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twig-tea · 2 months

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With 23.5 finally coming out, the people are rejoicing at finally getting a high profile gl from GMMTV. But there have already been several gls airing this year, including my fav TsukuTabe, that have been flying under the radar with fandom, and in general there are more gls already out there than folks seem to think. I just know you have a list of all the gls we should be watching, please share with the class!

Thank you for the ask! How did you know I had a draft of GL recs to make at some point? [Trick question, I mentioned it to you.]

It may seem like I'm out here hating on GL because i've made a couple of negative reviews of recently airing series recently (Love Senior and Chaser Game W in case you're curious) but I actually have lots of GL that I love and that I wish were better known! Thanks for sending this ask so I am inspired to actually finish it! I've limited myself to series so that I could keep the list and this post to a reasonable length. Where possible I've listed where you can find each of these and included a link. And I've included an 'elevator pitch' summary but I am NOT in marketing for a reason, so please don't roast me too hard for my terrible comparisons. Alright, enough waffling!

Twig's GL Rec List

She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat S1 & 2 (Japan, 2022 & 2024, both seasons fansubbed by @furritsubs; if you need help accessing this show feel free to DM me!)

Elevator pitch: Our Dining Table with lesbians and an even slower burn. Watch for beautiful food, acespec rep, mental health and therapy rep

What might turn some off: Extremely low heat, and quite slow-moving; warning for a disordered eating and family trauma plot (v gently handled)

Let's start with the one you've already mentioned. This is a heartwarming slice-of-life slow burn in which an autismspec-coded woman who likes to eat is invited by her neighbour, a femme acespec woman who loves to cook, to come and eat her food. It starts from a very practical place (when you love making food you need someone to help eat it), but their relationship grows as they spend more time together. The story follows them as they both move towards self-actualization in several ways: as a lesbian, as asexual, at work, with their families, with their friends, with each other. This show is so careful to say the important words aloud. And there is so much delicious cooking! Each episode highlights a particular recipe, and the food porn is real. Do not watch while hungry, but definitely watch. The found famiy vibes in this one one are also immaculate.

She Makes My Heart Flutter (Korea, 2022, YouTube)

Elevator pitch: Younger lesbian friend group tries to help out (slightly) older lesbian bar owner with mixed success. I can't think of a good BL equivalent, The Moment Since feels the closest with its similar bartender/patron romance

What might turn some off: Comedic tone; short runtime; struggles with being closeted

This is a gem of a miniseries about a bar owner and an interior designer who smoulder at one another while an intrepid group of younger bar regulars (including the bar owner's neice) meddle. This series is really cute, solid, and full of sapphics! Once again found family vibes are immaculate (you may sense a theme in my faves). Run don't walk.

Fragrance of the First Flower (Taiwan, 2021, GagaOOLala)

Elevator pitch: Right-person-wrong-time/second chance romance; tonally is a little like We Best Love 2: Fighting Mr. 2nd but with an ambiguous ending.

What might turn you off: Medium heat, second chance romance means they break up once, internalized homophobia, adultery/cheating, at one point there's a creepy dude, child with autism (depicted well), ambiguous ending

At its core this is a story of a woman who can't stop getting in the way of her own happiness. This series is a little more sad than the rest of this rec list but I couldn't not include it because this relationship is so poignant. Plus there's a s2 that supposedly is to come out in 2024 so maybe we'll get our happy ending after all?

Love Greater Than or Equal to 70 Degrees C (Korea, 2019, YouTube)

Elevator pitch: Ingredients but with lesbians staring at one another over beautiful tea pairings! What more could you ask for?

What might turn you off: Low heat; short runtime; ambiguous ending; like Ingredients this is essentially a long ad for the café it's filmed at.

This is a Korean miniseries about passionate tea sommeliers making really fancy tea while staring at one another a LOT. Perfect sapphic representation, 10/10 no notes. This one packs a lot of the drama tropes into its short runtime, so even though it's short it's full of butterfly-inspiring moments.

Sleep With Me (Philippines, 2022, GagaOOLala/iWantTFC/Netflix w/VPN set to Philippines)

Elevator pitch: The Truth About Cats and Dogs but the self esteem issues are handled without catfishing. BL equivalent: Hmmm. Closest I can think of is Gaya Sa Pelikula.

What might turn you off: There's some ableism (treated as such) in this show; Open ending.

Stellar GL between a late night radio DJ and an insomniac who listens to her show. One of the main couple is a wheelchair user and the show tackles ablelism and navigating disability in relationship as well as feelings of inadequacy in a relationship and how that manifests as interpersonal conflict.

Our Relationship Ended Before it Began (Korea, 2022, YouTube)

Elevator Pitch: Along the lines of I Cannot Reach You; the show gives both perspectives and they are held back by queer angst.

What might turn you off: No kiss (but they make it very clear both want to kiss), internalized homophobia

Really sweet miniseries about having a crush and being afraid of being hurt so you don't actually make a move. I really like the way the girl who has not dated a girl before defaults to gender roles and it throws the more experienced lesbian lol I also really like the way this show makes clear that both of them are waiting for a kiss, and that if you get in your head about things, it can get in the way of your own happiness!

Pearl Next Door (Philippines, 2020, Youtube)

Elevator Pitch: Gameboys but with lesbian vloggers.

What might turn you off: Love triangle, lots of teasing but low heat in the end, a lot of (good) conversations about mental health issues, ambiguous ending

This is the GL spinoff to Gameboys, starring Pearl from Gameboys. Pearl ends up being fought over by the two gorgeous women in the gif, an old love and a new. I love the queer friendships in this story as much as the relationships. I will say it's an open ending (that felt a bit like the showrunners didn't want to decide between ships) and definitely the love triangle features prominently but even in the face of these aspects that would normally turn me off a series I had a good time. The characters and interpersonal conflicts feel very real, and are allowed to be complex even when the show tone is comedic.

Dear Uranus (Taiwan, 2021, YouTube)

Elevator Pitch: Schoolgirl ensemble GL; a little like My School President but without the singing.

What might turn you off: Short runtime; ambiguous ending; a little bit of bullying; very standard romance trope execution

The first Taiwanese GL miniseries, this series was produced by a Taiwanese lesbian couple (Rabbit & Wolf)! Lots of excellent drama tropes, and incredibly gorgeous women (I think the entire watching audience fell in love with Erol.

Lily Fever (Korea, 2015, YouTube)

Elevator pitch: Complete crack; YYY but with more kissing and frankly an even less coherent story.

What might turn you off: The lack of coherent plot; less a romance and more a very thirsty lesbian kissing everyone she can

This miniseries is utter chaos. Nothing really makes sense, it's all just random excuses to cause very suggestive moments (and kissing) to happen. I love so much how this series depicts women being so absolutely thirsty for one another (and yes that date isn't a typo, this series is ~9 years old). Not an "happy ever after" ending but it really isn't that kind of story.

Chasing Sunsets (Philippines, 2020, YouTube)

Elevator pitch: Ocean Likes Me with lesbians. Resort romance with a mental health twist.

What might turn you off: Some of the mental health stuff gets intense, this was filmed in 2020 so the pandemic features heavily; hopeful but slightly ambiguous ending.

A complex story from the Philippines covering mental health and finding yourself. A woman shows up to a resort and befriends one of the women running the resort. They get closer as they spend time together, and the resort owner realizes something is off. There's also a BL side couple in this series.

Show Me Love (Thai, 2023, YouTube)

Elevator pitch: A little like My Day the series with lesbians, in that they work together and fall in love and it's full of tropes

What might turn you off: The advertising for the Miss Grand competition, there is some bullying and cheating (though way less than I was expecting tbh), not a lot actually happens, the editing gets a bit wonky at the end

This is essentially a massive ad for the Miss Grand Thailand competition; this GL was produced by the same company that produces that competition, and the stars are mostly Miss Grand competitors. The main pairing were shipped in the actual competition, and the company decided to make a GL about them. It's very slow paced and low-stakes, and there are better kisses than I expected considering everything I just said about where this show came from. There are a lot of cute moments!

Girlfriend Project (Korea, 2022, YouTube)

Elevator Pitch: Love Class with lesbians

What might turn you off: One of the leads is kind of mean in that pgitail-pulling way? It ends abruptly (but happily)

This is a short miniseries about two girls paired in a class that are assigned to "date". The chemistry is chemistrying. And there is a kiss (a good kiss, and a tiptoes kiss at that!). This show also has one of my favourite tropes, in which someone who seems like a pushover stands up for themselves and their partner finds it very attractive. For the record, in this show they are watching another GL by the same company, Love Tech.

Lulu (Philippines, 2022, Vivamax/grey)

Elevator Pitch: Present Perfect with lesbians (but with a better ending).

What might turn you off: Depictions of panic attacks, brief depiction of drowning, pandemic lockdowns, illness, exes, waffling, happy but open ending (which I actually liked for this story)

Two women trying to move on from the garbage in their lives meet at the beach of a B&B (where one saves the other from drowning) and become one another's company during their escape and then something more. They both have baggage that seems determined to keep them apart even as they continue to be drawn together. In the end, they decide to stick it out and see where they end up, with no guarantee of happily ever after, which I found very sweet. Requires either a VivaMax account or searching the grey for it, but it's worth the effort (check MyDramaList comments for suggestions on where to find it). Plus one of the leads has a cactus as a pet.

Welcome to the Lesbian Bar (Korea, 2023, YouTube)

Elevator Pitch: A little like Fudanshi Bartender but without the fudanshi bartender and all of the bar patrons are lesbians lol

What might turn you off: Short, can get a little bit preachy, abrupt ending

Cute short series with different very stories every episode as different patrons visit the bar. The stories range from women who have been together for awhile, to people meeting from an online app for the first time, to someone visiting a lesbian bar for the first time; and yet the story all weaves together in a way that's satisfying though ends abruptly. Includes some solid marriage equality propaganda.

GAP the Series (Thai, 2022, YouTube)

Elevator Pitch: Kind of the vibes of Together with Me but lesbians and in an office instead of school. Angry boss falls for charming new intern and

What might turn you off: This one is the highest heat of all these recs; homophobia especially amongst family, brief depictions of death by car, brief mentions of suicide, cheating, bullying, abuse of power in the office.

A list would not be complete without this one! Honestly the plot is a bit wobbly but the show is a lot of fun. The girls are very cute, the feelings and tension builds really well between them, the friend group is excellent, and in the special we get a wedding.

---

The rest of these have caveats of one kind or another, but i couldn't leave them off a rec list, so here are the side couples and censored stories that are still worth your time anyway (I might do a separate more detailed post for these, as well as for films, one day if there's interest):

Nevertheless (GL side; Korean, 2021, Netflix) Not sure it's worth watching a whole kdrama for side lesbians? Search soljiwan on youtube. They are great. Even the Netflix account stans them. I watched this (ngl, I watched the SolJiwan cut) as it aired and was constantly braced for it to let us down but it did not! A really good friends-to-lovers story.

Friend Zone 2: Dangerous Area (GL side; Thailand, 2019, YouTube): These sapphics are messy and I love them. Decent conversation about dating someone with mental health issues in this series, and they're one of the only couples in this ensemble to get a happy ending. If you're just watching the lesbian couple (which you can, their story is pretty self-contained) you don't need to have seen s1.

Six Survivors (GL side; Japan, 2022, Viki) This show is a horror comedy and it is SO MUCH FUN. Warning for zombies and blood, but way less than you might think. One of the eponymous 6 survivors is a lesbian who keeps trying to convert them to veganism lol. If you watched Chaser Game W you'll recognize one of the actresses in this, the lead actress is from Kamisama no Ekohiiki, and one of the guys is from the prequel series His as well as I Want to See Only You! And yes there is a kiss. Also a surprising number of Mallrats references. Not for people who can't handle gore or relationships being complicated/not a "true love" story/ambiguous ending.

Kamisama no Ekohiiki (complicated question of is it GL in parts, Japan, 2021, furritsubs once again coming through to save the day) This one is a bit complex because there's bodyswap, but the girl who falls for the bodyswapped boy-in-a-girl's-body is clear that she is only interested in the girl. One of the better bodyswap stories because the bodyswap is not a secret for very long, so instead there's a lot of introspection about what gender means and who/what they are attracted to. Feels wrong to call this GL, necessarily, but it's very queer.

Couple of Mirrors (Censored GL, China, 2021, Viki) Story of a rich girl and her assassin girlfriend. This production did an amazing job getting away with what they could, just don't watch the last five minutes and we've got essentially a happy lesbian family.

Legend of Yunze (Censored GL, China, 2021, @douqi7s) Very cute very low budget xianxia miniseries with two seasons and a special. The special is set in modern times in a future lifetime so if you want a cute censored-but-clearly-a-soulmate-love-story this is the one for you. Don't be thrown off by the weird cuts/abrupt episode endings, that's in line with cdramas in general.

Led Astray by Love (Censored GL, China, 2021, @douqi7s) A very fun and adorable isekai story in which a modern day girl is transported to a wuxia novel setting and has to figure out how to get home, and gets romanced by the princess along the way.

