#op your coloring of this show is so pretty

[ooffmlsorry]

OP Men Dating a "Girly Girl"

A/N: sorry this took so long and I haven't posted anything original in a minute my life is mess and I'm so very tired jfc...I know this isn't more than my usual group but I was just gonna stop at Luffy and then decided to add Ace and Sabo as a thank you because writing these and putting them on Tumblr has been really good for me, so thank you for always being here to indulge me 🥲 ❤️

Sanji, Zoro, Law, Luffy, Ace, Sabo

Sanji

Let's be honest, girly-girls drive Sanji craaaazzzzyy (not that all women don't, but he's definitely more partial to the feminine ones) Your make-up, pretty skirts and dresses, jewelry, and manicure, he can't help fawn over you constantly 😍Although you do it because you enjoy it, it's nice that your efforts are so appreciated!!

He spoils you soooo baaaddd!! He literally can't help himself when he sees something pretty or cute that reminds him of you, he has to get it for you. You're drowning in squishmallows at this point.

A river of blood shoots from him every time you show off a new outfit. You're going to kill him and he'll thank you for it.

Dressing up in nice outfits together, especially on date night, is a shared activity that you love to do together. Y'all are living your best happily ever after lives.

Ya'll definitely have scheduled self-care nights. You put on some slow music, open a bottle of wine, draw a bubble bath, all that.

He's utterly useless when it comes to helping you pick your outfits or makeup if you're stuck because he loves you in everything, it's too hard for him to pick. You're his perfect, beautiful Y/N-swaaaaan 😍💖💖✨

He does love to see you in pink or red though so he might default to those colors

Don't try to test your makeup on him lol, you're going to re-awaken the gender identity crisis...I mean Kamabakka trauma

Listen...I'm not saying Sanji has a mommy kink...I'm not even at Whole Cake Island so idk wtf is going on there. All I'm saying is if you give this man a bath, wrap him in a towel to dry him off, and rub him down with luxurious lotions and oils, you might awaken something...that's all...👀

ZORO

He has no clue wtf you're doing. If it weren't for the fact that there's no proof that witches exist in this world, he'd think you are one

He looks at your vanity full of serums, creams, scrubs, lotions, etc, not to mention the makeup and he's like "??????" Just completely baffled

But what do you expect? This man would use that five-in-one Irish Spring soap if he could.

Just because he doesn't understand it doesn't mean he doesn't appreciate and admire the fact that you have extensive knowledge in something he can't even comprehend

He knows you like nice shiny things, and again, while he doesn't get it, he does think it's really, really cute when you go starry-eyed over a necklace or an outfit in a store.

In the same vein, he knows how much you love cute things and animals. He has absolutely found a cute animal in the jungle, picked it up, and brought it to you just to show you because he knew you'd love it.

Sometimes in his own gruff way he'll agree with you that it's pretty cute. Thank you for helping this manly man admit things are cute and that's okay.

Other times, he's the one making sure you don't get distracted because it's so cute

Unfortunately and fortunately, you're pretty to him no matter what you do to yourself so it's all kind of a moot point to him.

You can try to ask him about which 'x' to wear, sometimes it's helpful because he'll throw out a really practical answer and then other times he's like "How 'bout you just go naked" 😏.

He'll wear a face mask with you like...twice a year. And he's going to bitch and moan about it but he does it because he loves you. The entire process is like trying to give a cat a bath "WHY IS IT SO COLD? THIS STAYS ON MY FACE FOR HOW LONG???"

Exfoliate this man at your own risk...I'm dead serious that water is going to be brown

LAW

I need you to know right now this man will let you paint his nails!!! I mean, not like gel or acrylics or anything, but he'll let you paint them any color as long as it's a dark shade of that color. You once designed Bepo on his middle fingers. He did in fact flip people off a lot more often when he had them.

Let's you wear a pastel boiler suit because you he loves you and wants to see you happy

Much like Zoro, he's got no clue what you're doing. He'll stand back and watch you while making the exact same face as the gif above.

He thinks he's being stealthy peaking around a corner to watch your morning or night routine, but you quickly catch on. Please please pleeaaassee ask him if he has any questions because he does. He's just really curious why you're doing what you're doing and what it does. It's basically skin medicine and he's really fascinated.

Knowing that you like shiny things makes his life admittedly a little easier, it's not that he doesn't think of what to gift you, he puts A LOT of thought into what he gives you, but knowing that earrings, necklaces, and bracelets always make you happy is great just in case of analysis paralysis or he forgets. Sorry.

Also you wearing the jewelry he gets you does something to him, especially a necklace he can pull on a little, mmhhm you're making this man struggle with impure thoughts.

You both love cute things, it's something y'all connect on. It's really good that you help him access that very neglected inner child of his and encourage him to coo and fawn over adorable animals with zero reservation.

He'll do skincare with you too when he's not super busy. He can admit it's kind of nice to sit in bed with a book, glass of wine, and a face mask and just bask for a minute

He acts like he hates when you rub serums across his face and use a derma roller on him but he loves it

Law doesn't really pay attention to your clothes, but when you really go all out he breaks out in a sweat and he can't keep his eyes off you.

LUFFY

I'm not saying he thinks it's stupid, it just...why have an hours long care routine when you could be going on adventure with him??? 😭😭😭

He will help you pick out your makeup but don't expect it to look good. You're gonna end up with neon orange eyeshadow and green lipstick. Like literally every "My Boyfriend Does My Makeup" youtube video.

Plays around with your stuff but that's because he has no idea what all these strange contraptions are. The moment you try to explain his eyes glaze over and next thing you know he's whisking you away to go do something more fun.

He likes the shiny bright stuff (highlighter), makeup probably is the only part he even remotely engages in because it's

Explain how contour works to this man and watch him lose his fucking mind, he thinks you're a shape shifter now (honestly this applies to all of them except Law and maybe Sanji)

He never notices what you wear, Nami is gonna have smack him on the back of the head to get him to realize you put on something fancy

Luffy points out everything, it just so happens that things he points out sometime happen to be cute animals

Hides in all the stuffed animals and squishmallows in your room to surprise attack hug you

*throws mud at you* "Is this the kind of mud you like, Y/N??" He really means well though.

You know those hair masks with all natural ingredients like honey and banana? Yeah, he's gonna start sucking on your hair like spaghetti...I'm so sorry.

He'll bathe with you but that's because he wants to be close to you, it's definitely not about being pampered or relaxing.

Try to put a face mask on him or something else and it'll just become a game of tag around the Sunny. You can't catch him and he's having a great time outrunning and outwitting you.

He knows this is all important to you so even though he doesn't get it he'd never make fun of you for it and the moment someone calls you "extra," he's kicking their ass.

ACE

Maybe all the glam is a little silly to him but that just makes you extra cute!

He will also absolutely let you paint his nails. Hell, he'll let you do a full beat on him just for fun and he'll wear it for the whole day because he's so unserious lol

...As long as he gets to do your makeup after...Much like Luffy you're gonna be covered in neon colors that don't even remotely match, but you guys have a great time lol

Admittedly likes to be pampered by you when he gets back from a long mission.

Please take a bubble bath with this man, it's not like the water is ever going to get cold!

I'm pretty sure you'd legitimately lead to Ace taking better care of himself. Got this man out here talking about his cuticles and shit lol

Honestly, it's really good for him because self care leads to self love and Ace needs a lot of help with that.

He tells Pops about all the stuff you do 1.) because he loves you and 2.) he hopes some of it will help Whitebeard heal a little, god bless him 😢

All of your hardwork doesn't go unnoticed, he legitimately gets kind of misty eyed when you really dress up because he's so so so lucky. He swears he doesn't deserve you.

He always brings back some kind of gift even whether it's a cute plushie or something exotic to wear from all of his long travels

I need to stress how much this means to him, everyone of these things is like a little proposal because he already knows you're it. Every little gift is leading up to a ring from this man.

He's also just genuinely impressed by the skill it takes to do your makeup so well, especially after he tries doing it on you

Much like his little brother unfortunately, he does play with all the little contraptions in your vanity, especially in the beginning because have you seen an eyelash curler? He's so confused lol

SABO

Sabo and Ace truly are his brothers because he really don't get all the effort lol

Admittedly, a lot of that is because he thinks you're so hot already what's the point???

Once he gets this is just how you are he's less confused, he's probably the most normal out everyone. He lets you do your thing, although he's really curious how you managed to always look amazing while being in the fucking revolutionary army!!?? Where are you getting the time???

If someone were to intrude on y'all on a free afternoon you're both in fluffy robes with face masks on and Sabo loves to pretend to act like a bitch when he's in selfcare mode with you lol

"Are you seriously bothering us right now, ugh! I can't even right now!!" And then you both break out in laughter

He really thinks you should teach others how to contour and do makeup because it has great applications for disguises and infiltration.

And brags about your skills to everyone

Wonders how many of your makeup supplies could actively be used as a weapon *eye roll* jfc Sabo

There's a part of you that secretly worries all your boujieness will remind him of his blood relatives, but he assures you that it doesn't because you have a good heart and he never doubts that

Besides, being a little extra with him helps him associate those things he used to associate with his blood relatives with you instead so it's even better

He spoils you so bad, but with a Sabo-flair, ie. stealing from shitty people and bringing it back to you because you're oh so more deserving of nice things let's be honest

He gets jealous of the cute animals that you squeal over hehehe, please hug him when he starts pouting

He'll always wear a little pink just for you ❤️

#one piece #one piece x reader #one piece x reader headcanon #luffy x reader #law x reader #sanji x reader #zoro x reader #ace x reader #sabo x reader

[prettybrunette3]

National Anthem ♡

hello all! this is my first multi-part fic, and I hope you like it! part two will be posted very soon :)

part two!

part three!

warnings: toxic snow, bribery, fem!reader x young!coriolanus snow, use of Y/N, that's it for this chapter!

I hope you enjoy! this is national anthem ♡

The capitol streets were bustling with the obnoxiously ignorant, blind-sighted chatter about the games this year. People in all the most unnecessary of extravagant clothing, smiling, laughing, and celebrating death. It was sickening, truly. Hearing them talk about their favorite tributes and the gruesome details of their death made you want to rip all your hair out. 

Surprisingly, you were not a stranger to this life. Born a capitol brat, you shouldn’t let this get you to your breaking point at all. A senior in the academy this year, you vividly recall the students being mentors in previous years; the thought of helping a child to their death made you want to vomit. 

So, you tried your best to get your single errand for the day done as fast as possible. Your goal: to find a dress for the gala in a few days. Nothing too showy, but not too modest. A dress that screams, ‘I’m pretty, but smart. I am a district doll.’ As the President’s daughter, appearance and impression were the two most important things drilled into your head. 

Your father, President Stirling, was a new favorite of Panem. His pride for the land, his love for the people, and his goals for the future are what got him elected. He was a very clean-cut man, always showing how much he loved his family. 

You knew better though. He was a cold man, one who hardly showed affection behind closed doors, a man who had spoken very rarely to his daughter. You didn’t really know much about him, always locked in his office and never really caring about you. Unless, it was about your appearances or impressions. 

Scurrying through the mall, you quickly find your go-to dress shop, a more quiet and less popular location. This dress shop has all of the current trends, but they always had something different about them that you loved. You hated capitol fashion, but it was your only option as the most looked upon girl in Panem. At least they all had a unique look to them. 

Entering the store and smelling its sweet fragrance, you hurriedly got to work. Giving every dress you liked to a worker, she put it in the dressing room for you. A common customer, they adored your business. They adored your money. 

Dress after dress, you had finally found a winner. A thin-strapped velvet dress with jewels adorning it in a beautiful pattern. It was a deep red, floor-length dress. Happy with the way it adorned your body, you took it off and handed it to the shop worker. Swiping Daddy’s credit card, you smiled at the workers and thanked them sincerely for their help. They handed you the dress across the counter and you started to make your way home. 

Navigating the large mall, there were people everywhere. You did your best to hide your face, sunglasses and all. The President’s daughter was always known as the Princess of Panem, a girl that the younger children looked up to. It was hard to be unnoticed. 

Swerving and dodging people to the best you could, you made it outside at last. Unfortunately, your presence had become known and now none other than Lucky Flickerman was awaiting you outside. Probably one of your least favorite capitol citizens, always pushing you for personal answers to appeal to the audience. 

Trying your best to spot your driver without being noticed, you see the blacked out SUV parked right down the street. It was a different car that dropped you off, but this SUV was still branded with the President’s logo. You open the doors to exit the mall, and Lucky Flickerman is already on you. 

“Is that the anticipated gown for the Gala, Ms. Stirling? What color is it? Just a peek? We’d love to see it!” 

By the time he was done getting his jumble of questions out, you had already reached the SUV. Opening the passenger door, you quickly threw the dress in the back. However, you noticed your driver was a different man than usual. 

“Coriolanus? Did my dad send you as my driver?” You took the sunglasses off your face, confusion taking over as you awaited his answer. 

Coriolanus Snow was your father’s newest intern. A charming man, certainly. He was handsome, smart, and cunning. You had a schoolgirl crush on him since he started working for your family, but you pushed it to the side. You didn’t want to be just another nuclear wife with a nuclear family in the capitol. You just weren’t ready to accept your inevitable fate. 

“Yes. The other driver wasn’t aware he was supposed to wait for you, and he returned home,” Coriolanus says. He puts the vehicle in gear and begins to take you both back to your estate. 

“Oh, that’s odd. He’s never done that before,” you say. He was a nice man, you had actually gotten on with him quite well. You weren’t sure where communication went wrong. 

“Yeah. He was fired immediately after he stepped in the door.” Coriolanus doesn’t look at you, just keeps his gaze on the road ahead of him. 

You didn’t expect much less from your father at all, but still your chest ached for the nice man. After all, he talked to you more than your own father did. 

You looked at Coriolanus for much too long after he said that. You admired his slicked-back blonde hair, his prominent jawline and you took in all of his aura you could. The Snow family had a newfound power in recent years, and boy did he know it. He was dripping in luxury. He carried himself with such seriousness and coldness that it drew you in. 

You broke away from your trance, looking forward at the road as well. It was hard to focus on anything but him when you were around Coriolanus. He too was a capitol brat, one of the worst. He supported the games in all their glory, though he was never too extravagant about it. He’s a few years older than you, meaning he’s seen more of the games. He probably accepted the fact that they were never going to end. 

Stuck in your thoughts once again, you hadn’t even realized you reached your estate that quickly. The car stopped, and Coriolanus opened the door and shut it quietly. He headed to your side of the vehicle and opened your door, holding out his hand for you to grab. Blushing, you smiled and took his hand, slowly exiting the car. He opened the back of the car, retrieved your dress, and you two headed into the house.  “Thank you, Coriolanus. You didn’t have to do all that,” you speak gently. “It’s a part of my job, Y/N,” he says coldly. You wonder if you’ll ever get past his emotionless wall. You enter the house, and Coriolanus hands the dress off to a helper so they can take it to your room. 

“Lovely seeing you today, Miss Y/N,” he says before walking back towards her father’s office. He strides when he walks, hands in his pockets and chin up. You smile to yourself, before heading up to your room.

