#ppg shit post

[insensitiveroses]

ignore how bad this is and enjoy the content 🙏🔥

#sbj more than human #powerpuff girls #ppg #ppg blossom #ppg buttercup #ppg bubbles #rowdyruff boys #ppg brick #ppg butch #ppg boomer #rrb brick #rrb butch #rrb boomer #ppg shit post

[aclosetfan]

Boomer: butch would you kill for me lol

Butch: dude I already have haha

Blossom: wait…wht?

Butch: wht

#tell me why I thought this was important enough to write down lol #ppg shit post #maybe fic dialogue idk

[miutonium]

I sketched this earlier but look, my boyfriend graduated 🥺🥺🥺

I admitted I didnt do enough research on the robe, i just sketch it out of whim hhh maybe i'll add more details when i render it one day _(:3」∠)_

Also hhh Utonium probably got his PhD earlier than average people does and ahh I just love the thought of Chloe being very proud of him and I just want an excuse to draw them hugging ;w;

#anyway hiiii i know I cant stay off from this site too long i miss you guys and also i miss gushing about him #though im still very tired especially today because i have theater class and oh man they really made us run 20 rounds and shit #and my legs are non existent rn #i know im going to pass out after i post this too lol #but anyway thank u for the well wishes i appreciate thay very much ;w; #im going to talk to everyone soon so in the mean time i just gonna post this because i miss him very much #anyway i have converted my friends thry prefer utonium with his hair down hhh #he looked cute and also very innocent #and i want to smooch this man 100 times ahhh #asukart #sketch #selfship #selfshipping #selfship community #selfshipping community #selfship art #self insert oc #self insert community #professor utonium #ppg professor #you had me at hello 📝

[lokiinmediasideblog]

Taking advantage of my shadowbanned status (given that I am not followed by this blog and I've blocked them) to be petty and state that I am such a cranky bitch over very niche thor fanart that looks at me the wrong way. I hated how their pinned post Thor looked at me. To the point I'd have to reign in my temper before reblogging posts or replying, and be amicable. (I know I have issues, ok? I get so mad over eye contact lol). And they were followed by a blog I refer to as "bloated Power Puff Girl Thor", whose art they constantly reblogged and I fucking hated (I blocked PPG Thor yay! I am proud of myself).

#the blog just felt a bit hypocritical over criticizing orientalism but using belly dancer garb on thor instead of loki in fanart #because apparently the problem is who it's on rather than SWANA culture being sexualized #and they'd reblog rather cursed thor fanart that looked like a bloated powerpuff girl from another blog #i'd get annoyed whenever the bloated ppg thor reblogged my shit from their blog with boring-ass additions #IStartShit #and I did get annoyed when some other blog following them reblogged my benign “things you see in the loki tag” to complain about loki fando #and made it about thor while complaining everything gets made about loki. like bitch; i wasn't in the loki fandom until recently. fuck off. #and I didn't even mention thor in that post #these are old annoyances but ugh i am feeling petty and full of existential dread #i am a petty bitch with anger issues; what do you expect?

[lovelynerdy4chan]

#When will afabs start acting like rawrdcore and actively imply terfy behavior by just existing #Feds #Fed drama #🦀♿🕷️ #It really hurts to say this but there are too many people in America. 20 people shitting in one pot of money #I never want to have to be the “weird” underfed ppg commoner who has to smell her own shit after 17 #This post is a suicide pact for chigure. Chigure. I only wanted to kill and have the most #I hated all you shitters #Rawrdcore drama #Giraffe looking smelly ass!!!!

[sleepykyupid]

original callout post is by @menheratic !! if you want more info, please ask them. i am merely reuploading the original callout post of ezaki. please do check out the link of the jp community calling him out in 2019 ^^ https://togetter.com/li/1327770

! The following post talks about the various bad things that Menhera-chan's creator, Ezaki Bisuko, has done.

Here a japanese summary of all the shit he did so far, including but not limited to:

• registering Yamikawaii as trademark

• sending his fans after gyaru YouTuber Usatani to harass her into a suicide attempt over unknowingly buying a shirt with stolen PPG fanart he drew

• himself buying products with stolen art, even promoting their sales, because it’s totally ok when he does it

• the reason why Usatan’s original design was changed aka it was a ripoff of Cult Party’s iconic rabbit mascot that was designed by their artist Maromika-chan

• wrote a whole guide on how to legally get away with sex work as child

• proof of him tracing art for the more detailed MCH artworks

• how he attended the Menhera Exhibit only to smear misogynist bullshit with blood on maxipads

• complaining about how anime for little girls are evil feminist agenda TM because ain’t nobody need men to be saved anymore

• boasting about being a fashion designer only selecting the finest fabrics for his merch when it’s actually made by the japanese equivalent of Redbubble

• “parody” works featuring child characters like Chibi Maruko-chan prostituting themself, the message being all women are whores regardless of age for the right amount of money

• the small “terms and conditions” shield he has at his con booths where you agree that you need to buy anything you touch

• how he setup an earthquake victim fundraiser only to keep the money

• telling his english fans they are not allowed to use any of his art for private use, like as icon, unless they pay him

• how he wants to move to the US when he turns 30 because of all the evil haters TM in Japan

• copyright claiming everyone left and right

• japanese Menhera speaking out about he keeps hurting the community

In regards of the maxi pads:

TW, CW // nooses, misogynistic text in red on maxipads

Our favorite being the second row second one, “Abortion is murder”.

Some more recent event: When he started harassing and hating on disabled people after Tokyo Fashion translated a Tweet of his because being disabled is discriminating yourself.

It’s like a trainwreck that refuses to end, now with 100% more crypto on NFT while shitting on those who warn about the dangers.

His NFT sales can be found here: https://foundation.app/@bisuko_ezaki

For some reason, after 7 years, he also decided to re-release the infamous wrist-cut bracelet to sell at events. The leader of the Neo-Decora group bought one for example:

TW // Bracelet that imitates sh, includes blood

Also keeps doing collabs with “Tokyo Uragawa” under Yamiko so Seigi (Mental illness is justice), which focuses on self-harming girls as fetish objects.

TW, CW // drawn sh

Recently, he also wrote a long-article on his definition of Yamikawaii:

https://harajuku-pop.com/67775/

Still not sure where overseas people got “this is about mental health awareness” from, might be based on mistranslations because the word for mental health and illness is one in the same, and his definition is about glorifying mental illness. In fact, this is why he was banned from Tumblr because he kept posting other people’s self-harm photos to his aesthetic blog Menherabusu.

Next up: Made suicide baiting posts over his following decreasing in the hopes of getting attention, fans sent him photos of cute animals to cheer him up, and he decided to post about destroying the pictures.

Tbh, this list could go on forever as he does this kind of bs on an almost daily basis now, but apparently people don’t care enough to stop throwing money at him.

Meanwhile the Japanese community made a whole Wiki for tracking all of his drama considering how much it is by now.

https://ezabisumatome.wiki.fc2.com/

TW // mention of shotacon

Decided to nickname himself Shotabi, the name being a combination of Shotacon and Bisuko, while using nsfw anime edits of male child characters in sexual situations as decor for his selfies.

𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝:

Is it ok to still like Menhera-chan?

𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫:

Sure, the problem is really only Ezaki himself and his increasing problematic remarks fueled by his ego, the manga is a lot older than him being like that.

Fun fact: Ezaki actually hates Menhera-chan because it's the only thing he ever gets approached for by the media, he constantly rants about this on Twitter. If you have noticed, he barely makes new MCH content anymore (unless he gets paid for it) and mainly reposts old artworks and fanart (without permission) instead because it's the only way he can still get attention as his other works, like the misogynist Manapisu, which is just him hating on women as "dumb wh*res" as a manga, flopped badly.

Just try to not fund his bs by buying new goods.

#menhera #menhera chan #bisuko ezaki #archived #yamikawaii

[doubleddenden]

A quick look at the timeline since we last checked in

Sonic Frontiers has a song by ONE OK GO and one version says "Fuck the pain away"

Disney proves it truly listens to what fans do not want by making live action Pinocchio, Little Mermaid, and Mufasa, which is a prequel to the much behated live action Lion King

HBO Max nuked a bunch of its animated shows for tax write offs

Uncle Grandpa almost survived with one episode called "Fleas Help Us" before being deleted

Summer Camp Island literally had a whole season ready

WB canned a completed Batgirl movie after spending $98 million. For tax write offs.