And a few additional links for people who even more content:

My Indian sapphic webseries rec list

My suggestions for content with toms (Thai category that's similar to but not exactly the same as butch lesbians) in response to this post.

This really good GL MyDramaList list (not made by me!) lists what seems to be everything I've mentioned and about 200 more. Even I haven't seen a few of these!

My YouTube playlist of sapphic content: This includes anything I stumble across or find in my searches, a lot of music videos and random shorts as well as some microseries and miniseries that I don't consider GL but are WLW/sapphic in addition to true "GL" content. For serialized content, I add just the first ep. A complete mess, but you can trawl through to find stuff to watch, like Hetero!

SOONOTSUE: The same producers of She Makes My Heart Flutter have other short series on their channel worth checking out; if you liked that one, try Out of Breath!

Shakeshoulder: Thai YouTube producers of very pulpy (read: low budget and dramatic plots) shorts

FuFuKnows: This YouTube channel is owned by a gay Taiwanese couple that produces shorts every week, including some with GL mains and sides. These are very low budget but cover a whole swath of queer themes.

@douqi7s is a godsend providing subtitles for all kinds of content, including sapphic shorts and more series than I've listed here. Check their tumblr for links to all of their content; A Practical Guide to Being a Superstar's Assistant has one of the best setups to giving us great moments in the guise of something else so that they get past censorship I've ever seen; I also recommend The Vampires if you're into genre fiction, as well as Legend of Yunqian if you enjoyed the xianxia parts of Legend of Yunze. @wlwcatalogue did an excellent summary of many of the non-wuxia options here.

Quick pitch for the streaming platform GagaOOLala; it's affordable, has a ton of content, including a whack of GLs (originals, license series, and a ton of shorts), and is run by queer people out of Taiwan who care about good quality queer content being made and having an audience, and using the soft power from those successful series to support social change. And if you can't afford a subscription it's worth checking out what they have for free, they open up temporary free access to some things for various events throughout the year.

In searching for gifs for this post I found fellow tumblr user @drowningparty 's WLW compendium list; they've listed more series and films so check it out if you still need more content!

*wipes sweat off brow* that should be enough to be getting on with, but it's really just the tip of the iceberg! If there's something specific you want to see with sapphics let me know and I can tell you if I know it exists. Anyway, I hope this gives you and everyone else a taste of what all is out there! I of course always want more, I am serious about being a sapphic dragon hoarding every crumb i can get my lizardy hands on, but I do think what we have should also be appreciated more. If I missed one of your faves, please tell me!

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dreamwritesimagines · 4 months

Text

The Eye of the Hurricane [2] - Silk

A.N: Here's the new chapter my loves! ❤️ I hope you'll like it, and please don't forget to tell me what you think, thank you! ❤️

Summary: Gifts can make good apologies.

Word Count: 3000

Warnings: Violence, death, guns, crime, blood, explicit language. This is an AU, friendly reminder that I don't condone any of the actions depicted on this story and please read with care.

Series Masterlist

Well, if the blood splattered on your face was any sign, tonight was not going the way you had planned it to go.

“This is lotus silk!” you snapped, still wiping at the blood on your face while you motioned at your dress with your other hand. “Do you have any idea how impossible it is to remove blood stains from silk?”

Bucky motioned at his men and they scattered along the bar, some approaching Steve’s men–the undying friendship between Bucky and Steve had its effect on people on their payroll as well, since they tended to hang out together— while the rest checked around the restaurant. You knew you were supposed to go to Ethan to make sure he was okay, but Bucky’s voice distracted you before you could even take a step.

“You’re welcome.”

“I know you’re not familiar with the idea of spending time with women who are not in your bed or have their clothes on,” you said through your teeth, running your hand over the blood stain. “But in case you forgot, when people wear nice things on a night out, they usually want to keep them nice—"

“Come on, we’re going,” he said, grabbing your arm and you yanked it back.

“No!”

“Charm…”

“I’m taking Ethan to the hospital, that’s where I’m going,” you said and he pulled his brows together.

“What?” he asked, “Who’s Ethan?”

“What happened here?!” Steve’s voice reached you and you turned to see him walk into the bar.

“Hi Steve.”

“Please tell me that’s not your blood because if it is, your father will end the truce just to put a bullet in my head.”

“It’s not my blood,” you said sulkily, “Not that it matters, because it’s never getting off.”

“Buck?”

“I was passing by when I got the news,” he said. “Came as soon as I heard.”

Steve looked around. “That man in the corner, he is one of the attackers?”

“Yeah,” you said and he nodded, then squeezed your shoulder in an assuring manner and approached his men. You huffed out and approached Ethan with Bucky following you.

“Hey, you okay?” you asked and Ethan swallowed thickly, then turned his head to take a look at the bleeding wound on his shoulder only to take a sharp breath.

“Okay, that’s a—that’s a bullet wound.”

“Congratulations, what is this your first time?” Bucky asked drily and you shot him a glare.

“Bucky!”

“What?” he asked. “It’s obviously not fatal, he’s being dramatic.”

“Hey, we’re taking the guy to the warehouse,” Steve said as his men dragged the only surviving attacker outside. “Charm, my men said you came without your usual bodyguards?”

“Yeah I ditched them.”

Bucky pinched the bridge of his nose while Steve cleared his throat.

“Alright, I’ll have someone drive you to your father’s house—”

“I can take her, it’s fine.”

“Did you fire the gun too close to your ear or something? I said I’m not going anywhere with you,” you growled at Bucky and turned to Steve. “I’m going to the hospital.”

“You said it wasn’t your blood.”

“I’m taking Ethan,” you pointed at Ethan who waved weakly at Steve with his free hand from where he was sitting.

“Hi.”

Steve blinked a couple of times. “…Hello?”

“Is anyone going to tell me who the fuck this dude is?”

“He’s my friend!” you snapped at Bucky and Steve tilted his head, then took a look at Ethan.

“I don’t think I saw you around before, what family are you loyal to?”

“My—mine?” Ethan tried, stealing a look at you as if asking for a clue. “I mean I couldn’t attend the last Thanksgiving but—”

“He’s a civilian Steve, we know each other from college.”

Steve raised his brows and Bucky’s eyes widened before he let out a chuckle.

“Wait, just so I’m clear,” he said. “You went on a date with a civilian outside your father’s territory without bodyguards?”

“It’s not a date.”

“Isn’t it?” Ethan asked, making your head whip around.

“Is it?”

“Unbelievable…” Bucky muttered. “Outside your father’s territory, Charm? Where are you going for the next date, a sinking ship?”

“A corn maze probably—”

“You don’t have to talk to him,” you told Ethan and he nodded.

“Sorry, it’s my first time getting shot so I’m not sure how it goes—” he paused for a moment. “Hey quick question, am I gonna die?”

“You’ll be fine, we will take you to the hospital,” you assured him while Bucky rolled his eyes.

“Do you go to the hospital for a papercut as well, Ethan?”

You groaned. “Steve, make him stop!”

“Guys it’s not the time for this,” Steve said, ignoring Bucky’s smug smirk. “Charm, how about this? We’ll take him to the hospital, give him the usual story, and Bucky will take you home. No offense, but I don’t want your father to rain hellfire here the moment he hears you were in a shootout.”

You pursed your lips and thought for a moment, then nodded.

“Fine.”

“Wait, what story?” Ethan asked and Bucky waved a hand in the air.

“Oh you know, the story you will tell the cops or else they will find you in a dark alley.”

“Ah,” Ethan said, stealing a look at you. “He’s joking right?”

“No he’s not,” you said, checking your phone. “Steve’s men will fill you in. Steve, the hospital in Sam’s territory is closer to here actually, it’s a ten-minute drive and I think Sarah is working tonight.”

“Okay,” he said, grabbing his phone. “I’ll let Sam know.”

“Come on princess,” Bucky said and you licked your lips.

“Ethan, they’ll take you to the hospital, is that okay?”

Ethan gave you a thumbs up and you shook your head slightly, then walked out of the bar with Bucky. One of his men opened the car door for you and you got in, fixing your dress and huffing out. Bucky got in as well, and the driver started the car.

You crossed your arms, stubbornly fixing your eyes on the window, watching the cars and buildings wheeze by while the car moved through the traffic. Your thoughts were spinning around in your head like a tornado while you tried to figure out who those men were and why they had attacked you at the risk of breaking the truce, especially considering that as far as everyone was concerned, you weren’t in the business. Your father had spent years keeping you out of it no matter how much you insisted to be a part of it, telling you that he didn’t want you in danger.

It hadn’t stopped him from making your cousin be a part of it though. Despite the fact that you were supposed to be the heir, he was the one who everyone assumed would take over once your father retired.

“You look beautiful,” Bucky’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts and you turned your head to shoot him a glare, making him heave a sigh.

“Charm…”

“You ruined my dress!”

He ran a hand over his face, his vibranium arm glimmering under the street lights you passed by for a moment.

“My deepest apologies for not paying attention to your dress while saving you.”

“I didn’t need saving, and it’s lotus silk!” you insisted. “Do you have any idea how many stores Becca and I had to visit until we found a nice dress?”

“Strangely enough, my sister doesn’t tell me about your adventures in shopping on a daily basis,” he deadpanned. “And I take it Becca knew you were going on a date with a civilian?”

“It wasn’t a date.”

“He thought it was a date,” Bucky pointed out. “Even while he was bleeding on the floor.”

“And what if it was a date?” you asked back and he shot you an almost chiding look.

“Civilians are a bad idea, Charm.”

A bitter smile curled your lips and you sat up straighter so that you could see him better.

“Oh good, I was just in the mood to get some romance advice from you,” you said. “Go on then. What does the perfect-heir-turned-boss think?

A shadow crossed his face for a second, but when he spoke his voice was completely calm.

“That you’re being too reckless.”

“What does it matter if I date a civilian or not?” you asked, almost daring him. “I’m not in the business, remember? Unlike you, I’m not going to get my family’s empire once my father decides to retire—”

“Aren’t you?” he cut you off and the sarcastic smile was wiped off of your face in a second, your heartbeat getting faster.

No way.

No God damn way.

“What are you talking about?” you asked, coaxing a small smile out of him. For perhaps the millionth time, you noticed just how handsome he was but the mere thought made you scowl.

Too bad he was an insufferable prick, handsome or not.

“Come on,” he taunted you. “We both know what I’m talking about.”

You paused for a moment, then turned your glances to the window to watch the road as the car reached the huge gates of your father’s estate. Bucky typed something into his phone, probably texting Steve, and you wiped at your face again just in case there was any dried blood before the car stopped by the huge mansion. The driver opened your car door and Bucky followed you as you climbed the marble stairs leading to the front door. You rang the doorbell, then bit at your fingernails.

“Miss,” the maid greeted you when she opened the door and you smiled at her.

“Hi Molly,” you said. “Where is my father?”

“In his office.”

“Thank you,” you said and nodded at Bucky so that he would come with you to the study. You knocked at the door and when you heard your father’s voice telling you to come in, you opened it.

“Hi daddy.”

“Hi sweeth—what happened?!” he stood up from his seat behind his desk and quickly made his way to you. Bucky closed the door behind you as you looked down at your poor dress, then shook your head when your father made his way to you to check you for injuries.

“It’s not my blood,” you said quickly. “Don’t worry.”

“Who did this?” your father asked, anger apparent in his voice as he turned to Bucky. “When did this happen? Bucky?”

“Arthur,” Bucky greeted him. “I wanted to come and give you the news myself, just in case. She’s completely fine—”

“Albeit very annoyed,” you interrupted him and Bucky repressed a smile.

“And very annoyed as you can see.”

“My dress is ruined,” you grumbled and Bucky rolled his eyes.

“I’ll ask the next guy who holds you at gunpoint to take a couple of steps back before I blow his brains out, I promise.”

“Much appreciated,” you snarked back but your father raised a hand, motioning at you both to stop.

“At gunpoint—what happened?” he said. “Who broke the truce?”

“No one,” Bucky said. “I assure you. It happened in Steve’s territory, but they were not Steve’s people. We left one of them alive, he took him to the warehouse to question him.”

Your father ran a hand over his face.

“Steve’s territory?” he asked before turning to you. “Sweetheart, what were you doing in Steve’s territory?”

“I um…” you stumbled over your words. “I—you know, that’s actually a funny story—”

“Becca likes the cocktails there,” Bucky cut you off. “You two were going to meet there, right Y/N?”

You stared at him for a couple of seconds, then cleared your throat and nodded fervently.

“Yeah!” you said, turning to smile at your father. “Uh huh. Me and Becca.”

“Without bodyguards?”

“We wanted a girl’s night out,” you said, making your father shoot you a look. “Alright fine, before you give me yet another one-hour long speech about being careful, I’d like to get all this blood off of me, so can we postpone it after I take a very long bath and get some sleep?”

He heaved a sigh and nodded at you. “Go.”

