RAFC going "holy shit, a plane full of refugees just arrived at the airfield where the fedex planes leave from, get people down here to help!" But they've clearly been there awhile setting up and knew to expect people...but not to expect kids.

Unlike Hannah, who kind of remembers June but doesn't really feel connected to her anymore, Rebecca not only recognizes her dad but runs to him and throws her arms around him, as happy to see him as he is to see her. So she doesn't remember before, but remembers her dad clearly enough to have actively missed him. That...doesn't make a ton of sense given what we've seen so far. Like, she's happier to see her dad than Oliver was to see Emily, and Oliver has had his memories of his mom actively reinforced by Syl this whole time.

(On a separate note, the most wrenching moment of the whole episode was Luke hoping for Hannah. I love when shows use "the audience knows something the characters don't" to heighten emotions like that.)

Why, when Fred picked things to tell Tuello, did he go with pimping June out and NOT with the fact that they raped her to induce labor? Is it because Fred still thinks that was totally fine, but June/Nick was a betrayal somehow? Because given the fight they had at the house, it was clear Serena had decided after the fact that it was wrong and tried to throw it in his face when he was adamant he did it because she told him to and because he was trying to "fix [her] mess."

(Also was I the only one who thought it was going to be that she had done something way worse? Been the one left holding the bag on the terrorist act that started the civil war? Had secretly poisoned some prominent people? Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if she were the one who came up with the Ceremony in the first place, and architects of war crimes are still war criminals - hence Lawrence, remember?)

The morning after 52 children and a handful of adults escape Gilead, 6 women in bright red robes can walk through the woods near the tarmac from which the kids went missing to search for, rescue, and carry back another woman all in red...without anyone noticing. Sure, that sounds like the guardians we all know and love for convenient plot purposes.

#handmaidsonhulu #Handmaids Tale #spoilers #handmaidstaleseason3

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xenowlsome · 5 years

Note

Pick an oc and do all the even numbers!

Asdhbasjdnjihqsd thank you for enabling me

(I’m doing this for Teru btw)

Does your OC collect anything? What do they collect?

She doesn’t, but she would collect fancy weaponry if she had the money for it. Or more realistically, embroidered daenggi (a type of Korean hair ribbon)

What kind of clothing does your OC wear?

Shinobi uniform mostly; very thick, very big knit sweaters in her free time because Kiri is damp and cold. (She does not have a preference re: masculine versus feminine clothing, but she would rather go barefoot than wear shoes that are even mildly uncomfortable (since this includes high heels it sometimes becomes a problem)

What’s your OC’s favorite animal? Least favorite?

Teru likes cats (and her “grandparents” have one so she’s in luck) and Kiri’s giant otters (picture Amazonian giant otters but with thicker fur) and like most people in Joson she distrusts dogs, but otherwise has no particular feelings

What is your OC’s theme song?

I have a whole playlist for particular story points but two songs that are like, Teru Mood™ are

Or (which is more like her childhood’s genin team song but anyway)

What foods does your OC like to eat? What are their least favorite foods?

She’s not picky bc in Kiri you eat what you get but she loves bibimbap bc that was the best treat for her as a kid

What does your OC smell like?

“Blood”, says Kisame not of anything specific normally? It’s not like shinobi use perfume when the mission doesn’t require it probably

What are your OC’s greatest fears? Weaknesses? Strengths?

Fears: disappointing someone, being betrayed, losing control of her life

Weaknesses: arrogant and perfectionistic at the same time, oversensitive to criticism, does not value her life or others’, holds grudges

Strengths: responsible, calm under pressure, direct, orderly, pragmatic

If they came from their world to ours (if not already in our’s) how would they react? What would they do?

She’d be so hyped about guns... and not so hyped about surveillance (but also, it seems like a good challenge)

What kind of student were they/would they be in high school?

The quiet studious straight-A student who would rat you out to the teacher; or if we’re going with her canon backstory, basically in the local delinquent gang

What is their outlook on life? What is their philosophy / what do they think in general about living?

She uh... kind of meh about life because it has never been particularly kind to her. She’s ready to sacrifice her life for the village, even when it was not perhaps the only course of action.

Who is the most important person in their life? Why? Who is the least important to them (that still has an impact and why?)

The most important right now is probably Mei because in the absence of true faith in her village, faith in her is the only thing Teru has left. The least important but still impacting is Raizō Ōmiya, a frequent bully in their academy days and accidentally the father of one of Teru’s students.

What kind of nervous habits do they have? Do they stim? Do they have any kinds of addictions?

She’s very rigidly policing her outward behavior I think whatever habits she might have had, she had trained out of herself. She smokes and drinks occasionally, but usually while in company and no more than is socially acceptable.

Do they want to get married? Why or why not? Would they ever want kids? Do they have kids? Why?

Teru does not intend to get married because honestly, what for? Nor does she want to have children (despite some pressure that all shinobi experience). Her own childhood was bad enough and she’s not about to be responsible for someone else’s.

If they could have one thing in the world, what would it be?

The first impulse would be to have her parents back.

What social groups and activities does your character attend? What role do they like to play? What role do they actually play, usually?

She has very few friends (basically only two at the start of The Story). She’s usually the follower, not the leader, but she will expect that people would defer to her on certain subjects/matters.

What does your character want most? What do they need really badly, compulsively? What are they willing to do, to sacrifice, to obtain?

Approval, I should think, in things small and large. (That’s me, projecting my rejection sensitive dysphoria right here).

What would your character do with a million dollars?

(she’d make tiny paper shuriken out of the banknotes)

Your character is getting ready for a night out. Where are they going? What do they wear? Who will they be with?

If it’s outside a mission, it’s some seedy pub (there’s no other kind of establishments in Kiri), she’s with Mei and she’s wearing the same sweater she wore to get water in the morning. If it’s on a mission, the scale could be from some really fancy bar spying on some foreign diplomat to a roadside tavern posing as a peasant.

Does your character have any scars? Where did they get them from?

Teru has fewer scars than most of her peers because her job is less front-line. Some cuts on hands and shins, usual for shinobi. Among old scars that didn’t fade are the one from the Academy graduation exam (on her throat) and a big one on her stomach from the 3rd Shinobi World War (that she basically had to fix herself while on the battlefield because Kiri doesn’t have a medical devision).

How does your character react/ accept criticism?

Not too well, really. If it’s from her superiors or trusted friends, she’d grit her teeth and bear it (but may or may not take it to heart). Others get an arrogant glare and passive-aggressive remarks.

Your character is given a voodoo doll of themself. What do they do with it? Do they see if it actually works?

Try and drown it to see what happens

(Don’t worry, she can hold her breath for a long time)

What were their parents like? How has that affected how they are as an adult?

Her parents already had a kid and didn’t particularly want the second one because the political/ideological situation in Kirigakure was changing for the worse. They were executed when Teru was around two and she is still affected by their death emotionally as well as socially.

If your character was presented with imminent and unavoidable death/fatality, how would they react? Would they try to avoid death anyways? Would they try to make their last days count?

She’d proceed as usual, except possibly warning those closest to her (though equally possibly not, to spare their feelings).

#asks #naruto #naruto oc #kirigakure #oc: teru ikeda #story: teru teru bōzu #oc meme #long post

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secretshinigami · 5 years

Text

Masterlist of Mello’s Birthday Bash Prompts

A compiled list of everyone’s prompts from the exchange – thank you for letting us post them, and we hope you guys enjoy them! Prompts are organized by their submitter, so be sure to give credit if you use one.

niastuki

near in a nice suit

near and light making out

Mikami and Light with their hair and suits wet sharing and umbrella

matsuda confronts near on with the theory he brings up at the end of the manga

exploring domestic life between near and light

misa amane being interviewed at some point after the time skip

theredtint

B with hanahaki disease

Kitsune!B

Ghost A (for my A go to pastreplacement, but it can be any A you like) & zombie!B

B&A bnha au, powers are up to you but anon me if you want my ideas

During Mello's and Near's generation A and B become ghost stories of Wammy House and Matt absolutely loves scaring the newbies with them

B learning about how his eyes work

kiranatrix

Light playing piano with Ryuk perched on top of the piano

L building a sandcastle at the beach

Venom-DN AU with Light in a symbiote costume (with Ryuk as the symbiote)

Light and L try to study together for a test at college but mostly just snark back and forth

The reason why Mello loves chocolate so much

Ryuk takes a day off and plays some pranks on the Kira HQ team to amuse himself

the-real-death-note-victim

L and Light wearing trans and/or nb merch

L or Near using a chewable stim toy

Light and ghost!L in any tender scene

An L/Wedy/Aiber date night

L/Light soulmate AU, any kind of delayed onset of them finding out they're each other's soulmate

Any masc character getting their first binder from a friend or partner

synapsi-s

A and B during Halloween night

Light and Sayu having a nice moment together

Young Mello celebrating his 13th birthday at the Wammy's

Naomi's (or L's) thoughts about the LABB case (after it was solved)

Mello and B encounter

Mello and Matt during their last day of life

izaori

Mello and L eating birthday cake, maybe wearing those fun party hats

Matsuda getting matching sweaters for the group but only Mogi wears one with him

Near making a snow angel

Screen reader support enabled.

The other second gens (Near, Matt, Linda, whoever) throwing Mello a surprise bday party

Light finding out Misa loves reptiles and she begs Light to let her get a big snake

Ryuk tries to get the other shinigami to celebrate Christmas because he wants free stuff

eyecicles

Near playing with some white bunnies

Near as a renaissance prince (would be cool if you could keep his colour palette!)

Gevanni in a bathrobe, drinking coffee or something & just chilling for once

Sidoh in a Santa hat, eating some chocolate and being happy

Light tries to teach an unwilling L how to ice skate

Near and Ryuk discussing Light after Light's death

B and Light playing tennis, but B is really bad at it and constantly tries to cheat

queer-of-the-blue-moon

Misa and Rem doing a little goth fashion show.

L dressed as Sherlock Holmes.

Matt and Mello smoking, talking, watching the rain through the window (cuddled up together in blankets with hot chocolate, possibly?)

A story of how Ryuuk summarizes his adventure with the human world in a poem, really dark poem, which he later declaims to the Shinigami King and the unnamed Shinigami.

Death Note x Death Parade crossover, about what actually happened to Light after his death.

AU where Light actually feels guilty when he's almost done with eliminating L, and overwhelmed, he hesitates which ruins his plans (but maybe it's better this way).

weneedtotalkaboutdeathnote

HDM/Daemon AU with BB and Misora (Raven for B, Black cat for Misora).

Anything Moonriver (Neax x Light) (doesn't have to be shippy).

Anything L x B (doesn't have to be shippy).

L can see ghosts, but he chooses to ignore them. This becomes increasingly had to do when B's spirit shows up during the Kira investigation.

Older Near introducing himself to potential successors.

Halle and Gevanni catch up for coffee and talk about life and the Kira case etc (post Kira).

silcnt-scul

Roillsh Downton Abbey AU with Quillsh being a lord and Roger his valet. If possible, it would be cool if they could be close in kind of an intimate way.

Mello sitting on a vape cloud that is being blown by Matt.

Wammy as a captain on a sailship, in a captain uniform and all. Bonus points for tiny L sitting on his shoulder like a parrot.

Roger and Quillsh swordfighting in full 1700s style with frockcoats and all.

Wammy's children Attack On Titan AU, maybe how they all lost their families to titans and joined the military?

Roillsh Age of Sail AU: Quillsh is the captain of a large ship, Roger is the first mate, and during one of their long journeys, one of them finally confesses(Maybe being under influence of too much whiskey?) which leads the other to confess. Something like that.