FBI raided Trump's Florida home and found hundreds of stolen top secret files, and one includes nuclear defense details on a foreign nation. Yeah he's in very hot shit

Biden administration opens the path for forgiveness for $10k-$20k of student loans, MS decides to tax anyone that gets it

When the Republicans got offended the White House Official Twitter Account revealed the MILLIONS of PPP loans the nay sayers had forgiven individually

NASA Is trying to GET US BACK ON THE MOON BABEY WOOOOOOOOO but unfortunately they had to scrub 2 launches because of engine troubles and a leak

But it's cool! It's cool! They gotta get it right because the end goal is to try and establish a MOTHERFUCKING MOON BASE!!! SOMEBODY HIGH FIVE ME

A machine on Mars the size of a lunch box made about as much oxygen as a small tree, prompting some to think we could have oxygen mines for future manned Marsian missions

Leonardo DiCaprio breaks up with another woman who just turned 25

JK Rowling wrote a book about totally not her being harassed by the very people she demonizes every day as a racist antisemitic ableist TERF and embarrassed herself in front of God and the internet again

After years of failing to sell on the market, Sony makes the decision to INCREASE the price of the PS5 despite only 5 people other than Crypto Dorks having them

Nintendo follows up by revealing they have no plans to change prices, which we all been knew because they still sell years old ports for $60

Gendy Tartokovsky's Primal aired a Dinosaur literally laying eggs up close and personal from its cloaca (side note do dinosaurs have those?)

Gendy is also apparently at the helm of a second PPG reboot in the works

She-Hulk Twerked

Looney Tunes officially ships Bugs X Daffy

3 Avatar Movies in the works. No not the blue people- well yes those too but I meant the one about the bald kid, the second one about Zuko, and the third about Korra

Blue people avatar has a movie coming in December

Reigen Arataka from Mob Psycho 100 wins Twitter poll for Twink Supreme

Reigen does absolutely nothing and wins Ultimate DILF

In an ultimate final clash, Reigen just barely loses to Sans Undertale for Tumblr Sexyman

Tobyfox wrote fanfic about it and posted it to Twitter

On the same exact fucking day Sans defeats Reigen, the Queen of England DIED. Tv stations in mourning across the globe. Meanwhile Irish people and other people directly negatively impacted by colonization by the crown cheered and partied and tumblr and twitter released the crabs 🦀

This is as of September 10th, 2022, not told in any particular chronological order

This has been the look at the timeline, and no, the year is not over yet

See yall in December

#the timeline #sonic frontiers #queen elizabeth ii #sanssweep #reigensweep #nasa #artemis 1 #hbo max #crab #im not the official news. look it up if you have doubts

[cinyanmon]

i suddenly remembered when i saw this post about how the ppg would react to someone saying ILY and i was reading this shit and i was like ??? They Would Not Say This Weird Ass Cringe Shit so i decided to draw my own weird ass cringe shit lol

#im those posts on tumblr that are like THIS CHARACTER WOULD NOT SAY THIS #fun fact i actually cant draw hands #even after all these years i just wing it #ppg stuff #my art #blossom #bubbles #buttercup #powerpuff girls

[crystallizedday]

HOLY SHIT

MY OWN TAKE ON WHAT THE PPG WOULD LOOK LIKE AS ADULTS!!

WOAH!!

But uhhhh yeah

For context

These designs are for an AU I made a while back simply called “The Powerpuff Girls: 20 Years Later”.

It’s a pretty self explanatory AU… at first.

In a nutshell, Professor Utonium has created his own industry & left it in Blossom’s care after his retirement from the scientific field… which he decided to spend by traveling the world.

Blossom, now put in charge of Utonium Industries, spends the majority of her time working, trying to better the world through the power of science.

As a result, she isolated herself from the rest of society to focus on her work, something that has taken a drastic toll on her mental health.

Her sisters, Bubbles & Buttercup, are pretty much doing just fine with Bubbles being a veterinarian & Buttercup being an Athlete. The two frequently try to reconnect with their sister, but to no avail.

There’s a LOT more to this AU, but I’ve already made a few posts about it in the past, so if this lil story interests you, you can check out the tags & find em that way!

Alrighty, imma get some sleep now OWMWKSMWODMOSM

#PPG #Powerpuff girls #the Powerpuff girls #blossom #blossom utonium #ppg blossom #bubbles #bubbles utonium #ppg bubbles #buttercup #buttercup utonium #ppg buttercup #ppg au #powerpuff girls au #20 years later au #PPG 20 years later #Powerpuff girls 20 years later #cd au #CDverse #cd art #my art

[ghostampede]

“oh yeah, i just zoned out, sorry” i say while knowing i was actually thinking about all the times where maybe 2d and a young noodle danced in her room before bed because she didn’t want to sleep just yet and murdoc tucking noodle into bed when she had nightmares and he was still feeling guilty and 2d watching ppg with her to help drown out yelling from murdoc upstairs and russel giving noodle piggyback rides around kong studios when she was young and he was still able to do so and noodle watching murdoc play bass with pure awe so he sits down and attempts to show her a few chords and 2d playing guitar for noodle to help her sleep which also forced him to learn a bit and noodle trying to cook a simple breakfast with russel’s help in order to be more like him and murdoc’s heart cracking the first time he looks at her and sees full venom in her eyes and those eyes turning to understanding when she realizes how similar they are by inevitably learning how he grew up to be the man in front of her today and noodle asking 2d why he sticks around when murdoc treats him like shit and he just says “i’ll tell you when you’re older” which just ticks her off a bit and when noodle feels unfathomable joy seeing russel who has been bedridden from his own grief again laugh at a joke she made and murdoc feeling nothing but pride in noodle when he finally sees the album she started come to life and the smug smile on her face when it does because she knew he would love it even if he acted like he wouldn’t and noodle talking to 2d about girls for the first time after she sees a gorgeous person in a zombie flick marathon they’re doing after band practice and murdoc assuring noodle everything would be okay after the video shoot involving a certain windmill through ruffling her hair and her actually believing him wholeheartedly because she sees the light in his eyes and when on the plastic beach murdoc would talk to cyborg as if she was noodle until everything came back to him and he just prayed she was okay with another drink and noodle hugging russel as soon as she finds him again finally releasing some of the yearning for her family that held up in her heart and noodle finding russel’s note he left and not saying anything to him for weeks until she can’t do it anymore and suddenly he’s comforting her promising he’s not going anywhere and for some reason noodle believes him because she sees the smile on his face and noodle doing 2d’s makeup for the first time and seeing his face light up more than it had in years and late night conversations in the kitchen between her and russel as they struggle to sleep because of their past but find comfort in knowing someone else truly gets it and making lunch with murdoc who doesn’t know what on earth he’s doing but is begrudgingly trying when a sick russel can’t be up for cooking and 2d and noodle talking through their complicated feelings with murdoc on top of the tour bus during a spontaneous american roadtrip and noodle seeing her family through a new perspective by telling stories to ace as he helps her dye her hair for a video and noodle staring at murdoc when she finds him in the mountains post-freedom as she is completely disillusioned with him and a new murdoc making her tea silently as she stays up on the couch to watch a zombie flick and the boys reminiscing over how she grew up in a flash after 2d has a nostalgic dream where she was a young queen and oh shit i zoned out again

#gorillaz #gorillaz headcanons #oh shit this got long #noodle gorillaz #murdoc niccals #murdoc gorillaz #russel gorillaz #russel hobbs #2d gorillaz #stuart pot #murdad #if you saw the first one no you didnt #dorian writes

[u-tonium]

Favorite PPG HC’s: Bubbles

A few of my favorite head cannons for our Chem-X’d guys and gals! Some are from our Holy Books (MTH, ATGB, BTM, you know the ones), and some are just complete shitposting/speculation.

Next up, our lovely Bubbles! Spoiler: She’s actually a badass. Comment with more!

In no particular order:

Beats the shit out of Boomer. Like…idc if they’re dating, she’s punching him in the face and kissing the boo-boo afterwards

Speaks every language and doesn’t need to practice (which pisses Bloss off)

Can sing and never had lessons

Would color code the schedule Blossom made for crime-fighting duties and post it in the room. It’s got stickers on it.

Cancer Sun, Pisces Moon, Aquarius Rising

Keeps her pigtails out of obligation to her “image” (think Arianna’s ponytail)

HARDCORRRE

Robin is her chosen Norm

Octi is her support object and yes, she brought him with her to Uni

First to color match

In HS: Not a virgin but was madly in love with every person she slept with

As a young adult: hella monogamous

And for the finale:

Would date a Norm and love it bc she…

Secretly has a thing for Princess (!!!)

Yes, she’s the gay one

#powerpuff girls #the powerpuff girls #ppg #ppg 1998 #ppg bubbles #bubbles ppg #bubbles utonium #bubbles #harcorrre #ppg hcs #hcs #ppg fanfic #ppg fic #sbj more than human #sbj mth

[seconds-2-midnight]

Posting the first chapter from my rejected PPG/GGG Mafia AU fanfic that I'm thinking of reviving eventually because I actually really liked it! The outline just needs work tbh

Most of it is under read-more just because it's long as shit. Content warning for language, drug use, and brief police violence.

Meet Me At the Green Eye

Ch 1:

June was unusually hot that summer. Those hazy afternoons were well spent by the beach, sitting near clunky old air conditioners, drinking cold beer. It was the kind of summer that was good for business if your business was built on laziness and leisure.

