#i'm already obsessing over big hero 6

[ilivelikeimtrying]

Crap, all these ROTTMNT posts are bringing back an old obsession and I honestly don't know how to feel about that.

I thought I left my TMNT fan era behind 2018.

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #i was so obsessed with TMNT that i did every kind of research on it (but of a history lover) #made a bunch of fan art that will never see the light of day because they're practically chicken scratch #and wrote a 15 chapter (i think it was about 15 to 30 pages each) fanfic in my school journals #i don't know how to feel about this #i'm already obsessing over big hero 6 #Huh.... #i might have a type when it comes to fandoms #big hero 6 #bh6

[bluehourbucky]

My Mom Thinks You're Hot

pairing: beefy!bucky x singlemom!reader

summary: your son tries to set you up with an avenger in a grocery store

a/n: short drabble bc why not

masterlist

_______________________________________

Getting groceries might not be fun for most families but for you and your 6 year old son it's almost as fun as going to the park.

The store that you visit has small cart for kids which your son loves to push, making him feel like a big boy. It's absolutely adorable and you take a picture of him every time. You don't know how you got lucky that your son loves grocery shopping as most kids find it either boring or too stimulating which is completely normal.

"Mommy look it's Avengers cereal!"

As any other kid his age, he's obsessed with The Avengers.

"Yes it is and it's very cool but we already have cereal at home." his face falls and puts the cereal box back.

"Can we get it next time?"

"Of course honey." you chuckle when you see him do a little victory dance.

You were slowly but surely making your way through the grocery list, slowly because your son decided to stop in front every single Avengers food.

Now for your favourite.

Ice Cream.

You turn your head quickly when you hear your son squeal.

"MOMMY THE AVENGERS! CAPTAIN AMERICA! AND BUCKY!" He whisper yells

you look over to where he's pointing and it's true there stand Sam Willson and James Buchanan Barnes.

"Can we please say hi." he holds your hand and gives you his best puppy eyes. You give in since it's not every day you get to meet heroes.

"Hi! You're really cool!"

Two men look down at the 6 year old boy and smile.

"Hey champ,what's your name?" Captain America asks and crouches down to his eye level.

"That's such a cool name!"

"Thank you my mom chose it!" you immediately blush when both men look at you.

"Hi. We just wanted to say hi and uh thank you for saving the world and all that." you avoid looking at James Bucky Barnes because you might have a huge crush on him. Ever since you were a teen and studied for history you thought he was very handsome.

"All part of the job ma'am." Sam salutes you and you smile a little, he's the perfect Captain America.

"I have so many questions!"

"Honey, they are very busy we can't keep them all day. How about just one question for each of them? That's of course if you're okay with that." You look at two heroes,who reply with a nod

"Alright you heard your mom, what do you have."

He thinks so hard and finally asks.

"What's the name of your bird!?" Bucky bursts out laughing, that's not what he thought the boy would ask Sam. Your heart might have done a flip at the sound,you try to hide your face by looking at the floor.

"His name is Redwing."

"Well that's pretty boring why doesn't he have a cool name." At this the three of you laugh.

Sam looks mildly offended.

"What do you have for me?" Bucky asks and whatever he thought the boy would ask it certainly was not this.

"Mr Bucky sir - Do you have a girlfriend or boyfriend or partner? My mom thinks you're hot."

You immediately pull your son into you and cover his mouth. Bucky blushes deeply and so do you.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. We have to go right now." You're so embarrassed that you leave your full cart and go straight for the exit pulling your son by the arm.

"But he didn't answer the question." your son whines.

"We don't need to know that. That's a personal question you don't ask people!"

"Uh I don't mind answering that question." Buckys voice says and you stop in your tracks, you turn around but still avoid the eye contact.

"Really you don't have to!"

"I want to. And I'd like to ask a personal question too if that's okay with you of course?"

Your knees almost give out when you manage to make eye contact.

"No, I do not have a significant other. And I don't know how this works at this day and age, but I'd like to ask for your number,doll."

_____________________________________

some years later

"Thank you for coming guest's that I know and don't know. My mom is getting married to my dad! You should all be thanking me because I made that happen!"

You look at your now husband and smile.

Maybe it's not the way you thought you'd meet the love of your life but sure is a story your guests and son find very entertaining.

#james buchanan barnes #bucky masterlist #bucky x reader #bucky barnes #bucky imagine #bucky barnes x reader #sebastian stan characters #bucky fluff #bucky fic

[my-name-is-siduri]

The Pet Shop Boys Video Game

You may know about West End Girls being in GTA V, or the various songs that have been included in karaoke and rhythm games. But that's just tracks included in the game, not an entire game with the central focus of the Pet Shop Boys. Surely nothing like that exists...right?

Our story begins on a late Saturday night, in a Discord voice call. @condylicious, knowing my obsession with PSB, had jokingly searched for "Pet Shop Boys video game" on Youtube.

What we found was an enigma that plagued our lives for the rest of the night. So now I present it to you, dear reader, in hopes that this curiosity is documented for posterity.

This is PSB Game (1992) for the Commodore 64.

(Full essay below.)

Part 1: Gameplay

Lucky for all of us, not only is the PSB Game available online, but it's playable right out of Archive.org! I recommend adjusting the emulator's joystick settings so that the controls work properly.

Intro

Upon loading up the ROM, the first screen we're presented with has an animated color border, the name Riff Raffs, the label Pet Shop Boys +6, and a scrolling message in the middle.

Quick tangent: this first screen that we've been presented with is a crack intro. To quickly summarize, breaking and removing a software's copy protection oddly enough has a culture around it, complete with entire teams that work on cracking programs. Not only do they remove the copy protection, but they add their own little flourish at the intro. The Riff Raffs here are one such team.

The second screen is a cheat menu, also added in by the crack team. For my playthrough I gave myself infinite lives because I'm bad at video games.

Title Screen

With all of that out of the way, it's time to start the game!

Other than the big text declaring PSB Game, there's the credit of 1992 S Pearson (we'll come back to this later), and an indication that Neil is Port 1 and Chris is Port 2. The title screen also has an extremely loud clashing noise playing over it. Listening closely though, it's a few second loop of the beginning of Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money).

I'm gonna be honest, these visuals combined with the clanging bitcrushed audio is uncannily similar to the supposed Polybius title screen. If the Men in Black show up at my door five days from now and start asking me synth-pop related questions then this is why.

The Stages

Pressing fire on the title screen starts the game. Whichever port you used to start will be the port you can play on. You can press fire on the other port at any time to have a second player join in.

Neil and Chris can move left and right. The fire button shoots up a comically large bullet upwards.

Getting hit knocks off one block from the health meter, as well as make our heroes flail their arms in distress. If the health meter drops to zero, its game over for that player. If both players lose, the game boots you back to the title screen. But I gave myself infinite health earlier so I won't have to worry about that during this playthrough :)

There are twelve stages. Most of the stages take place on this Launderette screen:

On these Launderette stages, large gray rectangles attempt to squish our heroes. They are also impossible to shoot, leaving you with no choice to dodge them. After two stages of the Launderette screen, the game changes the stage to a different screen with different enemies. It switches back to the Launderette screen for another two stages, then to a new screen, and so on until the game ends. Here are all the unique stages.

Stage 3:

It's the sleeve for the Love Comes Quickly single! Being rendered so minimalistic has somehow made Chris more ominous than he already was.

Stage 6:

A bald, sunglasses-wearing man with a shirt that says "Video Fall". I'm not sure who this character is supposed to be, but he's throwing VHSs at us. Luckily these VHSs can be destroyed with a couple of shots, one of the few things that you can actually shoot.

Stage 9:

The word UNFAIR is turned to its side, while a strange creature attacks our heroes. This stage isn't any more unfair than the other stages though, so I'm not sure what that's about.

Stage 12:

I have no idea what this is supposed to be a picture of. It's possible that since Stage 3 was a picture of Chris that this might be a picture of Neil. But it's so mangled by pixelization that it's anyone's guess really.

Ending

The game ends rather unceremoniously after Stage 12. It rapidly flickers the words "THE END". After flashing it for a little while, the game loops back to Stage 1.

Truly, the best that gaming has to offer.

Part 2: Who is responsible for this

As I mentioned in the intro, the first part of this journey began with a youtube video of PSB Game's gameplay. IMO it's not as good as mine, but it did start me off on this entire journey, to which I must thank it.

After going through every stage of grief upon watching this video, I began searching for more information about this game. I found two Commodore 64 databases had entries for the game. Here is the Gamebase64 entry, and here is the CSDb entry.

What's the title of the game anyway?

