#so this series of panels.... has destroyed me....

[puraiuddo]

TMNT | Raphael & Casey Jones

#raphael tmnt #raph tmnt #casey jones #tmnt casey jones #tmnt raph #tmnt raphael #casey jones tmnt #raphael splinterson #so this series of panels.... has destroyed me.... #my fav raph & casey moment and it comes from a power rangers comic #imagine that #feel free to tag as #rasey #purs post #purs edit

[gigabyte-flare]

Insatiable (Part 1)

Summary: You are a researcher for D.S.O. who is responsible for studying Leon Kennedy as Las Plagas overtakes him, maybe even finding a cure. He starts to take a liking to you, too much of a liking to you.

Word Count: 2k

Pairing: yandere plagas!Leon Kennedy x fem!reader (afab)

Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. Actions depicted in this story are not condoned in real life. You are responsible for your own content consumption. If any of the following warnings trigger you, please read at your own risk. Minors do not interact, this story is 18+ only.

Warnings: Extreme violence and gore, biting, dubcon, forced breeding, gross las plagas-y things, death, mentions of un-aliving. DEAD DOVE: DO NOT EAT.

A/N: Heavily inspired by this artwork by @chanif-art on Tumblr along with Project Scorpion by @tagzpite. Literally could not get this idea out of my head until I wrote it down. Definitely going to be another series. We're also going to pretend D.S.O. was founded way sooner than 2011 k byeeeeee

“I fought a war and I learned how to win, but how do you fight when the enemy’s within?”

You step out of an elevator led by two armed D.S.O. operatives in tactical gear deep underground at HQ, your white lab coat flowing gently as you walk forward. Grasped in your right hand is a voice recorder. You and the operatives go through a series of heavy steel doors leading you into the bowels of the underground facility.

Is all this really necessary? you think to yourself as you’re led deeper into the abyss.

Finally, you’re brought to a single cell enclosed with clear polycarbonate panels with steel reinforcements. In this cell was a man sitting in a chair that was bolted into the floor, his hands chained behind his back and his legs chained to the legs of the chair. This man is Agent Leon S. Kennedy. You approach one of the panels closest to the steel door keeping him in. 

Switching the voice recorder on and bringing it to your mouth, you state your name before continuing, “The year is 2004. The subject is field agent Leon Scott Kennedy, currently 27 years old and exhibiting the late stages of Las Plagas infestation, his body is covered in dark, vein like marks. Subject is currently slumped over in the chair. He appears to be catatonic.”

Bringing the recorder away from your mouth, you motion to one of the operatives to guard the door. You input a passcode into a key panel next to the door. It lets out a hiss as it slowly swings open. As you step in, the door swings closed and locks.

You bring the recorder back to your mouth and continue, “Agent Kennedy?”

You watch as Leon slowly lifts his head, his face completely covered in the dark veins, his once blue eyes now have a slight red tinge to them, it makes your stomach twist in sorrow, he used to be such a handsome man.

“Subject appears to still have some cognitive ability left as he immediately recognized his name. We’re still trying to understand how he hasn’t broken down now that the alpha Plagas host, Osmund Saddler, has been destroyed--”

“I’m right here, you know,” Leon suddenly spoke, making you jump.

“Ag-Agent Kennedy!” you reply, eyes wide in shock that he’s able to speak. 

“Please, just call me Leon, sweetheart.”

His dark gaze seemed to pierce straight into your very soul. You collect yourself, clearing your throat.

“How are you feeling, Leon?”

Leon looks down at himself, tugging gently at his restraints before looking back up at you, “all things considered, I actually feel pretty damn good.”

“That’s… good, I guess,” you reply, your nervousness clear in your voice. 

You hadn’t prepared for this, every researcher that attempted to interact with him got absolutely nothing out of him, hence why they sent you down. You argued with them, not seeing the point but now you began to realize that the difference was they were all men, you were a woman. 

“Awww… there’s no need to be so nervous, sweetheart, it’s just me, Leon Kennedy. I promise I don’t bite,” he says, a small smirk appearing on his lips, “hard.”

“Do you know where you are and why you’re here, Leon?”

He lets out a chuckle, “yeah, I’m in D.S.O.’s research facility because I’m turning into a monster.”

“That’s putting it rather bluntly, but yes, that’s correct.”

“About time they sent someone cute down here to visit me, the rest were much too dull. If I wasn’t chained up, I’d ask you out to dinner and a movie.”

You feel yourself blushing, “that’s… very kind of you Leon, however that won’t be happening anytime soon, I’m afraid.”

“That’s a shame, because I’d love to take you to bed and make you scream my name,” he growls, a sinister grin overtaking him.

Your heart is pounding out of your chest as your eyes widen at him. This wasn’t like Leon at all, the parasite was clearly twisting his thoughts. You panic, turning around to motion the operatives to open the door and let you out. As soon as you’re out of the cell, you briskly walk away from the cell as fast as you can, not once looking back. You could have swore you heard Leon’s laugh echo after you. 

“I am not going back down there, are you insane?!”

“You’re the first person he has actually spoken to since he got back from Spain,” the lead researcher, Bryan said, setting your voice recorder down onto his desk. 

“So? Your point? I’m not doing it and that’s final!”

“Look, this recording gives us valuable data on him, it’s clear that the Plagas inside him is mutating into a more dominant strain. It must know it’s the last one left,” Bryan said, pleading with you.

“So we’re just going to poke and prod him like he’s some guinea pig? Leon wouldn’t have wanted that! Are you sure there’s no way we can cure him?”

“If we attempt to remove the parasite now, it will kill him--”

“Then let’s put him out of his misery, this isn’t right!”

The silence between you was deafening. After a few minutes, Bryan finally spoke.

“Judging by this recording, the Plagas has one thing on its mind.”

“Which is…?”

Bryan looked up at you, letting out a heavy sigh, “reproduction.”

“All the more reason I shouldn’t be going back down there!”

“He’ll be restrained and you’ll have at least two operatives with you at all times, you’ll be safe,” Bryan leans forward on his desk, folding his hands together, “the data you collect from Agent Kennedy is invaluable in finding out how the parasite works, just… go down and talk to him. I know yesterday was unnerving but there is one thing he said that is true, he’s just Leon Kennedy. He’s in there somewhere, even if the Plagas is influencing him.”

You cross your arms, staring at the floor, letting out a frustrated sigh before looking back up at Bryan, “fine. But I want hazard pay.”

“Consider it done, here’s your recorder back,” Bryan says, sliding the recorder across the desk towards you. 

You grab the recorder of the desk, turning on your heel to walk out of Bryan’s office.

“You are to report down there in an hour, you hear me?” Bryan calls after you just as you walk out the door.

You fight the urge to flip him off, thinking better of it. You walk down the hall into your office, getting your lab coat back on and sitting at your desk. You press play on the recorder, listening back on your interaction with Leon several times. There was one part where you repeated it several times, sending chills down your spine.

“That’s a shame, because I’d love to take you to bed and make you scream my name.”

How long had Leon been locked down here, chained to this chair? How many men in lab coats came and tried to talk to him? He knew he was a lost cause, why were they keeping him alive? How many times did he wish death would come and take him in his sleep?

But then you came, awakening something in him.

Your natural scent filled the cell completely, so many hours had gone by and he could still smell you and you smelled absolutely divine. He couldn’t stop thinking about you, the way your voice was so sweet yet filled with drive and intelligence. The way you blushed when he flirted with you. The way your heartbeat began to race at just the mere mention of taking you.

God you were so cute when you ran off, all flustered, he couldn’t help but laugh; he hadn’t felt alive like that in so long. His reminiscing was interrupted suddenly when he could hear footsteps coming down the hall. Lifting his head, he practically began to salivate when he saw you had returned.

You came back to me, baby, where you belong…

“The subject appears to be conscious and alert, he watched us as soon as we were in his line of sight,” you say as he watches you speak into the voice recorder. 

With a hiss, the door opens and you step inside. Leon breathed in deep, taking in the smell of you, you smelled even better than you had yesterday. He feels his cock twitch in his pants in excitement. He watches as the door behind you closes and locks, just like it had yesterday, trapping you in here with him.

Curse these fucking chains…

“You’re more lively today, Leon, care to tell me why?” you ask, your voice flat and void of any emotion.

“How about you tell me why you smell so nice,” Leon replies, grinning at you, drool running from his mouth down his chin.

He watches you shift uncomfortably before you continue, “I’m not answering that.”

Leon scoffs, shaking his head, “then I’m not going to talk to you, sweetheart.”

You take a deep breath, “if I’m going to be honest, I don’t know why I smell so nice to you, Leon.”

His red eyes scan up and down your form, imagining it without all those needless clothes. Imagining himself pinning you to the floor and fucking you stupid. A strange, clicking sound came out of him from the back of his throat as he pulled aggressively on the chains holding him to the chair. He watches as the two men with guns outside become alert. Leon lets out a low growl as he glares at them.

You turn to face the men, signaling to them to stand down. He watches them both relax before you return your attention to him. 

“The transformation appears to be progressing faster than expected,” you say into the recorder, “are you in any pain, Leon?”

Leon slowly shakes his head, “no, just unbelievably horny, doll.”

“We have reason to believe the subject is displaying an increased libido due to the fact that the parasite inside him knows it’s the last of its kind.”

“Stop talking about me like I’m not here, that’s awfully rude.”

“Fine,” you say, lowering the recorder away from your mouth, “what do you want to talk about, Leon?”

“You should ask those nice boys out there to take these chains off me,” Leon purrs, staring at you longingly.

“Absolutely not, Leon,” you reply, crossing your arms, “those chains are there for my safety as well as your own, at least until we can get the Plagas out of your body.” “I think I’m too far gone for that, don’t you think, sweetheart?”

You take a deep breath and exhale loudly, the sorrow clear in your eyes, “I am so sorry that this is what you have become, Leon.”

“I’m not,” Leon says as that sinister grin overtakes him again; he starts to chuckle.

“Leon,” you begin, stepping closer and kneeling down to be eye level with Leon, “I know the real you is in there, somewhere, you have to fight it.”

Your scent was almost enough to drive him crazy, you were delectable. He licks his lips, that clicking sound coming out from this throat again. His eyes are locked on you and he sees you glance down briefly before looking back into his eyes. He knew what you were looking at, you were looking at the noticeable bulge in his cargo pants.

“You’re so pretty, you know that?” Leon says, his body visibly trembling.

You don’t respond, you simply stare at him with that same sad look in your eyes. How could you not want him as much as he wanted you. His lips curl into a snarl.

“Let me FUCK YOU!” he growls, lunging forward, the bolts in the chair letting out a loud screech as they’re bent slightly.

