#also v impressed at how STRONG they were despite being only 2-3' long and about as thick as a sausage | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

2-cute-4-school · 4 years

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𝙉𝘾𝙏 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 : 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙙𝙤𝙡 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙

@cherry-jaemin ~ Hello! Can I request a dreamies reaction to you being an idol and their best friend? Thank you!! ♡ (◕‿◕✿) ~~~ Thank you so much for your request it was really fun to write, hope you’ll like it!! :)))))

Mark Lee

he cherishes you A LOT (︶ω︶)

but i honestly see him as someone who keeps his private life private

so your close friendship is kept lowkey

but he finds time to spend time with you despite both your busy schedules even if it’s made through your phone screens :(((((

one thing he’s most grateful for is that you understand

you understand what it’s like spending hours in the practice room frustrated, you understand what it’s like constantly missing home, you understand what it’s like working nonstop with no breaks until your body forcefully gives up my heart breaks for him every damn time

you understand him

your friendship is so pure (•ˇ‿ˇ•)

like you can both be laughing your asses off one minute, mark flopping around like a fish on land

and the next one you can be having a therapy session usually consisting of wordless comfort

mark doesn’t seem an emotional person but if there’s one(1) thing that can shatter him is witnessing you on your breaking point

like you were usually the one to check up on him often and pull him away from work for a while before he drowned himself in it

so seeing you overworked and utterly exhausted made him sick

no one could convince him to leave your side for some time (⌯˃̶᷄ ﹏ ˂̶᷄⌯)ﾟ

you clung onto each other and mark softly scolded you for taking more care of him than yourself despite knowing that he’d do the same you’re like his baby he’s allowed to

other than your emotional moments you’re so playful together

‘bruh’ ‘dude’ ‘man’ - your daily vocabulary involving each other -_-

you sometimes gather in a studio and just write lyrics together or help each other with practice bonding time

basically you just vibe together so well and you’re just so grateful for each other’s presence because it eases your hectic and busy lives

you feel like a breath of fresh air to him and vice versa

Huang Renjun

friendship with him is basically clowns clowning each other 🤡

even more so since you can both joke about your shared career

he makes a tradition of reacting to your every m/v god help u he clowns you from the first second to the last

“looking a bit constipated aren’t we, y/n? i guess that hotpot didn’t sit well with you” <(￣︶￣)>

“that’s just my face when i think about u, garden troll”

*huff* *incoherent mumbles of protest*

but he secretly streams THE SHIT OUT OF YOUR M/V and forces the rest of the dreamies to watch it several times too

you watch his radio every evening and sometimes even send in cringy messages just to get a reaction out of renjun lol

so basically you’re super supportive of each other but in your own ways

imagine sleepovers ma friend that’s a wiiild ride

ghost stories, alien conspiracies, crazy theories - THE MAIN MENU

bet y’all renjun can’t sleep without someone he can hold onto after watching or talking about scary things ੧| ‾́ー ‾́ |੭

and you wouldn’t call that cuddling no, it’s more like....strangling....but with love....kinda....yeah that sure ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

on another note, you made it you personal mission to lift his confidence whenever SM doesn’t treat him right (╬ Ò ‸ Ó) y’all evil cockroaches

and renjun always promotes you subtly during his lives

“ ‘renjun can you give us a song recommendation?’ yeah sure actually there’s this song-” spoiler alert : it’s always one of your songs

one of the biggest secrets in kpop is who drew that *absolutely* gorgeous portrait of you that you proudly showed in your own live

spoiler alert x2 : it’s renjun, it’s always renjun

your friendship is really one of a kind

basically best friends lovingly clowning and supporting each other at the same time precious am i rite

Lee Jeno

jeno seems like a very comforting person to me

like he’s someone you can go and vent to about all the pressure of your career and what not

and he’d just listen to you and hold your hand tightly in his if you’re able to meet face to face, he has his own way of grounding you when everything gets hectic （＾ｖ＾）

he’s a lowkey hypeman

whenever you happen to perform at the same awards show as dream he makes sure to dance and cheer cutely for you o(≧∇≦o)

you won an award?? this man is so proud he hollers louder than your fans well basically he’s your no.1 fan soo :))))))

he always tries to shield you away from hate so it’s one of the reasons he doesn’t disclose much of your closeness lowkey protective jeno

you had an airport accident once common against idols unfortunately

lemme tell ya, jeno went NUTS (｀⌒´メ)

he’s not a confrontational person but he CAN and WILL be when it comes to you

he babies the heck out of you for the next few days :3

and once he has the occasion to turn on vlive he takes a minute to *calmly* explain that while idols love their fans, it’s not fine for fans to invade their privacy and personal space preach sister

you were also close to flipping the sasaengs’s shit up when they kept bothering keno with calls leave the man alone jeez (┛ಠДಠ)┛彡┻━┻

he always reminds you to to take care of yourself

“don’t push yourself too hard” “don’t drink too much coffee, you’ve seen what it can do to jaemin and we don’t want that now, do we?”

he often covers your dances ⌒°(❛ᴗ❛)°⌒ and nails them

“jeno you’re dancing better than me on MY OWN SONG”

“idk what you’re talking about” (＾ω＾)

overall your cheerleader and each other’s poorly read not at all paid bodyguards

Lee Haechan

“your sun is here to enlighten your life!!!!!”

“gtfo hyuck”

this man knows no privacy

he’s ruthless and he visits whenever he wants even if it means that’s on a wednesday AT 3 AM (┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻

he tells you it’s because your ‘just forcefully woken up’ is the best blackmailing material

in reality it’s because he just misses you A LOT ( ⁍᷄⌢̻⁍᷅ )

this rascal is busy a lot and you’re busy a lot and so every single moment spent with you is so so precious to you both

he gets overwhelmed by this feeling of longing sometimes so he acts on instinct and just barges in wherever you are

but you can also count on him at any time

*middle of the night* *donghyuck sleepily answering his phone* *sniff* *sniff* “hyuck”

“yeah what’s wrong??? who am i beating up???? should i take johnny too???? just say the name cutie (*｀Ω´*)”

you only ended up crying about missing his cuddles

*sigh* “you only love me for my cuddles”

you once told him fleetingly that you missed breakfast and lunch

you found 2 boxes of takeout outside your apartment already paid by a certain someone i need a hyuck pls

he’s also quite vocal about your friendship and randomly mentions you

“y/n told me that i look cutest with my baby belly so unless you wanna pick a fight with them lay off gremlin” ー(￣～￣)ξ

both your dreams are to get to collab on something anything it would be heavenly for hyuck to colllab with anyone tbh

nothing can keep you 2 apart, your duo is just too strong and the world just isn’t ready for you

Na Jaemin

he’s such a warm person

he babies you but just because he wishes you’d have more time to spend with each other ( *’ω’* )

so the only way to quench his worry is texting you daily to make sure you’re alright and taking care of yourself or he’d personally do it

the way he talks about you tho (╯✧∇✧)╯ like you put the stars in the sky you did for him

“y/n is actually quite good at this game, i ate dirt when we played together”

“y/n looks so pretty in those pictures we took together” Σ(*ﾉ´>ω<｡`)ﾉ

“y/n is my favorite model end of story”

talking about his love for photography, you’re his model 80% of the time

his camera roll is filled with pictures of you every time you find enough time in both your busy schedules to meet up

he has enough to open a fanpage if he hasn’t done that already ;)

in turn you’d secretly dedicate parts of the lyrics you wrote to him

i’m telling you he would CRY hearing your sweet voice sing such beautiful words meant for him he would feel so appreciated pls ( ˃̣̣̥ω˂̣̣̥ )

he always says that he has no other friends other than his members so having you validating the strong bond he feels with you would elevate him to cloud 9 :,(((((

i can imagine you two meeting on a variety show a mess that would be

you can’t be too close in front of the cameras in order not to give the wrong impressions

but behind the scenes you’re not leaving each other’s side, chatting and clinging onto each other the entire time (≡^∇^≡)

and even on screen as long as you’re allowed to you’re attached to the hip, ALWAYS beside each other

in conclusion you’re the besties everyone is envious of and wishes to share such a precious bond with someone ∩(︶▽︶)∩

Zhong Chenle

y’all are basically the ‘you can’t sit with us’ pair -_-

another one who i think would keep your friendship private

like it is public that you two are friends but neither of you shares more about your meetups and so on

but chenle is lowkey highkey whipped

chenji making keychains for the rest of nct? +1 for y/n (/^▽^)/

surprise party for chenle’s birthday? you’re dressed as staff waiting for him to notice you after cameras are turned off he screeched so loud the entire building heard him and then proceeded to cling onto you forever

you know how chenle took jisung to him home in china? he took you with him as often as you both could afford the time to he even rescheduled a few times to make it convenient for you to come along (｡•́︿•̀｡)

he buys all versions of your albums cuz he can

going to each other’s concerts!!!!!

i can imagine you accompanying his family to the dream concert (˃̩̩̥ɷ˂̩̩̥) the same one when jeno and jaemin decided to get nakey nakey yes

you’re texting nonstop istg (◔_◔)

chenle can always be seen texting in the waiting rooms and so on

you’re his source of confidence before concert and certain schedules

also you’re probably discussing your hangout plans :))))

which often ends up in playing basketball in a park at night and then getting bored or tired and just wandering aimlessly around

you secretly record duets together unreleased unfortunately ( ب_ب )

and he teaches you how to play piano

basically your friendship is very playful and you find a comfort place in each other to remind yourselves that you’re allowed to have fun and live your lives o(*>ω<*)o

Park Jisung

i think it took quite a while to befriend him

his shyness can get the best of him sometimes it’s okay bby

but once you got hi to break out of his shell you’ve got yourself a lifelong best friend congrats (ര̀ᴗര́)و ̑̑

he shows his caring nature through small acts

texts you good luck and encourages you before award shows

becomes your dramatic weatherman

literally glitches if you ever have even a *slightly* sexy concept

“how did you like the dance, jisungie?”

“i-uh...um...it was...yeah...it was really uh *coughs* *clears throat* it was NICE, yeah...nice” (๑ּగ⌄ּగ๑)

ofc he *absolutely* loved it, he just respects you and looks up to you too much to make any further commentary

you coach each other through dance routines :3

you never fail to calm down and give confidence to jisung whenever his nerves get in the way

jaemin actually specifically asked you to look after jisung during his hiatus

jisung’s TMI’s sometimes involve you (´ㅂ`๑)

“today’s tmi? i started working on a surprise for you czennies...and i got help from a very talented performer”

the surprise was a dance cover choreographed and performed with you that was the death of your fandoms ੧| ⊗ ▾ ⊗ |୨

you can be considered childhood friends so you understand each other with little to no words spoken

that’s why everyone loves your ‘partners in pure crime’ friendship

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cringeyvanillamilk · 3 years

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☕️ Steph, my good clown, can I get your sexy opinion on your favorite battles in the shonen series (plural) that you have read/watched?

The clown has arrived with her answer! Thank you for such an interesting topic! It was hard picking out my top 3 favorites since a lot of my favorites are great in their own right, but I think I’m satisfied with what I chose.

For anyone who’s interested, here are my other favorite shounen battles that sadly did not make it to the top 3:

Itadori and Nobara vs. Curse brothers (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Maki vs. Mai (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Gon vs. Pitou (Hunter x Hunter)

Deku vs. Muscular (Boku no Hero Academia)

All Might vs. All for One (Boku no Hero Academia)

Luffy vs. Usopp (One Piece)

Gaara vs. Rock Lee (Naruto)

Zenitsu vs. Spider Brother (Kimetsu no Yaiba)

Tanjirou vs. Rui (Kimetsu no Yaiba)

Now let’s get to my top 3 favorite shounen battles! (Under the cut!)

3. Maki vs. Miwa (Jujutsu Kaisen)

For my third favorite shounen battle, I chose the fight between Maki and Miwa during the Kyoto Goodwill Event Arc! What I like most about this fight was the set up, spectacular choreography, and interesting characterization.

Before jumping into the fight, we are introduced to Miwa and Mai talking about Maki’s strength as a Jujutsu sorcerer. Here, Mai is downplaying Maki’s ability to fight which leads Miwa to underestimate Maki as a result. We then cut to Miwa being absolutely overwhelmed by Maki’s attacks. This short setup helped give impact to Maki’s true strength and abilities to not only Miwa, but the audience as well. The fake out was a nice surprise since we haven’t seen Maki fight thus far.

The choreography throughout the entire fight was absolutely marvelous. The use of perspective and slow-motion helped give certain attacks more weight as well as how the attacks look in a first-person perspective. We not only see how overwhelmed Miwa was, but also how focused and ruthless Maki can be. Despite Miwa being an antagonist due to her team’s order to kill Itadori, I find it amusing that we the audience end up sympathizing with Miwa in the end.

I also liked how the environment was used during the fight. The transition from the forest to the small stream down below when Maki literally kicked Miwa off a cliff was a nice change of scenery. The visuals of the water due to the character’s movement and weight was also a nice detail. I won’t be surprised if all the budget went into the water effects.

The fight between Maki and Miwa was incredibly one-sided where Maki seemed to have the upper hand for most of the fight and Miwa had no choice but to be on the defense. We can see how overwhelmed Miwa was due to underestimating Maki from the beginning. If Miwa was warned ahead of time, she may have had a better chance of standing against Maki. However, due to her trust over her teammate’s words, she ended up being blind-sighted. I really enjoyed being inside Miwa’s head for the majority of the fight. We can tell that Miwa is doing the best of her abilities, but just can’t beat Maki’s talent and quick instinct. The fight overall highlight’s Miwa’s weakness of overthinking her next move. We only heard Maki’s thinking process briefly after Miwa activated her simple domain, but she’s very quick to adapt and be unpredictable. The characterization in this small fight was very fun to watch!

Overall, this may be a small-scale fight in comparison to other major ones within the anime and manga, but that doesn’t mean it should be overlooked. Having a grand spectacle of a fight doesn’t make it the “best fight”. Sometimes, a short, but well-choreographed fight that makes good use of the environment can go a long way for me.

2. The Black Bulls vs. Vetto (Black Clover)

For my second favorite battle in shounen, I chose the black bulls vs. Vetto during the Water Temple arc. I’m not sure if it’s because I don’t watch enough shounen anime, but I felt like this was the first battle where a group of characters worked together to defeat an antagonist. I’m just so used to watching 1v1s, or if we’re really stretching it 2v1s, in shounen that seeing an actual group use teamwork was very refreshing for me to watch. Something to note about the difference in the manga and anime was that while the final battle against Vetto within the anime had Gauche, Charmy, and Grey join in, in the manga it was mainly Asta, Finral, and Vanessa. Despite the small difference, the fact that most of the members of the Black Bulls took a chance to fight Vetto and showcased their fighting abilities was a sight to see.

Before we get to the final fight against Vetto, if we don’t count Yami’s finishing blow at the very end, I really enjoyed Luck, Magna, and most especially Noelle’s attack. I liked how we got to see each character use their strongest attack and the unpredictability of who’s going to finish Vetto off throughout the fight. I was hype seeing Luck and Magna’s combo magic for the first time, but was surprised to see how ineffective it was to Vetto. This helped give us an idea of the power difference a normal magic knight may have in opposition to an eye of the midnight sun, which is why when Noelle gained an attack spell, Sea Dragon’s Roar, and did the most damage to Vetto, that basically hinted the potential Noelle has as a strong magic knight. But surprisingly, Noelle’s attack wasn’t the climax of the fight because that’s when Asta, Finral, and Vanessa joined in and worked together against Vetto. Now it was this specific teamwork that really made it for me.

What I love most about this team dynamic was how each of them had a significant role in winning the fight. Asta had the physical strength and most offensive attacks, Vanessa’s string magic helped propel Asta into any direction, and Finral’s spatial magic was utilized to transport Asta in any location. Both Vanessa and Finral helped give Asta the upper hand by making his attacks more unpredictable and adaptive to Vetto’s animalistic magic. It was impressive seeing Asta attack Vetto in different directions and dodging his attacks. But just when we thought they had a chance of defeating Vetto, he became a much bigger threat when he began to read through their attacks and successfully caught and broke Asta’s arms. And just when we think that Asta can’t fight without his arms, Asta reinforces his schtick of not giving up, igniting hope into his teammates. And with their final push and hint towards Asta’s devil powers, Vetto was finally defeated thanks to their determination and teamwork!

This fight had a nice combination of surprise, hope, and despair! But what makes this my second favorite fight was solely because of how each of the members had a moment to shine within the fight. There wasn’t an instance where a character was just watching and that makes me very happy! An overall great fight in Black Clover!

1. Gon vs. Hisoka (Hunter x Hunter)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txl2imn11bM&ab_channel=CrunchyrollCollection

For my ultimate favorite shounen battle, I chose Gon vs Hisoka from the Heavens Arena arc. If there’s one word to describe this fight, it would be “tension”. What I liked most about the beginning of this fight was how no word of dialogue was exchanged between the characters. The background music was ambient with most of the attention given to the sound of movement and grunts, which only makes you feel tense throughout the exchange.

In this particular fight, Gon was very quick and light on his feet while fighting Hisoka. There were even moments where it looked like he was levitating for a few seconds when throwing punches at Hisoka which shows how fast his attacks were. I liked how we see Gon’s thought process through his actions where he’d try multiple strategies to attack Hisoka. At first, he would try and do a barrage of punches towards Hisoka’s face, but then gain some distance when his attacks fail and then face Hisoka head on again. And while Gon is struggling to get the first hit, Hisoka is just observing Gon with a smile on his face and enjoying every bit of it. And it wasn’t until Hisoka surprised Gon with a punch that we finally took a breather. It was an intense fight right off the bat!

But my enjoyment of the fight doesn’t stop there. During the first exchanges within the fight, Gon’s attempts were very straightforward and relied mostly on his strength. But during their second exchange, we can see that Gon learned from his prior attempt and decided to use his wits. Instead of attacking Hisoka head first, he cleverly used his environment to gain the upper hand and finally punched Hisoka in the face! Hisoka may have underestimated Gon from the beginning, but I still thought it was amazing how Gon managed to pull that off! I’m going to be honest, I was not expecting Gon to actually be strategic and pull out the tiles off the floor to block Hisoka’s sight. It was so satisfying to see this type of development from him which makes it a highlight of this fight.

Honestly, this was this part of the fight that makes this my ultimate favorite, but that doesn’t mean what happens afterwards was nothing interesting. Hisoka’s nen abilities were very fun to watch and very unpredictable! I feel like Gon was meant to lose from the start since Hisoka’s fighting style is very adaptive against Gon’s more simple approach. Overall, an amazing fight! I highly recommend watching the fight for yourself!