You might have noticed that the game appears to go by several names. CSDb, the original youtube video we found, and the cracking team itself calls the game "Pet Shop Boys +6". But the Gamebase64 entry calls it "PSB Game - Pet Shop Boys", and the game's title screen simply calls it "PSB Game." To confuse this further, the Archive.org file has "+6" tacked on at the end of the file name. My best guess is that the +6 part is related to the cracker team themselves? If anyone knows Commodore 64 terminology can explain this, feel free to let me know. Update: I've learned that the "+6" attached to the title refers to the 6 cheats available to use on the cheat menu before the game loads. Here is a video that explains the concept in more detail. Thank you to @dinosaurkirbys for letting me know about this, I appreciate it!

Personally, I've decided to go with the name PSB Game since it appears on the title screen.

Back to figuring out who made this

I realize it's a little bit late in this essay to point out that this game is a fan creation and completely unofficial. But uh, I thought I'd bring it up just in case.

The CSDb entry has little else other than the download link and credits the cracking team Riff Raffs (more about this in a bit) but has no credits for the game itself. The Gamebase64 entry gives us a little more information, noting the year it was published, as well as two names: Shaun Pearson. and Chris Yates.

Chris Yates is a red herring. As seen in the publishing info, PSB Game was created with SEUCK, which is an application that can be used to create shoot 'em up games. Chris Yates is one of the programmers for that application. Essentially, it's like if you credited a game made with RPG Maker as being created by RPG Maker itself.

That leaves us with Shaun Pearson.

Gamebase64 lets you search by creator. Searching for the name Shaun Pearson brings up a few results, mainly other SEUCK projects. What caught my attention was that they appear to have worked on a game as recently as 2020.

Now where this gets particularly interesting is that searching the same game on CSDb credits to user Wile Coyote instead. I'm not entirely certain if Wile Coyote is Shaun Pearson, but if they are, then they're active to this day. I'm not sure how to get into contact with them to confirm this because CSDb's forums were too confusing for me (I'm bad at technology I know), but if they are in fact the same, I think it's pretty cool to know that they're still active. If anyone can find me a way to contact them (or hey, if Shaun/Wile Coyote is currently reading this and want to contact me), feel free to reach out!

Part 3: Conclusion

As is, I think that's all there is that can be documented about the PSB Game. Before I go though, I do have a few requests.

One, if there is a physical copy of PSB Game laying around somewhere (unlikely, but you never know), I'd like to see a picture of it.

Two, if anyone knows how to rip C64 sprites, I'd love to have the sprite sheet for this game. Especially tiny pixel Chris and Neil flailing their arms.

And finally, Shaun, if you're reading this, I'd just like to say thank you so much for creating this strange little game. I had a blast uncovering it and learning a bunch about the C64 in the process. As I said, if you're willing to reach out, I'd love to hear more about this game from you!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

tl;dr weird little C64 shoot 'em up starring Neil and Chris

#PSB Game #Pet Shop Boys #Commodore 64 #obscure media #essay #Sid does writing #Sid posts

[goblin-spider]

While I'm on the topic of the ultimate blorbo, here are my favourite spideys and why (they aren't ranked because I am kissing them all on the forehead equally and putting them in my mouth and chewing aggressively in an affectionate manner)

1. Miguel O'hara, ofc. Man's a favourite because everytime I read his stuff, it's like it's pointing at my deepest issues and going 👁️👁️🫵🏻

2. Patrick O'Hara aka Ponderosa parker. Cowboy. Spider man cowboy. Very shaped. Has horse. Shoots webs out of pistols for Christ's sake! He's so cool. Makes my brain go 🧠🪱 pspspspspsps. I want to give his loner ass some kisses. His voice in atsv made me feel like a rabid animal (I really like southern American accents).

3. Ben Reilly. First of all, his back story is sick as! Second of all, body goals. Dudes 'defined musculature' is very goals. His costume? I want to steal it. Also, also, his mopey and dramatic nature in the movie was hilarious.

4. Jess. SHE RIDES A MOTORCYCLE AND DOES HERO WORK WHILE PREGNANT! I respect that. Also, I really like her sound advice and honesty when it comes to speaking up about what she thinks. Her design goes pretty hard too. She's so pretty.

5. Ezekiel Sims. "Let me guess... He died?" I love the skrunkly old, spider totem obsessed dude. He's just so... Idk I wanna chew on him.

6. Hobie Brown. As a goth who appreciates punks and all that they do, seeing and finding out there even was a punk spider man made me so happy. I love his wicks. I like that he isn't afraid to kill villains when they need to be killed in the comics (haven't actually gotten up to reading his yet but I will!) And his jokes in the movie were hilarious. Also, can we just appreciate how he helped miles when everyone else was against him?! What a cool dude.

7. Speaking of Miles, Miles Morales is another favourite. I like how caring he is towards his little sister in the comics, I like how his movie counterpart has developed as a character. I like how he wanted to study science instead of art to try and see his friends again and his art in the movie is also very epic.

8. Peter B Parker. He's stinky, broken, hilarious and skrunkly with messy hair and a dad bod. I'd marry him and feed him pizza like he was a king if I could. I really like dilfs with big brown eyes and a cup-able face. He's a disaster. I could make him worse. MOVE OVER MJ ITS MY TURN!

9. Noir. Backstory? Sad asf. I like that he shoots Nazis and isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. I would absolutely steal his look. There's a lot more I could info dump about but this post is already long enough.

10. This will probably come to no surprise to anyone, but insomniac peter parker. I love how he fights. I love his personality. His suit is 🥵 (and so is he in Spider-Man two. I am looking disrespectfully at symbiote Peter 💖👄💖)

11. Toby Maguire Spider man. The first spidey I ever got obsessed with. As a kid, I wanted to be like him, be strong and help people (I was a kid and it was the 2000s I didn't realise how cheesy and goofy his character actually was until I got older).

[thotsforvillainrights]

Hi! Okay I'm doing this off anon cuz I might become a regular around here. I really enjoy your writing, and your smaus make me giggle SO MUCH.

So, here's my request! Basically, reader is like. 5 or 6 years old and has a HUGE kiddie crush on them right? Even to the point the reader basically forces them into a kindergarten wedding lol.

The reader would be any person you wants kid, but I'd like to specifically request Dabi, Shigiraki, Twice, Spinner, Compress, Pops, AFO, And Chisaki? Sorry if that's too much! But yeah if that's okay lol :> also how would the kids parent/sibling react!

(So I might've had a hard time understanding this one since I'm grow more dense the longer the night goes on. The reader is anyone I want child, but the person the reader thinks of is the people listed above? I hope that's right! Also don't be mad, please don't be mad but I'm not too much a big fan of the kid's having crushes trope! Although its a real thing -I say this because as a small child I wanted to marry Inuyasha after seeing him on my Tv one night.-Anyway, can I opt out of the wedding and tweak it to them being huge fans please???)

(No seriously, don't be mad. I'm very sensitive)

(I decided for the dad to be Re Destro since he's been present a lot lately here on the blog. I was originally going to make the dad Twice but I looked back and saw he was already listed as the person of interest lol)

headcanon|scenario|imagine|match-up

-Dabi: Rikiya first started to suspect that you were a weird kid when he found you out in the garden one day trying to have a full conversation with earthworms in the tomato plant. Being a huge fan of the villain Dabi only cemented this. He figured you'd grow out of it in about a month or two but it didn't seem to go away. In fact, it only seemed to get worse with time! By the time you hit the age of 6, your entire bedroom was themed after a villain. It was somewhat disappointing since Re Desto figured you'd admire dear old dad around this age. Nope! You ran around the house throwing blue tissue paper here and there, pretending it was blue flames. You even went and scribbled purple paint all over yourself one day. It was getting out of hand but he tried to hand in there. What was a man to do?

-Shigaraki: There are worse things in this world...but having a kid that was obsessed with the Leader of the League of Villains definitely cut the cake. How on earth was he to cope with the various doodles of Tomura taking up space on his fridge? You even wanted him to call you Shigaraki around the house. It was no longer Cowboys and Robbers. It was now League and Heroes. There were no tea parties or fishing trips. You wanted to be Tomura you admired him so much. Your growing collection of red shoes was a sign of that. Re Destro has to hear Shigaraki's name leave his toddlers mouth at all hours of the day. "Papa look, Shigaraki is on the news!" He groaned and turned to stare at you as you excitedly watched the show. The man sighed to himself and smiled. Oh well, you were still his child and he still loved you dearly no matter what weird thing you were into at the moment.

-Twice: It's pretty obscure that Twice's biggest fan is a 6 year old but hey, what the hell. However, Rikiya did grow weary of watching his child try to make clones 24/7. That wasn't even the kind of quirk you possessed! Either way, he would learn to be patient with you until you found interest in someone else. At this point he'd prefer if it was anyone else other than Jin Bubaigawara. Damn it, anyone please? Here, hang out with uncle Skeptic or aunt Curious. Someone please help this old man lol.