“Yay!” you said and pressed a kiss on his cheek, then turned to Bucky. “You owe me a dress.”

He held up his hands, gesturing surrender as you walked to the door, then closed it behind you. You stretched out before dragging your weary self up the stairs, and Molly approached you.

“Miss, I asked the girls to draw you a bubble bath.”

“Oh that’s wonderful!” you said, “Would you mind—”

“Your plate of chocolate strawberries and glass of champagne are already there.”

You pressed a hand on your chest with a gasp.

“Molly you’re an angel, you know that?” you said, then blew her a kiss as you made your way through the hallway to the bathroom. “Thank you!”

Considering how last night had gone, it was no wonder that exhaustion made you sleep like a rock. Though your dreams were in no way peaceful, your long bath had helped you relax just a little and it was only when someone knocked on the door that you woke up, a groan leaving your lips.

“Y/N?” your cousin’s voice reached inside the room, making a frown pinch your brows together. You rolled your eyes, then sat up in bed.

“What?”

“Can I come in?”

“If you must,” you grumbled as the door opened, and he stepped in. Unlike you, it was clear that he had been awake for a while which made you check the time on your phone, seeing multiple text messages from Becca before lifting your head to look at him.

“Ian,” you said. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“I was going to wait until you woke up but it didn’t seem like you would,” he said. “Uncle informed me about what happened.”

“Of course he did.”

“You should have told me about it,” Ian said. “As soon as it happened. This is a family matter, why am I hearing about this after Barnes or Rogers?”

“It happened in Steve’s territory.” You shrugged your shoulders. “What, am I supposed to draw you a map of the city all of a sudden?”

“And what were you doing in Steve’s territory?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I was meeting Becca.”

He crossed his arms. “I still think you shouldn’t be that close with them. They could turn into rivals with the snap of a finger, and the family—”

“Just because you don’t have any friends doesn’t mean the rest of the family should be company to that misery,” you cut him off. “Besides, they’re our allies and there’s truce remember?”

“For now,” he pointed out. “Doesn’t look like that truce will hold if it turns out that your attackers worked for any of the other families.”

“Well, those attackers were not working for Steve or Bucky.”

“Wilson?” he asked. “He’s their best friend after all.”

“Sam is too smart to break the truce.”

“Then it could be Stark or Romanoff.”

“Or none of the families,” you said. “Everyone spilled too much blood for this, they’re not just going to break it in a way that’s that amateur. Those guys were hired gun for outsiders, I’m almost sure of it.”

“Well I’m not so sure,” he said. “And honestly, I think you’re being too naïve.”

Anger shot through you like lightning but you managed to keep your expression calm.

“I know them way better than you do,” you said, your voice cold. “And if you think you can make business with people whom you point fingers at as soon as something unexpected happens, you’re the one being naïve, not me.”

He narrowed his eyes at you and you glared at him back until he heaved a sigh.

“I’ll talk to Rogers, we need to be the ones questioning the attacker. It’s an attack on not just you, but the family itself—”

“The attack happened in his territory, he’s not going to just give him to you,” you stated. “But by all means, don’t let me stop you from wasting your time.”

He opened his mouth to retort but someone else knocked on the door.

“Miss?”

“Molly, you can come in!” you called out and she opened the door. “Ian was just leaving.”

Ian shook his head slightly, then threw his shoulders back.

“Just don’t go to places without bodyguards—”

“Goodbye Ian,” you cut him off as you leaned back on the fluffy pillows and he scoffed, then walked out of the room. You pushed the covers off of you while Molly stepped inside with a rectangular box in her arms.

“What’s that?”

She put the box on the bed. “It was just delivered for you.”

You hummed as you pulled the box to yourself, then tugged the ribbon on top of it loose. A gasp left your lips as soon as you saw what was inside, and when you pulled the soft dress out of the box, the card inside caught your eye.

Sorry about your dress, princess.

Bucky

He had gotten you the exact same dress that you had thrown into trash last night. You were painfully aware of the smile pulling at your lips and you got off the bed, then walked to the full-length mirror to hold it over your body.

No.

No way.

Bucky was an asshole who had ripped your heart out when you two were younger, and now that he was one of the biggest mob bosses in the city with so much money, power and influence, he was even more arrogant than before, which was saying a lot. You were sure that this nice gesture was some sort of play and contrary to what all these men around you seemed to believe, you weren’t naïve in the slightest.

You pursed your lips together and cleared your throat before you put the dress back in the box, placing the cover on top.

“You can throw it away or give it to someone, I don’t want it,” you said as you handed Molly the box, and she let out a laugh.

“Secret admirer?”

“Not at all,” you said with a laugh, then flung yourself on the bed again. “Just a trick. I’m not his type, and trust me he’s definitely not my type.”

Chapter 3

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #mob!au #mob!bucky barnes x reader #mob!bucky barnes #mob bucky #mob bucky barnes x reader #mob boss!bucky #mob bucky barnes

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alpaca-clouds · 6 months

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Blue Eye Samurai

I watched the rest of Blue Eye Samurai and oh boy, I had not realized how much I would love this story. Especially because this series did this one thing that media so far shys away from a lot: Depicting disability.

Like, imagine my enthusiasm when I realized that Ringo would be a main character. Especially as a character who was born with a disability. And then he was not the only disabled character within the cast. In fact disability is one of the central topics within the story that informs the plot centrally.

And this is just so... darn nice. We just usually do not get that. By now we are a lot better in terms of queer representation, but disability representation we usually do not get.

Of course, as a trans dude it is also quite nice that Mizu very much reads as a trans guy.

But man, throughout this first season I really wanted to slap Mizu and Taigen for half of the time. Especially Mizu. Like, my man, just think for a moment.

Akemi is awesome though. I love that woman.

#blue eye samurai #mizu blue eye samurai #taigen #akemi #netflix #animation

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latenightfoxhunt · 4 months

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I feel like trigun maximum just hit that perfect sweet spot of bad DID representation done right. like yes the classic small system, blackout split, with one of them being the stereotypical crazy murderer but there's more to trimax before and after their introduction thats so important. they took all of the DID villain movie tropes, put them in a dying word + a murder cult, and shouted the same thing they've been shouting at everyone for the past 80 chapters: THEY'RE STILL HUMAN, THEY DESERVE A FUTURE!! the same volume they introduce him in is the same volume they get thrown on their redemption arc, because it wasn't DID that was his problem it was their abuser and the thing he made them do. trimax just hits you over the head with all the themes with one character and they're well written and well loved in the rest of the series. they get a cowboy hat and they both purse the cowboy way! the main take away wasn't that razlo needs to be put in a cage, it was hey this protector is trying his best, he has his own emotions, be kind to him. it was really refreshing to see in media and I didn't expect it to come from this.

im afraid that trigun stampede is going to miss the mark. not in a sense that I think they're going to change the ending, but how the story is building up is different. we haven't been shown several instances of the average joe having to kill for personal gain to survive on no man's land, so it makes livio and razlo feel like an individual crazed threat looming over the horizon. it also leans into the horror of episode 6 and 7 and ends up having a demonizing way of depicting disassociation. when wolfwood is in the cell pleading for him and livios just standing there with his eye mysteriously glowing, it gives me the ick. not that there can't be a narrative where both livios and wolfwoods feelings are being recognized in a meaningful way, its more that there's too much time given to ruminate in wolfwoods pov, that the audience is going to see them as threatening longer duration. manga readers know whats coming but a majority of viewers do not. [I did absolutely enjoyed wolfwood pulling him out of disassociation with smell the smell of smoke and calmly saying wake up old friend, it melted my heart. I also thought it was funny when livio shot himself but thats just me and a whole other tangent lmao]

do I think this is going to be better when the series is finished and everyone has all of the pieces? yes, absolutely. its just that the years inbetween their redemption undos what made trimaxs good

TLDR: trimax makes you feel like a fucking idiot for even doubting for a chapter that they were going to stray from their core theme of "everyone deserves a future" just because these guys are a DID system with blood on their hands. meanwhile tristamp finds its faults in the time it takes to get livio and razlo to their redemption arcs because it paints them to be a looming threat more than 2 dudes in a lot of pain.

other systems in the trigun fandom please tell me your thoughts + we should be friends

#but thats just an opinion a systems opinion thanks for watching #we love our wonderful little cowboy tristamp if i catch you doing em dirty we're gonna have even more issues #trigun #livio the double fang #razlo the tri punisher of death #love your protectors everybody #im number 1 let studio orange cook shouter they just worry me #did system #im tagging this just cause if people have it blocked i dont want em to see it

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marley-manson · 5 months

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Do you have any petpeaves regarding the M*A*S*H fandom?

lol sure i'll take the opportunity provided to express a few, ty for the ask!

Overall Mash fandom is pretty awesome imo, and I actually don't have many compared to a lot of fandoms I've been in, and the ones I do have tend to apply to most fandoms anyway lol, they're staples of fandom in general.

-- The biggest one is probably the common take that Hawkeye is insecure, self-loathing, emotionally repressed, thinks he doesn't deserve love, yadda yadda yadda. This isn't really Mash specific because the bad-self-esteem-ray hits every bottom in fandom at some point lol, but it's extra grating in Mash fandom for me because to me it feels more blatantly OOC than most versions of this.

Now to be fair to fandom there are a few scattered lines throughout the series you can take out of context to justify this take, and one bad episode that provably contradicts the rest of the show (Who Knew), but I feel like you have to stretch like a gymnast to justify it and ignore 99% of the rest of the show and Hawkeye's behaviour.

And it's boring and flattens Hawkeye to a caricature of someone else imho.

-- Generally, and again this applies to all fandoms lbr, I dislike the way a lot of people need to jump to accusations of bigotry to justify their personal preferences. One example I've seen a couple of times that's absolutely bizarre to me is the take that if Klinger gets dicked down and/or feminized in fic it's because of racist fetishization. That's Maxwell Q. Klinger, the dude who wears dresses throughout most of the show and canonically grows to genuinely enjoy it. And even if he was 100% masculine, that's what a lot of fandom does to every single dude they love ever lol, all it means is that Klinger has a fanbase, which is a good thing. imo attitudes like these help contribute to non-white characters getting less fanworks about them, and while I don't think it's prevalent enough in Mash fandom to have a negative effect, I've seen it destroy other ships featuring characters of colour.

Another example is the classic bad take that if you don't ship women in het or interpret a heterosexual relationship as doomed/not romantic/etc, it's because of misogyny lol. It's not hugely common in Mash fandom but I've seen it occasionally from BJ/Peg shippers and the very occasional Margaret enthusiast.

Oh and another example is that depicting Hawkeye as effeminate is homophobia. Again, this is Hawkeye, the dude who proudly calls himself unmanly in various ways every episode and makes 50 jokes about wanting to get fucked in the ass. Frankly it's a bigger stretch to me to assume he wouldn't easily and happily adopt actual effeminate body language/phrasing and tone if he's, say, at the bar and wants to pull a top. Or maybe even just if there are no straight people around, yk? Why not? The take that writing unmasculine men is offensive is a fandom classic and usually strikes me itself as homophobic, gender essentialist, and basically just someone's masc4masc kink masquerading as an issue.

Like to be clear there is certainly bigotry in the Mash fandom, as in every fandom, and it's worth discussing, and sometimes depending on context it can even apply in the above cases (eg if a fic about Klinger getting dicked down earnestly described him as idk exotic or something, or if people who 'feminize' male characters take it to silly extremes and start writing meta about how these men are woman-coded/victims of misogyny lol) but this ain't it chief, this is people repackaging their own pet peeves in social justice language to win perceived arguments, and it's a bad vibe.

-- This one IS fairly Mash specific lol, and to be clear it's 100% harmless and just something that makes me roll my eyes sometimes because I'm not into it myself and it strips away the things I do like about the ship: the way a lot of Hawk/BJ fans headcanon BJ as much more supportive and sensitive to Hawkeye than he actually is, by taking various things he does and assuming he does them for Hawkeye, like he's constantly aware of Hawkeye's unexpressed needs and catering to them.

Yk, he wears pink shirts for Hawkeye! He grew the moustache for Hawkeye (never mind that Hawkeye hates it)! He stole Hawkeye's joke to give Hawkeye enrichment because Hawkeye loves... being upset I guess. Joker Is Wild? All for Hawkeye because Hawkeye loves being paranoid and alienating people. (The reasoning I've actually seen is that Hawkeye loves having an excuse to throw a tantrum lol). He totally comforts Hawkeye when Hawkeye is upset, they just never show it. He is devoted to Hawkeye, he'd do anything for him, ignore the episodes where he calls him crazy and ditches him while he's facing adversity. He's Hawkeye's emotional support!

I've seen it in serious meta and casual headcanons and fic where BJ just falls into role of tender, emotionally intelligent emotional support like it's an assumed part of their dynamic despite not only never seeing that in canon, but Hawkeye actually pointing out multiple times that BJ is not very supportive.