During the Kira case, Roger and Quillsh send each other lengthy letters(Love letters, perhaps?). After Quillsh's death, Roger finds one more letter that Quillsh set to be sent to him/found by him incase of the failure of Kira case.

almostsane-things

Body overgrown w flowers (extra points if flower choice has special meaning connected to the character)

Redesign DN characters in a wonderland/ looking glass environment

Mello w the prompt ‘Ghosts in our past’ (feel free to incorporate personal headcanons)

Gelus watching over Misa from the Shinigami realm

L’s first ongoing investigation

The story of how L found Wedy and/or Aiber

The Kira case from Sayu or Sachiko’s pov

misas-biggest-fan

light being tailed by l's ghost

naomi visiting beyond in prison

rem at one of misa's music concerts

kira!L goes up against detective!Light

Mello meets Beyond and discusses the LABB case

Misa starts to healthily process her trauma over her parents and leaves light

sstwins

Something angel themed with Mello ([not scar Mello... ahaha] or angel/devil Mello and Near... feel free to play with that idea)

Something with L and a great magnitude of sweets

L/Light art with the handcuffs (pretty and symbolic... you know, the whole stereotypical thing)

Anything involving any/all of the Wammy's Boys as kids!! Maybe studying or doing games or anything, really!

yeggami

Beyond Birthday and Light with some cats

Aiber, Wedy and L hanging out

Matt attempting to make a cake for Mello's birthday

B cosplays his favourite character

The X Files AU with L as Mulder and Light as Scully

AU where A doesn't die

Something angsty with Light x B !!

my-doodles-xd

Lawlight sleeping together (in the yotsuba arc)

Misa,L and Light in the amusement park because why not

L and Sayu seeing ryuk for the first time

Near and Mello (both adults) seeing L for the first time

Light x Misa in the amusement park

Lawlight on a date in the pastry shop (i like top light yagami btw)

A fanfic where the investigators (L,Light,Soichiro,Matsuda,etc.Misa counts too) has 1 week free from work,so they can focus on other things

complicatedmerary

Light and Takada dressed as Kimye

Sayu and Sachiko having a girl’s night

Mello and his secret hobby (can be anything, I want to be surprised)

Halle and Mello having a deep conversation about their future

Mello’s backstory before Wammys

Misa pretending to date Hideki Ryuga for the tabloids even though she would rather not

jk-iconoclast

Matt wrapped as gift for Mello

Near and Matt celebrating Mello’s birthday

Mello is alone on his birthday and is sad/cries

After Mello left Wammy's, he's spending his birthday alone

Near reflects about Mello, silently honouring his first birthday after his death

Matt or Near (or both) surprising Mello on his birthday

ginogollum

DN characters with steampunk outfits

A coffeee shop AU

Mello and Near on Mello's motocycle

AU where Mello and Near work together as L

How I met your mother AU (I love mello/near but any ship is fine)

L survives, he has no longer the need for successors. What do they do with their life?

puropoly

beyond birthday listening/singing oingo boingo tracks

near, mello and matt playing videogames

A and B watching bad horror movies (I don't know if asking for OCs is permitted by the rules, in case it isn't just draw your own idea of A, that's fine! but if it's possible to draw my ver of A (you can check her in my art tag) I'd pretty much roll on the floor in joy :'] )

B and L have tea together in an abandoned house B is currently living in (you can take this in any direction, my main idea is them reflecting abt the past at wammy's in their own melancholic and cynical way)

B and A hanging out at the city, doing normal teen stuff, trying not to worry about their lives at Wammy's and just having fun together

A Near's Normal Day at the SPK (you know, like in that comic Obata drew for the DN movie I think, where they show a normal day of L's life) (please don't put Near in a washing machine LDGJSD)

yagami-raito-kun

Young teenage Light excitedly showing his father his tennis trophy

Light and Sayu doing cute, sibling-ish activities

Light haunting Near as a ghost

AU where Wammy’s House is an X-Men-style school for mutants and the Kiras are supervillains

Light and Sayu doing cute, sibling-ish activities

Light haunting Near as a ghost

Anonymous Prompts

Ryuk tries to intimidate Mello.

Near visits Beyond in his prison cell.

Wammy's house boys band (just so you know I'm picturing Mello as full goth rocker here)

Mello haunts Near from beyond the grave.

Sayu finds the notebook without exploding the drawer.

After Light's death, Misa takes Matsuda on a mutual pity date.

Mello in a witch outfit

Beyond Birthday and Naomi Misora bonding time

Near and toys

Mello and the flag of the gender and-or orientation of your choice (not straight or cis please)

Your hc on what A looks like (bonus points if they're not a cis man)

Mello and a ghost au (anyone can be the ghost)

We hate each other but apparently our teachers ship us and make us partner up all the time and sit next to each other and for the love of God if you don’t shut your mouth I’m gonna shove you on the desk and snog the hell out of you with L and Light or Near and Mello and Matt

Near and Misa keep in touch after Light's death, though not on really friendly terms, until Misa's suicide

Mello and gender exploration (make up, clothes, trans stuff)

Beyond birthday and A at Wammy's house doing kid stuff and crapping on L's legacy

mello in fishnets !! or some other cool outfit

some soft meronia

mello in an oversized hoodie

meronia yuri on ice style ice skating au

any soft meronia

what were things like for mello after he left wammys?

Remisa Dinner Date

Takada/Lidner Takada flirting with flustered Lidner

Misa and L going clothes shopping

Remisa Human AU Rem nervous on a first date

L and Misa discuss fashion and makeup trends, to Light's dismay

Lidner worries her feelings for Takada could compromise her mission

Mello and/or Matt comforting Sayu during her kidnapping (can be shippy or non-shippy).

Any of the following pairings sharing a bubble bath: Mello/Matt, Mello/Near, Matt/Near, Mello/Matt/Near, L/Light, Hal/Mello.

Beyond Birthday dressed as Winnie the Pooh and eating jam out of a honey-pot.

Mello and/or Matt comforting Sayu during her kidnapping (can be shippy or non-shippy).

Super fluffy sick-fic with any of the following pairings: Mello/Near, Mello/Matt, Matt/Near, Mello/Matt/Near.

Mello & Matt survive. I don't care how, as long as they're alive & (more or less) happy (can be shippy or non-shippy); would also prefer if Near is somehow involved too.

#prompt list #death note #deathnote #mello's birthday bash 2018

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the-lupine-sojourner · 6 years

Text

Love Conquers Amnesia [Amnesiac!Eijiro/Takara(OC)]

Hiya! I saw This video and couldn’t help thinking about KiriKara (my name for the ship. I can’t think of a better one, so if you can, leave it in a comment below!), and this is the result! Anyway, in writing it and trying to think of a realistic way for Kiri to lose his memory, I kinda veered from the video when I meant to practically quote it, but I also like this version, so here we are! Also, if you want more domestic KiriKara, send an Ask or message me and I’ll totally write it (as long as it’s not smut. Sorry!)!!

Real quick before I begin, @dailyojiromashirao is pretty much on my permanent MHA writing taglist, cus they’re always so sweet and supportive! Love you! And maybe @elite-guard-hardygal would enjoy this, too?? IDK. Feel free to ignore, lovey!

Now that that’s done, I will only this before we begin; I hope you all enjoy!

God Bless and Good Day!

~The Lupine Sojourner

(P.S: This guy is my headcanon/faceclaim for Adult!Eijiro, btw. I haven’t seen Bleach, but I know he’s a character in that show. This is the face Kiri makes when he sees his waifu but doesn’t remember her yet. She startles him with her beauty! XD)

Statistically, it was probably more shocking that it took so long for this to happen, given our profession.

But, it was still very shocking to get a call in the middle of a daytime patrol. “Are you Mrs. Takara Kirishima?” The person on the other end asks. I gulp.

“Yes, this is she. Who’s calling?” I ask as politely as I can.

“The receptionist at Sanno Hospital. I’m calling to report your husband’s admittance.” Instantly, my heart plummets into my toes, and the temperature seems to drop below freezing.

“O-oh...I...Is he..?”

“He’s in surgery. We’re still unsure precisely what happened, but more details are emerging the longer we have him. The doctors are very hopeful, however.” I can’t help but not feel comforted by those words. Something could always happen. It only took one wrong move, one instant, for everything to change.

“O-okay. I’ll be there in around thirty minutes. Thank you.” I say, then hang up. I race back to my agency. The one Kiri and I shared, like everything else. I rip off my headgear and toss it into the locker along with my belt, all while calling out the situation, before sprinting for my- -our- -car. We were supposed to drive home together and have a family movie night with our five-year-old son, Senshi.

This wasn’t supposed to happen! Kiri had an amazingly defensive Quirk. How could someone have hospitalized him?!

=#=#=#=#=

“The story we’ve pieced together from the data we’ve collected is this;” the doctor explains when I arrive. “your husband was fighting an unknown villain, and somehow suffered trauma to the head, resulting in the loss of the fight, and…”

“What?” I press urgently. I needed to know!

“Well, with brain injuries...memories are the easiest to lose, we’ve found. It appears your body automatically purges memories first instead of the knowledge of how to breathe, for example. I’m sorry, Mrs. Kirishima, but there is a strong possibility that your husband won’t remember much when he wakes up.” I thank him for telling me absently, eyes peeking into the room, to Kiri laying still on the bed. “And we’re not sure when he’ll wake up. We hardly had to use anesthesia on him for the surgery; he was unconscious when he was admitted, but without any real indication that we could find as to why. I’m sorry.” I nod.

“Thanks for doing what you could, doc.” I murmur, walking slowly into the room. The man smiles sadly at me and leaves me to sit beside Kiri. His hair had to be combed down and messed around so they could run tests to see why he was still out cold, and the black hospital gown looked incredibly odd on him. His chest rose and fell rhythmically. It seemed to lull me into a doze, one I tried to fight without much luck.

=#=#=#=#=

It’s only a few hours later that I wake up, and Kiri still isn’t awake. I hold in a groan and stand, stretching out my back and arms that were sore from sleeping in the chair.

I wasn’t planning on leaving til Kiri woke up and I could ascertain for myself his condition, so I watch him. His chest goes up and down and the heart rate monitor beeps incessantly as time creeps by. It was unknown how long I sat there before I started to fall asleep again. I shook myself. I wouldn’t fall asleep again until I saw Kiri awake.

So I stood again, deciding to leave briefly to get a cup of coffee and call people. Mainly Ma, Pa (what I call Mr. and Mrs. Kirishima) and Katsuki. They deserved to know what had happened.

It went about as well as expected. They were upset (Katsuki vowing to roast Kiri for being so sloppy as to let that villain get a hit on him), but promised to get here soon.

I then got my coffee and headed back to Kiri’s room, only to find him standing and gazing at the sunrise out of his window, his IV pole clutched beside him.

I gulp. Time to see what was what with him. I grin and walk over. “Beautiful, huh?” I ask, sipping the coffee. He flinches, jerking his head to look at me.

“Yea- -uh...did...did the doctors send you?” He asks, stunned, cheeks red. I blanch. Of course. Memory loss was a high probability, the doctor had said.

“N-no.” I murmur, gulping the coffee to avoid talking. How was I supposed to deal with this?! How long would this last?!

“Wow…” He breathes, taking me in and smiling. “You must be the prettiest woman in the whole world.” It’s almost like he wasn’t aware he was talking out loud. I blush. Even without memories of our marriage, he was attracted to me.

“Thanks.” I reply, chuckling. It then drops. “...Do you know my name?” I ask tentatively. Eijiro frowns, scanning me again.

“...I’m sorry, but no...should I?” I sigh. Of course he wouldn’t remember...

“Takara.” I reply. “It’s Takara Kirishima.” There. I’d kinda told him. He’d have to piece it together now. His eyes narrow in thought, then go wide.

“Are you my sister?” He asks. I snort.

“No. No, I’m not.”

“Cousin?” I smile.

“Not a cousin, either.”

“...Then...what?” He asks shyly. I roll my eyes.

“I’m your wife, dummy.” I chuckle, ruffling his hair. He blinks several times, then grabs my left hand. I slip the glove I hadn’t taken off and he stares at the simple sterling silver band around my ring finger.