You stumble back, falling backwards onto the floor as Leon continues to struggle violently. The two men with guns come rushing in, one of them grabbing you off the floor while the other shoots a tranquilizer dart into Leon’s thigh. Leon feels the effects almost instantly, his body becomes limp as he becomes sluggish, his mouth hanging agape as he watches you get led out of the room by the two men, the door shutting and locking behind them as you’re led away.

“Mine,” he whispers in his last moments of consciousness, “all mine.”

Part 2

#leon kennedy #leon s kennedy #leon kennedy x reader #leon s kennedy x reader #leon kennedy smut #leon kennedy x reader smut #yandere!leon kennedy #plagas!leon kennedy #gigabyte writes #insatiable

[fluffyartbl0g]

Redraw of the panels that SHATTERED MY HEART o(；△；)o!!! OG panels + Opinions on the Luffy separation arc under read more

Okay let me just go on a tangent about my feelings about the post-series Luffy separation arc, cause I think it gets way too much hate when it’s such a heartbreaking and well executed deviation from oda’s standard formula!!! I know that we all love monkey d. luffy and he’s LITERALLY the main character of the series, but it was also really nice to get more time to focus on the rest of the crew. But here’s the thing, even when Luffy wasn’t here, he was still here. And I’m not talking about the so called ‘blessings’ or whatever that kept SUSPICIOUSLY popping up around the crew when Luffy disappeared, I’m talking about the consequences that arised from him disappearing. We truly got to see how grand the effect luffy has had on the world around him, and how many lives he was able to touch ; - ; So even though luffy physically wasn’t present (I mean KIND OF but you know what I mean), this was still VERY MUCH a luffy arc imo. 

Oh man but I think Oda wrote luffy’s disappearance so well,,, I was sobbing for like 80 percent of this arc. Like just gradually seeing the crew’s deterioration as time passes by,,, but everyone has such unwavering faith in their captain, he HAS to come back cause Luffy always comes back. But here’s the thing, Luffy didn’t know what was happening to him when he started disappearing. But what he DID know is that he wasn’t sure if he was gonna be able to come back or not. And Luffy hates breaking promises- he’d never make a promise if he didn’t plan to keep it, and he’s not an idiot either, so when he just felt himself disappearing and saw zoro nearby... Instead of saying something like “I’ll be back!” and potentially making his crewmates wait for him forever, he tells zoro to “take care of the crew”... SOBBING AND CRYING T - T. So YES. the crew has unwavering faith in their captain. But. Luffy didnt say that he’d be coming back or anything. So what are they supposed to do really.

And it’s really hard to read at some parts, like it never loses the goofy tone that has been there throughout all of one piece and it’s really sweet to see everyone rely on each other to keep one another afloat, but the slight tension that keeps building up over the months while they keep looking for clues and answers... And how each lead keeps becoming a dead end... When it builds up and Usopp finally voices the thing that’s on everyone’s mind.

Oh man. I started crying so hard. It took 6 month for any one of them to say something. Like this is One piece. Of course Luffy is gonna come back eventually, it would be waay too dark otherwise... But Idk man, even I started to doubt that :((( But luckily. THIS IS ONE PIECE. So right after everyone started,,, well not exactly losing hope or anything (maybe a bit)? but going BATSHIT INSANE FROM THE REALITY THAT THEIR CAPTAIN MIGHT BE GONE FOR GOOD, they finally got a solid actual clue of what might’ve happened to luffy!!! And I’m SO GLADDDD!!!!

Omg and when they tracked down the pray-pray no mi user and finally got some answers out of him. OMG WAIT A MOMENT I REALLY LIKED IS WHEN PRIEST GUY IS LIKE “urerheg without luffy up there as a god the entire world may very well be destroyed cause the sun has been super unstable for centuries blah blah” and then Nami freaking PUMMELED THE GUY AND SHOVED HIM DOWN WITH HER STAFF AND

SOBBING CRYING SOBBING. THEY WOULD POTENTIALLY BLOW UP THE ENTIRE WORLD IF IT MEANT THAT THEIR CAPTAIN WOULDNT HAVE TO BE LONELY ; - ; KILL ME.

URGH I was really hoping that Luffy would return right once they beat him up cause I really really missed my boy, but honestly I think the final method of getting Luffy to return was super clever and absolutely worth the extra 3 weeks of waiting!!! I know that it was foreshadowed across the whole West Blue Saga and everything but I honestly had no clue it would end like that, DONT MAKE FUN OF ME :(((

When the crew finally got their captain back after 8 months of waiting... I mean they’ve been separated before for even longer periods of time, but they always knew that they’d be back together. This time they didn’t know. BUT AREHAHRGE ALL THE PAIN AND SUFFERING WAS SO WORTHIT WHEN THEY ALL FINALLY REUNITED T - T!!!!!! UWAHHWHAHWUAAGGHA!!! AND SEEING ALL THEIR ALLIES AND FRIENDS THEYVE MADE JUST CHEER AND CRY WHEN THEY HEAR THE NEWS!!!! I WOULD CHUCK ALL THE PANELS HERE IF I COULD BUT ID JUS T REACH THE IMAGE LIMIT BECAUSE ALL OF THEM MADE ME CRY ; - ;!!! Literally just read those 5 chapters in the arc finale cause,,,, man so good T - T

Anyways TLDR: The post-series luffy seperation arc is NOT BAD and you guys are JUST COWARDS AND LIARS!!!!

#tw unreality #post-series #one piece #op fanart #monkey d. luffy #roronoa zoro #zolu #nami #usopp #straw hat pirates #gear 5 luffy #op spoilers #one piece spoilers #wano spoilers #please dni if ur a post-series one piece hater >:( #this is a post-series POSITIVE post only!!! Feel free to gush about other post-series arcs that you like on this post :D!!! #(for that person i scared: i put tw unreality higher just 4 u :3)

[legitimateluffy]

I was going to touch on this in my overall thoughts of the OPLA, but then I realised I had a lot to say about it.

This, to me, might have been my favourite moment in the One Piece Live Action:

And here's why. OPLA spoilers under the cut.

Nami and her character arc are the things that got me really hooked to One Piece as a teen. I was 13 and at the time, I had no idea if I'd ever finish (at the time) a 600 episode anime. But Arlong Park cemented me in as an OP fan for the rest of my life.

Obviously the Help Me scene was the thing that really got me in for life. But as I grow, I think it was also the way Oda made each moment with each character feel small while also being grand. The small moments make this arc for me. It's complex, and purposefully so.

Throughout the arc, and even prior, Nami is built up with small throw away lines and actions. Questioning why people do things for others, her over generalisation of pirates, her belief that she has no freedom.

She's an exact opposing entity of Luffy. Luffy IS free. He's the concept of freedom. Nami, by default, is not. She not once ever felt free. Her original village was destroyed, her mother killed due to lack of money, having to work for Arlong to survive. She never had freedom.

There's cases like this all over the manga. She's materialistic due to her trauma of lacking freedom. She has to do what she has to to survive. She will put her desire for money (to save the village) FIRST. Because if she doesn't, she will never be free.

I remember this moment so clearly when I saw this for the first time, the thought ingrained into my mind. When I saw she left and abandoned the crew, I was so MAD. I couldn't express my anger. But when I saw this scene, all I could think about was "I feel so bad for her."

I didn't know what was coming, but this scene alone made me feel so sad. And I didn't even know WHY. I felt gut wrenched for her. Looking back, seeing her finally no longer have to do everything herself and allowing herself to break down and ask for help, it also struck me.

However, this moment, now as I've aged, doesn't hit just because it's a relatable feeling. Finally breaking down and getting hope after you've felt so helpless. So many people want that. I wanted that. And seeing it there in front of me hit me hard. The reason why I think this ultimately made this moment work for me was this theme of freedom. The strawhats made her feel like she was safe for even a short moment. She could forget. Nami, for the first time in her life, even for one second, WAS free. She was!

Nojiko highlights this. It's a small panel. It's less than 5 words but it highlights an important aspect of Nami's character. For one moment, she was free, and that's why leaving them hurt her so much.

Usopp describing something as normal as having fun is something we take for granted. But Nojiko knew that this was an important moment for Nami. She knows she's never been free. Remember, Nojiko & the rest of the village KNOW what Nami is doing. Her sacrifice. Her lack of freedom.

So this bring me back to OPLA. There are so many short scenes of Nami where Usopp and Luffy are just goofing around and bantering with each other. Hell, she's not even participating! She's just watching! And then the moment happens.

She laughs. She's free! This one small moment, this blink and you'll miss it scene. THAT, is pure and utter freedom. And to me, that's what One Piece is. It's freedom. Nami, for the first time in her life, is free.

This scene hit me hard, because immediately I thought to that scene with Usopp and Nojiko. Everyone behind the live action understood the core aspect and themes of One Piece. It's freedom. It's always been about freedom. That has never changed. And seeing freedom be portrayed as such a small and humane action such as LAUGHING, for all of a few seconds, really encompasses what this series is, not just to the characters, but the audience.

#one piece #opla #nami #nami and her arc was also so important to me as a teen #and seeing how arlong park is still one of if not my fave arc this made me feel something #one piece really is special #lozza.txt

[newtsoda]

When school is torture...

A comic about autism and “school avoidance”.

------------------

Commence Alt Text:

[PAGE 1]

Title: 'It's Not School Avoidance – Trauma, Burnout and PTSD in the Education System'. The first panel shows a woman, her face veiled in shadow and surrounded by a thicket of thorns. She looks alien, with pointed ears and cat-like eyes. The second panel shows her drowning, her hand grasping at the air. The next panel shows ghost-like arms twisting around her. The speech bubbles read: When I was a kid, school was the stuff of nightmares. An intense and overwhelming environment, overstimulating and demanding, and entirely unforgiving. It's where I learned to mask and how to lie about all manner of things. I faked so many illnesses just so I could have the break I couldn't ask for. All so that I could somehow stay afloat in a system that did not recognise my needs. Neurotypicals don't understand just how much school is not designed for people who are not like them. Nor do they understand what it's like when you have to return to the place that is hurting you, day after day after day.

[Page 2]

The woman lies with her head on a pillow, staring wide-eyed at the reader. Thorns creep around the edges of the frame. The text reads: It's nearly twenty years later, and I still have the nightmares. Not the same vague dreams about not doing my homework everyone gets, but vivid night terrors that revolve around school and the things it made me feel. I've been told it's a symptom of CPTSD. The second panel shows a dagger with thorns wrapped around it as it is slowly dragged into their midst. The text reads: Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder develops over a series of prolonged traumatic events. A disturbingly high number of autistic adults go on to develop it and can trace the root of their trauma back to the torturous experiences of their school years. So, I guess it's safe to say I'm not alone. But what's worse: It's still happening today.