It's also a misreading of Hawkeye who is actually the emotional support of their friendship, rather than vice versa, and tends to go hand in hand with my first pet peeve: Hawkeye as an emotionally insecure, repressed mess lol. BJ goes to him when he needs a shoulder to cry on, something consistent to the point of it being a way to manipulate Hawkeye in Picture This. Not vice versa. Hawkeye goes to Margaret or Mulcahy or Sidney. The only example I can think of where BJ provides emotional support (by which I mean listening to Hawkeye's emotional concerns and offering supportive input) to Hawkeye is the end of Comrades in Arms, and it's like the bare minimum of fulfilling the typical best friend on tv role.

(I like that BJ doesn't fulfill that role tbh! It's more interesting that way, it makes their dynamic feel more unique and intriguing.)

-- Also people who think Mash got more progressive in the later seasons. I think it demonstrates a shallow understanding of the political implications of the show. Getting rid of the character with a slur for a nickname doesn't automatically equal less racist, it's just an easy thing to point to that doesn't require much critical thought. And the growing feminist concerns go hand in hand with depicting republicans, patriots, and racist imperialistic military commanders as good people.

And to be fair I sympathize with this take, I've seen it everywhere from fandom to grumbling republicans complaining about mash getting preachier to professionally written retrospectives and academic analysis lol, so it's not like I hold fandom to higher standards. The ways Mash grows more regressive are more insidious, and the problems in the early seasons are much more obvious and in your face than in the later seasons. And there will always be some debate on whether eg rampant womanizing is worse than pro-imperialism messages, though I know what side I fall on there.

But imo it still sucks that it's such a popular opinion.

-- The emphasis on found family, especially in a 'the war brought them together' sense. Any hint of gratitude that the war let them meet people they love in fic, or whatever. This is something I can't completely blame on fandom because the show itself veered uncomfortably close to this a few times too in the later years, but yeah I'm not a fan. To me the most important aspect of Mash is the fact that they all hate it there, the war is worse than hell, they're virtually prisoners trapped in a nightmare, and any of the draftees would absolutely trade those relationships for an end to the war or just a ticket home. Their friendships are less a silver lining and more a painkiller that just barely takes the edge off. I think this vibe is clearer in the first half of the show, but that's yet another reason the first half is better and more progressive politically lol. And it doesn't disappear in the latter half either, just gets a bit more muddied.

-- This kind of goes hand in hand with the above points, but I feel like it's more of an older Mash fandom issue that I encounter when archive diving moreso than a thing currently (though I do occasionally still see it these days): fans who actively like the military stuff lol. I've read fic where dog tags are kinked on/romanticized, fic that depicts draft-dodging as bad, etc. These days it's more stuff in line with the worst parts of canon, like taking Potter at face value as a Good authority figure who deserves respect because of his military experience, but yeah. Don't like that.

-- Okay that's all I got off the top of my head. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to whine lol

#text post #marley on mash #under a cut for people don't don't want to see negativity #i feel like i'm pretty chill in this post but like it's still complaining

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fategoflatass · 2 months

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My Winter 2024 Watchlist & Opinions

The feared time has come. After avoiding this post like the plague, I finally put myself to write my pretty unnecessary thoughts on this season that's departing next week or so.

Admittely, it wasn't that big of a deal, but that might be because the bigger titles will come out the following season? (Should I also make a post about that?)

Anyway, let's get started!

Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu 2nd Season

Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life // ☆☆☆☆

CW: cringey teenagers

Here, we one again get to follow our favorite middle school duo—the edgy boy and the gluttony in human form—as they grow up and find out just how complicated being a teen can be. Awkwardness, idiots and cutsie romance ensured!

This series is just so damn adorable, man! And awkward, holy fuck it can be awkward. But being a teenager is, in big part, going through the cringiest phases possible to cleanse the karma of a lifetime, so is that a bad quality or an amazing depiction of real life?

Anyway, my guys are back and I can't explain just how happy I am about it! I'm usually not that fond of school romances since, well, they tend to be too immature for what I'm currently looking for. This was made especially obvious since I began watching more and more series centered around adult characters.

But this series is quite different—they're immature, yes, but it's not as annoying as they tend to be. You know why? Because they found out about this thing called communication. Yes, they're not the greatests at it, but at least they're trying!

I've been thinking on checking the manga out, although I haven't decided yet. If anyone here has read it/is up to date, should I get into it or wait until next season comes out?

BUCCHIGIRI?!

Action, Supernatural // ☆☆

CW: big ammounts of cringe

Arajin Tomoshibi's reunion with his old pal Matakara Asamine takes an unexpected turn when they stumble into a brawl with the toughest guys in town. And just when you thought things couldn't get weirder, a colossal genie decides to drop in. Brace yourself for the ultimate showdown. It's the clash of the cool and the magical!

(Yes, I stole the summary from AniList. Couldn't bother to write something down for this one).

This series comes from Utsumi Hiroko—the same woman who worked on Free! and Banana Fish, the mind behind SK8; one of my biggest comfort shows. And honestly, it shows!

Because BUCCHIGIRI?! is an amalgamation of all her previous ones.

You have the childhood friend pair composed of the Gentle Giant™ (who's quite literally Makoto 2.0, personality and appareance wise) and a dude who has only one goal in life—for Haru, it was to swim free style. For Arajin, is to get laid. And no, I'm not kidding.

Then you get the delinquents (I refuse to call them gangs. They remind me too much to the Tokyo Revengers guys, and I despise that show) and their corresponding leaders—the fruity freak (who I love, ngl) with the obssesive, brocon little sister (who I despise, ngl), the big ass bitch whose age's unknown but seems too old to be hanging around teens, and later on we get a guy who reminds me a lot of Jamil from Twisted Wonderland only that he's utterly pathetic, a professional crybaby and, overall, unbearable—entirely different from my totally cool and more than respectable guy.

There's not much to say about the rest of the cast since they're forgettable to a fault, having little to not charisma. Expect for the skirt guy, he's neat.

When it comes to the supernatural side of things, ugh. The dude who follows Arajin around is exasperating and so cringey I tend to skip fowards when I know a joke—the joke, the only thing he knows besides fighting—is coming.

Speaking of which, the fight scenes are cool, MAPPA doing their best as always. I just wish they would beat up Arajin more often (and that he didn't have to scream his primal urges every time he's going for a punch).

And, for fuck's sake, don't get me started on Arajin. He's the worst protagonist this woman has ever come out with—zero charisma, a total asshole, a terrible friend, and a guy who'd make you want to die if he ever got a crush on you.

I'll cut it here since it's getting too long and I don't wanna get into spoiler territory (in case anyone cares about that), but yeah. I don't recommend, at all. Go watch her other shows instead.

Dungeon Meshi

Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy // ☆☆☆¾

CW: blood, death, violence

While exploring a dungeon, the adventurer Laios and his party are confronted by and lose against a red dragon—they're left without money, provisions and Laios' sister. But not everything is lost, since they can still save her while the creature digests its food. The problem is, they can't fight with an empty stomach!

The best show of the season, hands down. Not like it had much competition to begin with, but anyway.

When I first heard about the show's plot, I admit it, it didn't call me at all. But certain someone (*cough* @arataka-reigen *cough*) convinced me to give it a try. And here we are!

Honestly, I haven't had a laugh like this with an anime in so long! Not only because of the jokes, but the characters are perfectly designed for the viewer to laugh with and, most importantly, at them. I actually have the theory that they're the ones responsible for the BUCCHIGIRI?! cast's lack of charisma. I mean, they had to steal it from somewhere—is too much!

From what I know, more characters are yet to appear (I saw a catgirl and, as a cat lover, I just gotta see the catgirl) and the story gets darker with time (in case episode eleven wasn't enough hint for you).

I can't wait to see what this story has to offer next!

Gekai Elise

Comedy, Fantasy, Romance // ☆☆½

CW: tracheotomies without gloves

In seek of redemption, Takamoto Aoi becomes a doctor to help those who she would've either mistreated or ignored in her past life. Sadly, she gets involved in a plane crash and dies—only to wake up as her past self, ten years before her demise! She'll now look to become a surgeon once again, in the hopes of changing her fate.

If I had to describe it with one word, it would be meh.

The characters, the plot, the romance—it's all pretty average. A wet piece of cardboard is way more interesting than the entire cast and the story put together. The love story is whatever, not engaging enough to get me interested on their scenes.

What I would've liked is if they went on and changed the affections names for something more fantasy-ish or that has to do with the world in which they live in—I highly doubt these people knew about the existence of Dr. James Parkinson, so why would they name a disease after him? That sorta thing, you know?

But anyways, basic ass story with basic ass characters, and I'm a fool for having given it a chance.

And if I may ask, where the hell is the lamp?!

HIGH CARD Season 2

Action, Fantasy // ☆☆½

CW: cultural appropiation (?), blood, some violence

The High Card team keeps on fighting to mantain peace in the city, all meanwhile some of its members are still dealing with past consequences. But when new trouble surrounding the cards surges, they have to get to work to save the day once again!

Look, if the summary ain't shit is mainly because this show has me so uninspired. The only reason why I didn't steal it from AniList is because it doesn't have one.

In case anyone wonders why I'm still watching this show, same. I guess season one wasn't that bad for me to go and drop it, so I decided to give it a second chance. Do I regret it? Mmh, kinda.

To be honest, it's not entirely bad. I mean, it's certainly worst than its predecessor, but it had an interesting section that had me paying a little more attention than usual for like, two episodes or so. And then it lost me again.

The section I'm talking about is around episodes five to seven, where—and spoiling as little as I can—things get rather dramatic. It felt like a cry for help disguised as character growth that did nothing, absolutely nothing, to the characters themselves. They could've skipped those episodes and it would've been business as usual.

In the first two episodes we get introduced to his superhero-like guy who loves spitting random words in Spanish and, no, he's not even Hispanic. Then, he proceeded to not appear for the rest of the season. At least for now, we're currently in episode ten. But even if he were to appear once again, I don't think there's enough time to develop him or create a plot surrounding his cringey ass.

Also, and this might be petty as hell: they never explain why the cards look like the poker ones? I mean, they shared the lore behind them, yet that didn't explain this? How did they come out with the cards' and combination's names if they're supposed to not be poker related?

Hime-sama, "Goumon" no Jikan desu

Comedy, Fantasy // ☆☆¼

CW: none

Amidst the war between their kingdoms, the Princess is captured and imprisoned by the demons alongside her mythical sword and companion, Excalibur. It all seems grim for these two but, when the time comes around, the demons' torture methods seem a bit... gourmet?

I came into this show solely because of the trailer. What can I say? It looked nice. And to be honest, the entires series does.

These type of shows don't tend to be my cup of tea, but I thought it could turn out to be something similar to Maou-jou de Oyasumi—something that doesn't catch me at first, yet its second half leaves me wanting some more of those charismatic characters (Twilight my beloved).

The problem here is that God, it's repetitive. This series has one sole formula and will repeat it till the end of times, with barely some exceptions.

As LunarEquinox would put it, "it not her being tortured, it's you being tortured by repitition".

Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san

Comedy, Slice of Life // ☆☆☆½

CW: none

Planet Earth and its habitants are in danger; they've become the main target of an evil intergalactic organization who seeks to rule the world! The Rangers do everything in their power to defend the citizens from the General—but today's his day off.

Another fluffly, non plot-centric series. But this one I'm quite fond of.

I guess it's because I really like the «gap moe» concept? The difference between the protagonist's intimidating and powerful look at work and his casual, awkward and panda-obsessed self once he's home it's pretty adorable. It's like he goes from being a lion to one of those long ass domestic cats who'd let you hold him if close enough—only that I think he's supposed to be a lizard(?) of some sorts.

But it's not only him; you also get to see his coworkers with are all very formidable, and even the Rangers themselves. Red having no sense of orientation whatsoever is too relatable, I hate it here.

Not much to say, really. It's just a show about a long ass dude on a trenchcoat whose (most probably, undiagnosed) autism gets him to buy anything panda-related. If he were to become the ruler of the new world, I wouldn't oppose to it.

Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimamana Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsu Suru

Fantasy, Romance // ☆☆☆¾

CW: violence, mentions of war

Rishe Irmgard Weitzner, a duke's daughter, has lived many lives—and it's not a saying. For the past few decades, she's been trapped in a timeloop where her engagement gets called off at age fifteen and, from then fowards, she's decided to go down different paths. A merchant, a doctor, a maid—whatever called her attention. Is in her seventh time she become subject of the affections of infamous crown prince, Arnold Hein—the very same man who'd killed her in one of her past lives as a knight. When he asks Rishe to become his wife, she decides to utilize her every skill to avoid the upcoming war.

This one's different from the others, in the sense that I wasn't there when the first episode premiered. I guess it hadn't caught my attention (and the way they colored the hairs looked so bad to me at times, and still does). But again, certain someone began posting about it and I couldn't help myself.