-Spinner: At your young age you likely thought he was a dinosaur. It was innocent and very cute. You'd probably been raised up on a lot of dinosaur kids stuff so your brain made that connection when you saw Spinner one day. You'd suddenly started wearing a bandana/mask around the house and wielding an empty paper towel roll as your sword everywhere (even school). To you, spinner was the coolest person...dinosaur in the whole world. You would even take the toys you already had and wrap little masks around them and tie hairpins to their backs with rubberbands so they'd be like Spinner too. You also found out about Spinner before Stain so now you were thinking that Stain must be a huge spinner fan too.

-Compress: Anybody that can do magic tricks is going to have the best interest of a kid. That's a given rule. Poor Re Destro tried his hardest to explain to you that Compress was a villain and that he couldn't book him for your 6th birthday this year but you just weren't listening. Now Rikiya by no means raised any type of spoiled brat, but you certainly knew how to get what you wanted when you wanted it. You threw a fit. You thrashed about, cried until your eyes were swollen and itchy. You sniffled and snotted everywhere. You crossed your little arms and stomped your feet. You even threatened to hold your breath until you couldn't breath anymore. Your father folded faster than origami. Now he had to figure out a way to get a literal fucking villain to perform at a kids birthday party. Good luck with that one lol.

-Pops: You'd met the old man in public a few times. Your young mind couldn't gather much about him other than the fact that he must've been an important guy. All you knew is that 'old man pops' always reached into his pocket and gave you candy/sometimes money whenever he saw you. Re Destro usually chatted with the old man since they'd basically done business at the same bank and shopped at the same store sometimes. Your papa loved leaving far out of Deika to do errands since it was a nice trip to take. He didn't know his kid was going to admire the literal leader of the yakuza so much to the point that they wanted to be like the man. It wasn't too big of a deal though. He'd seen how nice the old man was to you. Maybe he'd arrange a time or two to take you to the compound so you could learn about the yakuza? Of course he didn't want you affiliated with such a group, but education at a young age was always essential.

-AFO: Rikiya is seriously considering sending a 5 year old off to therapy because what in the hell is going through your mind to have such a deep interest in All For One of all people. Sometimes things that are meant to scare people have little to no effect on small kids. Kids tend to be fearless (it's true), so sometimes they can have interests that border on the macabre. That must be what's happening right now. He hopes soon you'll come out of this before you turn 6 because he's getting weird looks buying AFO figures off the black market for a fucking 5 year old.

-Overhaul: Your obsession with Overhaul runs so deep that you've taken to covering your mouth everywhere. It started around the house with just your hand. You'd reach over your face at odd times and cover your mouth. Rikiya just thought that maybe something smelled weird but he could never figure out what it was. Then you progressed towards trying to make masks out of paper and yarn. He finally figured out you were interested in the young head of the yakuza after seeing him on the news one day. Now he had to deal with his child using their candy money to buy black surgical masks that barely fit their face. It was an odd interest indeed.

#im sure i fudged this one up and i apologize!

[maxwell-grant]

since youre a Jojo fan, Dio Brando for the listing meme

favorite thing about them

God, fucking DIO. Back in the days when JoJo was THE big obsession of mine, DIO, being my favorite character, was pretty much my favorite character in general, and while obviously my tastes changed a bit since then, he's still around the top for sure. I could talk your ears off about him and I genuinely can't just pick one, so for now I'm gonna just say three.

I love how big he is. Not just physically, but in that he's this villain who just never stops growing in scope and strength and reach over the course of the saga. Every Jojo part from 1-6, Dio is there. We grow up with him and, for all intents and purposes, he's practically the protagonist of Phantom Blood, as outlined by Araki even. Part 2, he's a ghost from the past who's been both surpassed as well as immortalized as a curse on the Joestars. Part 3, he's this huge, unsurmountable threat both to the world as well as the family personally, king of legions of monsters and a almost literal ticking time bomb that must be eradicated. Part 4, he's indirectly responsible for both the protagonist as well as the antagonists' ascension to power, a cancer on bloodlines other than the Joestars. Part 5 is about his son rising out of his evil legacy to guide others out of their dark pasts, and Part 6 he's become this god-like fragmented myth of memories and body parts, guiding the main villain in a final war of legacies, as it takes the literal destruction of the universe to rid the Joestars of DIO for good.

And though he grows and changes, he never stops being the same Dio. He never stops being the egomaniac hellbent on wiping out every weakness that gets in the way of his ambition, he never stops being the manipulative monster lying and scheming and fighting his way to the top, he never stops being the restless and intellectual pursuer of a way to overcome his bad circumstances, he never stops being the raging bully with a temper problem, he never stops being a pest. We just get to see more and more of his facets from more and more perspectives that enrich him more and more as a character, and it's such a fascinating way to develop a character.

On a more personal anectode, I also really, really like DIO's confidence. He's got a lot of shonen hero virtues that make for great protagonist material, he just happens to be 100% awful with them. I think getting into JoJo in general, taking the time to study it and it's influences, definitely helped boost my own self-esteem and sense of style, as weird as it sounds. It got me to think about my own fashion and how I wanted to present myself to the world and, things I had never really thought of or was taught to think about, but absolutely make all the difference in someone's self-esteem, and I think getting into JoJo kinda led to that. It was like getting hit in the face by a world of colors and styles I didn't know existed.

DIO is dressed in just, the most completely ridiculous outfits, outfits that look so stupid whenever you dress up other characters in them, but he makes them work because he's DIO, and he can rock any outfit. I cosplayed DIO once and it felt really good getting to just, strut like that, in such a ridiculous get-up, with the genie shoes and pants, with such confidence, not worrying about how I looked, and having all these people approach me and asking me to do cool poses and, god I miss cosplaying. Yeah, Jojo is real special to me for this and other reasons, and DIO's my favorite JoJo character so obviously I got too many feelings on him.

least favorite thing about them

Not at all a fan of Over Heaven, or Jorge Joestar's take on DIO, or how his story turns out in Eyes of Heaven (I do think Heaven DIO's design is great though). I'm really adverse to takes on DIO that try to soften him or explain him more than what canon already does, and to be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of Diego either, partially because he's just kinda perpetually stuck on Dio's pre-vampire Phantom Blood character but he gets treated everywhere like he's a dramatic improvement because he's more overtly sympathetic and tragic and people find that easier to compartmentalize and understand nuance in than a character who is just 100% evil incarnate. I really, really don't care at all for the mindset that sympathetic villains are inherently better and more complex.

Also he's killed at least a couple of cats on and off screen, and also everything he did to Danny, and animal abuse is a really sore spot for me, but that happens in Jojo to the point of running gag so it's not like Dio in particular is to blame for it, even if he was the first.

favorite line

I deeply love how the Phantom Blood dub made all of his dialogue twice as pretentious and more appropriately supervillain-y, even with some Shakespeare references, and one in particular that stuck out to me is this

From the earth I called them to wreak their vengeance, all these centuries later!. Such is the power at my command!

In life, they were fearsome. In death, they are invincible!

Which really gives the Tarkus and Bruford resurrection the proper build-up the concept deserves.

I also deeply love this scene with him and Pucci, partially for the dialogue but because of how significant it is.

brOTP

Besides Pucci, who is my other favorite Jojo villain, I really liked the few snippets we got of DIO's interactions with his followers in Part 3 like Hol Horse and N'Doul, and I would have liked to see more of them. Also, she's a wretched character, but I have a really soft spot for Enya and I really like seeing her and DIO together. It's a very fun dynamic and I was genuinely pissed at DIO when he killed her. Not because she didn't deserve it, but it's kinda like that moment in Batman 89 when Joker kills Bob, who had been nothing but loyal to him up to that point and they had a fun thing together.

OTP

None.

nOTP

Any Joestars, Jonathan included.

Now, to be clear, the Jonathan x Dio relationship is pretty much THE big reason why Phantom Blood is my favorite part (and why Jonathan’s my favorite Jojo) and the one I've rewatched the most time and time again, I adore their dynamic and find it incredibly compelling and fascinating. But they're adopted brothers and unless we're shipping Dio's face with Jonathan's fist anything else is gonna be a hard nope.

random headcanon

DIO has extremely unpredictable and dorky tastes in pop culture because he frankly just wants to try out whatever the world's got to offer him. He absolutely played videogames with Terence D'Arby and I imagine him liking cartoons that are absolutely not at all in line with his image. And he's not embarassed about it because, he's DIO, he's not embarassed about anything. Nobody says a word when he strolls down the manor singing the Spongebob theme song.

unpopular opinion

I guess my unpopular opinion towards Dio is that I do think he's a layered and multi-faceted villain and character when the universal opinion towards the character seems to be that he's fun but basic and fairly stupid compared to the other Jojo villains. I used to be pretty bitter about this, but I reckon it's a lost cause and, frankly it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the character at all. It's not like DIO is "underrated" as is, I just kinda wish he was appreciated more as something other than a giant meme or cartoon maniac (which I guess is kinda how I feel about JoJo in general, where I'm really not a fan of how the overwhelming Western thought towards it is that it's all just a giant dumb meme, but, whatever).