[Page 3]

A girl is at the centre of the page, tears streaming down her face as scissors cut through her wings. Blood drips down the page. Thorns creep towards her. Another panel shows the woman's back with the shredded remnants of her own cut wings. The text reads:  Autistic children are being dragged through a grim education system that does not get their needs, quietly suffering. Parents are denied support if their child makes good grades or is quiet in class, because all is well. But the school doesn't see the tears and fights getting to the gates in the morning. Or the meltdowns/shutdowns as soon as the child gets home. It doesn't matter what's happening to their mental health. That a bubbly, happy child who loved to learn has turned into a despondent, empty shell of their former self. Above all else, school emphasises attendance rates. As long as that child is still showing up every day, it's seen as a success, no matter the cost—and the cost, sadly, is often steep for people like us.

[Page 4]

The girl and the woman are wrapped in a towering mass of thorns. Swords jut from the wounded woman's chest while she looks down at the girl who reaches for a hand trying to rescue her from her plight. The text reads: “Your child just needs to develop more resilience.” An infamous line that keeps rearing its ugly head. It comes from a place of ignorance, from people who have no idea how resilient these young people already are from living in a world not designed for their neurotype. But what can parents do? They're witnessing the damage forced classroom time is doing to their children, seeing it destroy them, but feel powerless to help. Keeping them home for recovery results in fines, warnings, and intimidation tactics. Seeing no other way out, some parents are forced to take their child out of school for good, opting for home schooling instead. They report needing years to repair the damage done to their child's mental health.

[Page 5]

The woman is seen healing the girl's back. Tiny wings sprout where hers were cut. The text reads: Homeschooling can allow parents to slowly build their children back up, coaxing them back to their former selves. But not everybody has the means to homeschool, and while it should always be a choice, it should never be one forced by desperation. The next panel shows the woman's own shredded wings. The final one shows her defending her child. Text: This whole thing is excruciating for autistic parents who experienced it all themselves while growing up and know exactly the damage that is being done, yet find themselves unable to protect their child from suffering the same fate. I want to be a parent one day, but the thought of school already fills me with dread. I want my child to benefit from a well-rounded education without paying the steep mental health price I had to pay. It shouldn't be too much to ask! And yet, I've fully prepared myself for the battles I'll have to fight.

[Page 6]

The page shows the woman twirling the girl around while she holds her hands and the girl flies with her new, full-grown wings. The woman's wings are still shredded, but she smiles knowing that she was able to help her daughter. The text reads: I want to raise the next generation of autistic people unburdened by school trauma or CPTSD. We need more autistic-friendly options, and lockdown and the pandemic showed that it's possible!  We need flexible schooling, less classroom time, more opportunities to do schoolwork from home, and low intensity classrooms for children who don't have parents who can support learning from home. Allow for recovery time and stop penalising low attendance rates! We want the education system to recognise the damage it's doing to young people and believe parents when they plead for support. There is more than one way to achieve learning outcomes, and we deserve a system that works for us.

#autism #actually autistic #autism acceptance month #neurodivergent #neurodiversity #school #education #newtsoda #comic #autistic comic takeover

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 409: Bro I’m Straight Up Having a Good Time

Previously on BnHA: AFO murdered his brother like the mischievous knave he is. Bruce was all, “hey Kudou don’t look now but I think Yoichi might have given you his secret quirk that we didn’t know he had.” Kudou was all, “damn that’s wild, it almost feels like this is a pivotal moment that will change all our destinies forever, you’d think Horikoshi would have spent just a little more time elaborating on this but I GUESS NOT.” Back in the present day, AFO was all, “I’m just going to use all my quirks at once because fuck this kid,” and Katsuki was all, “lol oh shit.”

Today on BnHA: Kacchan is all, “okay, I know I should be hopelessly outclassed, but hear me out: what if I just win anyway. What if I just go ahead and blow his shit up, because this is the final battle, and this is what all of my character development has been building up to since day one. What if I just beat him, because I’m the guy who wins. Simple as that. What if I just kick his ass with my one quirk, and prove all the haters wrong.” Horikoshi is all, “okay, sure.” AFO is all, “wait, wha -- ”

oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my g

huh. well I wasn’t expecting to start tearing up less than two panels into this chapter but HERE WE ARE

I love that he’s screaming and crying with his balled up little fist right from the get go lol. he was born a pissed off baby

he’s so squishy

and so tiny!!!!?!?! !?!??!?!

and he was RAISED WITH LOVE. fucking thank you, lol. gonna print that out and frame it on my wall. turn it into a flashing neon sign to give me comfort any time I stumble across stray Mitsuki discourse lol

anyway. oh my goodness. if this is a sign of things to come, there’s a very strong possibility this chapter may destroy me. how exciting!!

yep. yep yep yep. this is for sure going to be the chapter that finally does me in. it’s been a great ride folks

you better not be thinking any thoughts about dying, young man. this had better be meant in the sense of “because I’ll be by your side supporting you instead”, as opposed to “because I will be a little pile of dust in about three seconds’ time oh shit”

(ETA: after finishing the rest of the chapter, I’m pretty sure it’s the former! the first flashback is a reference to his chapter 120 speech -- “even higher than you, Chosen One.” the second is a throwback to chapter 247, when he told Endeavor he only had his one quirk, but it was strong enough to do anything he wanted to do. and the third flashback is one he also had at Jakku when he sacrificed himself to push Izuku out of the way.

so to me, this reads like (1) a reminder of his determination to surpass Izuku and become the strongest hero; (2) foreshadowing for him defeating AFO with Explosion, the Little Quirk That Could; and (3) a reminder of his “origin.” that last one being important because nowadays it’s just as strong of a motivator as his original goal. back at the beginning of the series, all he cared about was being the strongest. now, though, he’s not just fighting for himself; he’s also fighting to atone, and he’s learned to put himself aside if necessary.

as for the dialogue, this reads like a continuation of his mental conversation with Izuku that he began in chapter 362 (“gotta win... right, Izuku?” “so, Izuku... can I still catch up to you?”), and then continued in chapter 406 (“for some reason, I feel like I could overtake you now”). so in that context, “I’ll no longer get in your way” basically means that he’s done chasing Izuku, and that he’s caught up now and can hold his own. his determination to get stronger hasn’t wavered. his confidence in his own quirk and his own skills hasn’t wavered. and his resolve to atone for everything he did to Izuku is as strong as ever. put those all together, and we have the recipe for quite a spectacular redemption fight. his follow-up to chapter 362.

because earlier when he fought Tomura/AFO, he was basically just trying to buy time. no one ever planned or expected him to have to face the Big Bad one-on-one; that was supposed to be Izuku’s job. he was only meant to be there as support. and in the end he wasn’t strong enough, and he nearly died. and rather than being able to support Izuku, he ended up being used against him.

but this time is different. he’s no longer the decoy, the distraction. he’s no longer the pebble. he won’t get in Izuku’s way, because this time he’s going to be strong enough to win the fight. he’s going to hold his own, and get the job done.

so yeah. “I won’t get in your way” = “you can depend on me”, basically. because he’s become that guy at last. the guy who shows up in the clutch and wins the day. the hero he always wanted to be. good stuff.)

OH MY GOD

once again, just really solid hero advice from All Might here. there’s a reason he’s the GOAT

lol but in all seriousness it does tug at my heart to see him shouting so desperately at this kid. especially knowing that he’s presumably feeling the same pride and awe that I am, but with a lot more heart-stopping terror mixed in because unlike me, All Might doesn’t know that Kacchan is actually going to live forever. he narrated chapter 285, All Might, have a little faith

AFO is the extra-est mfer to ever live. but also it really tickles me to think that Kacchan pissed him off THIS much. it’s kind of an honor in a way

of course his plan is to simply just blow AFO up. of fucking COURSE it is. maybe there will be brain cells later on in this chapter, but for now who even needs them lol

OH MY GOD?!?

DID THIS MOTHERFUCKER JUST BLOW THE FUCK UP FROM THE INSIDE?? am I seeing this right?? DID KACCHAN JUST SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST ALL FOR ONE WITH HIS MIND

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

(ETA: shoutout to AFO for being so analytical when I personally would have just been screaming, “OH MY GOD MY FUCKING EYEBALLS AHHHHHHHHHH.”)

THAT’S WHAT I’M SAYING THOUGH!! HIS POWER WASN’T DONE AWAKENING YET, APPARENTLY??

oh no wait it’s even better. this isn’t Awakening at all, this is just Katsuki playing 5D chess

so he actually did have brain cells the whole time then! Katsuki I sincerely apologize. you somehow had the presence of mind to make a goddamn minefield even in the midst of all of this hullaballoo

AND HE’S HUMBLE TOO LMAO

it’s true!! I’m people!! please ignore the multitude of times I’ve previously called him a dumbass, including earlier in this very chapter lol

hahahahaha yesssssssss

this chapter is incredibly validating for a number of reasons. I’m going to attempt to remain calm about it. but I’m enjoying this a lot ngl

oh AFO

:D :D :D

(ETA: you know what, I actually do have more to say about this. because I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve debated with people about this very thing, lol. for a while there post-Jakku it was just constant pessimism about Kacchan’s future in the manga. all this stuff about how Katsuki doesn’t have a main villain. Katsuki isn’t important enough. Katsuki is being phased out. Katsuki isn’t strong enough. Katsuki’s done developing. Katsuki’s just a joke character now. Katsuki’s just the damsel in distress. Katsuki’s always going to be second fiddle to Izuku. etc. etc. etc.

and then this chapter -- this whole entire fight, really -- comes along, and it’s just nonstop rebuttals, lol. and it’s not just that he’s proving all the negativity wrong. it’s that he doesn’t even care about any of that. AFO is out here trying to goad him with that same “YOU’RE JUST A SIDE CHARACTER” bait, and in response Katsuki just hits him with a Howitzer and tells him to shut the fuck up. AFO thinks he can get to him by being petty, because AFO still sees him as the bratty kid from the Sports Festival. but the present day Katsuki has long since moved past all of that, and no longer gives a fuck whether or not he shares the spotlight. unlike AFO, who never lost his childish egotism, Katsuki has learned to see outside himself, and the resulting growth has made him a bigger badass than AFO could ever hope to be.)