The next day at the academy was dragging. Excitement bubbled in your stomach for the Gala the next day, and all of the classes were giving you a headache. You didn’t need them anyway - your success was guaranteed thanks to your father. 

As you were finally dismissed from your last class, you gathered your things and headed for the door. Cascading down the stairs, your best friend Bridgette Sinclair joined you. 

Both of you had been friends for years, taking a fancy to each other's' company. She was a shorter girl, with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. A true capitol beauty, you had always thought. She too was born into the power she had, and she too believed all the same as you did. She didn’t act arrogant, never bragged on any of her assets. You loved her like a sister. 

“I say, we go to the park and discuss the Gala tomorrow! I can’t wait to see you there, Y/N.” You giggled with the girl, allowing your teenage personality to peek through. 

“Let’s go to my house instead, I’ll show you my dress!” You smiled and jumped up and down, finally allowing yourself to be true to how excited you were. 

She squealed in response as you waited for your driver. You hoped and prayed it wasn’t Coriolanus, Bridgette would never shut up about it. She knew about your crush, and she wanted you to talk to him so bad. Every time she’d hear about him, see him, or even just think about him, she would always tell you and then laugh at your blush. 

The both of you sit and gossip until the black SUV comes to pick you both up. Fingers crossed behind your back, you open the door with your other hand, and almost roll your eyes. Coriolanus is your driver again, of course. His blue eyes look at you through the rearview mirror as you sit down, not breaking his gaze even when Bridgette sits next to you. 

“Still no new driver I guess, yeah?” You look back at him through the window as he suddenly stops staring. Bridgette laughs and grabs your hand. 

“Uh- yeah no. Not yet. Your father is a particular man,” Coriolanus says, hesitantly. 

He slowly starts to take you both back to the estate, the car ride consisting of awkward stares from Coriolanus as Bridgette pesters you through hushed whispers. You almost feel as if he’s hearing everything she’s saying. You smack her quickly and quietly in hopes she’ll shut up. 

Arriving at the estate, Coriolanus does the same thing as before and opens the car door for you and Bridgette. However, his hand is only offered to you, not her. A strange action for him, you had always known him to be cold but still very polite. You took his hand and exited the vehicle before running into the house with Bridgette, looking back at Coriolanus as a ‘thank you’, before heading inside. 

“Y/N I have got to see your dress. I won’t tell anyone what it looks like, just please show me!” Bridgette plops onto your bed, anticipating your dress like a child on Christmas morning.

 You smile and head into your closet to retrieve the gorgeous gown. Grabbing it off the hanger, you slowly unzip the protective bag off of it. Bridgette’s eyes widen as she gets up to feel the dress, jaw dropped to the ground. She feels the material all in her fingers, gently admiring everything about the highly anticipated gown. 

“Oh my God Y/N. It’s beautiful. I absolutely love it!” She starts smiling widely before getting a mischievous grin on her face. 

“You know who else will love it,” she says, giggling slightly. 

You zip up the dress and hang it back in the closet, getting flustered by Bridgette’s continuous mentioning of Coriolanus. As much as you wished he had noticed you in the same way, you knew it would never happen. You were just like every other girl in the capitol. Nothing special about you. You wished he would see you as something special, but you were sure he didn’t. 

“If you don’t stop mentioning him, I'm going to strangle you, I swear.” You point at her, smiling sternly. She puts her hands up in a ‘it wasn’t me’ motion, before you plop down onto the bed next to her. 

“I really wish he did say something to me, just once you know? He is really handsome,” you admit. You hardly ever opened up about your feelings for him, just felt like getting it off your chest. 

“I know, Y/N. But I'm telling you, in a dress like that, with looks like yours, you won’t go unnoticed. There is simply no way he won’t stare at you tomorrow. And believe me, I noticed him looking at you in the rearview today. And! He only gave his hand to you for help out of the car. That had to mean something!” Bridgette sits up on the bed, you shortly following. She shakes your shoulders and tells you to be more confident in yourself. 

Hours pass by discussing makeup and flirting tips and all the other girly topics you could think of. All in preparation for the gala, of course. You discussed which shoes to wear, which hairstyle would look best, what color lipstick, everything. You knew you would feel pretty tomorrow, just maybe not pretty enough for him. 

Bridgette left after all the discussion, being picked up by her own driver. As you were walking back to your room after taking her to the door, you spot Coriolanus in the hall. He was passing off cash to a man you had never seen before. You quickly hide in the doorframe and try to listen as best you can. The man is short, seems friendly enough. 

‘Maybe a new hire?’ you think to yourself. Then, you’re finally able to pick up their conversation. 

“Just let me pose as the driver for a few more days. I won’t tell Mr. Stirling. Just leave the premises when you’re supposed to pick her up, and return back to the house in however long it would take you to pick her up yourself. Just this last time,” Coriolanus quietly whispers. He’s practically begging the poor man, shoving wads of cash towards him. 

‘Are they talking about me? He wants to drive me around? Is that why he’s been my driver?’ Thoughts are running through your head a mile a minute. So fast, you weren’t able to notice the conversation being over, and Coriolanus now heading your way. 

Too late to try to hide, you slowly start to reveal yourself as if you had just been walking to your room. He spots you immediately, eyes getting wide. You smile at him slightly, before trying to reach the stairs. However, he speeds up and grabs you by the shoulders, pressing you against a nearby wall. 

“Did you hear any of that, Ms. Y/N? Be honest with me.” His eyes piercing into yours, quickly darting from your lips and back up. He looks absolutely insane. 

“I- uh no. I don’t even know what you’re talking about I swear,” you lie. His eyes are scanning your face frantically before he releases you. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Y/N. As I'm sure you’re now aware, I'll be your driver. Be ready at 5. I’ll pick you up.” He slowly stares for just a second before walking away. He’s wearing a long coat, taking long strides. Something about him is so addicting. 

You catch your breath for a second, slowly starting to put the pieces together. He knew you were listening, and now you knew you were correct. He wanted to be your driver and he was bribing the new hire! Oh you couldn’t wait to tell Bridgette about this. 

You hurriedly headed up to your room, changing into your PJs and getting ready for bed. Your mind continuously running on overdrive, you couldn’t seem to focus on anything, except the fact he was taking you to the gala tomorrow. Did he like you?

Getting into your bed, it wasn’t long before you fell asleep, Coriolanus heavy on your mind. 

#coriolanus snow #coriolanus x you #coryo x reader #coryo snow #coriolanus x reader #tbosas #tom blyth x you #tom blyth x reader #tom blyth #corio snow #fluff #toxic #rich #dark #young coriolanus snow

[exeggcute]

well it's been almost six months which I think is long enough to break my posting embargo, so, uh: guess what! I got liposuction lol. specifically hip/thigh lipo to quell some pretty wicked dysphoria that stemmed from having such a feminine silhouette… and I have to say I'm really, really pleased with the results.

tbh my initial plan was to keep things under wraps for good which is why I haven't said anything about it yet (and even as I'm typing this up I keep debating whether to post it or trash it)—partly because I was/am worried people might Act Weird about it and partly because I get a little embarrassed talking about bodygendershit in general. but here we are. one reason I do feel compelled to finally share, other than being super happy about how everything went, is that I haven't encountered a lot of discussions about body sculpting as a possible avenue of gender-affirming care (although, to be fair, maybe I just haven't been looking in the right places) and I figured at least one person out there would be interested to learn about what I did and where I've ended up so far.

anyway. pics/details under the cut—nothing even remotely risqué (or yucky), I just know that body image stuff is fraught + not everyone is eager to hear surgery talk.

to be precise: I got tumescent liposuction of the inner and outer thigh, plus this ultrasound thing to help the skin shrink. a different surgeon who I consulted (but ultimately did not go with for a number of reasons) said that even if I got the results I wanted from lipo, which he claimed was unlikely, the affected skin would look loose/baggy/weird forever... and that surgeon was wrong on both counts lol. my elasticity was great bitch!!!!

they didn't take out that much fat overall, only eight pounds or so, but it's way more about the Where than the How Much. my actual surgeon (who kicks ass btw) said lipo isn't that great for weight loss per se, and what it's really good for is sculpting targeted areas—so basically exactly what I did. six months post-op I actually weigh about the same as what I did pre-op, but the distribution has held steady; more weight goes to my stomach now and less, proportionally, goes to my hips since there are fewer fat cells in that area now. so my silhouette retains its new shape!

the overall change is admittedly on the subtle side, since I'm pretty short and have wide hip bones (and you can't change your literal skeleton) but it's still gone a looooooong way. the main thing I requested from my surgeon was "I want to fit in men's pants" and boy did he deliver.

also a good place to note that if you're in the las vegas area looking for a plastic and/or cosmetic surgeon—this guy is board-certified in both btw—then I absolutely have the guy for you. feel free to DM me for details. lipo is clearly his specialty (and it shows!) but he also does a lot of breast revisions/mastopexy (i.e., fixing implants that other surgeons did a bad job putting in), regular implants, and face work (particularly facial feminization surgery). one thing that sold me on this guy was an enthusiastic yelp review from a local stripper who said he hid the incisions for her breast lift in her armpits so none of her clients would notice that she'd had work done... a true master of his craft

okay you've scrolled enough so I'll give you what you're here for lol. I don't have many pre-op pics because I was obviously unhappy with how I looked and was not taking full-body selfies on a regular basis, but here's a few I took ~2 weeks beforehand:

these super thin men's joggers were my go-to dysphoria pants, to the point where I bought five pairs in different colors, but now they're so baggy on me that they have the opposite effect and make it look like I have wider hips than I do. so I retired them from my wardrobe...

...except not immediately because I had to wear compression garments 24/7 for the first three months post-op and these joggers were just loose enough to comfortably wear a medical girdle underneath them at all times, 110° degree temperatures be damned. (not that I was going out much for the first month since I was soooooooooooo fucking bruised and sore lol.) here's a few post-op pics in the same style pants:

(first pic is less than 24 hours post-op, about to go to my follow-up appointment, looking greasy as fuck because I wasn't allowed to shower yet; second pic two days post-op and also post-shower, thankfully; third pic is about a month post-op.)

so, like, CLEAR improvement already. I will not be posting pictures of my black-and-blue-and-swollen-all-over legs but considering how puffy I was from getting internally pummeled with a cannula it's wild that I still saw improvement literally as soon as I came home.

recovery was obviously not a blast in the moment but I got off easy, all things considered. I was supposed to get drains put in and was Not looking forward to that at all lol. the first thing I asked when I woke up after surgery was "how many drains?" because they weren't sure if I'd end up needing two or four, but it turned out the answer was zero. no drains!!!

I did have to lie with my feet elevated for the first two weeks straight, and had major bruising that receded over the first month (you could barely see my regular skin underneath all the mottled spots), but little to no nerve pain, no weird complications, and I was more or less back to normal after six weeks. also noelle took very very good care of me and was brave about injecting me with blood thinners so I wouldn't get clots and die :)

when I went into it I was fully expecting to get huge vertical scars up and down the sides of my legs (and had made peace with it!) but instead I wound up with four tiny incisions like this, each less than two inches long:

what's totally crazy is that the scars are basically Gone now. like even when I'm trying to find them I struggle to locate the ones in the front. I joked to noelle that if someone did an autopsy on me they might not figure out that I'd had cosmetic surgery, especially since the skin on my thighs is back to its normal color and texture. (in this scenario I like to imagine that it's dana scully giving me the autopsy and I'm in an x-files plot where instead of regular lipo I got alien lipo and mulder figures it out purely by accident.)

with lipo it can take up to a year to see the full results but I already feel so much fucking better in my body that seeing old pre-op pics throws me for a loop. and I can absolutely wear men's pants now—pants for short and stocky men, to be fair, but actual regular men's pants and not exclusively Pants For Men With Huge Butts And Legs. which is the only style I could even hope to fit in before. and even then it was a stretch.

big pic dump of shitty mirror selfies taken over the last few months:

:)

(also I really debated sharing this one but I already included it in the yelp review I left my surgeon so fuck it: here's a tasteful before-and-after in my undies where you can see my bare legs for easier comparison. left pic is one week pre-op, right pic is about five months post-op. including it as a link instead of embedding it in the post in case your boss happens to be reading over your shoulder at this very moment. also this is the one and only time you will ever see me stripped down on tumblr dot com so don't get used to it lol.)

[ziipzeepzop-eez]

❝ just like magic, here you are! just like magic, in my heart. ❞

━━ ⁎˚ ໒ 🍥 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞!𝐥𝐞𝐨 𝐱 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐢!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 ⊹ ࣪ ˖༄

request — @snipersiniora : " Cool! Cool! As a ROTTMNT big fan my requests goes there especially either platonic, romance or sister reader in general (you can say i love these types of HCs/one-shot). ⨾ About the request; May i please - and as always if you don't want to, don't feel comfortable about it you can delete the request - Rottmnt romantic hc about Leonardo x fem!reader who's a Unicorn yokai? ⨾ Like she has a habit to flip her wings whenever leo is aroundshe loves wearing pink but once leo became her boyfriend she wear blue his color and she's super sweet and trusting of him. Something rotten tooth sweet type of hc. "

𝐚 / 𝐧 ༝༚༝༚ ☁︎ :: my dearest love. at user sniper siniora. here it is. i bestow this upon you with trembling hands and a stoic grace. i won't lie! — with this being my first time doin' an official sorta " request " outside of the usual shenanigans with my shawties, i was more than a little nervous. but this was a lot of fun!! i hope it makes you feel at least a lil better :')) <3 thank you for your endless patience, the creativity juice, and most of all - for requesting from me! 🩵💫 it's been an honor, and i reeeally hope you like it because if you don't i will JUST BE CRUSHED.

now, on with the show. *bows with a flourish*

HE'S OBSESSED WITH YOU Awww, look guys!! It's couple of the year! (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧

༘⋆✿ No but seriously. How dare you exist? How dare you become the exact embodiment of this boy's wildest dreams? (/lh + /aff)

The world of the yokai is already a diverse plane, so the possibility (read: literal existence) of unicorn yokai being a reality was never not thereeee . . . .

Our Neon Leon just never got that far. Haha.

So trust that when homeboy sees you for the first time, he does a whole double-take.

༘⋆✿ He is, enthralled. You have him entirely wrapped around your pretty li'l majestic finger. Ope- there he is, kissing up your knuckles! (Just shove him away.) (He'll come back. He knows you can't resist his charm.)

Let's be real: the first time he caught a glimpse of you, it was in passing, and he could not stop thinking about you for the rest of . . . well, until you see each other again!

His brothers probably know every little detail about you (physically wise) before you guys even get together lmwoooo.

He would NOT SHUT UP about the "majestic unicorn lady down in Times Square down in the Hidden City (⁠人⁠*⁠´⁠∀⁠｀⁠)⁠｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+ . . . NO, HE WAS NOT HALLUCINATING DONNIE. He really saw you! >:("

(Donnie definitely wouldn't miss out on an opportunity to tease his twin but I feel he'd be just as interested in the aspect of your existence! What can I say? The man's a scientist. He tries to run genetic tests but Leo doesn't let him and shoo's him away each time he even comes close to you with in-the-name-of-science intent lolz)

༘⋆✿ Thinks you're the most magical thing to ever grace this wretched earth.