Also, not sure how unpopular this is, but I truly detest how the anime handled DIO's World visually. I really love the anime in general but we got cheated hard on that one.

song i associate with them

Any of his themes across JoJo media, but other than those, I don't actually associate Ronnie James Dio's songs with him that much, because I got into him first and so his songs have a different meaning to me. The Dio songs I associate with him are Evil Eyes and Egypt (The Chains Are On). I also really like DASJO's theme for DIO, especially for the Rainbow In The Dark riff.

favorite picture of them

I thought I was gonna have a harder time answering this one but, nope, it really is the Orange Dio cover. This right here is peak DIO.

#replies tag #character listing #jjba #jojo tag #dio #dio brando #hirohiko araki #stardust crusaders

[mystiquewanderlust]

CHINESE DRAMAS MUST WATCH

[PART 5]

🍽 Royal Feast

Genre: Historical Romance

Rating: 100/10

No. of Episodes: 40

Date Watched: 4/20~4/22/22 6:30am

Fuheng and Yingluo reunited! Omg I was super excited when I learned about this drama! A reunion explosive! Ahhh! My first C-drama couple finally had a happy ending that we've been deprived of from their previous drama *cries* This is the first drama where I discovered Xu Kai (The Yanxi Palace) and so I was really rooting for them til the end which gotten my heart broken into millions of pieces when she ended up with the "old" king!! Peace of mind finally here! My gahd huhu. I'm sooo happy. Just lack of kilig moments here (like I'm always bitin at inis sa pagpapakipot ng heroine) unlike from his previous drama I watched (if you read my previous entry) and more on cooking and palace dramas. Still a very good plot and production. The casts also and the foods, yummy!

Just waiting for the next Xu Kai dramas because they aren't released yet (clue: fantasy!!! yes, long hair Kai again omggg and adventure + a modern also which I know will melt me again for the intense PDA hahaha). I'm obsessed with Kai in long hair btw because here, his hair was always covered with his hat and it's not really pleasing and appealing. Good thing he's already oozing with charm and hotness haha. Kudos!!!

🪄The World of Fantasy

Genre: Xianxia, Fantasy, Adventure

Rating: 100/10

XIANXIA RATING: ⭐⭐⭐

No. of Episodes: 36

Date Watched: 4/22~4/25/22 12:45am

Amazing fantasy drama!!! I cannot. This is new to me so yeah! The main actors especially the hero are sooo good. French kiss for their acting especially the hero talaga Fan Chengcheng aka Adam Fan! I love him here talaga! And mind you, this is his first acting role! Yes, because he is an idol where I first discovered him! I salute such great actors.. every one I watched are all great ones and he just made my not-so-long list!

Plot wise, production, storyline, casts, animation affects, costumes, sets.. just wow! It's obvious this was a high-budgetted film and it's worth it! The downfall? No season 2! *cries* It was so cliff hanging since the ending still have something to look up for. They still have to battle the enemies and rescue their parents and the heroine still are to wake up and the main couple still are ro reunite! I demand a season 2!!! I really hope there will be one (but I highly doubt it after researching, huhu). But anyway, you won't regret watching this. I never got bored (tho there are cringy moments haha) and got to switch dramas (a sign I'm really engrossed with it). ♡♡♡

❤ The Blooms at Rui Pavillion

Genre: Historical, Romance, Comedy

Rating: 8/10

No. of Episodes: 44

Date Watched: April to May (not continuous)

This is an okay drama. Nothing special for me. Didn't leave a mark in my being, haha. Typical story of romance taking place in historical times where revenge and fightings over power is evident. Still I was able to finish despite occasionally jumping to other dramas every other days. I was confused by the switching to the modern times at the later part tho. I don't really get it and I don't know if it fits the story but whatever. That's all for me to say..

📚 In a Class of Her Own

Genre: Historical, Romance, Comedy

Rating: 100/10

No. of Episodes: 36

Date Watched: May 4~7, 2022

This drama is a big thumbs up! Light, funny yet with a bit of romance.. it surely has no dead air for me. I never got bored but instead I want more! A girl who disguises as a boy in an imperial academy for men---it was obviously a cliché BUT it never felt that way to me because of the good writing and characters involved compared to the first two dramas I watched which were too cheesy for me (Real talk here). The characters and actors who played the part, omg.. like the three main male leads were all good-looking! Most especially the hero! **new crush alert!!! Hihi** He is sooo handsome omggg!!! (Another stalking moment if you know what I mean hihi) I love the how of their friendship slowly blossomed from being rivals (if that is the right term). But the school concept is what excites me more. And of course the strong brotherhood among them four, as in!!! It was sooo fun watching and laughing throughout this drama. Super recommended! ♡♡♡

💘 Untouchable Lovers

Genre: Historical Romance

Rating: 9.5/10

No. of Episodes: 52

Date Watched: May 8~

A powerhouse of casts *insert Fu Mei* ! OMG I can't! Honestly, I never had interest watching this drama when I first came across it, knowing about the main leads (Song Weilong and Guan Xiaotong) because I wasn't familiar with them before (this was a 2018 drama, hello?). But now after watching their other dramas, and after learning that even Xu Kai is part of it, NO WAY I WON'T WATCH THIS!

Okay so plot wise, it is honestly sakit sa ulo. Lol. The most perversed drama I watched so far. Not kidding though, after the first story (because this has two versions portrayed) which is very uggghhh and caused me a major headache, the second part I thought it would be better and less brutal. But I guessed wrong since as the story progresses, it got more and more gruesome! Kudos to the actors tho for playing their parts well and for looking pretty and handsome which lessened the agony I felt from the events haha. Funny thing though--Xu Kai got to be paired up with all the other female leads here (the other five! LOL) in a drama/movie. Well except for Lusi since he was the 2nd male lead there who failed to get her heart. Still it was so funny how they paired him up with the other four in such big dramas which I already watched!

Overall, it was fine. Not so fun and light (obviously) which forced me to watch other lighter dramas midway yet it's worth watching due to the actors ♡

[blacksunscorpio]

Hi Scorp! I just have to tell you I've been on this site for a while and I'm so glad to come across someone's page that breaks astrology down so succinctly and in a fun and personal way. I wish more people we like you- you're a gem! I'd like to get started too and want to know in your opinion what the signs of a good astrologer are and how one can become one? Your help is as always so appreciated! I really admire you!

Thank you, love- Good Question

Signs of A Good Astrologer

1. They Understand Multiple Systems

Now, not every astrologer will use them. Some are more comfortable with Vedic, others Placidus, some Quadrant or Draconic and a few Horary or Equal House. Regardless, they’ll be able to entertain all kinds even if they subscribe to another/one in particular.

2. They Can Read A Natal Wheel

I know this may sound like a given but some folks who get into astrology just use a calculator or generator to pull up aspects and chart patterns. They won’t actually look at the wheel and see where planets land or how to work their way around the circle. They may not understand the red lines from the green or blue. It’s important to not only rely on a calculator but understand the wheel as a blueprint. You can catch many things and see many aspect patters [T-Squares, Grand Trines Yods, etc] with the naked eye. The natal wheel is the birth chart in its raw form. Anyone studying anything must begin with the basics. The wheel, fresh-faced is the best place to start. From there, the 101′s of Astrology become easier to grasp

3. They Do Not Rely On One  App Alone

The sign of any good astrologer [or anyone studying anything] is citing multiple sources and cross-referencing them. As we all know, technology, though an excellent modern tool is imperfect. It too can have glitches and miscalculations. For that reason, it’s important as an astrologer to at least have 2 to 3 calculators [including their own brain and hands] to break things down. This gives a better-rounded view of how charts work and can even introduce you to aspects you didn’t realize existed [parallels, contraparallels, etc]. Cafe Astrology is good for beginners but does not show you minor aspects [Quincunxes, sesquiquadrates, noviles or bi-quintiles] or chart patters like Astro.com does. Co-Star is good for millennials who are just starting and does a fantastic job of giving you a daily horoscope as well, but can really f-things up house-wise. [They are based out of NY and I rejected a job offer from them because of it.] Alabe.com is Ok but they make you input longitude and latitude which not everyone has access to and sometimes it just won’t take. Still, without cross-referencing you’d never know. Cast your net wide so you can get the best return.

4. They Understand Natal, Synastry, and Composite

While it’s important to understand how someone’s natal chart functions and relates to them as a person, or placements in general, we as Human Beings are social creatures. We operate in tribal, familial and unit systems. As a result, it’s important to know how people operate with each other as well as individually. A good astrologer will understand Synastry [aspects/energy between people] and Composite [midpoint and Davison, which is the Astrology of the relationship itself] in addition to Natal patterns.