“...We’re married?” He exclaims, staring at my face now. I grin proudly and nod.

“Yeah. For almost six years now.”

“Whoa, really?! How do I not remember that?! Man, I hit the jackpot!” I chuckle, scratching the back of my head, cheeks scarlet. Wow...

“The doctors aren’t really sure. You were admitted to the ER unconscious and had to go into a brief surgery to try and determine what happened. They still don’t know, but my guess is a Quirk’s to blame.” Kiri nods.

“I have one, too, right? A Quirk?” I nod.

“Yup. You can harden your body using your body’s carbon. Downside is you can’t do it forever.” He frowns, then grins happily.

“I think...I think I remember that!” He cries. “I use it to fight, don’t I?”

“Yup. You’re a hero. You help a lot of people at our agency.”

“Our agency?” Eijiro asks, head tilted. I grin.

“Yeah!” Just then, I hear the door open behind us. I glance over and see Katsuki glaring from the doorway, only halfway out of his costume, as well.

“Hey! Shitty Hair! Remember me?!” Kiri turns.

“...You know me?” He asks. Katsuki does a double-take, then scoffs.

“Right. Forgot. You let a villain hit you with some dumb memory loss Quirk. Your wife called me. I was closer than your parents are, but they’ll be here.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Kiri murmurs, looking at Katsuki’s outfit. “...Are you a hero, too?” Katsuki flinches in irritation, then deflates.

“Yeah. So’s your wife, dumbass.”

“Katsuki, thanks for coming, but don’t be mean.” I warn. I knew, however, that this was just Katsuki being Katsuki. He didn’t really mean it.

“Ground Zero, right? That’s...that’s your hero name?” Kiri suddenly asks, eyes lighting happily. Katsuki smirks.

“Finally, you remember something!” I roll my eyes.

“He remembered his Quirk and that he was a hero before you got here.” I point out.

“I don’t remember my hero name, though. Or yours, Takara. Sorry.” I wave that aside.

“No worries! You wanted to model your hero image after Crimson Riot, so you chose Red Riot as your hero name as an homage.” Eijiro’s eyes light up.

“Oh, right! He’s so manly and hardcore! What’s yours?” I chuckle and rub the back of my neck awkwardly. It always sounded weird when I explained it out loud.

“Well, I’ve always liked foxes and wolves, so I chose Kitsune as my hero name.”

“That’s awesome!” I laugh.

“You had that reaction the day we chose our hero names, too.” I reminisce fondly.

“Yeah, back when you two made dopey heart-eyes at each other in class and we all pretended we didn’t see and wanna puke.” Katsuki adds, scoffing and crossing his arms. His smirk betrays his happiness, though.

“Really?” Eijiro asks, eyeing me.

“We-well, it was more like I made the heart-eyes and then, ah- -do you recall something called the USJ incident? It happened almost nine years ago…” Eijiro frowns.

“I...I think so. We were in some huge building, right? Combat training?” I shake my head.

“No.” I grimace. Even now, the memory was painful, my ribs recalling that day easily. “We were supposed to be doing rescue training.” I murmur. “Then villains attacked. My mom nearly died. She was our teacher.” Eijiro frowns.

“Oh. Right. I was the one who found you, right? Against a fountain with a nearly collapsed ribcage?” I nod.

“Yeah. That was a tough week.” He nods.

“Ah, you babies got over it.” Katsuki muses. “If you ask me, that’s when you two nerds started liking each other and making everyone around you nauseous with your mushy attitude.” Eijiro then blushes and tilts his head, scratching the back of his neck.

“Uh...Takara, I’ve been meaning to ask...do we have kids?” I smile, pulling my phone out. I pull up a picture of Senshi at his fifth birthday (just a few weeks ago), sharp teeth on display as he grins at the camera.

“Yeah; a son, Senshi.” My hand goes to my stomach subtly. I’d planned to tell him the revelation I’d had this morning, the one still waiting on our bathroom sink. But not now. I’d wait til he had more memories to tell him, though. Eijiro stares at the picture for a long minute or two, gently taking my phone.

“He’s just like me…” He murmurs. I nod.

“Yeah.” His black hair came from his father, but the large brown eyes were from my side. It was adorable, and an instant recipe for success on his end when he gave me the infamous ‘puppy eyes’. “He’s a good kid.”

“Yeah, that brat’s alright.” Katsuki admits, scoffing a little. Surprisingly, Katsuki handled Senshi well. He wasn’t usually too forceful and angry with the kid. He’d really come a long way since our high school days, when he’d terrified any child that dared look at him wrong.

“I can’t believe we’re married and have a kid..” Eijiro murmurs thickly, and I notice tears on his cheeks. “How could I have forgotten you? I’m sorry, Takara...I’m so sorry…” I hug him, tears forming in my eyes.

“Eiji, it’s okay.” I murmur, rubbing his back as he clutches me. “It’s not your fault.”

“If I’d just taken care of that villain, none of this would’ve happened.” Eijiro sobs. I blink.

“So...you remember?” I ask, drawing back just enough to look him in the eye.

“Bits and pieces. The more we talked, the more I remembered. The picture of Senshi was like the final key.” He says. “That guy’s Quirk wasn’t affected by my Hardening, and it only took a touch for it to work.”

“Great, you remember, now stop dancing around each other and kiss already.” Katsuki grumbles before I can react. I laugh and hug Eijiro again. He’s blushing as we part a few moments later.

“...Can we?” He asks. “Can we kiss?” It was exactly what he’d said, the morning he’d confessed. We’d gone sunrise hiking and he’d asked that as we watched the dawn unfold. I smile and play with his hair, just like I had that morning.

“Of course you can.” I reply, continuing the reenactment, and he all but tackles me in elation, kissing me so eagerly, I’m pretty sure my lips are swollen and bruised.

“Oi! I know i told you to kiss, but come on! Knock it off!” Katsuki growls. I smile into the kiss and deepen it, knowing it would piss Katsuki off. Sure enough, he growls and is stalking over when Eiji pulls back to stick his tongue at Katsuki.

“Oh, lay off!” He replies. “You’re just jealous cus you’re still single.” Katsuki growls and grabs the front of Eiji’s hospital gown.

“What did you say?!” Katsuki growls.

“Oh, good; I see we were worried for nothing.” Comes the voice of my mother-in-law. I look behind Katsuki and wave.

“Hi, Ma!” I call. I generally call Mrs. Kirishima ‘Ma’ or ‘Mama’, and Mom...well, ‘mom’. “Turns out, Eiji got hit by a Quirk that knocks you out and gives you amnesia, but it’s nullified by showing the victim photos or talking about the missing memories, evidently. He remembers.”

Ma nods. “Thank goodness.” Eijiro hugs his parents.

“Hey, guys.”

“Hello, Eijiro.” Ma replies. Pa smiles and ruffles his son’s hair.

“Gave us quite a scare there, son.” He says. “But, of course, you pulled through!” Eijiro nods.

“Cus Kirishima men always win!” He says proudly, fist-pumping his dad. I roll my eyes. That was part of the reason Kiri was so upset in Middle School; his father encouraged bravery and manliness in his son and when Eijiro failed to act in that attack, it whacked his self-esteem.

But, over time, he’d become every inch a brave, manly hero. And an even better man to be married to. I side-hug him and squeeze his side reassuringly. “And the Kirishima women will always support their man.” I add, chuckling as Ma nods.

“Agreed. Knew I liked you when I met you, Kara.” I grin.

This was what we’d always have; a family to fall back on, no matter how bad or weird things get. Family is priority. Always.

Crappy ending is crappy, but hope you liked the rest! XD

#bnha kirishima #eijiro kirishima #Eijiro Kirishima X OC #Eijiro Kirishima X Takara Yamada (OC)#Amnesia #Fanfiction #OC #Original Character #MHA OC #BNHA OC #BNHA #MHA #My Hero Academia #Boko No Hero Academia #Aiming for Fluff #Might've missed the mark tho

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theragamuffininitiative · 6 years

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Last Days of Summer @KCRep

Well this has been long in coming

Guys.

I saw Last Days of Summer with Corey Cott and Emily Padgett and it was amazing and now I’m here a week and a day late to talk your ear off about it. ;)

I went with my favorite cousin (shhh don’t tell the other cousins) to see the show because she likes theatre too but her family doesn’t care so they never see things.

She knew I was a fan of one of the cast, and I did my level best not to fangirl too hard and I think it was an all around success. :D

This was yet another exercise in the “how far will Rags drive across the country to see a show if it is at all a possibility to do so” which I think is going to drive my parents insane.

When we got there, I did what I forgot to do at The Lion King and asked if it was ok to take pictures of the curtain call. Unfortunately, because of copyright reasons with Jason Sherwood’s set design, pictures were not allowed. :P But now at least I think I’ll remember to ask the ushers at shows, because curtain calls are my favorite thing and someday I will get pictures at them.

I’m not going to spoil the story for anyone who may want to read the book the musical is based off of, or just in case it gets produced again. (please please please) But if you’re curious, there’s this.

We went the last night because I couldn’t get away sooner. I would have loved to see the first show and then seen the closing show because I know they did a lot of changes, but I’m really happy with the version we saw.

It opened with a radio suspended on a wire, and the crackling voice of a baseball announcer set the narrative into motion. The radio was one of my favorite parts of the production, it was a great storytelling technique.

Robbie Berson as young Joey Margolis was amazing. All the kids in the cast were, but as the main protagonist....antagonist? hm, anyways, the main character, he carried the story the whole time in a great way, always believable as an incorrigible kid and strong enough to dig into the deeper parts of the story.

Jim Kaplan as Craig Nakamura was also amazing, and I love the character of sweet but feisty Craig so much.

These two boys, honestly, they were such pros.

And what can I say about Corey and Emily? They are stars, obviously, and I loved every second they were on stage, together or separate.

The end of Act One features a pretty big blow up between Joey and Corey’s Charlie, where Joey allows his emotions to get the better of him and turns on Craig. Charlie scolds him and tells him he has no choice about growing up and gives him a thing or two about being a man. Honestly, that act one closer was pretty great, but it also gave two of my favorite moments of the show:

1) When Charlie gets fed up with Joey’s selfish behavior, Corey bellowed “sit down!” and one older audience member audibly went “whoa” XD XD XD.

2) in the song that follows (”Says Who? Says I”), there was a moment where - for lack of a better description and realizing it’s a pun considering what team Charlie Banks plays on - Corey became a giant on that stage. For most of the production, all the players were equals. Kids and adults and ensemble members alike, they complimented each other and no one outshone anyone else. But near the end of the song, and probably on purpose for the story, Charlie/Corey towered above everything else as he belted out lines that were equally self-deprecating and proud about who Charley and Joey should be. I was in awe. It was a great moment.

Emily’s disguised yet still noticeable baby bump made for some fourth-wall-breaking humorous moments for the audience, considering her starlet character and lead romantic interest persona. But it was all good. XD

I. am. seriously. in. love. with. that. staging. I could talk about the sets all day.

Jeff Calhoun’s directing. Can I get an amen.

Jim/Craig’s performance of “We Always Had a Garden” is honestly the part I got the most emotional over, and he sang it like an angel, I was very wow.

I need the album.

Chris Dwan as Stuke was great. I started to get worried about Stuke’s mortality when he went from “occasional comic relief” to “goofy tag-along friend” and, well, I was right. But he was great and he had this fantastic little random dance number (”This Time It’s For Real”) while singing about his latest crush. It was precious. XD

There was, as the review I linked to said, a lot crammed into this little show. Like, a lot of a lot. The first act balanced everything pretty well, the second act was a little stuffed.

One of the big climactic moments in act two felt very rushed, and one of those “we’re just going to assume the audience gets what we mean” and the audience gets it but isn’t allowed any time to appreciate it. I’d like to see that done a little differently, but I completely chalk it up to there just being such a wealth of plot to deal with in those final scenes and numbers.