The boardwalk was a good place to score sales, Ace found. The grungy-looking college students on skateboards were always the best customers. He was counting a stack of cash, sitting on a bench near the end of the dock that overlooked a glittering stretch of ocean. One of his pointed leather boots was tapping on the pavement while he whistled cheerfully, one lanky leg crossed over the other. Not far away, Snake stood with his elbows on the rusted rails and a cigarette in the corner of his mouth, listening to the seagulls. Now and then, he’d kick his sneaker against a bit of gravel and watch the stones form ripples in the water below.

“Arturo was right,” Ace said with a high-pitched chuckle. He grinned widely, one of his gold teeth catching the sunlight. “This was a good spot. Hey, speakin’ of, how much product we got left in there, compadre?” He waltzed over with his hands in his pockets, nodding his head toward a messenger bag that was draped over Snake’s shoulder. 

“Lemme check,” Snake said hoarsely, gritting his teeth around the end of his cigarette to keep it in place as he rummaged around. He squinted, clicking his tongue in thought. “Ehh…eight ouncesss, give or take…three bags of molly…and five bags of the little blue ones.” 

“Shit, day’s not over yet,” Ace said, giving his friend a nudge to the shoulder. He elbowed him a little too hard, causing Snake to flinch and whine quietly. He hated it when he did that. “Can’t wait to count it out later. We got a big score today, I can feel it already. It’s like a change in the wind. We’ll finally get enough for that down payment, huh?”

Not this again. Snake rolled his eyes, thin shoulders slumped dramatically. Ace was always going on and on about this shitty old building that used to be a nightclub, convinced the old owners would sell it to him for cheap and he’d turn it into a bar. ‘We’ll call it The Green Eye’, Ace would say, ‘We’ll get hot dancers, we’ll sell our product out the back for extra cash, it’ll be huge.’ Snake thought it was a fool’s errand, a waste of money. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to argue with Ace. Still his yes-man, through and through, after all these years.

A decade had passed since the Powerpuff Girls left Townsville. Maybe it was because they were growing up, maybe it was because they wanted to try a normal life…who knows? What mattered was that Townsville was more out of control than ever before. And in that time, the Gangreen Gang had changed. Once a group of rowdy teenage boys, they were now fully-grown assholes, but just as despicable as ever. They had bigger goals now, bigger plans - Ace wanted to carve out his own little slice of heaven in this dirty, neon hellscape. And for the first time, it actually seemed possible…but a run-down building in the worst part of town was a dangerous place to start.

“Y’know, jefe…” Snake began nervously, wincing already. He knew this conversation would end badly for him. “I-I don’t wanna doubt your decisionsss but…Maybe it’s better if we start sssmall? Like, getting a bigger apartment for starters. Or renting a houssse instead, one with more bedrooms and–”

Ace scoffed. “And sink our money into a place that Billy’s gonna wreck in, like, a week? Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, this is foolproof. Once the money’s rollin’ in, we’re moving up to a penthouse suite. Rags to riches, my friend. Oh! That reminds me… Hey, listen, bud. Buddy. Pal. My oldest friend. Amigo, old bean, apple of my eye…” Ace was wearing a big toothy grin, putting an arm around his second-in-command with a sly tone of voice and the smell of cheap cologne and hair gel radiating off of him. Snake grinned for a brief second in time, soaking up that tiny bit of approval. 

“Since we’re on the subject, I’ve got somewhere to be, actually - gonna talk to a guy about fixin’ the plumbing at that old place. Busted pipe in the basement, sewage everywhere! Anywho’s, take over for me, will ya? Thatta' boy...” Ace gave Snake another sharp slap to the arm, making the other man flinch. It was second nature at this point. With a grimace disguised as an awkward, snaggle-toothed smile, Snake rubbed the sore spot and sighed.

“Yeah, sure.” Of course he just wants me to do more work. “Oh, I’m stoppin’ by Hazel’s shop on the way back, by the way. Tell the guys not to wait up for me.”

Ace scoffed, sticking his hands in the pockets of his leather pants. He rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses, voicing a heavy and exasperated groan. “Man, that dame has still got you on a tight leash, huh? Y’know she only lets you get it in ‘cause you’re her dealer.” 

Snake gave him a grumpy, defensive frown, his ears growing warm. “We don’t…I mean…I’m still working on that part–” 

Ace let out a loud and sudden laugh. “You ain’t even gettin’ any? Oh, man…tough luck.” He pushed up his sunglasses, still wearing a shit-eating grin as he turned around, waving the keys to his motorcycle over his head. “Anyway, see you later tonight, Captain Friendzone. And tell your creepy friend I said ‘hi’.” 

With that, he was gone, the green-skinned hooligan disappearing into a crowd of people and leaving Snake at the end of the docks alone, where he watched the sunset glimmer against the calm ocean waves. It was six-thirty. He was just about to get another rush of sales that would put a nice wad of cash in his pockets. 

He didn’t know it yet, but Snake was going to have a very good day that would end in a very bad night. In a matter of hours, he would make his rent for the month, kiss a witch, and end up in jail before midnight.

He was a surprisingly good salesman, all things considered. By the time the sun went down and the crowds dispersed, Snake had sold everything in the bag except for one remaining quarter of Hazel’s favorite strain. He took the cash and his nearly empty bag and began the long walk through dark urban streets. Townsville wasn’t any quieter at night than it was in the day. He could hear sirens blaring somewhere in the distance, joyful shouts and hollering from a beach bonfire, and loud pulsing music from the clubs down the way. 

Snake liked walking late at night, for the most part. It was a lonely and peaceful trip when you knew the right path to take. He passed flickering neon signs and drunk idiots staggering out of bars, all while making his way through alley shortcuts to get to the big brick building just next to the tracks where the occasional passing train would rattle the windows. 

Yasmin’s shop was closed to walk-ins but open for appointments. This was good enough for him. Snake knocked, hearing the muffled sounds of ethereal ambient music from the other side before voices and footsteps drowned it out. The door cracked open and immediately, Snake caught the scent of burning incense and dried lavender. When the owner of the place opened the door, her good mood immediately deflated.

“Oh, it’s you,” Yasmin Abajian herself was the one who answered the door. She was a tall young woman with dark olive skin and hair that went down to her ass, and she probably would have been a lot friendlier if she didn’t eye Snake with suspicion every time she saw him. She knew his reputation, his gang involvement, his business. And if that wasn't enough, she just didn't like the guy. His weird little friendship with her on-and-off-again girlfriend was reason enough for her to want to slam the door in his face.

“If you’re looking for Haze, she’s busy doing a reading,” Yasmin said, holding the door open just a crack and preparing to shut it. She would have, if Snake didn't stick his hand in the gap. 

“I can wait.” He leaned against the wall as if claiming his spot. Yasmin sneered at him in response, recognizing that stubborn, snarky grin on his face - she wasn’t getting rid of him. She could never get rid of him.

“Fine, whatever, get in.” She pushed the door open and stepped aside. “But remember, we’ve got security cameras now. So don't get any ideas.” 

Snake snorted with laughter. “I’m not gonna steal any of your rocks. You can save your hexes for the next guy.”

Yasmin wore a fake smile, turning back toward the counter. “Yeah, you’re real funny, asshole. Close the door behind you.” 

Yasmin’s shop was an overload to the senses. The main room was cluttered with tables of crystals, ornate hookahs, statues of naked goddesses, and candles. There were bookshelves with texts that Snake wouldn’t even know what to do with and packs of cards that he felt wouldn’t serve him very well in a game of poker. Near the back of the room, he saw a doorway shrouded by a silk sheet decorated with the phases of the moon. That was Hazel’s reading room. He spent plenty of time in there, but right now, she was busy saying goodbye to another customer. 

When Hazel came out of the room, she was followed by a middle-aged woman dressed in a gaudy amount of jewelry. Beside Hazel, it was like a peacock standing next to a blackbird. Haze was a stout little shit: full-figured, plump, and about five feet tall if she wore her platform shoes. Her wavy black hair was cut in a French bob, framing her round, rosy-cheeked face like a goth Cabbage Patch Kid.

“Get home safe, my love,” Hazel said, giving the other woman a kiss on one cheek and then the other, holding both of her hands. “Remember, change is good. Don’t worry so much, and good luck with the job interview! Keep that coin in your pocket, it’ll help. Then come back and tell me how it went, okay?” 

“Maybe next week,” the lady chuckled. “Thanks again, sweetpea.” The woman in her gaudy jewelry finally left after one more kiss on the cheek, and Snake found himself wondering why Hazel seemed to kiss all of her regular customers… except for him. 

When the customer passed by, Yasmin marched over with a scowl and spoke quietly in Hazel’s ear, handing her a white cane. Snake could still hear her. 