5. They Have a Good Grasp of History

Mercury, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto? All names of Ancient God’s. When we understand the origins of these Planetary names, we can have a good grasp as to why they’re attributed to said planets/points. Modern planets are named after Roman Gods who all have ties to ancient Greece/India as well. When you understand the myths and stories you’ll already have a head start on why Venus is named after Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, since Venus rules love and what we appreciate. Mars [Aries] is the planet of war, sexual drive and action as is the Hellenistic/Roman God. Lilith is Adam’s first wife in Hebrew tradition and her hypothetical point in astrology embodies her traits. Make sense? Even the asteroids are named after minor gods and characters in the classics. Studying up on these can really help with understanding the planets as a whole.

6. They are Patient

Let’s face it, understanding astrology is not something that comes over night. It is also quite difficult to find in-depth classes for the study. Because of this, it is important for you or any astrologer for that matter to take their time. Don’t rush. Some can spend a lifetime studying and never know all there is to know. I myself learn new things everyday that I share with you all on here. Take your time. Be patient. Astrology is deeply metaphorical, philosophical as well as mathematical. Some may have a stronger grasp with one than another [as a former humanities major, I personally detest math but I’ll be damned if that makes me give up- I keep trying]. A good astrologer will give themselves and others grace to really grasp the concepts they are learning and know that it is not a 24 our crash course.

Red Flags 

With the good comes the bad/things many can work on to improve. The sign of an astrologer not living up to their full potential are:

1. Astrologers That Only Say Good Things About Your Sign

Let’s face it, astrology is not a study for those who like to sugar coat. The reality of life is that everything has a dark and light side. Just like every zodiac sign has positive and shadow traits. [Though I am a Scorpio and very loyal to my sign and people, I feel it necessary if I am to help others, to make them understand the under-developed traits of Plutonians/Martians in general.] You gotta keep it real. It is important to be honest. That is the only way to get to your sign’s final form. To understand what traits you/your sister signs/cousins are prone to. 

2. Astrologers That Point Out Troublesome Placements Without Telling You How to Remedy Them

Big No-No. Astrology is about activism and altruism. It, by nature, is a study quite akin to Psychology. One of my heroes, Liz Greene actually based many of her astrological studies off Jungian psychology. And what is astrology if not psychology with a cosmic twist? ;). A good therapist will isolate your issues but the point in hiring them is for them to aid you in fixing the issues you’re struggling with, no? Same with a good astrologer. They’ll tell you when something is an issue, yes, but they will also give tips and pointers on how to handle the energy or steps to reconciling the energy within your self and others. If someone is simply pointing out that you’re a Capricorn with a Taurus moon and therefore, have pessimistic tendencies, but don’t tell you how to balance that, then they are not doing the best job they can for you.

3. Astrologers That Demonize a Single Sign or Placement 

Or astrologers who are inherently judgmental about your tendencies [many Boomers unfortunately I’ve seen have a habit with this *sigh*]. This is also a No-No. Look, we are all entitled to our own opinion and there is dark and light in each astrological placement. But someone who says “all Pisceans are whiny-crybabies”, “all Virgos are obsessive compulsive critics” or “All Leos are egotistical cheaters” is not someone you want to take very seriously, lol. Sounds like these people got hurt by one of the above and as a result, have a war on everyone with these placements. By proxy, they use astrology to let out their frustrations which is a very twisted way to go about things. We all vibe with one sign or placement more than another of course, but even your fav may have a Mars placement in a sign you though you hated. It is best to be impartial and look at ALL aspects and ALL signs with fairness. The point of astrology is to understand. Once you understand someone or something it’s quite hard to be judgmental [if you’re really going about it with an open-mind]. Just like traveling or spending time with others different from you makes it impossible to be a racist or a bigot. Why? Because you took the time to really connect.

Anyone can become an astrologer with the right discipline and a good amount of grit and curiosity. I think you have the right attitude on how to go about it ;). Here are a few helpful resources to get you started:

1. Spark Notes on Astrology 101

2. Natal Chart Simplified.

3. Decans in Astrology

4. Which Decan Do You Belong To?

5. How to Find Your Dominant Planet

6. Difference Between Your Chart Ruler and Dominant Planet

7. How I learned Astrology

8. My Astro Musings

#Astrology 101 #anon #astro asks #Signs of a good Astrologer #astro Tumblr #astrology asks #Astrology advice #Bruja Tips #astrology how-to's #witchblr

[verobatto]

Raising HEROS

Supernatural meta, trying to comprehend the pre-series timeline.

This is a meta requested by my friend @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover , and a gift to her! Thank you! 😘💕

First of all I want to clarify, it was difficult to establish an accurate timeline due to the vague data given by the show. I had just a few hints in episode 1x01 , and I had to sneak into my old metas about Dean and Sam childhood.

And about how they were raised and their relationship with John, I already wrote Metas about that here and here, but of course I will take the most important concepts from it.

Pre-Pilot episode Timeline:

Dean Winchester was born in January 24th in 1979.

Sam Winchester was born May 2nd 1983.

Mary Winchester died November 5th 1983 (Pilot episode) so Dean had 4 years old and Sammy had 6 month.

Sam had 20 years old when he decided to go to Stanford, after a big fight with John Winchester, this could happen in September 2003, because two years later, Dean came for him when John was missing in October 31th 2005 (according to Pilot episode) and Dean had 26 years old and Sam 22.

We don't have much info in the show about how many times they switched schools, but it may be several times because is one of the things Sam hated the most.

We know they were living in motels, and Bobby's house, because they had lost their house that nefarious night, and John hunted.

And according to this dialogue here...

DEAN: You're not hearing me, Sammy. Dad's missing. I need you to help me find him.

SAM: You remember the poltergeist in Amherst? Or the Devil's Gates in Clifton? He was missing then, too. He's always missing, and he's always fine.

DEAN: Not for this long. Now are you gonna come with me or not?

So John Winchester was always missing for days, but how many days? How many days stayed these two kids alone without their father?

Dean answered that question in this same episode...

DEAN: It started happening more and more, so Dad went to go dig around. That was about three weeks ago. I hadn't heard from him since, which is bad enough.

So, three weeks it seems to be the limit, three entire weeks the kids stayed alone when it was a complicated hunt.

Put Bobby in between taking care of them sometimes ...

When do the kids started to hunt alone?

We know Sam got his gun (we don't know if it was his first gun but...) At 9...

SAM: Yeah? When I told Dad I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45.

DEAN Well, what was he supposed to do?

(Dean is always justifying his father's behavior as an obedient good first born soldier.)

SAM: I was nine years old! He was supposed to say, don't be afraid of the dark.

And then in episode 7x03 we know Sam killed a monster alone, when he had 15 years old. So maybe, between 9 and 15 years old, Sam began to hunt alone? But in the way he was surprised with Dean hunting alone at his 26 maybe not. We just don't know.

We suspected Dean started at earlier age, but it surprised me when he talks with Sam, saying he was in another hunting case and his little brother asked: Alone? And Dean replied, 'I have 26!' So, what I'm saying here is... There's an incongruence, about the age we suspect Dean began to hunt and this dialogue.

I think my pre series timeline dies here. Let's talk now about John Winchester and the boys.

John Winchester had a mission.

I truly recommend to read the metas I out at the beginning, because I talked about this before. But basically, John Winchester was an affectionate father...

Gif credit @stilinski-ortiz-dolan

Look how he hugs Dean with love, they really were a beautiful family (even knowing Mary hunted from time to time, according to season 12).

Now, after Mary's death, John Winchester became a gloomy man, obsessed with finding the creature that had killed his wife. He became a soldier with a mission again, and in that shape, there was not place and not time to be the father Dean and Sam needed.

So... We have Dean that had a normal life, with a normal an devoted father until his four years, and Sam, that never knew a normal life and devoted father.

John Winchester had revenge in his mind, so he lived his life hunting and fed his children with that.

Gif credit @agusvedder

This is from episode 7x10, a discussion between Bobby (the second dad that actually treated the kids as kids) and John. We are seeing here the huge difference between being a father and being a soldier training soldiers.

So John raised soldiers, hunters, heros. Strong men. This men wouldn't be surprised by anyone who would want to come in the middle of the night. John tried to fed his son's with the only thing he knew after Mary's death: WAR.

But even so, he loved his kids and Sam and Dean loved him back. John had been an absent father but at the same time, a very strong and present one.

Gif set credit @stir-of-echoes

This is from episode 9x09, both Sam and Dean talked affectionately about John Winchester. They loved their father. And those words those we are parents know very well.