And, if magic is a bit of a stereotype for your kind?

If you can't actually- . . . if you don't have magical abilities— that doesn't make you any less in Leo's eyes!! To him, your whole existence itself is magical. ✨ His words, not mine. (/lh)

He's all over you any other way.

Casual settings, ranging from cozy atmospheres such as date nights to the eccentric zany missions, circling back to midnights on the rooftops,

Just sneaking into your everyday life in broad daylight,

with or without his signature hoodie,

but always with his charming smile.

He's your new constant, just like you're his.

However! If you do share in the mystic aspect that comes with being a yokai, or a direct descendant mutant of a mysticism involved bloodline (*stares hard in bro's general direction*) —

you're gonna get dragged into a bunch of crazy thematic shenanigans that

- more often than not -

end up with you guys bustin' your butts in a mad escape from some rogue yokai of sorts.

During the calmer times tho? You'd indulge him.

Set off little magical cotton-candy pink shadow puppets dancing across the walls of his bedroom while he cuddles close to you, churring softly while rubbing his cheek against yours, his eyes sparkling with nothing short of adoration.

Whether you're casting those little puppet shows out of your own volition,

or from the music box Leo had gifted to you on a date he'd nabbed from a cute little shop in the Hidden City,

that's up for you to decide.

It's a sweet bonding time either way. (✿ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)⁾⁾

༘⋆✿ . . . He has his moments of trademark insufferability, tho. You knew it was coming.

"Ooo! Ooh, I know!- can you magic up a pizza?"

"Can you teleport like me? If I got you in a high enough position, could you defeat our enemies with the power of friendship?"

"Can you make fireworks come outta your fingers? It'd make a lotta sense, seeing as you have magic fingers; that massage last night did wonders for my scales, cutie. I'll help brush your feathers later, hm?"

"Oh- OH! I know! Can you-"

"Leonnn."

༘⋆✿ Magic abilities, no magic abilities. Noodles, no noodles . . . One thing about this funky blueberry muffin is he will be absolutely obsessed with you, through and through.

"You're all the magic I need in my life, [Name]."

༘⋆✿ If being one of his favorite existing creatures wasn't enough, let's talk about your fashion!! Now he adores your fashion sense. Your entire aesthetic. He loves unicorns, he loves every sugar-spice-and-everything-nice thing surrounding said unicorns! You're such a vision to him.

But shortly after you both got together, and you started incorporating blue into your everyday style??

Mm.

Reeeeemember when I told you that he's a little (read: extremely) obsessed?

Yeah. Good luck tryna get him off of you like this. (/hj)

Like, girl- as soon as you step into the lair and he catches you wearing blue?

It could be the most inconspicuous detailing of an accessory - and he'll still catch it.

NOTHING EVADES HIS NINJA TRAINED SUPERWEAPON MUTANT VISION.

—And he is ZOOMING OVERRRRR with the biggest grin and just.

Purely cajoling. An absolute cajoler.

A professional flatterer.

Honey is what his words are made of, made to drown you in their syrupy sweetness and trap you like a helpless fly in his venus flytrap of all-encompassing love.

(Except he's being 100% serious.)

"I knew it'd be a matter of time before I rubbed off on you, bonita. Look at you! Spitting image of absolute beauty, if I do say so myself. Blue is definitely your color. You should wear this forever, actually, from now on. Always."

Expanding on this, he lends you his clothes! :'))

If they can't fit you (y'know, wings and all) HE WILL LITERALLY CUT HOLES IN THE BACK SO YOUR WINGS CAN POP THROUGH AKSHDJDHFH —

*SLAMS FISTS ON TABLE* YOU GUYS WILL DO THE ICONIC BOYFRIEND-GIRLFRIEND HOODIE STEALING THING, IT IS NON-NEGOTIABLE.

(He's a simp. And a little bit freaky. (/ns) But you didn't hear it from me.)

Something about seeing you in his clothes just makes him feel so fuzzy and warm inside.

It makes him feel wanted. Sorta gives him a sense of security. A reaffirmation that you're his and he's yours.

Soft, warm, pure, fuzzy feelin'. Good for the soul. ☁

Like when you hug him with your wings!

He loves that feeling. (..◜ᴗ◝..)

༘⋆✿ Speaking of those luxurious wings . . .

Each time they start to fluff up and flap when he comes within your general vicinity, he gets SO SMUG.

What can we expect from Mr. [Macho Ego] Charmer himself??

"Looks like someone's happy to see me." As if he's not over the entire universe to see you too, smh.

and then you excitedly affirm his words — rather than getting annoyed, even if playfully — and he just gives you the most enamored expression.

Well — it's a fine mix of smugness (because I mean c'mon. It's Leo.) and fond adoration.

He thinks you're so, so adorable.

Cuteness aggression galore.

Once you're trapped in his embrace there's no escape.

Nobody is safe, and

He is fooling NOBODY.

I mean, his own tail starts wagging whenever he sees you . . .

and sometimes, he subconsciously churrs loud enough for you to hear whenever you guys are close, which is literally all the time, . . .

So he can't really speak. Now can he?

(He does anyway. It's Leo.)

If you're okay with it, he definitely pets your wings.

He likes to run his fingers through the feathers. They're just so fluffy.

' Is this what clouds feel like? '

At first he mostly did it to fluster you, seeing as it seemed to have the same blissful effect of him getting shell/chin scritches, but over time, it just happens naturally.

He seeks it out ─ it becomes a source of comfort to him.

Not only because they're so soft and fluffy, hereby appeasing his sensory needs, but also because it's you.

Asks you if you can fly lmwo.

Begs you to take him for a flight by moonlight but y'all will literally go crashing down AJSHDJDHD

Until, you actually do . . . pick him up, that is.

Until you actually do . . . take him for a moonlight flight.

Until you indulge him in everything because you love him so much and would do anything and everything to put a smile on his face.

He's shell shocked (I AM SO HILARIOUS).

A blushing, stuttering mess.

Bro doesn't know what to do with himself.

A turtle? Nay. A tomato.

Someone tell bro not to dish what he can't take lolllll.

༘⋆✿ Sure, he'll tease you a little bit (It's Leo.) but it's all out of love!! Pardon his major ego, he'll throw it all away for you at the drop of a pin; he genuinely loves and cares for you and how you perceive him.

In turn, this causes him to show out a lot more whenever you're around, subconsciously standin' on bidness 25/8 to 'prove himself' to you,

but you also just make him so giddy.

How can he not want to squish and hug and cuddle you and plant kisses all over your cute little face every time he sees you?

He treats you so, so gently.

You're his princess and he beholds you like absolute royalty.

Yes, he may roughhouse from time to time, but he's capable of handling you like fine china.

It makes you feel just as special as it sounds, aughhh.

It's a nice balance in your relationship. <3

At first, he may be a little shy and not know how to handle how trusting and loving you are.

Well, lemme rephrase : he loves how much you love him, because he loves you a lot too!! Whatever affection you give him, he returns tenfold.

You're just so precious he can't help himself, nor would he try.

It's the trust part.

He's . . . well, he can get kind of overwhelmed and in his head about it sometimes.

Especially when his insecurities come to play at the surface :(

He just cares for you so much, it's scary. How much he cares.

— it's a swirling mess of many different things: "you'll put her in danger", "you'll end up disappointing her", "there's someone better out there for her", "why should she trust you?" but at its core, it's all the same:

does he really deserve you?

Precious, pure, sweet, ethereal you?

Surely not, is what his mean brain tells him.

But you're persistent. And with time, dedication, and consistency, you get him to realize that.

Leo is family-driven.

He's deeply devoted to his loved ones and would give the entire world for those he cares about.

Despite his boasting of how awesome of a character he is, he doesn't really believe it like that all the time :((

But he really is a wonderful person.

and you help him further recognize that!!

༘⋆✿ He wants to become the best version of himself when he's with you. He wants to be worth your trust and affection and attention; the self-expansion that manifests from your guys' relationship is one that will turn him for the decades to come. (bro just needs to realize he was worth it all along 😔✊ he's a little slow but he's trying his best, that's what matters.)

It's wondrous what can come from a foundation built on mutual love and trust and respect.

Trust and be trusted.

Love and be loved.

Leo is one who gives and gives, even when he's running low on it for himself.

Blessedly, breathtakingly, you're there to fill that cup for him every time.

And he couldn't be more grateful.

Cuddles close to you, planting loving kisses all over your soft face, from your eyebrow ridges to your lips and relishing in the sweet giggles that he's rewarded with in return.

"I love you," he murmurs. "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you"

And onnn and onnnn he goes. (♡ˊ͈ ꒳ ˋ͈)

Because he does.

He really, really does.

And you believe him too.

━☆・.ೃ࿔:･♡

One thing will forever remain for sure:

Choosing and loving you was the best decision of his entire life.

And having you choose him day by day as well? Ah, well, what can I say?

He's in the sugary pink cotton candy clouds, and it's the beautiful serenade of you. (⁠*⁠´⁠ω⁠｀⁠*⁠)

@cafekitsune + @rookthornesartistry + @animatedglittergraphics-n-more for the dividers / "hc" banner ! 🩷

#zeepie beep : fandom! ⭒๋࣭ ⭑🖋˚𔓘｡ #rottmnt x reader #rottmnt leo x reader #rise leonardo x reader #rise of the tmnt #rottmnt leo #rottmnt headcanons #rottmnt x reader headcanons #rottmnt leo x reader headcanons #rise leo x reader headcanons #tmnt x reader #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #leo x reader #leonardo x reader #save rise of the tmnt #save rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt 2018 #⋮ fandom's humble offerings!! ✉⋆ ˚｡

[brucebocchi]

Winter 2024 anime, Pt. 2: Mixed reactions, the bench, and the gems

hey y'all, this is also up on my ko-fi! it's free to read both here and there, but i'm struggling financially rn so i could appreciate if you'd throw a few bucks my way if you liked it! part 1 can be found here.

And we're back for part 2! Here's all the new stuff I finished this season, and one more I'll get back to later. As with before, these are sorted alphabetically within each category and are not ranked as of yet.

Also as before, the OP for each series is linked in the title. Check them all out if the header images aren't giving you the right feel for each show, but also check them out because most of them were actually pretty damn good this season.

[Solo Leveling OP voice] LET'S GET IT!

Mixed Bags:

Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable!

Your standard, quasi-harem “easily flustered Regular Guy wins over hot girls just by being really nice” shonen romcom. I really don’t have much to say about this one other than if you’ve seen My Dress-Up Darling, you’ve basically seen this already. The only thing that really sets it apart is the setting.

Tsubasa (voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki, in a FAR cry from his turn as Mahito in Jujutsu Kaisen) is a straight-laced Tokyoite whose family situation lands him in a small city in the frozen boonies of Hokkaido. While looking for the bus to his new house, he runs into a gyaru in the snowy wild, the underdressed, hilariously-proportioned Minami, and they hit it off. It turns out they go to the same school, there are other cute girls there who take a shine to him as well, it’s nothing new.

I ultimately don’t have much to say about Hokkaido Gals, but I do have a soft spot for series like this, and after reading ahead in the manga I felt obligated to see it through. This is all junk food, but it’s all stuff you’ve seen done better in other series. I also have a soft spot for gyaru in anime and manga, and while I do like Minami just fine, she isn’t Marin Kitagawa or Rumiko Manbagi. I don’t really have it in me to recommend this show to many, though, at least not until another season rolls around, if that ever happens. The manga genuinely does get a lot better as it goes on, but the really worthwhile stuff may not happen until a third season, and I just don’t see that happening. 

The manga has issues that the anime isn’t willing or able to solve, chief of which being the visuals. The art style of the manga is wildly inconsistent, and getting a mediocre animation team on this didn’t help matters at all. While the colors often pop nicely against the pretty, snowy backdrops, nobody looks all that great overall. The characters are recognizable, but they just plain don’t look great a lot of the time, nor do they look consistent from one cut to the next; I said that Minami’s proportions are hilarious, but just as hilarious is how wildly they vacillate from one scene to the next for the sake of trying to titillate the viewer.

My biggest takeaway from both the manga and anime was everything I learned about Hokkaido in the process, and if the series is taking subsidies from the island’s tourism bureau, then it’s a job well done. I want some goddamn jingisukan now. The OP is a great time, though. I’m shocked it took over a decade for us to get a proper “Uptown Funk” knockoff in an anime.

Metallic Rouge

I’ll be upfront in saying that this was my biggest disappointment of the season by far. This show had so much going for it, and what we got was… ugh.

There was an unbelievable amount of promise from the outset: This was Studio Bones’ commemorative 25th anniversary production, and coming from the studio that gave us all-timer adaptations like Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and Mob Psycho 100, not to mention later works from Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe (including the Cowboy Bebop movie), you can’t fault anyone for having high expectations. It looked to be a fitting production as well: Watanabe’s influence shines through immediately in the gorgeous, lived-in cyberpunk off-world locales and racially diverse cast. Action takes the form of dope robo-tokusatsu transformation fisticuffs, and it’s entirely in 2D animation to boot. The first couple of episodes were killer, too; everything looked and sounded amazing, and there were just enough plot threads teased out that I just had to see how they’d unravel.

It brings me no joy, then, to say that Metallic Rouge collapses into a jumbled mess. I don’t even want to bother talking about what happens in the show because I don’t fucking care anymore. There are few media experiences more sobering than to have it dawn on you over a span of several weeks that “oh… this isn’t actually all that good, is it?” Episode after episode piles on with sloppy lore, weak worldbuilding, warring factions whose names you immediately forget, pointless double-crosses, and the most predictable twist you’ve ever seen. For a while I was willing to accept the fact that I didn’t know what was going on half the time and expected things to become clearer, but now I’m not entirely sure the writers knew either. The stakes apparently kept rising and everything just kept getting more claustrophobic. I’m glad it’s over, if only because if I had to hear “Clair de Lune” one more fucking time, I was going to go ballistic. 

There are several attempts at emotional beats, as the story is rife with tragedy and sacrifice, and every single one lands with a wet thud. Nobody gets enough time, motivation, or characterization for any of these things to feel like they actually matter, and that’s especially a shame because the finale might have been able to stick the landing if the previous episodes were less dense and better paced. Emphasis on “almost,” though, because just before the season ends, we get the absolute most pointless fakeout I’ve seen since The Rise of Skywalker, which is the lowest point of comparison you can make for any work of sci-fi.

This is especially frustrating because on paper, there is so much to like here. Rouge and Naomi are likable-enough deuteragonists with a fun dynamic, and they’d make easy yuri bait in a better show. The characters are all pretty and uniquely designed across the board, and the overall aesthetic, almost a pastiche of late-90’s anime futurism, is undeniable. The toku suit designs are neat and several of the action scenes are gorgeous. The score and soundtrack are outstanding (except for the aforementioned Debussy indulgence). I have few complaints about how the show looks and sounds; the style is great! All of my issues lie with the substance.