#answered #loosesodamarble #black clover #jujutsu kaisen #hunter x hunter #This took me a WHILE!!#Highly recommend checking these fight out!#I hope you enjoy the read-#I really do just ramble a lot-

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modecaisnow · 4 years

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Fitness Roommates

**This story contains topics suitable for 18 YEARS OR OLDER! Read at your own digression. This story contains themes of realistic(ish) weight gain (ie. 150 pounds – 800), mentions of challenges being overweight. This story is 3360 words, and 6 pages long, was gonna be part 1+2. This was a story I had saved for a bit. ENJOY!**

[This story follows Tyler and Zach, a dynamic duo of health and fitness. Zach, a bodybuilder with all the know how of exercise, and Tyler, a healthy and fit nutritionist, have teamed up and opened a business together. However, their business has gotten slow and not as many people are getting memberships anymore. As a marketing experiment, Tyler agrees to pack on some weight with the ultimate plan to lose it all following their dieting and exercise plan. But, it turns out gaining weight is a little more enjoyable than Tyler expected.]

Zach and Tyler have been friends for years. They first met in their freshman year of college, and Zach and Tyler were both fitness buffs. Their bodies were toned with dense muscles, but Zach was much larger. Zachary studied Athletic Training and Tyler studied Nutrition over the years. After 4 years of college, they decided to open a gym together and become business partners. Zach would help train people and show them how to exercise, and Tyler would teach them about nutrition. However, a couple of years later things have changed. Zach walked into the living room of their apartment. His face was akin to a greek god – high cheekbones, square jawline, and a strong nose. He was a tall, tan-skinned, with a body covered in rippling muscles. From his thick neck and massive traps to his softball-sized calves, which everyone used to tease him and call them ‘steers’, Zach was the personified ideal of fitness. His broad shoulders and flared out lats created the classic ‘V’ shape all bodybuilders aspired to get. His arms were absolutely massive, with cannonball-sized biceps, horseshoe triceps, and forearms that were as large as a normal man’s biceps. Zach’s torso and legs were just as impressive. His barrel chest must’ve been 60 inches and was covered in brown hairs. Beneath his meaty pillows that were his pecs was a wall of abs that looked like bricks. A dark trail of hairs led down his carved abs and into his boxers, which were being stretched from both ends. Zach was blessed with large junk in the front and a lot of junk in the trunk. His bubble butt was made of pure steel and bounced along everywhere he walked. Further down were two thick quads with equally powerful hamstrings. Bellow the knees were the most well defined and muscular looking calves anyone has ever seen. Tyler, on the other hand, was not nearly as much of a ‘greek god’ as Zach. He was very toned, but also on the skinny side. His face was square with a pointed chin and a sloped nose. His hair was cut short, and he didn’t have much facial hair. Being a nutritionist, he knew all the ins and outs of healthy eating and dieting. He was part of the reason why Zach looks the way he looks. He kept Zach on his meal plan. Tyler has helped countless gym-goers reach their goals faster and easier with the help of his dieting plans. Tyler looked up at Zach. He stood in his boxers in front of the TV, blocking his view of it. Zach crossed his arms, causing his large slabs of chest meat to squeeze together. Tyler grabbed the remote and turned the TV off. “Is everything okay, man?” Tyler asked. “We have to talk about business.” “What’s up?” “It’s been slow recently-“ “-Yeah-“ “-and I have an idea,” Zach sat down on the brown, cloth couch next to Tyler. Zach widened his eyes and tried to look innocent. “Well, …what’s the idea?” “Well, bro, what if we have an experiment where one of us puts on some weight, and then we both work together to try and get that person back to a healthy weight?” “That might be good, but it might take too long. We need people to join now, not after months of gaining and months of losing weight.” “Well, with our expertise, we’ll be able to lose the weight pretty quickly,” Zach snickered. “Also, I’m sure you know of some quick weight gain techniques.” “I mean…I guess,” We both sat there quietly for a moment. Zach continued to stare deeply into Tyler's eyes. “So…do you want me to put on the weight?” Tyler hesitantly ask. “…Do you mind?” “I mean…I guess…” Zach jumped up. His face brightened up and he fist pumped into the air. The two immediately started to plan out how this would work, and Tyler got to work researching foods and gaining techniques. He started planning out a grocery list filled with unhealthy fats, carbs, protein, sugars, as well as a plan for minimal movement for himself. Zach started to create exercise plans so when Tyler finishes putting on the weight they’ll be all set to take off the pounds. Before starting it all, Tyler stepped up on the scale to take the initial weight. He was 154 pounds. At first, gaining was an awkward feeling. Tyler’s flat abs slowly started to look more and more like a gut. He was continuously shoveling food into his mouth, even while at work. It made it difficult to work with new patients, given that their nutritionist was eating junk food, and had a little bit of a belly while trying to give tips on staying healthy. After explaining the experiment to every single patient, they all seemed to understand. After the first week of constant binging, eating even while Tyler was stuffed in order to expand his tank of a gut, he had managed to pack on 15 pounds. His flat wall of abs had officially become a rounded, flabby belly. When he sat down, it would flop over the waistband of his pants. Tyler’s hips were stretching his pants to their max. The waistband would dig into his hips, and his thighs actually ripped the seams of one of his favorite pair of pants. And still, Tyler continued to gain weight. He added more meals into his daily diet and doubled the serving sizes. Tyler added two snacks between meals, as well as a “weight gain” shake between snacking. All this food, along with his restricted movement, helped him gain weight exponentially. Tyler’s face was looking rounder and fuller. His arms were softer and would stretch the sleeves of his tightening shirts. The once toned chest started to sag down over his belly, which was spilling down lower and lower towards his crotch. Even his pubic area was softer – a layer of fat was forming and starting to creep towards his junk. Everything about Tyler was getting flabbier. This continued for weeks. Tyler had to expand his entire wardrobe. One day, when he went to sit down, his shorts gave in and ripped all the way down his ass cheeks. From that day on, Tyler only wore stretchy pants – no more khakis, or dress pants, just the stretchy kind. His shirts also went from XL to XXL, and then just as quickly to XXXL. Tyler was officially 330 pounds. His chest continued to sag lower and lower as his belly continued to get larger and larger. Tyler had patients who were as large and some who were much, much larger, and they used to tell him what it was like to be big. However, now he lived it. The sagging breasts slid and rolled over his belly, which seemed to weigh him down. As Tyler walked, he needed to lean back a little bit so his substantial belly wouldn’t pull him down to the ground. Even sitting in chairs, which now had to not have armrests so his hips could fit, he needed to slouch and lean back so his belly could spill over his lap. It was quite the feeling. After a while, Tyler started to like it. It felt nice to be big, but he didn’t feel big enough yet. Zach asked him if he was ready to start their little experiment. Tyler told him that he wasn’t ready, and Tyler asked for a couple more weeks – business picked up anyway since it was about a month away from New Years. Tyler continued shoveling fattening treats into his mouth. Serving sizes became even larger, he went from 6 meals a day to 9, and he started doubling the size of the gainer shakes. This was to help break out of his weight plateau. His arms started to feel even heavier, and Tyler’s thighs always brushed against each other. His feet also started to get fatter, to the point where he needed to purchase ‘wide-fit’ shoes. At night, he would slouch on the sofa, which started to feel slightly smaller, and he would balance a 60ounce cup of soda on the crest of his soft belly, and slurp it down. All while lazily watching whatever was on TV. After chugging the entire soda, Tyler would rub his belly to help with all the bubbles. His blubber was warm and malleable. He could no longer see his belly button, or feet as a matter of fact, but Tyler could still poke a finger in the deepening cave that was his belly button. When he waddled onto the scale, it showed he was about 423 pounds. Eating only got easier and easier as the holidays came. Zach and Tyler usually went their separate ways to see their respective families, since Zach’s are out west, and Tyler’s are up north, but this season they had decided to just relax and focus on the experiment. Tyler continued to bloat up and shovel food into his face, and now that holiday cookies were out and on sale, he made it his goal to eat at least 3 boxes of cookies a day. Zach would tease him and say that Tyler surpassed ‘Santa-size,’ and Tyler laughed along with him. Deep down, he was excited to see how far he could push this. Tyler’s neck had officially disappeared into the fat on his shoulders and chins after a couple days of gorging. Actually, his chins were now flopping onto the crest of his flabby chest. Tyler’s moobs hung down, almost as far down as his elbows – not quite, but close. His fat arms started to feel very heavy. Despite always being hungry, after hours of grabbing for food, it started to feel like an arm workout. When sitting down, he would have to spread his legs far apart to give his substantial belly room to flop down. On the topic of his belly, a fold had started to form above his belly button, creating the double-belly look. Tyler’s belly was getting hard to contain in shirts, so instead, he started to get even larger pants to pull the waistband over it. Speaking of, Tyler’s pant sizes went up a lot faster than his shirt sizes did. He needed extra stretchy, 6XL pants in order to try to contain his growing belly. The fat over his junk also grew, making it hard to reach down there, as well as use the bathroom. However, he figured out how to manage in both areas. Tyler started to just sit on the toilet when he needed to pee, and just reach around and push his fat pad down towards the toilet bowl. Tyler also started to sleep on his side at night, it was much more comfortable, and whenever he’d need to shift his belly, Tyler could just dig a finger in his belly button like a hook, and shift it manually. After the holidays went, Tyler stepped on the scale for the first time in a few weeks. He was officially 546 pounds. Zach was proud and impressed. He asked Tyler when he would want to start buying healthy foods and start training. Tyler told him to instead buy a larger scale. Zach looked a little concerned at first, but Tyler explained that in order for them to make a bigger impact, they would need a bigger test subject. Zach eventually agreed and continued to go along with everything. He even did buy a larger scale, one that went up to 850 pounds. At this point, food became really expensive for them to afford on their own. In order to eat a meal every hour, on the hour, the two needed to dip into their company’s profit. It would be fine since it would all work out in the end. Thanks to their excellent accounting skills, Tyler was able to eat as much as he wanted, when he wanted. Tyler truly blew up in size after this. Walking became really difficult…well, if you can call it walking. It was more like a waddle. Tyler mostly spent time sitting on the couch, eating, watching TV, with the occasional trip to the fridge, or to the front door to great the delivery boy. After a while, Zach mentioned it would be best that he didn’t walk too far, so he moved the fridge into the living room, and anything else that was needed, he would get for Tyler. Tyler rarely went to the gym anymore to meet patients in person. Instead, Zach set up an online messaging system for him to reach out to their “premium” customers. That way they wouldn’t be able to be turned off by what a huge blob of lard Tyler was becoming. His ass cheeks started to take up a considerable amount of space not only on the poor little couch but in his bed as well. Tyler was just about as wide as his full-sized mattress, so Zach thought it was best to buy him a larger one. Zach was about to buy a larger sofa too but figured that he didn’t need to since he never really sat on it. Zach was rarely in the living room anyway, unless it was to drop off Tyler’s next heap of food. He was always working or working out. Shirts and pants both struggled to contain all of Tyler. Folds and rolls of flab started to ripple and slide over one another as he walked, hiccupped, or burped. His breasts had become so large that a pillow of flab had connected his moobs to the wings of back flab. This gave Tyler’s arms more support, which made it less work to shovel food into his fattening face since all he needed to do was just bend his elbow. Tyler’s cheeks were very fat and flopped down his face and onto his shoulder flab. Sweat almost constantly dripped down from his brow, and he was almost always out of breath. When Tyler finally stepped on the scale, he was up to 623 pounds. He still shoved on…well, he still shoveled more food in. At this rate, he was just eating one large, nonstop buffet of food a day. Tyler was always ordering pizzas, Chinese takeout, donuts, and delivery from every fast food joint in a 10-mile radius using those new food delivery apps on his phone. Tyler continued to gorge, slurp, and chomp down food for a few more weeks. As it got closer to the end of January, he had officially changed his wardrobe to 12XL shirts, and God only knows how many X’s for his XL sweat pant shorts. It was interesting to wear them because, with each day he grew fatter and fatter, one could see the ends of the drawstrings slowly disappear, as they were pulled deeper into the expanding stretchy waistband. As Tyler’s stomach grew so did his fupa. It became impossible for him to reach even close to his fat pad anymore. Whenever Tyler used the bathroom, it came to the point where he would have to just sit and pray that it went in. His old technique of digging into that deep belly button to shift his mound of a gut had officially been rendered impossible. Tyler couldn’t reach down that far anymore. Tyler sat on the ever-shrinking couch, with his ass cheeks spilling outward on both sides and behind him by a foot, and shoved more food into his deep mouth. His moobs had officially started to hang lower than his elbows, which were now a series of folds of flab. Tyler’s arms were incredibly flabby and even when he raised them over his head, some of the fat would still be weighing down against his torso. That massive belly of his hung down, past his knees as he leaned back. Tyler’s fat feet didn’t fit in normal shoes anymore, and Zach had to measure them to get custom made ones. Tyler was a mound of flab, and he loved every soft, wobbly inch of it. When Zach finally brought the large scale into the living room, Tyler placed his feet down and rose up off the couch. He was officially 710 pounds, and he was not quite done yet though. Tyler had one more goal he wanted to reach– to officially take up all the space on the couch. Zach, after trying to convince him that enough was enough, finally caved in and agreed to help Tyler gain even more weight. To do so, Zach raised the price of their gym membership. He told people it was for “marketing purposes,” and most people thought it was a good idea. Little did they know, it was to stuff Tyler’s fat face with food. It only took a couple weeks before he met that goal. It was hard to increase the frequency of Tyler’s feedings, so instead, he increased the amount he stuffed in at one time. Since his cheeks had bloated up, Tyler found there was more room in his mouth to hold food. As a result, he ate multiple pizza slices at once, instead of one at a time. He also would dump food in by the containers. This included containers of french fries, chicken nuggets, candy, Twinkies, devil dogs, breadsticks, bowls of pasta, you name it – Tyler just dumped it in. It must’ve been the sight to see. His downstairs neighbors hated it though. They had started to leave complaints about an “elephant” walking around, making their ceiling rattle. Tyler used that as more fuel to his fire. He continued to stomp around his apartment like the whale of a man he was, in order to get to his next source of food. The ground would groan and the couch would creak with every little shift of motion. Tyler’s folds and rolls of flab rippled and jiggled as he chewed, burped, hiccupped, scratched, pretty much any type of movement caused him to undulate like a waterbed. Tyler’s arms were extremely heavy and tremendously difficult to move. However, his insatiable desire to eat and feast gave him all the strength Tyler needed. As his hips started to finally touch the armrests of the couch, he called out for Zach. Zach was thrilled. Not only for Tyler, but also for the publicity this would get the two of them and their business. Tyler couldn’t help but smile and think about how much larger he could get. To celebrate, Zach went all out and hired caterers for the evening. That night, Tyler went all in on the food. The caterers pulled in carts, and tables of food, and set them up all around Tyler. They all circled around him, and he would eat from whichever one was in front of his fat mountain range of a body. As Tyler finished off one table, they wheeled the emptied table away, and immediately wheeled in the next one. He just ate and ate and ate all evening, until there was absolutely nothing left. Tyler probably could’ve eaten a little bit more, but his arms were incredibly tired. As the caterers all funneled out of their place, Tyler’s stomach gurgled and growled for more. He rubbed and pat his fat sides with his hands sending tiny ripples reverberating through his gelatinous form. Tyler leaned forward and moaned as he felt his heavy love handles slide against the armrests of the couch. His folds all glided against each other, and the two massive ass cheeks seemed to rise up out of the deep crater they formed in the cushions. He was massive. Zach quickly grabbed the massive scale and placed it right under Tyler’s fat feet. His massive thighs made it hard to keep his feet close enough to stand on the scale. Zach grabbed Tyler’s fat fingers and pulled him up onto his feet. Tyler’s bulky flab slid off of the couch and flopped downward. As he stood up, the scale buzzed. “What…does it…say?” Tyler huffed, out of breath from standing. “It says ‘Error.’ Damn…” Zach muttered and smiled. “What’s the…weight limit?” He wiped the sweat from his brow. “850 Pounds.” Tyler was massive…and he loved it… -THE END-

#maleweightgain #weightgain #muscleguy #SSBHM

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obiyuki-beebs · 4 years

Note

I found this in chapter 56 and I thought it was kinda interesting. While Zen is comforting Shirayuki as she's crying, Mitsuhide says,"But this is about Zen and Shirayuki. I don't think this sudden distance is a big problem. It's not like being apart would cause their existence to become smaller in each other's lives." Maybe it's foreshadowing they will separate? What are your thoughts on this? Do you think ObiYuki still has a chance or is it just the author toying with us?

hi anon!! (￣ω￣)

Short answer:

Yes, Whoaboy get ready I have some THOUGHTS, YESS!! and No.

I have been sitting on this ask for a long time sorry for le wait

The vast majority of this post is below the cut. I hope it is not too much / addresses what you meant.

Here are some notes before I subject whoever reads this to my madness:

These little moments of “It’s okay to do what you want to do” always strike me, and I think about them when I’m considering Zen v Obi endgame because it opens up the possibility that things can change.

Yes it’s a shojo and shojo protagonists tend to stick with their initial love interest... blah blah blah. I don’t think this preconceived notion of how shojo manga ‘always goes’ is a valid point anymore.

So .... I think the comments we are both thinking of usually refer to Shirayuki’s Path and how she must be able to Stand By Zen’s Side as an Ally, etc. So I’ll kind of be thinking of this from the angle of a Journey.

Everything discussed is also after The Play We Believe is Foreshadowing (except for the panels pulled from ch 9 and 20) which I think should be considered for the context of the plot.

If it is actually foreshadowing for an eventual Obi & Shirayuki story arc -- which tbh we might be in the midst of (currently) at ch 117 without realizing it -- then it’s relevant to how we frame the comments made afterwards. At the end of the day, Akizuki-sensei is an author. She is telling us a story. I think it’s reasonable to seek out clues to foreshadowing in fictional stories. So I’m operating under a 90% certainty that the play is foreshadowing.

I have found that the best (fictional) stories are ones that have been planned carefully. I have no way of verifying if AnS has been so precisely crafted to weave in so much foreshadowing that we speculate over, but damn it sure feels like it was.

The manga was originally just the first chapter, so we can assume that after writing that chapter and deciding to make it into a series, there was some planning done.

ANyway............... strong speculation ahead. I think I was ~60% thorough in my search to find material relevant to Foreshadowing of a Separation.

Please enjoy!

1) So we’ll start with a panel from ch 9,

where Zen is considering his relationship with Shirayuki and his growing crush.

This panel is, as stated above, part of the story that Akizuki expanded on after the original one-shot. In the first chapter, we get a lot of cute fate-chitchat between Zen and Shirayuki, but I think -- after deciding to continue the story -- Akizuki changed the tone to allow for more character development, and to challenge the Fate tropes often seen in romance.