“That green freak is here again,” Yasmin whispered, earning a pout from her friend. “Honey, you gotta stop encouraging this guy, he’s gonna get you in tr–”

“Shh, it’s fine! Hold my cane, okay?” Instead of looking offended, Hazel just wore this big, stupid gap-toothed grin. Slipping past Yasmin, Hazel pushed her cane back into her friend’s hands and reached out into the open room, wiggling her fingers in beckoning. Snake instinctively grabbed them, leading her to where he stood.

“Mi querida,” she said in her breathy, husky voice, pulling him in for a hug and standing on her toes. She smelled like patchouli and it made Snake’s nose tickle. “I thought you forgot about me. How’ve you been?”

“Not too terrible,” Snake said. He wore a shit-eating grin as he hugged her tightly, making eye contact with Yasmin over Hazel’s shoulder. He noticed her annoyed, red-faced expression and squeezed her waist even tighter out of spite. “I was, uh, workin’ the boardwalk again today…Thought I’d stop by quick before you left for the night.” 

“You caught me right on time.” Hazel backed up, reaching for the cloth that separated the main room from her reading room. “Come in, that was my last appointment for the night. I’m all yours.”

She pulled him along by the hand and he didn’t hesitate. Bag secured around his shoulder, he rudely flicked his tongue at Yasmin and then hurried through the silk partition and into a small, dark room with a round table in the center. It was lit by purple neon light, casting an eerie supernatural shine from below. The air smelled like incense and something by Sisters of Mercy was playing quietly from a speaker in the corner. 

Seeing the couch against the wall brought back memories of lounging half-awake in a dumb stupor, losing track of time. He could still smell the hookah smoke in his memory and taste it on his tongue. He thought about how Hazel always talked slower when she was high and how much he liked to watch her lips move when she talked.

Her voice snapped him out of his daydream.

“So what’s up?” Hazel asked, sitting down on one side of the table. She started to shuffle a deck of tarot cards, sorting them for storage. “Just in the neighborhood, or were you looking for another reading?” 

“Little bit of both,” Snake said with a grin, putting his bag on the table. “I brought you sssomething’. Thought you might be interested in talking about a discount?” 

“Oh, we’re talkin’ business. I see,” Hazel teased, her voice low and rattly. She pouted dramatically. “And here I thought you just missed me. So what’cha got for me, sweet stuff?”

Sweet stuff. She was always coming up with these friendly, cute little names to call him. He was a green-skinned gang member with a forked tongue, tattoos, and a criminal record a mile long but she called him sweet stuff. Then again, she couldn’t see him. Maybe that was for the best - he wasn’t so sure she’d still be flirting with him if she saw what he looked like. 

Snake put a plastic baggie on the table, opening it slightly for Hazel to smell if she wanted to. “A quarter. Good shit, too. I’d put it at 150 usually for this stuff, but for you, I’ll do…100 and a quick reading. I even saved your favorite strain for you.” 

“Oh, you do love me,” Hazel smirked out of the corner of her mouth, puffy lips making a dimple in one cheek. “That sounds fair. You know what I like, papi~ Oh, here–” 

She reached into one of her pockets, pulling out a wad of cash from her last few clients. “I trust you,” she said as she slapped it down on the table in front of Snake, who began to flick through the bills with black-painted fingernails. He separated one hundred dollars from the stack and passed the rest over, continuously amazed that this woman trusted him with free reign to her wallet on so many occasions. 

“Ssso,” Snake lowered his lisping voice, chuckling quietly under his breath while Hazel shuffled her cards, “Yasmin’s in a rotted mood today, isn’t she? More than usual…You dump her ass again?”

Hazel wore a tiny smirk. “Not me this time. We're back to friendship without benefits and Yasmin wants to find a real girlfriend,” she shook her head with a sigh. No strings attached, that’s what she always said it was. Snake wouldn’t admit it, but he felt a little swell of joy at the news. “Girl from downtown. Works at the club. They danced together a couple of times and Yasmin was surprised she didn’t want anything long-term.”

“Ouch,” Snake grimaced. He didn’t like Yasmin, but he could sympathize with the feeling.

“Aside from that?” Hazel shrugged. “Doesn't help your case that she saw your friend on the news earlier.” 

"Almost forgot about that," Snake gritted his teeth in discomfort. “Yeah, Ace has gotten a bit…bold lately. He has been since the girls disappeared.” 

“I’ll say,” Hazel sighed. “Robbing a gas station is one thing. That’s small time, no one gives a shit…but three stores in one night?”

It was a miracle Ace hadn’t gotten in trouble yet, honestly. He wasn’t stupid about it. He wore a mask and he covered his face, but people who knew him still recognized who it was. Yasmin was one of those people, and unfortunately for Hazel, she hadn’t stopped bitching about it since the robbery ended up on the news. The only reason she hadn’t spoken to the police yet was because Hazel promised that Snake could move in with them if the guys lost their breadwinner.

So, Ace stayed at large, as many criminals did. Townsville had been dependent on heroes for so long that law enforcement had all but forgotten how to do their jobs. 

The cards were laid out on the table, face-down. Hazel pulled her hands away, then tapped a long black nail against an empty spot. 

“Pick three and put them here. No peeking,” she said. Snake knew the rules at this point. He did as she said, sliding the cards into place one at a time.

She turned the first card over, running her fingers along the bottom. The text was written in braille - Snake wasn’t surprised that kind of thing existed, but it was always impressive to watch the way she could figure it out just with a slide of her fingertip. 

“The Hermit,” she said softly. It was a card Snake had gotten before. “You’ve got some soul-searching to do, chulo. You either need time alone or you’re going to get time alone, and you should be using that time to figure out what it is that you want. Not what your friends want, not what you think you need - I’m talking about real introspection. So look inwards, don’t let someone else influence you.” 

“Isn’t that what you’re doing? Influencing me?” Snake asked with a shitty smirk. Hazel couldn’t see the look on his face, but she could hear it in the sly tone of voice as his black-painted lips curled into a smile. She crinkled her nose at him. 

“Okay, smartass. You know what I mean.” With a fond smile, she turned the second card. This one was flipped. “Nine of Wands, reversed.” She clicked her tongue ring against her teeth a few times. “You’re stuck. You’ve got big setbacks coming your way and you’re going to struggle to find resilience, but you must, or you’re not going to make it to your goals. If I know you - and I do, Sanford - you’re feeling a lack of support from those around you…Maybe your friends aren’t listening to you? Maybe you feel like you’re being ignored, undervalued, underutilized?” 

She stared across the table at him, but not in the way someone with sight might stare. Her cloudy, pale eyes were searching his soul, and the way they somehow centered on Snake’s face was eerie. Those dark Argentinian lashes blinked slowly and her empty gaze remained direct. Snake found himself trapped in that ghostly stare for a moment, his heart beating a little faster before he nodded his head. 

“Not too far off,” he chuckled anxiously. “Heh, y-you know, the guyss don’t like to listen to reason most of the time. I put in a lot of work for Ace, especially now that he’s so ssstuck on his new nightclub idea…It feels like he’s not giving me a fair cut for all the effort I put in, y’know? I-I have a good idea or I try to bring a little wisdom to the conversation and they just sshut me up or Ace ssmacks me in the nose or–or–” 

“Can I speak frankly?” Hazel asked, sitting back with one knee up and her fingernails clicking together. 

Snake just snorted. “You’re going to anyway, aren’t you?” 

“Sure am, baby~” Hazel hummed sweetly, before leaning forward and sliding a hand across the table. It took her a moment to find Snake’s, but when she did, she turned his palm over and began tracing lines with one of her fingernails. The sharp tickle made his spine shiver. “You’re a pushover, darlin’. You always have been.” Snake started to laugh, but Hazel continued regardless. “Don’t dismiss it, you know I’m right. I’ve known you for years and you never stand up for yourself. And I’m not talking about witty little quips or venting to me, I’m talking about actually having a backbone. You’re a noodle.”

“I’m a noodle?” Snake giggled hoarsely. “Is that what I am?” 

“Yessir, just a big dumb noodle.” Hazel laughed, sticking her tongue out between her teeth. Her tongue piercing briefly clicked against them. “Don’t get me wrong, everyone loves noodles, but when you have a noodle for a spine, it’s hard to stand up straight. Start setting boundaries. Start saying ‘no’. Trust me, you’ll notice a difference.” 

Hazel didn’t know the full story. Snake didn’t tell her the full story. Saying ‘no’ wasn’t very simple, not when Ace was in one of his bad moods. He wouldn’t say it was bad advice, only that it was…well, a work in progress that wasn’t going to happen overnight. 

She turned the last card over. This one was upright, with an eerie image of a horned demon on the front, leathery bat wings behind it. 

“The Devil,” Hazel said, frowning slightly. “This could go several different ways. On one hand, you might be dealing with an addiction you need to let go of. A habit. And I don’t just mean drugs, cigarettes, weed, porn, whatever - those aren’t even the most damaging attachments a person can have. You’ve got a dark shadow of yourself that’s restricting you, an internal villain who wants to hold you back and control you. A parasite. You might be holding on tightly to something that’s trying to suck the life out of you.” 