I found this series to be a tad more interesting than the average female public-centric fantasy series. They actually cared to build an appealing plot with its politics and all, while also giving us an attractive main couple whose chemistry is quite nice. I like it when the characters banter, they go back and forth a little bit, but still show feelings for each other—is entertaining, isn't it?

While it's not my favorite series from this season, I do find it highly recommendable—independently of whether you're already into this type of shows or you'd like to give them a try.

Majo to Yajuu

Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy // ☆☆

CW: violence, blood

A guy carrying a coffin alongside his companion appear in a town, searching for the witch who cursed her and fighting some others in the meantime.

I love dark fantasy stories, so when I stumbled upon this show it grabbed my attention almost immediately. The whole concept of wiches, curses and different types of magic has always been a concept I quite enjoy. When it's well done, that is.

What Majo to Yajuu brings to the table is an uninspired series that unapologetically grabs concepts from other stories similar in concept, and doesn't even try to do anything new with them. The magic system is has is so average and uninteresting, and the same happens with the different conflicts that surround the main plot.

And even when it is supposed to have a more mature tone, there are times where they spoon feed you basic information as if you were too stupid to comprehend the intricacies of something you've seen multiple times—not even in other places, but in the same show, even the same episode.

The characters are heavily boring, the main duo being the most salvable of all. They do have some chemistry, but it's just not enough.

Anyways, just another letdown.

Metallic Rouge

Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi // ☆½

CW: violence

In a future where humankind coexists with androids called Neans, a group of them known as the Immortal Nine rises to cause havoc in society. Rouge, a Nean, alongside investigator Naomi are tasked with going all the way to Mars to stop them.

Also known as Bones' 25th Anniversary project, Metallic Rouge arrived to put many interesting question on the table—question that have been talked about multiple times in movies and series revolving androids and robots, yet is always cool to see what different authors have to say about the matter.

Sadly, the way they decide to manage the story is quite futile when it comes to enjoyment. That is, they decided to take the "show, don't tell" narrative route—something we've seen in series like Tengoku Daimakyou, and damn if it worked there. The thing is that this narration style is rather complicated, and can't be saved if done wrong.

Well, guess what happened?

Whether it's the scripwriters' fault or not, I've no idea. The only thing I know for sure is that they fucked up. The give you little to no information, which doesn't help the viewer to try solving the mystery by themselves nor succeeds at keeping them engaged. The only thing attractive enough are the fight scenes, but they become more are more scarse as the episodes go on. Is then when the staff realizes they messed things up, and as a result you get episode nine—a huge ass info dump, with twists that no one would've been able to guess since they hadn't given us enough hints to even get a hunch of what could be going on.

An absolute mess and a masterful class on how not to do things.

Ninja Kamui

Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi // ☆☆☆¾

CW: death, fire, blood, violence

Higan is a retired ninja who lives in hiding with his family in rural America. One night, assassins from his former organization end up slaughtering both his wife and son due to him breaking their ancient code. Now seeking for revenge, Higan goes back to his old ways in the means to make them pay.

This one is such a wild ride! From the same director who worked on Jujutsu Kaisen's first season, we get an action-packed revenge series.

Yes, it might not be the most original or complex plot of all times, yet that's not its main focus. What it is its main focus are the fight scenes which are absolutely amazing, so fluid and entertaining. You won't be able to take your eyes from the screen!

Even then, the characters are compelling enough for you to either root for them or hope for the hero to end their lives once and for all.

This series is an absolute banger and no one should sleep on it!

Ore dake Level Up na Ken

Action, Adventure, Fantasy // ☆☆½

CW: death, violence, blood, edgelords

After being slaughtered by monsters in a dungeon that was far from matching his rank, Jinwoo, or "the weakest Hunter of all" as called by many others, wakes up only to find out he now that the "System" by his side. This program that only he can see will help him do the impossible—level up.

So here we are, huh.

The biggest anime this season, and it's a fucking power fantasy with extra steps. I swear to God...

Jinwoo is a boring ass piece of wet cardboard, which is meant for the viewer to find it easier to self-insert as him. Those around him are either beings with no personality at all, default mean guys, or the love interest that just has to be there to tell us just how cool and attractive the protagonist has become—not like we needed her for that, since everyone is a simp for that guy for some hell of a reason—and to be saved because she'd be dead without him.

The only thing worth your time would be the action scenes, but since they depend so much on the viewer's hype, and that mainly comes from those who root for the protagonist, it just doesn't work on me.

This shit's boring, man.

Yubisaki to Renren

Romance, Slice of Life // ☆☆☆½

CW: ableism

Yuki is just your average college student who struggles with classes as one does. One day, she gets helped in the train by an upperclassman named Itsuomi. That's when he finds out that she's actually deaf.

One of the most hyped up series from this season, and for good reasons. Not only is a shoujo—sadly, this series don't tend to get anime adaptations as often as their counterparts—, but is a rather well known one.

To the surprise of no one, this is one fluffy series! The characters are all charismatic and sweet, some more than others, and their personalities and struggles feel very human.

The romance is adorable, although I have it hard to not see Itsuomi as someone who's trying to complete a dating speedrun—might be my demi ass, but they've known each other for like, what, two to three months? And they're already dating?

Yuki's deafness is touched upon with such respect, except for when Oushi opens his fucking mouth. I don't know if it's him or the author themself who sugarcoats his ableism as if it came from sheer worry for her future, but saying deaf people should stay at home is in no way a cool thing to say or think. I doubt he'll stay like this forever, but warning you just in case it results uncomfortable for someone.

To end on a more positive note, I love the fact that they center so much around the character's lip movements! It just feels right for the themes that the series touches upon.

Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern

Action, Comedy, Mecha // ☆☆☆½

CW: violence, war, torture (it's just one scene)

In a world where the military utilizes mechas as weapons, Oahu island, where both the Japanese and American troops are located at the moment, gets attacked by an unknown, intergalatic enemy. They'll now have to join forces to defend the planet.

I think it was Mother's Basement's video that convinced me to give this show a chance and, honestly? I don't quite regret it. After all, I like parodies and mechas, so why not combine both?

Given, I haven't watched every mecha anime there is out there—and with that, I mean that I've yet to watch Gundam which I think was a major inspiration for this one series. But even if you haven't watched it either, that doesn't mean you won't get to enjoy it.

It does make references to the genre's different tropes, yeah, but it serves as a standalone. The comedy works even if it's your first mecha series since some scenes are just so absurd.

The characters are cool, each and every one of them having enough charisma for you to be able to remember them through the entire season. They all have enough chemistry with each other to make their bonds belieable.

With time, the series starts leaving the comedy aspect aside and gets more centered around its actual plot—although the laughs never truly leave. And it actually works, which I admit surprised me a bit.

A series curious enough I think you should give it a chance.

#dungeon meshi #solo leveling #bucchigiri?!#yubisaki to renren #boku no kokoro no yabai yatsu #metallic rouge #ninja kamui #high card #7th time loop #hime sama goumon no jikan desu #majo to yajuu #kyuujitsu no warumono san #gekai elise #yuuki bakuhatsu bang bravern #winter 2024

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desultory-novice · 2 months

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Hey Dess! Are you officially back? I came up with a list of weird questions while you were out to meditate on while you rest your eyes! Some rotisserie chicken to go, if you will. First question: What are your opinions of Lololo and Lalala? Do you think they have any relation to Lolo and Lala from HAL's Eggerland series? Their offspring, alternate universe counterparts, reincarnations, whatever that thing in the anime was, etc.? Rest well dude 😘

In a matter of speaking! (Dess says, weeks later.) And weird questions are totally acceptable, as long as they're more like this! Cause it's a pleasant surprise to be asked about Lololo and Lalala!

Gosh, did you know, the first HAL game I ever played was "Adventures of Lolo" on the NES! I...couldn't beat it. I was too young to work out the puzzles. I loved how waddle-y Lolo was!!

(waddle...dee?)

So, for those not in the know, in Lolo's own series, he's... well...

:looks up the Eggerland series, since Dess had only played "Adventures of Lolo":

...Uh, wow, there were a couple of these, weren't there?! Huh, Lolo was a musician? And Lala was a dancer?! (Reminds me of my Marx and Magolor hcs... Oh no! Perfomance couple, my love...!)

Anyway, Lolo has a love interest named Lala who he rescues and marries and he becomes King Lolo and the two eventually have a kid named Lulu who is just like them but yellow!

In the anime, there are similar looking characters named Fololo and Falalala (although the "fo" was added to the English dub for.... uh, I have no idea why! ^^) who are, ahem... :checks cue cards: ...two halves of the same Nightmare Enterprises monster that were split in two as part of a money-making scheme and to hide from King Dedede that they were a super weak monster. They were somehow kicked out and taken in by the good guys after that?

(Did I get it right?)

As for Lololo and Lalala in game... ARE they from Eggerland?

I guess "from Eggerland" depends. To me, they've left their mark as 100% "official" Kirby characters. HAL Labs has included a number of cameo characters before, most notably in Dream Land 3 which not only had Chao from Yuyuki appearing in DL2 (who was turned into the "girl" Gooey in the English version) but bounty hunter Samus Aran!

For those who have any faith in the accuracy of the Kirby Encyclopedia, I want to note that Chao, Samus, and the others were noted to NOT be "true" Kirby characters. (Sorry, Escargoon fans, as the same was said of him and his appearance in Mass Attack...)

But not Lololo and Lalala! They seem to be their own characters, as distinct from their anime selves as anime Dedede, anime Meta Knight, and anime Kirby are from THEIR game selves.

(Which is probably good because that is seriously a weird origin story! There's something to be said about the delightfully gender-bending and even genderfluid-positive (!) idea that there is a fully capable masc and femme side to every person, able to live on independently - although HOW independent is arguable because Fololo and Falala never seem to want to be apart - but the fact that tacking a bow onto the girl side was the only way they could depict this was a little cheesy. I know, I know. Kid's comedy show ^^)

Another thing is that, apparently (?) before their origin as a single being is known, they are treated as siblings in the anime? (And yet, their episode is called "The Melody of Love." That's not...uh...)

While at some point (fandom wiki says in the promotional flyer for Twinkle Popo) they were called "a married couple!" I think I personally tended to see them as "together" rather than siblings and I can only assume that impression came from Adventures of Lolo since there was no way I could have seen the Twinkle Popo flyer.

That said, they're NOT the same Lolo and Lala (to me) because they're not cameo characters. And the names... Lolo and Lala's kid was Lulu but it's not weird for the next generation (or several generations down) to be named after grandparents or other family members back in the tree. But for them to both be named after one lends credence to "maybe they're siblings after all?"

....I think I just think of them as "Lololo and Lalala." I'm probably not going to ever draw ship art of them, so does it matter how they're related? To me, they're just together. From my first days with Kirby's Dream Land, once I got over the initial pleasant surprise of "Oh my gosh, It's Lolo and Lala from Adventures of Lolo!!" (Tiny Dess, they are LoloLO and LalaLA. Get it right!) they quickly grew to be like any resident of Dream Land to me! A familiar, comforting presence!

Well, okay, the whole "Castle Lolo" thing makes me see them as Dream Land / Popstarian nobility of a sort! Maybe not on the level of royalty, like his hammer-wielding majesty, although they DID side with him in the initial food-stealing incident! (They weren't chosen to protect a piece of the Star Rod, which is very interesting. Maybe the anime was onto something with them being "too weak?")

Either way, I'd say they're pretty laid back nobles, letting everyone use their castle for fights! Maybe it's one of those things where they open it up every now and then for parties and games?!

In short, while I have no answers, I like them well enough and I'm always happy to see a reappearance of them! And maybe next time they appear, HAL will let us know whether they're a pair or pairing!

(Although this is the same studio responsible for keeping the Ado / Adeleine debate going so probably not! ^_- )

#Kirby #Dess Rambles #Lololo and lalala #Adventures of Lolo #Kirby series

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silveragelovechild · 4 months

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A few months ago I saw a photo of Zac Efron and I thought he looked awful. The normally good looking dude had a bloated face and his lips looked liked they were about to burst with too much filler.

Well, I’ve learned that photo must have been taken during the production of his new movie “The Iron Claw”. Efron must have been bulking up to play professional wrestler Kevin Von Erich.

The movie a “based on the true story” of the Von Erich brothers, wrestlers who are beset by one tragedy after another.

Efron plays Kevin Von Erich, the second born son. He’s good in this dramatic role and he’s a better actor than his Himbo resume suggests. But he hasn’t abandon fans of his Himbo persona - Efron often appears on screen shirtless, just wearing speedo style wrestling briefs.

But I didn’t think the movie was entirely successful. The movie recounts the various injuries, deaths, and suicides of Kevin Von Erich’s brothers. But they are often depicted off screen and in quick succession. As I watched, I thought it was sad, but I didn’t feel sad.

The film doesn’t delve too deeply into the cause of the tragedies. The most obvious culprit is what looks like the loveless environment the brothers were raised. Sure, the boys often talk about how much they love their parents and each other. But the parents come across as emotionless zombies.