Thus, the statement above from Zen that they may not always be together.

foreshadowing ?! ( ˙▿˙ )

___________________________

2) In Chapter 28,

we have the crew essentially saying they are all growing stronger for the sake of each other, and lending their strength as needed.

Within the story, Akizuki-sensei has established a theme of moving forward and changing as needed as a way to get stronger.

Mitsuhide says this to Shirayuki, also in Ch 28:

Why .... does Mitsuhide look so serious as he says this to her? Is he reconciling the fact that Shirayuki and Zens paths may diverge at some point, as they do for the Lyrias arc?

He follows up the above statement with:

He goes on to say,

“I want you to follow your heart so you can stand on your own wherever Zen takes you.”

So... maybe that context takes away some of the significance for fellow lovers of AnS. But I don’t think we should just ignore the statement.

I think she’s being given permission to change her mind; that it’s okay for her to have feelings for Zen, but it’s also okay if she chooses to end things. Mitsuhide will support her either way.

Even though the the full remark still has to do with Zen, she is being encouraged to stand on her own. She is her own person. She has friends who will still be there even if she chooses something different from what people expect of her.

In this case -- pertaining to AnS as a whole, from the perspective of everyone who ‘knows’ about ZenYuki in-story and also (meta!) the manga readers -- Shirayuki is expected to someday marry Zen.

After this, in Chapter 29, Izana is a bit derisive to Shirayuki after she gets the title from Tanbarun. I think his comments are intentionally made to make her uncomfortable. He says,

“Hahahaha! What an unusual title! Amazing!”

- cue confusion from Zen and Shirayuki -

“I wasn’t poking fun at it, it’s just a bit strange. Hmm... before, I said a nobody like her at your side would sully your name, Zen, but with this you can be friends without any such worry, right?

“Shirayuki, I’ve never asked what kind of relationship you want to have with Zen. And I don’t know if it’s something that can be said.”

Alrighty. So. Izana says in front of Shirayuki that he had described her as a nobody. This seems like something said meant to disquiet her, and her initial reaction is, “taken aback,” so we can safely say it was at least temporarily disconcerting for her to hear. I imagine it’s hurtful to hear you were once thought of as someone unworthy of notice.

Don’t get me wrong, I think most of what Izana says and does is in relatively good faith. I think the fandom has come to a general conclusion that he’s testing their relationship.

Obi finds her in the early morning and he notices that she’s upset, commenting that she’s making a strange face. She is still thinking about what Izana said, and Obi asks,

“Is it about the path you want to take?”

“....No. It’s that I haven’t given it any thought.”

Zen already wishes (though I don’t think he’s explicitly stated it the way he does later in ch 33) to marry Shirayuki, and we see her here facing emotional turmoil because that part of her future isn’t something she has thought about yet. Interesting, to say the least.

I’m not really sure about this, but it seems like she either means where Zen is taking her and / or where she can stand on her own.

And then .......

“Obi, will you lend me a hand?”

“Didn’t I tell you before that I’ll take you wherever you want to go?”

This part of the story is still heavy ZenYuki, but I think Obi saying this to her right now is significant. Akizuki has repeatedly weaved Shirayuki’s path into the themes of the story so far, while contrasting that Zen will meet her at her destination, while Obi will be at her side for the journey.

Zen and Shirayuki meet and talk. They basically address that Shirayuki doesn’t really know what the future holds, but that she still wants to stand by his side, and says that even though he’s a prince she wants to think it’s okay for her to feel that way.

You almost forget about the significance of Obi and Shirayuki’s relationship when it’s followed up by this ZenYuki scene. I wonder about the aforementioned nature-of-planning involved in the story and the future of the characters at this point.

gnah how did this post get so long already

___________________________

3) Zen has presumably given his blessing for Obi to be happy in love

In chapter 31, while the group is stranded outside Wistal due to rain, Zen and Obi are in the bath talking about the possibility of Kiki and Mitsuhide getting married.

“It’s fine with me as long as they can say that they’re happy. I intend to make sure of that.”

“You’ll make sure of that?”

“The same applies to you too, Obi.”

More foreshadowing? Presently it seems that the MitsuKiki ship has sunk, so contrasting this conversation to current-manga-events is titillating to me. ESPECIALLY because Zen says that he wants to make sure Obi is happy when Zen knows how Obi feels about Shirayuki. So it’s established that they will support one another as friends.

Later, Kiki and Mitsuhide are talking after dinner and discuss how the nature of Zen and Shirauki’s friendship never changes (that’s the impression I got from it). Mitsuhide recalls when he and Zen talked about the same thing:

I think what Kiki and Mitsuhide are referring to is that Zen and Shirayuki have made a conscious effort to become friends despite the barriers they’ve encountered so far, by way of them showing the strength of their mutual respect and desire to aid one another. I get a similar feel from the conversation between Zen and Mitsuhide.

And then .....

“The two of us will always be friends.”

ahem

Zen saying this -- in context to everything from the past four chapters -- implies that Zen is okay if their relationship is not romantic. If it is true that the mangas plot was deliberately planned out, these chapters will become increasingly interesting to look back on as the plot progresses.

The direction of the story has changed since then if we are only looking at the big turning point of Mitsuhide rejecting Kiki.

And despite that rejection, the group is still a group despite their physical distance.

___________________________

Brief note to say that in Ch 33 Izana says to Zen,

“Let me be an ally as you and Shirayuki follow your own path.”

While this is a ZenYuki comment, I see it as Akizuki reinforcing that each character is following their own path and they will be supported as they do.

___________________________

3.5) After this point is the first Lyrias arc,

where obiyuki shippers are starting to salivate over how much is packed in just for their relationship. I mean .... remember when she pushed him to the ground because she thought he would get hit by snow? And he gives her those moony eyes just like it didn’t stop ... my heart

UGH JUST SAYING IT BECAUSE context! Shirayuki’s path is changing slowly, and Obi is still by her side.

___________________________

4) A period of transition

I think this is around the time the Bergatt arc is actually beginning, leading up even to current-manga-events.

In Chapter 53

And thus, they head towards the path that a new wind blows upon.

The times are changing.

While Shirayuki is preparing for her and Ryuu’s move to Lyrias, Zen and co. are at Wilant meeting with Haruto, who describes fools aiming to throw the country into turmoil. This is a seed for the plot that develops, ie, the Bergatt arc that was not actually resolved when Touka gets taken down at Sereg in ch (?) 86. I bring this up because I think it shows the level of planning that Akizuki has put into the story at this point.

In chapter 55, after Shirayuki has finally been able to tell Zen she’ll be away from Wistal for 2 years, and they have this conversation (slightly paraphrased) after he’s processed for a short time:

Zen -

“Sorry. The fact that you would be leaving the castle was something that I’d never considered. So my reaction was a little slow.

“I’ll hear it. I’m sure there was more you wanted to say.”

Shirayuki -

“I’m really glad that I got to meet you and come to the castle! I’m where I am now because I wanted to become Zen’s ally; and i achieved that by coming to the castle and becoming a royal pharmacist.

“I’m sure that, like how it’s always been, there’s something ahead connecting to my path now. That’s why, because there’s a place I have yet to go, I want to be there.”

This is Zen’s face after she says the above:

What is he thinking? Is he worried about their romantic relationship? I interpret it as preemptive disappointment that they may not stay together.

Shortly after we get to the point you made in your ask (sweet anon) re ch 56 with Mitsuhides comment. This adds to the reinforced theme that change is okay and they will all still be friends and allies regardless of where life takes them.

BUT IMMEDIATELY AFTER Mitsuhide says that in reference to Zen and Shirayuki, Obi responds:

Is Akizuki drawing a parallel between MitsuKiki and ZenYuki? No idea. maybe. But somehow I do not find it coincidental.

This seems like a MitsuKiki hint, meant to fuel the ultra-shippable pair that we all loved... but after the rejected proposal, it’s hard not to see the whole situation differently re: zenyuki / obiyuki and mitsukiki / hisakiki.

Then the first true ObiYuki hug, and this:

“It feels as though Obi might suddenly appear in Lyrias!”

girl you already knew. Shirayuki knows that Obi will follow her.

Obi deliberately postpones going to Lyrias, though, in order to consider his feelings for Shirayuki and how to tell Zen.

Then!! in 58-59 we get long-awaited confirmation from Obi that he has feelings for Shirayuki, and after this beautiful moment Obi goes to Lyrias to be at Shirayuki’s side, and after everything that has happened so far that is a clincher for me regarding our beloved Foreshadowing.

While discussing Obi’s crush on Shirayuki, Obi asks Zen

“Aren’t you going to propose?”

“.......................Well, I’m.. making her .. wait.”

“Master ... I don’t recommend postponing it, you know.”

I wonder about this comment. Is this a clue for us that Zen postponing engagement is going to be a negative thing in the future?

idk maybe ╮(￣ω￣)╭

Either way ........ This transition period, in between Lyrias 1 and 2, shows us that the story is changing.

___________________________

I have definitely not covered all of the possible moments of foreshadowing and am actually going to leave off on that topic for the time being. I might do a part 2 as its own post.

But for now I will switch to previously mentioned point that...

5) Obi and Shirayuki’s paths are walked together

I think the following two panels are a great way to frame their relationship. Chapter 20 in early Tanbarun arc:

And then, much later in chapter 106 as they stand by the fire and Shirayuki tells Obi he’s handsome in the light:

“... because you come with me.” ( ╥ω╥ )

And then more delightful talk from chapter 104 that I think is ... gasp

foreshadowing !!!!!

They are having this discussion after they’ve found out about Kiki becoming engaged to Hisame.

“It’s necessary to have the courage to make a decision and take a step down that path, isn’t it?”

Shirayuki is possibly saying this due to the implications of Kiki’s letter. Kiki has made the choice to take a new path from the one she had been on by marrying Hisame.

So what about Shirayuki’s journey? Has her growth led her to a path she didn’t expect, and now it will take courage to step down it?

In recent chapters Shirayuki is shown to be seeing Obi differently and as a man:

overhearing him calling her beautiful and being surprised that he is embarrassed she heard

witnessing him going to a marriage meeting

that little moment where he is holding her wrist as a Lyrias knight tells him that the knights sister wishes him luck in love

the firelight comment oh my god

realizing she lost the pin Obi gave her and tearing up as she literally stared at him; upset that the gift she cherished is now missing and potentially realizing how very dear to her Obi actually is

fake dating and the 10 seconds of ... just... I still cant even

Obi is the one who is by Shirayuki’s side. They developed a bond through years friendship that is now being reframed by Akizuki. The nature of their relationship has been slowly changing and I think we approaching a time in the manga where Shirayuki will realize it.

___________________________

To answer your last question ... I do think ObiYuki has a chance and I do not think the author is just toying with us. I’ve talked a lot about my ObiYuki Endgame feels in previous posts/asks. I could probably talk about it forever but this post is absurdly long .... sorry

Thank you so much for the ask! and wow thank you so much if you actually read this whole thing!

<3 beebs <3

#obiyuki #obi x shirayuki #speculating #so much speculating #ask beebs #i dont think this is even my longest post #that may be an issue #ans #akagami no shirayukihime #obyuki #meta

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takaraphoenix · 3 years

Text

Grey’s Anatomy: Review

Took me four months, but I have successfully watched all 16 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy - and what there is of season 17. Figured it deserves some words.

HOLY SHIT I LOVE THIS SHOW? SO MUCH?

(To set the appropriate mood for this and give you a TL;DR.)

That being said to open it up, it is most definitely not flawless. So let’s start there. For me, the one big flaw it has is really the writers’ cuckolding kink. So. Much. Cheating. And - worse than the cheating plots - the cheating apologism. They echo the exact same sentiment so often, that cheating is only one mistake and humans make mistakes. That’s... at one point, that stops being a plot device and starts to be very telling about the writer, to be quite frank.

That being said, let’s roll out the positive. And let’s kick it off with something that relates to all the cheating; so many forced love-triangles, but they usually don’t include toxic rivalries. It’d be so easy to have the men throw punches over the women or the women pull hair and scratch each other’s eyes... so many other rom-drama shows do it already, after all. But, honestly, the two lose ends on the love V (because these things ain’t triangles) usually have such a good dynamic with each other, ranging from civil to friendships to deep mentor ships - Meredith and Addison, Mark and Jackson, Cristina and Teddy? Seeing these dynamics, quite frankly, makes having to sit through a love-triangle-nonsense actually more than bearable.

The most impressive thing about the show is, to me, the amount of rep on it. I mean sure, the main lead is white and I’d estimate half the overall cast are white, but even from the get go - in 2005 - the ratio of white actors versus actors of color in the main cast was five to four. And they’re not background or side characters - I mean, two of them are, aside from Meredith, the only ones to still be around on season 17. They all have their own plotlines, their own relationships and troubles and struggles. It’s not just the Meredith show, not by far.

And beyond that, the queer rep on this show is... honestly mindblowing? I mean, seriously?

They introduced their first queer character in season 2, in 2005, when other procedual dramas that aired then in large parts just... never... added queer characters. And sure! Joe was only a recurring character and not a main character, but he was recurring for six seasons, he recurred a lot, he got established, he and his husband partook in the plot. And, again, this was just the beginning, back in 2005.

They’ve since then steadily broadened their horizon and become more inclusive.

Recurring and main character wise, we’ve had 5 lesbians, 5 bisexual women, 4 gay men and 2 trans characters over these 17 seasons. That’s a very solid list, honestly. If I look at other shows, again especially procedual dramas that are still largely aimed at a more conservative audience, the fact that we’ve had actual queer storylines in every single season since season 2? That’s amazing.

Even more so on the one-off characters, to be quite honest. Just... casually, this patient has two moms, this man is visited by his husband, here the child of the patient is nonbinary, look this patient is in a polyamorous relationship. Sure, those are only the one-off episodical characters, but you have no idea how much that matters too.

I know I’m repeating myself with this, but especially when compared to other procedual dramas, where the characters are often only queer when it’s important to the plot. He got beaten up and ended up in the hospital because he was gay. She got killed because she was trans. They’re motivational and important to the plot (and also usually used to victimize the characters).

The fact that this show, even 10+ years ago already, just... included queerness as part of our reality, included it casually, positively and repeatedly - really, it’s not just like it’s one episode per season like it’s some obligation, it happens a lot? For no actual needed plot reason, she just has a wife and she’s just happily married to her wife and that’s it, because queer people exist.

And I just, I struggle to express how much this casual rep means to me? And how it becomes even more amazing if you consider how long ago it started? And if you add to it the steady prominent recurring/main character rep?

Sure, it’s not perfect - the majority of their characters of color are black; it’s not overly diverse when it comes to what characters of color it included, it took forever to include the second Asian character and the first Muslim character and it could feature a broader variety of ethnicities, just like it could offer a broader variety of queer experiences, I mean it took them forever to introduce the first mlm main character and they have yet to include a bisexual man, I’d also just love to see an ace character or a polyamorous character, to paint a contrast to the sex-obsession and cheating plotlines - but... it’s doing more than many others and I do think it deserves praise for that and it keeps improving. They didn’t just add Erica and Callie as the first wlw couple and then stuck to only having two queer ladies on screen at the same time and never more, just constantly replacing Callie’s girlfriend. They kept adding more, they keep adding more.

Now, on to my absolute favorite thing about this show.

Because, let’s make one thing clear, I hate cheating and under other circumstances the amount of cheating on this show would have driven me off it ten seasons ago. But despite all of the very forced romance drama and sex obsessed allos on the show, that is not the show’s main focus.

This was never mainly about the romance. It’s always been about the platonic relationships first and foremost. Romances changed and broke up and got complicated, but what prospered were the friendships and found family relationships.

Cristina and Meredith are the defining relationship of this show. They are... friendship portrayed in a way I have never seen friendship portrayed before. The writing on their dynamic is just amazing.

And when Cristina leaves the show, the shift to Meredith-Alex and to the sister-dynamic between Meredith, Maggie and Amelia really works.

Personally, after watching the show, I’ve come to divide it into three arcs, each with a Part A and a Part B.

The first arc of the show - spanning seasons 1 to 5 - are about Meredith, Cristina, George, Izzie and Alex. And they explore the dynamic between those five and the individual relationships between them all, so very well. This was really found family done right.

Arc 2 is what I dubbed the rebranding arc - seasons 6 to 10. In Part A (s6 to s8), we got the focus on the Mercy West merger, ending in the horrific plane crash. While Part B is what I call the outfall, season 9 dealing with the outfall from the plane crash and season 10 being all about that Meredith-Cristina outfall.

I love Arc 1 a whole lot, it’s really good. I think Arc 2 is good too, especially the plane crash and its outfall were very gripping and well done, but I do think that this middle part earns the dub as rebranding because it feels like the show itself is trying to find its footing, trying to figure out a direction after MAGIC graduated into residents (and, inevitably, fell apart with the death of George and the departure of Izzie). It’s a bit unfocused on where it wants to go and I still loathe the big misunderstanding nonsense of season 10 (but am glad that Meredith and Cristina rekindled before Cristina’s departure).

Arc 3 is the sisters arc, where the Meredith-Maggie-Amelia dynamic rules, with a more uneven split between A and B, because A spans seasons 11 to 16 for me and is lovingly dubbed the Merlex arc by me, while B is just... season 17; the corona pandemic is really shifting the tone and focus and it coincides with the departure of Alex.

I’m more mixed on it than I am on the other two. For me, Cristina and Meredith just are the heart and soul of the show, so despite just how brilliantly they handled that all, I still miss them (though I greatly appreciate the fact that she still regularly comes up through phone calls, texts, etc). I greatly disliked Alex’s departure (which is a rant of its own).

On the overall, I would actually rank them in order - the first five seasons were my favorite, followed by the awkward middle because it still added brilliant things to it regardless, and despite coming in last, I do also love the second half of the show with the sisters in the focus.

I do admit that I had high hopes that Jo would become Meredith’s new person in season 17, considering the tremendous growth their relationship had - especially considering how Meredith crawled into Jo’s bed and was the one to coax what had happened with her mother out of her; that was “my person” behavior, quite frankly, and I also thought that Alex’s departure might bring them closer. I truly did not like Alex’s parting words to Meredith that she’s always been her own person.

Well, duh. Meredith Grey is an absolute badass. Which, also a thing I love a lot about this show. She is so incredibly strong and brilliant and takes care of herself.

But the point of her having her person was never that she needed someone else to stand in for her; it was to have someone around whom she didn’t have to be that strong. Someone she could come to to be weak around, someone to have her back when everything became too much. You just... can’t do that for yourself. So that sentiment was just incredible rubbish and I will be very mad if they truly have her embrace that nonsense, because she deserves someone like that.

Lastly, let’s talk romantic relationships. Very broadly, I assure you - I wouldn’t even have the patience to tackle them all, I mean seriously everyone has had sex on this show, or so it feels (no but seriously, the amount of overlapping ships on this show is ridiculous).