(۶•̀ᴗ•́)۶

ouch

HAHAHAHAHA

bro I’m straight up having a good time. this recap is gonna suck this week because there’s absolutely no commentary I can think of to add other than “I’M REALLY ENJOYING THIS, THIS IS GREAT”

I want to take this entire chapter and get it tattooed on my face

sorry AFO. this must really suck for you

lmao. is that all Kacchan. tell him how you really feel

OH MY GOD NO WAY LOL

so, fun fact, I literally just read chapter 385 last night lmao. most fortunate timing I’ve ever had, holy shit

okay so lemme just add some more thoughts on this one really quick

Hawks deserves all the nice things in the world and I’m so sad I can’t give them to him, but at least he gets this. sweet sassy revenge

I am once again calling everyone’s attention to the fact that AFO continues to be his own undoing. congrats on screwing yourself over bucko

Kacchan’s sleeve ripping up Deku-style is once again making my Plus OFA Theory senses all tingly. it probably is just a coincidence and has nothing to do with OFA, but I can’t unassociate it now, so I’m just gonna sit here and read as much into it as possible

if I had a nickel for every time AFO’s eyes blew up in this chapter, I would have two nickels, and that is way too many fucking nickels jesus christ

ever since he came back from the dead, Kacchan’s been doing this thing where he is just really pretty at all times, even when he is being a gremlin. and honestly it’s taken some getting used to, although I’m not complaining

but like in this panel especially, it just really stands out to me how even his “GRYAHHH I’M GONNA KILL YA!!!” face somehow has this really cool, intense, piercing glare now and he no longer looks like a baby troll when he does this kind of thing lol

OH FUCK YEAH

୧༼✿ ͡◕ д ◕͡ ༽୨

“THERE’S NO WAY I COULD’VE WON THIS ALONE.” OMG. THAT KACCHAN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT JUST HITS DIFFERENT EVERY DAMN TIME, I SWEAR

he and Hawks basically pulled a “you hold him and I’ll punch” lol. thanks for the assist Hawks

Mitsuki and Masaru being all, “my little baby boy!!” and “HOLY SHIT”, respectively, sent me all the way to the moon lmao

HELLO THERE YOICHI? fancy running into you here. just chilling out over in this montage of people close to Bakugou who are watching him kick ass. did you take a wrong turn, mayhap. you’re not inside of AFO, we know that much. and Deku, much as I’m sure he’d love to have a front row seat to all this, seems to have his hands full dealing with Tomura right now, sadly

so all of that does seem to raise an interesting question, no? where did you come from just now, and why? and when Kacchan says he’s not alone, is there perhaps more truth to that statement than even he knows? or am I once again just reading way too much into this lmao

anyway so yeah! that sure was fun. and with the end of the year approaching and back-to-back two-week chapter breaks coming up, I have a chance to do the funniest thing of all time, and still not manage to catch up, lol. nah but I’m gonna try my best though. pretty sure I should be able to manage

#bnha 409 #bakugou katsuki #all for one #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #sorry this is late I've been trying to post it for almost an hour #the 'post now' button was infuriatingly greyed out for some reason #ended up having to copy everything over to a brand new post and redo all the pics and formatting #thanks tumblr

[chaifootsteps]

Hey I saw someone on Twitter saying you’re transphobic because it said in your Twitter bio “IDW Arcee is still a guy” even though the character is canonically trans. What’s your take on that? I’m not attacking you or anything I just genuinely want to know the context of all that.

Oh boy. Strap yourselves in kids; time for Chai's villain origin story.

So basically, IDW Arcee made his debut under the pen of Simon Furman, the dude who created Arcee in the first place. Simon Furman has a small massive chip on his shoulder over the notion of girl robots, but we're going to be talking in mostly Watsonian terms for now. IDW Arcee as he comes on the scene in Spotlight Arcee is the victim of a nonconsensual forced sex reassignment, we see right off the bat that this destroyed his life.

He's wracked with trauma and dysphoria over this, on a do-or-die quest to take out the mad scientist who did it (he succeeds and tortures said scientist for seven years straight), and is implied to suffer chronic pain.

This got a lot of criticism, but Simon Furman insisted it wasn't meant to be transphobic, just the opposite. When someone pointed out that this was a story about how traumatic it was to be assigned a gender you didn't feel was the one you should have, Furman agreed with this take.

Eventually Furman was shooed out and John Barber was brought in as writer, and nobody seemed to know how to deal with Arcee's backstory. So they just kind of...didn't. They wrote around it for eight whole years, never really acknowledging it, but frequently alluding to how traumatized he was from it. The only person to ever roll up their sleeves and tackle it head on was Mairghread Scott, the only person IMO to ever do justice to IDW Arcee.

By the way, this panel made me weep. This issue also includes a fleeting, but notable moment where someone refers to Arcee with they/them pronouns, and at the time, I was extremely excited for this.

Shortly after this however, the comic came to an end and John Barber decided -- in the very last issue -- to bring in an expert. And by this, I mean he found some trans lady on Twitter and let her write Arcee. The last issue has Arcee concluding that the whole sex change was consensual and the violent murder spree was the result of, I quote, "bad meds."

Yeah, basically Arcee killed all those people because the Spiro was a little off.

I got into a lot of internet fights with people over this back in the day, criticizing it for being worse than what we started with, but also frequently pointing out that it wasn't Twitter lady's fault, as she wasn't the editor-in-chief at IDW and that there's a very good reason professional writers aren't supposed to do this sort of thing. In return, I got accused of hating trans women and still get some real ugly things in the inbox about it to this day. It was the first taste, bitter as wormwood, of what I as a trans man could expect from my own community.

Regardless of all that, Arcee is probably the most important fictional character to ever enter my life. He helped me realize I was trans, got me through some dark days, got me through heartbreak and top surgery. He saved my life a few times, and every so often he continues to. I owe so much to him.

If writing a very gentle fix-it fic where Arcee has a long talk with Anode (one of the trans lesbian bots from the vastly superior sister series James Roberts wrote) makes me a transphobe in these peoples' eyes, so be it. I don't care what they think. They never reached out to baby trans Chai and held his hand and kept him breathing.

Arcee did.

#Anonymous #Arcee #Transformers #IDW Arcee #transandrophobia #actual blog post

[sorcerersandskillusers]

How Fyodor will escape Meursault and how he's communicating with the outside

This is a continuation of my theory on Fyodors true ability here

Most of the evidence is in the linked post.

TL;DR Fyodors ability manifests with a face and a different outfit which no other ability does... except Elise. It also doesn't attack him and is able to merge with him without its gem being destroyed.

If Elise manifests with a face because she has one even outside of the fog, could that mean that Fyodors ability is able to manifest as a copy of him even outside of the fog as well? And if so how will that play into the current arc?

This panel is what really convinced me something was up

"...You can't kill me."

not "You can't kill me, like this" or "This won't be enough to kill me" just simply "You can't kill me"

Why? why can't Dazai kill him, even if he had a skill of immortality Dazai would only have to touch him and he'd be defenceless. So why...?

I think its because he's not even there to begin with, even if Dazai defeats this Fyodor, the real one is still out there.

It would perfectly call back to the ending of "The Cannibalism"

Imagine it. Dazai, after the long and frustrating back and forth, finally confronts Fyodor. He reaches to touch him.

"It doesn't matter if I don't know your ability, it will be useless against me"

Only for Fyodor to vanish the moment he touches him. leaving Dazai, Sigma and Chuuya shocked.

"He got me... The rat was never here to begin with."

It also explains a ton of other stuff Fyodor's been able to do in the series:

It explains how he was able to poison the Order of The Clock Tower agents in the plane.

How he's able to seemingly disappear from the roof top in TUO.

Why he personally stabbed Mori and shot Katai.

He never actually put himself in danger, he simply wanted other people to think he could be anywhere at any time.

It would also explain how he's 'Communicating' with the outside, he isn't. The Fyodor on the outside is simply acting the same the Fyodor on the inside would, so he knows how things will play out. Dazai can never figure out his method of communication if there is no communication in the first place. He simply knows himself so well he can guess exactly how things are going outside.

I also want to point out Fyodor's epithet: The Conjurer

What does a Conjurer do? They make things appear out of nowhere! it fits perfectly.

Fyodor is using that power to trick people into thinking he is omnipotent, by seemingly affecting things out of his reach he feels like a god, organising events exactly how he wants. But in reality there is another Fyodor doing the leg work.

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #fyodor dostoyevsky bsd #bsd fyodor #fyodor #bsd theories #bsd analysis #bungou stray dogs character analysis #bungou stray dogs analysis #fyodor ability #the dead apple #bungou stray dogs dazai #everything lines up so well #the rats in the house of the dead #bungou stray dogs theory

[mamashenanigans]

Quick thoughts on recent MHA chapter 410.

-AFO was always going to die to the Rewind. Bakugo didn’t kill him. He held him back from Izuku just long enough for Rewind to finish.

-It’s disappointing that Hori showed us Yoichi looking sad at the end of the prior chapter, but didn’t include him anywhere in this chapter. It’s a strange choice.

-As is always true, the current rough translations are strange. The first page initial translation has AFO remarking that, with how Tomura looks, the AFO vestige has “died”, so he lost his trump card, but he can still win this? WTF does that even mean? It’s AFO’s POV so is he saying he can still win in another way?

-AFO actually says “Yoichi, I need you”. That’s very different than how he’s spoken about Yoichi prior. It seems to be more about how he knows he’s about to die and wants his twin. Not a “I have to have you”, “You need to be mine”, “You’re mine”, but an honest “I need you because I’m about to die”.

-Why the FUCK couldn’t Hori just add a quick panel of Yoichi when AFO says that? Why isn’t Yoichi shown in this chapter at all? Drives me nuts.

-I like how AFO’s final thoughts align with the backstory we got. He had a fucked up childhood and never made any good memories, so he wanted everyone else to feel as he did. He wanted everyone to look at him(nod to wanting to be the Demon Lord from the comics) and needs his brother. His true feelings and he can’t stand it so he goes out screaming about how he can’t handle all the emotions.

-So, the AFO vestige is “dead”, but Tomura still has the Quirk? That doesn’t add up to literally anything related to vestiges we’ve seen thus far. Stars and Stripes was able to destroy vestiges within AFO and then those powers were lost. AFO ate vestiges so they wouldn’t go against him. So, is the AFO vestige really gone? If the Quirk is still being used then the vestige of that Quirk is still there.

-So, Tomura was able to take Danger Sense INCLUDING the vestige associated with the Quirk. Again, this contradicts the whole “AFO’s vestige is dead, but Tomura still has the AFO Quirk” thingy.

-WHERE THE FUCK IS YOICHI?

So, yeah. I’m a fan of AFO, but I always knew he was going to go out with Rewind. It’s just disappointing how he went out. Having Yoichi there, especially after the “Yoichi, I need you” would have made it better. I mean, don’t fucking show me Yoichi looking sad watching the end of Bakugo and AFO’s fight and then not have him around when AFO blips out of existence. Huge let down.