Metallic Rouge may have had all the ingredients, but it just needed more time to cook; whether that would have been by doubling the episode count or by more carefully planning the pacing and trimming some of the fat from the lore, I’m still not sure. Probably both. It probably needed better writers, too. Maybe it just isn’t as smart as it acts and there was no way to satisfyingly resolve the clumsy civil rights allegories that bring it uncomfortably close to the likes of Detroit: Become Human. So all of the above, I guess. I tend to adore stories that involve artificially-intelligent beings developing their own wills and emotions and learning to cut their own strings (the likes of Blade Runner, Nier Automata, even a couple of character arcs in the Persona series), but this ain’t it. I’m not even mad anymore. I’m just disappointed.

If there are two positives that will stick with me, though, they would be the absolute banger of an OP and, of course, Naomi Orthmann herself (pictured above, left). Outstanding character design. I’m mildly obsessed. She deserved a better show.

The Unwanted Undead Adventurer

This one isn’t even worth talking about, so here’s a brief synopsis, then I’ll add some commentary, and then we’ll all move on with our lives. 

Rentt, a beloved but mediocre adventurer in a fantasy town, gets lost in the mysterious labyrinth that all adventurers explore for personal gain, gets waxed by a dragon, and awakens as a shitty-looking CGI skeleton. He notices, though, that he’s able to level up better as a skeleton than he did as a human, and with the more monsters he defeats, the more he evolves into something closer to human. The rest isn’t really worth discussing.

If I’m being honest, I should’ve dropped this show much sooner. It looks kinda lousy most of the time, the plot (inasmuch as there even is one) is boring, character designs are forgettable (except for Rentt’s closest ally, Lorraine, holy hell) and it seems wholly uninterested in actually building its own setting. If it returns for a second season, I won’t be there, nor will I feel like I’m missing anything. Each episode felt like a chore to watch. I probably only saw it through because 1) I liked looking at Lorraine, I know what I’m about, and 2) I didn’t want to lump it in with the shows I did drop. The Unwanted Undead Adventurer isn’t as patently upsetting or frustrating as those three, but it just plain isn’t a very good show.

The Witch and the Beast

This show could have been so much more. I was drawn in by the gorgeous character designs and intriguing blend of Victorian gothic aesthetics and architecture with modern infrastructure, and very quickly disappointed by just about everything else. The first episode is an exceptional proof of concept, and almost everything that follows is an upsetting showcase of what could have been.

The story centers around Ashaf, a languid, chain-smoking agent of the governing church with a big-ass coffin strapped to his back, and his partner Guideau, a snarling hyena in a young woman’s body, as they investigate abuses of magic across the continent in search of nefarious witches. Guideau in particular has a bone to pick with witches, as the body they presently inhabit is the result of a witch’s curse, and they remain in furious pursuit of the one who cursed them. The curse can be temporarily undone by a kiss with a witch, allowing Guideau’s true body, a hulking brute confined to the coffin, to escape and wreak havoc. Meaning that on a few occasions we get a girl-on-girl kiss followed by a big dude wrecking shit. There’s also other investigations of serial killings, necromancy, and a cursed sword, and here’s hoping you like those, because the coffin breaks are few and far between.

This wasn’t great! By the third episode I had the sneaking suspicion that the animation talent on hand just wasn’t enough to support the aesthetic. While the character designs are exceptional, almost everyone looks awful in any shot that isn’t completely focused on them. This is especially true of Guideau, who looks so inconsistently off-model from one shot to the next that I’m still not entirely sure what they’re supposed to look like, and that’s kind of unforgivable when we’re talking about a main character. Everything looks too dim and too shiny at the same time, and action scenes look like shit more often than they look interesting. I can see so many flickers of something excellent (or at least really good-looking) in Witch and the Beast, and everything else that keeps those flickers from actually igniting makes it so much more frustrating to watch. Maybe just read the manga instead; the panels I've seen from it were uniformly gorgeous.

Actually, yeah, you should probably just read the manga, because for a season of anime, the pacing is atrocious too. It’s clearly trying to angle for a monster-of-the-week format, but each of these mini-arcs is a little too dense for a single episode, so multiple episodes are dedicated to these one-off curiosities, most of which do nothing to advance the plot or show off what the show does best. And if one of them isn’t particularly interesting, you’re saddled with it for the next two weeks like you've been stuck munching on a mealy apple. And I know you can only adapt so much in a 12-episode season, but the decision to end the season on a flashback arc and a lore dump was baffling. That’s not world-building, that’s lazy, and it made the show’s existing pacing issues feel that much more inane.

I feel like I was sold a false bill of goods. I can only imagine how the mangaka feels about this. Dull and uninspiring all around. What a waste.

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic

Isekai, unassuming high school boy gains a unique power, impending war with the Demon Lord, yadda yadda yadda. The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic isn’t anything new or special by any means, nor is it particularly well-animated or -paced, but at its best it’s silly and charming enough that it made a nice, brainless palate cleanser on Fridays.

Usato, your standard quiet high schooler, ends up walking home on a rainy evening with the popular, attractive student council president and VP, when an isekai portal happens. It turns out that it was just the seito-kai that was invited along for the ride (and President Suzune, as it turns out, is fucking psyched to get to be in an isekai), and Usato got caught along with them. When tested for magical aptitude, Suzune and VP Kazuki hit the jackpot with electric and light affinities, respectively, but things go awry when Usato’s reading turns up with healing magic. Terror strikes the palace as the intimidating dommy-mommy Captain Rose barges in to spirit Usato away from his new friends and into her squadron of goons to train him as a combat medic.

As character comedy goes, this one is actually pretty solid at times. Shogo Sakata is plenty of fun as the put-upon, lippy Usato (a much louder role than Chainsaw Man’s Aki Hayakawa), and Atsuko Tanaka (Major Kusanagi herself!) is a blast as the uncompromising Rose, a terrifying slave driver of a drill sergeant with a secret soft side. The dynamic between them is great, too; Usato is over Rose’s shit from the beginning and isn’t afraid to talk back to her, but before you know it, this transforms into friendly banter as Rose clearly takes a shine to Usato and knows he can handle any punishment she doles out. Suzune’s also a bunch of fun now that she’s broken away from having to be the competent, popular girl at school and gets to fully lean into being a complete dork.

Wrong Way also works decently as an isekai, because it makes an effort to stay rooted in high fantasy rather than fall back on JRPG mechanics, meaning there are no stat screens! It also avoids the trappings of wish-fulfillment isekai series by having Usato start out as a regular-ass guy; he’s not a Kirito type, just someone Rose sees as a rough gem in need of cutting. There are no cheat skills or OP weapons or anything, just a kid training every day to get stronger so he can protect the people close to him, and that’s the kind of anime protagonist you should want to be.

For better and for worse, I get serious mid-00s vibes from this one; watch the OP if you don’t believe me. Some of the colors pop uncannily in that early-digipaint-era way, and the animation is pretty middling; the most fluid animation we see is whenever Suzune is acting like a creep. Much like those mid-00s anime, though, Wrong Way may have benefited from being weekly (or twice as long) rather than seasonal. There’s a ton of planting with very little payoff, and it doesn’t feel like the actual scope of the story has even been addressed yet. We don’t even learn why the series has the name it does until someone literally says it aloud in the 11th episode. I may have to reevaluate this season after a possible second, if we ever get one, because this doesn’t stand too well on its own.

Of the anime in this “mixed bags” segment, I’d say I enjoyed Wrong Way the most, but it still had enough problems for me to keep it here. It’s not a particularly bad anime, but it’s not especially good either. I guess we can slot it into what Hazel refers to as “good mid.”

On Hold: 

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (three episodes watched)

Man, what a title. That was the main draw for this BL series, which on paper is basically a gay version of the Mel Gibson vehicle What Women Want. 

Adachi (a surname that will always make me laugh thanks to Persona 4), a gloomy salaryman, has hit the big 3-0 without getting any, and now he can somehow read anyone’s thoughts just by making physical contact with them. Just as he laments that this is his life now, he accidentally bumps into his handsome, popular coworker, Kurosawa, whom he learns has been harboring a massive crush on Adachi this whole time. Well dang, what now? Kurosawa’s a really nice, thoughtful dude, but Adachi’s never even thought about being with a man before! And isn’t there something wrong with already knowing this secret? How can he even go into the office and look Kurosawa in those big, handsome eyes… every single day…

What I’ve seen so far has been pretty solid, if not particularly well animated. The visuals are really my only gripe here; I just put it off for way too long and didn’t have it in me to finish it on time to actually get this thing written and published. Yaoi isn’t my forte, which feels like a shortcoming on my end as a fledgling bisexual, and I’ve already remarked on the solid LGBT representation this past season, so I do plan on hopping back on this one.

I gotta say, the co-leading voice actors put in serious work this season. Adachi is voiced by Chiaki Kobayashi, who continued his role as Stark in Frieren, returned to Mashle as Mash Burnedead, and contributed to Metallic Rouge’s cluttered cast as Noid. Kurosawa’s seiyuu, Ryota Suzuki (of whom I’ll always be a fan for his masterful turn as Yu Ishigami in Kaguya-sama), also held down leading roles in Bang Brave Bang Bravern and The Unwanted Undead Adventurer. They’ve been great in the few episodes of Cherry Magic! that I’ve seen so far, and they’ll be a huge part of what brings me back.

The Gems:

Bang Brave Bang Bravern

I feel like the mark of a perfectly audacious piece of media is in the moments where I find myself incredulously shouting “WHAT THE FUCK AM I WATCHING” at the screen, and Bravern made me do that at least once per episode. I have so many things to say about what makes this show great but all of it can be summed up as “it fucks so goddamn hard.”

A joint military exercise in Hawaii between Japanese and American mech pilots goes south as a sudden invasion by metalloid aliens portends certain doom for humanity. Just in the nick of time, though, a bombastic, autonomous mech named Bravern arrives from space and insists that ace pilot Isami Ao take his reins. Isami reluctantly agrees, and to his consternation, Bravern goes full tokusatsu on everyone’s asses, complete with fully-diegetic theme music, and keeps the threat at bay. With Bravern continuing to pester him to act as a pilot, Isami is forced to take up the mantle of a reluctant hero as everyone rallies around Bravern to save Earth. Tagging along is blond-haired, blue-eyed American pilot Lewis Smith, who gets to live out all of his Top Gun fantasies, right down to the latent homosexuality.

That last point isn’t a projection or anything: This show is legitimately gay as hell, and it rules. Bravern’s feelings towards Isami feel far more romantic than what you’d expect from a literal robot, and his description of how it felt to have Isami pilot him for the first time, as relayed to a grim-faced military council, is riddled with hilarious innuendo. Isami struggles not only with shouldering the burden of needing to be a hero to all of humanity, but also being beset on both sides by a loud, insistent mecha and a dewy-eyed gaijin, both of whom very well seem to want to get in his pants. Intricate rituals punctuate Isami and Lewis’ angsty relationship as these broad-shouldered, muscular men grow ever closer. It’s also worth reiterating that Isami is voiced by Ryota Suzuki, who also voiced Kurosawa in Cherry Magic!, and that may not have even been his gayest role this season. I’m not super well-versed in mecha as a genre, but I do know that there’s a lot of Warrior’s Bond-type stuff in these series, and Bravern lays it on thick. And hard.

This show looks killer, by the way. CGI implementation in 2D anime is still a touchy subject, but Bravern features some of the best I’ve ever seen. Simple cel-shading goes a long way to the point where, outside of some uncanny motion, Bravern himself feels perfectly blended into the hand-drawn animation. Mecha designs range from realistic military-style tech to otherworldly sentient robots, and battle sequences run the same gamut as the stakes rise. As goofy as all of the above may sound, it’s committed to being a grandiose, big-time mecha showcase.

This is as good as camp gets in anime; Bravern does for the mecha genre what Akiba Maid War did for yakuza film pastiche (I have also heard positive comparisons to Samurai Flamenco, which I’ll have to get on ASAP). It’s an excellent mecha show in its own right, and wildly hilarious to boot. Bravern himself is very genre-savvy and seemingly a bit of an otaku himself; he loves acting like a mecha hero, to everyone else’s chagrin. Several of the villains (also mechanical beings, voiced by an all-star seiyuu roster that includes Kenjiro Tsuda, the aforementioned Atsuko Tanaka, and Rie Kugimiya) are total dorks themselves. A CIA interrogator tries to waterboard a mecha at one point. Bravern is a deeply silly show, but the heart is as firmly on the sleeve as the tongue is in the cheek: For as wacky as it can get, the story still unfolds with a straight face and excellent emotional beats. 

This show also has the most unskippable ED of any anime since Chainsaw Man dropped a new one every week. I will not say what happens. You cannot predict what it is. Just watch it. One of the top YouTube comments on that video says “When I saw this ending after episode 2, I thought I was going crazy.” That’s a ringing endorsement.

Chained Soldier

On the heels of 100 Girlfriends completely rewiring my brain, I was raring for some more good old-fashioned anime trash. I was told that there would be plenty this season, but you can consult the “dropped” section to see how well that worked out for me. Chained Soldier came with some significant hype, and soon enough into the first episode I realized that I’d actually skimmed through this manga before (don’t ask why), so I was on board immediately. Now here’s some nice trashy fun.

The world is in peril thanks to creatures called Shuuki that can advance on our world via portals from another dimension. Women primarily lead the charge against these monsters, as this dimension produces a special fruit that can lend them (and not men) otherworldly powers to help them in the fight. Yuuki, a perfectly normal young man, ends up in grave danger as he stumbles into a portal, where he is saved by the beautiful Kyouka, a commander who is able to subjugate Shuuki at will and use them to fight others. In a bind, she asks Yuuki if she can subjugate him, which he agrees to by licking her finger and transforming into a monster himself, at her beck and call. Because of his utility in battle, Yuuki is enlisted into her squad of baddies (and also an 11-year-old), living in their home as a caretaker and answering directly to Kyouka as her “slave.”

I know, I know, but let's settle down for a second. I put “slave” in scare quotes because Chained Soldier fortunately isn’t going full Shield Hero on us; this arrangement has a give-and-take baked in. See, every time Yuuki completes his service, Kyouka (or whomever else takes advantage of this anomaly) is compelled to carry out whatever suitable “reward” springs from his unconscious, and this is where the ecchi kicks in. Sometimes it’s a kiss, and sometimes it’s something a little more; the reward corresponds to the length and intensity of Yuuki’s contributions to battle, so the heat can turn up in the form of, say, clothed face-sitting, a good scrubbing in the bath, or some nice, casual CBT. All of this is to say that “slave” is a bit of a buzzword here: It’s more of a dom/sub situationship with a lot of extra steps.

Yes, just about everything that isn’t an action setup is full-on harem trash, and Chained Soldier lays it on thick, right down to full-on nudity. Nothing about this show resembles high art, but I can’t help but admire such a high level of commitment to its aesthetic, including the sleaze. It fully commits to the bit and doesn’t even bother lampshading its own trashiness. Chained Soldier knows what it’s about, and I respect that. It also has the good sense not to sexualize the youngest girl, which is a point in its favor that I can’t award a couple other shows previously discussed.