John and Dean

So, if you read my Guilt Heritage meta and my Dean with fears and shame meta, you will understand this point here.

The relationship between Dean and Sam with John were different, the most important difference was, DEAN IS THE FIRST BORN, so as first born, he is obedient, he took the soldier role and followed his father. He took his mission in the middle of a traumatic even that marked his life for ever...

Gif credit @stilinski-ortiz-dolan

JOHN: Take your brother outside as fast as you can and don't look back! Now, Dean, go!

This is the heritage John gave to Dean: a mission, to take care of Sam (not just as a big brother, but like a father and mother, as Dean said in episode 12x22 to Mary Winchester) leading them to the toxic codependency, thinking they just had each other as family and they had to survive together or die together.

The BIG PROTECTOR heritage too, that's why Dean thinks he has to save the world, and to give his life in exchange.

The GUILT HERITAGE, is transmittable from John to him, Mary's death, anyone else's death, and every time he feels he didn't see things coming. Is a huge and toxic, very deep feeling, that acts like an impediment for Dean to love himself, and to think that he deserves to be saved too.

Toxic Masculinity heritage, the ideal of what a Righteous man should be, remember the comparison with Mc Cook in episode 14x06 I wrote in this meta.

That's why in the majority of the show, Dean is always the one excusing his father. But this started to change in the lasts seasons, when Dean started the path toward the self knowledge and self love, mostly in season 14.

He solved his issues with John in episode 14x13 when he had to choose between the man John wanted him to be and the man he was. And we know what was what Dean picked up.

He let John Winchester go, after forgive him and forgive himself too.

John and Sam

John and Sam had a very difficult relationship, but at the end, both men were very alike.

Sam Winchester didn't accepted the Guilt Heritage, and the Big Protector role. He wanted a different and normal life and he fought for it.

When Sam lost Jesse, he mirrored his father's fate, and he became as gloomy as him, and just wanted revenge.

In the end, and while the season rolled up, Sam started to let those dreams go and became not just one of the most stronger hunters, but their leader.

He let his father go too in episode 14x13, and forgave him, bringing peace to John and himself.

To Conclude:

At the end, John Winchester raised two heros, that saved the world that many times as long is the show.

He was a tormented man, with so much Guilt and pain, and he couldn't be over his wife death.

He turned into a soldier, and in that role, the Righteous Man couldn't give those kids the father they needed.

Always Righteous, he raised Dean as a soldier, obedient and intransigent, but Sam wanted to follow a different path.

His huge mistakes as a father were carried by his sons, but understanding and forgiveness came with the years and the running of the series, with the maturity of the characters.

Hope you enjoy this mess! Tagging some friends!

Tagging @emblue-sparks @magnificent-winged-beast @agusvedder @weirddorkylittlediana @michyribeiro @whyjm @legendary-destiel @a-bit-of-influence @thatwitchydestielfan @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover @lykanyouko @evvvissticante @savannadarkbaby @dea-stiel @mybonsai1976 @anarchiana @angelwithashotgunandtrenchcoat @trashblackrainbow @destielshipper221b @mishtho @dancingtuesdaymorning @feathered-castiel @bre95611 @zoerayne2426 @justmeand-myinsight @that-one-fandom-chick @proccastinate @studio-hatter @pepevons @liwos-rabithole @poorreputation @mrsaquaman187 @dizzypinwheel @jawnlockwinchester @breathing-oxymoron @a-bit-of-influence @dwstiel @thislunarkiss @ladygon @shippsblog @la-random-fangirl @lets-try-this-again-please @mychemicalobsession514 @destiel-shipper-11

@asphodelesauvage

#supernatural meta #john winchester meta #sam winchester meta #dean winchester meta

[threephasebird]

Hello friend, it's Nicole from TAD discord, so sorry for awkwardly & randomly sliding into your dms. I've noticed that you've been reblogging a lot of The Untamed recently and I have just finished The Untamed & literally cannot think about anything else. I'm obsessed. Anyway, I've also noticed from your blog that your favorite seems to be JGY and I find that *fascinating*. He's very much not my fav, but he's such a complex character that I would love to hear your thoughts & feelings & analysis?

And to be completely clear, I will never try to debate with you or say your opinions are wrong or immoral or anything. I'm not an anti, I've stanned plenty of villains in my time. I'm just genuinely curious. I think the fact that you have such different feelings about this character is part of the beauty of stories and a testament to how complex and smart this particular story is.

Hello friend! First of all, thank you for your ask -- I love talking about my fictional faves, so there’s no need to apologize at all! There are definitely people out there who have already posted much more cohesive and succinct character analysis for JGY, but I’ve sat down for a bit to find an answer to the question of why I, personally, like him so much. I ended up finding six possible ways to answer this question, which I’ll list below and then go into (a lot) more detail under the cut. Hope you enjoy!

1) I like him because his motivations as a villain are complex and understandable

2) I like him because there’s no easy solution to his conflicts

3) I like him because he interacts with the story in a unique way

4) I like him because when we see him on top of his game, it’s fun to watch

5) I like him because LXC likes him

6) JGY is very small and has dimples

So, onward! (2.7k)

1) I like him because his motivations as a villain are complex and understandable

One possible way of looking at JGY is that throughout the entire story, his end goal is to eliminate all of the Jin family and come out on top as sect leader, chief cultivator and most powerful person in the cultivation world. However, I personally find it more intriguing to think that his specific plans shifted throughout the story and that he didn’t follow a long con the way NHS did, but that the common ground in everything he does is that he’s motivated by wanting security. Then, everything that he does afterwards is a step-by-step escalation when no matter what he does and how far he comes, his goal is always dangled right in front of him, but ultimately impossible to reach.

When he joins the Nie clan, on a superficial level it seems that this place could offer him the security he wants and needs, especially with NMJ protecting him -- but on the flip side of the coin, no one apart from NMJ and NHS seem to respect him, and his security entirely depends on NMJ’s goodwill. It’s an exteremely fragile position that could probably only ever last for a limited amount of time. Even if JGY never killed the guard captain and wasn’t thrown out of the Unclean Realm, how would the future have looked like for him? NMJ’s life expectancy was low to begin with, and once he had died (of natural causes, in this hypothetical case), NHS wouldn’t have been able to hold the same protective hand over JGY as his brother, and JGY would have become the disrespected advisor to the disrespected clan leader. (On a side note, I personally don’t think JGY released XY to get the yin iron -- I think it makes more sense that he wanted to use XY as bargaining chips against WC, seeing how he goes to free him immediately after WC asks for NMJ to release XY, to save the Unclean Realm and, in extension, his own ass.)

After JGY is thrown out, he’s basically out of options -- it’s go big or go home, because which other clan would take him in now? So he sets his sight on being recognized by JGS once more, and in order to succeed, he derives the plan of becoming a spy under WRH and do something so “heroical” that after the war, JGS has no other choice but to accept him into his clan. And at first, it seems like he succeeds and that he finally gets everything he wished for -- his father recognizes him as a son and gives him a position, he’s part of the Jin clan, he has power, he’s secure! But then it turns out that he was wishing on the monkey’s paw. His father doesn’t truly recognize him, and even in the Jin clan he’s disrespected (by JGS, by Madam Jin, by Jin Zixun), he doesn’t truly hold power (he just has to do whatever JGS tells him to), and he’s not secure (JGS instrumentalizes him because he’s useful to him right now, but does that mean he’ll be useful forever? So there’s a constant threat there).

I think the only reason JGS officially adopts JGY is that it allows him to claim the victory over WRH for the Jin clan and to expand his own power. Instead of JGY being recognized, JGS instrumentalizes him from the very first second and to make it worse, he makes JGY his attack dog the same way WRH did. I think the things JGY does under both WRH and JGS are absolutely horrifying, but I can’t help but also feel horrified for him. Under WRH, I think he tells himself that whatever he does is the lesser evil because it’ll end the war quicker, and that it’ll all be worth it in the end, and as a result, he loses parts of his own humanity there. And then under JGS, it’s the same fucked up shit again, except that this time, he also wants so very badly for JGS to value him, and in addition, he’s also completely out of options now. Without wanting to excuse the things he does under JGS, the only alternative at this point is for him to leave the Jin clan and the cultivation world as a whole, and I do think there’s a definite possibility that JGS would have him killed if he did because he knew too much about JGS’s plans.