The only note I do have on that is that... nothing lasts forever. Quite frankly, the most “endgame” ships on this show are Richard/Catherine and Ben/Miranda (which, bless them, those two are literally my favorite of the canon ships). Everything else is just... fair game? They change, they break up, even if you absolutely hate a ship - don’t worry, it’s gonna end soon.

And occasionally, that... is even more rewarding than seeing a couple you do like get together? I mean, honestly, watching a ship you dislike for x reasons and then having them break up on screen and a character actually listing x reasons to the other’s face? Very carthatic.

I also have to mention the adoption positivity; Meredith and Derek adopt a child, not as a last resort after all else has failed, but simply because they fell in love with that little girl, Ben and Bailey took in Joey, because they have big hearts. So often, adoption is only shown as that very, very last option after you wasted thousands of dollars on all other biological options and then it is like a tragic compromise or something. Seeing them just... fall in love with this baby and adopt her and love her is so refreshing?

This show is just... really, really good? The writing is brilliant. I mean, this show made me laugh more than some comedies have? It’s funny, poignant and... not overly dramatic? I mean, of course it’s dramatic - it’s a drama. But it’s more... grounded. Even with some outstandingly extreme things happening, it is still very down to Earth, compared to other dramas that feel the need to go higher and more bizarre each season. It’s incredibly consistent, it includes so much rep and actual plotlines for every character, it really draws out relationships - familiar, platonic, romantic - in such great details.

I just really love this show.

#Grey's Anatomy #Phoe's Random Show Rants

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robomin · 4 years

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seventeen and karasuno: a comparison

hello everybody! here is my not so cursory post before I disappear once again into mere reblogs for another 2 months. I just finished the haikyuu manga and needless to say... I am devastated. I've also been following the series for 5 years..,.,,,., and I’ve noticed some similarities and points of comparison between karasuno and seventeen,, and I decided to look into it just a lil further both to understand my own love for both teams and to unpack my own biases and judgements!

1. history/ past

both Karasuno and seventeen hail from previous ‘powerhouse’es - Karasuno being known as the ‘fallen crows’ and pledis having been in a slump for a bit at the time of seventeen’s debut despite having debuted previously successful groups. I think this does fundamentally set up similar foundational values in both teams, and can possibly be the reason the hunger and drive to improve is so pertinent and palpable in both teams. I’d think both teams take on critical underdog roles in their respective spheres, and this is possibly a reason for their similarities!

2. outstanding values

there are certain values that I strongly associate both teams with, and here I wanna unpack that a lil more and see exactly what it is that these two teams really have in common! in particular, these values are teamwork, earnestness, energy, and unpredictability.

teamwork

I think the cornerstone of both teams is undeniably their strong strong teamwork. at the core of Karasuno is their cohesion, their ability to pick up after each other and cover for each other - their unwavering confidence and reliance on each other. think Hinata’s faith in Kageyama, Asahi’s faith in Nishinoya, their seamless synchronised attacks and the sheer amount of love and support they have for each other. and seventeen definitely also displays this! It’s a known fact that seventeen is known for their ridiculously synchronised everything, from their choreography to their mistakes (lol), and for their teamwork. think woozi supporting the rest of the members in recording, in their musicality, think about how their love for each other (when asked to describe svt,, answers like ‘my everything’ ‘my youth’ ‘family’ ,,,, pls… how can u not cry…….) and just how much they all complement each other so well (hiiing) and spend time with each other even during holidays and go for family dinners together like. do you see what I mean??? these two teams love each other so much………

earnestness

ok imo I think svt is one of the most genuine kpop groups out there, in their sincere focus and love for their art, in the way they (esp woozi, dk, vern, dino) are so focused on honing their skills, improving their musicianship and doing it for each other, to grow together, to continue making music and having fun with their friends… I think coups mentioned somewhere once that though they started out fixating a lot on achievements and awards, they have grown to focus more on just doing what they love w the people they love for a long time…… and …. :””””””( yeah. although this point isn’t super pertinent and present in karasuno, it’s definitely there too, somewhat! the way they’re all focused on improving, on becoming better versions of themselves and fighting it out together as a team (quote kags saying ‘but I wanted to do it with this team’,,,… cry…….) and not for the fame, not really for anything else, but to get good and play volleyball for a long time…. hiiiiinnngggggg

energy

ok I think I might be kinda biased on this one, and I think it overlaps a lil with the earnestness point, but I rly rly think both teams have this !!!! presence on the court and on the stage… it’s likely a combination of how special the individual members are and their synergy, and also how dedicated they are to putting on a good performance and winning. to me they kinda just vibe the same way, with that boundless, contained energy that kinda exudes in the form of self-assuredness and quiet, stable confidence. ya know??? ok this is rly more vibey than anything tangible so it’s a lil hard to explain but I hope you get what I mean!

unpredictability

ok so maybe unpredictability might not be the best word, but Karasuno is always pulling ridiculous plays out of their asses in the middle of matches and bewildering everyone,, which to me is kinda similar to how seventeen always comes up with tracks that are so different, so wow (including and sometimes especially their b-sides!), and so refreshing. their performances as well, always leave an impression due to how ! woah! they are and I think that stems from a certain degree of unpredictability and flexibility - you never really know what svt’s new music is gonna sound like, what Karasuno’s next play is going to be, but you know that in both cases, they’re the only ones who can pull those off flawlessly (think the Miya twins’ imitation freak duo quick, and seventeen’s entire. discography and how immaculate and ! wonderful it is…… music analysis post for another day…)

3. special mention for similarities between characters/ members! hehe

s.coups and daichi: ok. i feel like this is the most obvious comparison.. like they are both tired dads and so responsible.. their thighs.. how reliable they are as pillars for their teams, but also…. how cute and actually equally reliant they are on their teammates as well (think coups’ duality, daichi’s new year eve dream (nightmare? LOL) and how they don’t take all the limelight for themselves but support the team by uplifting their teammates instead and making sure they have the space and freedom to do what they want (daichi always picking up receives on court despite being a spiker, coups always talking to the company and sitting in on meetings even when he doesn’t have to be there….. dads…)

jeonghan and suga: both pretty faces with a penchant for stirring shit LOL like. I always thought both of them were really similar in this aspect, cause although they are definitely both core emotional pillars for their teammates and members, they also stir up a lot of shit and join in on a lot of shenanigans (think Suga riling up daichi for fun and how that is… very similar to how jeonghan screws around w coups) but they’re also v caring and sweet at the same time… we love duality and consistency……

hoshi and nishinoya: ok. I actually think hoshi’s a mix of kags and nishinoya, but def more noya….. like they both have their personal Brand - noya’s rolling thunder, hoshi’s tiger agenda, they’re both reliable and cornerstones of a certain important skill in their teams, and they both have this willpower and determination to fight it out and improve on themselves. not! to mention how they’re like disciplined but also ridiculously chaotic with the rest of their teammates as well and how they’re always both doing dumb stuff…….. (booseoksoon and the tanaka/hinata/noya circus)

dk and asahi: I think this is a comparison that has been made quite a lot as well! clearly, both dk and asahi are the aces (dk as the main vocal and asahi…. is literally an ace) but they’re also prone to insecurity and constantly asking a lot of themselves….. although they’re not completely the same (as is for all the pairs here) I think the way they’re both kinda timid and demand a lot from themselves is p similar and! I also love them both very much

dino and hinata: ok while. I think dino’s a lot smarter than hinata, I think their work ethic is pretty similar - think dino who literally grew up dancing and how much passion and drive he has to prove himself and improve in that regard, and how much he loves it as well. this to me is p similar to Hinata’s unabashed love for volleyball - their ambition is also p similar to me, in that they don’t shy away from professing their desire to win and to become the best (dino’s artist who will go down in history ambition and hinata’s one-track determination to become the greatest) also the both of them just have a lot of energy and ! sprite! also dino’s laugh is. so sunny it screams hinata’s sunny vibe.

ok so basically in conclusion,, this whole thing was just for me to get my feelings out a lil bit and organise some vague comparisons I had thought about. i really hope there’s a significant enough overlap between the two fandoms so more people can appreciate and understand what I’m saying so we can talk about it!! I personally think it’s super interesting how I’m the most involved in these two fandoms, and how they have so many similarities… I think it reveals the values that I value in judging others, and I’d urge you to consider and reflect on the things/ people/ shows you like and see if there are any similarities there! going a lil meta on myself has been really fun so please! don’t be shy to talk to me about this and any other similarities you might find between anime and kpop LOL

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lyrasilverspring · 4 years

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Valkyrie’s Interview

“And now on to our first single tribute, your chosen Villain: Valkyrie Maddox!” Dora Tale’s voice was sugar-sweet and near ultrasonic in pitch. Valkyrie had already grown tired of listening to it babble across the couple interviews. She’d paid little attention to the interviews so far, picking up titbits every now and then, but mostly trying to imagine herself anywhere else- preferably drunk.

As the music started, she took a second to consider what would happen if she just didn’t go, but she didn’t particularly feel like being dragged on stage. The interview would be bad enough already, no need to make it worse when there was no way she was getting out of it. She walked on calmly and neutrally, not quick, not eager, not slow or reluctant. She sat in the chair opposite, looking out over the audience but not bothering to offer them a smile or a wave. She turned to Tale, eyebrow raised expectantly.

“A pleasure to meet you Valkyrie, or should I say V?” she smiled familiarly, clearly expecting V’s attitude, “We’ve been watching you and my goodness have you really made quite the stir in your time here at the Capitol.”

Valkyrie looked at her expectant face, uncomfortable being so openly reduced to nothing more than entertainment for the masses, “Yes,” she answered plainly, “I prefer to be called V.”

The laugh Dora let out in response was unnerving- tinkling and bright but utterly hollow, “Just as taciturn in person I see! Don’t worry dear, I know you’re just meeting all of us, but we’ve been watching you for so long now we might as well be family!”

“I don’t have any family,” Valkyrie shrugged, “So I don’t know that that helps me so much.”

Dora and the audience let out a sad ‘aww’ and Valkyrie squirmed slightly, “Is that, perhaps,” Dora began, “Why you’ve been so distant from the rest of the tributes? I’m sure it’s a big shift to go from no one at all in the world to such a big new family!”

Valkyrie frowned at her, “The other tributes aren’t my family. The only thing they have in common with my family is that they will also be killed by the Capitol. Besides, this is the most social I’ve been in years. I understand that I appear distant to others, but by my standards I might as well be a social butterfly.”

Dora’s face twitched slightly at the mention of the Capitol, but brightened exaggeratedly at the latter statement, “I understand, V,” she turned to the audience, “We all know how difficult it can be for the socially… challenged to meet new people, and if that’s the case then we’re no doubt all very impressed by what you have achieved here.”

Valkyrie raised her brow, “Well you can’t be that impressed, you voted for me to be the Villain,” she pointed out.

Again, false laughter fell from Dora’s mouth, though more aggressive this time, “Oh Valkyrie! Sorry, V- that just means that we love to hate you my dear. The love is still there, don’t you worry!” she reached out as if to bop Valkyrie’s nose, but met only air and she flinched back, hard, “Who would have thought the mighty Valkyrie so skittish ladies and gentlemen!” she laughed to the audience.

Dora looked over at Valkyrie expectantly, but she genuinely had nothing to say in response to what had just happened.

“One can’t help but wonder,” Dora began, her voice taking on a sly edge, “If it was this kind of squirrely resistance to basic human contact that drove the wedge between you and district five’s Aphrodite?”

Valkyrie stiffened slightly and watched Dora’s eyes narrow in on the movement, straightening before answering, “I suspect that wasn’t it, though I could be wrong.”

Dora leaned further forward in her chair, closing about half of the distance Valkyrie had created, “Well what can you tell us about the ill-fated relationship of Aphrodite and Valkyrie? I’m sure everyone would love to know- you seemed so sweetly in love that night in the bathroom.”

Valkyrie’s face darkened, “Relationship is a strong word. I would say we never got to that stage. We were intrigued by each other, but it never would have worked. And it didn’t.”

“Well we all saw that!” Dora laughed lightly, “Honestly when she threatened to kill you I could have been knocked over by a stiff breeze I was so shocked! We all expected it from you, of course, what with the whole-“ she vaguely waved her hand at V, “But from Aphrodite! It was truly shocking, especially after the dance, and the way she pulled you in as if she was going to kiss you, and then bam! Death threat and she left. And honestly, my dear, we’ve been watching and you really haven’t been the same since. The alcohol? Oh, it was just tragic to watch wasn’t it folks?” she turned to the audience for a brief reaction before continuing eagerly, “You know there were still a few people holding out for you and Aphrodite to patch things up but I guess now that boat has well and truly sailed for you, hasn’t it?”

Valkyrie was overwhelmed and uncomfortable, and feeling very caged in, “Yes, I’m sure that was a very difficult time for all the viewers at home,” she heard the sarcasm leak into her voice as it turned colder.

“Oh,” Dora’s face twisted into a caricature of remorse, “Please don’t think me insensitive, darling, I’m just explaining to you that you have support, right folks? I know!” she gasped, “Let’s have a little bit of audience participation!” Valkyrie went still, “Since we haven’t been able to vote on titles since the big breakup, let’s hold a quick vote now! What do we think?”

The crowd shouted out their approval as Valkyrie shrunk back into her chair slightly.

“Those who think Aphrodite is the victim, give me a cheer in 3.. 2.. 1!” Valkyrie felt herself try to drift away from her body- if any time was the time to perfect astral projection, it was now, “Very good Team Aphrodite, and now for Team Valkyrie, 3… 2… 1!”

Both sides received cheers, though she was too busy trying to mentally escape the situation to truly judge the difference between the groups.

“You see Valkyrie,” she smiled, “Sorry, V, you do have supporters despite your cold, harsh exterior. Why I’m sure there are even some people who still want you to win!” she paused slightly, though there was no response from the audience, “I mean they may not be here tonight, but I’m sure there are people at home who are supporting you, my dear.”

“Thank you,” Valkyrie ground out.

Dora continued unphased, “Though I’m sure they’re all wondering why you’re coming to us all alone today! After all, the people have been pushing for you to partner with your district mate, Lanthan since day one!” when she received nothing more than a nod of acknowledgement she prodded a little harder, “So why don’t you tell us what happened? Why aren’t we talking to you and the dreamy, dangerous Lanthan Shale?”

Valkyrie stiffened, and when she spoke her voice was cold, “Lanthan Shale is a psychopath and a creep.”

Dora gasped dramatically, “Oh, do go on!” and when it appeared that Valkyrie did not intend to go on she followed up with, “Please Valkyrie, I insist.”

“Well,” she answered, “He’s always been weirdly obsessed with me and I think he gets off to the idea of me killing somebody. Well I know he does- he’s told me.”

“… Oh,” Dora’s mouth hung open for a second before her grin turned devious, “So you’ve been the object of his affections for some time, it sounds like. Did anything ever… happen?”

Valkyrie reared back incredulously, “Did you not hear the part where he gets off to murder? Of course nothing ever happened between us.”

“Then what was that kiss back at the start?” Dora smirked.

“A mistake,” Valkyrie answered.

“A villain and a tease,” Dora arched her brow, “Oh how you do make it so easy to hate you Valkyrie. And on that note, we went back to your district to find out about the Valkyrie Maddox before the games.”

Valkyrie frowned, “Who did you ask?”

“Just some friends,” Dora waved off, about to continue when Valkyrie interrupted.

“That’s funny,” Valkyrie raised a brow, “I didn’t know the dead could talk.”

Dora continued as if she hadn’t spoken, turning to the audience, “We asked around the district, and whilst many knew of the young Maddox scion, not many seemed to like her. Valkyrie,” she turned back, “Why is it that you are so disliked amongst the members of your district?”

Valkyrie shrugged, “My family betrayed the Capitol. I grew up in a house of care. I made friends with a no name. District two doesn’t smile kindly on people like me.”

“And yet you still became a Career,” Dora pointed out.

Valkyrie shrugged once more, “I had no intention of entering the games. I have no intention of winning the games. My life was really a waste of time, I suppose. I should have died with my parents that day.”

“And that is all we have time for folks,” Dora gushed with a big smile, “Ladies and gentleman, Valkyrie Maddox of District Two!”

As soon as she was allowed to leave she stood up and left, not saying goodbye, not waving, not smiling, just determined to get the fuck off that stage.

#cgtaskfive

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verumking · 4 years

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⚔️ *:･ﾟ✧┆HEADCANON : RE/MIND TRAILER ANALYSIS

I’ve been working on this since the final Re/Mind trailer was LEAKED, but now that it has been officially released I can finally POST IT! This headcanon post encompasses all three Re/Mind teaser trailers and some of the events of KH3. I know this is structured like a THEORY POST, but take it all with a pinch of salt: this is just a LORE DUMP for how I’ll be roleplaying Yozora until the DLC actually comes out. I’m not aiming to be ‘accurate’ or right, just stringing bits of CANON to line up with my portrayal ;v; So, without further ado, let’s jump right in...

( Warning, this is a stupidly long post ! )

ONE. ┆ THE TWO HALVES OF THE SKY - YOZORA VS SORA

Without a doubt, Nomura has been planning this ARC for years. It is my firm belief that he was planning SORA and NOCTIS to eventually meet, the latter being axed from the joining the KH PLOT after Nomura was removed from XV’s development. Here is what Nomura ORIGINALLY SAID in 2013 about Sora and Noctis’s dynamic:

Do you know the name Sora mean the “sky”, in Japanese and Noctis, his family name is Caelum which mean sky as well so basically, Noctis means “night sky”, so they are kind of complete opposites to each other. There is a reason why I named these characters as opposites.

I don’t believe that Sora and Yozora are the SAME PERSON, nor is Yozora a FUSION of Riku and Sora, but rather, they PARALLEL each other narratively, like what Nomura originally INTENDED for Noctis and Sora. Yozora and Sora are simply OPPOSITES of each other.

I believe as much as SORA embodies light and hope, YOZORA embodies darkness and despair. SORA, not being TECH SAVVY ( see any interaction he has with a COMPUTER, or the first time he uses a GUMMIPHONE ), and YOZORA, who uses hyper-futuristic weaponry with EASE, and comes from a world where ROBOTICS is commonplace.

Aside from the obvious VISUAL JUXTAPOSITION between the optimistic keyblade wielder and the austere newcomer, I also believe that they are going to OPPOSE each other in abilities and goals. Much as Sora used the power of waking to BRING BACK LIVES, Yozora has just as much power to TAKE THEM: see the characteristic skull motif upon Yozora’s sleeves, as well as the prominent THEME OF DEATH within Versus XIII lore.