And while this show is plenty fun, the action sequences often excellent, and the character designs usually delightful, there’s not actually a whole lot going on here. As I said with Mashle, I know that battle manga like this can take a minute to really get cooking, and as I said with Witch and the Beast, 12 episodes may not always be a sufficient runtime to adapt enough to break ground, but the debut season feels more like a proof of concept than anything else. That being said, Chained Soldier’s manga has a very effusive audience, and its praises don’t seem to entirely be about the boobs and butts, so I’ll wait patiently for the second season. I think it’s earned that much.

Delicious in Dungeon

This is the one I’m having the hardest time writing about because it so confidently and so completely speaks for itself that anything I could add would feel like scattering sawdust at the beach. Dungeon Meshi (I refuse to call it by its official English name) is a widely beloved manga among those who’ve read it, and for Studio Trigger to do an honest-to-goodness manga adaptation for the first time might as well be front page news among anime fans. 

The story follows Laios, the deeply weird human hero, as he delves back into a bizarre and mysterious dungeon to rescue his sister Falin from the belly of a dragon, along with his misfit party: the neurotic half-elven mage Marcille, the temperamental halfling rogue Chilchuck, and the dwarven warrior-slash-chef Senshi. The party is frequently low on supplies, so to survive the trip they’ll need to subsist on the most abundant resource in the dungeon: Monsters. Senshi’s aptitude in the kitchen helps ensure that everything is edible and sufficiently tasty, regardless of how nasty the monster it came from may have been. With monster obstructions out of the way and their bellies filled, our party delves deeper into the dungeon as the mysteries deepen in kind.

I love the character dynamics in this so goddamn much. Marcille and Chilchuck are frequently put off by the food presented to them, but their consternation is worsened by the fact that Laios’ fascination with monsters annoys the shit out of them. I referred to him as “deeply weird,” but that doesn’t begin to describe his absolute galaxy brain, and I mean it as a term of endearment. Laios is deeply knowledgeable and curious about the fauna in the dungeon, and not just how they taste: He is vocally curious about how certain monster attacks may feel, sings along with siren songs, and even keeps a hardcover bestiary inside his breastplate. He’s one of those people you turn to if you have a question on a hyperspecific subject, but you have to be careful how you ask it or else you’re trapped for the next two hours. And I love him for it.

Even putting the comedy aside, there is a fascinating human element at play in Dungeon Meshi, and I can tell that that surface has barely even been scratched yet. Marcille is just as dogged in her pursuit of saving Falin as Laios is, maybe even moreso (remember what I keep saying about LGBT representation this season?). Chilchuck continues to convince himself that he’s only in the job for his own personal gain, but you can see that mask slipping. And I still wanna know what Senshi’s deal is. Even with the five major players I listed, there’s an increasingly deep roster surrounding them—showcasing a broad spectrum of races and ethnicities, both real and fantastical—each with their own histories and motivations, and I cannot wait to see how they play out and interact with one another. There seem to be much deeper themes at play here as well as we learn more about perceptions and grudges between differing races, oppositional magics, clashing ideologies, and the monetary incentives that drive both the dungeon’s exploration and its very existence. I’m here for it.

I’ve been holding off on reading the manga until the season is up in June (though I could crack any day), but I know a loving adaptation when I see one. Not that Trigger ever slacks off in the animation department, but they absolutely brought their A-game here. As with Frieren, the action sequences aren’t frequent, nor are they entirely what the show is about, but they look incredible every single time. Everyone looks bouncy and cartoony in the way only Trigger can pull off while still looking as close as possible to Ryoko Kui’s source material (as far as I can tell). And the food, of course, looks incredible, no matter how weird. This is practically a cooking anime and a fantasy dungeon anime at the same time, and both aspects are visually on point at all times.

I’m obviously speaking from my own bubble as one of the six people who still uses Tumblr in 2024, but I rarely see new anime make a splash like this on social media every single week, and the ones that I do are usually the monster shonen hits like Chainsaw Man or Jujutsu Kaisen. Dungeon Meshi deserves the exposure and success it’s attained, and I’m excited to see it continue. I’d easily slot this right up there with Bravern as one of the best new anime of the season.

A Sign of Affection

I’ve seen a hell of a lot of shonen slice-of-life romances in the past year and change, so a nice fluffy shoujo like this was an excellent palate cleanser. There were a hell of a lot of Big Action Setpieces and panicky teens and grim dungeon crawlers this season, and at the end of the week I wanted to unwind with a bunch of pretty twenty-somethings falling in love with each other.

The show centers on Yuki, a college student living with congenital hearing loss, making do at a public college after growing up at a school for the deaf. Though she’s able to get by with LINE messages and lip reading, she’s unprepared when a foreigner asks for help, but she’s saved by a handsome and mysterious young man named Itsuomi. He’s able to help out, and takes an interest in her when he realizes his fellow undergrad is deaf, and Yuki takes an interest in kind because he’s really goddamn hot. It turns out that he’s a polyglot and an avid world-traveler, but sign language is not in his purview. This mutual interest sparks the concern of her childhood friend, Oushi, one of the few people in her life who already use sign language, who wants to be sure that nothing untoward is happening. And it isn’t, because this is just a really lovely, low-stakes romance story.

This is pure, unfiltered shoujo at its best. Yuki’s internal monologue is peppered with flowery prose, and everything and everyone looks soft and beautiful. Fashionable, doe-eyed women and pillowy-lipped ikemen abound (seriously, holy shit, the lips on these boys) as the scope widens and the main love interests’ friends explore their own possible love stories. Itsuomi is very much of the “mysterious boy” archetype you’ll find in romance stories in this demographic, but he’s not hiding any sort of dark past like you’d typically expect; he’s just an interesting guy who keeps his personal life close to the vest. He’s a self-appointed world citizen who loves learning about how people of all cultures live their lives, and in Yuki he sees someone within his home turf who happens to live in her own world entirely. And it’s easy to see his forward behavior with Yuki as infantilizing at first (Oushi sure does, and I’ll get back to him in a second), but as they grow closer he quickly becomes much more considerate of her boundaries and learns to accommodate her as he studies sign language and gestures that help ensure her comfort. This is a story about Yuki’s horizons broadening just as much as it is about Itsuomi wanting to be let into Yuki’s narrow world, and that sort of synergy makes for some exceptional romance.

A Sign of Affection deserves some credit for refusing to shy away from Yuki’s disability and making a point of depicting her world as one that does little to accommodate her. Very few people in her daily life ever bothered to learn sign language, she relies on a friend to take notes during lectures, and work is hard to come by. It’s an honest depiction that makes an effort not to be exploitative, which is a breath of fresh air. Not only that, but there’s some interesting meta-commentary in there: The only major conflict in the story stems from Oushi’s jealousy, and his reservations about Itsuomi possibly “taking advantage of” Yuki almost feel like he believes that he’s the only one who knows what’s best for her just because he’s done the bare minimum to accommodate her. He thinks he’s coming from a good place, but he winds up accidentally infantilizing her in exactly the way he thinks Itsuomi might. That’s a particularly interesting bit of irony!

I’ve seen enough shonen-oriented romcoms where an unassuming Regular Guy gets flustered as a way-too-casual girl pushes his boundaries (hell, I’ve already reviewed two of those this season), so it’s nice to see the formula flipped for a shoujo as Yuki and her best friend Rin blush and squee over Itsuomi and his coworker Kyouya, respectively. A Sign of Affection isn’t afraid to get a little silly with it, either; plenty of these moments are punctuated by characters’ faces going low-detail or full chibi, and they are cute as shit every single time.

This one was just cozy as hell. If you’re into this sort of thing, swaddle yourself in it and bask.

Solo Leveling

I let this one collect dust after the third episode and didn’t pick it back up until the season was almost up, and honestly, I was kinda dreading it: The trailers didn’t look too promising, the show was slow to start, and it looked like yet another derivative JRPG-style dungeon crawler that managed to get popular. Turns out, nah, this show actually kinda fucks and the web novel series and webtoon it’s based on are popular for a reason. The story is nothing special, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a perfectly serviceable turn-your-brain-off action spectacle with a bit more lying beneath the surface.

In a modern-day South Korea where portals to mysterious dungeons open up and threaten the populace, those who can brave the dungeons, known as hunters, are an invaluable human resource. Once someone is assigned a grade as a hunter, they have that grade for life, barring some rare occurrences. Sung Jinwoo is at the lowest rung on that ladder as an E-rank, incapable of improvement, assigned the epithet “the weakest hunter of all mankind.” He mostly shows up to portal raids as a warm body to fill a quota, and one such job goes haywire as a secondary dungeon within a portal brutally slaughters most of the raid party, Jinwoo included. He somehow wakes up in a hospital, unharmed, and able to access a digital menu before his eyes that exhorts him to do the One Punch Man workout every day, lest he incur punishment. He gets hilariously chadly in the span of a few days in the hospital, including an inexplicable haircut, and finds access to dungeons only he can enter and levels up within this new system.

This one gets off to a slow start and may have benefited from a longer premiere like Oshi no Ko or Frieren, but once the table is fully set, Solo Leveling really starts to cook. Jinwoo’s titular leveling process is a blast from one fight to the next, and as he moves to work in the dungeons that other hunters can access, it turns out he’s been training with the weights on. He’s suddenly fighting way above his pay grade, and after staving off attacks from hunters taking advantage of portals for nefarious ends, he is recruited by an ambitious corporate scion to make some real coin and establish an independent association of hunters.

While it can feel like there’s a whole bunch of table-setting between portal sequences, it’s some smart worldbuilding on Solo Leveling’s end to establish how portal hunting became a central pillar of this society, and doubly so how political and capitalist interests can leave a wide berth for corruption and bad actors. If there’s money to be made in hunting, of course people will find ways to make even more at the expense of others, both at the corporate and personal levels. There’s a lot of talk in there about “survival of the fittest” and “natural selection” and that… makes me nervous.

Those are terms that can be used to justify immoral actions in the name of money, sure, but Jinwoo also uses them to justify his own actions. To what end is he constantly improving himself? Sure, he's doing what he can to provide for his younger sister and their ailing mother, but I see less and less humanity in him as this goes on. There are constant hints at something far more sinister at play than just a dude getting stronger for himself, not the least of which being “the system,” the UI that implores him to keep taking on these “quests.” Someone, or something, seems to be guiding him. Whenever another hunter turns on Jinwoo, of course his self-defense instincts kick in, but system pop-ups instruct him to defeat X number of hostiles like it’s a normal video game scenario. There’s something eerily depersonalized about these encounters, despite them being full-on mortal combat, that gives me serious Ender’s Game vibes. Consider me intrigued.

I’d heard that the Solo Leveling manhwa’s main draw was its visuals, and though I had my doubts early on, I'm sold now. This is a pretty solid presentation! Hiroyuki Sawano turned in yet another banger soundtrack to punctuate all the action setpieces, helping to stitch together a fairly complete package. Said setpieces are exhilarating and almost impressively bloody, and while the animation is nothing impressive in the day-to-day, it goes absolutely batshit when the gloves come off. Movement is inhumanly fluid and the visuals can go into the same psychedelic territories we’ve seen in the likes of Mob Psycho and Jujutsu Kaisen. If this is the new meta for shonen action, I’m not complaining.

By all rights, this is a pretty decent show, but if I’m being honest, this one just hasn’t stuck with me much. And that’s fine! Sometimes I just wanna see some nutty action stuff and move on with my day. Solo Leveling hits that spot perfectly, and I'll be right back there when it returns for its next season.

‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess

I was surprised to learn that the gag manga this is based on, with such a seemingly simple premise, has been running for well over 200 chapters and counting. As the anime progressed, I was far more pleasantly surprised to learn that it actually works.

In a standard anime fantasy world where the forces of good are fighting the demonic Hellhorde, an unnamed warrior princess and her talking enchanted sword are taken prisoner and subjected to torture as they’re squeezed for intel. Said “torture,” as the title’s scare quotes would suggest, is mildly unconventional, as the demon baddie inquisitor, aptly named Torture Tortura, attempts to ply the princess by presenting her with tantalizingly delicious-looking food that she can only partake in if she coughs up some info. Naturally, the princess caves every single time, but her intel is often inane and useless, so the “torture” continues. It’s not all food, though: The princess is soon held out of arm’s reach of adorable baby animals by a gyaru beastgirl, pampered into submission by a spa-loving giantess, and is faced with a tsundere vampire faildaughter, who… tries. 

And you’d think that would be it; the joke wears thin and you move onto something else. Before you realize it, though, something’s changed: The princess and her captors are quickly becoming friends. The premise almost feels perfunctory: These inquisitors are actual people just doing their jobs, and whatever happens after the princess’ myriad confessions is fair game. There’s no malice or animosity, even during the “torture” sessions themselves: Everyone will have a blast and grow closer as friends, and then the princess will voluntarily go back to her bedless cell. It’s like Sam and Ralph after they clock out, except they’re almost always off the clock. Everyone is genuinely looking out for each other in all directions, and the only thing that keeps the torture going is the need for a status quo to return to, even as it grows more elastic. If anything, Time for "Torture" is a good example of committing to the bit without having to necessarily rely on it.

The real irony in all of this is that it becomes increasingly apparent that the princess is having her needs met in captivity far better than she ever did back home. In her proud proclamations about how she’ll never cave to the temptations before her (shortly before she does just that), the princess often talks about her upbringing and her time as the head of an imperial legion, but these stories often betray her lack of friendship or any of the little things that make life worth living. Her life as royalty was one of isolation and deprivation, to the point where she finds more freedom and fulfillment as a prisoner. She truly lives in a society.

Hellholm, on the other hand, has a surprisingly healthy approach to things like work-life balance, food, and leisure, and its most valuable prisoner is no exception. The Hell-Lord himself is a surprising exemplar of this; for as much as he looks and talks like your standard terrifying JRPG demon king, he’s a surprisingly good dude! He looks after his family, employees, and even the captive princess as if they are all one and the same; he exhibits strong principles and an aversion to conflict, sees to his employees' needs and wants alike, and is a supportive, loving father to his unbelievably precious little daughter (who also serves as a “torturer,” to the princess’ delight). He’s also a big time anime dork, and even bonds with a knight attempting to rescue the princess over their shared otakudom before sending him off peacefully. As “villains” go, he’s top tier.

Time for "Torture" is nothing groundbreaking by any stretch, but it’s a cute, silly time and it plays with anime fantasy tropes in the same way a six-month-old German shepherd “plays” with a cheap stuffed toy. How long the premise holds up is entirely up to you, but I had a lot of fun with it. I have no idea how this ended up being one of the better shows this season, but I guess it just scratched the right itch for me.

#anime reviews

[lets-try-some-writing]

I love your hc in which Op got attached to the tfp!kids to the point that he sees them as his own sparklings (besides Bee).

Imagine that because of some weird relic the kids get turned into sparklings. They are adorable as they are little hellions, and the moment Op sees them, its game over

His coding already grabbed them from their metaphorical scruff and went "Don't talk to me or my three, very weird but MINE still, new sparklings ever again or I shall tear your face off. Have a good day" while they were still humans, but now it's a thousand times worse...

They have the whole team cooing at how adorable they are with hearts in their optics, and they are pretty much wrapped around their tiny chubby fingers

This would be super freaking adorable and I can't not build on this thought.

