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why-this-kolaveri-machi · 3 years

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it wasn’t power i coveted; it was acceptance.

Titans 3.06

y’know, i was just thinking the other day that 1.06/1.07 and 2.06/2.07 were the best episodes of their respective seasons, so i have great hopes going in to this one. fingers crossed!

as always, typing this up as i see the episode.

SPOILERS AHEAD

1. oh! um... that was a Cold Open, all right. *nudges* get it? cold? because it’s snowing? and two people got murdered in cold blood? eh?

... oh, i’ve just started.

1.5. i wonder if “i want to be sipping pina coladas on a beach with you” is the new “i’m just one day away from retiring.” i was so on edge after that--i kept expecting that car to explode. even so, the way they died wasn’t an anticlimax: brutal, and quick.

1.75. so i’m assuming that’s the titular lady vic! this show better bring up why this doll was important or why these two cops needed to be killed, and not leave it to the ether like jericho’s little mindscape jaunt in 2.08 (i’m still dying to know what that was about???)

i love how deliberately unappealing wayne manor is.

(sorry for the pic quality. i don’t have hbo max! ssshhh.)

2.3. i love the many references to “home” and “our house” when they’ve been here for less than a week and saw one of their friends get blown into pieces. i mean, i unironically love it: home is where family is, after all!

2.5. i’d like to say that kom is playing some sort of long game here, especially given the build-up we had last season and some of the more niggling details this season: why did kom choose now to use her bond to lure kory when she’s been on earth for months? why did justin call kory now, just around the time that she started getting kom’s visions? and what about kom’s ability to exactly imitate other people? hmmm.

2.75. the reason i wrote i’d like to say is that i’ve made the mistake of assuming plot complexity where there is none; i was so invested in the jason todd orchestrated his own death theory for instance, when it turns out that oops! ra’s al ghul just happened to leave a little lazarus puddle in gotham, and oh yeah! scarecrow just happens to have a network of henchmen working for him on the outside and a fully functional laboratory and a weapons cache fit for a new supervillain in the basement of the high security psychiatric unit/prison that he’s in!

(no i’m not bitter, why do you ask)

2.8. iiiii don’t know what to say about the implications of sex slavery being a thing on tamaran, so i’m not going to say anything at all. for now.

3. gotham, six years ago... wasn’t it five years before s2 that jericho died and the titans disbanded? and when was the flashback from 1.06 where dick let zucco die? i think it was after the events of 2.08: jericho? i can’t seem to find any transcripts or reliable information online, so i’m going to have to rewatch 1.06 at some point.

(i love the old-fashioned batman music in this heist scene)

3.5. “security is a joke... it’s my way of keeping my dad on his toes”. what you’re an ethical thief now, like an ethical hacker? i don’t think that excuse is going to sell, barbara, on the day you do encounter a decent security system and your father is forced to arrest you.

(then again, gotham’s security is piss-poor. did you know that you could just walk into arkham asylum without any official clearance, ply one of its most dangerous inhabitants with contraband, and said inmate could get away with having an entire laboratory and weapons cache--NO I’M NOT GOING TO LET THIS GO)

3.8 so that flashback between dick and barbara was really cute! and also illuminating:

a) dick sounds so light, so... um. look. i have some apologies to tender to mr thwaites, because while i’ve always thought he does a fine job as dick grayson, i’ve never been terribly fond of his cadence as he delivers dialogue. it’s often monotonous, i thought, but then again, he’s usually delivering exposition or dealing with one soul-crushing crisis or the other. so i was pleasantly surprised to hear dick sound so carefree and alive in his conversation with barbara, laughing frequently, his emotions so bare and bubbling to the surface. it’s really a fantastic contrast to the traumatised and world-weary dick grayson that we see now, even more so than the costume department just bunging a backwards-baseball cap on mr thwaites’ head and hoping that will convince us of his relative youth.

b) and god, when he wakes up from that memory, all alone in his bed, bleeding from bullet holes in his shoulder (bullet holes that are--in a somewhat convoluted way--barbara’s fault)? yikes. it’s great. you have my apologies, mr thwaites!

c) can you imagine dick just... crawling back to wayne manor, trying not to be seen by anybody, shedding his suit and just... collapsing onto his bed without even tending to his wound? the sheer emotional and physical exhaustion of it?

d) it’s so interesting to see how barbara and dick approach the idea of legacy--a big theme on the show!--in this flashback. barbara is the one bucking the idea that she should follow in her father’s footsteps, while dick seems pretty content with the batman-and-robin setup, and even tries to get barbara to join their team (robin-girl. pfffft). obviously after this several traumatic things happen wherein dick ends up questioning and then resenting his role as robin, his relationship with batman or even returning as a vigilante at all. and barbara... ends up replacing her father as commissioner. it’s tragic, really.

e) the dynamic between dick and barbara in the flashback reminds me of how it was between dick and donna in 1.08 and even between kory and dick in early s1. it’s like having an older, strong-willed woman by his side means he gives over the steering wheel for a while and lets himself... unspool, a little bit. it’s kinda endearing.

also:

*pinches his cheeks*

3. you know, we talk about dick and Eldest Daughter Syndrome, and that’s definitely valid, but here gar seems to me the embodiment of it, with all the emotional gardening and firefighting that he’s expected to do. he’s kind of the guy expected to keep his shit together and take care of everyone else while they are falling completely to pieces, unable to carve out time to process his own trauma. he’s also picked up dick’s and kory’s tendencies to bottle up their struggles and shun appearing vulnerable, and he’s struggling in the shadow of both dick and kory undergoing acute crises, his best friend (and frequent confidante) on the other side of the world, and seeing hank die, utterly helpless to stop it.

i’m glad that he got a chance to tell dick even a smidgeon of what he really feels, and i hope this is at least a semblance of a wake up call for dick to actually sit down and work with the people he repeatedly calls family.

3.5. it’s heartening to see that dick immediately makes it his priority to go talk to gar. but don’t blow off kory in the process, man!

4. i’m really loving this dynamic between kom and conner--i get the idea that both of them consider each other as Unknowns, alien two times over. but conner’s only ever known the titans, who embrace being different, and kom’s only ever known... well.

anyway, kory is Really Stressed, and honestly? #relatable.

when you’re forced to bring an estranged family member to hang out with your friends...

4.5. i love that the titans are spending so much time in the kitchen. a real family!

5. jonathan crane is a creep and i absolutely cannot stand him.

5.25. how did he get a whole lab setup (in the basement of a hospital...?) with a bunch of whitecoats to work for him? how did he just waltz into the viewing room of an operation theatre when he’s one of the most wanted men in gotham right now? why is jason wandering around maskless when--presumably--as the adopted son of the most famous person in gotham he’d be a tad more recognisable than your average joe?

why do i expect this show to answer anything anymore?

5.5. that’s not necessarily a criticism, mind; i’ve said since season 1 that titans is very comics-like in this aspect, all about the Aesthetic and the splash-page splendour rather than the niggling unimportant details of how or when the characters got to said location. like. the camera gliding over the operation being set-up, lady vic bursting in and doing her murder dance (imagine the luck of the poor intern who chose this day and this surgery to assist) and jason, shocked and slack-jawed, framed by blood.

5.75. it’s a sobering reminder for jason that, though he chose this path in order to gain control over a world that seemed like it was rapidly spinning out of his grip, he’s only succeeded in handing over even more control to a man with an agenda that is very clearly not aligned with his own. he’s in too far to stop now, though.

5.9. i have a lot more thoughts about jason! saving it up for the end of this recap, though.

6. more kitchen time! i better see dick do some cooking soon...

(”our kitchen”! it still delights me! kitchens are So Important)

6.25. so much of dick’s issues have revolved around his relationship with bruce, so it’s completely understandable that in the wake of a huge crisis where bruce literally asks dick to replace him and be a “better” him, dick would default to all the worst things he learned from the man. and i’m glad kory’s having none of it, but come on, guys. the woman’s literally fetched her fratricidal sister out of a hole in the ground with no idea what said sister is going to do next and experiencing a burgeoning sense of guilt far, far beyond her history with the titans, and dick’s too far into his autocolonoscopy that he can’t see that she needs help.

6.5. “he services your urges”--well, as far as we know, kory is the last person he had sex with...

7. “i hope [gar] isn’t angry with me...” SIR! i thought you’d already spoken to him! smh, as the kids say. kory wouldn’t be needing to reassure you if you just took the effort to build two way emotional relationships with the rest of the team. @superohclair was taking about dick’s relatively low emotional intelligence? i agree.

7.5. “i got my own problems [...] you and barbara? fix it.” YOU TELL HIM, KORY

8. man i really like this weird, sad tension between dick and barbara--this sense that both of them are approaching the other based on how they remember them and are ultimately disappointed by the truth. barbara thought she could trust dick to... well, be a better batman, but dick has not only failed at that in her eyes, but repeatedly undermined her while exploiting the authority that she gave him. in dick’s eyes, this is nothing like the barbara that he knew, rebellious and ready to do whatever it takes to find something.

like. this show sometimes really hits me in the chest about the ways it shows kids grow into adults and into caretakers, and the way it’s stop-start, the ways nothing can happen at all for a long time and then it’s Crisis Central all at once and there’s no space to breathe. the weird sort of sadness that comes with nostalgia.

8.5. oracle name drop! i agree with barbara, any system that can just randomly tap into gotham phonelines is a monster.

8.7. (i don’t know if it’s my imagination, but is dick holding himself... differently in this episode? like that wound is definitely bothering him, and he’s running on fumes)

9. man, that was a really sweet scene between kom and conner. “feeling alien in your own world”... “not quite here nor there”

honestly this team runs on conner and gar’s faith in their value as a family, and it’s a sign of conner’s generous heart that he extends that opportunity to blackfire. this arc of maturation for him, where he’s now able to consciously choose which parts of himself he can use to do the thing he wants to so--save people--has been so fulfilling to recognise. this baby’s grown with the titans! and what he’s learnt is that people can get fucked up, but the titans is a place where they can be fucked up, and grow.