Which ties in perfectly to my headcanon about the role of REINCARNATION within the KH and Verum Rex worlds respectively. YOZORA is a harbinger of DEATH, and SORA is the harbinger of REBIRTH. Rebirth, of course, being the meaning behind the TITLE of the DLC, as mentioned by Nomura himself:

“ ... The meaning of what I just mentioned and the double-meaning are the same. It means “remind”, “reconfirmation”, “ reclaim the heart* ”, and so forth. ”

(*Note: 心 means “heart” and also “mind”, and 再生 can mean “regeneration”, so 心の再生 can also mean “regeneration” or “rebirth” of the “mind”. Also, “Reclaim Your Heart” is a phrase used on the back of the box for Verum Rex in Toy Box)

The TWO SKIES, like day and night, perpetually maintain this SAMSARA of death and rebirth. Both UNAWARE of each other’s existence, and IMPACT upon the wider universe.

UNTIL NOW. Given the description of the DLC mentioning ‘a secret episode and boss battle’ in a separate line, this is most likely alluding to YOZORA. As such, Yozora will play an antagonistic role towards SORA, at least for the events of Re//Mind. Yozora confronts Sora, after he ABUSES the power of waking to bring back all of his FRIENDS from death. The friends YOZORA was intending to REAP. And thus, the boss battle begins.

Whether Yozora CONTINUES to antagonise Sora even after Re//Mind, it can’t be ascertained at this point. But Sora had been REPEATEDLY WARNED that he will have a price to pay for abusing the POWER OF WAKING ( see the section on YMX below for more detail ). I believe YOZORA has come to deliver this retribution.

TWO. ┆ A SEA OF STARS - THE FINAL WORLD

There has been a lot of speculation about the ‘FINAL WORLD’ we see at the end of the Re//Mind trailer, and whether it IS EVEN the Final World, or the SAME 'Final World’ we have been visiting thus far with SORA.

So far, YOZORA’S WORLD has only been depicted at night. This, PAIRED with Yozora’s name meaning ‘night sky’, could imply that YOZORA HIMSELF caused the Final World to shift from DAY to NIGHT. The two ‘Final Worlds’ are one and the same.

But WHAT IS the Final World exactly? Chirithy describes the FINAL WORLD as a place where “the edges of sleep and death touch”, and that Sora had VISITED the Final World “more than once before on his visits to the Station of Awakening”. Chirithy also mentions that SORA previously came to the Final World “out of his own choice” and can’t just “wander out like his other visits”, when he came to the Final World after PERISHING at the Keyblade Graveyard. The fact that Sora QUESTIONED “What is the Final World?”, despite visiting NUMEROUS TIMES before, implies only one thing: Sora visits the Final World in his DREAMS. And, like most humans upon awakening, he fails to REMEMBER what he dreamt.

The fact that YOZORA is also present in the Final World, in a fully CORPOREAL FORM, implies that he also visits the Final World in his DREAMS, rather than simply arriving there after PERISHING. Their SHARED LINE from the KH1 opening says it all:

“I’ve been having these weird thoughts lately. Like... is any of this for real? Or not?”

The Final World is a realm one visits on the BRINK OF DEATH, and with Yozora and Sora being agents of DEATH and REBIRTH, they visit this realm even in their SLEEP. Yozora’s visits during his sleep are a PREMONITION orchestrated by the Watchmen of Fate, alluding to his destiny to ascend as the VERUM REX: aka the god of death.

THREE. ┆ A STRONG SENSE OF PURPOSE - THE NAMELESS STAR

I joked a lot about the NAMELESS STAR being Yozora’s love interest, but it may be CLOSER TO CANON than I originally thought: especially given Yozora’s appearance in the FINAL WORLD, and how accurate her DIALOGUE is to Stella Nox Fleuret: the infamous LOVE INTEREST from Nomura’s cancelled project, Versus XIII.

Aside from the obvious indicators ( “They took away my name, everything about me” ), the male she “PINES” for also fits perfectly with MY DEPICTION of Yozora. She mentions that he has been “changed beyond recognition, his heart replaced with another’s”. Aside from the developmental parallels of NOCTIS becoming YOZORA, it’s also accurate to my Yozora’s HEART being replaced with an ASTRAL CORE, with the Gigas experimentation CHANGING HIM beyond recognition ( his hair and eye colour ).

The NAMELESS STAR also mentioned that “were he to regain his old self again, he would be distressed by my absence”. Whatever HAPPENED to Yozora that made him forget about his LOVE INTEREST, his presence in the Final World alongside SORA gives the impression that he has REMEMBERED his love interest, and has come to rescue her-- much has SORA had returned to the Final World to rescue KAIRI.

Delving a teeny bit more into my OWN META here. I find it interesting that the NAMELESS STAR gave Sora advice about how to OVERCOME the TASKS before him. What intrigued me the MOST, is how she mentions his ability to RETAIN his PHYSICAL FORM in the Final World, due to his “strong sense of purpose”. The word ‘PURPOSE’ is distinctly emphasised by her voice actress, so I want to BELIEVE that there is importance to it.

MY PORTRAYAL of Yozora and his world encircles the concept of the ‘KARMA’ that lies inside all humans, as per the back of the VERUM REX BOX COVER in Toy Box. To summarise that post, this KARMA is the sum of a person’s grasp of FATE + CONSEQUENCE, and their connection to the SPIRITUAL REALM. The stronger your hold on your DESTINY, aka your karma, the stronger your CONNECTION to the cosmos. It is Sora’s POWERFUL HOLD ON FATE that gave him his corporeal form in the Final World-- much like YOZORA at the end of the Re//Mind trailer.

It thus becomes obvious that the NAME the Nameless Star whispers to Sora is YOZORA. Which not only explains why he looked so SHOCKED after hearing it, but also why Sora RETURNS to the Final World alone in the Re//Mind trailer. He was explicitly LOOKING FOR YOZORA, and was calling out his name-- and expressed the same level of SHOCK upon discovering that Yozora is MORE THAN just a video game character.

FOUR. ┆ AN AGENT IN THE SHADOWS - YOUNG MASTER XEHANORT

Puzzling enough, the Re//Mind trailers also REVEAL that Young Master Xehanort has been WORKING ALONGSIDE the Master of Masters. How is this relevant to Yozora, you ask? Consider the following:

1. YMX was the MAIN VILLAIN in the Toy Box world. He was responsible for introducing SORA to Verum Rex, quite literally, by THROWING HIM into the Verum Rex video game ( which I canon to be the ‘data’ version of YOZORA’S WORLD... but that’s for another post lol ). 2. YMX is WORKING with MoM, who appears along with Yozora in the SECRET ENDING, in the Shibuya district of Yozora’s world. 3. In Dream Drop Distance, YMX made a PROMISE with two characters from The World Ends with You, a game directed by NOMURA encircling the concept of reapers, also based in SHIBUYA. The promise being to bring them back to their world, if they brought Sora and Riku to him. Perhaps YMX did FULFIL that promise, and RETURNED the TWEWY characters to Shibuya. Which implies that HE KNOWS how to reach Shibuya: where MoM was present.

Nomura mentioned in the KH3 ULTIMANIA, that the Shibuya featured in the SECRET ENDING is in a “different reality” compared to the TWEWY Shibuya. What if the SHIBUYA of Yozora’s world, coexisted with the Shibuya of TWEWY? Much like how the worlds were SPLIT IN TWO, not only in Dream Drop Distance, but in Toy Box as well?

4. More specific to my META for Yozora, YMX finds it INTRIGUING that “even empty puppets can be given strong hearts”, and that “a heart can be placed in a vessel of our choosing”. My Yozora was essentially moulded into a PUPPET of Gigas Corporation after having his heart replaced with an ASTRAL CORE, with the intention of making him rise as a ‘HIGHER BEING’: an elevated version of humanity. Also note how YMX says ‘OUR’... what if he was not alluding to True Organisation XIII... but HIMSELF AND MoM?

5. YMX also plays a ROLE in Sora abusing the power of waking. Before unleashing the FINAL BOSS of Toy Box on Sora, he whispers “Find the hearts joined to yours”. In the Re//Mind trailer, SORA re-emphasises this: “But, follow my heart? Hearts are all connected. Trace the connection!”. YMX also APPEARS again, after Sora dove into all of the Sleeping Worlds, claiming that he nearly “buried himself in the dark of sleep”, TWICE OVER: once in DDD, and once again in KH3-- instances where YMX was both present.

Note how also, Nomura chose SAN FRANSOKYO as the final Sleeping World that Sora reaches, before YMX appears. San Fransokyo being very AESTHETICALLY SIMILAR to Yozora’s world ( Both being TOKYO CODED CITIES, with a night time setting ).

Despite LEADING Sora down this doomed path, YMX WARNS him that there is a “high price to pay” for wielding such power FOOLISHLY, and that he had now “paid (this) price”. The price? HIS OWN LIFE. This is reiterated several times in the GAME and PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL:

a. On the BACK of the Verum Rex box cover in Toy Box, it mentions ‘A JOURNEY WITHOUT A PLACE TO RETURN’. b. In the Re//Mind trailer: once by XEHANORT himself: “Seeing that you have also taken the FORBIDDEN PATH, you too must be ready to make the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE”. c. And once again by CHIRITHY, claiming that Sora will “vanish from this world”, and that “without ( his ) powers, ( he ) can’t return to the world ( he ) came from”. Sora has not only LOST the power of waking, but had also SACRIFICED HIS LIFE.

Stranded in the FINAL WORLD, with no one left to turn to, Sora calls out a NAME. The name of a person he knows is COMING to the Final World... to save his lost star.

SHOUTOUT to Steph ( @kyecupio ) for fuelling the big galaxy brain with XEHANORT and YOZORA’S connection fgjhfg.

�� FIVE. ┆ THE WATCHMAN OF FATE - MASTER OF MASTERS

We’ve gotten an INSIGHT into YMX’s intentions, but what has the MoM got to do with all of this? Why does he APPEAR in the secret ending?

We already know that MoM is working alongside YMX from the brief Re//Mind trailer, where it is disclosed that the MoM GIFTED YMX the characteristic black coat that wards off darkness. YMX is also seemingly REPORTING to MoM about a ‘world tour’, which I assume MoM advised him to go on. What is this ‘world tour’? Difficult to tell at this point.

But what I do know is that MoM is OBSESSED on keeping universal order. He created the GAZING EYE to allow himself to see into the future and write the BOOK OF PROPHECIES, and refuses to give LUXU a copy of the book to ‘avoid temporal paradoxes’. Nomura has definitely created an ANTAGONISM between Luxu/Xigbar and Xehanort, especially NOW with it being revealed that YMX is working with MoM.

WHATEVER Nomura is planning with LUXU vs MoM/YMX, I can’t be certain. But what I do know, is MoM’s MOTIVES are extremely similar to MY META for the Watchmen of Fate, something I have come up with exclusively for MY PORTRAYAL of Yozora and his world.

The WATCHMEN OF FATE are responsible for maintaining the BALANCE AND ORDER of the universe, and are CHARACTERISED by their dark reaper’s hoods. Note how the MoM never takes his hood off, and this HOOD is strikingly uncanny to a GRIM REAPER. Furthermore, the Watchmen of Fate in my canon are not only NOTED for keeping the order of the universe, but some are also ‘TRICKSTERS’ by nature and occasionally like to manipulate fate. Note how MoM also has a PLAYFUL PERSONALITY despite his wider goal.

I believe the MoM has a greater power in the UNIVERSE, and has advised YMX to lead SORA to the Realm of the Dead where YOZORA resides. For what purpose? To UNITE the agents of DEATH and REBIRTH under the same sky. To fulfil the cycle of KARMA. To achieve the REINCARNATION of all worlds.

To reincarnate Kingdom Hearts.

TO CONCLUDE:

1. MoM and YMX are rogue Watchmen of Fate, trying to REBIRTH the universe together via KINGDOM HEARTS. 2. They want to UNITE SORA ( who embodies rebirth ), and YOZORA ( who embodies death ), to achieve the REINCARNATION of the universe ( death + rebirth ) 3. SORA is seeking Yozora because he TALKED to the Nameless Star, YOZORA is seeking Sora because he USED the power of waking to REVERSE DEATH, they both meet at the FINAL WORLD. Yozora initiates the BOSS BATTLE because “ you broke the rules, perish ” 4. YMX ( + MoM? ) possibly SPLIT SHIBUYA into two: one comprising of YOZORA’S REALITY, and one comprising of TWEWY’S REALITY ( not sure of the reasons yet but it’s suss ) 5. ( Specific to my VERUM REX META ) YMX and MoM are potentially connected to GIGAS CORP, given YMX’s intrigue about placing STRONG HEARTS in EMPTY VESSELS, much like Gigas Corp are, thus already serving as ANTAGONISTS to both Yozora and Sora.

#⚔️ *:･ﾟ✧┆a synthetic heart bled dry by the hands of fate. ❪ headcanons ❫#( this is a mess but i just want to post it jfhjfhg )#( i'll tidy it up later if this makes any sense-- )

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mysterylover123 · 5 years

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BNHA Rewatch: Episode 63 “Unrivaled”

mysterylover123

aka the One with the Big 3.

So we open with Deku remembering Mirio stripping at the Sports Festival last year. Makes sense he wouldn’t remember his face from that.

Honestly, I like these three as characters fine enough, but I still have no idea why they’re considered the “Big 3”. Like, they’re all kinda powerful, but we haven’t been told what exactly makes them the so called top of the school; they didn’t perform that high in the Sports Fest. So I have no idea what that even means. (or how Deku Todoroki and Bakugou are eventually gonan get that title)

Apparently Horikoshi based Tamaki on his own feelings of nerves at a con. Aw. I also think he might be based on Proto-Deku Yamikumo and Mirio on Proto-Katsuki. So naturally that only makes him more adorable to me.

Nejire is asking lots of questions that I want answers to. I mean, we already know about Todoroki’s scar, but the other stuff, yes. Please.

I guess if Mirio and Tamaki are proto Katsuki and Izuku, Nejire must be Uraraka.

Um…ok? (It’s a good thing Katsuki didn’t attend this class session. The last thing he needs is yet another lecture on how Kamino doomed everyone and then getting beaten up by someone who absolutely knows he’s better than him. That one extra day saved him some humiliation).

Ooh and Kirishima is noticing Mina in pain. Next season will be KiriMina’s time.

So my first impression of the Big 3, first time around, wasn’t so great, because I love Class 1-A and it made me mad that they were getting worfed for the sake of building up new characters as better. And Mirio being the “more worthy” inheritor of OFA, and therefore supposedly better than Deku, my fave, naturally made me annoyed with him. Now that I’m caught up of course I like them all, it just wasn’t for me a great introduction to their characters and this arc.

Post DVK2 Deku is one energetic go-getter. I love it.

I think Deku is starting to ask some real questions about his sexuality after this scene.

I honestly still kinda think Class A is getting a little worf-ed here for the sake of making a strong impact. Why doesn’t Yaoyorozu try and do anything here? Like, Deku figures out Mirio’s got a phasing quirk and he’s 2 IQ stats lower than her. Couldn’t she work it out and make some anti-phaser device? Huh? Huh?

Todoroki is totally just making an excuse not to have to get any more humiliated than he already is. He doesn’t need this shit right now.

Deku is being smart and awesome as usual. He will never not be my fave. (BTW I’ve noticed: He’s draw a LOT sharper and older in both this ep and the S4 trailer than he was before. Post DVK2 Deku is already older than he was only a few episodes ago.)

Why do you and Kaminari both go for Deku’s eyes, Mirio? Low blow!

And that’s a wrap. All of Class 1-A taken out in an instant.

Mirio is by far the most realistic phase-quirk user I’ve come across so far; the way they explore the consequences of that kind of power is really well done.

I do understand the point he was trying to make here. I just wish it wasn’t so thoroughly at the expense of Class 1-A’s dignity.

Nejire continues to ship MiriDeku a bit.

HAha Kacchan collecting trash.

My bae can brood with the best of em.

I want Deku to intern with Gran more in the future.

Sir! (Ooh boy. Me at chapter 127: Screw you you pretentious praying mantis Deku is the best and who are you to say otherwise. Me at chapter 161: No no no Sir you beautiful darling you can’t no!. Just a preview.)

And Overhaul!

So Next season.

OK so I’ll be honest…I like Part 1 (Season 1-3) of BNHA more than Part 2 (Season 4 onward). Oh sure, there’s still some great moments to come, and I’m sure Bones will do great by them. But…there’s kind of a line in the sand for me, between DVK2 and everything that comes afterwards. It feels like the series has been…kind of spinning its wheels for a while, and Ep63 is kind of the point where that starts. I like it, but it feels very much like it’s just where the Season ended, rather than a Season finale. And I’m not sure how fans are gonna react to S4′s material, after a year of waiting, since it’s so very...different, from what you’d expect.

Anyway, Season 3 is amazing. It’s not perfect, by any means, but it’s beautiful, people loved, it, and it has so many great episodes, that I think that despite the flaws and the filler, I can stop proclaim it the best season so far. Season 2 is more solid and consistent, Season 1 a little more fresh, but 3 has two of the series’ all-time peaks, and that can’t be overcome. I’m so glad I got to experience it again - the whole series, in fact. I love this show so very, very much. It’s been way too long since it was available, and I’m getting really excited for the premiere of Season 4.

BKDK Corner:

“You can’t go losing” Deku as always inspired by Kacchan. So many feels. Good feels.

Sadly, there will not be enough of them in S4 to have a corner for each episode. This season covers the biggest BKDK drought in the manga, sadly. I’m gonna miss them. I guess that’s why Move 2 is apparently supposed to be a BKDK showcase. To compensate. Bones knows what the fanbase is really here for. DAT HANDHOLD.

Heads up, I don’t know when I’ll be able to post an Episode 64 recap for S4′s premiere, since I don’t know when it’ll be available in America, so just keep an eye open.

Best Girl of the Episode: Nejire! (For more info on her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydEIiS2ohRs )

RANKER: Season finales so far

3. In Each of our Hearts, Episode 13

2. Unrivaled, Episode 63

1. Encounter, Episode 38

#my hero academia #season 3 episode 25 #unrivaled #mirio togata #izuku midoriya #tamaki amajiki #nejire hado #katsudeku #and that's a wrap folks #prepare to wait a whole year #12 freaking months #of nothing #no new movie #only one new ova #and nothing else but manga #readers being smug to anime onlys #like oh you poor sweet dears #prepare to have your minds blown #and change your whole understanding of bnha

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nossbean · 4 years

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Top 7 comfort movies

I’m roughly 12 years late to the party but I was tagged by @ajoblotofjunk and @ilikeblue ! Thanks so much!