After the Initial Transformation

Literally no one would have any idea what to do after three sparklings turn up where the human children were moments ago. However it wouldn't take long for Optimus, who already accepted the children as his own sparklings, to hurry over and lovingly begin coaxing them over to him. He would call out to them by the Cybertronian names he had given them and sing at a frequency too high for human ears but very clearly meant to sooth fearful sparklings.

The others, both human and bot, would be far too wrapped up in processing what was happening and watching the whole event go down to interfere. As such it wouldn't take all that long for Optimus to collect the three newly made sparklings and begin cooing at them in a way he had only ever done so to Bumblebee when he was small.

Of course, then the panic would hit. June would flip out upon seeing her son turned into a Cybertronian and demand both an explanation and a solution. Agent Fowler would develop a migraine immediately upon realizing that he would have to deal with the fallout of three human children going "missing" for a while. Not to mention having to explain all the nonsense to the military.

As for the bots, Ratchet would find himself awestruck upon seeing not one, but three sparklings millennia after the Well went dark. Then he would have a similar migraine as the realization that he would be responsible for figuring out the stupid relic hit him.

Smokescreen and Bumblebee would be worried momentarily but then be positively thrilled at the concept of younger siblings. Bulkhead would be more concerned than anything else because of his lack of knowledge on how to handle sparklings. And Arcee would be shocked but ultimately be more worried about having to cover up the kids disappearances to their families who were out of the loop. Ultra Magnus would be mostly confused with the situation in general but intrigued by the thought of having sparklings running around again after so long. And lastly Wheeljack would be ecstatic at the concept of having Miko be tough enough to play rougher games.

But no matter how simple Optimus can manage to make it look, sparklings are by no means easy to handle. Especially sparklings without any memories to work with.

The Sparkling's Shenanigans

Rafael

Rafael's Cybertronian form is that of a minicon, which is thankfully bipedal and not animalistic like Soundwave's cassettes. His scans indicate that his new form is only a few days old, a true infant by Cybertronian standards despite his new, and far stronger body. Due to this, his colors have only barely begun to show up on his frame. But based on what can be observed, he is likely to end up being primarily orange and rust colored.

His scans also indicate that he is an outlier of sorts, although his ability is mostly dormant due to his physical age. So far all Ratchet and Optimus can guess is that his ability is likely a mental one not too dissimilar from Soundwave's ability to download copious amounts of data and not die. However not everything about Rafael's new frame is good, his impaired vision unfortunately transferred over and so Ratchet was forced to give the sparkling a vision enhancing visor, much to his displeasure.

Rafael being a Cybertronian equivalent of an infant means he does not spend much time with anyone besides Optimus. He generally spends a good chunk of his day recharging in a makeshift baby carrier that Optimus fashioned and wears. And when not recharging he is either refueling or having some supervised playtime with the two other human turned sparklings.

Of course he still manages to wreak havoc even as such a small bot. As he is only slightly larger than he was as a human, Rafael is the perfect size to get everywhere he really shouldn't be going. This includes but is not limited to, Ratchet's workstation, the ventilation system during the one instance where Wheeljack left it accessible, and the small nooks and crannies around base. Optimus nearly had a panic attack when he couldn't find Rafael for over an hour. Thankfully he was later found by Ultra Magnus in Smokescreen's secret stash of rust sticks, although not many of the treats were still untouched by that point.

Rafael is loved by all in base, and when Optimus is finally forced to put him down for whatever reason, the right to sparklingsit him is one that is highly sought after. Not only is Rafael cute, but he is also an incredibly mild sparkling, well behaved, and willing to babble adorably when prompted. So long as he isn't allowed to wander off on shaky little pedes, he is the most lovable thing on two legs. Whole brawls broke out for the first few days after the transformation until the concept of bribery was introduced. The rules are simple, do something nice for Optimus and prove your capabilities as a suitable caretaker and the bot most successful gains the right to watch Rafael.

Even Ratchet fights for the right, unfortunately for everyone else, Bumblebee is Optimus's firstborn and has so far been the undisputed winner a majority of the time.

Miko

Just as Optimus predicted, Miko's Cybertronian form is that of a flier's, one with adorably oversized wings. Her scans show that she is around half a vorn old, essentially a toddler for Cybertronians, a fact that is both despaired over and loved by nearly every bot in base. Her colors are still slightly muted but she is primarily a deep purple with pink accents around her helm and wings and blue ones on the rest of her frame.

Her scans show no disabilities or anything that would otherwise set her apart from other sparklings besides her human origin. However she is a flier, and she has coding that differs from grounders in that she feels the need to attempt to take to the air whenever the opportunity is presented. This has led Ratchet to sparkling proof the whole base and Optimus to put Miko on a leash so she doesn't do anything stupid.

Miko is a true menace and will take any and every chance to get into things in order to satisfy her curiosity. The moment Optimus takes his optics off her, she tears off her leash and takes off. The very first thing she does is get to the highest spot she can reach and look over the base triumphantly with happy little chirps and a few garbled words. She will then attempt to glide down from her pedestal, sometimes succeeding, and other times requiring the nearest bot to dive to save her from hitting the ground.

When actually allowed to be off her leash for supervised playtime she likes to play battle/house with the Cybertronian toys Wheeljack and Optimus cobbled together. Bulkhead will build her little structures to place her toys and Arcee, while generally steering clear of the sparklings, will play the part of the enemy for Miko's toys to fight against. Their battles are legendary, and Smokescreen always makes sure to play dramatic music and give commentary on the whole event. Bumblebee will also sweep in and assist Miko in her battles, sometimes lifting her into the air with her toy so she can feel like she is flying.

Meanwhile Optimus and Ratchet watch the proceedings fondly and try to keep the other two sparklings from getting hurt by Miko on accident. When no bot is paying too much attention Wheeljack will try to slip Miko something "fun" in place of one of her normal toys, more often than not resulting in a mess of glitter, foam, confetti, or some other sparkling friendly substance. However since the explosion generally assosiated with Wheeljack's ultimately harmless meddling, he has since been forbidden from joining playtime unless he has been patted down first. Ultra Magnus, ever worried about the safety of the sparklings, is the one to do this when he isn't searching for Rafael who inevitably wandered off.

Overall Miko is a happy little sparkling, a little excitable and likely to accidentally hurt herself or others, but lovable all the same.

Jack

Jack ended up embodying yet another of Optimus's predictions and gained a powerful looking frame. His scans say that he is around a vorn and a half old, a child between the ages of 3 and 5 if one were to use human terms. However he looks quite a bit older than he actually is because of his bulkier and more combat oriented frame. Those around base were initially unnerved by Jack's colors and frame type which were a little too similar to Megatron's build for anyone's liking. With his colors being primarily tones of gray and black with light blue accents, the slight fear was understandable but quickly put to rest by Optimus.

Jack's scans did not indicate that has any issues frame wise, however much like Miko, his coding differs from the norm in that he has a combat based frame type. The desire to protect, guard, and engage in combat is deeply rooted in his programming ensuring that while he can be trusted with the other sparklings, he cannot be allowed to feel too threatened lest he go berserk. He is also exceptionally clingy with Optimus and extra protective of the other sparklings in large part due to his frame type.

Jack is old enough to speak semi-fluently and only talks in Cybertronian in large part due to how Optimus refuses to speak in anything else around Jack and the other sparklings. His words are still choppy and a not all that eloquent leading him to have a slight lisp which every member of the team finds adorable. Also due to his age he does not want to play with the other sparklings, instead he prefers to follow Optimus and occasionally others around and watch what they do. He likes to watch Ratchet work and seems to have a fascination with the idea of becoming a medic, something Ratchet is rather giddy about.

When he isn't watching and questioning Ratchet, Jack spends his time with Optimus learning to read, write, and speak in Cybertronian. He is fond of listening to Optimus's stories of Cybertron and the history behind their homeworld. After such stories he gushes about and draws pictures of what he imagines Cybertron and the characters in the stories to be like. The pictures are always collected and pinned to a board for the whole base to appreciate. Jack also really enjoys hanging around with Bumblebee who he sees as an older brother. Bumblebee in turn loves to spoil Jack rotten, getting him treats, letting him get away with little things, and telling him all about his own adventures.

Although most of his time is spent around the grown bots, Jack does check in on the other sparklings, his siblings, regularly. Miko worries him as there is little he can do to protect her from her own insanity and as Jack is still a bit too small, all he can do for Rafael is point out to a bigger bot where he has wandered off to. It is a bit stressful for Jack trying to keep track of his siblings but he loves them and the rest of the bots nonetheless.

Extra

Optimus and June do not get along well when it comes to Jack and the other kiddos. June wants to take care of her son and return the kids to their human forms whereas Optimus wants to keep his newfound family and is willing to go to nearly any lengths to do so. After so long without any sparklings, both he and the Matrix are loath to give up the three that were tossed upon them.

June desperately wants her son back and Optimus is perfectly fine with the new state of the human children. His usual empathy and general agreeableness towards humans up and dissipates when the topic of his sparklings being restored to human form is brought up. The thought of his sparklings returning to being human is appalling to him and he refuses to speak on the subject whenever June or Agent Fowler bring it up.

In his mind, the human children were always his sparklings, but now wreathed in living metal and within his loving embrace they are perfect, they are as they were always meant to be. His parental coding and the encouragement of the Matrix make it near impossible for him to think about returning his sparklings to their organic frames without feeling intense revulsion.

Throughout the whole sparkling dilemma Optimus and June are not on good terms.

However if Ratchet somehow finds a way to reverse the effects of the relic that caused the whole mess and the time comes for the children to be returned to their human forms, the situation could unfold in one of two ways.

Optimus gives up his sparklings with no small amount of reluctance to what in his mind, might as well be mutilation.

Optimus becomes aggressive and refuses to hand over his sparklings and needs to be sedated until the process is over.

Either way, Prime is not happy.

#maccadam #transformers shenanigans #transformers ideas #transformers sparklings #tfp #transformers prime #tfp optimus #tfp ratchet #tfp arcee #bulkhead #tfp wheeljack #ultra magnus #tfp bumblebee #smokescreen #miko nakadai #jack darby #rafael esquivel #yeee so many tags #welp i tried #i love this idea so much but I can barely do it any justice #I might need to expand more on this later #or maybe just write a fic on it or something

[dumbass-duo-showdown]

DUMBASS DUO SHOWDOWN ROUND 1 BATTLE 5

JOSUKE HIGASHIKATA & OKUYASU NIJIMURA AKA JOSUYASU (JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE) VS SHOUYOU HINATA & TOBIO KAGEYAMA (HAIKYUU)

propaganda under the cut!

josuyasu

Josuke is fairly decent, but okuyasu, you know how in math, if you multiply a negative number with a positive one it is always negative, that is josuyasu for you. Josuke has 6 braincells and Okuyasu has -6734. Their first meeting was okuyasu trying to kill josuke, then he shows up at his house a few days later and goes "hey lets go to school! btw your mom is hot!" Josuke punches a plate of spaghetti because he thinks the chef is evil, they both fight a middle schooler who stole their cash. Okuyasu got the third most op ability in his part but he is too stupid (and kind) to realize it. Somehow they survive their entire part. They are thus far the second jojo and jobro duo to not lose each other. the second one? THEM IN AN ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE! (okay but okuyasu is swapped for koichi in that one, but still).

Josuke normally is pretty smart, but somewhat silly, but Okuyasu. Isn’t incredibly bright but he’s the best jojo character idc. Okuyasu brings out josukes stupid and then they are just besties and totally bouncing off each other’s stupid ideas. Idk what Okuyasu does to josukes brain but I’m here for it

I saw the post title and without reading anything else immediately went to submit them, only to go back and read the full post and realize they were included by default. They are THE dumbass duo. Ever. The worst protagonists for a detective story, but they dumbassed around so hard they somehow caught a genius serial killer. No matter who wins, they’ll always be the number 1 dumbasses in my heart.

they are the best of friends, which of course means they met by trying to kill each other.

They’re both so stupid. Like josuke isn’t that stupid on his own but he’s kinda dumb and when you put him with dumbass incarnate okuyasu they multiply each others’ stupidness. Together they are a menace.

Hinata & Kageyama

I love how at first it seems like Hinata will be The Dumb One and Kageyama will be The Smart One, but then no. Just, no, surprise girlies, Kageyama is just as much (if not even more) of a dumbass as Hinata and that’s beautiful of them.

They scream pre-pubescently at each other

They are babies. Not only are they emotionally constipated but they are just stupid in general. They thought a cell phone tower was the Eiffel Tower...

Outside of volleyball these two don’t know shit about shit. They’re helpless worms intellectually and perhaps even socially. They need help.

both of them have like. Volleyball Smarts. but off the court are so dumb like all the time. also their relationship with each other means so much to me. hinata is the person that can keep up with kageyama and wants to, that kageyama’s been waiting for. especially since his grandpa died a year ago and he has no friends. kageyama is someone who can set to hinata and also is hinata’s person to beat. they help each other grow as people while also not being able to tell twins apart even when the twins have differently colored dyed hair <3

#polls #round 1 #dumbass duo showdown #fandom poll #tumblr poll #tumblr bracket #tumblr tournament #fandom bracket #tumblr tourney #josuyasu #josuke higashikata #okuyasu nijimura #jjba #jojos bizarre adventure #hinata shouyou #kageyama tobio #haikyuu #kagehina

[lady-of-endless]

Hi!! I was wondering if you'd be willing to give any headcanons about Buggy. That's my unhinged little clown baby. My girlfail male wife. My skrunkly little jerk baby.

I have a headcanon that he's kinda gender nonconforming, as in looks at Gender as a Presentation, An Act, and the world is a stage, he's a performer, and he could not be paid to give a single fuck but people are WELCOME to try, he accepts cash and treasure, no credit.

Also AFAB bc I project on this blue haired buffoon. AuDHD. Hyperfixation on chemistry, explosives, circuses and carnivals, and fashion or makeup.

I'd love to hear your takes on Buggy!

Respond only if you want, I hope you have a LOVELY day, drink enough water, and have a nice tasty snack because you deserve it ♡♡♡♡

Love,

🍬 your friendly neighborhood gummy bear 🍬

General headcanons for Buggy

Author's Note: You are so very sweet, thank you for this request and your care. Sorry if some might sound out of character, those are just my assumptions. Hope you'll like them! Have a wonderful day!

(Lovely gif is not mine, please show appreciation to the OP)

- Everything about Buggy is avant-garde and so, this makes him a dreamer, a visionary. He's got so many ideas, he just needs someone that will listen.

- He got mocked so many times about his hair color but he doesn't care anymore. Of course, he likes to experiment with different hairstyles, he's open to anything. (expect cutting it shorter, that's off the table)

- I think Buggy had to learn how to act confident before becoming confident and that is never easy.

- He is fast to jump to conclusions and judgements but fine with changing his opinions if there are valid explanations. For example, he's the type to dislike a person in the first place because he thought that this person had a mocking stare when they looked at him. Once he gets to know that person, he's going to totally change his opinion without being upset about it or admitting his initial assumption.