Speaking of numbers, if you want a taste of some of the music aside from that one clip with Robbie and Jim, Corey performed some of the songs with some cast members at his concert that week:

“You Never Have to Say Goodbye” - cue tears

“No One Else For Me” - sweeeeet

I love Big Band music so much. Jason Howland for the win.

“That’ll Be You and Me” is sort of a bonding moment for Joey and Charlie and it reminded me a lot of the character dynamic between Zach and Henry in Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, one of my favorite movies.

The wedding scene was hysterical. You’re just gonna have to take my word for it, but the blocking on it was perfect and the characters played tug-of-war across the stage trying to get Charlie to board his train on time and keep the rabbi from passing out as he flew through the “ceremony.” XD The Rabbi was a good character. Give Gary Neal Johnson a hand.

I did not cry. There were moments. But I didn’t. XD

Everybody kept swearing and then the boys would make “can we say that word” jokes, like in the middle of a song, when you knew what they were going to say because it rhymed, and I’m old fashioned but it was also great. XD

There’s an earlier scene where the baseball team is helping Joey memorize his answers for his Bar Mitzvah (”The Only Way to Score”) and it was both funny and precious as everyone except Joey learns all the Hebrew answers.

“Just Like Us” and its reprises kept the show solidly focused on Joey, and his buddy Craig.

I wanted to give both Joey and Charlie all the hugs.

I whooped for the orchestra at bows. I’m always like the only person who does that at a show, but I appreciate the orchestras so much, it’s just my thing now: I whoop loudly in support of the pit musicians, deal with it everybody.

My cousin enjoyed it :D :D :D

Standing ovation, btw, of course.

Okay, so, after the show:

We stuck around with a group of peeps to stagedoor. Folks, this is the first time I successfully stagedoored something lol.

Corey was the first person to come out, and... - poor guy. XD He was booking it, making a very determined beeline for the exit. If I was left to my own, I would have let him go, but the guy in front of me stopped him so I got up my courage. He was polite and kind to us, but you could tell he just wanted to go home. (and afterward he ended up apparently getting delayed like seven hours trying to get back home to the city, so I don’t blame him at all) So he signed a couple posters and playbills, and then as he was walking away I stepped forward and asked if I could get his autograph. He was like “yeah, ok” and then, rather than giving him the playbill, I pulled out my Bandstand album jacket. :D :D :D Guys, he lit up, it was the cutest and happiest thing. He went from “ok sure” to “awwww yeaaaaah!” and signed it like six times because my marker wasn’t working properly lol, and then was like “um that’s gonna have to be good enough” even though I told him the first time was ok. XD

So then everyone else started to come out, and I got a lot of the cast to sign my playbill, including all the main kids, Emily, and most of the baseball players - who were the coolest about doing autographs so bless you dudes. Young Jim somehow has the neatest signature.

And then we went home! XD

As usual, I am certain I am forgetting all the things, but there we are. I only wish I could have gone twice. I would love to have gone earlier so I could tell everyone to go see it. But I’m reasonably sure it will get more productions, so be on the look out for it! :D

#rags sees a show #ragamusings #last days of summer #stagedoor stories

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ick25 · 6 years

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Rockman.EXE Episode 46 Review.

In Battle Network universe, curry takes YOU out!

Are you gonna explain how Regal gets Dr. Wily’s robot eye gene or something?

We begin the episode with one of my least favorite characters in this season demanding curry at the restaurant of my least favorite group of villaines. Count Elec is working while complaining about Rush and wondering if the WWW will ever come back. Suddenly, his PET starts to emit a sound with a bright red screen, and we see that the rest of the WWW members also have the same problem.

They are all gathered at the Maha ichiban, with Rush still waiting for his dang curry, trying to figure out what is going on. The PETs then slowly reveal an image of Dr. Wily.

Are we forgeting already that Madoi has sleeves?

After the title card we see that all PETs are connected to a tv where they find out that it is a video recording of Dr.Wily’s will. Wily tells them about a special chip where he engraved his intellect and where to find it.

All of this as the monitor shows the mod code for HP+250 for some reason.

After hearing this the WWW members are amazed and glad that they will finally return, but a certain dog hears them and escapes to alert our heroes.

Another way to make this character useful. I honestly don’t know why they don’t even question Rush, like they already know who he is and what he can do.

We cut to Netto who is happily skating while singing Aki’s cheezy song (very badly BTW) until he is surprised by Rush who suddenly appears in his way. Rush seems to be trying to tell him something, but Netto simple can’t understand him.

Why? She speaks bitch? XD (It’s not a bad word if I’m not using it as an insult)

In the next scene we see the Ex-WWW stealing a helicopter from a local airport by drowning the employees in curry. I also want to point out that Madoi and Count Elec are wearing those weird looking hats from when they were hand gliding in episode 31.

Custom hats for their hair styles?

Madoi reminds them that Gauss might also be interested in finding Wily’s brain chip, before we see him at his company with the family picture we saw in episode 30.

Meanwhile, in Yaito’s secret tree house base, Roll somehow translates what Rush said about the Wily chip, (ignore the weird spacing in the second panel) and for some reason they all think it’s THEIR job to stop them.

Rush demonstrates once again that he can cross between worlds to show them the map to the chip, and right after this, Yaito calls them from a entirely different art style and background just so we can get Yaito’s animation of getting into her private jet Batman style.

It just looks so weird going back and forth between art styles like that. Even the shading is different!

They find the island with no signs of the Ex-WWW anywhere, until Rockman totally jinx it because it turns out they were waiting for them to fly and shoot at them!

Rockman in forth panel: “I hate to be right all the time”

It’s been a while since the WWW tried to MURDER Netto! They literally shoot at them because they knew Netto and Rockman were there!

After blasting them out of the sky, the WWW land on the island were they find a waterfall that, of course, has a jack-in point next to it. This means the waterfall is fake because it dries up once they plug-in to reveal the chip.

Just plug-in, play Wily’s video and no more waterfall. Before they can take the chip though, one of Yaito’s drill cars bursts out of the ground. Yaito, Dekao and Tohru attempt to runaway with the chip only for the drill to stop working leaving them stuck there. Meanwhile, Netto is driving underground in a second drill car.

“Girl please, who’s the main character here? I can find the plot with my eyes closed.”

The loser squad try to defend the chip, in a very poorly way because Mahajarama ends up picking it up easily after Madoi drops it. Hinouken celebrates, but they are all interrupted by a blimp from Gauss that suddenly arrives before cutting to commercials.

We return from commercials with Gauss blasting the WWW helicopter with a laser from his airship.

Yeap, that happend.

Gauss reveals himself and immediately proceeds to insult Madoi.

I like how the camera switches to Madoi dissapearing and then going back to Gauss getting slapped by her. This is officially the second time Madoi slaps him.

Gauss reveals that he is interested in collecting Wily’s chip for his fan girl collection before Netto and Meiru finally burst out of the ground behind the blimp. Gauss then reveals a vital piece of information to eveyone.

Whaaaaa... I’m just kidding, we already knew that.

Turns out Gauss changed the family name to Magnets after their mother died and considers the Count a failure. He offers to take him back on his blimp in return for him handing over the Wily chip. The Count accepts shocking everyone, except for Mahajarama who has fate in him.

Then Meiru comes running at Yaito and the others telling them that Netto is on that ship too.

“Main character!”

Inside the airship, the Count refuses to hand over the chip and challenges Gauss to a Net Battle, but not just any Netbattle, one with the same rules used in his battle against Rockman back in episode 30.

Were the subs done by the same guys from episode 38? WHAT THE HECK ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT?!

Gauss accepts and we then see Netto hiding in a closet where Rockman tells him that he will disable the security so he can sneak around. The electric battle begins with Elecman and Magnetman rushing at eachother as we then cut to Rockman taking out the security Navis with his cutted buster shot.

I’m liking the lighting effects used in this episode.

Elecman attacks Magnetman with his Elec Sword, but the magnetic Navi blows him away. Magnetman attacks with his Mag balls, Elecman tries to avoid them but one of them eventually touches him causing the Count to get shocked by the battle machine.

So gay.

Anyway, the Count shuts him up after he sends a lightning rod to Elecman to protect him from Magnetman’s attacks and returning the damage to him.

That’s not a real chip, but I don’t care.

Gauss gets angry and Magnetman manhandles Elecman.

This battle is intense! I am personally rooting for Elecman and the Count. I don’t have anything against gay people, I just happen to dislike Gauss, and his Navi Magnetman is very vicious. You can see how Elecman struggles in the battle just for the Count. That is Navi loyalty at its finest!

Meanwhile, we go back to the island where one of Yaito’s maids tells her that their rescue crew has arrived, they can now go get Netto from Gauss’s blimp. Speacking of Netto, we cut to Rockman now in the Heat Guts style burning more security Navis to disable what I guess is a motion sensor.

I think this is the first time we see burn marks left by the Heat Guts attack, it is suppouse to be a flamethrower after all.

Back to the battle, Elecman and Magnetman launch their attacks at the same time. The collission of their attacks for some reason means that both Gauss and the Count get electricuted. During this, a spark runs wild and starts a tiny fire somewhere in the blimp.

Netto finally arrives at the room where they are having their Net Battle and spots Wily’s chip in front of their family picture.

Just wanted to brag my good timing with this shot where Netto sees the Count before hiding.

Magnetman and Elecman are both tired, the fire in the airship starts to expand, the Navis decide to take the other one down with their fists resulting in a double log-out and both operators getting electricuted and falling over.

On the floor, they both talk about the past. Gauss even admits that their mother and him were worried about the Count before she passed away.

This tender conversation is interrupted by an explotion caused by the growing fire, but there is another surprise for them, Netto attempting to sneak away with the Wily chip behind their backs.

You know, Netto, you could’ve taken advantage of the explotion to run away without them realizing it.

Netto runs away and plugs out Rockman who was still burning security Navis in the cyberworld with Gauss and Count Elec right behind him.

Rockman deleting the security might have weakend the airships emergency protocals in case of a fire...Wooops. Either that or Gauss’s blimp was poorly designed.

Netto tries to escape from them by running to the roof only to be stopped by the fire.

.........

Only in the original version can you find an openly gay Gauss.

Netto threatens them by throwing the chip overboard, but another explotion causes him to lose balance.

The villains saved the hero?

Of course they did it because they thought he still had the chip. Luckily for Netto, he grabs on to a lose part of the blimp slowly tearing its side and leaving him hanging from it.

Gauss and Count Elec once again start to fight over the chip, and once again an explotion occures making them fall over with the chip sliding pass between them and finally falling off the ship.

LOL, there goes Wily’s brain.

The blimp is slowly falling with Netto getting closer to the water until something saves him from drowning or freezing to death.

Oh no, its the return of the Yaito Mako!

Netto is saved and the blimp ends up crashing into an iceberg while our heroes just watch the bad guys die.

Oh the Elec-Manity! Or Magnet-Manity? o-o

After this we see the Ex-WWW on a boat in front of the iceberg believing that their dear friend died. Of course this isn’t the case because the camera quickly shifts to the Count and Gauss bickering on a block of ice, ending the episode with both of them sneezing.

What do I think?

The beginning was pretty dumb. Netto and friends just trying to stop the Ex-WWW like it was their responsability. I mean, granted, Rockman is the hero that stops their evil plans, but they never got directly involve before. Fighting against the WWW Navis was because they were causing problems to them and the rest of the city, but their operators don’t stand a chance against a group of adults in real life. The cyberworld is where Rockman is superior and is able to stop them, that’s the Battle Network formula, giving kids an advantage over adults.