So confession up front - when looking for comfort stuff I actually tend towards TV! So here’s a mix of comfort media XD Also, like, in which I ramble only semi-coherently about things I love. 😅

1. Singin’ in the Rain

I... have no deep reasons for loving this. I just - I love Cosmo Brown. I love tap dancing. I love the earnestness of this whole flick and the OT3-ness that is just, like, everywhere in this damn movie. The songs are catchy, the dancing is impressive as all get out, it’s a lot of fun. The dorky scenes about enunciation - even if I could do without the sexist overtones to Lena’s storyline. I used to work in TV, so the stuff about where to put the mics was RELATABLE (if... not exactly the same ofc). The cast is attractive. There is 1 space mom (Debbie Reynolds) and 1 space aunt (Cyd Charisse) in it, which tickles me xD

Let’s see, I’ve given random headcanons on Singin’ before, but let’s go with this one. When watching it the first time in my twenties and “Make ‘em Laugh” came on, my pal said with such deep earnest and pained joy, “Cosmo is doing all this just to make Don laugh,” and I think about that every time I watch that sequence.

THE LOVE. it’s eVERYWHERE.

2. Parks and Recreation

Look, I can totally see how Parks & Rec isn’t for everyone. But to me, it’s a half-hour long televisual hug of people doing their best to love each other and make the world better, with helpings of political commentary and utterly absurd comedy. It definitely doesn’t come without caveats and is already dated in some ways, but in a weird way, I appreciate that Schur & Goor have grown in their politics that missteps taken in P&R aren’t repeated in and are often actually rectified in B99 & The Good Place. I deeply, deeply love the relationship between Ben and Leslie, and how hard Leslie loves: people, Pawnee, politics, public service. The families-of-choice vibes are strong in this one and there are few things I am more of a suck for than families-of-choice. I could ramble endlessly on this one, so I’ll cut myself off there.

Anyhoops, I have very many feelings about P&R and if you’ve been wondering whether to watch it but holding back for whatever reason, please DEFINITELY message me and I will share with you my many thoughts on why you should watch, where there might be squicks, and why you should actually start with season 2, episode 21 (yes, even the completionists amongst you).

Bonus gif:

3. Jurassic Park

... I love dinosaurs, and I love Dr Ellie Satler. She is amazing and if there was a gif of her with the triceratops I would have chosen that one. Between her general personality/competency, her unabashed feminism and her face, she remains the best 🥰Also I appreciate that Lex also got to save the day, in a way v specific to her skillset and that the film didn’t dismiss her despite being v scared and way outside her comfort zone in the outdoorsy survival parts of the film.

I also have fond memories of going to see it for my sixth birthday and going to the bathroom when the T-rex eats Gennaro, so not totally understanding why all my pals were terrified when I got back. Ofc I then had fears that a t-rex would stomp and crush our home, but *handwaves* I grew out of that fear. And grew a new one.

4. Avatar: the Last Airbender

Ho-hum. Where to start with Avatar. Lmao, in the context of Game of Thrones (to which it has been ofc compared lately) just having a long-form television show which delivers on the vast majority of its themes and premises is a relief and satisfying. But, I liked Avatar long before I was back in the GOT-verse so. It’s a compelling narrative, carefully constructed and mindful of the stories and values it’s putting out into the world. And those stories, values and themes aren’t light. It tackles war, genocide, familial abuse, revenge, and redemption alongside things like building family, accepting differences, forgiveness, and honesty. That said, it balances those things with children-being-children, and moments of grace and humour. Each character is well-drawn, their personalities and choices respected, and the idea that character-drives-plot is masterfully demonstrated. Hey look - we’ve got some families-of-choice vibes here too!

I think I’ve previously rambled in the tags of a post about Katara specifically. But as someone who has, ah, an appreciation for anger and an awareness that women + anger = bad, societally speaking, Katara was a breath of fresh air. She is as compassionate as she is angry, and while there are philosophical differences between characters when it comes to her acting on her anger, the anger itself is never questioned or denigrated, by other characters or by the narrative itself. Her anger is never used as a tool to invalidate her other characteristics, or the reverse (her compassion, her nurturing side, etc, are never used to invalidate her anger), and she means a lot to me.

Also idk what this is but it came up when I searched Avatar and if I have to see it and be slightly confused and embarrassed then so do you:

5. Pacific Rim

lmao I rambled so much about the past few I’m tempted to just say: I JUST LOVE IT OK. Which is true, but. A bit more. Pacific Rim is like two hours of hope. I think I have in my queue a post that describes the relationship between Mako and Raleigh as two hurt & hardened warriors who nonetheless find softness with each other, and that is 100% true. But that ignores how in many ways, the same is true for Stacker and Mako, and even Stacker and Raleigh to degrees. Stacker’s adoption of Mako is very important. A black man with an East London accent being the most vital person in the movement to save the world is important. The multi-national, scrappy and semi-guerilla response to a weird af global threat, and the related deep humanity in facing the end of the world and hoping against hope that there’s a chance, also deeply resonant.

It’s also stunning: Guillermo del Toro and his colour schemes, y’all. The fight scenes are so GOOD and INTERESTING and just so blatantly done by someone who knew exactly what they were doing and loved every minute of it. The idea of the drift and of drift compatibility is lovely: that philosophical belief in the interconnectedness of people. The (somewhat blink-and-you-miss-it) background class commentary (del Toro, icu) 👏.

And, ofc, as with many on this list: the centering of Mako, the dedication to playing out the full emotional arc, of her having complex emotions which are respected and acknowledged by other characters and the narrative... yes please thank you.

6. Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries

Women being competent and supported is deeply comforting. I’ve particularly found myself rewatching MFMM as the world is on fire. Just - watching Phryne build her family (families of choice!) and her community, get her men, and win the day through cleverness and determination is heartening.

7. The Holiday

I love Kate Winslet’s arc in this. But honestly I think much of my love for this centres on the fact that I saw it when v much longing to move to the UK and it is the most charming/romantic portrayal of Britain and that appealed to 20 y-o K who was so desperate to go. That said, the arc between Iris & Arthur (eg the gif below) makes me cry every time, so there’s that.

As mentioned, I’m v late to this game so I don’t know who’s been tagged! If you haven’t done it yet, please consider yourself tagged & let me know when you’ve done it! (Yes, I definitely do mean you!)

#movie meme #play with me tag #i ran out of steam a bit at the end there oops #gunna add the #long post #tag to this coz i rambled a lot #asjkjklagsa

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artemis-entreri · 5 years

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[[ This post contains Part 6 of my review/analysis of the Forgotten Realms/Drizzt novel, Boundless, by R. A. Salvatore. As such, the entirety of this post’s content is OOC. ]]

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Generations: Book 2 | Legend of Drizzt #35 (#32 if not counting The Sellswords)

Publisher: Harper Collins (September 10, 2019)

My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Additional Information: Artwork for the cover of Boundless and used above is originally done by Aleks Melnik. This post CONTAINS SPOILERS. Furthermore, this discussion concerns topics that I am very passionate about, and as such, at times I do use strong language. Read and expand the cut at your own discretion.

Contents:

Introduction

I. Positives I.1 Pure Positives I.2 Muddled Positives

II. Mediocre Writing Style II.1 Bad Descriptions II.2 Salvatorisms II.3 Laborious “Action”

III. Poor Characterization III.1 “Maestro” III.2 Lieutenant III.3 Barbarian III.4 “Hero” III.5 Mother

IV. World Breaks IV.1 Blinders Against the Greater World IV.2 Befuddlement of Earth and Toril IV.3 Self-Inconsistency IV.4 Dungeon Amateur IV.5 Utter Nonsense

V. Ego Stroking V.1 The Ineffable Companions of the Hall V.2 Me, Myself, and I

VI. Problematic Themes (you are here) VI.1 No Homo VI.2 Disrespect of Women VI.3 Social-normalization VI.4 Eugenics

VII. What’s Next VII.1 Drizzt Ascends to Godhood VII.2 Profane Redemption VII.3 Passing the Torch VII.4 Don’t Notice Me Senpai

Problematic Themes

No Homo

Boundless continues to perpetuate some long-standing regressive to outright harmful ideas, as well as introducing new ones. There are two that are the biggest. The first is something that's existed for over two decades in the Drizzt books, and something that I've criticized Salvatore for for a long time: the fetishization of sapphic relationships. While Boundless is an improvement (and a bit of an oddity for Salvatore) in that it doesn't include any gratuitous lesbian sex scenes or allusions, it still very much perpetuates an imbalanced representation, such that it wouldn't be fair to describe it as true representation. Yet again, despite it being canon that the default sexuality in the Realms is pansexuality as opposed to heterosexuality in our world, the only people that we see in Boundless that are capable of same sex attractions are female. Ever since the token gay guy Afrafrenfere's epiphany that everything else he'd been engaged in, which includes his deceased boyfriend, was a distraction from enlightenment, there hasn't been so much of an implication that men could be attracted to other men in Salvatore's Realms. There exists more chemistry between Harbonair and Zaknafein than between Zaknafein and Dab'nay, which is rather sad given that the latter pair are actively sexual with each other. There's of course the possibility that Salvatore just doesn't know how to write gay male chemistry, but to be fair, his heterosexual chemistry is pretty bad. Most of it is just sex or another physical act spontaneously happening that triggers a change in the nature of the relationship, for instance, the start of the relationship between Entreri and Calihye. There's so much background "everyone is heterosexual" stuff going on that to be inclusive, Salvatore just needs to mention that there's more than one man in an orgy rather than it always being one man to many women. Or, better yet, use an example directly from the world canon that other authors have used, namely, that the workers of a brothel or attendants in a temple of Sune are of more than one gender and that a male client is greeted by both male, female, and other gender-identifying attendants. Casual inclusion of this nature isn't difficult, and we see Salvatore do it with sapphic stuff enough that leads me to believe that it's a choice on his part not to be fully inclusive.

An example of when Salvatore could've gone for inclusion, but instead went for fetishization, is in the scene of Dahlia infiltrating a Waterdhavian nobles' ball:

This isn't much better than gratuitous lesbian sex scenes at the total exclusion of gay men. It's completely unnecessary for Salvatore to have specified that women also drooled after Dahlia; simply stating "people" would've been sufficient. It's not like Salvatore doesn't have many chances and setups where he can drop a hint that gay men exist in the Realms like he does so frequently for gay women. Oftentimes, Salvatore's writing feels very much like he realizes that there's "too much" chemistry between two male characters, such that he has to throw in a "NO HOMO" wrench. For instance:

While there isn't anything inherently gay in this passage, there isn't anything inherently gay in so many places where Salvatore artificially injected "these women are sapphic" indicators. Yet here, between two male characters, it's specifically clarified that it's brotherly love. Love is love, it shouldn't have to be clarified like this. Sure, some people might jump to romantic love, but so what? This was a good opportunity to at the very least, leave it vague, but apparently Salvatore can't stomach it enough that he has to cross the possibility out with a bold black marker (maybe its the same sharpie he uses on the tapestry of Faerûn). It's as though the possibility of romantic love between two men somehow taints the sacredness of their bond. Salvatore's writing style is very old-fashioned and set in its ways, but that's no excuse not to change. Despite his espoused views on social media, Salvatore's lack of representation in his writing suggests a discomfort that he doesn't want to address. This is increasingly problematic as we try to push to a better world with more acceptance and equality. Inclusion isn't truly inclusion if it's done with only a portion of the population.

Disrespect of Women

What Salvatore does with sapphic women is fetishization, which is additionally problematic because it's a short hop from objectification of women. This point is one that I haven't touched on much in the past, but it's glaring in Boundless because in this novel, Salvatore also tries to demonstrate respect of women. Salvatore has a long history of poorly-written female characters. In his books, a female character's most redeeming characteristics were that she was hot and young. For a while, I could tell which female characters were there to stay, which were doomed to die from the get-go, and which would suffer horribly as they met their inevitable end. It always had to do with how physically attractive the character was, and usually with respect to how she measured up to Catti-brie's beauty. Not counting female villains like Sheila Kree who were not coincidentally unattractive, protagonist characters weren't spared this treatment. For instance, Delly Curtie didn't hold a candle to Catti and could barely find happiness with Catti's rejected suitor. By the same token, Innovindil, who, despite being a full-blooded elf, wasn't as beautiful as Catti, and was subsequently very short-lived. Dahlia, another full-blooded elf who wasn't as beautiful as Catti, admittedly didn't die (yet), but what she went through is arguably worse. Dahlia is portrayed to be very much second best to Catti, from her looks to her rejection by Drizzt to Catti outright beating Dahlia in a fight. So, of course, Dahlia gets stuck with Entreri, who's frequently portrayed as second best to Drizzt. Salvatore does deserve credit for trying to break the mold with Penelope Harpell and Wulfgar, but Penelope's appearance doesn't leave much of an impression. We're reminded multiple times that she's an older woman, and the focus is on her personality, but with how often younger female characters' physical appearance is mentioned and re-mentioned, it gives the impression that Salvatore doesn't believe older women can be physically attractive. As always, Catti-brie was an exception to the rule, for even in her mid-forties, "her form, a bit thicker with age, perhaps, but still so beautiful and inviting to [Drizzt]", a characterization that follows another sentence describing how beautiful she was barely a page prior. But we don't hear such about Penelope, instead, we're told about the strengths of her personality, which are admirable, but only become the focus for her, rather than for a young-appearing strong female character like Yvonnel the Second. This is not to mention that someone's form probably shouldn't be characterized as inviting, as that is something the person should do, not something done by the person's looks. The objectification of women is problematic enough on its own, but instead of addressing the issue, Salvatore appears to consider it sufficient to put in a significant anecdote featuring a temporary character to prove that he is an ally to women. The mysterious "demon" possessing the little girl Sharon is painted as a moral adjudicator, entrapping the evil in its unbreakable cocoons filled with wasps that have human faces. Before this "demon" entraps Entreri, it ensnares an old man, whom we're simply told is an old lecher, with no insight about what makes him such and what wrongdoings he'd committed. All we know is that he and his wife attempted to kidnap Sharon and threatened to kill her if she resisted. It's not very clear what's going on in that scenario or what the couple's intentions were. The man's description shifts suddenly from nothing to "old lecher", and he is damned to an eternity of suffering. But how was he a lecher? Was Salvatore trying to imply that he intended to sexually assault Sharon? Or was human trafficking one of his many sins, with the "lecher" part referring to how he is towards women? While all of these crimes certainly warrant harsh punishment, the message that Salvatore's trying to convey isn't clear. Furthermore, the anecdote gives the reader zero satisfaction in the guy's punishment, because we're only marginally invested in what's happened. His anecdote is nothing more than a cheap and lazy setup to illustrate what the "demon" can do.

Social-normalization

The second of the two worst among Salvatore's long-standing problematic themes is the simplified and social-normative qualifications of what makes a person worthwhile. To put it simply, one is good and just if they are the Companions of the Hall and/or act like them, despite the many many ways that the Companions behave unheroically and hypocritically. On the flip side, one who doesn't subscribe to or follow the model of the Companions is evil, bad, or not worthy of existence unless they change to become like the Companions. Of the latter group, it isn't sufficient to change to become a different version of themselves. For instance, during the demonic assault, Zaknafein throws himself into the fray of battle, risking his life, yet again, for his ungrateful son. Yet, Drizzt's takeaway from watching his father do this is, "joy to see his father so willingly risking his life for the cause of the goodly folk of the Crags". There appears to be a subconscious inconsistency here on Salvatore's part, for he even writes that Zaknafein helps the dwarves because Zaknafein knows it's what his son wants him to do, so removing Drizzt from the picture, Zaknafein wouldn't be doing it solely on behalf of the dwarves. Zaknafein isn't Drizzt, and that's a good thing, for not everything needs to be a Drizzt clone, but Salvatore doesn't seem to agree with that assessment.

Salvatore doesn't seem to realize that Drizzt is the problematic one. Boundless represents a point in time in which it's been awhile since Zaknafein has returned. During this time, while Zaknafein has been trying to adapt and adjust his worldviews, Drizzt's perspective hasn't changed at all, despite Jarlaxle spending a great amount of time talking to him about Zaknafein and presumably helping Drizzt get past the initial emotional turmoil of the return of Zaknafein and his own struggles with reconciling the past and the present. There's also a double-standard here, for while Entreri is forced to change because enough time has gone by, Drizzt isn't.

It really seems to be the message that the only characters that are good and valid need to be as close to Drizzt as possible, and this belief applied to Entreri has been the cause of the assassin's increasingly poor characterization. Entreri has become a "better person" by the narrator's approximation, a quality that is, yet again, not coincidentally synonymous to being an ally to the Companions of the Hall. Artemis Entreri may very well have become a better version of himself, but that is not, and should not be, becoming more like the Companions of the Hall. By whose definition is "a better person" anyway? By Drizzt's? By the Companions'? It's often the case that those that believe that they are the definition of what's right and define others' morality relative to themselves are the least qualified to do so.

Eugenics

Although not as prominent as the two themes already mentioned, one final consistent problematic theme of Salvatore's in the Drizzt books that I'd like to discuss is the idea that mediocrity and excellence are inherited traits. Boundless reminds us yet again that all of the offspring of Rizzen are as unpromising as he is, and while it isn't specifically stated that all the offspring of Zaknafein is very much otherwise, we have over thirty books basically telling us that so it probably doesn't need to be repeated. While it is true that genetics do play a role in determining what makes up a person, genetics do not lock in guaranteed results. Yet, the undistinguished Rizzen sired "the mediocrity of Nalfein", and as though that insult wasn't bad enough, "His pants fell down, too. Again, and as expected, unimpressive." Dinin "would do Rizzen proud", but that's not saying a whole lot because it was in the context of the total failure of Nalfein. There's a further level of problematic theme here, for perpetuating the stereotype that a man's worth is at all related to the size of his genitalia. All of that aside, not everyone is privileged enough to be born to top specimens, and those that weren't inherently already have a struggle on their hands. They don't deserve to have the idea that they'll be mediocre no matter what perpetuated. Genetics might be what makes an individual, but what defines them is the actions that they take.

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arcaneranger · 5 years

Text

Final Thoughts - 2018 Long Shows

It’s finally here! I’m so close to being done with 2018 (...mostly. We’ll get to it) that I can taste it, but in the meantime, this list is gonna be weird, because there will be things that were already on other lists since I revised my rules of what should be classified how. This post is specifically for any show that ended in 2018 and lasted longer than 13-ish episodes (including shows that aired a second season during the same year or within six months of finishing the previous one), which means that there’s about as much on it as a usual season of shows, but they all had more time to impress - or disappoint me. I’m doing a better job in recent seasons of getting to everything, but last year there were unfortunately things that I missed (I was burned out in the winter) and just have to leave aside for now because I can’t wait any longer for these lists.

Anyway! As usual, let’s start with what I skipped!

* The Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of the Commandments, The Disastrous Life of Saiki Kusuo S2, Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card, Garo: Vanishing Line, and Mr Tonegawa: Middle Management Blues because I haven’t seen their previous seasons or parent works. (Yes, even Cardcaptor Sakura. Y’all can shoot me later.)