Without passing judgment on his involvement in JZX and JZX’s deaths, as well as him killing NMJ and JGS for now (the latter being the one thing that I’m personally most horrified of), I don’t see JGY as a villain who enjoys being the villain the way XY does. I think he’s constantly horrified at himself and compartmentalizes to a degree where he’s actually derailing his own plans. Him throwing out XY immediately after killing JGS reads to me as him wanting to close the chapter of everything they did under JGS -- I think he must have acted out of a visceral emotion there or else he wouldn’t have left XY to die at the side of a road so carelessly (and, in effect, allowed for someone to live on with detailed knowledge of his own deeds). After rising to power (and finally, seemingly, really getting the security he’s always wanted), he doesn’t use that power to become WRH 3.0, but instead to do genuinely good things (such as building the watch towers). That’s not supposed to mean that him not being a cruel despot makes up for everything he’s done, but I find it interesting to think about from the perspective of, what kind of person could he have been if this opportunity had been given to him freely -- if his own class and social standing didn’t prevent him from that? I think he’d have become an incredibly powerful cultivator and clan leader if he’d have the same privilege as JZX.

In a way, I see JZX, WC, and JGY as narrative foils. WC shows us who JZX might have become if JGS treated him the same way as WRH treats WC. But, JGS doesn’t -- he shields his own son from this part of the Jin clan, and basically allows him to live in a completely different reality as JGY! JZX’s whole character arc is one of personality development, and becoming a hero, and falling in love -- he doesn’t have a clue about his father wanting to get his hands on XY and the Stygian tiger amulet and arguably about at least part of the war crimes he commits against the Wen clan. It’s not part of his life. In a way, JGY is the sacrifice being made to allow him to live his life unaware because in him, JGS found someone else to do his dirty work.

2) I like him because there’s no easy solution to his conflicts

Sometimes, when you want to be a villain apologist, all you need to do is point at one or a few bits of the story and say, “well if they hadn’t done that...”. (See, for example, Anakin Skywalker -- you wanna write a RotS canon divergence fixit? Just have Obi-Wan come back approximately one hour earlier and you have it, because before Anakin kills the Jedi even the Younglings he’s basically completely redeemable.) With JGY, you don’t get to have that. There’s no single turning point where you could say, “if he had picked the other option, he could have had a happy ending”. And part of the reason for that, which makes him a tragic character in my eyes, is that he crucially lacks options at many turning points.

In order to write a canon divergence AU for JGY where he comes out unscathed and redeemable, you’d have to go pretty far back in the story, and even then, you’d have to work hard to find a solution to his story that doesn’t a) rely on someone saving him (such as: LXC brings him to Cloud Recesses, or: JGS has a change of heart, frees his mother, and sends them a comfortable monthly pension), b) having him be dependent on someone else’s goodwill (such as: staying in the Unclean Realm in a delicate position).

If we don’t want to go back right to the very beginning or change fundamental parts of the story, well... As I’ve mused about above, if we let him stay in the Unclean Realm, he’d have never reached his goal of security either. If he never became a spy during the Sunshot Campaign, he wouldn’t have been accepted into the Jin clan and would have been out of options. If he never committed the atrocities for JGS, JGS would probably have kicked him out or killed him. (I do think there’s a lot of truth in what JGY tells NMJ in the empathy flashback, on that instance.) If he didn’t kill NMJ, there is a distinct possibility that NMJ would have killed him -- we see him try three times on screen, after all. (I’m leaving out the parts about him being directly responsible for JZX’s and JZX’s death in the show, as well as for controlling the corpses at Nighless City and JYL’s death, because it’s not in the book and I think it takes away from WWX’s character. As for QS’s and their son’s deaths...I personally do not see strong motivation for him to kill them, but in the end, we just don’t know which is, on a side note, a thing I really like about The Untamed/MDZS! Sometimes we just don’t know because the only people who know for sure can’t tell us anymore.) One option could be for him to confide to JZX, bring him over to his own side, and non-violently overthrow JGS, which would be a good and satisfying ending both to his and JZX’s character arcs -- but I also think there’s a high possibility JZX would hold JGY responsible for what he and JGS did, and never trust him with power again.

(Again, one thing I really do not wish to excuse away is how he killed JGS, and I just. Desperately wished he didn’t.)

I’ve been going over and over the possibilites for fix-its and canon divergence AUs, but in the end, I’ve arrived at the conclusion that the only real choice JGY has throughout the story is whether to remove himself from the narrative or stay in it. He could make the choice to give up his mother’s dream, reject his father, and leave cultivation world (and, on a meta level, the story!) to become a “nobody”. (Small side note, though -- living on which skills?) If he doesn’t -- well, as soon as he enters the game, the cards are stacked against him.

To pick up on the meta level comment, I do find it fascinating that in a sense, JGY not only has to struggle for respect and recognition within the story, but that what he does also serves to keep his character part of the story. He could choose to give up and leave (and thus come out of the story redeemable), but then he wouldn’t be part of the story anymore.

3) I like him because he interacts with the story in a unique way

Continuing with the last point, JGY interacts with the story in two unique ways that distinguish him basically from all the other characters. He’s not actually supposed to be part of the story, but that he basically claws his way in. But that also means that his class and social status cannot be removed from any of the conflicts he encounters in universe -- they’re at the heart of all of them. In the empathy flashback, he says to NMJ, “You always scold me for indecent scheming. You always say that you are just and straight [...] A decent man shouldn’t resort to devious stratagems. [...] You’re of noble birth and have profound cultivation. What about me? How can I be the same? First, I don’t have the foundation of cultivation. No one has ever taught me that since I was a child! Second, I don’t have any background. Do you think that my position is very solid in the Jin clan of Lanling?” What I find so intriguing about this scene is that he’s right when he says he’s different from the others both in text and on a meta level because most of the other characters are never faced with the same decisions and have a natural place within the story (apart, to some degree, WWX and XY, where also interesting parallels can be drawn). And the other characters are, in a way, self-righteous to judge him when almost none of them come out of the story without blood on their hands -- WWX’s revenge, JC torturing demonic cultivators after WWX’s death, and so on...The entire cultivation world (even NMJ! even LXC!) were complicit in the war crimes against the Wen. But when the cultivation world turns against JGY, they are the most appalled by the things I as a viewer would be the most lenient towards (murdering JGS), and don’t care at all about the thing that horrifies me the most (murdering the sex workers).

There’s an interesting post by @pumpkinpaix​ analysing how class dynamics work in the story, which I highly recommend! I don’t want to repeat what has been said there already in much better ways than I can, but among other things, it makes some really interesting points about how much JGY’s class is tied with his motivations.

4) I like him because when we see him on top of his game, it’s fun to watch

Aside from any analysis, part of the reason why I like him so much is that when he’s acting as a villain, he’s just so much fun to watch. When WWX breaks into his vault in paperman form and JGY has approximately 5 minutes to get rid of the head, the torture bench (?) and anything suspicious, contact and inform Su She, run to a different building and come back, and nonetheless he manages to convince everyone but WWX and LWJ that he’s the victim in this situation, it’s just. Peak entertainment? For a short time, he’s on top of the game, and then he’s backed into a corner and becomes sloppy, and finally loses it all due to sentimentality (if he didn’t want to take his mother’s body with him and say goodbye to LXC, I’m sure he could have fled the country). I think Zhu Zanjin did an amazing job as an actor to portray how JGY is constantly assessing everything, how 23638 emotions flicker over his face in half a second, how his whole body language shows the constant anxiety and pressure and stress and fear he’s under, and how we actually get to see in his microexpressions when JGY chooses a path and commits to the acting and emotional manipulation to follow it through.

5) I like him because LXC likes him 

Here’s a secret: Actually, LXC is my favourite character. And LXC loves JGY a lot. So I’m kind of contractually obliged to at least love JGY a little bit as well?

On a more serious note, I’m very intrigued in their relationship because I do think what they had was genuine. I view it as two people being very open and honest and true with each other, while placing a lot of things outside the brackets and crossing them out. LXC even says that he was aware of some things JGY did (which ones? how? I need to know) but that he justified them to himself. I think they both realised that they could have had something very special, but under the given circumstances, LXC wouldn’t have been able to help JGY (see: point 2) even if he knew everything. Still, they were obviously very close and trusted each other as much as they could. I think in the end, when LXC seemed to have decided to stay and die with him, JGY pushed him away because he was the only genuinely good part of his life, and he felt like he couldn’t rightfully deprive the world of LXC. It’s all very tragic, and I’m very intrigued to explore what they could have been in a slightly softer world.

6) JGY is very small and has dimples

I can only speak for myself, but when I was watching, I was so prone at any point to believe in him no matter what was revealed. Look at him! Could this man do something wrong?