“Eesh,” Snake hissed, sticking his forked tongue between his teeth. “Doesn’t ssound promising for me, does it?” 

“Oh, I don’t know.” Hazel shrugged. “This could be a good thing. Once you know your villains, you can figure out how to defeat them. Besides, this is also the card of sexuality and desire too. It might be hinting at a passionate attachment waiting to happen, you just have to make sure it doesn’t consume you. Desire can quickly turn into an addiction, a jealous obsession.” 

Snake felt his breath hitch slightly when he noticed that look on her face: teasing, flirtatious, playful but still darkly serious. With Hazel, he could never tell her motives. The way she smiled at him, the way she hugged him, her puckish energy … She was like a fae creature with perplexing methods, wise and chaotic all at once. Snake couldn’t parse it. Is she making fun of me? Does she want to sleep with me? Is she just like this with everyone? He tried not to think about it too much and quickly tore his eyes away when he realized his gaze had been wandering. He felt infinitely worse when he realized her blind eyes would never catch him doing it.

“Heh, s-so either way, I’m getting fucked?” he joked, trying to break the tension. 

Hazel laughed hoarsely, scooping up the cards and putting them away in a box. “I guess you could say that. Just remember, this is always up to interpretation. That’s kind of the thing with glorified spooky therapy, you're the one who has to do the work. Just don’t forget what I told you about your noodle spine, okay?” 

“I’ll try not to,” Snake sighed as he stood up, putting his bag over his shoulder again. “I should get back. If I don’t bring the cash to Ace, he’ll get…well, you know how he iss.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Hazel stood, putting her cards back on the shelf where they belonged. “Get home safe, okay? Be careful on the subway, the weirdos are out. And don’t be a stranger.” She reached out for another hug, holding tighter this time. There was something there, some foreboding anxiety that she felt in the pit of her stomach. The cards, the nervousness in Snake’s voice, hearing about Ace’s crime spree on the news…She felt like something bad was about to happen, but she didn’t know what.

Her own cards had been warning her all day: heartbreak, loss, helplessness. Bad news was on the way and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She felt compelled to hold the hug as long as she could, almost as if letting go meant losing her friend forever.

“I’ll be back next week,” Snake said. It was rare for him to ever speak in such absolutes. “I’ll have another quarter for you by then. Maybe we can…I dunno, hang out and ssmoke a bit? Y-you know, chill at your place?” 

“I’d like that, papito…” Hazel finally slid her arms away from the hug, leaving her hands propped on Snake’s shoulders. Then, without warning or hesitation, she leaned in and kissed him softly on the corner of his mouth. Her lips were warm and pillowy. The way her piercing brushed against Snake’s bottom lip made his heart skip a beat. Maybe she had just been aiming for his cheek; he didn’t know. All he knew was that he was too dumbstruck to do or say anything and Hazel didn’t even acknowledge it. 

“See you next week…sweet stuff,” she smiled. Snake was still off in another dimension of thought, too distracted to notice the sorrow and worry in her eyes.

He was still thinking about her lips when he left the store. He was thinking about them while he was on the subway, trying to avoid a drunk and belligerent man who was shouting at him while waving a bible over his head. And when he got back to the shitty little apartment he shared with his four friends, he was absolutely cursing himself for not being brave enough to kiss her back. 

“There you are,” Ace said as soon as Snake entered. It was almost midnight, and everyone was still awake and huddled around the television with a cloud of smoke filling the dirty living room. Pizza boxes were already attracting flies, a dusty old fan was chugging along in the corner, and the whole place reeked of weed and alcohol. Ace looked as comfortable as ever, wearing his sunglasses inside like a tool. “Thought you got lost, shithead. How’s your big titty goth girlfriend? Get any yet?”

“Shut up,” Snake groaned, tossing his bag onto Ace’s lap with annoyance. “No, we’re not like that…I got a kiss though, that’s gotta mean somethin’.” 

Lil' Arturo chuckled. “Whatever, man, she kisses everyone.”

“Yeah, well, she calls me papi.”

Arturo choked on his beer. “Okay, that’s fuckin' weird but I’ll let you have that one.” He let out a sharp giggle and Snake couldn’t help but smirk like a smug little jackass.

Ace sat up straight, rummaging through the bag on his lap and pulling out wads of cash. He was counting them, laying them out on the sofa cushions while Snake sat down in a lumpy armchair and pulled out a lighter. His twisted spine curved until he was melting into the seat. He was just getting comfortable when Ace let out a laugh of triumph. 

“Shit, man. We did good today,” he nodded proudly. “Perfect timing too. I talked to Pete - the landlord, y’know? He says he’ll let us rent to own that place on Monroe for four thousand a month if we give ‘im the security deposit in cash. Huh? Not bad.” 

“Not bad at all!” Arturo cheered first, while a wave of agreement passed through the group. Snake seemed to be the only one who didn’t immediately seem convinced. 

“Wha–no! No, four thousand a month?!” he let out an incredulous laugh. “Just for the sspace alone? We can’t afford that! Not with everything elssse! You still have to worry about the electric bill, repairs, not to mention hiring sstaff–”

Ace interrupted him with an exasperated groan, leaning his head back against the couch. “Oh my gooood, Snake, shuddup!” ” he yelled, picking up an empty beer can and tossing it at his friend’s head. It hit him right in the temple with a loud clang. The rest of the guys started laughing uproariously while Ace continued. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it before, we know! Listen, ya gotta lose money to make money. And where are we gonna get another deal like this? Huh?”

“Uh, I know!” Billy spoke up suddenly and raised his hand, just as his video game went to a loading screen. “Uhhh…um...wait...nowheres?”

“That’s right, Billy, nowheres,” Ace said, pointing at his giant friend with a smile. “We can’t get a deal like this nowheres, so I ain’t passin’ it up. Besides, I make the rules around here and I say, we’re buyin’ that joint and we’re turnin’ it into the best goddamn club Townsville’s ever seen. And we’re doin’ it with or without ya.” 

While the other three were cheering Ace on, going along with any half-baked idea he could think up, Snake was pinching the bridge of his large, repeatedly-broken nose and trying to fight back a migraine that was threatening to strike. As his eyes were closed, however, a second beer can went flying at his head and the room erupted into cackling laughter. This one hit him directly in the ear. Some things never changed.

“Hey, seein’ as you’re bein’ a stick in the mud, you can go get us more beer,” Ace said, tossing a wad of cash into Snake’s lap. “Get us somethin’ good too, it’s a celebration.” 

“Sseriously?” Snake hissed. “I just sat down–” 

“All the more reason,” Ace argued. “Everyone else is comfortable. Go on, get outta here. And buy a better mood while you’re at it, will ya?” 

Snake got up from his seat, tossing his hands up in the air in annoyance. As he left, he slammed the apartment door behind him and shoved his fists into his pockets, mumbling to himself angrily as he passed flickering yellow lights and dirty, peeling wallpaper. One of the neighbors was shouting, having an argument with their spouse. Another was playing loud music that made the floor shake. Someone was throwing up in the stairwell. This was their reality - rusty water, mold, and noise. 

I should have never gone home, he thought. I should have kissed her. I should have used some of that cash to get a motel room. Maybe she would have gone with me. Maybe we could have spent the night together. Just once. God, I’m so fucking stupid, why didn’t I do it? Why didn’t I just walk back in there and do it?

But it was too late to go back and try again now. He remembered the reading she gave him. It was time for introspection, it was time for him to finally figure out what he wanted. He made a silent promise to himself that the next time he saw her, he'd finally shoot his shot and let her know that what he wanted was sitting on the other side of that table the whole time. 

The gas station was quiet. The walk there was calm and slow, lit by the glow of fire trucks a few streets down and serenaded by the blare of distant sirens. When Snake pushed open the front door, the bell jingling overhead, he noticed the way the cashier didn’t speak to him. The young man at the register just stared, his demeanor bristling slightly. Not wanting any trouble, Snake just lazily waved a peace sign in his direction, showing his hands were empty. 

People around here knew. There weren’t many folks who didn’t know who he was, who his friends were, what they did. It was the reason why Yasmin hated him spending time at her shop. It was the reason why they could hardly get service anywhere, and why it had taken months to find an apartment landlord who would rent to them. 

It was why Snake didn’t think twice about the cashier’s reaction. He was standing back near the drinks, minding his business while the young man on the other side of the store dialed the phone and whispered quietly into the receiver. 

Moments later, Snake brought a box of beer up to the front, reaching into one of his pockets to dig around for his identification. He stuck a money clip in his teeth while he fumbled with the card, finally digging it out and slapping it on the table. 

“Don’t worry, I’m payin’ honessstly,” he said with a sigh, still watching the cashier tense up with anxiety. Without a word, the boy at the register handed Snake his change as quickly as possible and backed away, not even bothering to give him a receipt. 