MY MAN CONNER

10. oh man i’m drinking in the gar-dick interaction in this episode like i’m three days into the desert and it’s the only source of water for miles around!

a) gar is absolutely not dealing with dick’s bullshit this episode and I LOVE IT. it’s such a far cry from the man who was idolising dick/robin back in s1 and expecting him to solve all their problems. dick is fallible, dick is fucked up, but he Tries His Best and that’s ok.

b) dick, huffing and puffing through that vent, unable to put any pressure on his left shoulder, trying to have a heart to heart with gar... fuck i love this asshole.

c) bruce took in a kid who was suffering... “and made him into a weapon”. well. i absolutely agree with dick that it was bruce who put these kids into these horrible situations with him and they came away with a bucketload of trauma to add to the one that they already had. but we know that bruce was really trying with jason, and at the end of s2, dick was coming to acknowledge that bruce had offered him something that wasn’t just darkness. jason’s death and bruce’s reaction to that shattered that fragile progress.

d) “gotham got to me too.” i feel more sympathetic towards dick running off on his own than most, and it’s not just because i’m an unapologetic stan. we’ve seen before that dick... devolves when overwhelmed, and he lashes out and makes ill thought out decisions and just Does Not Deal. it happened after hearing the news that deathstroke had returned in s2, and it didn’t help that everyone around him was reeling at the news, either. this time, however, he has his salvation in his family, and despite some stupid decisions like running off and kidnapping supervillains without telling his team, he’s been really on the ball this season. thinking clearly and logically, holding it together and working on a plan, thinking two steps ahead of the villains... yes.

e) gar needing to believe that jason isn’t beyond redemption... there’s a lot of blood on his hands, too, from when he was manipulated by cadmus last season. it makes sense why he’d relate to jason’s predicament, and i hope dick picked up on that.

f) my head just added a plaintive ow after dick jumped feet first into the storage room

i need, crave gifs of this scene!

11. *sits on hands* i’m going to talk more about red hood, i promise!

12. more gar and dick! is it my birthday??!!

(actually, according to the tamil calendar, it is my birthday! my “star” birthday)

12.5. excellent. dick using some implausible training that bruce taught him to solve a mystery? passing some of that knowledge onto gar? that proud smile when he sees gar perfectly execute moves that he taught him? MY HEART IS EXPLODING

13. aw, i love flashback!dick and barbara, they’re so cute <3

13.25. why does it not surprise me that the way he proposes a relationship to barbara is by saying “we make sense”? this guy can deduce exactly who was present where and what weapon they were holding from a garbled audio recording but other times he’s utterly clueless, and that’s a consistent character beat right from s1

13.5. so.... that’s why lady vic has it out for... barbara....? i don’t get it. it’s flimsy. but hey! the fun thing about titans is that i don’t have to get it. the payoff has nothing to do with the plot.

14. i can’t believe that barbara fell for that, but at least that wheelchair fight looked awesome, so.

15. oh yeah, i forgot that red hood bullied the mob into helping him and scarecrow... at least that explains the whitecoats and the elaborate set-up.

15.5. honestly i love how this dynamic between kory and kom is developing, though i wish more of the team would pay attention to it. time to call justin, i think!

16. i wonder what happened after that second flashback where barbara got hurt during that heist. did she give up on doing any more (maybe jim caught her)? was it because dick was called away by bruce and then the titans and got caught up in his own issues? maybe barbara froze him out because she wasn’t looking for the relationship that he was looking for? maybe the idea of doing that with someone turning into batman-lite was just... unappealing? scary?

whatever it is, it doesn’t look like dick ever processed the end of that relationship. it’s very intriguing to see where their dynamic goes next.

17. so.... what, did vic deliver some fear toxin to barbara? i... what?

17.5. and i TOLD YOU that they would never explain that doll or why vic attacked those two cops at the beginning! oh, titans. never change.

18. did jason just randomly have tim’s restaurant burgled? god, i’m feeling a bit nauseous... are they going to kill tim’s father?

18.25. i feel like the rest of the season is going to wrestle with jason’s culpability in the horrible stuff he’s doing and i’m already seeing that prospect divide fans. on one hand, his story is taking a lot of oxygen away from other equally interesting story arcs, and he’s done some truly awful things, like indiscriminate murder, threatening to kill children, blowing up hank, and potentially killing tim’s parents.

there’s something to be said for the kind of hold that crane has over him, and the so-called ‘anti-fear’ drug that he keeps plying jason with--he’s alone, drugged almost constantly (to the level of dependence), fresh from the trauma of being bludgeoned to death. he hasn’t conquered fear; he’s ruled by it. on the other hand, given that he’s the one character on the show given an obvious and identifiable ‘mental illness’ arc (maaaaybe dick too), one can argue that it’s irresponsible to show this progress into such violence: jason was vulnerable because he was struggling, and that left him vulnerable, but it took only a push before he became a fucking serial killer.

but that could mean we underestimate the degree of that vulnerability, and the mechanics of this universe where he fell into the clutches of the one supervillain perfectly designed to exploit that vulnerability. that helpless spiral into further and further self-destruction is all too real. it’s valuable to know that someone who has sunk that low can still seek help--actual help--and get it.

18.5. i don’t know. it’s not a question i’m going to resolve at the end of an overlong recap at 1 in the morning. i don’t believe it’s even a question that titans can resolve. but i am interested in where they’re going next with jason.

19. this episode was genuinely great! i’m pumped for the rest of the season!

#titans #titans spoilers #meta #dick grayson #koriand'r #barbara gordon #garfield logan #conner kent #komand'r #jason todd #jonathan crane #a byronic cupcake #badass strawberry truffle #manic pixie pop tart #a tragic jalebi #this is a 3k+ MONSTER yikes

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ehbunnehsblog · 3 years

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Does anyone remember these? I remember Family Channel (Canadian Disney channel) had this event where you could win them and I asked my dad if he could play the game and see if he could win lol! I don't know why I liked them I guess they were just really cute I can't remember if I used them as pencil toppers but I feel like kids now would also really like them so I wouldn't mind if they came back.

Also Squinkies they were also pencil toppers I think but were more rubbery also forbidden fruit lol they were rubber just like those Polly Pocket outfits (I might talk about Polly Pocket in the future so watch out for that) and I also reme squinkies having a video game for the DS also one time my sister, dad and I went to chapters and I bought some from there I miss it so much I remember chapters smelling really nice 😩

Okay but like Zhu Zhu pets were pretty cute ngl! I had one and this was during we had my hamster named Hammy (rip Hammy) and these toys were cool they had a few sets you could buy I didn't play with mine much if I am being honest and I just wasn't into toys that moved or did stuff you could do but it's better than being scared of them. I used to be absolutely terrified of toys that talked and walked etc and TRUST ME I will definitely be talking about that sometime. To the people who like my posts were any of you scared of the same thing?

I know temporary tattoos aren't really the biggest thing I have put on this list but I wanted to add them anyways also I apologize for the quality of the pic the other ones I found just didn't have a great variety and also the ones meant for girls were mostly unicorns and idk about anyone else but I just wasn't really into unicorns as a child but if you did that's awesome. I remember one time getting a temporary tattoo and it didn't look that great and the feeling of it crumbling off of my skin is so memorable and henna is the same way sorta but you scrape it off when it's done sitting on the skin than BAM! you get a cool henna tattoo for a while but anyways these were pretty cool. What was your first temporary tattoo as a kid and what was it?

Okay so a lot of you guys probably remember a majority or these but do you guys remember teacup pigs! No not the actual Animal silly, the toy! They were cute and just like Zhu Zhu pets I believe they were interactive and same deal sadly I did not really play with mine I know I am a terrible toy mom lol but I was just not very interested in interactive toys they looked cute yeah but I loved toys where I could use my own imagination and with teacup pigs also I wasn't into baby toys and teacup pigs were similar to that but again they were absolutely adorable.

If you liked this post please follow me I post similar stuff on my blog here and also thank you to the people who have been blogging and liking my stuff lately I have been having a slow but steady boom in likes and reblogs so far and even though it's not a lot it's still really cool! So thanks for that!

#nostalgia #toys #2000s kids #2000s nostalgia #kids toys #nostalgiacore #nostalgic #mga #teacup pig #squinkies #zhu zhu pets #temporary tattoos #video games #kids games #games for kids

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sparklingpax · 3 years

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My favorite pages of a Transformers Prime Halloween fanfiction I wrote in 5th grade. In this story, the Autobots and Decepticons call a truce. Well, the kids call up Megatron and organize this and then Optimus catches them but then also agrees jdsjdjsdjdshsdh I know this makes Zero Sense but yknow what that’s,,,,how my brain worked back then. Made no sense. Still doesnt make sense actually--

ahhhh so.........enjoy ^^’’

Um and sorry for mistakes and potentially immature perceptions of the characters...remember I wrote this literally almost 5-6 years ago,,,, O//O’’

OH AND. LONG THREAD. (Mostly because of the photos. But forwarning I guess ^^’’)

(I’ll just do some explaining since I only picked parts of this story. Also sorry for the terrible picture quality :’D)

Edit: The grammatical errors. I’m in Pain.

In no particular order:

1.) This. Because?? Mood.

2.) Ratchet’s change of heart (sort of) aND THE FACT THAT I MADE HIS COSTUME AN ANGEL AJSJSJSDJ

(he made them some tasty energon goodies <33)

3.) fjdfjdfj idk why but I really like this part of the chapter in general,,,maybe it’s just me lmfao but uh....well.....good job, younger me lolol you’ve made older me genuinely laugh 😹😹😹😅😳

I do have one question for myself: wHY did I choose a MONKEY COSTUME?? FOR STARSCREAM???! *cries laughing* that is so random I can’t even rn--

4.) This one single part. It comes earlier in the story ofc, and again idk why but I just,,,this part is decent. And I kinda like it lmfao

After this, I remember reading something about Megatron visiting “blogs” and reading about Halloween and costumes and all that. Which I’m 99.9% certain was some sort of reference to Tumblr. So. Make of this what you will, I suppose owo

5.) The description of Op’s costume! He went as a cat and I distinctly remember making him dress up as a cat because cats have always been my favorite animal so my logic was: favorite character + favorite animal = pERFECT!! <D Anyway, uhhh.....sometime I wanna draw this :3 it’s a cute costume idea actually....so congrats again to younger me for doing something right...sorta..^^’’

(if you wanna know the end of that sentance, it just says smth like how neither of them had made a costume like this so even if it wasn’t all that perfect, it was a really good effort for a first try <3)

6.) Very much like the way I opened this chapter too,,,,lol why am I even trying to explain my thoughts my brain just,,,I Like This Bit Too,,,,I hope y’all like it as well,,,,idk--

7.) wHAT was this ending asdfjkldjsdkjsdj

all I can say is that the Starscream adding that he will crush them later is the Best Thing and I’m still laughing about it,,,kudos to younger me yet again ^^’’

8.) SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST! I really liked this part??? For many reasons. I remember it was my favorite part to write :3 Of course, my stupid immature humor had to ruin it with the “thug life” joke because that was another thing I found extrememly hilarious back then sooo.....oh and I apologize for the way Megatron abruptly destroys the mood....I was tryna be deep I think?? BUt...idk...that moment just throws the vibe off too abruptly....idk....y’all lmk what you think I guess...? But anyway, my favorite part of the whole thing >:33

LIKE I WANT OPTIMUS TO DO THIS SOMEDAY. IT’S CUTE. LIKE,,,,SUE ME BUT IT’S FUNNY,, 😹😹😹😹

(also what I meant by “a shade of crimson darker than Jack” is: a few pages back, a fake spider scared the living daylights out of jack and he landed flat on his back after screaming so loudly that literally everyone burst into laughter for a good few mintues. And Jack had blushed like super hard. That’s. Idk why I didn’t specify that in the writing sdsjsdj anwyay--)

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And bonus: the cover page that um. Is atrocious. Please forgive me O//w//O’’

tHAT IS nOT what his costume was supposed to look like in my mind’s eye but I suppose on that day I gave up and did....that....so..............