Obviously, we’re getting a Tomura redemption thing because of course we’re going to use AFO as the entire excuse as to why Tomura mercilessly killed hundreds of people throughout the series WITHOUT the AFO vestige and WITHOUT remorse.

Yeah know, I’ve still always wondered about the vault door in the realm of OFA. The shots we’ve gotten of it has always felt ominous and it begs the question as to why the door is there, all chained and locked up, in the first place. I’ve always thought that maybe there’s an AFO vestige or will be and the door is holding him back. It isn’t a stretch that AFO could now exist in the OFA world either through the twin thing or that a vestige pops up since he originally had the stockpiling ability that he gave Yoichi. I dunno. I think it would be kinda funny.

I’ll never not be salty at the lack of Yoich interacting with original AFO. So bad.

#all for one #afo #yoichi shigaraki #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #bnha afo #bnha yoichi #one for all #mha 410 #mha spoilers #bnha spoilers

[samobservessonic]

Why do you want to read Sonic the Comic?

The short answer is because it was my intro to the Sonic series as a whole, but I haven’t reread most of it since I was a kid. But I’ll go into a little more detail about that below the readmore, as well as outlining what I will and won’t be reading for this blog

Sonic the Comic issue #80 rewired my brain and changed my life

Now, the first issue of StC that I bought as a kid was #80. I should add a disclaimer here that there was a kid I knew back then who recommended me the comics - she had issues #78 and #79, so I probably at least glimpsed those as well. But #80 was the first issue that I had for myself (and I still have my copy!), so that’s the one that gave me my first impression of Sonic

I’m sure StC fans will know why this issue was a big one and even Sonic fans who have a casual familiarity with StC will probably see Super Sonic on the cover and guess that a lot of stuff happens in this issue… and you’d be right! I’ll save the review for when I actually get to this issue in my reread, but the basic premise is that Sonic goes to visit his friend Porker Lewis on the Floating Island (later known as Angel Island in the games), where the chaos emeralds and master emerald are kept suspended above a giant… hole thing that holds their power (kid me didn’t ask questions, adult me still doesn’t). Sonic fell in this hole and got a full whack of their power, turning him into the evil Super Sonic who’s hellbent on destroying the last person who’d been on Sonic’s mind, who happened to be Amy Rose

The story ends on this cliffhanger and I can pin-point this single image as the reason I got into Sonic in the first place

…Like, look at this!! The art is so cool! What’s going to happen to Amy Rose? Why has Sonic turned into a crazy powerful being who wants to kill her? I have to know more! I have to get the next issue and maybe devote my entire life to this series! Like, Super Sonic looks so powerful and Tails looks terrified of him! But Amy still looks quite calm and collected. Maybe she’s only just noticed Super Sonic zooming into the scene or maybe she’s just composed enough to not be as fearful of him as Tails is. Obviously, even without knowing anything about the series, I could tell that Amy is Sonic’s friend and I want her to be okay. But something about seeing her reaction in this panel made it seem like the “Next Issue: Amy vs Super Sonic!” advertised at the bottom of this page wouldn’t be as one-sided as some might expect it would be And that’s how, on (roughly) 21st June 1996, an 8-year-old who’d just spent their £1.20 pocket-money had their socks blown off by a Sonic comic (Out of curiosity, I looked up where Archie Sonic was at around this time and it was… issue #37! The Knuckles spin-off comics would also be released the month after this. But I wouldn’t know about the existence of either of these until later)

Now, 80 issues into an on-going series is obviously a late point to hop on, but I can honestly say that it never hindered me reading the comics as a kid. Every two weeks I’d get to see Sonic and his friends have adventures and sometimes they’d mention established lore that I might not have known, but it was easy just to write that off as something from an earlier issue and carry on Also, after a certain point, StC started to reprint older stories. Which was both a blessing and a curse, because on one hand it meant that I could catch up with older stories I hadn’t read before, but on the other hand it deprived the issues of newer stories, until the comic would eventually become entirely reprints from issue #185. Even so, I can confidently say that there are probably stories in the first 79 issues of the series that I’ve never read, so I’m looking forward to getting to those on my read-through So, will you stop reading at issue #184? While I intend to read from #1-184, the reprints issues do feature new covers from Richard Elson

Many of which show newer takes on earlier stories, featuring the green-eyed Sonic of the modern era. So while it’s far away now, I’ll most-likely do a post about these covers to conclude my read-through. Although man, looking at #185’s cover in particular puts me right back into being there as a kid, expecting to see new stories, only to open the comic and get entirely reprints…

Will you be reading the non-Sonic stories?

Early on in its run, StC featured stories from other SEGA titles of the time, before committing to being entirely about Sonic. While not to diminish the merits of these stories, I just don’t have the same familiarity with most of their source material that I do for Sonic, so I won’t be reading them. The exceptions being probably the Ecco stories (because I did play Ecco as a kid) and Decap Attack, because Decap Attack was still running after I started reading the comic and I remember enjoying it. But I won’t be blogging about either of these in the same way that I will be the Sonic comics themselves, so you won’t have to skim past posts about loads of other series to get to the Sonic stuff

What about the Sonic spin-offs?

I will absolutely be reading these once I find or make a good reading-order that slots them into their proper place. The above summer ‘96 special was also one of my first StC issues and I remember it fondly

What about the Captain Plunder stories?

Yep! Captain Plunder exists in Sonic’s universe and I enjoyed his standalone stories as a kid, so I’ll be including him in my reread Anything else?

For a time, StC included game reviews and ofc they also had a fanmail and fan art section, like Archie and IDW. For the most part, I’ll only be including small bits of these that I find interesting or relevant, but I won’t be talking about them wholesale. Though I’m sure that a Sonic comic’s reviews of Sonic games will be worth a look at

#sonic the comic #sam observes sonic #stc blogging #sonic the hedgehog #super sonic #amy rose #captain plunder #decap attack

[blueikeproductions]

Transformers fans have been going over a new quarterly report and there’s good news and bad news. The former is Transformers is Hasbro’s strongest performing brand, the later is RotB and EarthSpark’s toy sales are stinkers. In particular, EarthSpark’s considered an underperforming product, with the show’s ratings in the smelting pool. As some of us anticipated, the second season is the most we’re gonna get, no third season or beyond.

So as much as some don’t want to hear it: EarthSpark is essentially a flop, and the second season coming at all is more because it’s too late to axe it.

What’s carrying the toys so far are the collector lines: Legacy and Studio Series. For better or for worse, do NOT doubt the power of nostalgia. Also pricing. A friend was telling me a parent audibly freaked out at the prices of the EarthSpark toys, so that’s keeping parents away.

Do kids still like Transformers? Well in my experience they do, but they largely liked G1, Prime, RiD15, Bayformers and Rescue Bots. They did NOT like Cyberverse (especially in Japan where I’m told toys are STILL rotting on shelves down there), and now apparently EarthSpark. I didn’t see RotB in theaters so I can’t speak for that, but I did see a lot of kids at Bumblebee when it was in theaters.

The easy answer on its failure, and we all know GriftTubers will latch on to it, is Nightshade. Transformers making it on to Fox News is NEVER a good thing… not helped as the owl continues to be controversial due to the Japanese dub deciding to make them male. (Personally I say split the difference if Nightshade ever reappears and make them he/they but still.) I’ve been clear on my stance that NS is fine and cool, but I’ve also placed more importance on their skills, interests and personality. Their gender is not important to me to get them to like them, but the unfortunate problem is too many people on both sides focus on their identity and it scared off normies and parents. Again, well meaning like the Blue’s Clues Pride Parade, but read the room. There was a way to make NS work and still let them be NB, but they didn’t do it, and I still say the old “they’re Terran because gender means nothing to them as a robotic life form” was the way to do it.

The more nuanced answer however is more complicated. ES wound up being another kids show that was actually for adult fans and not kids, choosing to instead focus on a sense of identity and HYUGE importance on family. Stuff that isn’t bad on its own, but most modern writers and executives don’t understand subtleties: resulting in a lot of Bludgeoning of well meaning ideas in a show that doesn’t feature the Master of Metallikato. Most kindergarten and elementary school kids aren’t THAT interested in that stuff, they like Pokémon, Mario, classic Disney, classic Star Wars and anime in my experience. And Transformers has a certain expectation among people, and while there’s been stuff in the past that involves talking about things (Rad having environmentalist tendencies and Optimus respecting his feelings on needing to protect the environment when a fire breaks out during a Mini-Con Panel hunt, with Tigatron, Optimus and Dinobot having a similar conversation more than once in Beast Wars), if the Autobots AREN’T waging their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons, most aren’t interested.

This feeds into the show’s writing which also I think killed it: the show’s writing is decent but it only gets weaker as it goes along. The overfixation on making the Decepticons into misunderstood bullies who need a hug, despite also showing them perfectly content to kill people, the mixed signals of all the known Earth Decepticons now being friends with the Maltos, Optimus being a doofus the longer the show went on, the heavy IDW slants that weren’t popular at all with general audiences like Autobot Megatron, and Fix Fic Blue Eyed TFP Starscream. There’s also lack of proper follow up on plot threads like Ravage and Mandroid’s friendship with Alex, Schloder’s reasoning for hunting Bee being stupid, mysterious Transformer artifacts, poor reasoning on Energon aliens running amuck, why Cybertron never re-established contact, the lack of understanding why Quintus Prime seems to have such an interest in Earth and why the Emberstone is even here at all and more. Sure some of this might be touched on better in season 2, but do I trust this writing team now? No. No I do not. I think this can be summed up by the rejected episode pitch with Ratchet and Drift. More focus was put on them being husbands, and while both tried offering their own reasonings for the Cyber Sleeves, there was no concrete answer provided on why the kids had the sleeves. Its especially odd in that I wager they would’ve played up Ratchet’s atheism from IDW, but never once have Quintus actually speak up through the sleeves, like a joke in Family Guy where Stewie calls out Brian’s atheism because Jesus crashed on their couch recently. The episode is just… more fluff. People don’t want fluff in Transformers, and we’re seeing that with how well the Energon Universe is continuing to kick everything’s afterburner in comics. IDW never did that. The best selling stuff towards the end was the Marvel G1 prequel and sequels, and the Beast Wars reboot and those were still low in the rungs.