As he left the gas station, Snake assumed the reaction was just because of how he looked. He didn’t realize that the gas station he had just entered was one of several that Ace had robbed in the last few days. 

Sirens were blaring across town. The sound didn’t bother Snake - he was used to it. But when they grew closer, he felt that tension in his chest begin to bloom. He started walking a little faster, eyeing the alleys and side-streets a little smarter. When he dipped into a dark, narrow walkway, he glanced behind him just in time to see a pair of police cruisers drive slowly around the corner. 

He didn’t do anything. He didn’t do anything. He kept reminding himself that over and over, but it still didn’t stop him from feeling a wave of nausea bubble up inside of his gut. His heart was pounding, and that feeling only got worse when he reached the end of the alley and saw another pair of cars waiting for him on the other side. 

They blocked the exit. They blocked the entrance. Snake looked from one side to the other, looking for another way out, just as one of the officers stepped forward with a hand hovering next to the baton on his hip. The gun wasn’t far away. 

“Having a nice walk?” one of the officers asked, his partner standing behind him on alert. “Listen, you’re gonna get down on the ground and you’re gonna put your hands behind your back, got that? We don’t want to let this escalate.” 

Shit. This wasn’t right. Snake backed up, dropping the box of beer in his hand and quickly dashing for a fire escape. As he began to run up the metal steps, one of the officers rushed after him in quick pursuit, shouting for him to stop and put his hands on his head. Snake didn’t listen. He knew he should have, but the alternative wasn’t going to do him any good. Long, skinny legs got him up three flights of stairs before he heard a second pair of steps join the first, following after him in a rush. 

He heard an electric buzz before he felt anything. Then, all at once, a scorching pain hit the back of his leg and sent him falling forward face-first into the metal steps. His nose and forehead hit the surface with a horrible crack and he could taste blood running down his face from both nostrils. 

A pair of rough hands grabbed hold of him and dragged him down the stairs until he was finally brought to his feet. Cuffs were snapped onto his wrists. Blinded by pain and dripping blood, Snake was marched down the fire escape and onto the pavement, staggering and trying unsuccessfully to shake the hands off of him as he was pushed into the back seat of a cop car. 

Robbery, they said. The boy at the gas station recognized Snake’s sickly green-colored skin from a glimpse he saw beneath the mask of the criminal who had robbed him at gunpoint earlier that week. Distribution, they claimed…Well, that time, they had proof. Snake didn’t realize that one of the ‘teenagers’ he had sold a bag of xannies to was actually an undercover policeman wearing a body camera. 

It was just his luck, really. As he sat bleeding in the back seat of the police cruiser, he thought about the events of the day that led him there. Everything was going so well. He made more money than he had seen in weeks. He got a kiss from someone he liked. He was forming a brand new confidence to say what he felt and make his boundaries known. 

It figures that in the end, he still wouldn’t win. The poor fool never did.

#powerpuff girls #ppg #gangreen gang #ppg oc #powerpuff girls oc #fanfic #powerpuff girls fanfic #mafia au #content warning: language and drug use #snake #ace

[aclosetfan]

Brick: knows the difference between assault and battery

Boomer: does not know the difference between assault and battery

Butch: has never needed to know the difference between assault and battery

#this is only funny if you (like me) are studying for the bar #and thinking up funny ways to remember crim law #ppg shit post

[teacupballerina]

I feel like there’s a homophone in the ppg Twitter but people who r active in the fandom follow him and he has harassed other creators for not liking stuff. I think u know who he is cuz he made post about you but I’ve think his behavior is weird asf cuz he reacts to lesbian ships really weirdly yet no one has called him out yet so I feel like I’m just being overreacting. Does anyone feel this way or am I just dramatic ???

I actually don't know who you're referring to because, generally, people who shit on me have me blocked first! Wish I could tell you, but I genuinely have no idea who that is.

I am not in the business of calling people out because I don't have the time and I generally don't care. Making a "call out" is only going to draw attention to that person, which is what we don't want. If someone wants to be an asshole, fanpol, anti, harasser, drama magnet, etc, then the best course is generally to block and move on.

#ask teacup

[snobgoblin]

idk I feel like I've made a post like this before... and it's probably unintentional. ppg is a very pun-based show when it comes to humor, heck just look at the episode titles. THAT SAID... I do think it's kinda cool how Ace made a pun to Blossom when he was beating her in the fight (you give me chills <- in reference to the ice powers) and then when Blossom was about to kick his ass, she also made a pun (looks like somebody's superpowers went down the drain <- he just took the most violent shit of his life)

#its so funny trying to seriously analyze something but somebody took a shit mid fight canonically #ppg #the powerpuff girls

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- High School Story: Class Act

First of all, I should mention… this series is actually the reason I wasn’t going to include stories where my last playthrough of them was 2-3 years ago. I’ve been having a lot to say about HSS:CA for a long time, but as more time’s been going by, my memory of the playthrough diminishes more and more. As much as I want to go on and on about how disappointing this series was, I worried it might not be a good look to do so when my statements about its events could very well be uninformed. 

But I would still like to discuss how I currently feel about the story, based off of what I do remember from it, plus what I’m picking up from screenshots posted by others. I’ve been writing braindumps about this trilogy for quite a long time. If and when I do eventually get around to replaying this (as with all the other stories that I haven’t touched in forever), it will certainly get a re-review, and we’ll see how well this one’s claims hold up. Will they all still stand? Will there be things I’ll change my mind on? Will there be new things I have to say? Who the fuck knows. 

Now with that out of the way, let’s do this shit.

Welcome to the thirteenth official Cadybear's Reviews post! Today I'll be talking about High School Story: Class Act, which I have ranked on the "Bronze Tier" at 5 stars out of a possible 10. My last and only playthrough of this series was back in April-June 2021.

To put it briefly… this one is such a mixed bag. A kind of disappointing mixed bag. 

Initially, I did fairly enjoy this series. I found the stories alright and the characters interesting, and I was happy to see more of the beloved OG characters even if it was just on the side. It wasn’t as amazing as OG was (no shit), but I still found it decent enough. 

But at the same time, something was always just a bit off about all of it. It took me a while to realize this. I couldn’t quite place my finger on why (or when I think I fully realized this), but eventually… it hit me. 

It had nothing to do with HSS. 

I know, it seems unfair to judge this trilogy in comparison to OG HSS rather than on its own merits, but like… why even bother making it HSS then? If it wanted to be its own thing so bad, then it should have just been made as its own thing. And that’s kind of the main problem with HSS:CA– looking back on it, it entirely feels like it was written as a new different franchise and then had “HSS” stamped onto it to make it seem more appealing to fans of the original iterations. Seriously, you could replace everything HSS that appears in CA with something completely new, and nothing important about it would change. 

I’m noticing that that’s kind of a phenomenon we see when it comes to sub-par spinoffs and installments of a (highly beloved and respected) franchise, such as PPG 2016 and HBO’s Velma. A fairly common critique I’ve seen about both of those infamously hated iterations is that you could easily make them as original shows and you’d lose nothing important about them, and frankly they’d have been much less hated if they were original franchises rather than installments of an already existing beloved franchise. 

HSS:CA is nowhere near as abhorrent as either of those, don’t get me wrong. But regardless of how much of a desecration of the original franchise you consider it to be, it’s the exact same case here. Most of the stuff in HSS:CA either lacks relevance to and/or is a major downgrade from OG HSS. And while these aspects would still keep the series from being in the higher tiers if it was an original series, they’d be far more forgivable or negligible in that case. 

I’ll be honest. HSS:CA is a cute, chill, vanilla slice-of-life high school series at best. And so if it was its own brand new thing? I’d probably rank it in the Silver Tier– which is why there’s a spot that says “HSS:CA (if you pretend it’s not a HSS spinoff)”. But the fact that it’s meant to be a continuation of the HSS franchise kind of gives it some higher standards to hold it to, and it’s hard not to judge it by that. 

And in my opinion? It doesn’t hold a candle to those standards. It’s merely a shadow of its parent iterations, and even that’s an overstatement because a shadow at least has some basic connection to its source object. 

It’s very difficult to go into this one without bursting into a 9 page long essay. To keep this review organized at least, let’s go by each of my 6 points for why OG HSS was great, and see how CA holds in those points as well. It’s gonna be a long one, but I do want to put my opinions into perspective. 

First, the MC. 

They’re not terrible by any means– in a vacuum, they’re an okay MC to play as. I don’t mind playing as an unpopular kid, and their adorakble moments and the Aunt Wendy storyline are pretty cute. 

But again, this is a HSS spinoff. With that in context, CA MC is just so much more stiff than our old MC, and so it’s hard not to feel like they’re a downgrade. A fair amount of people have said that CA MC is better because they’re “more imperfect and realistic to actual teenagers” or “actually have a personality”, but it doesn’t hold much ground in my opinion. As I’ve said probably ad nauseam by this point, OG MC not having a distinct personality worked in their favor because it made them a lot more wildcard in how you could play their character– and that actually does include making them more “imperfect” to some degree. 