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Well! Ok! You made it to the end of this thread!!! <3 THank you so much for reading through it all!! You’re the best!! Like,,,seriously thank you so so much Q//w//Q And I’m so sorry for wasting your time

Please have a lovely day/evening!! Maybe sometime I’ll post pics from that Christmas fic ;3

See y’all around then! ^^’’

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datingintampafails · 4 years

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Chapter 11: Darren*

Disclaimer: a multitude of events/details have been left out of this chapter, both for increased anonymity of myself and the gentleman in question, as well as I started writing this two months after this all happened, so apologies.

Darren* is actually someone that I work with at one of my jobs, of which I have three. Upon starting my position there and meeting him, I was immediately attracted. He is from a Scandinavian country originally and just comes with that natural Scandinavian good looks. He acted a little immature, in a way that is just everything is sexual, a natural flirt. For a few months, I had an innocent little crush on him, purely infatuation.

Often we would say hi in passing and he was always really helpful when it came to patients. He got along with everyone and despite his lewdness, I really enjoyed working with him. There were multiple times that we would walk and talk in the hall, he would express embarrassment to me over him having acne, and would openly announce that he was switching what side he was on because he didn’t want me to see it. I, in my thinking he was out of my league and I was secured in the friend/coworker zone, would be super transparent, and as well complain about my acne, and described in detail the acne patches I would use.

All seemed platonic until one day out of the blue he just leaned in close to me and asked me if he could have my Snapchat. I immediately was like oh yeah of course! From there, we talked throughout the days daily for about a week.

I let him and my coworker in MRI know that I’m gonna bring in food on the weekend since I got a huge crockpot meal from my Home Chef meal kit boxes and wanted to share the love. When really, although I did do that, I was on purpose making sure I did it on a day Darren* was working. I made sure to wear an outfit that would get his attention without trying too hard: well-fitting yoga pants and a tank top. I arrive and I call their department to let them know I’m here with food. Darren* answers the phone and there’s video chat so I also see him. I say “hey I’m here! Chicken tacos in the break room.” He says “Are they hard or soft?” in the innuendo way he does. What he doesn’t know, is he’s met his match since I’m also kind of a perv. I respond “what do you think?” seductively and with a wink. He laughs and just goes “oh alright.” I say “Nah but seriously they’re soft tacos.” He says “my favorite! We’ll be over soon.�� The cavalry arrives and everyone eats their food and thanks me. I’m not really getting the quality time I was hoping for but I’m still happy. Finally, everyone starts to kinda make their way out until it’s just Darren* and I. We just chat. This is when somehow or another I find out he has a tattoo in a more rated R area. I laugh. He asks me about my outfit and if I am going to the gym. I say no that I was just trying to be comfortable but still look good enough to be outside of my house. He says he should probably get back to work and will snap me later.

Late that night, I ask him more about his tattoos, and I tell him about mine. I send him photos of a couple of my PG tattoos, he sends me his PG tattoos (yes this does imply we both have rated R tattoos). I think this is a moment that is kind of exposing but could also just be innocent as well.

The next week, we again worked together, and he would come by, a little more than usual, saying hi to me and chatting before returning to work. The last time he stops by before he leaves for the day, he gives me a hug. Now, this hug wasn’t like a normal hug, it was super awkward, incredibly on my part.

You see, I did not expect this to happen and I was sitting down so he approached me for the hug while I was sitting. In attempts to make this less horrible, which backfired, I decided to begin standing up during the hug. Not only did I do this, no that would be still not horrible, but I then put my arms around him diagonally. Yes, that cringy one arm on the shoulder/neck and the other around the waist. At this moment I am well aware of what terrible state I am in, but am surprised and pleased that regardless of how awkward I have positioned myself that he is still holding onto me. He is in fact at this moment squeezing me tightly, comfortably.

Somehow this embrace lasts for probably a good twenty seconds. I’m sure I am red in the face but he says bye talk to you later and leaves. Immediately, I Snapchat him and say “I’m so sorry that was such an awkward hug. I need a do-over please.” His response is something along the lines of, “It’s all good I live for the cringe” with a laughing face emoji. Otherwise, we continue to talk as we were.

I offer him my number, thinking like we are getting along well and are maybe at that point. He says that he actually prefers Snapchat, as his cell service isn’t very good with his provider (which I shall not name), so he communicates a lot more with Snapchat anyway. We somewhere too in this time say we’re going to hang out on Saturday, and I’ll cook him some food.

Oh and now is your first preview of me being sneaky and retrieving Snapchat screenshots via taking pics of my phone screen. Step One, send a thirst trap.

Step Two: He responds to the thirst trap. I remember also saying something after that, despite not having it in the screenshot, where I say, “Is that why you don’t wear a dress to work?” Which is what he is responding to in the third photo.

I’m also still wondering, is he just being a flirt, or is this man interested? Soon I would get my answer.

Now, it is the weekend, Friday night. I mention to him that I’m walking to my friend’s house and I’m going over to drink some wine and eat pasta. I send him Snapchats of my friend on Hinge swiping, and us playing “Tinder March Madness,” a game I saw on Tik Tok and thought was funny. Essentially, you right-swipe on all of the men, no matter what. Give it some time and wait for the matches to roll in. Then there are certain point values that go along with certain dating profile tropes. The person with the most points “wins” each round until the “Ultimate Tinder Guy” is found. Anyway, I send these to him half to be like LOL look at this stupid stuff, half to see if I get a rise out of him/he gets a little bit jealous. He is also with friends, so I don’t necessarily get in-depth answers or quick responses. I do mention to him that I’m leaving my friend’s apartment soon, and will be walking by myself. At this point it is nighttime. We do live in a relatively nice area, but it’s still a little scary to walk by yourself in the dark. I give him a call via Snapchat, he doesn’t answer but I know he’s with his friends, so it’s all good.

I arrive home and almost immediately after I walk through the door, I get a Snapchat call back from him. He asks me if I’m okay and if I got home safely. I am honestly surprised he called me back. I tell him I’m fine. He continues to talk to me on the phone and even puts me on speakerphone. The one part that hurts my soul is he does say that I’m his “friend, Mandy,” but hey, a friend is better than a co-worker. I talk with his friends about gaming, drinking, say I’ll drink some Everclear with them, go really hard. Darren* then says he’s gonna find somewhere more private to talk to me, takes me off speakerphone. We shoot the shit a little more, then he says he had just gone running and is gonna take a shower and will talk to me later. I end the call.

Literally one minute after ending the call, I receive a Snapchat from him. This is a picture Snapchat. It is a photo of him completely naked. Where his package would be is conveniently blocked by the level of the counter in his bathroom. Highly suggestive, though not a complete nude. What is my response? Something along the lines of “oh my!!!!” Any confusion I had was gone. Like alright, this man just sent this photo to you because he is into you. It’s late and I’m going to sleep anyway, so I figure I’ll just message him in the morning to clear things up before we hang out.

Before I can even confront him in the morning, he messages me. I, unfortunately, don’t have a screenshot for this. But he says whereas he isn’t exactly looking for a relationship at this moment, that he wants to see where things go with me and see what happens. I tell him that how I feel is I don’t like to put expectations on anything anyway and that I’m happy to do that and just follow where the vibes go between us. We’ve come to an agreement! With that, he says he is super hungover and is going to take a nap, and will let me know about coming over later. By the early evening, he says he wants to reschedule since he still feels like shit. I’m on call a lot, so we just schedule it tentatively for next Saturday and I see if I can get my call covered another day sooner so we can see each other before then.

I’m able to contact my manager the next day and I let him know I now have Wednesday free for him. I’m on call at our workplace the day I let him know that, and I jokingly tell him he is in charge of calling me in. Of course, I actually do get called in, though it isn’t him that lets me know. I arrive and hang out in the area he works in while I wait for the patient to be ready. He is not there and is off doing other stuff. He comes in and is surprised to see me, which checks out since I did tell him I was coming in, but he hadn’t opened that Snapchat yet. We hug hello, not awkwardly now, and he talks about his hands being cold. Essentially then we are holding hands. While the other coworkers are off tending to patients, we stand close together and chat. My patient arrives, and I ask him to help me move them. I observe him with a patient and he really is a great caregiver, it’s attractive. He helps me then says he’s gonna run back to his department and will be back. When he returns he says he is actually leaving for the night. My patient’s scan is more or less on autopilot, so I position ourselves away from the window that looks into the room. I embrace him and say I’m looking forward to seeing him next time we work together and on Wednesday. I think back and know I probably should have kissed him, but I didn’t, probably the thought of being at work and although no one was there and watching, still felt inappropriate.

I finished my work and returned home. Monday we spoke throughout the day, flirtatious and excited. We worked together Tuesday and when I walked in for the day, I immediately happened upon him in the break room. I sat down next to him and discussed timeframes for our hangout the next day. He is happy and upon another coworker walking in, I briefly say hey and disperse. Darren* comes into my department, as he does often, and is talking with everyone. One of our coworkers mentions to him that they want to talk to him about something. I’m not sure what it is about, but I do get a hit of anxiety wondering if he had told them about me, and it was regarding our relationship. Work goes by and they do go off and talk. Afterward, he is kinda brief in saying goodbye, which makes my anxiety increase.