- He does not realize how impressive his whole persona truly is. Yes, he acts like he knows it but in his heart is something else. So when someone shows genuine awe, it will melt his heart.

- This means that he's prone to falling in love too fast. With the right kind of affection and fantasy someone provides him, Buggy will be head over heels. As a result, this will unfortunately get him hurt many times.

- On another, less angsty note, he has a collection of colorful socks with different patterns. Also, I feel like he has some nice-looking pajamas too.

- He's pretty organised for someone so chaotic. Sure, his cabin might be a disaster but he knows about where any object can be found.

- I honestly think that he has a nice singing voice when he's not trying too hard. You'll notice it when he thinks he's alone and he starts singing for himself.

- He unexpectedly has a lot of scars for someone who's devil fruit ability is to turn himself into a human puzzle. He's wild, always has been. Most of his scars are from before eating the devil fruit however. He might be wild and reckless but not clumsy at all. Has good control over his body (obviously).

#one piece #one piece buggy #buggy the clown #buggy one piece #one piece requests #one piece fanfiction #buggy x reader #buggy x you #op buggy #captain buggy

[mrpsychokiller]

i am actually so suspicious of this god damn moth post but i cant find any concrete evidence to prove theres something wrong with it other than my gut feeling and i feel insane

like of course first of all this post is from 2013 and im not really willing to believe any given post from 2013 is true specially when the post is this amazing coincidence of this person coincidentally finding those two coincidentally aesthetically pleasing moths and managing to get them coincidentally snuggling together for a picture. yknow. it does feel too weirdly good to be true

BUT SECONDLY im so weirded out by these two moths specifically.

ok bear with me. the little one is very obviously a rosy maple moth. (which is also coincidentally one of the most famous moths specifically for being pretty)

but im willing to believe any given english speaking tumblrgirl at the time could find one considering they live seemingly accross the united states and canada. fair enough

BUT my problem is the big one. of course everybody even in the notes seems to be classifying it as a luna moth (ALSO a famous moth species for being pretty) you can also feasibly find them in north america, ok.

theres also the point of their lifespans

luna moths as adults live only for about 7-10 days, and i had a harder time finding info for adult rosy maple moths but it seems its about the same

the source of this is an old article from someone actively breeding maple moths x but i believe its the same with moths in general, since they literally dont have mouths and cant eat so they just mate and die.

SO youre gonna have a small time span to find one. both moths are also mainly nocturnal, which makes even weirder that op found both of them during the day.

theres also the point of WHEN are they adults. aka maply moths seem to show from from may through the summer

luna moths though, seem to vary in when they show up depending on place. some do include late may or early june on northern regions, ans a generation in july in central states.

which means you could, feasibly, have a span of about a week or so in may, june or july where both maple moths and luna moths are adults and alive at the same time.

BUT THE POST IN QUESTION IS FROM APRIL 16

thats NOT when adult rosy maple moths show up, much less both of them.

though maybe im just being too pedandic with specific dates and theres margin for variation, but its, again, some real big coincidences

BUT FINALLY theres the fact im suspicious about this luna moth IN THE FIRST PLACE.

i might just be going actually crazy here, but for this we've been assuming the luna moth is the species that exists in north america (otherwise these two wouldnt be in the same place at all)

and like this is what the luna moth looks like

(pictures from wikipedia)

and you see how theyre kinda weird compared to the one in the pic.

the luna moths are mostly green, with much less of this pretty pastel pink of the one on the tumblr post. you could argue they have pink markings but in most pictures i see they seem more like a dark red/brown with a remarkable very thick marking on the wings

you see how the moth in the pic just looks kinda weird. but that can also be from filters or editing to make the photo prettier making the colors different.

(i also think the tail looks weirdly long, but there seems to be variation in the tail length in various luna moth pics ive seen, so i cant speak for sure about that)

(i also cant tell you whether the sizes in comparison to each other are right cause i suck at visualizing size comparisons and its not like theres any other pic on earth of the two together so.)

CONCLUSION: i dont fucking know. i spent an hour looking moths up online and didnt get any reasonable answer to my doubts. i guess in the end THERE is, even if small, a chance of you finding both these boths alive at the same time in the same place so i can fully discredit the op. i give up im going to have breakfast

#🧃

[daily-linkclick]

What is the theory abt lg being from an alternate timeline? I’ve been seeing a lot of ppl talk about it and idrk where it comes from, and what are your thoughts??(have a nice day!!)

this ask magically appeared in my inbox just today but apparently it was sent weeks ago, holy shit! thank you for waiting op LMFAO

anyways, it's a theory that's been around before season 2, iirc! mostly because we had little to nothing lore wise around their powers, and its just fun thinking about while we waited for anything canon. there were a few things that did hint at lu guang being from an alternative timeline, being that we don't know his age and backstory, and his weird hair color (not a lot of people sporting full white hair, or any unnatural hair color in link click, at least)

those aspects don't necessarily point to him being from an alternate timeline, but they also could be hints towards it! but there's new content that makes this theory potentially canon! it's from this music video played during Bilibili World. it features an alternate mv for vortex, which is interesting because we see lu guang falling first:

in it, there are several shots with cheng xiaoshi wearing completely different outfits, some injured and one seemingly dead? Plus a frame that shows four cxs's merging into one. maybe it's just ooo pretty visuals, but there's a looot of imagery that implies different timelines (shard fractals, reflections, mirror images, etc)

There's also this shot, with lu guang wearing an alternate fit we've never seen - and he's wearing more black in this one?? his s1 fit also featured a dark shirt and pants but his flannel color was more dominant. this leads me to believe that this is lu guang but less experienced (another timeline).

maybe all of this is just non-canon for marketing, they did market lu guang as dead for all of pre-s2 lol, but i like to believe this is them teasing lu guang's past! even if he's the main character, he's someone who's past we know the least of. i'd argue we find out more about side characters than we do about him actually - which makes me (and a lot of other people) think he's from an alternate timeline!

that's the gist; i'll put my own thoughts under a read more so this post won't be insanely long

my own thoughts on the theory is that i think lu guang is from multiple alternate timelines. the frame with multiple cheng xiaoshis, and the one where four merge into one makes me believe lu guang met cheng xiaoshi in his timeline, but cxs either died or had a miserable life. he kept going into different timelines in an attempt to save him / be in a timeline where cheng xiaoshi is actually safe and happy, and finally got to the timeline we see in the show.

though that part requires him having more than just the power to look into what happens in a photo. but there's been proof of lu guang hiding what he knows / has with cheng xiaoshi (re: him hiding the fact emma died, and him hiding the photo that liu tianchen gave him). he's also an incredibly private person. if he hides from his closest friend, who's to say he isn't hiding something from the audience either?

we also don't know how they got their powers. if lu guang originally had the power to dive back into pictures, then it would make sense on how he's able to go to different timelines. also, studio lan clearly emphasizes the fact that the pair are two halves of a whole, and the show is more interesting because of that dynamic.

as an extra: lu guang's doting nature makes a lot of sense too, he just doesn't want to see cheng xiaoshi miserable again! it's a pretty known fact that cheng xiaoshi didn't have any friends (besides qiao ling) before lu guang, and his life insantly got better when they finally were a trio (interesting that it was mainly because of a mysterious person that popped out of nowhere). here's a fun twitter thread by t3mp0s about the trio's dynamic

lastly, i just think it'd be fun if at one point cheng xiaoshi slowly discovers what lu guang did in his past for him. and how hypocritical lu guang would sound after saying "past or future, leave them be" if he never applied that to cheng xiaoshi! either way i still want to see a cxs saving lg arc man... they keep teasing it EVEN IN THE MV

that's it!! i know link click's best quality is the trio going through other people's stories, but i think they're preparing us for the biggest one: lu guang's.

#link click #link click spoilers #dlc asks #i draw cheng xiaoshi a lot but listen i love thinking about lu guang more . he is so mysterious #HOPE THIS WAS UNDERSTANDABLE LOL #i didnt say anything abt the two as a ship in this post bc im someone who could do with or without it #but my god studio lan is not helping their case when they say 'yeah theyre two halves of a whole character' #i love doomed gays #lmk if there was anything i cld say more honestly i wrote this in a haze #because its my favorite theory #lu guang

[itsclydebitches]

While it was nice to finally get some more fight scenes in a show about people training to fight things it feels like RT still has no idea how character abilities work or how to compare character strength, the final showdown with the cat is an obvious example with Ruby easily blocking an attack from the cat while Juan, a character who's whole thing is having a ridiculous amount of aura has it completely drained and break from a single hit. Honestly feels like a repeat of the Schnee manor fights.

Ruby's part of the fight was the best we've seen in a while (though frankly I don't think that's much of a contest this Volume, not when all the other fights were akin to tame skirmishes: chess piece grunts, Jabberwalker, Ruby too depressed to fight back) and I really liked the lead-in to her return while going after Crescent Rose... but yeah, the rest was pretty boring imo. And, as you say, suffers from this ongoing problem of abilities/power-scaling. It's bad enough that Jaune is taken out so quickly, but the reason for that is so he can fall from the tree and... encounter smoke? That fixes their possession problem after only being portrayed as a dangerous temptation up until now? The fact that the writers thought it was a good idea to have the Cat scream, "No! These FEELINGS!!" when, cringe aside, that doesn't even make sense - they're arguably the most emotionally complex Afteran! - tells you all you need to know about that fight.

Honestly, some nice choreography/imagery aside, I think the whole fight is fundamentally flawed. Why is the Cat our final villain when Neo herself is right there? Why doesn't the possession result in any cool abilities? (Because the Ruby puppets were just... bad). Why bother with the possession at all when it was immediately solved through a solution with no lead-up? Why, after a Volume of seeing the Cat separate their body into individual pieces - which could be used for cool battle strategy - are they suddenly transforming into this hulking beast? Why did the Volume introduce the Jabberwalker just to immediately kill it off, giving Neo the equivalent of Weiss' summoning ability when she was already CRAZY op this season? Why was our culminating team attack just a bunch of colored blurs that - and this is a nitpick - weren't even the right colors for RWBY? Then there's Ruby herself who, yeah, absolutely looks the best compared to everyone else, but considering this confident, triumphant fight comes about after, not even speed-running a recovery arc, but outright bypassing it, makes the whole thing feel totally unearned. Some cool imagery and a revised "Red Like Roses" can't get me invested if the core reason Ruby is fighting against doesn't hold together.

You can't have Ruby suffer the worst defeat she's ever faced, learn her good friend was murdered for a second time, crumble under the realization that she can't defeat an immortal witch, be ignored by her entire team for two-ish days, lash out at them, actively flinch away from her weapon, get tortured by the villain, drink the tea, learn her mom lied to everyone about her final, presumably deadly mission, and then solve ALL OF THAT by... remembering said mom saying she's perfect back when she was, like, five?

This just in, extreme depression to the point of suicidal intent is solved by recalling a single platitude from your parent, the one who you just learned is a liar who left you and your sister behind for a mission she knew was likely to kill her. Rejoice and bring on the triumphant battle, complete with confident smirk!

#rwde #rwby #mymetas #suicide tw

[somethingmissingthiswaycomes]

Would it be weird to ask how you plan out your embroidery designs? If not weird and you have the time/spoons do you have any tips?

Oh no worries, I am the OP! @handmadehazefromtheheart is my craft account. ^w^ You were referring to this post, right?

Asking isn't weird at all btw. I like questions. :3 Though I dunno if my answer will be the most helpful, since I'm still pretty experimental with my embroidery.

For the brain, I literally just doodled onto the fabric with a water soluble pen.

For the latest piece before that, I traced the outline + important features of a picture I had of my girlfriend by holding fabric pinned in a hoop up to my laptop screen. Then I flipped the fabric around in the hoop so it was right ways up. I did the same with her music logo, which I made for her birthday this year.

Mostly, though, I've been actually drawing out patterns on paper.

I trace them onto the fabric using a white screen behind it. (I literally just Google "white" and open an image full screen.)

Getting the colors right is hard, but I'm getting the hang of it I think.

For the brain, I decided as I went which sections would be which shade of teal on the fly.

For the portrait, I gathered various shades of coral (the color of the InfiniTints prompt it was for) and then separated them into groups based on where I thought each shade would work best. I had a hair pile and a skin pile, and in each pile I determined which would be used for lighter areas and darker areas based on the picture I was using.

For the In Decay logo, I did pretty much the same thing but with whites and greys, though I haven't shown off the full thing yet. (I'm going to do that in a special way. :3c Stay tuned.) The mouse had the same process. The mouse was actually the first one I did it like that for, and I love how it turned out—and the fact that a duplicate made as a commission came out so nice after.

You can kind of see on the clover pic above that I actually labeled it for where I wanted which shades of green. I should probably do that more.

I've mostly been working with long and short stitch, but working on this pre-made kit has helped me get a sense of how to use different kinds of stitches together.

So far, the brain is the most deliberate in terms of different stitches.

[ID: A two second video showing off the embroidered result of the brain sketch near the top of the post. It's mostly satin stitch, but the outlines are all stem stitches, and there are French knots in some places next to backstitches and split stitches that swirl. /end ID]

I'd say I've improved a lot from my first attempt last year:

Oh... I got away from myself writing that out, didn't I? I hope you got what you were asking for out of it! 😅

#crafts #asks #embroidery #hand embroidery #fjskjfjd I rambled so hard there I dissociated after writing it I'm fine tho thanks for the ask #This was fun to go over

[amoena55]

AAAAAAA I THINK I JUST FIGURED OUT WHY VASH WEARS COLORED GLASSES HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE

So disclaimer, havent read the manga or watched the other renditions of trigun so this could be old news but i dont think ive seen anyone say anything abt this so who knows.

Ok, so putting aside symbolism, why does Vash wear glasses that dont seem to be prescription or for blocking sunlight like Wolfwood’s are? Lets take a trip back to me last week, watching tiktoks abt baseball (i dont even like baseball but i accept what Mr Chew thinks i should know abt). Then lets travel further back in time to 2006, when Nike came out with AMBER contact lenses. Now whyd they do this? Amber lenses increase contrast a butt ton to where those lenses are now banned in a bunch of sports. To give u an idea of how op these things were, baseball players said you could see individual stitches on the ball as it left the pitchers hand.

So, then I went to see if marksman glasses operate on the same principle and spoiler alert, THEY DO! Yellow tinted glasses are super popular bc they are shown to increase contrast and “visual acuity” (idk what that means tbh) which also means FASTER REACTION TIMES —> I.E. BETTER FOR FIGHTING WHEN YOUR MAIN STRATEGY IS DODGING INSTEAD OF TAKING THE OFFENSIVE.

Ok, awesome figured that out. But then I was like i wonder if this carries over to episode 12 as well

!!**POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR EP 12 PAST THIS POINT**!!

AND IT MIGHT!!!!!

Basically, purple has become a popular color for shooting glasses in the last couple years as an all around good color. But it is especially useful for targeting “light colored targets that are set against a dark background” ……… take a minute.

Lets take a quick look at what that final fight looked like

Idk abt yall but that looks like a pretty light target against a dark background to me 🤨. Obvi this could just be me reading into Trigun too much cuz im trying to forget abt the 4 papers i need to write BUT if it isn’t it just goes to show how much thought and care the creators of this story have put into it.