I can make my OG MC genuinely mess up in certain areas if I want to, and it can affect certain outcomes for them. If I wanna have my MC be kind of crappy at their extracurricular and make Berry lose the big sports games, or have them be a jerk to the Hearst kids and lose their tryouts spot even if they’re actually good at tryouts themselves, I can have that! And even when you do get all the more successful outcomes for them, they can still feel pretty down-to-earth– they’re just a student who happens to become popular and good at unifying the school, rather than some OP messiah God who’s the great savior of the school and everyone worships the very ground they walk on. Is that still unrealistic? Sure. But who gives a crap? Realistic ≠ better. 

(Also, if you think the OG MC was unrealistically talented and successful… well, not only is that on you as the player, but keep in mind that the MC of HSS Prime was a teenager who founded an entire brand new high school, and the whole game exists entirely around that. I’m pretty sure most people aren’t coming to HSS for complete high school realism. A lot of us already experienced complete high school realism when we went to high school IRL, and it probably sucked for most of us.)

With HSS:CA MC however, we don’t get nearly as many choices to personalize the character or affect the story with this one like we do with OG’s, and the options/outcomes that do exist are few and far between. If you replayed the story with a new name and appearance for MC and all different choices, chances are they’d probably still feel the exact same as the previous version of your MC with the exception of your LI choice. 

And it’s funny– despite that this MC is pushed as the more awkward and flawed of the two, I don’t really recall any parts where we can have them genuinely screw up and face consequences. The most we get is probably the theatre productions in the first and third books, and some options in Book 2 that allow us to keep Rory/Twin’s election standings lower… but that’s about it. None of them really have the same impact or significance as the outcomes you can get with OG. 

This lack of agency with MC’s character can get especially frustrating at certain times, such as how much they agonize over getting their first kiss with Rory in Book 1, or how they’re so passive with assholes like Clint and Natalie and Trevor and Amber. At least moments where they tried to force OG MC into a certain behavior or trait– like wanting to win prom crown, or wanting to matchmake Scott and Julia– were kept very minimal and didn’t push out or upstage their respective choices systems. 

To add insult to injury, the OG MC is still around– but purely as a NPC background character. Which, in my opinion, fundamentally does not work for a flexible blank-slate MC like the OG MC. All it does is create the exact problem that OG HSS was trying to avoid when they wrote off Prime MC as having graduated. To make such a flexible MC that relies on how the player builds their character, into non-playable where they’re just a singular set version outside of their appearance and LI and the player has zero control over them? Especially when the new MC we get is so much more rigid and choice-less? It was very jarring and overall didn’t work, especially not in something like HSS. In fact, I’d even argue that there wasn’t any real justification for switching the MC and cast this time around… but I’ll save that for a later section. 

Second, the new supporting characters.

When it comes to the new main friend group, I actually find them pretty alright. Ajay and Skye are great characters and their storylines are the strongest aspects about this trilogy, and I found the romance route with Ajay to be pretty cute (yes, I am a bit of an Ajay apologist despite my heavy criticism towards the series). Rory isn’t really much more than being “nice and attractive” and is annoyingly forced in Book 1, but other than that, they’re decent. Twin is enjoyable enough, and I did like their subplot with Amber in Book 1. Erin isn’t much more than a nice kid either, but she’s very pleasant and I would have liked her as a LI option for MC. And one thing about this group that I actually consider better than OG’s friend group is that we got a lot more opportunities to spend time just hanging out with them or the LIs.

And the family members of these characters like Ajay’s family, Skye’s family, and Aunt Wendy are interesting too, by virtue of the storylines they’re in. Another thing I do like a bit better than OG is that we get to actually meet all of the LIs’ families and know a bit more about their personal lives. OG’s LIs had great characterization and growth, but I do wish we got to see more of their family lives too. Heck, we never once even meet Caleb’s and Michael’s parents! 

But when it comes to the rest of the in-school community, however? It’s nowhere near as vibrant and grand and interesting as it was in OG. I get that other characters outside of the new MC’s circle of friends are going to be less important because they’re not unifying the school like OG MC was, but everyone outside of the new main friend group is either boring and forgettable and/or an unpleasant one-note dickhead, even the returning OG characters. It wouldn’t be so bad since, obviously, not all characters are going to be pleasant or fleshed out… except for the fact that they’re constantly wanting us to interact with these characters and see them as our friends. 

Like I said in my OG HSS review, I felt like I had actual reasons to care about characters like Julian, Mia, Myra, Frank, Jade, Payton, Kieran, Cameron, etc. They had range and actual purposes in the story, one way or another. Though they obviously weren’t as fleshed out as our LIs and they did have their worse moments, they did feel like actual characters and their presence didn’t bring down the story. They were all characters I could root for. 

On the other hand, I don’t feel any reason to care about Clint, Natalie, Trevor, not even characters like Aiden and Michael. Well, outside of the fact that they’re from the OG trilogy and I’d rather be seeing what they’re up to– but that’s the extent of their appeal in this trilogy. None of them have really done much, if anything, to earn our new MC’s friendship or our interest as players, and all their interactions with MC really do is take up space in the story. 

Even the antagonists were pretty lacking, aside from Skye’s parents. Despite that we get a few more that are less on-the-nose as antagonists than the OG antags tended to be, most of them were incredibly half-baked and felt more like cheap plot devices rather than like actual characters. 

Third, the lack of any activity system. 

Regardless of your opinion on CA, you can tell there was a lot less effort put into it compared to that of OG. This mainly shows with the lack of different route options and potential outcomes for MC like I mentioned before– and most notably of all, is the complete removal of any extracurricular choice system. Those choices were a key feature that made OG so memorable and immersive, allowing variance in our storyline, experience, and even our potential romance paths. CA throws that away entirely for God knows what reason… and unfortunately, there aren’t really a lot of other impactful choice systems in this trilogy that can really make up for it. 

I get they were probably trying to make CA a bit different from OG, but being able to “choose your clique/group/activity” has always been a huge staple of HSS, ever since Prime. Imagine if PB got rid of the nerve score system when making ILB in order to make it “more different” from ILITW. I don’t think anyone would like that. It guts the series of one of the franchise’s biggest defining features and basically cheapens the story as an interactive VN. 

What ILB actually did, of course, is that they changed up the nerve score system a bit: more consequential events spread throughout the story than just the fate trials in one of the last chapters, accounting for a group nerve score, having the characters’ scores start at zero and have to be increased. But it is still a *nerve score system*. I bring this up because CA could have done something similar. I get defaulting our MC to do theatre; that was expected from the “Class Act” part of the title. But in that case, why not adapt the “choose your activity” system to intra-theatre activities?

For example: a bifurcation of theatre jobs, where we can choose between being an actor, director, or techie/set designer (kind of like the MC options in HWU). You could maybe have different ways to customize the production and affect how it turns out based on your activity. And you’d have opportunities for extra interactions/moments with all of the LIs– Rory if you choose to be an actor, Ajay if you choose to be a director, Skye if you choose to be a techie/set designer (in Book 3, anyways). 

Or if not that, then perhaps we could have a choice in the acting parts in the plays. Seriously, I feel so baited by that one scene where we could choose to say which part in the first play we wanted the most. Like, they make this big deal about how MC wants to be the prince/princess so they can get their first kiss with Rory, but really I imagined my MC as someone who would much rather be the witch (and didn’t crush on Rory either way). 

Fourth, the stories. 

Credit where credit is due, the subplots about some of the characters’ personal lives are pretty damn solid and probably one of the few things about the series that actually feels well-executed and fitting to HSS. I’d say the series is at its best when it’s focusing on stuff that doesn’t have to do with in-school drama. Which checks out, because most of the stuff that does take place in the school is lukewarm at best, and… kind of mean-spirited at worst, actually. 

There’s nothing wrong with stories about more vanilla and mundane situations, but here it just guts the heart of HSS. Berry High in CA is not “the high school you’d want to go to” like it was in OG… which is kind of funny when you remember the HSS:CA teaser at the end of OG Book 3, where CA MC can tell Rory that they’re “so so so excited” to go to high school because “you guys have scandals and rivalries and food fights”. I can only imagine how disappointed they must have actually been when they started high school (I mean, that’s what this trilogy is, frankly), especially considering some of the bullshit they’re put through while they’re there. 

No, seriously. I use the term “mean-spirited” to describe some of CA’s in-school conflicts because a lot of the stuff that happens to our new MC is more needlessly cruel than what happens to OG MC. Book 1’s storyline with MC being instantly accused of sabotage and ostracized by the theatre kids for days(?) on end is by far the worst offender, and Book 2’s storyline with MC being pulled in two directions by Twin and Rory with their election campaigns isn’t much better. Book 3 isn’t nearly as bad, but the useless one-note bully hivemind that is the Statton kids do still bring it down. 