#buttercup-the-bard #ask #jin guangyao #the untamed #cql #meng yao #mdzs #my post #cql meta

[shinaus]

for the match up thing, i'm 5'5 with shoulder length hair but a bit longer. i'm usually very quiet and more reserved, but if we're close, i am like w i l d. i do ballet and used to play volleyball and basketball, maybe i'll pick it up again after covid? i read crack fics daily for my daily dose of serotonin. i''m an INFP and a fangirl first, human second. i like sewing and i daydream all the time about 2D boys, but i cant remember any of my dreams (if its ok, a pairing for each fandom?)

from my hero academia, i pair you with...

denki kaminari!

his energy in general is pretty chaotic so i think he'd be a good pairing with you

even if at first you were quiet with him, over time the energy between you both would even out

denki strikes me as someone who needs someone with a personality like his to get along with him best

would love to watch you play sports!!! he'd find you very admirable, maybe even joke around and help you practice with things!

also a 5"6 KING so would probably use every chance he gets to use pick up lines based around it

classics like "i didn't realise how easy it was to get lost in your eyes" and other cheesy shit

would brag about being taller even with it being hardly anything more

watch the two of you goof off often that the bakusqaud wonder how you didn't get together sooner

he'd take you on fun dates for sure, as much as he can be a huge flirt i think he's a total sweetheart

very big on romantic gestures as goofy as he is, he’s very certain in his feelings so will want to prove that every chance he gets

bonus scenario

as soon as you enter his apartment, denki is hurdling towards you right away. knowing him, he’s probably got some kind of article or video to show you that he knows you would love - him always being incredibly in tune with your sense of humour. not only that, but practically dragging you over to the couch so that you can sit and cuddle with him.

the both of you usually spend time like this, even if you’re both doing your own thing. if you ever decide to pick up on sewing or end up in your own little world as you daydream, he’s right there with you. typically he’ll sit and play with your hair or give you small acts of affection as a reminder that he’s right beside you, but if your hands are free chances are his head will be in your lap hoping you’ll find the time to play with his hair. he’s a simple man, so even the opportunity to be with you is more than enough for him.

from haikyuu, i pair you with...

hinata shoyo!

again, a boy with very chaotic energy

the second he finds out you play/played volleyball

oh boy

just FULL of questions

what’s your teams name? your position? how many games have you played?

he’d be a little overwhelming at first, but would warm up to you practically instantly 

also he’d be so jealous since he was once shorter than you hehe but homie is a big like 5″7 now? i think?

it’s obvious he has his obsessions with the sport, so he would understand you fangirling over things since it would be similar to him seeing a player he admires or a team he watched as a kid

i pin him as being super affectionate so Be Ready

just like a little puppy :( 

like loves when you tell him he does well

and when you play the sports yourself my dude

he is your biggest cheerleader

literally bragging to EVERYONE that you two are dating doesn’t matter if they’re a complete stranger

just very wholesome

he loves with his whole chest so it’s really all or nothing with him

bonus scenario

once the sound of the games conclusion rings out around the stadium, you’re the first person he sees. even with the crowds being there in the thousands, he had already pin pointed exactly where you would be to keep his spirits up. but with a victory like this, it’s a wonder he didn’t hop the fence to come and get you. he somewhat keeps his composure, thanking the other players before rushing out.

a flash of orange is all you make out before you’re in his arms, him picking you up and spins you, laughing with you as you try and protest. once you’re brought back down however the affection doesn’t stop, nuzzling his nose into your cheek as he asks you how you think the game went. the smile breaking out over his face when you tell him he did well never ceases, even as his hand finds yours as he leads you towards the team to discuss victory celebrations.

#shinaus asks #cute blogs #1.5k event #matchups #denki kaminari #hinata shoyo

[movetothesuburbs]

@magneticghouls first of all... My ask box was apparently turned off so it's good to know I'm an idiot. Secondly thank you for asking

Season 1: Charlie Has Cancer. I love this so from the depths of my heart. The concept of it was like that first idea rcg had for the show. Nothing will ever be as relatable to me as Dennis trying to get out of that conversation as soon as possible. "You can talk to me any time" ... "Oh you meant now?" Fucking incredible.

Season 2: The Gang Exploits a Miracle. I'm gonna be honest s2 is my least fave season. The episodes are all pretty good. They just don't grip me as much. They are bastards to the best degree in this episode though. I've never been Catholic but I'm obsessed with the rituals and imagery. "Am I gay for God?" (Real talk I made a dream daddy meme to that) I love Charlie in all white and Mac in all black.

Season 3: The Gang Gets Whacked. Everything about this 2 parter is funny to me. (Except when I get sad abt Dennis) But! Pussy Hands. Peter Nincompoop. Jackie said she counted that Mac and Frank slap Dennis 13 times in a row and I love that. I think cocaine is funny. I think ruining Crucket's life further is funny. I think watching this ep after binging 5 episodes of the Sopranos is extra funny.

Season 4: It was very nearly Mac's Banging the Waitress but I am a sucker for a musical and a basic bitch so you know it's The Nightman Cometh. It was one of the first eps I ever saw. My best friend showed it to me then immediately showed me a live recording. I get Dayman stuck in my head often. I love Charlie. Also "I'm eating because I'm uncomfortable" Cat eyes Mac makes heart eyes Jack.

Season 5: Mac and Dennis Break Up. This was the first episode I ever saw. My bff was like "watch this they're gay" and by God were they. I think about the line "Far be it from me to keep the flower of you from flourishing" every goddamn day.

Season 6: Who Got Dee Pregnant? Admittedly I'm very soft for Dee Gives Birth, but I'm hella gay for Jimmi Simpson and Halloween. Also I love the reactions to if Mac had been the one. I am a sucker for characters telling conflicting accounts of the same event. I think Dennis looked hot as Luigi and think he could have worked that without a Mario just fine, he just wanted a couples costume with Mac. I will not encourage incest shippers, but Dennis thinking he might have gotten Dee pregnant is the funniest gd thing.

Season 7: The High School Reunion. I love far Mac with all my heart and if I saw that man at a high school reunion I do not care what rep he had in high school I would be on that. Also irl I had a crush on the high school drug dealer so what are standards? I love Dee immediately jumping on being the nastiest meanest bitch ever. I love the dance at the end. I think Tim and Dennis made out in high school. I'm gay for Jason Sudeikis so seeing Schmitty show up was beautiful. Cricket..... Was there. My only regret is that I already knew Mac's legal name is Ronald McDonald so I did not get to experience that reveal as a fresh concept.

Season 8: The Gang Dines Out. Did you ever know that you're my hero? I love endings where the gang appreciates Dee. Episodes that take place in one set are always great. The Waiter is great. Frank and Charlie havin' an anniversary 💙 Dennis did not have to give that speech in front of a crowd. He was going to tell Mac all those things just to his face. But he needed that whole restaurant to know who the real hero is. Dennis Reynolds said fuck the troops. I still don't know what a Groupon is. Also that table being so close to the kitchen door probably violates OSHA guidelines but thay's not a part of why I like the episode, just an observation.

Season 9: The Gang Saves the Day. I love seeing characters just imagine fantasy scenarios. Dee's is inspirational but should have been gayer. Mac is... Stupid but I love him with my whole heart and I support him imagining Dennis crying over his corpse. All hail our mighty and buff Lord. Love Dennis saying he'd rather die than have a broken dick. I love that Charlie's is animated. He is so small. There are two genders: janitor or waitress. The most relatable is Frank tho. You eat those hotdogs bitch

Season 10: The Gang Goes on Family Fight. I'm a slut for Argyle sweater vests and Dennis having a mental breakdown. Also Charlie being one of the survey takers was priceless.

Season 11: It should come as no surprise that my favorite of this season (and the series as a whole) is Mac and Dennis Move to the Suburbs. I love every single moment of this episode. I love the breakdown of their sanity. Rage fuels me. People think Dennis is a psychopath but who in this episode is feeding their roommate a dead dog? Not Dennis. What would be different if Dennis was the house husband? You know Wally just wanted to be nice to the gay couple that moved next door but they acted Like That. I'd love to make a longer post just about this episode. Some guy in fb was like "the seasons sucked after sesson 8" and everyone was like "okay but suburbs in season 11 tho" and they guy was like "okay u right" Suburbs is the episode that brings the gays and straights together and will bring us world peace

Season 12: This wss hard cuz I think this is my favorite season overall. And I'm gonna be real controversial here and let you know my fave ep is Dennis' Double Life. I love the concept. I love the convoluted scheme. I would die for Mandy. I know there's a lot with real life stuff happening and how it affected things after but I wanna appreciate it as is. Sometimes you juat have so many big feelings that you run away to North Dakota to be a dad I guess. "I'm the lover obviously" "I have a good plan but you wouldn't listen to it anyway" Did I mention I love Mandy? Maybe it's that I grew up in the Midwest but I understand her on such a deep level. I love this episode so much.

Season 13: The Gang Solves the Bathroom Problem. Every time I go into a bathroom I just think "animal shithouse" nonbinary/genderfluid Charlie rights. Hawaiin shirts. I also love Jimmy Buffett. I love they all sing the wrong song. "As a straight man" in the least convincing way. This episode speaks to me on all levels.

#iasip #i care so much about this show #i think i could have talked even longer #but my thumbs are tired