The best and most important part of the episode was the revelation of Gauss and Count Elec being brothers and the Net Battle between their Navis. If you saw the anime before playing the games like me, this was something we were waiting for after seeing the Count’s family picture in episode 30. The game was pretty vague about this, how were we suppoused to know that the Cout’s real name was Jack? They are never seen interacting with eachother in the games, Gauss’s introduction was the only time where this was mentioned. During the plane hijacking in BN2, Gauss reveals that he came from a very poor family and that his brother Jack was taken in by a wealthy family, making him bitter towards humanity and the reason why he joins Gospel. Here, they both come from a rich family but chose different paths, specially since the Count ran away from home a long time ago.

The reason why there was a mod code in Wily’s video was part of their publicity for BN3, by adding secret codes for the game in the anime. It is very plausible that we will see more secret codes hiding in some of the future episode.

#Rockman exe #MegaMan NT Warrior #megaman battle network #anime #dub vs sub #my reviews #ick25

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brynwrites · 6 years

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Ask Compilation.

Topics covered:

Chapter Titles

Nonbinary character shenanigans

These Treacherous Tides, the series

Marketing yourself as an author via blog

Starting back up with writing

Writing children

Writing fighting woman with big hearts

Differentiating casts who feel similar

Writing in your native language vs English

And a few notes from my lovely followers.

All other questions should be listed on the ask queue page. (Except the last two WIP related questions I haven’t gotten around to answering…)

Chapter Titles

@aithlynfreyeaesthetic asked: Hello, I hope you're doing well. Are chapter title absolutely necessary? I've been avoiding chapter titles purely because I'm horrible at titles, but I've just always wondered.

Not at all! The majority of fiction books don’t use chapter titles. They can be fun, especially in certain genres, but they’re in no way necessary.

Nonbinary character shenanigans

@thebravetinsoldier asked: Hi! I’m writing a steampunk story were the main character is being hunted because they’ve cheated death and become immortal by changing their “deceased” parts with robotics and magic. I really want this character to be nonbinary, but part of the explanation is that they’ve changed parts of themselves so much that they no longer remember if they were a boy or a girl. Is this a bad thing? Sorry for the bad formulation, English is not my first language.

First up, I want to clarify that there’s nothing inherently wrong with most concepts in which nonbinary people are robots or mythical creatures, but it does paint an uncomfortable picture simply because there are so few nonbinary character in existence who are actually human, creating a implication that nonbinary people are not-quite-human because humans are the ones who have binary genders.

You fix that particular issue with a small adjustment: Let there be fully human/non-magical nonbinary characters in the world, even if they’re just a side characters who only appears in one scene.

The main problem here though, is the idea that physical appearance determines identity. Rather than presenting the main character as not being able to identify whether they’re a binary gender, it’s far better to present it as them knowing they don’t (and have probably never) felt like a binary gender, and feeling happy with the way their body is androgynous, because they don’t feel the need to present as a specific gender*.

Let me illustrate it this way: A girl who losses her physical, female body (or is born in a male body) will be no less a girl, even if society tries to tell her that she could or should be a boy. With time, she’ll still decide she is in fact a girl, no matter what her body says. The same is true with nonbinary people. If a person composed of robotics and magic decides they’re nonbinary, then it’s because they’ve always been nonbinary; they might have just taken a while to figure it out, especially if they original had a body their society told them had to assign them a binary identity.

(*this is not a qualification of being nonbinary by the way, though it is a common feeling among many nonbinary people.)

These Treacherous Tides, the series

@kiarazuri asked: You’ve mentioned before that Pearl is set in a mermaid series called These Treacherous Tides (awesome title, btw) and I was wondering how many books you’ve got planned? Also whether or not any of the books will interact with each other or just be set in the same world?

The These Treacherous Tides series is going to be a more or less unconnected series of romance/family-oriented books about different species of merfolk (and humans), though I’m not opposed in any way to cameos, especially of side characters.

I don’t officially have a second book planned yet, but merpeople are one of my favorite things in existence, and the moment I finished Our Bloody Pearl I knew I wanted to write more books about them. I do have two concepts I want to play with in future books, so I’ll be fleshing them out further and picking a direction for them once I’m finished with We Are, We Are Monsters.

Marketing yourself as an author via blog

Anon asked: hi! i'm getting into the final stretch of writing my first novel (i have a few drafts left to complete and then i'll begin the self-publishing process!) and i was looking into how to market myself. among other things, i've been told to create a separate tumblr blog to post about my writing. obviously, yours is working very well! i was wondering if you would suggest doing this and if you have any tips to get it started/gain a following? thanks!

I would definitely suggest creating some kind of blog for writing, and in my experience the writeblr community here is very encouraging and one of the most interactive writing communities on the web. The one thing I will mention though, is that every follower you talk to (i.e. are acquaintances or friends with) are worth a hundred followers you don’t know. I owe all my success to having a ton of writeblr friends who have (and continue to) reblog my posts like they’re gold.

Check out my marketing tag for a ton of posts I’ve written about this! (Make sure you scroll down to the article on building an audience.)

Starting back up with writing

Anon asked: So I've just had exams so I had to stop writing for a while, but now I want to get back into writing my novel but I'm really struggling. I feel like I've forgotten everything ugh. Do you have any advice on how to jump back in?

My key tips:

Start small. Write 50 words. Take a break. Write another 50 words.

Remove distractions. If you’re on tumblr you’re not writing.

Don’t worry if your writing doesn’t sound good! (Follow the link for a full post!)

Writing children

@bloodybutterfly222 asked: Hey! I really love your tips, and I thought maybe you could help me with a problem I've been stumbling in. I have a story that partially revolves around parenting (bonding with a 2-year-old, more specifically) but I realized I don't know how to write children speech/dialogue. Since I've never had much contact with children myself, I'm even more at a lost about how to portray it significantly and yet accurately. Do you happen to have any tips on the matter?

I would love to help you, but I have little current experience in this area too. (Which I’m kicking myself over, because I did nanny through all of college, but I didn’t actually think about the way children speak while I was doing it and so when I write my own child characters they tend to be really stiff and generic.)

The one piece of advice I will impart is this: Children are a lot smarter and braver and more creative than they’re given credit for, and they really do say the darnedest things. Some of my most memorable experiences with kiddos:

An eight year old asked me where evil and sin came from if god didn’t create it and then had a theological conversation with me that most adults couldn’t match.

He and his younger bother decided the heroes of our story would win by buying the villain a million ketchup covered pancakes.

Same younger bother spent ten minutes jumping on his bed shouting chocolate chips at the top of his lungs because he didn’t want to sleep.

Also same young brother would tell everyone he was moving across the country for exactly seven years whenever he was angry.

Multiple instances of really polite 4-6 year old kids coming up to me while I worked retail at the Zoo, asking some variation of “Excuse me, miss, but would be okay if I could buy one of those cups, thank you” and then conducting the entire purchase on their own.

Writing fighting woman with big hearts

@tokinokagura asked: Hello Sir, Regarding your answer about strong female characters. In your opinion, where do females who are strong and independent yet have a very very kind side (like a fighting mom or big sis type, or a type who got something to be strong for) and also how do I approach this scenario of a strong independent fighting strong mother/big sis figure? Thanks in advance

There’s no trick to writing this sort of character; you just write them. Show her being both strong and nurturing, independent and compassionate. Explore the way these traits interact and enhance each other. Does she love her own freedom and want to provide others who are oppressed the same independence she’s found? Does she see compassion as something the strong are required to give? Does she believe true heroes are the ones who fight for others? Look deeper into how she became who she is and why she fights for those she fights for, and then carry that throughout the story in every scene, every choice she makes.

Differentiating casts who feel similar

@katekarl asked: Alright, I could use some help with this WIP. I have a heavy cast of female characters, and I need a way to keep them from sounding too similar. Some of them ARE similar, and the differences in worldview/personality/dialogue might be a little too nuanced. What are some ways that I can try and keep them from looking like they were copy-pasted into their different roles?

Bullet points!

Unless your world is heavy on the sexism and holds to very constricting gender norms, it shouldn’t make any difference that they’re all women; they should have just as diverse a range of personalities, hobbies, strengths, etc as if they were a group of any mix of genders, so long as the class and cultural diversity doesn’t change.

If your characters are too similar to differentiate between them, then you probably don’t actually need all of them. Any two characters who consistently make very similar choices should almost always be combined. If two characters are in fact making very different choices despite being similar in personality and background, then it might be time to sit down and figure out where those choices are coming from and adjust one of the characters to make the origin of their choices obvious.

In my opinion, quirkier characters are always more fun than un-quirky characters, and there are a million different crazy and eccentric traits you can give your characters to make them stand out. (I have a post about developing side characters here which has a few more, similar concepts.)

Writing in your native language vs English

Hi, I can speak English on a B2/C1 level but it's not my native language. I want to write a novel but idk what language I should write in. I have a poetry blog in English and I used to write stories in English but I feel like something more serious requires wider vocabulary and better language skills in general. I have nowhere to post/publish it in my native language though, so it would probably end up forgotten if I were to write it in my native language:/ what do you think I should do?

I don’t have any advice other than this: You’ll get better at a language the longer to try to write more complicated things in it. If you want to write something more serious in English someday, the only way you’ll get there is by writing something serious is English now, even if you do a poor job of it at first.

Kind words

Anon said: I just wanted to say thank you for that fanfic answer and letting us in on what inspired you. I have an original novel in the works basically inspired by Steve and Bucky and wanting them to eventually build a definite relationship. But I didn’t want to write a fanfic, even though I love fanfic. It turned into a space opera thing

You’re very welcome! That sounds like an awesome space opera, and I wish you the best of luck with it! <3

Anon said: Hi I just saw what you said about writing through mental illness and I just had to tell you that it helped me so much! There is so much power in the advice and motivation you put there, thank you.

I’m glad it could help! I’ve been struggling as a writer (and human) with depression and anxiety for year now, and I’m just happy to share what I’ve learned <3 I’ll admit that some days I don’t... well I almost said I don’t win this battle, but that’s not a mentally healthy way of looking at it. Some days I have to give myself time to recoop. Some days, taking proactive steps towards tomorrow is the best course of action, even if that doesn’t include writing. (And the taking to best course of action is always a successful day, even if you didn’t get to any of the things you wanted to.)

Anyhow, I’m proud of myself for coming this far and I’m proud of you all for growing alongside me!

Anon said: Not an ask, rather a message. Sorry if it's in the wrong place--I'm kinda new. So, yes, I'm a newbie and I found your blog, and I love it! Keep on writing. I'll be looking forward your works. Cheers!

Thank you my friend! (This is exactly the write place. You’re so sweet to take the time to say this <3)

#writeblr #writing asks #ask compilation

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fictionerd · 6 years

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GOOD. TO. SEE. YOU. FRIENDS!!!

Here we are! The first post of Summer Season 2018 and we’ll be covering Planet With. This series is released on Sundays and can be watched on Crunchyroll.

Okay, so let’s cover what we learn from the first two episodes of Planet With.

In episode one we’re introduced to Souya, a young amnesiac who dreams of horrifying giant draconic creature attacking a city and some one flying off to confront it. See it’s shit like this that causes dragons to have a bad reputation. Seriously I can’t believe these assholes who go around burning whatever the hell they want just because they can breath fire. If it weren’t for them dimensional travel wouldn’t be such a daunting prospect for me. I never know when some one is going to have a traumatic flashback and attack me all because some scaley clown got it into their head to “burninate” something.

Sorry, I’m digressing again. After waking up from his ptsdream Souya prepares to have a normal breakfast with his perfectly normal housemates of a large cat-person and green-haired maid.

Oh wait... My bad. See I’m used to hanging out with a Teddy-Bear whisperer with the ability to access the life’s memory of a version of herself in any given universe, an elf who ONLY exists in the metaverse of the Akashic Record, and most recently a shadow-monster who spent three months pretending to be Swole-Bear. There was also that time I tried to hang out with a copy of a video game character, but we’re not considering that canon anymore. At least not entirely for legal reasons. Oh! There’s also the British man who tears holes in dimensions to fight against “unfair fates” who I’m apparently hosting a podcast with now? My point being that to me the above image is perfectly normal. To most anyone else this is probably at least a three on the Sir Memery WTF chart.