So what can be done to get kids more on board with new TF content? Go back to basics. Transformers desperately needs a new Beast Wars style show to give it a kick in the pants tv show wise. Earthspark I think fancied itself as that but was not meant to be. The Energon Universe is a good start: the true Neo G1 successor to the 80’s cartoon canon so far. The easy joke me and a friend have made is to just adapt the Energon Universe for tv, but it’s not ready yet. I think using it as a spring board would be useful and having the Void Rivals be supporting characters would help expand their exposure. But the simple matter is this: absolutely under no circumstances use IDW/MTMTE post war stuff. I’m willing to go as far as using characters like Adaptus, Nova Prime, Nominus Prime and the Guiding Hand for certain things but that’s it. Classic good Autobots vs evil Decepticons. Megatron is full on evil like in G1, the movies & Unicron Trilogy: no more of this making him into a repentant Anakin nonsense. More of stuff like Optimus’s friendship with Sparkplug and Spike and his consoling of the deer. Earthspark was on the right track making him more lighthearted and closer to the well meaning dad he was in G1, but they pushed it too far the other way like Cyberverse did. Maybe ease back on Bumblebee a smidge, that worked with ROTB and Energon Universe so far, and other than maybe a little mixing and matching (Like Strongarm, Iguanus, Fixit, Barricade, Blackout and other guys being main Bots and Cons for a change), stick to the basics.

Edit: adding more because I had to go run an unexpected errand. Not only the basics, but let’s revisit the idea of a proper anime again. It’s the second major modern anime boom in the States, why DON’T we have a new RiD or Unicron Trilogy type thing? And no I refuse to consider Prime Wars and War For Cybertron anime. I don’t care what Netflix calls it. The fact we don’t have a TF anime currently is baffling; the last time we had an anime was Transformers Go!, and that was more of a one off spiritual Brave successor. I’d rather at this stage Takara commission a new kids anime for Transformers with writers over in Japan scripting the premise who know what they’re doing to make a fun children’s show. Then it can be dubbed and we get Blum, Kaplan, Zeno and other popular/veteran anime dub voice actors to reprise roles/do new ones. I don’t care if Trigger, Toei, Polygon, Science Saru or whoever animates it, my stipulation going forward is 2D animated TF anime, but with designs that are easier to hand draw. Like somewhere between G1 and Transformers Animated. I liked the Armada designs but I can see why Energon and Cybertron opted for CGI for the robots because they became way too technical to draw outside of very specific scenes. If full on 2D robots wasn’t acceptable, the CGI technology used for SSSS. Gridman and Bravern is acceptable, but a full return to 2D animation is preferable.

As for a setting: Earth. Autobots protecting their human friends against the Decepticons. A new gimmick properly implemented from the toys into the show, with the Quintessons as a villainous third party with a stake in the affairs, hiring Mercs like Devcon, RoughEdge, Lockdown and Rampage, or freelancers like the Skuxxoid and villainous Void Rivals to do their dirty work.

Something like that, but above all else cast wise: Blaster and his Cassettes MUST return. And to acknowledge EarthSpark, Hashtag can be his kid sister, with Twitch as one of Hashtag’s own cassettes. Everybody wins.

#blueike productions #blueike #transformers #transformers earthspark #energon universe #maccadam

[hahligirl56]

A Glitch in Time Spoiler Discussion pt. 1

>

>

>

>

>

>

I can’t say I grew up being the BIGGEST Danny Phantom fan growing up, but I do remember enjoying it when it was airing on Nickelodeon back during its initial run. I recognized the same style as The Fairly Odd Parents, but also something different and original. Darker, even. As a preteen/young teenager I really appreciated that.

Imagine my surprise after about 16 (I think?) years later…this new graphic novel comes out, following the series finale. Continuing some plot threads that were long thought abandoned, and introducing some new ideas.

From what I gather, A Glitch in a Time has been pretty well received, and has sold out on multiple platforms (I got my own copy via Barnes and Noble). I was curious what everyone’s overall thoughts were on some specific plot points, whether they think it’s likely that DP may continue on in this format or another series may be a possibility - I’d love to know your thoughts!

Dark Danny and Danny’s relationship with each other fascinates me, for one instance. They’re the same (duh), and at the same time not (thanks Vlad). Dark Danny (or Phantom as how he’s called here, I don’t know which is preferred) has some…petty motivations, at least how it starts off. But some panels made me scratch my head and put my thinking cap on as to what he and others could mean. Such as…

On a superficial level, I get the motivation. “The main hero ruined everything I had, so I’m going to make him pay by destroying everything he has…” You know. But the comic dogs in a little deeper, as ghosts are shown to have deep, deep obsessions that drive them. So, what is Phantom’s?

I just can’t with the self-awareness and character growth I see here. 😭 I saw snippets of this in the show itself but…being a mid-2000s NickToons show (that wasn’t Avatar: The Last Airbender), I’m not sure if it would have gotten this far.

I have more thoughts on Phantom/Danny’s dynamic but…yeah…what do you guys think about all of this? *twiddles thumbs*

#danny phantom a glitch in time #a glitch in time #danny phantom #a glitch in time spoilers #dark danny #vlad plasmius #danny fenton #nicktoons

[pretzlforpresident]

Okay as someone who knows nothing about Sonic IDW who the HELL are those trio(?) of villains(?) like, there's the tenrec who's lowkey Scourge the Hedgehog on HRT, the blue emo Tails looking ass, and the gay duck. Who are they. What are they doing here. Please explain.

No anon here we die like men, I have literally never played a Sonic game but I need to know

OK so basically, Dr. Starline is a major Eggman fanboy and a scientist. He worked under Eggman as an apprentice during the metal virus saga after restoring him from his memory loss after the events of Sonic Forces. he discovers eggman does not want to kill sonic, but rather to defeat him so he begins to question egg man’s motives, and eggman fires him after Starline gives control over the metal virus to the deadly six. Starline then vows to surpass the doctor in being a scientist/villain.

Surge the tenrec and Kitsunami the fennec were the test subjects for Starline’s plan. Starline modified their bodies with cybernetic enhancements and Sonic, Shadow, and tails’ bio-data. using these enhancements he brainwashed the two of them into forgetting their past(that is still not revealed from how far into the comics I’m in) and having their life motivations replaced: for surge, to destroy Sonic. For kit, to be surge’s “right hand man”. Every time they start to think on their own will at question why they are doing this, he reboots their systems.

I won’t get into what happens after that because it’s better to just read the comic and it’s some of my favorite parts of the series.

Powers

Starline: Starline uses the warp topaz that has the ability to bend time and space by creating portals that people and objects can pass through.

Surge: lightning powers and super speed. Using the dynamo-cage (an eggman invention that can harness the power of the wisps) she was able to super charge her abilities at the cost of her stamina. Using this, she actually almost kills sonic(I’m pretty sure one of the writers said his heart actually stopped for a few seconds during that exchange).

kit: he has this invention on his back that resembles a backpack that acts as a water reservoir. Using this he can create water tendrils and use them in combat and moving around quickly.

here’s a collection of my favorite pages/panels starring these guys:

Y’all let me know if I was inaccurate about anything!

#sth #sonic #sonic the hedgehog #surge the tenrec #surge idw #kit the fennec #kitsunami the fennec #kit idw #dr starline #starline the platypus #starline idw #asks

[vince-noir-666]

Source

What's new for this series? Are there any new games or updated rounds?

I feel like people love the Buzzcocks format and they would freak out if we changed it. The show is so famous it's one of those that can go on forever and it doesn't matter who's in it.

The weird Mick Hucknall game that Greg is obsessed with is back. He essentially puts Mick Hucknall's picture over someone else's face and we guess who's behind it.

What can you tell us about the guests this series? Who can we expect to see?

The Nova Twins were on my team who were hilarious... and telepathic. They're for young people but I'm quite interested in their music. There's also been Suggs from Madness and Harry Hill, which was exciting. Katherine Ryan was also very funny.

Gregory Porter was absolutely amazing. No one really knew what he was going to be like, because he has that smooth beautiful soul voice, but he was really funny. He pitched it really well. Americans are always good at that, coming in, working out what is going on, then finding the right level and tone and joining in. He is a class act.

What has been your most embarrassing celebrity encounter?

What, ever? Jesus... When I was partying, I had a lot of weird encounters. Pete Doherty bit my ear once. Not off, but he did draw blood. I'm trying to think of things that won't get other people in trouble.

What's the best thing about filming Never Mind The Buzzcocks? What's the worst?

I have a soft spot for the show because I spent five or six years doing it with Phill Jupitus so it's part of my life weirdly. It's always 'Bs' with me, there's some kind of magic with the letter B. Boosh, Bake Off and Buzzcocks. I'm scared to make a show that doesn't begin with B.

I like that it's about music as there doesn't seem to be any other shows out there about music. I love all the people on it so it's easy for me to do. I also like the fact there's an audience because it makes it quite exciting.

You first appeared on the show way back in 2007. What's changed since then?

It's interesting doing it this time now that I'm older. When I used to do it, I would get shitfaced before the show and take the guests out to The Groucho Club and it would end up really messy. I would sometimes even do the show without going to bed the night before.

I remember once I hadn't been to bed for a few days and when I came into the studio, Lorraine Kelly chased me around and spanked me over the desk with a wooden spoon. At that point I didn't know if I was dreaming, or if that was real, but I knew I needed to go to bed.

Another time I was out at a party, and someone had to come and get me and bring me in. Weirdly, they went quite well, those shows.

Now I've got two children, it's more like a cup of tea and then home.

Which of your fellow panellists do you have the most rivalry with?

I like taking the piss out of Greg, but me and Jamali aren't that bothered about winning. We're not adverse to cheating but to be honest we never win so it doesn't make a difference. I feel like we've only won once throughout the whole three series! The downfall is down to us both.

Which panellist is the cheekiest?

I wouldn't describe anyone as cheeky, so maybe that means I am. Greg's quite cheeky, he makes it quite jovial and fun. Daisy is the most ridiculous, and I mean that as a compliment, because she says things you would never think of saying and does things that you can't believe your eyes are seeing. Jamali is absolutely vicious, he can destroy people. He is the most troublesome because he absolutely annihilates the identity parade line-up but that's his thing, he's like a viper. He just sits back and bang.

Who has the best banter?

Me and Greg have quite good banter because we've known each other for quite a long time. We did stand-up together so we're old mates. I love working with Jamali, we're like the double act that no one knew they needed in a bad cop movie.

Who on the panel causes the most chaos?

Daisy. She is chaos. She dresses amazingly though and has been killing it with some amazing dresses and looks.

If you and your fellow panellists were in band, what would that band be called and who would be the lead singer?

Oh Jesus Christ. I'd have to be the lead singer, wouldn't I? Greg on drums. I feel like Jamali wouldn't turn up, he couldn't be fucked, but if he was there, he'd be on bass. I'd have to be pulling some shapes at the front although Daisy could also do that.

If you were in a band, which other celebrities or musicians would you want to play alongside?

I used to be in a band with Serge from Kasabian called Loose Tapestries. We never performed live, but I would've liked to. It was mostly TV soundtrack stuff.