Also on a more symbolic note, apparently purple lenses block out green things as well. The color of Nai’s powers in that last scene are pretty blue-ish green so Vash’s new glasses blocking that means smthg to me 🤭, ok im done now hehehe

#trigun #trigun stampede #vash the stampede #knives millions #millions knives #tristamp #tristamp wolfwood #meryl stryfe #i need to stop thinking of this series if i ever want to be a productive member of society #trigun vash #vash my beloved #i hope the next season is better for him 🫠 #i know it wont be but a girl can dream #trigun headcanons

[rabbitenn]

Kyouko Kyouko! Her is my first request~ Can I request Tenn with an idol!s/o who returned in the work recently (they were in a hiatus for some reasons) and who wears different wigs while going on tv/on stage as to not get fans while doing normal things like dating or groceries (sorry it's oddly specific ops) thank you in advance~

SUISAI.

Suisai — Japanese. Meaning ‘watercolor.’

Because no matter what, you were his favorite shade of love.

ft. Kujo Tenn x gn! reader.

cw/genre: fluff, romance.

hello, love ! thank you so much for requesting <3 I apologize that this took a while to complete, I still hope I managed to write this to your liking and that you enjoy, mwah !

— Shades of ash and steel hung over the skies the day the famed idol [Y/n] announced their temporary hiatus from the stages. Reactions from fans were as diverse as the colors of the sky just as the sun dips behind the horizon, but a gloomy mood helplessly settled over the crowd.

— You needed a little respite after your last tour, having powered through concert after concert, no matter if you were coming down with a cold, tired from late nights or the sky was pouring down.

— Plus, the fame you had gained throughout it all brought more and more fans into your daily life: when you went grocery shopping, taking walks, to cafes… You were happy seeing their smiles when they recognized you and asked for autographs, you really were, but a small part of you was growing weary with so little privacy.

— Thus, the decision was made, your agency having approved too.

— Even your boyfriend, the renowned Kujo Tenn from TRIGGER, was relieved to hear you were taking care of yourself. Obviously you teased him about it, seeing how he always pushed himself to give his 110% for his fans no matter the circumstance.

— Poking his cheek, you smirk in amusement: “Look who’s talking.” Which is met with big maroon eyes looking to the side. “If I recall correctly, you left your hospital bed once to perform, even if you were on the brink of fainting, huh?” Another poke, to which he pouts, cheeks taking on a rather vivid tint.

— “This is different.” He mumbles. “Your health and comfort are important to me, my love.” He sighs, guiding your head to rest against his chest. Both because he missed you during your tour, and so that you don’t tease him for blushing like this anymore.

— But just as one fateful day, your temporary break was announced, sunny skies greet the overjoyed cheers of an audience as they get in line to enter the venue.

— “[Y/n], back on stage.” Different neon signs and luminous panels announce, as the crowd can barely contain their excitement. Images of you litter the space outside the building, except there’s a difference in your looks this time.

— You’re still pretty much the same as before your hiatus, except your usual hairstyle is kind of different now, both in color and styling. You chose soft pink for this occasion, with twin half pigtails. Of course, Tenn’s signature color; you really want to feel the way his hand reassuringly squeezed yours before going on stage, throughout all your performance.

— Plus it seems the public likes the new image, for as you make your final move and sing the last note of the evening, deafening applause engulfs you, in a cacophony of shouts: “So happy you’re back, [Y/n]!” mixed with “You look so cute!”

— And thus, your colorful hairstyles became your trademark. From pinks that reminded you of Tenn’s loving kisses, to dusky purples, to midnight blues, to sunny shades of gold, you always managed to impress your fans with a different styled wig at every concert and music video.

— But, of course, the masses’ expectation and anticipation as to which color and style you will wear next were not the main reason you settled for this approach.

— Because now, your daily life is much more peaceful; despite your job offers for commercials and shows having increased since your return, rare are the occasions in which you are stopped in the middle of doing your daily life activities, given that you don’t don your signature colorful wigs off-stage.

— Which, in turn, makes your love life a lot more private too.

— With the added bonus that Tenn loves seeing you in all the different hairstyles (he cherishes the quiet intimate moments the most, in which you are your natural you, however).

♡

Early october air brushes through tree branches, the patches of sky visible through them, a mosaic of lavenders fading into candle-flame oranges.

The ambiance is balmy, a little hot for this time of year, although not unpleasant.

Then again, how could anything ever be less than lovely when he was by your side?

Your head gently leans on your lover’s shoulder, the calmness of the park you currently sit at lingering around you, in an ebb and flow of unsung melodies; a unique pattern of notes following the path of evanescing sunbeams.

Svelte fingers comb through the soft strands of your hair. Today, you wore it in his favorite style for you: just natural. Your own hue, reflecting the dipping sunset; tresses let loose.

This was Tenn’s idea of perfection. You were his idea of perfection.

“Isn’t this nice, my love?” You ask him, lashes fluttering closed, your cheek squished against your boyfriend’s form.

Tenn’s gaze lands on you, molten rose quartz reflecting dawn light over snowy heavens. A soft smile curls his lips, as he wraps an arm around you.

“Indeed.” He muses, with a tender kiss to the crown of your head. “As much as I like giving my fans the best performances and seeing you on stage,” his head rests on top of yours. “This quiet… I like it.” Your lover breathes out, hand finding yours, fingers laced over your touching knees.

Now it is you who reaches out to gently peck his cheek, caressing his flushing skin.

“You’re adorable, Tenn.” You chuckle, as you wrap your arms around him, staring into the watercolor horizon.

A group of teenage girls practice a dance routine not faraway from where you and your boyfriend are sitting.

You know it by heart, it’s the one from your debut song, after all. They don’t seem to have recognized you. You smile fondly; a stray football comes rolling, softly hitting Tenn’s shoes. With a reassuring smile, he passes it to the redhead child that comes running after it; an elderly couple sit on a bench a few meters away from you. You smile at the sight, they seem to be so in love.

Resting your chin on your hand, you glance in your beloved’s direction.

Snowy locks flutter in the wind, akin to a halo, like the approaching moon’s.

“What’s on your mind, dear?” You ask him, tucking a few strands of hair behind his ear.

Turning around slightly, the idol removes his scarf, draping it over your shoulders instead.

“Mostly how the sky reminded me of you just now.” Tenn utters, tucking the comfortable piece of cloth closer around you. “Its colors. They shine, like you always do.”

“Really?” You giggle, amused.

“That’s right, my love.” He brushes the hair out of your eyes. “You’re like dawn, or dusk, or starry nights, full of light, bringing joy to everyone. And you make me fall in love with you every single time.”

You stand there, a little mystified at his direct words, heat, enough to replace the fading sun’s, rising to your cheeks.

What a charming angel he was.

“You’ll fluster me!” You whine, burying your face deeper into his scarf.

“You’re rather adorable like that too.” Tenn whispers, as his hand finds the side of your face, those eyes that mirrored winter sundowns drinking in every lash and pore that constellated your lovely features.

As the sky paints itself in shades of violet and dreams, Tenn extends his hand to you.

You take it, and together, you walk, not under stage lights this time, but under the stars.

#idolish7 x reader #idolish7 imagines #idolish7 #idolish7 x you #idolish7 fluff #idolish7 hadcanons #ainana #kujo tenn x reader #kujo tenn #kujo tenn x you #ainana x reader #idolish7 scenarios #idolish7 x y/n #kujo tenn x y/n #anime x reader #anime imagines #anime fluff

[lol-jackles]

https://awardsradar.com/2023/06/12/interview-jensen-ackles/

First of all, someone tell Jensen to check his connection before doing phone interviews, the audio is TERRIBLE and cuts out repeatedly throughout the convo. But also, someone please get this man some media training. Everytime I listen to an interview he gives I cringe so much throughout. I mean, I get that its TB and I personally don't have an issue with swearing (I do it myself way too much lol), but maybe don't in a professional interview. Also, stop putting down other shows/people to prop yourself up dude, it looks petty (Bridgerton dig).

Or maybe watch your own show because that Homelander vs SB question where he thinks they are pretty evenly matched and even the interviewer gives SB the edge (he seems like a JA fanboy tbh) but the show SHOWED US that SB wasn't actually all that tough. All the "big fights" felt... meh. SB might be volatile but if you knew his triggers he seemed annoying but not the worst to maintain/contain - literally give him some drugs and grannies and you don't have to even think about him.

Plus saying that he started to do research for his character but immediately stopped and just did his own thing for PTSD is not the serve he thinks it is. He claims he didn't want to portray someone else's PTSD so he stopped researching but if he has no experience then "doing his own thing" isn't really a good plan and honestly, the PTSD stuff he did felt... I don't know, not genuine? And not to make it a J vs J thing but we know Jared did extensive research on PTSD for Sam and worked tiny little moments in that felt very natural and subtle (notoriously his flinches at loud noises, esp when it loud noises from his brother's anger - throwing chairs, knocking things off tables etc). I know AA's always praise Jensen for his microexpressions and subtlety with acting but I find him to be mostly histrionic and he rarely does subtlety, you can see his "subtle" from a mile away. It's like he's always trying to be larger than life and it comes across as over-acting.

Link. *Me seeing it's 25 minutes long* Sigh, push play. Yeah the audio wasn't the best and listening him talk about SB's depth and I'm going "where?".

Okay, here is the PTSD part and the interviewer even referenced Dean's PTSD. Eh, didn't want to mirror another's PTSD? To quote the great Meryl Streep, you can't be an effective actor if you're not curious about people and events. When you're interested in things, you want to go deeper and you want to know more. You do the homework so that you are well prepared, which gives you the freedom to explore any avenue on the day of the filming.

I wonder if he done the character work for SB, like writing his character biography that is not outlined in the script, like what's his favorite color, does he have a sister, what's his secret, etc.  It’s one of the techniques actors are taught to fully embody their characters and know them backward and forward to help lay the groundwork for developing a strong, believable character.  

And here's the prank question because of course these always get asked. Remember kids, 90% of the prank stories are fake news.

Now the Solider Boy vs Homelander question. Interviewer thinks SB has the edge? Oh come on! Starlight was able to push SB away with a booooiiiiiiinnnnnnggggg sound effect. SB actually wasn't a solider, he mostly showed up for the photo ops after the fighting is done. SB can’t fly, isn’t fast, can’t jump that high, doesn’t have laser eyes, out of touch with technology, and he’s fairly predictable.  He should be far easier to defeat than Homelander. If you just keep Russian music away from Soldier Boy and and give him a couple of grannies and drugs, he’s content and containable. Homelander can only be contained by the tender hug of Jesus Christ. The only reason why everybody suddenly decided he's worse than Homelander and turned against SB was because he's not the main character.

To be fair, TV acting is often described as “lightly exaggerating”. For that reason I appreciated the more nuanced approach Jared took with Sam while still going above and beyond what the basic expectations are for Sam because he’s alert and always responding to what’s going around him, so he’s always changing and adapting but in more subtle ways. Jensen needs a compelling scene partner to bring out his best because his acting strength is he puts his focus on the other person.  This way Jensen doesn’t have to worry about how he’s going to say his lines and speak intuitively, this helps make his portrayal of Dean Winchester appear truthful to the audience. Jensen doesn’t go into a scene looking to do a scene, he goes in looking to be open and give over to how the other person makes him feel. That's why the only two times Jensen really shined as Solider Boy was when he confronted Crimson Countess over her betrayal, and telling Homelander what a disappointment he is. My endless complaint is SB was criminally underused on the show.

#the boys

[ramayah]

love me not | kurt kunkle

Kurt's eyes never strayed away from your silhouette. Everything about you was so, attractive?

There you were: forearm resting against your door frame with your legs crossed, the shirt you were wearing was definitely way too tight for your body. However, he didn't care of it was, you were quite a feast for his lingering gaze. And lastly, the sweatpants that [loosely] hung around your waist. The sweatpants' waistband was low enough that he could eye your v-line.

" You going to work all ready?" You inquired, a fake pout on your face as you inched closer to his half-naked frame with your hands soon holding onto his waist. " I, uh, yeah. Gotta keep my followers entertained somehow.." He fumbled his words, face becoming a soft, flushed shade of pink.

You let a sly grin show evidently on your face as you pressed a kiss on his shoulder, " Maybe I can– I don't know—give you something to entertain you and your fans with? Or maybe, you're not up the challenge." Your teasing was more than enough for a tint to grow in his jeans.

" .. What–What do you mean?" Kurt hesitantly let that inquiry slip past his pretty pink lips as he watched the smirk show on your face. You slipped your hands into his jeans, pressing a few kisses across his jawline. " Don't act so innocent, Kurt. Use that brain of yours." You whispered, hands that were placed on his waist now sliding your way up his upper body, enjoying the way his skin tingled underneath the tips of your fingers.

Kurt's heart started to bam against his chest; his hands soon became intertwined with yours after you had pressed a soft kiss against his strawberry pink lips.

" C'mon Kurt, let's have some fun together."

The spine-tingling tone that you added to such an erotic sentence was more than enough for him to take a deep, shaky breath before coming to the conclusion that: good content and good sex is a win/win for him. " Yes, please," He mumbled underneath his breath with a slight nod. " I'd really, really like that."

You smiled at the fact that his face that was dusted with pink blush and the way he trembled at the single touch of your fingers.

" Are you a virgin? Am I your first?" His brows furrowed together when you started to press kisses to his shoulder blade and collarbone, stretching them across his pearly colored skin. He let a shaky breath leave his mouth when you let your hands crawl into his sweats, " Are you going to answer the question or not, Kurt?"

Kurt's hands held the underside of your of knees, loving the way that the bulge in your stomach was so prominent. " Kurt, Kurt, Kurt— mmh! I can't con– ah! I can't continue anymore!" Your body trembled when cum had squirted from you cock and shot onto your stomach for the third time. You could feel his cock stroking against your gummy walls with flawless efficiency; it was almost like he had practiced doing so before. He was doing so well, so, so well.

He disregarded your consistent begs for him to slow down and/or stop. You tried to push him away, but he grabbed your hands with one of his own and clashed them together. " You– You feel so good, [name], you feel so good! I-I can't st-op..!" It seemed as if Kurt's hips were moving on their own at this point.

You felt undeniably good inside and he just wanted more and more of you until you were his and only his.

He started to take deep, slow strokes inside of you; his hair plastered all over his forehead. He leaned backwards after he had finished his load inside of your body; an overflowing load at that.

" You're so sticky now.. I'm– I'm sorry." Kurt's apology was not needed, but you couldn't tell him that.

" You're,, late. For work. You should probably hurry and go, so yo–you won't get fired.." Your hoarse tone came as no surprise to the boy, but goodness to you look so pretty painted in his and you cum mixed together.

" You're so pretty, [name]. Can we go one more time? Please?"

#x male reader #x bottom male reader #spree 2020 #kurt kunkle x male reader #kurt kunkle x reader #kurt kunkle x you #kurt kunkle x y/n #kurt kunkle smut #x reader smut #x reader #x bottom reader #♤. ev's thrists