* Hakyuu Hoshin Engi, Beatless, and Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls because by the time I was rounding things up, I hadn’t heard a single positive thing about any of them.

Next comes what I dropped -

WORST OF THE YEAR: Steins;Gate 0 (4/10)

What a fucking mess this show was. Aside from a very noticeable downgrade in production talent from its predecessor, the plot meanders and flirts with maybe actually happening this time before just dropping out again, over and over, to the point where I was perfectly willing to drop it two episodes from the finish line because it was such an insult to fans of the original. (Also, continued disgusting mistreatment of the transgender character.)

Gundam Build Divers (4/10)

Taking the Build series from being a well-written kids show to an averagely-written kids show that hides itself in decent mech designs.

Katana Maidens (4/10)

I remember so little about this show, and granted that I did drop it after one episode almost nine months ago, but what I did remember was that it gave me strong KanColle vibes with laughably inconsistent animation and flat characters. Meh.

Darling in the FRANXX (5/10)

This should probably be lower on the list, but I got out of Darling while the getting was good, sixteen episodes in. I understand that future episodes of the show cemented it as crappy right-wing nonsense in addition to pushing worldbuilding out of its fortieth-story window, but the moment it lost me was much sooner, when the crazy yandere female lead was reduced, almost instantly, to Good Anime Waifu as a reward to the protagonist for going against his friends with his selfish motives.

Persona 5 the Animation (5/10)

In addition to not actually finishing in 2018, Persona 5 just did not give me a single reason to watch it when I’d already finished the source game, with middling-to-bad visuals (thanks to the switch from Production I.G. to A-1 Pictures, and not even the team that created the much better-looking Day Breakers OVA before the game was released in the U.S.) and phoned-in music, which is especially unacceptable in a Persona adaptation. Also, we all absolutely called that the studio couldn’t tell the story of the entire game in just 26 episodes.

Record of Grancrest War (6/10)

There’s people that like this one a lot, but I didn’t see much that interested me in the first two episodes. I’ve heard better things about the manga.

Golden Kamuy (6/10)

I had problems with the first half of Golden Kamuy that the second half simply didn’t fix, and it became difficult for me to keep watching - the show still interrupted almost every fight scene with a dick joke, but still wanted to maintain a serious and occasionally frightening tone - and those things simply don’t go together. It needed to either spend more time being funny, or keep its lowest-common-denominator humor out of the fights.

Next, I have two shows that are (potentially permanently) On Hold, simply because it’s time for me to move on and I don’t have the time or energy to marathon them when the Winter shows are starting to wrap up:

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits, because even though I initially dropped it, I’ve heard a lot of good things since and I want to eventually give it another shot.

Yowamushi Pedal Glory Line, because despite the fact that I still enjoyed the previous season, this one started right in the middle of my burnout and I only heard bad things about it. I’ll get to it eventually, but it’s a shame that this series has been on a clear trend downwards since its revival.

And finally, the stuff I finished!

The Ancient Magus’ Bride (6/10)

Keep in mind that this is here entirely on the merits of its aesthetic and its side characters - in the end, Ancient Magus’ Bride is a Beauty and the Beast story where the beast gets what he wants without learning to be less of a dick or even apologizing for his clearly wrong actions.

Major 2nd (7/10)

Always pleased to have even just Good sports shows around, and this one is a very effective reboot of a classic series that’s never made its way stateside (man, the underperformance of Big Windup! really did a lot of damage to this genre in the West). With good character development and a decent second-generation premise, Major 2nd has the potential to be the beginning of a solid baseball story, assuming that it gets a needed followup.

IDOLiSH7 (7/10)

I dropped IDOLiSH7 when it first aired, and though I wound up enjoying it after I was very strongly urged to revisit it, the problems it started with never quite left it behind - that is, it has an okay cast of characters but doesn’t present even passable performance sequences, and if you’re going to include big song-and-dance numbers, they have to be good, or you may as well just be UtaPri.

ClassicaLoid Season 2 (8/10)

In 2017, I gave the first season of ClassicaLoid a near-perfect 9/10, and while this season gives us a satisfying conclusion to the story, it does things both a little better than the first, and also not quite as great. It’s story is much more well-integrated over the runtime so it doesn’t happen all at once in a few chunks, and the jokes that work are still absolute genius, but there’s simply too much that doesn’t quite land correctly, and a little too much immature humor, for it to reach the same lofty Hall of Fame heights as the first season. Still, one of the most underrated shows I’ve ever seen.

My Hero Academia Season 3 (8/10)

God, Izuku in that onesie is too damn cute.

My problems with Hero Academia are frustratingly persistent - the show is at its best when the students are competing with other students, because outside of last season’s Stain (a villain whose motivation is specifically related to the world of MHA), the villains are just not at all compelling and they all seem a little too generic for their own good. I just want Horikoshi to be a little bit less predictable of an author and do a little less reading of the Standard Shounen Playbook. Luckily, when it works, it works magnificently.

March Comes in Like a Lion S2 (8/10)

March remains director/auteur Akiyuki Shinbo’s most accessible work, and one of his masterpieces, as a well-paced and marvelously moody story of a depressed shogi prodigy learning to be a normal teenager before his youth completely passes him by, and the fantastic characters that surround him with their own complex problems and motivations. I just really, really hope it gets a third season eventually, because this one did not leave off on a satisfying conclusion.

Speaking of which...

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma S3 (9/10)

It’s almost a shame that My Hero Academia became hugely popular purely based on its accessibility to American audiences, because Food Wars pretty squarely deserves to be the reigning Shonen Jump king - each season has only improved on the previous one, and this one was based entirely on a continuing arc that could only have happened in the universe of this show, Fighting Food Fascism. That being said, it also leaves off right in the middle of the arc (because it had almost caught up to the manga), meaning that we have to hope that it can remain relevant long enough for there to be enough source material for another season. I’ll be crossing my fingers until they snap.

Banana Fish (9/10)

Yes, this has risen a point since my review, but Banana Fish still deserves to be thought of as both a complete masterwork of crime fiction, being fantastically paced and expertly plotted in the use of its many, many twists, and a work that disappointed the side of me that hoped that, in adapting it into the modern day, MAPPA could have managed to get the author to let them depict what is clearly a queer relationship with the authenticity and legitimacy that it deserved. It’s still amazing, though, and Amazon should be pushing it with their most lavishly-made originals. At least it was the last noitaminA show they’ll get to totally bury.

And, finally, the one you all saw coming.

BEST OF THE YEAR: Lupin the 3rd Part V (10/10)

Lupin is, quite simply, one of the pinnacles of the medium. A simple idea that can (and did) go in thousands of different directions, handled by highly creative writers and an animation staff that has been knocking it out of the park for years, despite the fact that it is criminally (heh) unrecognized in the West. To put it simply, there’s a very, very good reason that it’s been around since the 70′s.

Okay! All I have left to do is finish Dragon Pilot (waiting on a friend) and we can get the last two lists out of the way! We’re almost done...

#multi 2018 #arcaneanime #year end anime list #final thoughts #lupin the third #my hero academia #banana fish #food wars #the ancient magus bride #March Comes in Like a Lion #idolish7 #major 2nd

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ciaossu-imagines · 5 years

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Ciaossu!! Which flames do you think the Mysme crew has? I feel like Jumin with his whole "control of his own mind" thing is a solid candidate to have mist flames, though he could also be a very capable sky user... but what about the rest? And what use would they give it? Thanks!!

Oh, this is very, very interesting my lovely anon! Completely unexpected and absolutely wonderful request! I had a lot of fun thinking about this and I hope you’ll enjoy what I’ve ended up with in the end, though they probably differ from your own thoughts (which I’d love to hear)!

Yoosung

Yoosung is a Rain Flame user. His flames are very pure and very calming - just being around him when he uses them tends to mellow out most people and put them off of attacking. It’s funny because Yoosung himself is the opposite of mellow all the time - when he was first learning to use his Flames, he was very excitable and celebrated every victory happily. He panics easily but always tries his hardest - his resolve is never weak. But somehow, despite how contradictory it seems, his Rain Flame suits him and his combat style well and he’s a natural with them.

Though he does have box weapons, Yoosung actually likes to experiment with his flames and see what other uses he can find for them outside of the boxes. Rain infused weapons, freezing the flames, using them as a sneak attack - he’s not smart enough to come up with the ideas for these; it’s normally Seven who suggests them - but he finds the ideas interesting and works really hard to see if he can accomplish these feats.

Following the news of Rika’s death, Yoosung finds it really hard to maintain his Flame and can’t use it for any length of time, likely due to lacking any resolve. In addition to that, the Flame itself is warped and impure and instead of mellow contentment, it reeks of despair and depression.

Zen

Zen has a very strong, very pure Sun Flame. He absolutely cannot use any of the other flames, something that especially bothers him since Jumin can, though he won’t admit to that openly. Jumin likes to tease him about it as often as he can.

Zen’s Sun Flames are actually best used at healing. His monstrous recovery rate is really thanks to his strong Flames and he can heal from some incredibly rough injuries in a very short amount of time if he utilizes his Flame properly. His Flames also help him keep his body in the best form at all times and that, on top of his intense exercise routine, helps with how he actually fights.

Like most Suns, Zen is very active and likes to fight with his body instead of relying heavily on boxes. He has no problems with using his fists to fight or giving his body as a shield for one of the others if he has to. Just please don’t hit his face. Yes, he can heal it but that’s not the point. It’s almost sacrilegious, after all, to destroy such a work of art or so he says.

Jaehee

Jaehee is actually really odd in that she possesses two flames in equal amounts - that is, neither of her flames are pure and are both quite weak but they are both quite clearly there for her to use. It’s even more odd that her Flames are actually quite contradictory, since she possesses both Rain and Storm Flames.

Though her Flames are rather weak, Jaehee is very intelligent and determined. She experiments and works hard to find every way she can possibly make use of her Flames and brings out as much potential from them as she can. When working under Jumin’s orders, she tends to use her Rain Flames more though but uses her Storm Flames the most when it comes to things she really feels strongly about. She has yet to find a way to both at once.

Because neither of her Flames are very strong, Jaehee has problems opening Box weapons with animal partners and thus does not have one. She does tend to make use of storage boxes quite liberally though and has the most boxes of everyone, all very neatly categorized and decorated to enable her to pick the right one she needs at a seconds notice.

Jumin

Jumin has a Sky Flame and is the current head of the Han Family. However, the Han family has always had ties with V’s family and the two boys grew up together and are exceptionally close friends. Jumin is one of the very, very few Sky Flame users to have willingly submitted to another Sky Flame user. Not that he considers it submitting or being less than V. Not for a second. Jumin simply considers what he does and how he serves in the RFA under V as being a good friend to V. All Jumin’s resources and all of his power is at V’s disposal, something Jumin has always made clear to the other man and it frustrates poor Jumin when V won’t make use of them or refuses to allow Jumin to help him.

While Jumin’s Sky Flame can technically open any box, regardless of Flame type, he sees the best results with Lightning type boxes - if his Sky Flame wasn’t as strong as it is, his secondary flame usage of Lightning Flames would be much more pronounced than it is.

Elizabeth the Third is his box weapon, gifted to him from V. He has his box weapon out as much as he can since he adores Elizabeth and it may be because of this quirk of his that he has such impressive stamina when using his Flames.

Seven

Seven, much like Jaehee, is one of the the very known people to possess equal Flames of two different types. However, unlike Jaehee, both of Seven’s Flames are incredibly strong and he’s known as some kind of genius. He’s naturally gifted and intelligent enough to find new and creative ways to use his Flames. It’s a shame he next to never actually uses them for his own wants and needs. Mostly, he’s just selling his skills to the organization that owns him - the RFA is the only case where he fights for what he wants and it’s when his Flames reach their highest potential.

Seven is a talented illusionist and possesses two of the Hell Rings - the Segno and 666 Hell Rings. His skill as an illusionist is why his organization hasn’t done away with him yet and why they fight so hard to keep a hold of him.

Seven has an interest in the Flames themselves and will experiment and test them throughout his life. He’s a rather talented inventor as well and his inventions, especially once his brother starts helping him with them after they reconcile, will lead to revolutions in how the Flames are utilized.

Much like his childhood friend, V possesses a Sky Flame. At one point in time, V’s flame was incredibly pure and strong and he led the RFA as the Boss of a Family would, accepting everyone in the group and keeping harmony among them, as befitting of his flame. Benevolent and kind, everyone trusted and admired him to some extent. However, in the months prior to the whole Rika ordeal, Jumin noticed that V’s flame was sometimes cloudy and appeared to be slowly weakening. He kept it to himself and didn’t bother his friend about it. If Jihyun wanted to talk, he would and that was all, in Jumin’s mind.

After the news of Rika’s suicide was told to everyone, V became unable to ignite his Flames. At least, that’s what he told everyone. In truth, he can ignite them but they aren’t anywhere near pure anymore. He’s lost all his resolve, all his nerve, and his flames show just how messed up he’s become, in his opinion. They’re disgusting to him and he can’t bear the sight of them and so he simply refuses to use his Flames anymore. He was never really one to fight much anyways but the loss of his Flame is solely felt in the RFA. Though Jumin tries to fill in, their Flames are vastly different and it’s never the same.

Rika

Rika is an odd one in that she doesn’t fight with her primary flame. She’s got this weird complex about her flame, actually. She’s naturally a rain flame but she hates it. She despises the sight of her own natural flame and refuses to bring it out. Lucky for her, she did possess the ability to use a secondary Mist flame and it’s what she insists on using and trains to do better with.

Though her Mist flame was very muddy and weak to begin with, it seems that the worse things got for Rika, the clearer her Mist flame became. The more darkness she accumulates, the more twisted things she does, the clearer and more powerful her Flame becomes. She always says that she finds this Flame ‘much more beautiful’ than her original Rain flame and chooses to embrace it more fully.

Rika uses the Ossa Impressione Hell Ring and is a talented illusionist, as befitting her chosen Flame type. Jihyun noticed a marked change in her starting from the time she started wearing the ring and tried on several occasions to get her to stop using it but she refused. We can all guess how this story turned out.

Saeran

Since it’s been stated canonically that flame types do tend to run in families, I also see Saeran as being a Mist Flame. However, I also see him as having a really strong secondary flame, to the point where his dominant flame tends to change depending on which ‘side’ of himself is most present at the time. Ray has a stronger Mist flame while Unknown has a stronger Lightning Flame.

However, neither of his flames are anywhere near pure. When he was a child, his flames were murky and very weak and though he’s strengthened them as he’s aged (though definitely not in the right way), they are very unstable and he has problems properly drawing out the full characteristics of either flame and using them properly. It won’t be until he clears up his ‘issues’ that Saeran’s flames become more pure and he’ll be able to better control them.

Because of his difficulties with his flames, Saeran doesn’t use them to fight if he can help it. He’s found lots of ways to still fight and win against opponents using flames without ever using his own. Even when his flames begin to purify though, he finds them hard to get used to using and will avoid a box weapon for as long as he can (the latter definitely has to do with some trust issues he’s still working on).

Vanderwood

Vanderwood is constantly surrounded by idiots and constantly wondering how he got himself into whatever situation they’re all involved in. However, he’ll help out as he can, if he’s in the right place and he’s asked the right way. This moody Cloud won’t join anything, not even if asked properly but he will still protect and care for those few he lets into his life, if in his own odd little ways.

Vanderwood’s cloud flame is really pure but he hardly ever uses it. He refuses to use his flames for his work and will only use them to fight for things he actually chooses to care about. That being said, he’s quite smart and talented and is proficient with a handful of the other flames, though his flames for those are much less pure and are weak enough to just be able to use a box weapon properly but not to its full advantage. Still, somehow he seems to be able to do his job properly working that way.

Vanderwood does have a box weapon all his own though, but he hides it away carefully and it doesn’t get used often. Seven’s only seen it once, the one time Vanderwood saved his life, even against orders. His box animal takes the form of twin Dobermans, with collars made of cloud flames. They pull out and absorb the flames of anyone unlucky enough to touch them.

#replies #mystic messenger #katekyo hitman reborn #mysmes #mysmes headcanons #headcanons #vanderwood #saeran choi #seven #luciel choi #mysme rika #jihyun kim #v #zen #hyun ryu #yoosung kim #jaehee kang #jumin han

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suga-ssi · 5 years

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I’ve only recently discovered bts and haven’t been able to stop listening to them. They’ve been around a lot longer than I realised and was wondering If you’d be able to explain some things about them, how they became bts. Traits that you’ve noticed they all have?

Oh wow! hahaha Hi! Welcome to the BTS Fandom! Fans are called ARMY. Yes, BTS literally has an ARMY of followers. (notice me not explaining what ARMY means lmao). While starting to write this, I realized I could write a whole book about it, which honestly, some people have. LMAO So I’ll try and make this informative starting with the foundations of BTS, the members, and the official links LMAO I also tagged some bias tumblr pages and group update pages.

Foundations:

Also, yes! BTS has been an active idol group since 2013. They had their first live stage on June 13, 2013. They are managed by a company called BigHit and was founded by a famous Korean composer named, Bang Shihyuk, more known in the K Music industry as Hitman Bang. The company itself was small and didn’t have big artists on it’s roll and roster yet, but the members and Bang PD took a chance on each other.

They had very humble beginnings. BigHit didnt have their own building, instead they rented some floors in one building. One floor was an office space, one was a practice studio, small room for recording, small rooms for production. The members themselves had to fit in one small bedroom with 3 double deck beds and a small solo bed for Jungkook.

They first introduced themselves through a series of Vlogs before they even debuted as BTS, which actually means 방탄소년단 Bangtan Sonyeondan (Bulletproof Boyscouts). Initially, they were supposed to debut as a rap group but the company decided on making them an idol group.

Their music has always been targeted towards the millenial age group and their lyrics aspire to inspire the youth. They did produce a number of love songs that were pretty usual for kpop idols but as they found their voice and produced their own music, more of their colors as individuals shone through. They sang and wrote about their struggles, hopes, dreams, which a lot of us can relate to.

Members:

(leader, then in order of age, except suga last… cause… my favorite lmao)

All the members are quite filial, always talking about their family. They are also very humble are always in awe of how much they have achieved together. Their loyalty and care for each other is very apparent in the way they interact. They all have a good, weighted understanding of music and desire for growth in their skills.

Kim Namjoon (김남준 aka RM, formerly Rap Monster)

position: leader, rapper

bday: September 12, 1994

height: 181 cm (5’11.3”)

family: parents, younger sister

hometown: Ilsan

BT21 character: Koya

Born in Ilsan, he is a smart cookie and an avid reader. It is a fact that his IQ grade is 148 and that along with his rapping prowess, made him a standout even as a rookie idol. He is also known as the English speaker of the group. According to him, he learned by watching the series FRIENDS and listening to western music. Before being part of BigHit, he was already gaining ground as an underground rapper under the name “Runch Randa” in 2007. He was only in middle school.