I was also the lead singer in couple of bands years ago, around the same time I started comedy, which were called Smee and Slam Icabod.

I've also done some things with Razorlight. I did a gig at The Royal Albert Hall and Jonny Burrell came on. What was good about making The Mighty Boosh, was that Julian [Barratt] and I could make different types of music but when you're in a band you have to choose one genre. We could do surf rock, electro, funk, and jazz because it was a comedy show.

Who would be your dream Glastonbury headliner?

Elvis would be good, I love Elvis. The Beatles would be good, but don't tell Jamali I said that. Black Sabbath or Jimi Hendrix would be amazing. The Doors as well.

I used to go on stage with Kasabian dressed as Vlad the Impaler and dance around like Bez, a vampire Bez, and one time I went on at Glastonbury. Dolly Parton was on before them, so we chatted for about half an hour, and she complimented my outfit. There must be a picture of us somewhere.

What's your favourite album of all time?

That's a hard one. I'm going to have to say Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones. My mum and dad are full rock and rollers, so I grew up on Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, The Doors, The Stones, The Kinks and Black Sabbath. I like the Beastie Boys too.

When we did The Mighty Boosh we were quite into the Wu Tang Clan and Kool Keith. Lots of rap. Beck was quite big then too. Iggy Pop, The Peaches, Joni Mitchell. I like folk, I like everything.

First gig?

It was probably Status Quo or David Bowie with my parents. It was a good start. I remember seeing Oasis before they had an album out. When I was in college it was the likes of Blur, Pulp, Oasis, and Supergrass. When we got famous as The Boosh, we were hanging out with The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The White Stripes. Then it all went a bit pop.

No disrespect to pop but it's not my thing, X Factor and all that shit. I feel slightly sorry for the kids. Not that I don't love pop - I love ABBA, I love The Bee Gees and Britney Spears. I love bands though, there's something quite magical about bands.

Five of us would perform as The Boosh - if it went well, we could go and celebrate together, and it would be us against the world. You want to like a band when you're young, don't you? Someone that's a little bit rebellious.

#Noel Fielding #interview

[kithtaehyung]

racchanel (m) (teaser) | kth

but the thing about vengeance is...

title: racchanel (m) | ⟶ small teaser for tae day 2022! pairing: fashion ceo!taehyung x ex-photographer!reader rating/genre: m (18+) ; angst , smut ; fashion au , ? to lovers summary: you were shut out from the industry before. so when an ex-classmate surprises you with another way in, you have no choice but to accept. determined to destroy the one that took everything, you’ll do whatever it takes - even if that means starting over and knowing nothing. warnings: none for teaser except taehyung being.. well, tae. full list will include explicit scenes, angst but are we shocked?, language, revenge, sexual themes, angst, this tae in general tbh, did i mention angst?, warnings will be posted with each chapter. note: so this is the secret wip that i had been holding onto for the entire year!! hope you all enjoy the snippet i have prepared for tae day 2022 because it’s but a taste of what’s to come. definitely one of the pieces i’m super excited to release in 2023! note 2: this teaser drops you in the middle of the first part! teaser word count: 2.3k | est. word count: 100k  est. drop date: ongoing series in 2023! 18+ taglist link: HERE

-

-

The trek to the front entrance remains uneventful. 

Respecting Taehyung’s space, you release your arm from his suit just as the elevator kisses the ground floor. You don’t want anyone starting rumors about you messing around with the CEO before you even launch your career here. 

Career. 

Quite a bold word for you to throw around already. After all, the contract Taehyung offered is only temporary, not to mention strapped with an early termination clause. 

Essentially, you could be dropped at any point without so much as a warning. 

And you don’t expect anything less brutal than that.

When you pass reception, you spare the boys from earlier a glance—much against your better judgment. 

They promptly avert their gazes. Typical. 

A huff leaves you before your eyes focus back on the glass doors. 

“What did you do to them,” your ex-classmate questions before the panels slide open. 

“They were incredibly rude, Taehyung,” you inform, trailing behind and struggling to keep up with his strides. “I just told them to think about how they represented this company. You never know who’ll be walking through those doors.”

The man abruptly stops in front of you, causing you to physically halt on a tiptoe to save yourself from smacking into his back. Swiftly, you find your balance right as he pins you with… a leer?

“I don’t remember you being this nice,” is all he has to say. 

“Ah, well, nice is relative.” You look off into the property gardens, not wanting to face those feline eyes a second longer. “I don’t think your employees would exactly call me a saint.” 

A rueful laugh pops out of your chest, and you turn to look Taehyung dead in the eye. 

“And besides, we went to art school. When was anyone ever nice without some hidden motive?” 

Your former classmate can only blink. 

And blink again. 

“...We’re all screwed up in the head, aren’t we?” 

You offer him a tight smile in agreement before peering off again, taking in the immaculate way everything is laid out in front of Racchanel’s headquarters. 

The gardens could be an exhibition of their own. 

“Undoubtedly,” you finally respond. “But at least you made something of yourself. Most of us are starving artists, or bartenders at jazz joints.” 

The breeze cuts right through your sweats. Quickly slipping on your hood, you wonder if Taehyung really doesn’t care about being seen with you looking like this. His single spritz of cologne probably costs more than everything you’re wearing combined. 

You should head out now.

In the distance, you spot a long black limo rolling up to the sidewalk. 

“I think that’s you, Mr. CEO.” 

Taehyung looks at you a beat longer before turning to see his ride. 

When you expect him to leave without a goodbye, you stand there in confusion when he doesn’t budge. 

What’s he doing? There’s no way he’s not already late for that appearance. 

“Tae—”

Huh? Why’s he looking at you like that? 

…What storm do you see brewing on his horizon?

“Come with me.” 

“What?”

Immediately, your brows furrow impossibly close as he repeats himself,

“To the press conference. Come with me.” 

“I look like a hot pile of garbage—”

“It’s fine—”

“No. No way. Find someone else—”

“I don’t have anyone else.”

You still.

“At least,” he weakly clarifies. “Not right now.”

Before you can wholeheartedly shut him down a final time, you take in his appearance—actually take it all in. 

You aren’t in a dimly lit bar, or frantically thinking your contract offer was a mistake, so you’re finally seeing him with a clear head. 

And what you see is frankly alarming. 

Used to seeing this man radiating confidence on anything from cereal boxes to billboards across the globe, you’re suddenly dialed into the changes in his demeanor. Taehyung’s shoulders droop just enough, the spaces under his lashes hollow just enough. 

Why didn’t you see any of this before?

Reddened eyes from the bar on Christmas Eve come back to you, causing your mountain of excuses to crumble. 

He’s obviously under a lot of pressure from the recent changes in his life. And while change for you means a temporary six-month modeling contract, change to Taehyung means inheriting a multi-million dollar company—seemingly by himself. 

There’s nothing else but a desk. In his entire office.

He may feel… So alone. 

You remember that feeling. Loneliness. It’s dark, and cold, and in the end, you have to pull yourself out of its clutches all on your own. 

Maybe Taehyung can benefit from an extra set of hands. 

“Okay,” you agree, startling him out of a stupor. “I’ll go with you. I can hang in the back, or a hallway, or something.” 

A little flame flickers to life in his eyes as he offers a close-lipped smile. 

“Thank you,” is all he says in return. 

And you don’t make him say anything more than that. 

“Shit.” 

You stop playing with the leather surface of the space next to you. “What.”

It’s been like this the whole ride. Even though Taehyung begged you to accompany him, as soon as you were both settled in the back of the limousine, he seemed to be regretting the impulsive choice. 

As if the multiple times he rakes a hand through his hair aren’t enough of an indication, his chin rubs add on to your own anxiousness. 

He’s clearly uncomfortable with something. But what the hell is up?

Now his nerves seem to jump out in the form of another curse instead of clarification. Which annoys the heck out of you. 

“Taehyung, what’s wrong?” 

The man still doesn’t reply, let alone look your way. 

Maybe he’s not answering because the answer is way too obvious. 

Arriving at a press conference with some random woman in a bunny hoodie and sweats? Yeah. That would make any self-respecting person in fashion shake in their Chelsea boots.

This was a mistake.

What was he thinking? What were you thinking!

The trip to Racchanel was supposed to be a one and done! Tell Taehyung he made an error in the applications, have him verify it, and make your escape. 

But ending up in a limo on the way to a media event? You wouldn’t have been able to write this outcome if you tried. 

Sparing another glance at Taehyung, you realize he’s starting to get downright antsy. 

So you offer to help. “Hey. If you don’t want to be seen with me, I get it. Tell your driver to pull over before we get there and I can get out—” 

“Stop,” Taehyung bites, his expression hard. “Just…” He lowers his head in between his legs, large, ring-studded hands shielding the top of it from the world. His houndstooth coat cascades down his sides, and you want to save him from drowning in those black and white waterfalls. 

You didn’t really hang with him in university, but you always remembered him as the guy that didn’t have to try hard to succeed. He was never under any pressure, academically. 

Really, the only time you remember seeing him upset was when he went through a breakup one year. Kim Taehyung apparently held a grudge as well as he held a pose. 

Reaching out, you lay a hand on his shoulder. After his initial tense, he doesn’t shake you off, so you comfort the model superstar the only way you can think of. 

Tiny circles. Comforting, warm, tiny circles. 

You don’t know if they will work. But it’s something.

Slowly, Taehyung comes back to life like a plant sprouting from a seed. You retract your arm as he straightens against his seat, watching as he rolls his shoulders and tilts his head to stretch. 

From this close, you get to see the skin of his neck. 

And wonder how even that part of him is beautiful.

Turning to you, he scoots closer to tug your hood off in a rush. 

What—

“Shh,” he hushes, proceeding to fix your head to the best of his ability. 

Your eyes roam his face as you stare in shock, wondering why the hell he’s committing to having you here and why he’s styling you himself. 

When was the last time someone else even touched your head? This determined yet this tender, at that? You can’t believe this is happening.

Never mind that. You can’t believe you’re here with him at all. His famous fingers sliding through your strands; his perfect eyelashes brushing his cheeks with every solid blink of his eyes. 

While he’s trying to salvage the mess that’s your head, his hair’s appropriately slicked with just the right amount of product and flawless styling—

That’s when you realize. 

Oh, fuck. 

Taehyung’s getting you ready for the onslaught of cameras. 

Shit, shit shit. 

Being judged by two cowardly receptionists is one thing. But being judged, photographed, and written about by a swath of Kim Taehyung paparazzi?

That’s a thousand times worse. 

Barefaced and carrying evidence of the sleepless night you had yesterday, you’re suddenly grossly self-conscious about your entire appearance. 

The gap between your statuses, experience, and overall lifestyle suddenly resembles a canyon. One so wide you can’t even see him on the other side. 