After finishing his veggie breakfast Souya sets off for school complaining about wanting to eat some meat where he bumps into his class rep whose name he has forgotten. You’d think this is just an excuse to set up Tsundere vibes with her, but no it’s far FAR worse than that. See her name is: Kagaratamaha? [wrong buzzer] Hakatamagara? [wrong buzzer] Ta-ka-ma-ga-ha-ra? [Correct Tone]

So Nickname Pending is worried about Souya and how he doesn’t make friends at his new school. This is because she knows what it’s like to be the new kid, and has apparently never watched an anime in her life so she doesn’t quite grasp the concept of “Leave the mysterious blue-haired transfer alone”.

Side Note: This character’s introduction marks the first time I’ve ever gotten a Japanese pun without some one explaining it to me. So allow me to ruin it for you all by explaining it. She offers Souya some of her Hamburger Steak to which he replies with tears of join “Megane-sama” which she mishears as “Megami-sama” and sheepishly replies that she doesn’t think she’s a goddess before immediately realizing what he’d actually said. This leads into the reveal of her actual name which I refuse to ever use the entirety of again because I honestly don’t think the joke is that funny.

Later that day Souya’s shounen receptors begin to tingle as he picks up on the impending conflict of the story. A UFO is sighted offshore headed towards the city. When the air-force is deployed to deal with the object (Picture in header) they find themselves the victim of some strange joyous delusion and leave the object alone. it’s only when seven strange people, apparently psychics of some kind, utilize their powers to confront it is it stopped. We see one of these people enter the object through a “Weak Point” and have his own delusion.

See, his mother was killed in a fire when he was a little boy causing him to become a firefighter. The UFO hits his brain with a delusion of child him being held back from the blaze by a firefighter only for that firefighter to turn out to be adult him. Adult Firefighter Psychic dude runs into the fire, saves his mom, and the two of them walk through the cherry blossoms as he sorts through all the pent up regrets he has about not being able to save her when he was a kid. Only after we’ve conveniently gotten to know this character’s defining trauma does his squad get through to him and break the delusion, then he uses his Psychic Golem Powers to wreck the hell out of the UFO causing it and copies of it that had appeared around the world to disappear all at once. The same can be said for the Psychics who all blast off to separate places to avoid the fate of E.T. one presumes

While all this was going on Souya got a call from Ginko (That’s green-haired maid lady for those not following the series who also don’t care about spoilers). She tells Souya that he has to defeat “it”, but contrary to what everyone in the audience thinks it turns out that “it” refers to one of the Psychics and not the UFO thing. After Ex-Firefighter current world-saver exits the bushes onto a highway he encounters Souya the cat-man and Ginko. Souya is sporting a mask and being basically lead by the nose at the behest of Catman and Ginko. Now hold onto your seats because this is where shit gets REALLY weird.

Catman swallows Souya turning into a mech in the process that Souya is now piloting. They get into a fight with Firefighter dude who summons up his psychic golem thing. After fumbling around at Ginko’s direction Souya manages to pilot the Catmech to victory over Psychic Fireman and retrieves a vial of star-shaped dust that is the “source of his power”. At which point I’m lead to believe that Souya recovered his memories because he shouts at Firefighter to tell his friends that Souya is going to kick their collective asses. This is presumably because he believes them to be behind his ptsdream.

After the credits roll we see a scene where a guy I can only describe a scruffy Alder from Pokemon Gen 5 says ominously that Firefighter dude had been taken out.

So, before even watching episode two I can already hands-down predict that this guy is the Draconic asshole from Souya’s ptsdream. Not sure how everything fits together but my working theory is that Souya’s from another planet that Earth governments or some shadowy organization somehow invaded and stole something from. Souya is a sleeper agent and the “Peas” balloon things are meant to lure out those in possession of the Stolen Macguffin or whatever.

There we have Episode One. Please excuse me now while I go watch Episode Two. Well... I mean you can just keep reading by the time this goes up but... BRB!

[Approximately 30min later]

Well my theory from about two paragraphs ago is up in smoke as soon as the opening scenes of this episode roll in and further dashed upon the rocks by Ginko later in the episode. All things in their proper order.

So Torai (That’s firefighter-guy’s name btw) makes his report to dragon-man about his encounter with Soya and company. The other six Psychic warriors all make jabs at him as though he died even when he’s sitting right there in an example of a gag that is legit funny unlike Tara’s name from last episode. While we’re talking about the exposition meeting may I just say that I feel BETRAYED!

See Dragon CEO guy is as nerdy as I AM! He’s the one who found out that the enemy force is called Nebula. He called the giant abominations “Nebula Weapons” gives Soya and Company the name Nebula Soldiers, and what does he call the Psychic Golems his crew uses to fight? Psychokinetic Mega-God Photon Armor. If I didn’t know better I’d think my pops made him from the same mold as me no less. Oh, and their little world-saving club? It’s the Citizens' Safety Center Special Defense Section: "Grand Paladin". I’m in tears, people, this is a Draconid after my own heart.

So, the “Grand Paladin” peeps implement the buddy system in case they run into Soya again. Meanwhile Soya’s having a sulk because apparently Ginko and “Sensei” dragged him to Earth to be their soldier. He goes out on a walk in Iron Clogs (I’m guessing this is a joke I’m not getting). On the run he meets up with Torai who just happens to have purchased a bunch of meat buns from a convenience store. They have a conversation because Torai is a nice guy (that’s a legit nice guy not the version that’s been turned into a derogatory term by certain groups online). See Torai, while out looking for his attacker couldn’t help noticing what he thought was a middle-schooler sitting on a random bench crying and came over to see if there was anything he could do to help.

He gives Soya a bun they chat for a bit with Soya desperately trying both not to give away who he really is as well as to eat the bun because dammit he just wants some MEAT for once! All of a sudden the evacuation alarm is sounded because this wonderful abomination has appeared off shore.

Nebula really needs to consult a different artist about their designs. I personally recommend @dashfox1artwork.

Robin: Shamelessly plugging your internet friends are we dragon-boy?

Fic: If you’re not going to show up and fight keep your mouth shut Shadow-bear. I’m just doing my part to show that not all Dragons are assholes. Robin: Whatever you say.

So, the six remaining Psycho-God pilots attack the Ugly Bacon Idol and the pink-haired girl of the team, Miu, is the one to enter the core. The hallucination she sees is of her beating her friend Harumi (Pilot of the Bear-armor) at apparently a Judo competition. We find out that Miu has always just wanted to be strong, and we also learn that she IS strong being able to break through the illusion of the Nebula Weapon with relative ease and destroy the thing. It’s at this point that I should mention that a message has flashed before each of the characters who take one of these things out. In Miu’s case the message was “It’s okay to be weak”. For Torai in episode one the message was “I forgive you” presumably preying on his regrets about his mom.

After Piggy McHideous is dispatched the group separates into its pairs and as we expected Soya and Co target the pair with a member who just fought a battle, but let’s back up for a second because there’s some exposition from Ginko during the fight with the Baconator that needs addressing.

She reveals to Soya that Nebula is indeed the name of the group they work for, but there are multiple faction. Ginko and “Sensei” are with the “Pacifist Faction” whereas the Monuments to terrible design sense that have been popping up in the harbor belong to the “Sealing Faction”. Basically think of this as political parties. One wants to prevent humanity from rising up against them one day by brutally suppressing their ability to advance and keep them in a state of complacency, while the other just wants to take away any dangerous toys that humanity might come up with and hope that they can “guide” humanity onto the path of “Love” rather than “Power”.

Hmmm one group bent on maintaining their personal status quo at the cost of anyone else and another that wants to control precisely what power the general populace has access to in order to “guide” them on the “right path”? I wonder where I’ve heard that one before?

Sorry about that. The Writer is coming through me a little strongly there. Point is that Ginko is using Soya to enact social and ideological control... I MEAN to take away the magical stardust that allows the Psycho-God Pilots to do their thing... yeah. Back to the proper progress of the episode: Soya once again pilots his cat-mecha-sensei to fight against Miu and Harumi. It is a pretty fun fight, but all things must go as has been foretold. So after being on the ropes for most of the conflict Soya turns everything around at the last second with a miracle uppercut against the Bunny-god armor. As Miu is falling back to Earth Ginko appears and grabs the stardust vial away from her. Apparently Ginko can just Mary Poppins herself to wherever she pleases? They all land and Ginko’s like “That’s all for today”, but Soya’s having none of it. He’s ready to take the fight to Bear-mech too when all the other Psycho-Pilots show up including CEO Dragonface to say “Checkmate”, and that’s where our story concludes for now.

Y’know I’m coming more and more around to the opinion that we should be routing for “Grand Paladin” here rather than the lady influencing Soya or the massive, faceless organization that wants to turn us all into Proles from 1984. I mean, yeah, they do have the snake-eyed dude. They meet in what appears to be some sort of board room, and the writing seems to indicate that they’re the “Antagonists” if not the villains, but so far they don’t seem to be anything but a collection of well-intentioned if somewhat zany people. Even the big CEO-type with the intimidating presence, as was discussed earlier, is a lovable and hammy goofball.

I love any series that makes its antagonists human. Granted cartoonish villainy and even edgelordiness has its place in stories, but when you can make your antagonists and especially your villains feel human and relatable it just rings home that nobody is the villain in their own story. Everyone has reasons for what they do. They may not have excuses or justifications, but they all have reasons.

For instance, I have a reason for breaking my own rules here by reading my political views into the story.

[pauses for dramatic effect]

Yes, yes I’m sure you’re all very shocked at this revelation. I mean I was so subtle about it (/s). My reason is that when I went back and really thought about what the “Sealing” and “Pacifist” factions of Nebula stood for I (and this is really the nerd behind The Nerd speaking) couldn’t help but see parallels to some of the more distasteful extremes of Conservative and Liberal politics at work. Both sides seek to impose their morality upon others. While one does so by attempting to keep people complacent with the status quo, the other does it by appealing to the rebellious nature inherent in people and channeling it into “causes”.They use guilt and peer pressure to convince people that their way of thinking is correct and I absolutely cannot stand seeing it happen. Especially when they prey upon others using causes that need legitimate champions!

The goals of the “Pacifist” faction are arguably “good”. They are part of a group that has watched humanity evolve and they only want the best for us. They “keep their involvement to a minimum”, but at the end of the day they’re doing the same thing that the “Sealing” faction is doing. They’re enforcing their own will on humanity by taking away humanity’s means to fight against them, or anyone for that matter.

In the anime this is likely because the “Pacifist” faction is short-sighted and hasn’t stopped to consider what will happen to humanity when they take away the only weapon they have against the “Sealing” faction, but in reality? In reality groups like the “Pacifist” Faction either are themselves or contain an element that wants the people they’re disarming to become reliant upon them for what they need. They take away that person’s own weapons and replace them with their own. They dictate the rules of battle and push you to come to them for aid and defense. They accrue personal power and influence at the cost of their followers’ freedom of thought.

These are important things to think about and be on the lookout for, and it’s an issue that is very prevalent in my own life and dealings online. So those are my reasons for why I read political allegory into the factions of Planet With. Now am I justified for doing this when I so often decry others for “reading shit that isn’t there into stories”? No, of course I’m not. Or rather I’m not justified using that argument against people who dropped a show as a result of what they read into it.

I’m not going to lie. I’m inexperienced with expressing views on creative work online, and am overly sensitive to certain things. I’m just as flawed as anybody else. It’s hard for me to understand when people see “bullshit” in something that I didn’t see. It’s hard for me to accept some one calling a show (particularly one I like) “Garbage” when really it’s just not clicking with them. I know that I’ve been guilty of calling a show “Garbage” in my time, but it’s a term I hope to avoid moving forward. I want to live up to my professed belief that there is good to be found in all fiction, even the “bad” fiction. Part of that is accepting the responsibility I tell others they need to accept. To practice what I preach.