Father Fritz (played by Holt McCallany from the series “Mindhunter”) ranks his sons by his “favorites”. He’s another one of those stage mothers who failed in achieving his own dream so he spends the rest of his life driving his sons to achieve it for him. His love comes with conditions that his sons can’t meet.

Mother Doris (played by Maura Tierney) is no better. Kevin asks his mom to intervene when he thinks the father is too hard on a younger brother Mike (played by Stanley Simons). Her answer is that the brothers need to work it out themselves (she’s too busy getting ready to go to church). Later she tells her sons that god loves them - but it’s substitute for real affection.

Another force behind the “curse” is depression that must run in the family. The brothers are told not to cry at a brother’s funeral. So they suppress their emotions, but the impact of the loss didn’t go away. Then when suicide is added to the mix, it plants the seed of possible escape for their unhappiness. (BTW, the movie doesn’t include the actual youngest brother Chris who also died by suicide).

As Kevin falls further down in order of his father’s “favorite” ranking, I kept wanting him to quit his career as a professional wrestler. I wanted him to take his wife and children as far away as possible from his emotionally stunted parents and away from professional wrestling. I think the artificiality of professional wrestling was a major contributor of the Von Erich curse, with its preordained outcomes, focus on brutality, and the condoning taking of steroids. But he didn’t. Three of Kevin’s children became professional wrestlers as well.

A couple additional notes:

Brother Kerry is played by Jeremy Allen White who stars in the TV series “The Bear”. I haven’t watched it (I don’t subscribe to Hulu) and I was curious what he was like as a performer. The jury is out…

Brother David is played by Harris Dickinson. I saw him in 2022’s “Triangle of Sadness” and did not recognize him. He was good but the curse got him too early in the film.

At some point an onscreen title mentions Kevin Von Erich is 6’2” tall. I had a silent chuckle because Efron is only 5’8”. Kerry Von Erich was also 6’2” but Jeremy Allen White is even shorter at 5’7”.

Harris Dickson and Stanley Simons, who play brothers David and Mike, are 6’2” and 6’1” respectively. This explains why Efron and White needed to sit on the fence for this publicity shot.

The real Von Erich brothers:

#the iron claw #review #zac efron #jeremy allen white #the bear #himbo #professional wrestling #Von Erich curse #death and suicide #short and tall

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tentative-wanderer · 9 months

Text

Reviews: Homophobic Cop Marries Gay Ghost, President’s Son Gets Together with Prince

Recently watched 2 movies with gay main characters in different genres. One was Red, White & Royal Blue (available on Amazon), one was 🌟 Marry My Dead Body 关于我和鬼变成家人的那件事 (available on Netflix). Spoiler-free thoughts below 😊:

❤️🤍💙 Red, White & Royal Blue is an American romcom. It has a 10/10 trailer—incredibly inviting. The movie depicts many women in power, I love that! Many witty jokes, nice! The movie might be better if it were a drama series instead; to save time, it zoomed through the falling-in-love part with the use of text messages—the production team packaged that as well as they could, but it was still too rushed. The ending left me wondering if there could’ve been a tiny bit more to make it feel more complete. Though the movie doesn’t score as highly as its trailer in my opinion, it’s still a decent movie.

(That reminds me of how That Musical Montage in episode 1 of the Heaven Official’s Blessing donghua made me super keen to watch the rest of the series, but it turns out that that was the best part. Quality-wise, Red, White & Royal Blue is overall better than the TGCF donghua though.)

👻👮‍♂️💓 Marry My Dead Body is a Taiwanese mystery + comedy + supernatural movie. Let me copy the blurb from Google: “Wu Ming-Han, a straight policeman who is homophobic and ghost-phobic, accidentally picks up a red wedding envelope while collecting evidence. He finds himself betrothed to the envelope's owner Mao Pang-Yu, a gay man who died under mysterious circumstances. The duo must work through their differences and join forces to solve the case, seeking justice for Mao.” (Real-life context: marriages between dead people and live ones are/were an actual thing in Chinese culture.)

I’ve just finished watching this movie, love it! Let me get the “con” out of the way first: I wish the movie ended differently! The ending was not unsatisfying, it’s just that I personally could have been more satisfied.

Okay, now I am free to gush.

This movie is HILARIOUS. Won’t describe the humour here, you can see it in the trailers on YouTube.

I love the unravelling of the mysteries (police cases). The feelings would not have hit half as hard without them and the exploration of Maomao’s non-romantic relationships (formed during his life) after his death. Even though I highly value a good plot apart from the romance when I read/watch something, I like talking about feelings more, so that’s what I’ll do.

I have Intense Feelings about these guys. They went from being Not Keen about getting stuck with each other to being really cute together—I notice that the movie managed to do this EVEN WITHOUT having them hold hands or do anything physical beyond that. That is crazy. Romantic physical contact is great, but if you can show chemistry without it, and with minimal flirting—that is exceptional.

(Side note: I think it would be harder to convincingly depict a heterosexual pair arriving at romantic feelings the way Wu Ming-Han and Maomao did: (partly) through constant banter and trading barbs. A man looking down on a woman would have come across as a lot meaner because the threat that poses is larger in the patriarchal society we live in.)

Wu Minghan went from casually homophobic to being on track for bisexuality for a ghost, such character development. The scene where Wu Minghan genuinely calls Maomao “my husband” for the first time is AMAZING, unexpected. At that moment I was like, oh my god, he loves him. Or at the very least, he has good potential. It had taken a series of hilarious strong-arming, including a close call with the loss of Wu Minghan’s family jewels, to make this dude marry Maomao, but now he’s calling Maomao husband—in that particular state, at that timing. I cried. I was smiling at many points throughout the movie, I also cried at some points. I said something similar when I wrote my review for Merman’s Fall: a book/movie that makes me laugh and cry will go at the top of my favourites list. Unlike my danmei list, my favourite movies list is too short for me to put Marry My Dead Body at the top or bottom, but it’s definitely in there.

#red white and royal blue #red white & royal blue #rwrb #marry my dead body #关于我和鬼变成家人的那件事 #關於我和鬼變成家人的那件事 #rwarb #I have no clue whether it is more helpful for readers if I write spoilery or spoiler-free thoughts when I write about books and movies #99.99999999% of people who see these posts probably don’t care anyway #if that is so #I might do as I please #I write to relive joy #my stuff

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neechees · 2 years

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Prey was soooooo good!! Dying to hear your thoughts on it!!

I'm not even sure I know how to describe everything that I loved about it. I'm almost disinterested in watching the rest of the Predator series to catch up because I feel like nothing will match the affection I have for this one. Everything was just *Chef's kiss*. Readmore for spoilers below!

I loved Naru. I loved Taabe. I was genuinely very upset when the Native characters died but I expected it to happen. Was pretty fun watching the racist French dudes die & Naru use one as bait gvsgfcg

They set everything up perfectly. I loved the beginning set up that showed Naru is 1. Athletic 2. Clearly has been practising with weapons to become a good hunter and has indeed gained skill from this practice, like with her axe and bow and arrow 3. Has knowledge about medicines and is also a healer, which makes her more self sufficient 4. Very smart & notices things others don't, she's very observant.

There's a lot of dudes who are obviously complaining that she's too "overpowered" but this set up clearly trumps that, and everything comes into fruition perfectly. I think the plot also hinted that Naru and Taabe had lost their Father early, and so Taabe had to learn to be a man to help provide for his family earlier, but I think Naru probably learned how to wrestle & fight a bit from her brother. There didn't seem to be a lot of men in their village, so I think Naru's desire to hunt partially came from also wanting to help support her family. Taabe wasn't opposed to letting her go with them after the cougar, he taught her the words for her kahtaamia, and he believed in her, so I think it's entirely possible he taught her to do some other "manly" things when they were younger too! Even if it was somewhat reluctantly, Taabe was supportive of his sister & didn't immediately shut her down like the others.

I also genuinely appreciated the more mundane scenes that just showed the village going about their daily business. Sometimes in movies about ndns you get the weird "Eden" scenes depicting Native life in a weird kind of voyeuristic, noble savage way, but I didn't get that here, it was just them leading ordinary lives. Naru was annoyed to wake up early to go and gather. She brought her dog. There were babies crying. There were people doing chores. There was a nice slowness to it (by that, meaning mundane and slice of life esque, not romantisized or demonized, just normal) that felt real to me

I also wondered if some of the scenes were inspired by other films with Native characters in it, like the quick sand scene from apocalypto, or the mass skinned buffalo scene from Dances with Wolves. Maybe not, but its kind of fun to see the similarities! The bison scene was tragic, & I like the detail that Naru stopped to say a little prayer for them :'/

Also, the eating the marigold to essentially become invisible to the predator FUCKIN GENIUS.

The ending credits using Native styled art ;>; I love it.

I need to watch it again & I wanna watch it in Comanche this time but it was sick as hell!!

#prey 2022

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sparxwrites · 2 years

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Battle Plans

(wanted this out before the new series, and got beaten by a day. rip...)

cw for Watcher-typical mentions of past abuse, discussions of violence, and a graphic depictions of a panic attack/breakdown

[ao3]

“So it’s probably going to happen again, right?” said Cleo, grimly. Her face was lit by the flickering light of the campfire, shadows catching on the trail of stitches across it . “This… whatever the hell this is. It’s going to happen again?”

She looked to Grian as she said it. So did everyone else.

They’d gone away to do this, to an uninhabited island out in the middle of the ocean. That made it safe from the prying eyes and ears of the other Hermits – no need to worry the others, or at least not more than they already had been by half the server disappearing intermittently for months at a time on two separate occasions – but lacking somewhat in creature comforts. So there they were, a circle of grim-faced Hermits around a campfire, perched on whatever they had in their inventories.

There were noticeable gaps left on either side of Grian, sat hunched and alone on a chunk of rock.

When she received no response, Cleo clicked her tongue, impatient. “Grian. Is this going to happen again?”

Grian looked around the circle, at his friends gathered waiting, watching, and slowly raised his hands to cover his face. “…Yes,” he said, quietly. He sounded exhausted. If it wasn’t a known fact that Grian was incapable of such emotions, Cleo might have even said he sounded ashamed. “Yeah, probably.”

“When?” When he didn’t respond, beyond a slow, shuddering inhale, Cleo growled. “Grian. When.”

“I don’t know! I don’t know. It’s… time doesn’t work the same for them, I don’t think, not in– it’s hard to tell. Could be six months. Could be a year– a couple of years even.” A pause, and then, quieter, muffled into his hands, “Could be next week.”

There was a reverberating silence, as they all digested that. Ren kicked at the dirt with one bare foot, claws raking furrows in the dry earth. Mumbo was staring at his hands, at the redstone caught in the creases of his knuckles. Pearl was picking loose threads out of the seam of her hoodie, slow and methodical, with bitten-ragged nails.

Only Etho was still looking at Grian. His eyes were hard and flat, blank even in the flickering firelight. His shoulder was pressed against Bdubs’. One hand rested lightly on the pommel of the sword at his hip.

“I’m sorry,” said Grian, eventually, which was a surprise. Even more surprisingly, he sounded like he meant it. “I’m so sorry. I never wanted– you weren’t supposed to get caught up in this.”

“Yes, well. We have gotten caught up in it, and I mean really caught up in it, so–”

“It’s not his fault, Cleo,” said Pearl, low and fierce, looking up. Her eyes beneath her hoodie were dark, intense, her teeth half-bared in her clenched jaw. “Back off.”

Cleo glanced at her for a moment, and then looked dismissively back to Grian. “I was going to say, so it’s all of our problem now. Which means, no more keeping us in the dark.” She held up an open palm when Grian raised his head from his hands, face gone pale and drawn. “I don’t care–”

“Cleo, back. Off.”

“Pearl, I don’t care about his past. No, really, I don’t care. No offence, Grian. All I care about is what’s happened to us, whether it’s going to happen again, when it’s going to happen again, and how we can stop it. And, given we’re all involved in this now, I think we’ve got a right to know that much. I don’t care about details, or who did what, or any other bullshit you’ve got going on. But we deserve answers.”

Grian inhaled. Exhaled. Thumbed at his lower lip. His eyes were downcast, the bags beneath them deep and bruise-purple.

Pearl hissed out a breath through her teeth. “You don’t have to answer her, Grian.”

“He kinda does,” muttered Tango, bravely, before wincing under the full weight of Pearl’s venomous stare as it turned on him. “Look, I’m just saying…”

“Yeah, uh, no offence dude, but this has happened twice now, and– I don’t know about everyone else, but I’d kind of like some answers,” said Ren, mildly. He looked around the circle, and was greeted by a sea of nods – some more hesitant than others, admittedly, but from everyone other than Pearl.

“He doesn’t owe any of you–”

“Pearl. It’s okay.” Grian’s voice was flat, a little hoarse, his black eyes dull as he looked up and around the circle. “It’s– The creatures who did this are called Watchers.” Pearl flinched at the name. No one else so much as blinked. “They take players, or whole servers, and set them– tests. Challenges, tricks, traps, I– they like to play games with people. They’re doing it to me, to us, because I… annoyed them. A while ago.”