I send him a message just again mentioning a timeframe for our next day’s plans. An hour or so after he left he responds saying that he is actually starting to talk to someone and didn’t want to do the next day because he didn’t want to jeopardize that, as he thought if he came over the next day he didn’t know what would happen. His phrasing was “is it okay” if we don’t see each other. So I say something like, “well I wouldn’t want to complicate things, I’m not happy about it but I understand.” He also expressed he was worried about work, though, at this point, I was about to start my new job and had told him about this. He mentions not having a “crystal ball” and that he doesn’t know what will happen in the future, blah blah blah. That we could still be with each other someday.

I am beyond confused. Literally three days before this, he had been the one to initiate things and asked for us to see where things go, wasn’t interested in a relationship, when suddenly now he is, albeit with someone else, and is interested enough to be afraid something romantic would happen if we were alone together, but not enough see where it goes.

In response, I give into a TikTok trend where you ask people what your type is. I did this that night. He did not take kindly to it. His response was kind of like, what is this? I was angry and thought this was a good way to have some self-deprecating humor. Essentially “douchebag,” “extroverted gamer,” “emotionally unavailable,” “guys with girlfriends,” and “Trump supporters,” were mentioned in this. Many of those descriptions which could describe Darren* at that moment.

I was still very hurt days afterward and didn’t know what would happen once we saw each other again at work. Come next workday together, he was starting to be on temperature check duty at the hospital. I did not know he was though, and stumbled upon him as I was going out to say hi to another co-worker I knew was out there. It was very awkward at first but we became more on friendly terms. Toward the end of the night, we were alone back inside for a moment. I asked him some questions about his life and such. As the night went on we did embrace a few times and were very close. It was more confusing but he did still seem into me. We left at the same time and he walked me to my car where we lingered and talked and held each other. I did feel pretty bad, as I would sometimes see his phone, see him talking to this other girl, and sometimes I would just happen to see his messages with her and could tell that he did care for her. And in character, it was on Snapchat, so he may have been completely honest regarding using Snapchat as his primary communication method.

Basically a similar scenario continued on for the next four weeks, each time it becomes more and more difficult/intimate. One week we took a walk around the campus and cuddled in the grass, watching the stars. The bugs made us move, but we had a closeness. We just barely kissed one time. He would grab my hips and touch my body when we were alone. Constantly he would resist, I was just as confused as he wasn’t dating this person. Another night, we are walking together doing rounds through the hospital, when one of his close coworkers casually mentions he’s uncircumcised. Which was just some bizarre information. It was funny to see him embarrassed.

Finally, after four weeks of this “what is going on” scenario, I have him call me. I tell him essentially that if he and this woman are still not exclusive, that we should still give this a shot or at least hang outside of work and see what is truly going on. I reiterate his crystal ball thing. I am truly speaking in our both interests, as we have been playing a dangerous game. He says he will talk to her that night and figure out what is going on, as she has been kind of putting off/delaying that conversation. He says he will let me know what she says and will think about it if they don’t become exclusive, as he admits that he doesn’t see the point of staying with her if she doesn’t want to become official. I follow up the next day, asking how it went. He says it didn’t come up and apologizes, though saying he will soon. A few days after that, I find out that they must have had the conversation, because “Darren* is now in a relationship” appears on my Facebook news feed. I message him in Snapchat and congratulate him. I do truly wish them the best, and take the situation as a lesson learned.

A couple of months later, present-day as I write this, I notice a name that looks familiar on a patient’s chart. Casually I bring it up to my coworker, saying “isn’t that Darren*’s girlfriend?” and it is confirmed. I become infuriated and text my friend immediately, explaining the situation I have just uncovered. This new information does add to my displeasure, as I realize that this guy’s now girlfriend also works here and that it is quite possible that he could have been seeing her on any of those days that we had become so close. This disgusted me. I did see him a couple of days later and casually mentioned to him, “I didn’t know your girlfriend worked here.” He hit me with a “yeah she does.” I felt it important to let him know, I know. I try and remain cordial, but it is extremely difficult when I learn more and more about how scummy he is. Later that day that I let him know, he told me it was “good seeing me” and I literally responded with a vomit noise. Even if things don’t work out with his lady, and I’m still single, that “crystal ball” will not do him any favors.

#metinperson #workromance #dating #tampa #stpete #clearwater #tampabay #romance

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shimikonde · 5 years

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omg please post the pics from the light novel i will pay you

hehe how much we talking…

jk how could i say no to one of my precious 7 followers

apologies for the terrible quality all i have is my phone and it’s the first time i’ve tried to scan things with it lmao. i tried to take a pic of everything that looked like it might be original, but like half of the pics were just taken from the manga i think SMH

cover

front and back of a folded leaflet in the front of the book

bw version of the front cover. idk people like coloring things in maybe they’ll like this

last 3. they’re illustrations of things that are happening in the story. i’m eternally salty that we didn’t get one of class 1B’s play or the beauty pageant. they both had an entire chapter devoted to them AND YET…….. (i rly love that last pic tho lmao)

well that’s it sry again about the quality

#bnha #bnha light novel

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spaceshipkat · 6 years

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Found a stan's post about what Sjm said at her Houston stop regarding ToG and Acotar characters meeting.Just so much bullshit: "Rhys would win in a fight against Maeve because Maeve is a “piece of crap” who only fights for her own selfish wants and Rhys would fight for something he loves and therefore have a better reason to fight", "Aelin would spend the entire time staring at Rhys because even though she has Rowan who is also beautiful, Rhys is just that beautiful", "everyone would love Rowan"

Houston anon, if you wanna watch the whole thing, TheTruthAboutBooks made a vlog on yt

uhhh did they say they’d have booths for fanart?

i freely admit i’ve eaten a lot of airheads today, but…i’m nauseous.

what the diddly dong heck is this. according to the vid, you can take a pic with them, but no idea if you can keep them.

why are they screaming

as someone from AZ, why is all she remembers of it cowboy boots?

and imma paraphrase the questions she’s asked, so. question #1:

McGee: you’ve been writing t0g since you were 16, how do you feel, what’s going through your head?

sj/m: writing k0a was bittersweet and fun. when i was 16, all of this was a crazy dream (she has been saying this literally everywhere. i mean she even made it a hashtag on insta today). “when i went to college i was a creative writing major” uhhh where???

interlude for a brief thanks that does sound sincere, at least.

and now she’s saying that on Tuesday she asked if anyone had read the book, a teenager said yes, and sj/m proceeds to, uh, very snarkily reenact it with a raised index finger (terrible quality, i’m sorry; it’s at 11:55 in the vid)

christ you guys she’s been answering this question for eons i want it to stop, especially bc right now she’s talking about getting to write the final scenes of a book she’s been working on since she was a teenager. we know the drill.

okay wait now she’s saying when t0g was bought fantasy (yes, fantasy, not ya fantasy) hadn’t taken off and had just one publisher say yes to t0g. everyone else rejected it and i have a feeling they don’t regret that in the slightest.

oh my god she’s still talking. the author moderating the event (Katharine McGee) hasn’t said one word since that first question.

she just asked if there are any other aspiring writers in the ground, and then said that “if i can do it, you can do it” and i’m cackling. and getting published is “a long road” and that wasn’t a tornado, it was just me sighing. (today was a shitty day in terms of publishing where i’m concerned, so yeah)

and now she’s talking about how the book was going to be longer than 992 pages, originally 1008 pages. she gets a call from her editor, who says “the book is too long” and sj/m replies “you can’t do this to me EVERY WORD AND EVERY COMMA IS EXACTLY WHERE IT NEEDS TO BE” (emphasis my own) OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD @longsightmyth

and apparently her editor said “we have to find a way to make the book shorter without cutting anything from it” and sure, janet. and christ on a bike the entire team at blooms worked around the clock to get the book to the printers in two days, or it wouldn’t have been printed in time for release. they bumped up the text a little on the chapter header, condensed chapters through the formatting so hanging paragraphs between chapters would fit on the previous page.so cutting out one whole page, basically.

sj/m: so they managed to cut it down to nine hundred and ninety–”

audience: “980″

sj/m: nine hundred and ninety–”

audience: “980″

sj/m: “whatever it is!” *waves hand*

i’m now at 16:53 and McGee has finally spoken since sitting down.

McGee: “who knew eight pages could be so important”

sj/m: “i have no idea” (i’m typing this on my laptop but i’d have the upside down smiley here on my phone bc the tone here is that)

WE’VE MADE IT TO QUESTION #2 (and i’m paraphrasing again)

question #2:

McGee: i want to go back to what you were saying about writing scenes that you thought of as a teenager and reaching the end of the series is so emotional. did anything change, take any unexpected turns, or is this truly the ending that you foresaw at age 16?

guys i’m sorry i can’t sit through her answer bc if is basically a reworked version of everything i wrote above and everything she has said umpteen times (all about fictionpress, to get this book published she had to rewrite new things, treat the first version as a completely separate book, start over with a blank page, blah blah blah i really don’t give a fuck, janet moving on)

i’m not sure if she mentioned this in the other events, but she’s explaining how she wrote ratalien fanfic.

question #3:

McGee: was it hard for you when the first two books came out and the readers were all excited trying to ship–

and yes, sj/m did cut her off. McGee jumped in to ask question #3 and here’s sj/m while McGee is asking the question

and now she’s talking about tambourine and riceman. so.

she’s talking about some animal that went extinct from Costa Rica? “go vote and save the environment” and now she’s explaining where she got the ending for k0a from (the mountains and the sun and she started crying) worth noting she said she went to Costa Rica in 2013, thereby getting the ending of k0a in 2013.

guys i want to donate my ears to science as well as my eyeballs:

sj/m: alien never did what i wanted her to do except doing rowboat, if you know what i mean (emphasis not my own)

i just laughed out loud at sj/m: “please let alien get me to this ending that i want, if she survives.” one of the biggest surprises was getting alien to the ending that she wanted.

question #4:

McGee: i love what you said about aelin, i feel like she has literally grown up alongside you, or you’ve grown up alongside her, she’s such a fun character bc she’s vulnerable and strong and she’s not afraid to be both badass and very girly at the same time