If I’m determined that the Audience has just as important a role in creating art as the Authors then I need to learn to accept the interpretations of my fellow audience members, and to feel free to express my own interpretations of things.

[stops to take a break and slide back into character]

Wow... That ended up being a lot heavier than I imagined. What a way to kick off the summer season! There’s more to come but for now I need a break, and the writer could probably use a nap.

Until next post keep talking fiction, friends! I’ll see you soon

#Anime #Planet With #Episode 1 #Episode 2 #Fictionerd #Let's Talk Anime #LTA #Robin

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hitodama89 · 3 years

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I found a bunch of neat questions meant for Esk characters/community from dA (/originally from Discord) and decided to fill in some of them, skipping the ones I wouldn't have any interesting answers for. I'm sorry in advance if the read more -cut doesn't work, because this will be a loooong one!

“For your esk who in some way or another form words, how do you hear their voice? Accents, age, speaking mannerisms?”

Weary's voice is slow, low and masculine, Elsie's somewhat high, girly and uncertain, Song's happy, chirpy and androgynous in childlike manner, Curse's raspy, hissy and something you could imagine hearing in a bad horror movie, Poe's fast-paced and androgynous until he gets nervous and his pitch starts to rise fast, Nessie's so incredibly low that the voice is more felt rather than heard.

“Is there a particular song (or something related) that you associate with your esk?”

I'm bad at finding fitting songs for my characters, but there are a couple ones:

Elsie: Running by Kállay-Saunders and Fireflies by Technicolour

Song: pretty much every song that sounds anything like these

“What do your esks think of strangers entering their domain?”

Weary follows them warily from a distance, Elsie is afraid of them, Song tries to make friends with them, Curse tries to scare them away or even harm them, Poe wants to interact with them but often is too timid to do so, Nessie doesn't care or is amused by them.

“One of the things mentioned on the guide is that esks tend to have a habitual way of affecting their environment. How do your esks shape, influence, or damage the world around them?”

Weary has tried to keep its environment clean (in the expense of its own wellbeing), Elsie makes things like rock arrangements around her haunt pond, Song collects trinkets to their home, Curse protects all felines in its territory, Poe makes notes like arrows and symbols in the ground, Nessie has inspired a lot of legends among the humans that live close by.

“Gender is largely not something an esk thinks about a lot or has to worry about in their daily life, but if your esk has any opinions on how they present/gender views how do they feel about it, and would they be accepting of any revelations time might bring?”

All of my Esk could be called agender, but some of them are that more firmly than others. Poe and Elsie are the only ones who feel drawn to the concept of genders enough to use gendered pronouns, but even they wouldn't really straight-out call themselves male or female; the pronouns are more like a remnant of their past lives that they don't want to let go of. Then there's Weary, who seems pretty masculine by its appearance, voice and demeanor, but its conscious mind doesn't care about such matters at all. (But maybe in some level it does associate itself with masculinity, as I'd assume Esk's mind does affect the form they take when they are transformed.) And the rest of the gang, Song, Curse and Nessie, are completely agender in every way. Gender has never been important to any of them and likely never will.

(As a side note: the reason why all of them are more or less agender is because I myself don't understand genders all that well and I find the idea of gender not really mattering for eternal ghosts pretty comforting.)

“Who are your Esk's friends, why do they hang out with them/ Where? Why are they important to that characters development”

All of my Esk are tangled into each others' lives in some ways. Elsie was tranformed by Weary and their lives have since gone very much hand in hand. Song and Poe were both transformed by Nessie and all of them are friends with each other, even if they don't hang out with each other all the time. Curse is the only one who is still somewhat of an outlier, but even it is already aquinted with Poe so I'm sure it'll get to hang around with the rest of the gang eventually (even if it likely doesn't want to, hahah).

I've tried to build relationships to other people's Esk as well, but so far those haven't gone further than one or two pictures of them hanging with each other. I know it's mostly because I'm intimidated by the group's Discord and don't hang around there plotting stuff together with people, but what can I do.

“What if your esk suddenly reverted back to their original form? How would they feel? How would it affect their surroundings? What would they do? Do they blend in with the current period, or is there a woolly mammoth in town square now”

Oof, that would be a bit nasty experience for most of them! Nessie as a Plesiosaurus would be the only one outwardly completely out of place, but none of the others would be having good time either. Curse would hate being just a regular small cat again, without powers to torment those who it bears grudge towards. Weary and Poe could technically continue living their lives as humans, as they were both adults when they were transformed, but Song and Elsie were just kids during that so blending in to society would be likely pretty difficult for them, as they wouldn't be able to live on their own just like that.

“If your esk was a human, what time period did they live in and how did this effect their design? Are they strong? Cowardly?”

Out of all of my Esk Weary, Elsie, Song and Poe were humans before their transformations. Amusingly oldest of them is Song who went missing during 1940s. After that comes Poe, transformed in 1970s, then Weary who became Esk somewhere around 2010 or so and finally Elsie, who canonically has been an Esk for a year or two by now. I don't feel like the time periods really affected the designs of their Esk forms, as I've mostly created their Esk designs first and only then built their characteristics around that.

“Does your esk have a unique communication tic, verbal or otherwise? Must they begin or end all their sentences with specific words or phrases, or is the mental imagery they project always tinted with something or features something unnatural?”

I'm not really sure what counts as a "tic" in this sense, but they all definitely have their quirks. Weary doesn't really see Esk as living creatures and talks about all of them as "it", Elsie stutters easily by repeating letters and syllables, Song tends to have difficulty separating facts from fiction and telling completely made-up stories as if they had happened to them for real, Poe rambles a lot and stutters by repeating whole words, Curse stretches S-letters like it was hissing and Nessie mostly communicates by sharing visions and feelings through telepathy instead of words.

“Why does your esk look the way they do? do they resemble their past species? does something in their manifestation reflect their state of mind, or ironically contrast with it? is their nature feature significant to their story? did they go through form changes and if so, why?”

The meta answer of course is that they all look they way they do because that's what I wanted, hahah. But all of their appearances do have some correlations with their stories, too: Weary was climbing to a mangrove tree in order to escape from a crocodile that attacked it before it got transformed. Elsie's link is more mental than physical: she was a scrawny kid stuck in a devastating home situation and she spent a lot of time dreaming of the day she'd be a gorgeous adult woman who would have the power to leave all of that behind, so she turned into a graceful, lithe Esk. Song's father was a sponge diver and human-Song was looking for the sponges that had been killed by a deadly algae bloom when they got lost. The white spots on Curse are the same ones that got burned by mean kids when it was still a helpless cat. Poe got his heart broken by his friends so as an Esk he manifested an Enchantment called Guarded heart. Nessie was, well, a Plesiosaurus.

“What are your esks relationships and/or opinions of the wanderers of their biomes?”

Weary is intriqued by Seventh, Elsie fears Seventh like crazy, Nessie is good friends with Makoa. Rest of them don't know much if anything about their respective Wanderers.

“How do your Esk relate to their familiars and what made them manifest in the first place?”

I haven't mostly given much reasons for why my Esk sometimes manifest new features; it's just something that happens over time. For Elsie her fireflies are with her almost all the time and she tends to feel really lonely without them. (Btw I draw them usually as just simple glowy dots, but I always put at least some thought into their placement and what they are actually doing in the picture!) On the other hand the betta fish she only manifests in her Haunt is more like a pet to her rather than an extension of her own spirit and she likes to spent time watching it do its fishy things. Song doesn't really think of their sponges as anything more or less than what they are: immobile simple creatures that are part of the Esk, much like their nature features. Then there's Curse and its ghostly cats. They are very strictly under Curses (uncoscious?) command, going to places where the Esk wants to go and tormenting those it wishes to harm.

“What object from your esks past resonates with them the most? Up to date what object do they now have a connection with? Does it have a connection to the past, present, or future?”

Quite morbidly the only keepsakes from Weary's past it has kept around are its own human bones that lie in the heart of its Haunt. Elsie on the other hand incorporated the feathers that were attached to her backback into her Esk form, so they must've been quite special to her. (In the process the feathers of course turned from physical ones to incorporeal.) Song doesn't have any items from their past life, but unlike my other Esk they have gathered a ton of trinkets during their adventures as an Esk and they treasure them all dearly. Poe's dearest possession is a notebook he got during a mysterious quest: he is sure it's connected to his past somehow, but he hasn't yet figured out how exactly. Curse and Nessie don't really have important items, worldly or otherwise.

“When your picking an esk's boundary and biome do what makes you drawn to that location? Do you like spreading your esks around the globe? keeping them close to home? Or putting them in one area so they can interact?”

All of my Esk (except Nessie who is an Abnormal and can move around freely) live in Everglades because I want them to be able to interact with each other naturally. I don't really remember why I originally settled on Everglades specifically: Weary's, my starter Esk's, boundary is mangrove swamp, but I of course could've picked a different swamp or even an imaginary one if I would've wanted to. I guess it was just the easiest to settle on a real-life location because I'd need to be googling a lot of stuff related to the vegetation and such of the habitat anyway, and maybe Everglades was the first mangrove swamp I could remember by name from the top of my head? I have never been in Everglades as I don't live even in the USA, but amusingly I've learned enough about it that I once even recognized its shoreline from a map I encountered randomly on the internet.

“Whats the meaning behind your esk(s) name? Do they have any nicknames or things that were called behind their back? when naming your esks do you stick to human names or things in nature? How did your esk find their name?”

All of my Esk have longer full names and a shorter nicknames that I mainly use while talking about them out of convenience. Weary's full name is The Weary Eyed One. It's just a descriptor that other Esk have used when talking about it for long enough to be turned into an actual name, but canonically Weary can also introduce itself as Tired or Sleepy or anything along those lines; it doesn't really feel the need to settle on any one real, permanent name. Elsie's name is Someone Else and it was made up by Weary after it had transformed her. Elsie doesn't actually like the name but she adores Weary too much to say it out loud, but when encountering new Esk without Weary's presence she tends to call herself just Elsie, as it sounds more like a human name to her. Song of the Abyss named themselves after deciding to dedicate their afterlife to exploring all the corners of the world's oceans. It also tells something about their relationship with life and environment, as when they say that they are "a song" they mean it literally: they aren't a singer, but the actual voice of the ocean, in a way part of the ocean itself. (I have never been able to put into words what I mean by this an a truly satisfactory way...) Curse's full name is Cat's Curse and it was given to the urban legends inspired by its haunting by humans. Poe's name Just Poe comes from his habit of introducing himself humbly as "just Poe"; irl it comes from the fact that I had trouble figuring out a full name for him and I asked in my mind if "I could really call him just Poe?" And then there's Xilladenanessfeali, whose name is supposed to evoke the feeling of language being something very different back in the day millions of years ago when they were named.

The names of my Esk tend to be quite wild because I find the idea of naming them with human-like names extremely boring; intead I wanted the names to hint at how different an Esk's existence and sense of self must be compared to that of humans or animals.

“What do you imagine would have happened to your esk if they were never transformed?”

(First of all a depressive text warning; in all of my Esk stories getting transformed was a salvation for them, so their lives without it would've been pretty miserable.) Weary woud've died either from the crocodile bite or the unnamed illness they had pretty soon. Elsie would've lived to become a timid, depressed adult who would've wasted her life away by not having the courage to shape her life into what she would've truly wanted. Song would've likely drowned, but if they had drifted to shore in time instead they would've been eventually returned to home and continued their life pretty peacefully albeit, sadly for them, away from ocean. Curse would've died slowly from the burn wounds it had sufffered. Poe would've either ended his own life (that was his plan) or lived on to become a "suffering artist" who never had much money or security in his life but at least lived doing what he loved. Nessie would've soon died piecefully of old age.

“What are your esks thoughts on transforming or retransforming? Blessing? Curse? Creative endeavor? Instinct?”