“But is it going to happen again?” Cleo sounded impatient, the words nearly a snarl.

“Yeah. It’ll happen again. I don’t know when, but it’ll happen again, and it’ll keep happening, over and over, until they get bored. Or get what they want, if they want something, which I don’t know if they do. As for how to stop it…” Grian snorted, bitterly. “You can’t. We can’t.”

“Bullshit,” said Etho, loudly, his hand clenching around the pommel of his sword.

Grian barked out a noise of derision, low and ugly. “What’re you going to do, Etho?” he mocked, teeth bared into a rictus grin. The firelight made a monster of his features, all lit with shadows and flickering. “Are you going to fend them off, single-handed? Stab them, with your sword? Try and fight them? That won’t work. So, so maybe you, you, you– you put yourself between them and your friends– so, so it’s you they take, take apart, instead, instead of him– piece by piece, organ by muscle by tendon by nerve by nerve by nerve–”

He cut off with a gasp, swaying forward like he’d been gutted, mouth moving soundlessly. For a moment, he looked like he might say something else. Then he pressed a hand over his lips, and then the other, hard enough his fingernails bit red crescent moons into his cheeks. His shoulders shook.

It looked, for all the world, like he was laughing.

Etho growled, but Tango set a hand on his forearm, preventing him from standing – through gesture alone, at first, and then with physical force. The tendons in his upper arm and shoulder stood out as his hand went white-knuckled around Etho’s arm.

“You can’t,” echoed Pearl, her hands curled into fists on her knees. She was cross-legged atop an oversized mushroom – grown straight from the ground with some strange, glowing bonemeal she’d brought – and leaning towards Grian like she wanted to go to him, to hold him. She didn’t.

It was as though she didn’t dare to break the circle. No one else moved, either. They sat there, watching, as Grian crumpled in on himself before them in quiet, trembling misery, and no one dared move. Like the fragile arrangement of bodies and improvised stools they had constructed was the only thing holding them all together. Or all back from frightening violence.

Given the look on Etho’s face, it might well have been. “Don’t tell me what I’m capable of,” he said, coolly.

“They’re gods, Etho.” Pearl tugged another thread from her hoodie, biting her lower lip until she tasted blood. “Or– not gods. But close. Somewhere between admin and dev, but not… not like either of them. A different breed. Worse. They’re– there’s something wrong with them. Something inhuman.”

Grian was still not-laughing. His hands were still over his mouth as he rocked back and forth, trembling. His eyes were dark and hollow, his eyelashes bright and wet.

It was only when Bdubs put a hand on Etho’s forearm, too, that he stopped trying to rise. Tension stayed written in every line of every muscle in his body, but he was no longer fighting against Tango. He was, instead, looking at Grian with something between pity and disgust.

“So,” said Tango, loudly, directly to Cleo. He shook his now-aching arm out, throwing sideways glances at both Etho and Grian. His expression was equal parts frustration, concern, and poorly concealed fear, and it was mirrored in the faces of every gathered Hermit bar Cleo. She remained a rock, inscrutable in her flat determination. “Since you seem to have put yourself in charge: what’s the plan?”

“Two options. We either play the game, from the start – none of these alliances, no friends or partnerships, we just go in, kill, die, get out – and hope it’s over quickly. Or we try and fight it, somehow. Or– fight them. The Watchers.”

“You can’t–” moaned Grian, muffled by his fingers, but shut up at the look Cleo gave him. The laughter stopped. The rocking did not.

“As I was saying. Or we try and fight the Watchers. Refuse to give them what they want, refuse to kill each other, keep an eye out so no one dies by accident. Either way, the goal is to make these Watchers bored, frustrated. Make sure we’re not giving them what they want, which seems to be a show. We starve them out. Might be enough to make them leave us alone, go pick on someone else.”

Tango nodded, one canine hooked thoughtfully over his lower lip.

Grian raised a hand, this time, and only spoke when Cleo nodded her head in his direction. He’d stopped shaking, and the wetness was gone from around his eyes, brushed away by the sleeve of his jumper. He was still rocking, though, a faint little back and forth as he picked at the skin around his fingernails.

“You’ll need to put me down, first,” he said, voice flat and factual. Between the paleness, and the shadows under his now-reddened eyes, and the flickering firelight casting rolling shadows across his face, he looked almost sickly. Unwell. “Whichever option you choose. Or they might be able to– use me.” He didn’t elaborate on what that might mean.

“Absolutely not,” said Scar, immediately and loudly.

Grian glanced at him, his mouth twisting, before looking back to Cleo. When he spoke, though, his words didn’t seem aimed at her. “I’m a danger to all of you alive.”

Cleo nodded, curtly, though there was something like respect in her eyes. “I can do that,” she said, voice hard.

From across the circle, Etho grunted his agreement. There was no respect from him. His hand was now around Bdubs’ wrist, fingers curled tight like he thought the other man might slip away.

Grian nodded, and then turned his gaze down to his hands in his lap. The skin around his thumbnail was bleeding, but he still worried at the tiny flat of loose skin beside it, picking and tugging until a drop of blood rolled down the curve of his thumb. He was still rocking, slightly. He wasn’t sure he could make himself stop. Not without screaming, or crying, or shaking himself apart.

Scar’s face darkened, and he chewed on his lower lip, brows drawn together like he was collecting his words. Strong words.

“…We could try breaking the game?” suggested Impulse, hesitantly, cutting over whatever Scar was going to say to say. Judging by the uncharacteristic anger writ large on his face, it wouldn’t have been anything kind. “That’s the third option, if we don’t want to, you know– no Grian murder necessary, haha! Between me and Tango and– Etho, and oh gosh, who else does redstone, Mumbo too–”

“Excuse me! And me!” interjected Bdubs, a look of mock-indignation on his face. He wiggled his eyebrows. Nobody laughed.

“–between us, we might be able to manage… something? I don’t know.”

“Yeah.” Tango leant forward from where he was perched precariously atop a piston, warming to Impulse’s theme, his eyes suddenly alight with possibility. “If someone can, uhh– I’m sure X would spawn a command block in for us, if we asked pretty please and promised to be good with it. And then if we could get that in–“

“Hah! How’re you gonna do that, genius?” asked Bdubs, with entirely predictable levels of derision.

The derision had an equally predictable effect on Tango, who visibly bristled. “Well, I dunno yet, but I figured that given this, y’know, is a collaborative meeting–”

“Yeah, but we’re players, not gods, idiot, we can’t just carry stuff between worlds. Remember? Have you finally fried your brain with all that fancy schmancy redstone you’ve been–”

“It just a fucking idea, Bdubs, you don’t have to be a dickhead about it. I don’t see you offering any–“

Ren cleared his throat loudly, kicking the log he was sat on. The bickering cut off, and the circle collectively turned to look at him. He ducked his head, wincing away from the attention. “Sorry to interrupt. Was just gonna say, my dudes, that Doc’s got some weird tech to do with inventory management going on,” he said, with a half shrug of his shoulders. “Not the same as last season, he said, but it looks like it works pretty similar to me. Can’t say I understand it, and it’s only across distances on a single server, but– maybe have a chat with him? If anyone knows about cross-server transport, it’ll be him, or one of his little hivemind people. Things. Or whatever they are. Never actually gotten a straight answer from him about that one.”

Tango turned from glaring with his tongue stuck out at Bdubs – who had his face scrunched up in response – to toss Ren a casual salute. “Will do! Cheers, Ren. Nice to see someone being supportive.”

“You know me, baby,” said Ren, saluting back. “Always happy to help. Just doin’ my best out here, like the rest of us. Am I right?”

There was a moment of quiet, then, as they all mulled that over. The fire crackled between them, hot and hungry, dying slowly as it chewed through the logs they’d fed it. The sky above them was dark, cloudless, moonless.

Grian was glad of that. Between the whole Hermatrix debacle, and then the last death games server they’d all been sucked into with the moon and Martyn and the fucking moon– He’d had enough of it to last a lifetime. He wasn’t sure if its absence now was a good omen, or a bad one, but either way he was grateful for the empty skies.

“Oh– we could try and get Doc into the game?” suggested Scar, brightly, with the cheerful, brainless enthusiasm of a man who’d put one and one together and somehow gotten five. “That’d be even better. He could help you guys with the redstone stuff that way!”

The redstoners of the group collectively turned to look at him as though he’d abruptly lost his mind.

“Scar,” said Mumbo, remarkably calmly and very carefully. “I want you to think very hard about what Doc is like, on Hermitcraft, where we’re all good friends and dying doesn’t matter. And then I want you to think very hard about what being red feels like.”

“Oh,” said Scar.

“Yeah, no, I’m with Mumbo on this one,” said Impulse, with the bright, strained smile of the thoroughly terrified. “Doc on a life server sounds like a worst case scenario. Like, apocalypse-level worst case.”

Etho said nothing, which spoke volumes.

“Talking of worst case scenarios.” Pearl raised her hand, but only after she’d spoken, like an afterthought courtesy. When people didn’t immediately turn to look at her – occupied as most of them were with imagining the horrors that Doc M. “World Eater” Seventyseven might visit upon a death games server – she waved her arm above her head indignantly. “Hello? Look. Should we warn people about this? Like, the rest of Hermitcraft, the others on Empires, any of Grian’s other friends… Warn them they might get taken, I mean.” She paused, mouth twisting into a thin, unhappy press of lips. “It wasn’t, uh. Great fun. For me, personally. Just, you know, getting yoinked and plonked down in that, without any heads up.”

There were, abruptly, a number of overlapping voices.

“Fuck no,” said Cleo, loudly, above them all. “It’d be mass panic. For no reason, either, given we’ve got no idea who might be taken, if anyone new gets taken at all. We’ve no idea how these Watchers decide who pick. Imagine how people would react. …Imagine how Joe would react.”

“I would prefer not to,” said Grian, deadpan.

“Eh.” Pearl flapped a dismissive hand. “He’d write weird sonnets about it.”

“No he bloody well wouldn’t,” countered Cleo. “He’d start picking apart the source code of the bloody universe to try and summon a Watcher to have a chat with. In my base, too, probably”

Tango snorted. “Yeah,” he said, “but he’d do the summoning in iambic pentameter.”

“We don’t tell people,” said Etho, authoritatively, and the background chatter quieted immediately. “Because it won’t do any good, and because I don’t wanna find out what the Joe Hills Difference means when it comes to coping mechanisms for potentially getting dragged into a death game. So. Mumbo, you’re going to go talk to Doc about his inventory tech. Impulse, or Tango, you go talk to X about command blocks. Not getting one, just– see if he’d be willing. And… I’ll put some feelers out to some old friends. See if they know anything that might be useful, about getting in and out of servers. If we get taken for the games, Cleo and I take out Grian immediately, and then we talk our options out from there. Anything I’ve missed?”

There was silence, for a long moment, as everyone processed exactly what they’d collectively proposed.

“You’ll need to tell the others about it,” said Grian, at length, voice still low and eyes still downcast. His thumbnail was bitten ragged and down to the quick, the skin around it angry-raw and bloodied. “The non-Hermits, who were there last time. Scott and the others. They should be kept in the loop, if we’re talking– battle plans.” Those last words held an edge of his earlier hysteria, lodged tightly in the back of his throat.

“I can talk to Scott,” said Pearl, “next time I’m over on Empires. I can talk to some of the others directly, too, I think – Joel, Jimmy. And then Joel can get Lizzie, so that’s her ticked off too… Who does that leave?”

“I can message Martyn,” said Ren, jaw set. “So don’t worry about him.” When several of the others looked at him in surprise, he shrugged, self-conscious and a little pink in the cheeks. “We’ve, uh. Kept in touch.”

Impulse huffed out a breath. “Yeah,” he muttered, without looking up from where he was staring deep into the campfire’s flames, “I’ll bet you have.”

“And I’ll do Bigb,” said Grian, as though Impulse had never spoken, dragging a hand over his hair. “Timmy, too, if I see him before you, Pearl. And Skizz?”

“Nah, I can do Skizzle.” Impulse stretched, and yawned widely, wincing when Tango took the opportunity to poke him in the ribs. “Tango! C’mon. Anyway, I’ll do Skizzle. It’s been too long since I last saw him, we’re overdue a catch-up.”

Mumbo yawned, too, before clamping both hands over his mouth and looking around guiltily. “Is that everyone?” he asked, when the danger of another yawn had passed. “I think that’s everyone.”

“Yeah. That’s everyone.” Impulse clapped him on the shoulder. “C’mon. I think that’s it for this evening. No point dragging it out if everyone’s exhausted, and we can always meet up again. Unless we get taken before then, haha!” Nobody laughed. “Oof. Tough crowd. Alright. If nobody has anything to add…?”

Nobody did.