(you guys know my thoughts about the ridiculousness of still complimenting alien for being badass and girly like the two are not mutually exclusive and no longer unique character traits can we stop now kthxbai)

McGee continued: how has she rubbed off on you, are there any traits of aelin that have become traits of sarah

she’s nodding along while McGee talks here:

sj/m: her love of reading, her love of binge-eating chocolate in bed, oh my god she’s now off on another tangent about getting started in publishing again and before she had meetings she’d tell herself “my name is sjm and i will not be afraid” omg so deep wow

so now we know why she made Lysandra a snow leopard (yes this is my assumption): she has a leopard ring and her leopard shirt bc you can never have too much leopard on leopard

so with alien and Lysandra and all the ladies in this series, they’re all strong in different ways, elide can’t gut you the way alien can, she has her own strength (intelligence and kindness), then Manon (her favorite) came into her life at a time she needed a character to identify with, Manon’s journey is one of her favorite things she’s ever written.

aaaaaaaand a side story wherein she explains how Manon appeared in her head and saw Manon in her first scene in h0f after music and i’m snoring (and then another piece of music where she saw a scene in k0a and began sobbing but she doesn’t say which scene)

and now she’s talking about how thick the books are. someone says all the books should be the same size on the shelf and sj/m says “look at Harry Potter! whose rule is that? it’s a dumb rule” (claims she said it “i understand but no”–emphasis not my own)

OH MY GOD SHE’S EXPLAINING HOW SHE’S NEVER CRIED MORE IN A SCENE IN K0A AND GUYS I AM SO BEYOND DONE SHE’S JUST REPEATING HERSELF IN NEW WAYS I WANT DEATH

McGee: i love how all your women are strong in different ways, even Kaltain, characters who start one way and then their story seems expected and it ends in such a different place

congrats, McGee, you just described writing a character arc (i apologize for the snark but ugh)

McGee continued: which brings me to the dedication of this book, do you want to talk about that at all, there might be zero people in the audience who’ve read k0a yet, what do you want to say to them before they start reading?

what would you call this expression? grimace? “hOw DaRe”?

and now she’s talking about the dedication, which we all know my thoughts on (i’ll spare you from another repeat bc i, unlike sj/m, try not to say the same things over and over again)

every time a book came out her parents would open the book and ask why it wasn’t dedicated to them and she wanted to wait to dedicate the last book to them, so. (she thought the dedication would be a spoiler but “ladies are gonna get shit done,” “take on the man,” wah wah) and she’s mentioned ac0tar again.

HOLY SHIT SHE JUST ASKED MCGEE WHO SHE DEDICATED HER BOOK TO I AM SHOOK. “aw that’s so sweet, i don’t have a sister so i can’t dedicate it like you can” (yes i’m paraphrasing again)

and she’s brought out Taran. he’s cute and all and oh my god “i can hear a baby crying and go ‘eh i don’t care he’s not my baby’ but then i hear my baby” and blah blah blah

we’ll end this with Taran bc he’s cute:

#ask #anonymous #anti sjm #anti koa #long post #save #i need to remember to use that tag more often

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wellntruly · 5 years

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BABYLON BERLIN - Ep 1 & 2 Notes

As foretold, I have started watching BABYLON BERLIN, Germany’s most expensive television show ever, in which a pocket-sized shellshocked Catholic Dale Cooper investigates a blackmail & pornography ring in Weimar Republic Berlin, hallefuckinlujah. Other featured characters include: a flapper girl burning the candle at both ends with like five freelance gigs variously aiding and breaking the law, and a Russian woman who performs slow baroque songs about dying in full suited drag, with moustache, while everyone in the dance club loses their minds. I’m losing my mind! This is my interwar period DREAMS.

N.b. If you join me in watching this (do it!), make sure you inform Netflix straight away that you would like the original German audio, as mine was about to give me English dubs and nein, danke. Oh also I say nein in my notes just, all the time. Very apologies.

NOTES:

Episode 1

typoooography

this is a pretty good conceit, hypnosis on the clearly PTSD-wracked protagonist — you can’t do anything in the decade after the First World War that isn’t terribly haunted by it, so make it present from the start

GOD that WWI imagery tho….hi

is it common for Christian churches to have menorahs, asking for a heathen

I just screamed quietly to myself. these credits!! it’s 2013 again in my whole soul!!

shit this tree burning along the train track! imagery!

I legit gasped aloud when the hijackers shot them after all, wow who am I I’ve never seen anything before

“Oh lord” I also say aloud at his little silver case of whatever ill-advised opiate they’ve probably given him

lol religious porn, yay

the director is still wearing this classy patterned scarf—an auteur

just push a wall of the set down to announce yourself, wonderful

oo what does bluebottle mean, I don’t think I’ve run into that slang before!

yeah I’m already v fond of our gaunt tortured little inspector, obv-i-ous-ly

ahh the murmuration of starlings takes us to the next scene, lovely

oh hi girl, love your bob and your smudged makeup

I assume they’re sisters, but the rest of the relationships in this flat are harder to figure

wow this dude has no empathy for the war-torn does he.

Lotte why did you pick this color of hat, it does not match anything in your life

yikes, I do not want that job

nice, nice, a plot-way to have someone describe to us our sharp trembly boy. a dogged, God-fearing Catholic sort apparently, good good.

all these skinny kids in shabby interwar looks are gonna KILL me

his name is Gereon Rath, wow yeah

a mystery!

“Suggestive Therapy” hoo boy

this man is just trying to do his border job

fuuuuck yeah, hacking in to power lines, transmitting Morse code

[points at screen] Russians

whAT THE SHIT! frozen blocks of octopus being prepared while a weird LIVE THEREMIN GROUP performs in the corner? hi new favorite terrible restaurant!!!

now they’re literally doing In The Hall of the Mountain King in the distance, I’m so——yes

omg is Sandor in the octopus

what on earth this is so jaunty and weird! goood

why, why do I have a memory of open elevators like this, I must have seen these very recently??

also I really like this stagey architectural fun being how they meet, these two who are clearly our two leads, living their independent lives until this point

just unemotionally divvying up pics of porn and murder, bless

Lotte: “I hope you’re with vice.” Gereon: “And I hope you’re with the homicide squad.” MEET CUTE, MEET CUTE

I hope “Moritz” is eventually revealed to be a dog

this bar feels tame for Weimar tbqh

wow it’s hard to pull off a grown man secretly sharing a magic trick with a little girl and have it not be creepy, but this isn’t! I mean not quite up to the magical Lee Pace and Catinca Untaru in The Fall levels, but what is

wow hey Gereon’s a regular dancin’ Donald O’Connor! a delightful surprise!

this hat omg

Episode 2

honestly, this show looks good. this show is not ostentatiously expensive it’s just high quality. here’s just some of the teams that must be excellent to pull off good looking period shows: production design, location scouts, producers, carpenters, props dressing, costumes, hair and makeup, lighting, CINEMATOGRAPHY. early Davies Doctor Who, for instance, couldn’t afford all this and also its (still not expensive, clearly) CGI, which is why it looks like it does. but this show spent a ton of money because it wanted to look like HBO. Germany what’s up! you guys trying to get in the game? I love it.

okay let me try to comb out this plot in my head: dramatic bitch possible crime boss in the octopus restaurant and dubious mental health doctor wanted the pornographer to destroy a certain video, which he did not destroy, because he was trying to sell it and make a profit. Gereon Rath also knows about and wants this video, and came to Berlin from Cologne to get it, keeping this on the DL from the local police force. the current location of the video: UNKNOWN. everyone’s reasons for all this: UNKNOWN. well except pornographer, who was just trying to make a buck. anyway, odds that the video is political in nature: HIGH.

also haven’t mentioned yet: love you Tom Tykwer, even though your name is spelled impossibly

how long until I just have to look up how teeny tiny this actor is

the answer is right now, and he’s too European to be on celebheights.com! I do not believe 5’8” Google, nein, that’s how tall Tom Hardy is and even though this guy weighs but a whisper, is he really that far over 5’7”?

the film is kompromat isn’t it

oh no my crumbly biscuit can’t handle this!

Dutch angle! woozy tipping ones

don’t go on the FLOOR of a MEN’S BATHROOM my gal!

note to self to ask Dr. Jen about the way his PTSD is manifesting. update Jen says: tremors extremely common, tremors so extreme that they almost resemble a seizure not so much, but could be exacerbated by whatever drugs they have him on, which are likely to be giving him withdrawal symptoms too if he doesn’t take them for a while. update update: differing frequency of severe shaking in traumatized German solders versus their British counterparts, holy very fuck

“Am I wrong here or is it you?” incredible line, god who speaks German is this incredible in German too

oh tight his name is actually old and weird! Thank u for this. Sincerely, Non-German Audiences

I love that she’s very glamorous and he looks like a Charles Dickens street urchin

hey that went fine with the boss’ boss actually. and yes we were right about the political blackmail.

my version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show is singing out “Spanish Fluuu!” in time with European characters after 1918

ohhh alright, it’s Catholics sticking together, here’s the bond

wait is this Alexey’s room? lol

Rabbit boy. Rabbit boy!

I’d have left Kaiser as Kaiser, instead of going with “Emperor” for the translation. pretty sure that still scans even in American, yeah?

yeah, now Alexey is definitely not going to be needing that room again. was the landlady counting on this??

oh now here we go

holding out your hand to someone to dance, earnestly: “It has to be you.” GR9 LINE

“Ah, Saint Gereon From Cologne!” everyone loves my weird grim medieval boy with the shivers

…does he give the pharmacist confiscated porn in exchange for medication. yay I love Berlin

hah, punchline set-up from the previous episode!

aw that would have been a fantastic moment for a reveal that the blond twink is gay, but maybe next time

oh the dramatic octopus man is here!

!! the person who sold out Alexey is a female drag performer yes?!! same silhouette!

god I love Weimar Berlin

Josephine Baker homages!

this is full tilt incredible. everyone a) knows this song, b) knows a coordinated DANCE

definitely we need to return to the world where acrobatic male dancing is what gets the ladies

wait…omg is this the Russian revolutionary with the theremin, did she sell out her own boy???

aw, Charlotte…sorry this is how you’re making money girl

shoot unless you enjoy it, because you’re a dom??

dang the second episode is really going for it!