For Weary and Nessie it has been a mix of an instinct and doing what feels right for them. For Elsie it seems like a scarily huge responsibility that she isn't ready for yet. Other's haven't yet have a need to ponder on the subject that deeply.

“do your esks time travel? if so where do they go and what to they spend their time doing? do they do transformations in the past or would they rather not? When visiting the past have your esk ever thought about trying to see their past self's?”

Honestly I haven't have them do any time traveling (aside from that one quest) because that proposes so many questions I haven't yet been able to answer in my mind thoroughly enough. =') Like what are the actual rules I'd follow, where to draw the line in some difficult subjects and how the heck to even keep track of it all! For example what exactly prevents them from going to meet themselves in the past and what can and cannot they affect. Like... What if Elsie decided to go into the past and turn her abusive father into an Esk when she herself was just a baby - how the heck would all that work?!

“If your esk's boundary overlaps multiple biomes, what was the reason your esk resonated with one biome over the other?”

The reason is, a little bit boringly, that I've mainly used the biomes I myself am most drawn towards. Weary, Elsie, Song and Nessie are all in water-related biomes while Curse is in Developed and Poe is in Plains. Poe came with a pre-determined boundary which mostly dictated where he was going to be in, while with Curse the other option would've likely been Forest and I just feel like a feral cat belongs more to the Developed environment.

“How does your esk interact with rain/weather? Does it pass through them? Do they let it get them wet? Does it create steam on contact?”

I have drawn them being physically affected by weather because that's more visually fun than having the rain and stuff go through them. Which actually gave me a really neat art idea just now, hmmh...

“What is your esk filled with, internally?”

I am not sure. They do not have internal organs, that's for sure, but other than that I haven't completely made up my mind about that. The roots of Weary's trees as well as part of its transformation crystals do go inside the Esk's body, but other than that it's either empiness, maybe black goo or something completely else. I've also made a point to never draw my Esk crying tears, because I feel like them secreting such substances would hint at them just having normal internal organs which they in my mind do not have.

“How do you like to write about/picture esk transformations in your mind?”

Outwardly I think it looks like the transformee is shining a bright light until their body has either been shaped into a new form or their soul has been sucked out of the body and turned into an Esk (which one happens depends on who is doing the transformation). Although I don't think I have ever illustrated this? All of the transformation art I've done has depicted more of how the transofrmation has felt rather than the physical appearance of it.

“who was your nursery esk and why did you choose their ID? For those who didnt get a nursery esk, who was your first esk and why did you choose to acquire them/what do you like about them?”

Weary my beloved! <3 Back then there were much more people interested in getting their first Esk than there ever were available nursery IDs, so you couldn't really think too much about what ID you were going to grab. Which is why I still to this day don't understand how I managed to get an Esk so fitting for myself! Weary was (and is) everything I ever wanted from my first Esk!

“What is your single, favorite Witherings Esk of all time if you had to pick only one, and why that Esk in particular?”

I have a huge soft spot for the Original Esk, I adore Seventh so much and I of course love Poe to bits, but aside from those here's my top 4 in a numerical order because I can't place any of them above each other:

177 208 507 742

I can't really tell why I like them so much; it's just about that very subjective sense of beauty I guess.

“hey guys what’s your favorite masterlist number of the esk you own?”

I love most of them, but Song's 1101 must be my favorite. That's just such a nice looking number!

“Who wants to share their early twwm experience? Whether it's when you joined or how you learned about it or someone nice you met right off or the first esk you ever saw!”

Hoo boy, me and Esk go way back! I even made a quick reference doodle of the Original Esk like 10 years before the times of the ARPG. (Back then I used to always make them before drawing the creatures traditionally, although I don't think I ever actually drew anything else featuring the Esk in the end.) To the actual group I managed to somehow find my way into when it was still in beta and I joined pretty much instantly, which is very much out of character for me. I just loved the species so dang much! And I still do of course.

“whats everyones favorite morph?”

It's a tie between Ocean and Seafloor morphs.

“What are some TWWM works that blew you away and challenged your notions of what art made about funny little plant ghosts can do?”

All the video games, interactive stories, music videos and longer animations! Those are always just so awe-inspiring and they make that imaginary world seem so incredibly alive!

#long post #twwm #those who went missing #Weary #Elsie #Song #Curse #Poe #Nessie #am I trying to distract myself from the fact that my preordered New Pokémon Snap didn't arrive on time?#oh yes I am

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umi-tama · 4 years

Text

October 1st 2011

My baby is rich! This morning his band manager showed up and brought him his first salary:

1,000,000 gp! O.O *gasp* I wonder, if this will increase, when he starts to get awards and stuff...

Oh, and Noda and his band finally had a couple of gigs again today :)

Their first gig (where they performed something classical again) was practically sold out. It didn't change anything about their chart ranking or number of fans, though. Neither did the second show.

The third show made them go up to 2nd rank. An hour later they were 1st ^___________^

Here are my boys rocking out:

Noda is always flirting with the folks in the first row, making them squeak, scream, and sometimes even faint with his broad smile and adorable winking *snicker* He's all too well aware of how charming he is... 4 yr, 30 lb hungry ❤❤❤O happy ❤❤❤❤ stress: 01 tone: 999 rhythm: 999 original: 999 genre: Classical Music star ranking: 1st tama fans: 501,611,861

Kitty grew up today!

But unfortunately, I had to start all over after taking the picture above. Because right before little Kitty was supposed to go to bed tonight, I checked on her, and... apparently squeezed the shell/battery case a bit too tight, because suddenly the screen went blank and I had to reset :/ So have a newly born kitten again now, which I'll just name Kitty II. and also treat like a girl. Whatever *sigh* Here are her stats when she went to sleep: 0yr, 1 lb hungry ❤❤❤ happy ❤❤❤ discipline ❤❤

Look who says Hi!

I tried out binary's very awesome Tama-Go gotchi points cheat code and now little Till has about as much money as Noda - who's a freaking rockstar, after all - had this morning *hehe* We immediatly spent a couple gp to redecorate Till's appartement. He got a nice big couch now... of which I forgot to take a picture ^^' Btw, I noticed, that there's also a game option behind the door icon. I wonder if I simply didn't see it yesterday or if it maybe only got unlocked, when Till evolved into a toddler o_o Anyways, I'm very glad I am not forced to play coin catch anymore to fill up his happy hearts. Shoot the Bug is way more fun (even though I feel kinda bad for the poor bugs ^^'). Aside from that, not much happened today. We went to the park and he met an adorable Memetchi, with whom he built a sand castle, and got to seesaw with a nice little Lovelitchi. He's only just a toddler, but apparently the ladies already love him ;P Here are his stats at the end of the day: 1 yr, 10 lb hungry ❤❤❤❤O happy ❤❤❤❤❤ train [▪▪▪▪▪▪▫▫▫▫▫▫▫▫▫] friendship ❤❤❤❤❤❤ gotchi points: 999610 EDIT: Oooh, a couple minutes after going to bed, my little one evolved into Kilalatchi :3 What a handsome young man he is now <3

October 2nd 2011

I think today was the first time ever since Noda was born, that his hungry hearts completely emptied out. Took me a bit by surprise, to be honest (because my other two tamas, which I ignored, too, still had at least one heart left), but might've been, because his stress level went up. Maybe the hearts empty faster, the higher it gets o_o

He got another million gp salary. Oh, and his star ranking went down to 4th again overnight :/ I guess you only get awards, when you're already #1 when going on stage, not when becoming #1 after a show, huh?

Curious about this theory, I messed around with the time a bit, so the guys (who are performing as a jazz combo these days) have their concerts a bit earlier today.

After the first show, their star ranking went up to 2nd.

The second show made them #1.

The third show was followed by fireworks and the Tamagotchi King himself showing up, presenting my boys their first award 🥇

Ha! So that's how it works then.

Good to know ^^

To celebrate my baby's success, we purchased an UFO. That totally beats the shiney cars and big houses most rockstars own, don't you think? ;P

Anyways, at an Aftershow Party later tonight, Xero's band manager introduced Noda-chan to a sweet little Memetchi. It was practically love at first sight. They disappeared somewhere, only to come back blushing and giggling quite a while later... with a wriggling little egg o_o I mean, I heard fame does that to people - making them rush relationships and all - but I never expected Noda to be one of those cases, too.

Well, I took him, his new girlfriend and their egg home, and it didn't took long for their kid to hatch.

Noda is now proud daddy of a little baby girl :)

Those three look just too happy and adorable to be mad at them, don't they?

(Btw, I tried to make the family play with Noda's toy rocket, but they refused. Does Noda feel too "mature" to play anymore, now that he got a kid? o_O' Or is it, because his stress doesn't raise from practicing anymore anyways?)

Here are his stats when he went to sleep:

5 yr, 31 lb hungry ❤❤❤❤ happy ❤❤❤❤ stress: 00 tone: 999 rhythm: 999 original: 999 genre: Classical Music star ranking: 4th tama fans: 457,947,934

Kitty did nothing but being a typical kitten today. She kept on sneaking around, lying down wherever she considered the floor soft and warm enough, and demanding attention every once in a while.

And later today she finally evolved again into the same form she had yesterday, before I had to reset her ^^

I still haven't figured out how to know what she wants, everytime the attention icon flashes. It happened all to often already, that I thought she was just calling out out of boredom, because all hearts were filled, but then, after I scolded her, a pile of poop appears on screen or she was asking for milk or I needed to play with her. *sigh* But I don't plan on giving up yet. Not until she's completely grown up and I figured out the best strategy to care for her ^^V

Here are her stats when going to bed:

1 yr, 3 lb hungry ❤❤❤ happy ❤❤❤ discipline ❤❤❤

With Till, nothing all too interesting happened during the day, except that I managed to take a pic of him in his adorable teenage form ^^

BUT!

Shortly after going to bed, he evolved again, into Kuromametchi! Omg, I always wanted this character, but I never expected to get him on my first generation already! <3 He's just so cool and adorable, I don't even... awww!

Unfortunately he immediatly went back to sleep, but I'm sure I can take a couple of pics tomorrow! :D

His stats at the end of the day:

2 yr, 30 lb hungry ❤❤❤❤❤ happy ❤❤❤❤❤ train [▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▫▫▫▫▫] friendship ❤❤❤❤❤❤ gotchi points: 1,004,320

October 3rd 2011

If I Noda was already low-maintenance before, he now managed to get on the verge of being boring o_o' Like, grating on my nerves every once in a while, with practicing loudly (I stopped praising him, I just go to his stats, so he'll stop), but the rest of the time doing absolutely nothing. Just bouncing on the screen, next to his beloved family, being all happy and stuff. We managed to get the Classical Music Award today, though. And buy a lot of yummy yummy food from his latest salary, so his daughter doesn't have to worry about that, when her parents leave her :) Here are his stats when he went to sleep: 6 yr, 35 lb hungry ❤❤❤❤ happy ❤❤❤❤ stress: 00 tone: 999 rhythm: 999 original: 999 genre: Classical Music star ranking: 1st tama fans: 156,994,273 (random number is random)

Remember how I announced to not give up in my post yesterday? The screen went blank again, when the keychain tapped the battery case. I give up 😩

Since Till is an adult now, he, too, is very low maintenance (except for the occational poop, since I didn't potty-train him, and once in a while for calling out to me for the sheer sake of attention). But he's also very very adorable. I always liked Kuromametchi, ever since I saw him for the first time :3 Here are a couple of pics of him in his newly decorated home/bathroom and the park:

And here his stats at the end of the day: 3 yr, 32 lb hungry ❤❤❤❤❤ happy ❤❤❤❤❤ train [▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▫▫▫▫▫] friendship ❤❤❤❤❤❤ gotchi points: 953,450

#Tamagotchi MusicStar #TamaTown TamaGo #Wies'n Goscherl #Tamagotchi #archived post #long post #2011 #my art #Tama Log

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