RM decided to join a rap crew called “Daenamhyup,” which consisted of some of the top underground rappers. RM then auditioned for another rap group which is where he met Untouchable’s Sleepy who was so impressed with him and he passed him onto Bang Shi Hyuk.

Bang PD basically created the whole idea of BTS around RM. He said that the moment he met RM he knew that he was special and it would be a waste of skill to not hone his talent.

RM now has the most production credits for the lyrics he writes and songs he produced for BTS. His lyrics are very poetic and are usually profound, finding root in various forms of literary works. He has a very commanding stage aura when he raps.

He has released 2 mixtapes so far. His first mixtape RM was released on March 17, 2015 and his second, Mono was released last year, October 23, 2018. His studio is now Rkive (formerly Mon studio).

Personality wise, Namjoon is more timid than his stage persona. He enjoys quiet morning walks in nature. His song Reflection even has a layer of one of his recordings of his surrounding while at a park. He is very clumsy, hence his nickname in the group as “god of destruction”. He also has a very interesting take on fashion which you can see from his #kimdaily posts on twitter.

If you’d like to know more about RM I suggest you follow @kimdaily

Kim Seokjin (김석진 aka Jin)

position: eldest, vocalist

bday: December 4, 1992

height: 179 cm (5’10.5”)

family: parents, older brother

hometown: Gwacheon

BT21 character: RJ

Though Seokjin is the eldest member of BTS, he often doesn’t act like it. He was street casted by BigHit. Idol companies usually do this in Korea when they find someone with standout visuals in a crowd. He was actually scouted by SM too (company managing EXO) but he thought it was a scam and he never showed up. He took his chances with BigHit.

He had no singing nor dancing exprience when he started training with BigHit. He wanted to be an actor. All of his skills come from sheer determination and hardwork. In my opinion, he has the most emotional voice among the members. His range has developed immensely.

Despite having a cheerful and light hearted persona, he is actually really deep and smart. He graduated from Konkuk University last February 22, 2017 with a degree in Film and Visual Arts and majored in Film and Acting. He was part of the early admissions list and is now taking his Masters degree for Film in Hanyang Online University.

Personality wise, he is loud and playful. He is also easily surprised. He gained the nickname “Worldwide Handsome” after his visuals and confidence made people pay attention during one of the red carpets in the US. His father is apparently a CEO and his mother is a beauty queen.

He said he gained his confidence after bleaching his hair blonde and gaining much reaction during their live performance of “FIRE” where he gave air kisses. To top his amazing visuals and vocals, he also plays the piano and the guitar. Oh! And he has a sugarglider as a pet. No joke.

If you’d like to know more about Jin I suggest you follow @jinfesta

Jung Hoseok (정호석 aka J-Hope)

position: rapper, lead dancer

bday: February 18, 1994

height: 177 cm (5’9.7”)

family: parents, older sister

hometown: Gwangju

BT21 character: Mang

Jhope, also called fondly by the members as Hobi and Hoseoki, is the lead dancer of BTS. He had no rapping experience prior to training with Bighit and was initially trained to be a vocalist.

He was fairly known in the dance scene of his hometown and was even a part of a dance crew called “Neuron”. His love for dancing led him to audition as a trainee at a company called JYP (company that manages GOT7). He passed a few auditions there but was eventually cut as a trainee.

He didn’t give up though and went on to audition for BigHit. He started training as a vocalist for the supposed rap group which included RM and Suga, but due to the influence of the rap trainees around him, his affinity for rap and lyric writing grew.

He is now in charge of dance for BTS and though he doesn’t get much center formation attention or spotlight, everyone knows that he is the one helping the most with choreographies and training each member. He is very detail oriented and is very observant of each member. Namjoon even said that if he wasn’t the leader, he would want Jhope to be the leader.

He has a number of production credits too and released his own mix tape, Hope World on March 1, 2018. His studio is also called Hope World.

He has a very smiley persona and his energy is always alive. He is also the most easily scared, he is scared of almost everything! The members said that his happy persona came with the name, not that he was named Jhope for how he has always been. Jhope said that the name used to be burdensome but now he loves it and wears it with pride as the Hope of ARMY and BTS.

If you’d like to know more about Hobi I suggest you follow @hobies

Park Jimin (박지민 aka Jimin)

position: vocalist, main dancer

bday: October 13, 1995

height: 173cm (5’8.1″)

family: parents, younger brother

hometown: Busan

BT21 character: Chimmy

Park Jimin is arguably one of the most charismatic idols out there right now. His duality of being sexy on stage and fluffy cute off stage make fans everywhere melt. This characteristic is shared mostly by the Maknae line (younger members line) of BTS.

He has had the shortest trainee period among the BTS members. before he joined Bighit, he attended the Busan High School of Arts, where he was a top student in the Department of Dance. His specialty is contemporary. One of his teachers urged him to audition for BigHit. His natural skills got him in. He trained as a vocalist under BigHit and now his vocal skills has improved largely as shown by his solo works.

He used to have chubby cheeks which earned him the nickname of Manggaettok (rice cake) and the members also call him ChimChim because of a show they had called American Hustle Life.

He is the most active on social media. He even posts for other members when the fans say they haven’t seen the members for too long. Most affectionate member also goes to him. He is often seen hugging or clinging on to the members. If a member cries, best believe Jimin will hug and comfort them after.

But Jimin isn’t all sweets, smiles, and sexiness. He is also very strong willed. He judges himself very harshly and strives for perfection. Lately, he has appeared to be more relaxed and said that he has been allowing himself to take breaks and also enjoy, which the fans who worry about him is very happy to know.

If you’d like to know more about Jimin I suggest you follow @jimiyoong and @jiminrolls

Kim Taehyung (김태형 aka V)

position: vocalist

bday: December 30, 1995

height: 178 cm (5’10.1″)

family: parents, younger brother, younger sister

hometown: Born in Daegu, grew up in Geochang, went back to Daegu to study

BT21 character: Tata

The most handsome male specimen in the world for the year 2017. Kim Taehyung’s charms are endless. From his square shaped sheepish smile to his deadly on-stage smirks, it’s hard not to be drawn in by him.

He wasn’t planning on auditioning. He accompanied his friend who wanted to audition. The auditions were held in their school because he went to an arts HS. The staff saw him there and convinced him to audition too. He trained his voice under BigHit too and now has the widest vocal range among them, not to mention his deep, soulful baritone balances out the vocals of the rest of the singing members.

He has a very keen eye for arts and aethetitics and he uses this for his hobby, photography. His favorite photographer, Vante even acknowledged his work. Tae-Tae, as Jimin fondly calls him, is the only one so far who has debuted as an actor among the members. He played the role of a young warrior in the series called Hwarang. His dancing has also improved. He didn’t have much dancing skills when he started, but his groove has now definitely changed and he has his own way of interpreting dance moves too.

In terms of lyrics writing and producing, like the other vocalists, his skills developed too. He co-wrote 4 o’ clock with RM and has continued to take part in writing for their songs.

Taehyung is very curious and unique. His laugh is deep and adorable. As part of the maknae line, he is also quite playful but his maturity has grown through the years. He has a pomeranian named Yeontan (coal brick), who is now one of the pets of the fandom.

If you’d like to know more about TaeTae I suggest you follow @twoy and @bwiae.

Jeon Jungkook (전정국 aka Jungkook)

position: vocalist

bday: September 1, 1997

height: 178 cm (5’10.1”)

family: parents, older brother

hometown: Busan

BT21 character: Cooky

The baby of the group, Kookie. He is a well trained dancer with the smooth pop voice that carries most of the melodies of Bangtan’s songs.

Before joining BigHit, Jungkook auditioned for a talent show in Korea called SuperstarK. He didn’t make the cut for the show, but after the audtion, he received a number of calling cards from scouts of different big K-Idol companies, including the very small BigHit. Jungkook said that he chose BigHit because he was very impressed by RM. After he joined BigHit, he had the opportunity of being trained in LA for dance.

He has a tendency of starting different projects for himself, playing the drums, the guitar, etc. But, he found his niche in film production and even has his own brand of behind the scene footages of BTS under his production brand, Golden Closet Films.

He has been called the golden maknae because of his natural skills and visuals fit for being an idol, not to mention that body and his determination to keep working out for it. No wonder companies were eager to train him.

Jungkook has been growing in his music production too and has helped compose, produce and write some of their songs, like their song, Magic Shop. He is a powerhouse on stage and baby our of it. He looks up to his hyungs a lot and said that they basically brought him up since he started training at such a young age.

If you’d like to know more about Kookie I suggest you follow @aurjeon, @nochuie and @jjks

Min Yoongi (민윤기 aka SUGA)

position: rapper

bday:March 9, 1993

height: 174 cm (5’8.5″)

family: parents, older brother

hometown: Daegu

BT21 character: Shooky

Suga’s love for music was developed at an early age. When he was 13 he started working at a studio to learn more about music production. As the years progressed he joined an underground rap group in Daegu called “D-Town.” And even before auditioning for BigHit, he has created beats for various underground big names in hiphop.

He auditioned through a hiphop competition called “Hit It” and he placed 2nd over all. He initially joined the company as a producer but Bang PD was able to convince him to be part of BTS. He still jokes that Bang PD tricked him into joining cause he thought it was going to be a rap group.

Though his outward demeanor seems cold and lazy, the members actually talk about how he spends most of his time working at his studio and going home when the sun comes up. He may also seem timid but he has been vocal about various social issues like LGBT, poverty and education. He has also made it a personal traidtion to donate to charities or gift fans on his birthday.

He released his mixtape Agust D on August 15, 2016. There he opened up about his struggle with mental health and his view of himself. He also narrated his journey to becoming part of BTS. His studio is called “Genius Lab.”

To date, Yoongi has helped in producing and writing a number of BTS songs too. He also produced a song titles Wine with K singer Suran which topped various Korean charts. It was in the end lauded and he received his first solo award for production. Hence his nickname, Min PD.

P.S.: I love him. LMAO

Official Links:

To learn more and get updates about BTS, I suggest you follow these blogs : @bangtan, @allforbts, @bts-trans, @bts-fc

BTS Youtube - for Bangtan Bombs (additional behind the scene stuff)

BigHit Youtube - MVs and other official vids (trailers and teasers)

BTS Vlive - for BTS Variety shows

BTS Twitter - members posts

BTS BigHit Twitter - official updates

Website

Instagram

Official Blog

Spotify

Sound Cloud - for music they don’t release in albums

If you want to know more… cause, ISTG… there is sooo much more! Feel free to dm me.. hahaha I love helping out new ARMYS.

#ask #answer #bts 101 #anon #new army

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blessuswithblogs · 5 years

Text

2018 Game of the Year Top Ten List I guess

2018 has been an interminable mire of exhausting miasma and quite frankly I feel like it has been longer than the entire stretch of 2010-2015 combined. I also didn't play many games released this year because, like last year, I'm still poor. I'll see what I can dig up.

10. Sunset Overdrive PC edition: It's a fun open world game by insomniac. The PC Port is actually balls but like. It's a good game with a unique emphasis on how you traverse the game world, where you can grind and bounce on just about anything and indeed to do so is the only way to not get totally chewed up by the hordes of mutants and scavengers and robots you have to fight. There's also some pretty fun and out there weapons to use, like a gun that shoots vinyl records or one that deploys little auto-turrets kept aloft with propellers or one that shoots out a bowling ball at terminal velocity. The base game didn't actually come out this year (I dont... think it did...?) but it was an XBone exclusive so I didn't play it then. It's got some weird problems with narrative tone and some kind of out of the blue racism but the M rated Nickolodeon toy commercial aesthetic is charming in a weird way. I guess.

9. The Forest: I think this got an official release this year? I don't know I can't fucking keep track. Speaking of a game with weird problems with racism, if you can look past the garbage "main quest" and really deeply uncomfortable racial politics where you murder and steal from cannibal mutants, The Forest is probably the best cool treefort building simulator I've ever played. This game has a love affair with lumber and I respect that. Shouldn't you be looking for Timmy, you ask me? Shouldn't you be shutting the fuck up before I put this airplane axe in your skullmeats? Gazebos are nice. I guess.

8. Spyro: reignited trilogy: haven't actually played this yet but let's be real the spyro games were fucking dope back in the day and giving them an HD coat of paint and packaging them all together is a real standup thing for insomniac to do in between slinging webs and making questionable pc ports. Also its like Dark Souls so it has to be good, right? Everything old is new again. I guess.

7. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: haven't played this one either but like. I know that I am a smash-enjoyer. I even liked Brawl. This is the biggest, smashiest one yet and it's also on the switch which means it could also be portable if I decided I never wanted to leave my bed again. I'm probably going to find some money to get it soon. Should be fun. I guess.

6. The Quiet Man: look no game that is THIS hysterical can be all bad alright? Didn't play it. Won't play it. It's awful. But it's so fucking funny like oh my god. Still better than Fallout 76. I guess.

5. Dark Souls Remastered: was this even a good remaster? I don't fucking know. It's Dark Souls. It's better than 90% of released games by default. I miss Solaire of Astora. I guess there's Shadows Die Twice to look forward to. I guess.

4. Subnautica: I wrote a lot about this actually. Subnautica is great. Just fantastic. A wonderful, visually stunning (mostly) (when it works) journey under an alien ocean to unravel an ancient mystery behind a deadly plague. Building seabases is so much fun (when it doesn't hard crash your computer) and the peaceful playstyle you adopt where you really only kill things for food until you can grow your own, much more efficient produce is a welcome change of pace from everything else. Leviathans are scary, especially now that your cyclops is mortal and not indestructible. This game actually Came Out this year so it deserves to be on the spot. I guess.

3. Dragon Ball Fighterz: Honestly I'm hell trash garbage at fighting games that aren't smash but this was a very well put together, visually impressive as all hell fast paced tag fighter where you can have 3 gokus on the same team fight 3 other gokus on the same team. Goku density alone makes this game worth recommending. The eSports scene that has popped up around it is fun too. I guess.

2. Dead Cells: Another game that gets to be on the list by virtue of it actually coming out this year. Wait, was this on last year's list? Let me check. Ok good it wasn't. Early access is a fucking trip. It's fun, stylish, challenging, has a great deal of variety in ways to play, might have erased my entire save because it became obsolete and I'm definitely not bitter, and it has that classic rogue-lite replay value to give you some bang for your buck. There was that one review plagiarism scandal. I guess.

1. Monster Hunter World: If you really want to know what I think of this game my previous piece on it is a good place to start. In addition to everything said there, MHW is just a fun game. The loop is satisfying and, later on, quite challenging. The combat system takes some genuine getting used to and some monsters like Nergigante actually literally cheat but for the most part the game's unique fighting style, spread across several unique weapon types, is rewarding to learn because it demands some effort be put into it and the dividends of fighting well are very cool, like just knocking a flying monster on its ass with a single mighty swing of the hammer. When a game is hard in any capacity games journalists get dollar signs in their eyes and start drooling uncontrollably because they can immediately declare that Farm Sim 2020 is the next Bloodborne because they somehow managed to roll their tractor into a ditch, but MHW is actually quite similar in style and execution to deliberate Souls combat, but the comparison is made in reverse. Dark Souls is quite similar to Monster Hunter, the first game of which was popular and a couple of years old before Demon's Souls was even a twinkle in Miyazaki's eye. There's a lot of parallels between fighting a big ol' rathalos in monhun and going for the toes against a dragon in Dark Souls, but I think MHW actually does that kind of fight better. There are a lot of modern conveniences present in MHW that are a godsend to newer players, making the game pretty easy to get into if you're willing to try. It was my favorite game of the year that actually came out in 2018. I kind of wanted to put Warframe in this list but it's been out of early access for years now. I guess.

There were a lot of games this year that I wanted to play, but couldn't. I don't think 2018 was a weak year for video games. It wasn't as strong as 2017 but it had some hits, I just couldn't afford to play them all. Maybe next year I'll be able to give a better list. I think that the whole industry is in for some hard choices and major restructuring of how things get done and how they look at the end result. Stocks continue to trend downward - not just for Bethesda but for most mainstream, prominent AAA developers like EA and Take2. Given the well documented volatility of "The Shareholders", I imagine that they would be most displeased by downward trends even if they were still making a modest profit.

The situation has been likened to an economic bubble ripe for bursting. Games as a cultural institution have come a long way since the catastrophic days of Atari's warehouses of unsold copies of E.T., and I don't believe that we're in any danger of a complete collapse of the institution, but the fact absolutely remains That Something's Gotta Give. The increasingly predatory practices that game developers put in place as they pathologically attempt to Make Every Money Ever are intrinsically unsustainable. People are willing to forgive and overlook the now ubiquitous microtransaction if a game is good enough to overlook it, or if it's the game's only real way of actually making money. Warframe's microtransactions, for instance, are reasonably priced, platinum is often heavily discounted as a login bonus, and you can make large amounts of it without ever spending money thanks to the game's surprisingly robust trading economy. So. Yeah. They get a pass. Warframe is also good on its own merits, despite being free to play. They also listen to their community about pricing. Go check out Warframe. It's free. It's free!!! Warframe is my unofficial top spot.

Sorry I got a little bit distracted. So there's only really two instances where people will tolerate microtransactions and lootboxes in the contemporary sense: either a game is good enough and polished enough and the lootboxes are unobtrusive enough that you can just sort of shrug your shoulders and say "it sucks but what are you gonna do" or it genuinely relies on those microtransactions to support itself. When these tenets are violated, people WILL get mad. People raised absolute hell about Battlefront 2's scummy monetization schemes, enough to get EA to back off. Fallout 76 is getting lambasted in no small part due to its utterly overpriced "cosmetic" shop where you pay ten real dollars to get your power armor to look blue. You can buy fullfeatured, critically acclaimed games for half that price and you already dumped $60 on this lemon of a game. Destiny 2 got into hot water for being cagey about how its exp values were calculated and how the previously free and user-friendly shaders became one-time use items you could only get from rolling the dice. The public is getting positively irate about all of this nonsense, and if Fallout 76 (and evidently battlefield V?) is any indication, we are fast approaching a breaking point where shareholder demand for profit will outpace the consumer's ability to provide it and the developer's ability to skinner box it out of us.

Of course Nintendo continues to march on to the beat of its own drum seemingly unaffected by all of this garbage. Not out of any moral superiority, I imagine. More likely it's just a consequence of that company still being in the process of being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Maybe a few years down the line when everyboy else has abandoned microtransactions Nintendo will pick them up, put a cute Mario motif on it, and we'll be back to square one. Time will tell. We're in a volatile time for games and the timebomb keeps ticking. I just hope the explosion isn't too messy. I guess.

#goty #2018 #monster hunter world #subnautica #dead cells #gamedev

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