NEAT FROZEN DANCE MOMENT

aw man dude but now you’re gonna get like, so many diseases

TO BE CONT’D!

***

Weimar Watchnotes

#Weimar Watchnotes #Babylon Berlin Blogging #Babylon Berlin #Babylon Berlin spoilers #Tarra takes notes #television

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dicax-scholar · 5 years

Text

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas!!!

Hi there, awesome people!

Around this time a year ago, I decided to create this blog. I was having a hard time creating an icon and a banner but in the end I barely managed to do so. Then came content, I reblog all the time but my original posts are lacking. Then I go missing for 4 months... But I have 577 followers????!!!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME????!!!!!! YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

I have absolutely no idea what 577 people have liked about this blog but I am truly thankful and very sorry for not giving you guys some quality original content and being so inconsistent in my posting habits. I apologize for being inactive for months and then reblogging something every other second and then going missing again.

So, I’ve decided it’s time for a revamp. This new year, I’ll be having a new theme, a new username, a new icon and banner and more importantly some actually good original content. I admit I’m going to miss the awesome icon that @wallpaper-hetalia created for me (after I had failed to create a decent one for the third time). Thank you sweetie, not only is the icon amazing but you also created it suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper fast!

Thank you to all the amazing people out there reading this and sorry again. If you have any suggestions on what you would like to see on this blog, comment please.

Again, Merry Christmas!!

See ya!

(The pics are from my house. Sorry for the terrible photographing skills.)

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harmoniaroyallineage · 6 years

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Bitter Cold (Oneshot #7)

((Okay so there waaaaas one pic that was going to be here but I need to postpone adding it as I am having some issues with it. I wanted ya’ll to see what I was proud of so I am going to hold off until it is the quality I want. I hope you understand :) ))

As he stepped foot in the Giant Chasm, he could understand Zinzolin’s hatred for the cold.

The col was unbearable and he was shivering but he needed to do this. He only had so much time before his flawed consciousness came back.

He released his Hydregion who upon seeing her trainer, nuzzled him and embraced him.

“Ghetsis, it’s too col-” Virma started but she was stopped as Ghetsis slammed his cane down. Ice shard scattered and skated across the icy cavern.

“Not another word. When the time comes, you will fight Kyurem. You were made for this, do not fail me,” he ordered. She lowered her head and whined.

“Yes, Ghetsis…” she whimpered. His lips curved up and he sent her back into her Pokeball. He navigated his way through pillars of ice. As he got closer to the center, he could feel the room grow colder. He gave a hiss as he felt his toes and fingers go numb. Maybe he should have came more prepared for the extreme conditions.

“Who is in my domain?” said a deep, booming voice. The icicles on the ceiling quivered as the voice spoke.

Perfect.

Ghetsis rushed into the voice’s view and he laid his eyes upon the legendary dragon, Kyurem.

“T’was I, King Ghetsis of House Harmonia!” he shouted, throwing his arms out. At the mention of his house, Kyurem’s head perked up. He descended down from his icy pedestal and stood behind the king. He lowered his head and narrowed his eyes.

“The last time a Harmonia stepped into the Giant Chasm, she faced my wrath. I made it very clear that none of you can fix your ancestors’ mistake. You cannot put us together again so it is no use fixing what is already broken.” His head was now at Ghetsis’ side, teeth bared. The Harmonia king turned toward the dragon of legend and smiled.

“Ah, then consider it a blessing that I am not here for such a trivial thing,” Ghetsis replied. Now Kyurem was interested. Was it really sincere? Would he finally receive the peace and quiet he wished for?

“I ask for you to assist me in the freezing of all of Unova. I want to show them that I am to be feared!”

Of course not.

However, Kyurem felt...off. He swore he could hear a small, meek voice out there, pleading, begging, crying...Kyurem stood up straight and let out a growl.

“What a pitiful, disgusting existence you have,” the dragon said. Ghetsis let out a cruel laugh, covering his mouth. One must keep their manners.

“I simply got rid of my flaws! I am now the perfect human being!” he chirped. Kyurem shook his head.

“Humans were born to make mistakes. When you were born, you were expected to make error. Perfection and humanity do not go hand in hand. To claim you are perfect is a flaw in itself. The world is not black and white, King Harmonia. It is a scale of greys.”

Ghetsis froze. Did this hunk of ice just really claim that he, Ghetsis Harmonia, was flawed?! Never! The pitiful little voice in his head was suppressed! Of course he was perfect! He slammed the cane down and screamed at the Boundary Pokémon.

“Enough from you! Do you understand how hard I worked to get where I am?! I AM PERFECTION and I refuse to let disposable material like yourself tell me that I am not! If you do not cooperate, then I will use force!” He panted after his little rant. Kyurem let out a low growl.

“Then so be it. Let me rid this region of their terrible king.”

“Do it! Kill me! You would never!”

Once the words slipped out of his lips, he bit his hand hard. His eyes widened and he sunk to his knees. He smacked his lips, relishing in the metallic taste he had grown accustomed to. He looked at his black gloves.

Black gloves? That wasn’t right. He looked up to see Kyurem’s mouth wide open, ice gathering into what might become the move Glaciate. Kyurem was...so tall. Very tall. So, so tall...

What was going on? Nothing was making sense. Where did Kyurem go? He was gone. Where was the Giant Chasm? He was in a cream colored room. There was a tall figure before him. It was dark with bits of pink and red. He inched closer. It opened its mouth. Why was his heart pounding? Why couldn’t he just get up and go? He felt numb all over his body.

He heard a faint sound. A voice yet he could not make out the words. He was too focused on the figure. He reached out to touch it but it raised its arm. It was short and stubby. It opened up, revealing something sharp.

There was the voice again. Clearer now. It sounded like they were scared.

“-get up! Cryogonal, use Protect!”`

Ghetsis blinked and a flash of purple zoomed by him. His eyes followed the purple. It was Zinzolin and his shiny Cryogonal. The Crystallizing Pokémon let out its cry and created a transparent barrier between them and Kyurem. The dragon let out a mighty roar and released all of its power into Glaciate. Zinzolin didn’t even flinch as the freezing blast assaulted the barrier.

Surely, he had to be dreaming.

Despite his body feeling as if it had frozen over, he knew someone was touching him. He looked up to meet the chocolate eyes of Virgil Gropius.

Yes, he had to be dreaming.

“Do not be stupid,” Virgil warned. “We cannot fight, only flee.” He got up and pulled Ghetsis up. Zinzolin scowled.

“Fine,” he growled. He lifted up Ghetsis’ other side and the two began to run out the cavern. It was not an easy task considering Ghetsis’ size and the fact the floor was covered in slippery ice. Kyurem roared once again and gave chase, every single footstep causing ice to crack and icicles to fall from the ceiling. They did not stop running however. They had one job and that was to get Ghetsis out alive.

As they kept going through winding paths, they could finally see the light. Zinzolin, eager to see the snowy outsides, lost his footing and slipped on the ice. Virgil stopped but the sage motioned for him to keep going.

“Don’t stop! Just get out!” he yelled. Virgil nodded, threw Ghetsis onto his back and just did that. Right at Virgil made it outside, Kyurem used Icy Wind on the entrance. Now Zinzolin was sealed in a cold cave with a deadly ice dragon. Oh the things he did for Ghetsis…

“S-Stay back!” he coughed out. He scooted backwards. Kyurem approached and leaned his head in. The growl the dragon let out shook the sage’s entire body.

“I said stay back!” he yelled. He reached into his coat and pulled out a brand new shiny Master Ball. Kyurem immediately grimaced and moved back, eyeing the ball.

“Yeah! That’s right! Now open this cave!” he ordered. To his dismay, Kyurem gave him the cheek and moved further away. He gasped and ran after the dragon.

“Wait! How about a deal!?” Zinzolin asked. Kyurem stopped, pondered for a moment before turning around. His expression was less than amused.

“If...if I keep Ghetsis away from you, will you release me and promise to not take out your anger on anyone else?” Arceus, he felt like he was talking to a wall. Kyurem continued to stare. He seemed like he wanted more.

“...I’ll do my best to keep all Harmonias away,” he bargained. Now Kyurem seemed pleased. He gave a small nod. The sage grinned.

“Good! I’m glad we could come to an agreement! Now please open the entrance!” he requested. Kyurem stomped over to the entrance and with a single swipe, the ice shattered. Zinzolin gave a thumbs up but the Boundary Pokémon had a strict look.

“What?! You can trust me! I said I’ll do what I can to stop it from happening!” he said. Kyurem let out a low rumble and walked away. Zinzolin watched as the glowing yellow eyes disappeared between the darkness and ice pillars. He stepped outside to find Virgil with two of the Triad members. Virgil noticed the sage’s entrance and sighed.

“Oh thank Arceus you are safe. One of the Triad members already took Ghetsis. Let us go now. I know how much you hate the cold.”

Ghetsis woke up to Virma’s excessive whining. He groaned and opened up his eyes.

“Virma, please quiet do-” He paused as he recognized his bedroom’s grey walls. He ripped off the sheets to see him dressed in his nightshirt, gloves and socks. He moved his arms an-

Wait.

He moved his left arm. Fine.

He moved his right arm.

It was fine as well.

He gripped it and stared in shook. All his life, moving his right arm would cause him severe pain. He turned it, twist it and moved it in circles. Nope! Not even an ounce of pain! A large smile was now plastered on his face. Virma rested her head on her trainer’s lap.

“Ghetsis?” she said softly. Ghetsis chuckled and held his Hydregion’s head in his hands.

“Oh my dear Virma. Now I can hug you without pain,” he said. She gave a toothy grin and gave his face a large lick.

Knock, knock.

“Come in,” Ghetsis called out as he continued to caress Virma. The door opened, revealing Zinzolin. He was in his traditional purple robe and his lilac locks were tied back into a ponytail.

“I am sor-” Ghetsis began but Zinzolin raised his hand.

“I know and I forgive you.” He walked over to the bed and sat on the edge. The sage was silent before handing Ghetsis a Pokeball.

“Your...father wanted you to have her,” he said, speaking with a soft voice. Ghetsis raised an eyebrown and opened the Pokeball. Out came out a Vulpix cub. The king stared at the fox Pokémon before cradling her in his arms.

“You got frostbite so he left her so you could have a constant heat source,” he explained. “He wanted me to tell you he wished to speak when you are ready.”