Taehyung’s right there. 

And yet you feel the furthest you’ve ever felt. 

There’s no way you belong in his world. 

What the fuck are you even doing here? 

“Taehyung,” you hiccup, quickly interrupted by the shouts of people outside as the limo approaches the conference building. Rattling erupts and rings from inside your skin, and you stare back at him with equally trembling eyes. “I can’t do this—”

“You can.” 

“Please—”

Unfazed, he simply asks, 

“Do you trust me?” 

“Yes.” 

Why did you say that so confidently? Why was that so easy to decide?

Do you really?

“Of course you do,” he sighs before pulling you in for a forehead kiss that catapults your heart into your throat. 

But you don’t get to question it before your hood is tugged over your head, dark sunglasses shoved onto your face right as camera flashes and jumbled yells spill into the opened car door.

People. Hands. Phones. Multiple camera snaps and lights and voices bombard your senses, and you’re grateful for the shades over your eyes as you hoist yourself out of the vehicle. 

Taehyung exits right after and blazes a trail for you to walk. 

“Excuse me, miss—”

“Who is she?”

“Taehyung, who is the mystery girl!” 

Through the whirlwind of paparazzi, your thoughts only convene on the cold spot where he kissed you. The freezing wind only makes it more prominent, and you barely even register that you’re walking by yourself as you follow right after him.

It’s only after you get through the heavy doors that your surroundings snap back into focus. 

Wait. What?

How long were you out in the crowd? How did you even get here in one piece? 

The sounds outside muffle as the entrance bangs shut, and you let out a breath you didn’t know you were hiding.

“This way,” Taehyung directs to both you and the security detail that materializes behind you, striding heavily to the right. 

When did these guys…?

Whoa.

You have no clue where you are, but you are miles away from your apartment block. 

Taking in the expansive building, you see that it’s a true conference center, with a grand, open lobby and square footage for days. The right wing looks to house large event rooms, judging by its wide hall and the multiple sets of towering double-doors. 

Scampering after Taehyung, you make sure to stay behind but as close as possible. 

Which makes you almost collide when he stops on a dime. Again. 

You have got to stop walking behind him. 

Face scrunched in annoyance, you’re about to tell the man off—security be damned—before he blurts,

“When we get in there, just relax and follow my lead, okay?”

“Oh, I can wait out here,” you reply, more than happy to leave him to the masses now that you’ve got a taste of them outside. “I don’t mind.” 

Hands set in his trousers, Taehyung peers down at the floor before regarding you with what looks like… 

An apology. 

There’s dread in your veins.

“I wasn’t planning on putting you through a press conference this soon, but you can do this.” 

And it seeps right into your bones. 

“What?” 

His palms land on your shoulders before you can flee. 

“Look. The Board isn’t giving me a lot of time to introduce Astral, even though I told them that’s the only thing I need right now. I just…” Running a hand through his hair, Taehyung looks years older and yet years younger all the same. “I need a familiar face.” 

Hell no. 

There’s no way you can do this. 

Going with him and braving the paparazzi was horrid enough. But a press conference? 

What the fuck are you supposed to say? You aren’t even dressed.

“Taehyung. Look at me.” You gesture to your entire wreck of an ensemble, fingers trembling. “I’m gonna make Racchanel look like a fucking joke.” 

“I don’t care. This new project is going to work.” 

What? How is this possibly going to work? What single thing about this is gonna go well?

Has he lost his mind? 

“What do you mean?”

Instead of responding to your question, Taehyung only gives directions, 

“When we go in there, just keep your face neutral and your back and neck straight. If anyone asks you a question, just say you’re grateful for this opportunity. Understand?”

“Tae—”

“I’ll owe you.” 

You clamp your jaw shut, eyes unblinking as you drink in your former classmate’s entire expression. 

“I’ll owe you. Big.” He breathes in deep before looking at the doors, then back to you. “Just do this one thing. For me.”

What is he thinking?

You pause for eternity before closing your eyes, wondering if he can even see how uncertain they are behind your dark shades. 

“Fine. I will.”

What are you thinking?

“That’s a good girl,” he sighs in relief, embracing you fully before planting another quick peck on your temple. As he pulls away, your hand is clutched before you’re led right up to a set of imposing doors.

To give a press conference.

What are either of you even remotely thinking?

-

-

-

tbc. :) 

-

how do we feel! | taglist + extra optional teaser

a/n: ahhhh it may not make much sense now since this is dropping everyone in the middle of the first part, but i wanted there to be some mystery to everything that’s about to happen! hope you’re all ready to see what’s on the horizon for this tae and reader<33

other links: masterlist | permanent taglist (i check each entry so have your age displayed somewhere in your profile!)

#ahhhh wanted to get something out for today! #hope you enjoy :D #bts #taehyung #bts fic #bts imagines #bts reactions #taehyung fic #bts fanfic #taehyung x you #bangtanarmynet #*latest #ryenwrites #racchanel #*ryenfictalk #happytaeday22! #taehyung smut #taehyung angst

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Weeks in Review (July 16-29, 2023)

Legendary announced a pair of Monsterverse comics during a panel at San Diego Comic Con. They've said nothing further since, and no one posted the panel online, so I have less to tell you than I'd like. Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted is the obligatory prequel comic for the film. From the pages they showed off, it looks like Zid has art duties again (well-deserved) and the monsters that Kong is fighting could be the "swamp kitt[ies]" cut from Godzilla vs. Kong. Release date is February 27. Monsterverse Declassified is going to spotlight some of the series' original monsters, with the previews showing Behemoth, Amhuluk, and Tiamat. (Supposedly Scylla, Doug, and the previously-unseen Abaddon will be in it too.)

Toho is finally letting Togen's 4K scans of some of its Godzilla films out of satellite TV jail as tie-ins to Godzilla Minus One. Godzilla (1954) and Mothra vs. Godzilla are coming to 4K Ultra HD on October 25, with Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster, Invasion of Astro-Monster, and Destroy All Monsters on November 22 and Godzilla vs. Hedorah and Godzilla vs. Biollante. Expect them to be as English-unfriendly as Toho's other releases - but a vague promise of "unused special effects footage", combined with some very crisp-looking photos in a recent book, means there's a chance the Frontier Missile sequence from Godzilla vs. The Thing will be included with Mothra vs. Godzilla. That'd be a godsend, considering how elusive an uncropped, uncut, high-quality version of the scene has proven to be.

These releases will easily be the best Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah, Astro-Monster, and Biollante have ever looked on home video. But with Togen shutting down, it's unclear when the rest of the pre-Shin films in the series will get upgrades. (It's also unclear when Toho will permit anyone outside Japan to use these versions for streaming or home video.) So this announcement feels bittersweet to me.

We have a release date for GAMERA -Rebirth- (September 7), a second trailer, and a reveal for the final monster: Viras! As @starestream pointed out, there's a lot of Legion in that design (along with Iris in Zigra). And as Maser Patrol pointed out, this is the same enemy kaiju lineup that Trendmasters chose for its toyline back in 1998. Poor Barugon, no one wants to taste the rainbow (and it probably hurts that he's so visually similar to Jiger too). To be honest, this trailer didn't do much for me; a bit too chaotic. Hopefully it'll be easier to tell what's happening in the show proper.

Bandai, of course, has readied Movie Monster Series figures of Viras, Zigra, and Guiron already. We're also getting a prequel manga set 100,000 years before the show.

Decades after his rampage through the Marvel Universe, Godzilla is barging into the world of DC (where he'll finally meet Batman). Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong is a seven-issue limited series launching October 17, written by Brian Buccellato (who also penned the short "Fight or Flight" comic that will be included in Legends of the Monsterverse: The Omnibus later this year) with art by Christian Duce. The inciting incident is a battle between the Justice League and the Legion of Doom, which tears a hole in reality to let the Monsterverse through.

I'll confess, I was more jazzed for last year's Power Rangers crossover, thanks to the tokusatsu link. This could just be more of Warner Bros. Discovery bashing its toys together. I'm most curious to see if the Legion of Doom makes a bid to conquer the Monsterverse, which with Godzilla and Kong out of the picture is far less prepared for them than the DC universe is for a couple of giant monsters. Superman beats them all, as Ken Yano once said.

Hiya is stepping further out of S.H.Monsterarts' shadow with a figure of the female MUTO, a character long neglected by toymakers. They showed her off at San Diego Comic Con. Playmates meanwhile releases an ad for Titan Tech Rodan - I'm glad they're not giving up on this delightful subline.

Summer Smash concludes IDW's middle-grade Monsters and Protectors storyline, which has spanned the entirety of their second go-round with Godzilla. You can tell it was supposed to be another miniseries; Godzilla, Jet Jaguar, and Mothra send Mecha-King Ghidorah and the Xiliens packing pretty quickly. Art's still great though.

Godzilla Rivals will persist into October with Vs. Mechagodzilla, the magnificent machine being the last of the Toho's Big Five to headline one of these comics. The intriguing logline:

IS YOUR CITY BESIEGED BY KAIJU? DO YOU LIE AWAKE AT NIGHT ANXIOUSLY LISTENING FOR THE MONSTER SIRENS? HAVE YOU HAD ALL YOU CAN TAKE OF GIANT LIZARDS, MOTHS, PTERODACTYLS, AND SHRIMP? THEN CALL TRACER TECH TODAY! OUR STATE-OF-THE-ART ANTI-KAIJU TECHNOLOGY HAS ALLOWED DOZENS OF CITIES AROUND THE WORLD TO FEND OFF THE THREAT OF MONSTER ATTACK. San Palomar, California. It’s a sleepy city with not much going on. That is, until Tracer Tech built their new corporate headquarters there, displacing lifelong citizens and forcing out local businesses. But what is the source of Tracer’s amazing, almost alien technology, and why has it put San Palomar in Godzilla’s sights? And what can a couple of local kids like Alex and Jaz do to protect their city when the King of the Monsters and its robot doppelgänger clash?

SRS Cinema has opened preorders for The Whale God, revealing this cover art by Bob Eggleton. Special features aren't anything spectacular (they're vaguely described, but I think a couple of essays are included, plus the obligatory trailers). Should be out by the end of the year.

The disc replacement program for Cleopatra Entertainment's misbegotten Shin Ultraman releases has resulted in an only marginally better product. The opening montage has subtitles now... but like the rest of the movie, they're just copied from the English dub. Dubtitles in 2023... and for a film that already has a perfectly good official English translation, no less. Oh, and they threw in some new visual glitches too. If your local library picks up a copy, I recommend telling them about the disc replacement program (as I've done), but don't give these clowns your money.

#kaiju week in review #godzilla #idw #the whale god #gamera rebirth #dc #capes