The gathered Hermits left in ones and twos, launching themselves into the sky with rockets or tridents. Etho and Bdubs left on horseback, riding close enough together that their knees almost touched. Mumbo left by flying machine, fell off, and ended up chasing after it with rocket after rocket echoing through the sky over the sound of panicked cursing. Cleo left on foot, her elytra’s beetle-wings closed against her back, with a mutter about needing to clear her head. And, finally, even Grian and Pearl departed, wings spread and rockets in hand, as they took to the sky in silent synchrony.

The campfire stayed behind, the light of it guttering against the pressing dark as it chewed hungry through the last of the wood. It flickered once, twice, and then, quite abruptly, died. All that remained was embers, drifting smoke, and the night sky above – cloudless, moonless, and black.

#hermitcraft #double life smp #third life smp #last life smp #hermitfic #hermits crafting #life smp tag #life smp fic #fic #i hope yall enjoy emotional knives to the chest #bc this one is a DOOZY

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manoosweebar · 1 year

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Imagery of Steel Inquisitors

[spoilers for Mistborn Era 1, I suppose] Recently finished era 1 of Mistborn last summer (yet to start era 2, trying to pace myself through the sanderson-verse/cosmere thing????) and I just wanna talk about my thoughts behind how characters looked and specifically changed through the story. Specifically, Marsh

Marsh, being Kelsier’s brother, made me reckon they’d be similar. I had in my mind that he was a brunette to Kelsier’s dirty-blonde, mainly an auburn, reddish-brown shade. In terms of build I imagine he’s built well, but not super buff or anything

This of course changed when he became a Steel Inquisitor. I imagined/headcanon'ed these fucking monsters being built like a 40k Space Marine. Huge as hell, almost engorged with muscle in a way that gives them the build of an un-plugged fridge. Dwarfing characters like 5-foot-weighs-100-lbs-soaking-wet Vin and a great deal few heads taller than characters like Ham (HC'd as tall and built like a strongman) and Sazed (HC'd as tall, but more willowy/lanky). At the end of The Final Empire Marsh'd be bald, I HC'd him sporting a bit of short hair growth in Well of Ascension, but I couldn't see him as sporting anything else than wearing a wild chestnut-brown mowhawk and short beard in Hero of Ages. I don't know why. I just did and it was great?

I was advised to avoid fanart for the books until after I read them by a friend (Wise friend, she is). That's when I saw that most depictions are much different than what I headcanoned. Outfits, spikes, and tattoos were good but it was the size that was the most different. They were jacked, ofc, but they weren't as monstrously massive as I had imagined.

I feel like the imagery I imagined... idk, fit more? Mostly on a subtle-body-horror thing going on with Mistborn era 1 and the logic behind some of their powers

IMO, some of the creatures in era 1 are ghoulishly scary. You can see bones of the corpse-eating mistwraiths through their skin. Similarly, Kandra eat people, wear their skins, and (when not wearing people bodies) wear bodies of stone and crystal. Koloss. GOOD LORD THE HULK SMURFS. The baby guys have flabby blue skin that tears and bleeds as they get bigger. And they're all creatures made with Hemalurgy. Steel Inquisitors make due in the body horror with the whole spikes thing, but them being the size of the average dude is not enough. I Need Them to be huuuuuge.

Plus, their immense strength comes from a combo of burning pewter and using the stored strength from feruchemy, right? Specifically with Feruchemy, we see in tFE that when Sazed taps into strength he gets jacked as well. I think hes described as growing taller due to it, but I don't have the books with me to double check. Either way, if they're constantly burning MAD GAINZ MAGIC™, I'd imagine they're roided out the wazzoo

I need more art of Steel Inquisitors to make them MONSTERS. The offical art and fan-art thats out there is (Chef's Kiss) beutiful, but I'd love to see this kind of take on steel inquisitors

[Please no spoilers for the rest of the series, I promise I'm getting through it as fast as I can to enjoy the memes, art and discussions]

#mistborn #mistborn spoilers #mistborn era 1 #mistborn era 1 spoilers #steel inquisitors #marsh mistborn #vin mistborn #sazed mistborn #kelsier #kelsier mistborn #brandon sanderson #cosmere #body horror #headcanon #give me buff monster guys #warhammer 40k #silly headcanons

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palettepainter · 2 years

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damn dude. i hadnt seen the rowlf and teeth art yet, so with all the literal homophobic moral panic new age puritanical bitching from that other anon abt "ruined childhoods" i was sort of expecting like.. something spicy?? which would still have been fine, like. muppet porn is not my thing but people are allowed to express their thoughts through their art on their own damn blogs. so i half expected it to be steamy or risqué or even vaguely sexual from the way anon is flailing around, but nope nope not even an implication not a whiff of yiff, it's the cutest sweetest most G rated least offensive display of pure and wholesome affection ive ever seen, and the art itself is stunning in quality. perhaps anon should stop outsourcing the foundation of their personality onto the rest of the world and learn to curate their own experience online, instead of trying to control the thoughts, lives and expressions of others in a quest to reform the world into a special little homogenous space made especially just for them and nobody else. other people exist and some of us want to see the muppets kiss, because it ENRICHES our childhood memories.

anon, listen. if you dont want to see the muppets gay kiss? just.. unfollow the artist who drew gay kissing muppets. you have no right to tell people what they are and arent allowed to do with, draw images of or say about fictional characters from a tv series we ALL watched. you dont own the concept of muppets, buddy, and even if you did, not-for-profit fanworks are a legally protected form of art in most countries.

and gay romance is not sacrosanct!! if you think it is, you need to do some work killing the internalized homophobia that's clouding your view! you need to actively counter the homophobic misinformation you are regurgitating! and realize that you are not immune to being homophobic just because you are bisexual. gay people can be homophobic towards other gay people, and towards themselves. homophobia is a type of violence, and in the same way it doesn't matter who's behind the fist when youre getting punched in the face, it doesnt matter how you identify when you're claiming that a depiction of innocent gay affection is sacrosanct enough to be childhood-ruining. that shits homophobic. people who get bullied can, in fact, also bully other people. they aren't mutually exclusive concepts.

and besides, if a g rated image by an artist on tumblr can ruin your childhood memories of the characters.. was it ever really about the characters at all? did you ever actually give a shit about these characters if another person's—and I cannot stress this enough—HARMLESS and INOFFENSIVE interpretation of them in one single picture could ruin it for you? maybe you should reflect on that. and maybe you should go watch some jim henson muppet shows, i know they cover it in sesame street on multiple occasions that it's not okay to tell other people what to think or or how to play with their own toys, like it's repeated and explicit that you cannot control other people. in children, we call this behavior bratty. if a child wants their godzilla toy to have a tea party with their barbie, thats literally their right. yes, even in public where *gasp* other people will see it. and drawing is like creating your own 2D action figure. its not the original one on tv, its your personal version. telling an adult to stop drawing something and sharing it from their blog is literally a direct translation of telling a child they are playing with their toys wrong, ruining godzilla for you bc they want him to have a tea party with barbie, telling them they should only play with them the way YOU deem correct. so if you can't reconcile the way someone else is playing with their own toys in their own front yard, walk away and either go to your own house and play with your own toys or find someone else to play with. maybe you missed those very central and important parts of these shows, idk. maybe you're just too self centered to understand the lessons the muppets were trying to teach. either way, get the fuck over yourself and leave artists alone.

anyway my dear artist, i am so sorry for the behavior of that other anon, and i'm sorry if this message is way way way too long. you deserve only the highest praise, both for your work and for how you handled this whole debacle. you're an absolutely amazing mastercrafter, your skill is truly something to behold and that piece is so so precious and warms my heart and i would love to see more of ur muppet interpretations, i love you sm ok bye

I was fully expecting to wake up to an ask from that homophobic anon, if I've learnt anything from this hater it's that they're persistent. But this?? This is so fucking nice to see you have no idea!

I woke up this morning and saw I had new asks in my inbox, I was expecting hate, I was prepared for it, I was ready to make more jokes out of hateful comments. But to wake up to this?? Not just a few sentences, no a full-on paragraph that you took time out of your day to send in? It wasn't until I realised this wasn't hate did I realise how crazy it is that most days I wake up in the mornings expecting there to be hate in my ask box. This truly made me smile this morning and helped me remember that my online audience is overall a happy, supportive and kind group of people

Thank you so so much for sending in this ask - after waking up expecting hate reading this was such a nice surprise! It also helped remind me that not everyone who views my art isn't out to get me for whatever I choose to draw (this is really off topic but how did you write all this in one ask?? Whenever I've tried to send in lengthy asks to a blog it always say there's a character limit)

#Thank you so much anon #It was nice to wake up for once and not see hate in my inbox #I know I say I rarely get hate #But it def feels like I've been getting it more and more #I try not to let hate like that get to me but everyones got a limit #and it was starting to get a bit tiring

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moonlight-fan2008 · 2 years

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Moonlight rewatch part 2 of 16

Season 1 episode 2 out of the past

Mick being angry

1970s!Mick “ I know who did this” 1970s!police officer “care to share with the rest of us?” Mick says nothing and walks away all broody like, gets me every time

Josef trying to be the voice of reason telling Mick to kill lee jay which would probably be a smart move but given how media attention the dude is getting would not be the wisest thing to do in the end but Mick ignoring him, shows how much Mick is trying to cling to his humanity and be as human as he can be. He doesn’t want to be the vampire people depict in movies

though Josef and Mick both end up being right in the end. Lee jay does go all Van Hesling on Mick but Irene gets justice in the end when the truth about lee jay comes out

While I am a MickBeth shipper, Josh is very sweet and a nice guy. He does genuinely care about Beth and isn’t all that upset when Beth is saying Micks name in her sleep

Beth and her colleagues joking around with each other is cute and makes it believable that they actually people. Especially since it’s not anything mean spirited

I wonder if the gift of a 25 year old single malt was a deliberate attempt at getting information from Mick since the crime happened 25 years ago.

I still hate lee jay

Mick visiting his old cop buddy got me excited when I originally watched the show, I was like wow he has he has human friends who know the truth about him and then it turns out that the guy is blind and then it’s like oh 🙁

Mick is a nerd confirmed, one of the great things about technology he lists off is world of Warcraft and he is the most excited about that one. I’m head cannoning that he and Logan met via World of Warcraft and nothing can change my mind

Mick giving Beth evidence about Lee Jay at the dudes book release is not the smartest move

I still hate Lee Jay, the actor does a good job at being a smug asshole

Beth calling Mick out on what she thought was his problematic behavior and him desperately wanting her to believe him about Lee Jay not just because he doesn’t want her to look at him like he’s a monster but because Lee Jay is a massive piece of shit and doesn’t want him to hurt other women.

Beth uncovering Mick’s lies and getting worried about her new friendship

Micks house gets broken into a lot, this is the first of many episodes where being just make themselves at home.

Lee Jay @ Mick “you’re a bundle of nerves” yes yes he is

Josef’s sass strikes again “you made the news” and Mick’s “great”

I wonder why the cleaners didn’t pay Mick a visit, granted it could have been that it just looked like human on human crimes so they’re like it’s not really a problem yet and until it was becoming clear Mick was endangering vampires then he’d get himself a visit. Because cleaners are a thing at this point, they show up in the very next episode. So it’s not like it’s something that was thought up later on in the series.

Josef “you’re not worried about what some blonde reporter thinks?” It’s a little bit about that but I do think Mick mainly wants to right a wrong and give Irene some justice instead of people believing she killed herself.

Mick wants to tell Beth the truth so bad, he really doesn’t want to lie to her but the truth is so crazy that he doesn’t want to scare her. I think if Josh wasn’t at Beth’s apartment then Mick would’ve blurted out “because I’m a vampire” and probably would’ve told her everything.

Lee Jay continues to be a massive piece of shit and his friends who helped him kidnap Julia, Beth’s reporter friend are also pieces of shit.

Josh is still a nice and supportive boyfriend

Beth is a little too nonchalant about Mick tagging her friends car with a GPS tracking device.

Also Mick’s little flip phone like I know this is the mid-2000s but come on they had other more advanced phones like come on old man get with the 21st century

I wonder if Mick is immune to fire since Coraline and her brother Lance are immune to fire or if fire immunity is a side affect from the cure

Beth coming in to save the day

Also more scenes from the unaired pilot episode can be seen towards the end of the episode

Where did Mick get his blood bags from and why didn’t his friends help him home

Mick really should’ve shut his door but Beth probably would’ve just barged in anyway

Moonlight’s music choice is amazing, I think every episode had good music

I give this episode 8 of 10 wooden stakes, I like the story for the episode it raises the stakes (pun intended) for Mick and that they didn’t dance around and drag out Mick was a vampire for multiple episodes and have Beth find out in the middle or end of the season.

Again some things were a bit choppy nothing bad, all brand new shows have a episodes that are like but once Moonlight gets the ball rolling it gets good.

#mick st. john #moonlight cbs #alex o'loughlin #cbs moonlight #beth turner #moonlight #moonlight tv #sophia myles #mick st john #tv show #josef kostan #jason dohring #moonlight: tv show #Season 1 episode 2 out of the past

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