Ghetsis gave a small smile. He rubbed the cub’s belly with his index finger. She yipped, grabbed his finger and suckled on it. What a wonderful gift she was.

“I am going to name her...Blaise,” he said. “I will consider it but first, mistakes must be fixed. I have to compensate Phi, your alternative, my alternative....” He held Zinzolin’s face.

“Please retrieve my children. I must apologize to them first. We shall talk more later,” he ordered. Zinzolin nodded and to his surprise, Ghetsis hugged him.

“...You are the best sages and advisors that I could ever ask for. You are important to me.” With a pat on the back, he nudged Zin toward the door. He lied back down and wrapped himself in the soft black blankets.

“I need to abuse my sick days,” he snickered. Zinzolin chuckled.

“Alright, Ghetsis. Get as much sleep as you need,” he said. He shut the door and Ghetsis cuddled his sheet. It was over. It was finally over. However, a twinge of regret throbbed in his heart. How many relationships did he damage? How many did he scare into submission? He huffed. No. Don’t think like that. That was not you. That was its doing.

Blaise mewled and curled up to rest right next to her new Trainer. His lips curled up. She had the right idea. He yawned and cuddled the fox Pokémon. He stared at her and shook his head.

“Forgiveness will not be easy. However, if he wishes to go down a path of redemption and reconciliation, I will disregard my grudge and let him back in my life.”

#Ghetsis Harmonia #oneshot #m!a: the megalomaniac #zinzolin #virgil gropius #art tag #((Kyurem altogether is a wreck omg))#m!a end #((I also rewrote the whole climax))

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aidyjamespokemon · 6 years

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Mr. Self-Destruct: Card of the Day #3

Like many of you, I’m still on a high from this past prerelease weekend. It’s one thing to read new cards in spoilers, but it’s another thing entirely to play with them! I enjoyed playing with many cards in my prerelease kit, but no card surprised me more than this guy. Some cards generate hype straight away. Others are terribly underrated. I still remember how people disparaged Buzzwole-GX on first glance; we know how that went! This card almost certainly fits in the latter camp. When this card was spoiled, it attracted the ire of many. However, those detractors seem to be changing their tune after playing with it, singing its praises loud and proud. Personally, I thought this card would be good from the moment I first saw it. However, I didn’t expect it to be the absolute powerhouse it’s turned out to be. In fact, I’m more than willing to bet that no card from Celestial Storm will surprise people more than today’s Card of the Day: Electrode-GX. (Once again, I had to take a pic of the card myself, so I apologize for the quality of the image!)

Stats

Off the bat, things don’t look so good for Mr. Self-Destruct here - 190 HP is terribly low for a Stage 1 GX. Although, 190 and 180 are worlds apart from one another, as we have already seen in dominant Basic GX Pokémon such as Ultra Necrozma-GX, Buzzwole-GX, and Lapras-GX. Being able to tank a 2 Psychic Energy Photon Geyser is very useful indeed. Of course, a Choice Band could easily ruin its day, but it would be equally bad news for it if it had 210 HP like most benchmark Stage 1 GX Pokémon. It is, however, worth remembering that a baseline Prismatic Burst hits for 190 damage - a OHKO on Electrode-GX. I could recommend Bodybuilding Dumbbells in this situation, but Electrode-GX doesn’t exactly have any long-term plans, as you’ll see later.

While being Lighting type affords Electrode-GX a lot of support (especially in the next set, Lost Thunder), the weakness to Fighting types that usually comes with it (including in the case of Electrode-GX) is problematic. Its resistance to Metal and its single energy retreat cost are certainly no reprieve from a weakness to an extremely common type, but they’re perfectly fine. That resistance in particular prevents a Choice Banded baby Celesteela (yesterday’s Card of the Day!) from scoring a OHKO, which is nice.

Ability

Extra Energy Bomb: Once during your turn (before your attack), you may attach 5 Energy cards from your discard pile to your Pokémon, except Pokémon-GX or Pokémon-EX, in any way you like. If you do, this Pokémon is Knocked Out.

There’s nothing Electrode loves more than blowing itself up to energize its teammates since the very beginning with its Buzzap ability in Base Set! Of course, the caveat here is that Electrode-GX (just like its forebearer, Electrode ex) gives your opponent two prizes when it knocks itself out. It’s a high risk, high reward ability: you get to attach 5 energy from your discard pile onto any of your non-EX/GX Pokémon in any way you like.

Sometimes, it’s the words that aren’t there that tell you everything: note the lack of a “basic” qualifier in that ability. Indeed, with Special Charge and Puzzle of Time leaving Standard shortly, this will be the most efficient means of retrieving special energy cards from the discard pile. As Zorua isn’t a GX yet and Multi Switch is a thing, there are ways and means of getting these special energy cards onto your GX Pokémon that need them.

The main abuser of this ability that immediately comes to mind is Rayquaza-GX, as it doesn’t care where the energy cards are - it just cares about them being somewhere on your bench. It’s also a good idea to have a Vikavolt ready to attack, if you’re running that particular Rayquaza variant. Tapu Koko-GX can also make rude use of some of these energies, pilfering them with its ability.

Also, I love cards with internal synergy. The way this ability works with Electrode-GX’s Crush & Burn GX attack is as elegant as it is powerful.

Attacks

[L][C] Electro Ball: 50

It’s better to have 50 damage for 2 energies than nothing, I guess. It won’t be scoring a OHKO on anything but the smallest basics, but it’s there if you need it.

[L][C] Crush and Burn GX: 30+ damage. You may discard as many Energy as you like attached to your Pokemon in play. If you do, this attack does 50 more damage for each Energy card you discarded in this way. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)

I love cards that have internal synergy - a one card combo, if you will. Electrode-GX’s game plan is fairly straightforward to work out: you use Crush and Burn to discard energies, then you use Extra Energy Bomb or other means to redistribute them however you wish.

It’s a great attack in its own right, too. Discarding 3 energies yields 180 damage - a magic number in the current metagame that scores a OHKO on many basic GX Pokémon. 4 energies are all that’s required to OHKO almost anything. On a conventional discard-fueled attack, this sacrifice would be rather steep. Being able to discard energy from any Pokémon on your side of the field feels a lot less hefty.

Unlike Electrode-GX’s Extra Energy Bomber ability, Crush & Burn GX doesn’t discriminate; even GX Pokémon can give their energy to the cause. Even if they can’t benefit from it in the end, it’s nice to see GX Pokémon giving their part to wealth redistribution!

Synergy

As I mentioned earlier, Rayquaza-GX instantly springs to mind as a partner for Electrode-GX, even if it can’t make the most of Extra Energy Bomber itself. Post-rotation, Rayquaza-GX won’t have Max Elixir as a means of energy acceleration, so it will require a little help from Vikavolt, Magnezone FLI, or Latias Prism Star. Vikavolt and Magnezone can make use of the energies from Extra Energy Bomber, but Latias can hold it, if needs be - whatever gets the numbers up for Rayquaza-GX.

Of course, Extra Energy Bomber doesn’t care how the energy cards got into the discard pile, so any means of discarding them - Ultra Ball, Mysterious Treasure, TV Reporter, Sophocles, Acro Bike, etc - will work. In a “Magical Christmas Land” scenario (let’s be realistic here), you can fire off a 180 damage (or greater) Dragon Break on turn 2. Indeed, if you manage to knock out an opposing GX after this maneuver, you’ll be at prize parity with a great board position.

Another “high risk, high payoff” interaction is a little less obvious. Reducing your opponent’s prize total seems counter-intuitive, but energizing your Ultra Beasts and turning your Beast Rings and your Ultra Beasts’ prize total requirements on can enable some truly degenerate turns. I’m intrigued and excited to try an Electrode-GX Beast Box deck, to say the least.

Counters

Electrode-GX’s frailty and weakness to Fighting type Pokémon is quite a problem for it. Any deck looking to utilize it should have a means of dealing with key fighting types like Lycanroc-GX, Zygarde-GX, and - of course - either Buzzwole variant. For this reason, I would recommend using Electrode-GX as an enabler in a deck where the main attacker is not vulnerable to Fighting types.

Ability lock can also be an issue. While Garbotoxin will be leaving with rotation, Glaceon-GX’s Freezing Gaze can prevent Extra Energy Bomber from being used. Of course, a quick Guzma or Crush & Burn GX to the face can sort that problem out, provided that there isn’t another Glaceon-GX ready to take up the mantle. Even without its ability, Crush & Burn GX makes Electrode-GX a powerful one-off nuke.

In Conclusion

Sometimes, a card can look great on paper, then end up impotent in practice. For Electrode-GX’s, the opposite has been the case. When it was first spoiled, almost every reaction I saw was negative or indifferent. At prerelease, I heard many groans when an Electrode-GX was pulled - and I was one of those people who pulled one. When people used it, they quickly put 2 and 2 together and realized its potential for constructed formats. I’ve never seen such a near unanimous change of heart in such a short period of time. Some players will be put off by the high risk involved with running Electrode-GX. Those who dare to experiment with it will be rewarded handsomely, however they end up utilizing this versatile card. I can’t wait to build some decks with Electrode-GX. Dare I say - it’s going to be a blast! ...I’ll get my coat.

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dramarising-replacement · 6 years

Photo

it’s 100% ok to like it (obvi) but there’s SO many objective mistakes here; this person’s clearly a beginner (i included another pic by them just to help highlight some of their technical issues):

shitty wobbly lineart that doesn’t even connect (this can be done well, but again, this person isn’t very experienced so the execution’s awful)

random airbrushing everywhere overtop of quick inconsistent hard-edged brushstrokes, the combination of which looks terrible

inconsistency out the ass, see: the size & shape of swirls, the width of the tongue, the thickness of the lineart (the biggest problem being that they made the wing(?)’s lineart the thinnest when it should be the thickest since it’s the closest to the viewer)

shit cropping, aka like 50% of the image is negative space, mostly because they felt the need to write the name so huge (huge cursive writing, by the way, another common thing seen in beginner digital artists as they play with how fluid the default brushes can be. btw i’m like 90% certain these are all SAI default brushes, not that there’s anything wrong with that but it’s more evidence that they’re new to this)

they shaded with black and highlighted with white, something that should be avoided 99.99% of the time unless you’re very aware of color theory/values/etc. and know how to make it work

boring and stiff-looking pose, symbol drawing everywhere, shading seems completely random (is the black supposed to be shadows? if yes they’re placed willy-nilly and if not why is it there except to muddy up the color palette)

overall this is babu’s first SAI drawing in which the artist seemed to really try for some kind of minimalist style but fell into too many pitfalls due to inexperience. i suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder but there’s so many objective flaws with this that, to me, there’s no defending the quality

(p.s. i apologize for being an asshole LOL but iirc the fr twitter has rt’d something by them before and i hated that one too so i had some salt spurring that (and this) post— i can at least say the colors look nice together, barring the black&white shading, but something tells me they colorpicked directly from the site’s art)

#petty #submission

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sleepytoycollection · 7 years

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SpacePops: A Review Part 2

Part 1: Here

Well, here I am again, this took me longer to get around to than I intended, but hey, I had four times as many dolls to look at. Not to mention how much drawing I’ve been doing for my main blog lately, so yeah I’ve been busy.