And the worst part is, I don’t feel like the characters “get anything” out of it. The characters in OG would often go through a series of pretty awful events too, such as the football game against Statton or literally everything that happened with Isa. But they’d always be able to pick themselves back up and some characters would even grow from these events, so it never felt in bad spirit. Even if you get some of the “lesser” outcomes such as losing the sports games or failing the spirit stick heist, the character development everyone has gone through still holds up. They didn’t succeed, but they tried their best and still got something good out of it, and they can still enjoy their homecoming dance. 

In CA, it feels less about the characters overcoming their obstacles and a lot more like “drama and conflict for the sake of drama that we’re gonna throw at the MC, okay now it’s over with, moving on”. Like, why did MC need to suffer through being ostracized by 95% of the theatre kids or getting pulled between Rory’s and Twin’s campaigns? MC getting to kiss Rory in the play and getting the Greenhouse Ex Machina built to merge Twin and Rory’s campaigns and overtake Lorenzo’s campaign, aren’t nearly enough to amend the unnecessary crap they had to deal with throughout those respective stories.

And sure, some of those events are technically more “realistic” to the average high school experience, but again, that doesn’t make them better written. Need I bring up Prime’s MC again? Realism means fuck all to me if the conflicts are cheap, especially in HSS.

What’s funny about the “realistic” aspect though, is that despite OG being the seemingly more “corny cheesy Disney Channel high school” of the two trilogies, the teenage characters and their conflicts/drama in that one actually felt more natural and believable. There was actual tension building, and context for why characters acted irrational. I didn’t always like what happened, but it was more understandable why band and cheer would start rooting against basketball, or why Jade/Cameron/Kieran would believe MC was the one to sabotage them, or even why the characters would break out into a food fight. Again, the story gives me actual reason to care about these characters. 

A lot of the events in CA felt a lot more lazy to me in comparison, like the only reason the characters act out is because “Har har, teenagers be irrational and messy!”. Which they often tend to be, sure… but characters like Clint and Natalie have no other traits in Book 1 besides being clingy Rory simps, Trevor has no other traits than just being a dickhead, the Statton kids have no other traits in Book 3 than being pretentious assnads. That's all they really have to go by, and it makes the conflicts feel painfully one-dimensional. 

Sometimes an event will just straight up contradict the themes established in OG. Like how a lot of the same characters that were present during Isa’s reign of manipulative behaviors and even participated in taking her down, are also weirdly quick to reject CA MC’s discovery that Lorenzo’s kitten stunt was a sham. I have a lot of problems with Book 2’s main plot, but this is easily the biggest one. There’s teenagers being irrational and messy, and then there’s this 5-year-old hivemind behavior. And I… just couldn’t with that. 

Finally, and probably the most glaring issue of HSS:CA’s lack of relevance to HSS, it does not bridge well with its past source material at all. 

The returning Prime characters may have had smaller roles and their utilizations in OG weren’t all perfect, but overall, they felt very in-their-element and more like an actual part of the story. Their cameos were much more organic, like they were fellow students along with the new characters, and some of them even felt like more mature versions from how they were in Prime. They only really stand out as “the older characters” by being the soon-to-graduate senior class. All of which makes sense because, like I mentioned in my OG HSS review, it’s sort of meant to be “passing down the torch to unify Berry” to the new MC and cast. And that’s about it, it doesn’t need to shove it in your face that these are the characters from the original 2013 mobile game that you may or may not have played before. 

The returning OG characters, on the other hand, are all non-characters, and their cameos only serve as nostalgia bait. I mean, I think they were kind of doomed from the start when they made the OG MC non-playable, but they could have at least tried with the other characters, no? Even in Book 3 where they join the CA gang in the musical and London trip, which should have been leagues more epic than whatever the fuck we actually got. They were just there for the sake of being there, doing nothing more than just tagging along with the CA gang– hell, Maria even straight up admits that when she says she and the other characters are only joining the musical production so they could join MC and Aiden on the London trip.

I’ll admit, those premium scenes where you could spend time with the OG characters were kind of fun. But notice how OG didn’t need obligatory special premium scenes in order to make the Prime characters relevant? Sure, there were some scenes that involved certain Prime characters, but… they had a lot more personality than just “Spend time with the Prime characters!”. The Prime characters’ cameos were more than just “Hey hey look look it’s the characters from Prime!”. 

This kind of makes CA problematic both for returning OG fans and for new fans who haven’t yet played OG, when you really think about it. OG can integrate the Prime characters well but actually stand on its own two feet at the same time, whereas people who play CA before OG are probably going to be like (Patrick Star voice) “Who are you people!?!?” every time they try to push these diamond scenes. 

(And yes, I know I said continuing the OG HSS after the first three books doesn’t have the problem of needing to appeal to new fans. But by virtue of making the continuation a spinoff with a new MC, they kind of did bring that problem onto themselves. No one’s going to be playing the TRH trilogy before they play the TRR trilogy. No one’s going to be playing the two “The Sophomore” books before they play the first four “The Freshman” books, they’re clearly continuations of the previous books involving the same MC and their storyline, just with different titles. HSS:CA clearly has a different MC from the OG one, so there are going to be (and have been) people who play HSS:CA first. Had they made these books a continuation of OG MC’s storyline, this wouldn’t even be an issue.)

And while I did enjoy the new main cast well enough… let’s face it. There wasn’t really any purpose for switching the MCs and casts this time around. Sure, they contrast in that OG MC is more popular and unifies the school while CA MC is more unpopular and sticks with just their theatre family, but that’s not much to go by. The Prime-to-OG switch worked because the Prime writers knew that a Choices iteration of HSS needed to be welcoming both to older fans from Prime AND to newer fans from Choices, given Choices is a completely separate app from the Prime game. It’d be difficult to continue the focus on the Prime MC and their friends without requiring players to have played Prime first, which would be very problematic considering Prime has no in-game features for replaying certain stories or quests.

HSS:CA on the other hand is a more direct continuation of OG HSS, existing on the same app (which does allow you to replay stories or chapters) and taking place the following school year at Berry after the OG HSS timeline. If the spinoff was maybe a few years after the first trilogy, when the OG characters have graduated; or if it was taking place in a different location like Hearst High, then that’d make more sense. Instead, it’s just the next year at Berry High, but this time the focus is on a theatre freshman at Berry and their friends, whose stories pretty much happen in a complete vacuum from everything else that’s happened in HSS canon. It feels very much like PB switched casts with HSS:CA for the same reason that Rick and Morty did Interdimensional Cable II: “We pretty much nailed it the first time”.  

What really puts the nail in the coffin is that the finale was terribly inconclusive and soulless, and did not work as a sendoff to the franchise. Seriously, it’s ID-1-standalone-ending levels of bad and I don’t think that’s talked about enough. And even ID 1’s standalone ending at least had some emotional stakes to it. There’s no emotion in the scenes where you talk to the OG characters– in fact the writers seemed to care so little about the OG characters in this ending (and the trilogy as a whole) that they initially forgot that OG MC, Emma, Caleb, and Michael are actually a year below Aiden and Maria and not in the same grade. 

And as a whole, it just ends on such a weird note– “Yay I finished my first year of high school, what’s next for me” to “And now your time at Berry must come to an end” is such a whiplash that I’m pretty sure it broke my fucking neck. I think rushed book endings like this and ATV’s ending walked so that the rushed endings of 2022-2023 Choices books could run. 

There’s only one major plus of HSS that carried over well to HSS:CA, and that was the lack of smut scenes. Which is kind of expected, honestly. (Though I will say, the writing for CA was, arguably, noticeably more horny this time around… is that just me?)

Of course, CA isn’t without its other redeeming factors, which I have mentioned across each of these points. But the fact that it has these redeeming factors, these ideas that were good in concept but terrible in execution, just makes it all the more tragic as a series and it’s part of why I’m so hard on it. 

See, had CA just been among the ranks of something like PPG 2016 or HBO’s Velma– a straight-up bad trilogy that butchered all the characters and everything about HSS and had no redeeming qualities and was ultimately a stain on the HSS franchise– I’d just have to go “Jesus H. Christ this sucks” and pretend it doesn’t exist.

But in actuality, it has ideas that I would enjoy to see explored as part of the world of HSS– I do genuinely like exploring Berry’s theatre department, and the idea of the OG and CA gangs going to London together. And there is some really good potential for interactions between the two groups, like Emma helping Ajay deal with his parents’ divorce, or the OG gang taking Skye under their wing as Brian’s younger sister. But it ultimately failed to handle those well and just ended up leaving me feeling empty inside. So it’s this weird tug-of-war between “I like you” and “I don’t like you”. 

So I definitely wouldn’t consider CA to be awful, as it does have its share of redeeming qualities. But the thing is, those redeeming qualities are part of why the series left me feeling empty and disappointed, because we could have had something much greater for the HSS franchise. But this trilogy, as it is, probably would have been much better off as a completely new and separate franchise.

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