Anywhoozle, as my first review can tell you, I found my Luna doll to have a certain amount of charm through all her cheapness, and if you can still find one from your local TRU; you might be lucky enough to snag them for round $2 bucks each as I did. And I def recommend getting one if you can, if nothing else for a nice, articulate spare body and some MH sized shoes. Just don’t let your self pay for than $5 for one. They’re not that fun.

I was lucky enough to manage to get a hold of all five characters, so let’s see how they measure up to Luna. To avoid being too repetitive I’ll try to focus on their unique features only.

Let’s start with Rhea:

Rhea was actually the one I liked the best from her art work. I mean look at it, she looks amazing here, the boots, thigh high stockings, the layers, gloves and chains would’ve made for an amazing doll of the effort had been put in.

I won’t ramble forever about the what-ifs, but it’s just so much of a punch to the stomach to know we’ll never see the real potential these had realized.

I’m not gonna go through the all the profiles, but if anyone’s interested I could scan them in for better visibility.

Gremlin #2.

Getting her out of the box, the first thing that struck me was her hat.

And I mean that literally as there was nothing helping it attach to her head. Much as I’m grateful these dolls lack those plastic ties shot into their heads that mattel’s become so fond of; I don’t think a rubber band would’ve too much to ask for.

Here she out of the box:

She’s...something.

After how much Luna has surprised me by simply being less bad than I feared; Rhea on the other hand was everything I’d worried these girls would be.

Her hair is terrible, it’s the cheapest, nastiest of all the dolls, it’s literally the same stuff the Midnight magic dolls used. It had a gross, greasy feel and wants to pull away from the scalp if I dare try to run a comb through it.

Ugh. On top of that, it became quickly clear I’d gotten a Rhea with a defective hand. Instead of the normal back and forth movement almost every other doll has, she’s got side to side movement.

Except, her hands still have the dents in the molding indicating it’s not meant to turn that way. I’m at a loss. I really can’t tell how this happened, or how her hand isn’t falling off.

It could’ve been worse in that regard, but there’s not many good uses for side to side movement that look natural.

At this point I’d only opened the one doll prior, and so was extremely worried I’d simply gotten lucky with Luna.

sigh.

Her outfit is super cheap, made cheaper looking by how complex a design they were trying to emulate. It’s all one piece and gives the impression of a store bought Halloween costume in miniature.

I will grant however, all the dolls having their name on their tag is cute.

But it’s a wasted detail on something this cheap. The black band on her waist is a sort of flimsy, felt-like material, and the knit of her shorts is thin. I feel like I could easily tear a run in it if I pull just a little too much, especially being unhemmed as they are.

She’s got a slight blue tint to her pale complexion, as you can see her here next to Catrine.

The socks are made of paint, and I’d have rather they be left off entirely. Her left knee also doesn’t bend, and I have not been able to fix it yet.

As you can imagine, after Rhea I lost a lot of energy for these girls. She was the doll I’d wanted the most, and was just disappointing in every way, despite me already having incredibly low standards.

Still, I was going to have to open these girls up eventually. So this time I decided to go for the design I’d liked the least with Athena:

Every time I look at her dress I can’t help but think of the Flintstones. Not in a cute way either.

It’s like if, after their crossover, a member of the Jestons universe tried to make a fashion version of their cave clothing as a cheap cash in, and just doesn’t work for me that much. Maybe it’s partly the colors used.

It’s a little better art wise, but eh. Maybe if she wasn’t he same color as Rhea..?

Blah blah profile.

Gremlin #3.

Despite my opinions on her look, out of the box she struck me as a pleasant increase in quality if nothing else. Nothing falling off, no visible defects.

It was around this time tho I was starting to realize there seemed to be a decided aversion to hair gel. Her spiked updo’ is translated as a short ponytail here.

Can’t say I mind too much, but lack of gel means her hair gets pulled pretty easily, especially where her glasses are. She’s got nothing on Gilda Goldstag that’s for sure.

Her tie is made of the same cheap fuzzy stuff Rhea’s belt was made of, for that matter her gold belt is the only new fabric type here.

But to my great surprise her skirt has a separate over lay!

And it’s even lined, I’ll admit it improved my opinion of her a good bit. It feels sturdy.

Her netted sleeve too is competently made.

..but left a stain on her arm.

With out the overlay her outfit looks a bit less flinstone-y, so I’m just gonna leave it off.

Under her dress she has some pink tights, which I appreciate as they become less and less common in the doll world. Even if it makes me wonder why Rhea couldn’t have had socks. Just one of those things I guess.

Her glasses are held in neatly with, of all things, the help of tiny plastic bobby pins!

!!! I’m sorry but that’s adorable, tiny pins! And they work! Amazing.

Her hair is the same quality as Luna’s, thank goodness, and is easy enough to brush out.

But to my dismay, her glasses don’t fit her face. If you put the arms over her actual ears, they set waayyyy too low. I can’t get them to twist so the bridge will set on her nose. But if I place them high enough so the lens can cover her eyes, they get stuck from her head being too wide and wont’ touch her face.

That said, I like the shape and look of these, and I’m sure I have plenty of other dolls who can rock them. But it doesn’t say much for your line if your accessories can’t be used for the doll they were made to be used on.

Still, Athena was a huge improvement to my energy for these girls, so let’s hop over to Hera.

I wanna take a sec to apologize for the quality of several of these pics, my camera’s very old and staring to kick the bucket.

Hera’s pretty cute, if you like Draculaura. Which I do. The fact the lime green specifically reminds me of Snow Bite, which is my fav version of Ula helps make it a pleasant comparison.

Gremlin #4.

Yay! A different fabric! And hemming! It’s a dream come true~

Now if only I had the same excitement over her hair.

It’s the standard for these dolls tbh, but being curled has not agreed with it. I’m kinda afraid to touch it. She’s got a head band in there, but it’s very hidden.

even if it wasn’t, it’s just a plain ribbon, no where near the flower crown of her art.

The dress is really the star here, of all the outfits so far it’s the one that feels the sturdiest, and no printed details.

Her tag.

Her tights are different fabric to the other ones we’ve seen. It’s not as stretchy, which is why you see it sagging around the knees. It’s the kind of netting you’d see as a tulle petticoat.

It looks alright, but it makes me concerned with how durable these would be in the long run.

Now,you may have noticed me not making any comments on the shoes. Well I have a very good reason for that:

They’re all the same. They reused the same shoe mold for all four of these girls, leaving only one who doesn’t have these heels.

That girl being of course, Juno.

She was my second favorite of all the girls when I saw their art all that time ago.

Aside from how much I love the colors used, she has pants! And a shaved head!

...And another Gremlin.

And last but not least, here she is:

Of all the girls, she’s the one who comes the closest to looking like her boxart.

So not too surprising her outfit is to be my favorite of the bunch.

She’s also the only one to use any kind of styling product. Fairly lightly, but it’s on there. Yet, despite how little there was used they still managed to get a good bit on her face.

Can’t have it all I suppose.

But the flocking looks good.

I also appreciate how she has the most unique face paint of all the ladies. It’s not much by usual standards, but with every girl using the same face mold, they can use all the differences they can get.

Without her Jacket you can bein to see just how had that top is, but she can put her hands in her pockets, so if there had to be a trade off, I’ll admit they made the right one.

Her jacket is nicely sewn, only her collar sporting an unfinished hem, but I don’t know how you’d really hem those jagged edges anyhow. It’s usable and looks alright.

Her boots tho, no complaints there. By Spacepop standards these are the best shoes you’ll ever see. By normal doll standards they’re still not bad.

I very serious when I say I love these pants. I feel like most of their clothing budget went into that fabric. Almost like someone was trying.

Sigh. But then you get this.

It’s garbage. The worst piece of all the clothing I’ve seen here, and there’s no way this would’ve held up to a child.

Now what else have I not covered..oh yeah. The gremlins.

They suck.

Like the shoes, the reused the same mold 4 times. Unlike the shoes, I never thought they were cute.

Only 1 dared to use a different mold, Athen’s gremlin:

...Who might be the only one that comes close to being endearing. The combo of a cute hair style, cute paint details, side glancing eyes, make Roxie almost a nice accessory.

Whew, well, now I’ve gone through everything I could think to talk about.

Having gone over every doll just cements that the execution of this line was a huge misstep on the part of Madame Alexander. Tho I can’t be sure.I get the impression they made these to compete with Monster High, but they company simply waited too long.

By 2016 MH was going into the reboot, and with Mattel’s sales and quality going down MA seemed to lost faith in these ladies and gave up before release. It’s a shame too, Maybe the weren’t the most original idea on the market, but They could’ve been a nice solid competition. Instead we got these; and it leaves me with a sense of melancholy the more I think about the ways things are going. With new lines and experiments coming to a standstill nowadays, doll collecting has been less and less exciting.

And now, less than a year after their debut Spacepops have gone the way of Pinkie Cooper and Novi Stars. In their own way, the last remnant of an era of collecting that’s now gone as styles shift to something else.

Still, I plan to have fun my new new set of ladies, I haven’t completely decided how far I’ll go, maybe leave them as-is for posterity. Their flat face ups have grown on me. Maybe I just miss the bright, harsher colors that are going out of style.

All that said, I bought a spare Athena to experiment with, so I’ll def have some follow ups with how these ladies look with a good repaint.

Anyway, I’m tired and out of thoughts for now. Hopefully you found this somewhat informative, and as always thanks for reading.

#doll review #spacepop #spacepop dolls

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