#they're kinds trying to make her more likable and i can see that

[childofsquidward]

I don't hate Candice, but are we sure letting her move in is the best course of action??

#superman and lois #superman and lois spoilers #she seems fine #they're kinds trying to make her more likable and i can see that #but i don't really care #i care less about her than the cushings #THE CUSHINGS #diya rambles

[justmenoworries]

some unorganized thoughts about Vox and Valentino Hazbin Hotel

Spoilers For Hazbin Hotel episode 2

TW: Discussions and depictions of abusive relationships, sexual assault, extortion and financial abuse

So going by the promo material shown to us, a lot of fans seem to think that Vivzie has changed course on VoxVal and that it's going to be a much more healthy relationship than previously implied.

Not gonna lie, that disappoints me.

Because depicting an abusive romantic relationship with an imperfect and unexpected victim would have been extremely interesting. We already know Valentino is a piece of shit who doesn't care about anything but himself and profit.

The "Addict" music video and the prequel comic "Dirty Healings" make that very clear.

Valentino regularly assaults Angel, keeps Angel's earnings for himself and tries to keep Angel in the studio as long as possible, even getting angry when Angel goes out by himself. Even if it's to get money for Val.

And for all of his faults, it's very easy for the viewer to feel sympathy for Angel. Angel is a likable character who's been shown to have a much kinder side to him via his friendship with Cherry and him trying to comfort Charlie in the pilot after her pitch for the Happy Hotel flops.

Vox though?

Vox is slated to be a main antagonist. He's a fellow Overlord of Hell. Someone for whom it'd be much harder to believe that he'd let anyone treat him like Valentino treats Angel.

And yet...

To be fair, this artwork is from the in-character Instagram accounts, which were already confirmed as non-canonical. (The accounts themselves are sadly archived now due to some really messed up stuff that happened with the Octavia and Stolas accounts.)

Still, depicting Vox as one of Valentino's victims would have been pretty intriguing. It shows that this kind of thing can happen to anyone, no matter the gender or financial or social situation. It would also acknowledge that just because someone is a victim of abuse doesn't mean they're pure, innocent or weak. And that no matter the circumstances, no one deserves to be treated like Valentino treats Vox and Angel.

I'm honestly hoping that this aspect of the VoxVal relationship isn't entirely gone and I kinda think it isn't.

In episode 2 we see right off the bat that Vox doesn't really like Valentino. And it's easy to see why.

Valentino is a spoiled angry manchild with no self control. He needs Velvette and Vox to reign him in, otherwise he's going to do stupid shit like waltz up to the princess of Hell's doorstep with a gun in hand. Because he can't handle the idea that one of his employees is living somewhere he didn't approve.

If Vox hadn't stopped him and talked him out of it, Val would have gotten the VVVs into some serious shit. His violent streaks can also not be talked down completely, they need to be satisfied somehow. Vox needs to offer Val the lowest earners to shoot at and work out his aggression on or Val's going to continue to go on a rampage and most likely tear apart more of Velvette's models.

Speaking frankly, Valentino seems way more trouble than he's worth. Vox and Velvette appear to be doing all the work in their shared empire while Val just throws tantrums and forces them to go out of their way to calm him down.

So if that's the case, why do the other Vs puts up with Val?

In Alastor's and Vox' duet in episode 2, Alastor has this very interesting thing to say about Vox and his relationship to Valentino and Velvette:

"Is Vox as strong as he purports? Or is it based on his support? He'd be powerless without the other Vs."

What's also interesting is Val's and Velvette's reaction to it.

They're smiling. Like they agree.

Alastor also reveals that Vox was trying to get Alastor to join the Vs. Alastor declined.

Vox of course tries to deny all of that, but in the process gets so worked up he short-circuits himself and causes a city-wide blackout.

If Alastor is telling the truth here (and we don't really have a reason to believe he isn't), that puts everything in a whole new light.

Vox is he brains of the operation but is he also the only thing that's keeping it together? Val and Velvette don't really get along (Velvette insults Val behind his back, Val rips apart her models when he's angry) and both don't seem to respect Vox that much. Velvette lets him deal with Val's bad moods, Val doesn't hesitate to throw stuff at Vox when he's pissed (the fact that Vox nonchalantly dodges the glass Valentino throws at him implies this is not the first time). They both have a look of disdain on their faces when Vox hugs them during "Status Quo".

So why does Vox go to all this trouble to keep these two assholes in line if he doesn't really care for them and they in turn have no love for him?

Maybe for business reasons, but Vox already has a giant multi-media empire, right? So again, what does he need the other Vs for?

I think it has to do with Vox's need to be admired and liked and at the top.

See, another thing this episode tells us about Vox is that he's deeply, deeply, insecure.

He has a dozen different programs where he changes his outfits, approach and demeanor to cater to every single sinner possible, he throws out new business ideas on the fly so he'll always be the newest trend everyone follows. If something (or someone) comes up that cracks his cool confident businessman facade even a little he can't handle it and literally breaks down.

Really, Alastor puts it best:

"Is Vox insecure? Pursuing allure? Between this fad and that, is nothing working? Every day he's got a new format."

So Vox doesn't just want to be powerful and popular, he wants to be the most powerful and the most popular and his shows alone aren't going to cut it for that.

That's why he needs Velvette and Valentino. They provide the content that draws the viewers Vox so desperately craves. Without them he'd be all on his own, might lose large chunks of his viewership. And that's something I think Vox is deeply afraid of.

So no matter how little he might actually like them, regardless how shitty Valentino treats him, Vox needs these two. In his view at least, he can't afford to lose them.

#hazbin hotel #voxval #staticmoth #hazbin vox #hazbin valentino #tw rape mention #tw abuse #tw rape #hazbin hotel theory

[antianakin]

If you were in charge of the Star Wars Prequels how would you have written Anakin? (assuming the only thing you can't do is erase him from canon :P)

Would you learn into Anakin's evilness or try to make him more sympathetic?

Honestly? I don't have THAT much of an issue with Anakin's general characterization in the Prequel Trilogy. I think for the most part that Anakin is a really interesting character in the Prequels and pretty unique as far as villain origin stories and action heroes of the time tended to be written. The focus on Anakin as FEARFUL, as someone who CRIES a lot and is AWKWARD and honestly not suave or smooth AT ALL (unless he's giving himself over to darkness, generally) is actually a really interestingly novel choice to go for. And that unique aspect of him is, arguably, why Anakin was so despised in the Prequels for being "whiny" and "annoying" and people really did not vibe with this weird awkward dude as proto-Vader. Obi-Wan as the much more competent, smooth, suave character with all of the snarky one-liners comes off looking much better in comparison. Same with Padme, usually.

So I wouldn't actually change the CORE of Anakin, the journey he goes on and the way his vices tend to be shown. TCW has already done that, they've just replaced Anakin's less likable characteristics with Obi-Wan's much more affable personality. They gave him snarky one-liners, he's now suave and smooth and charming, etc. It's annoying and it's boring.

But there are two things that don't work for me that I WOULD change if I were capable of going back in time and influencing Lucas's mind towards certain rewrites.

One is that I would make his romance with Padme more believable. The problem with the romance in AOTC for me is that you can completely believe that Anakin would be into Padme, but it feels a lot more difficult to understand why Padme is into Anakin in return. Especially after he murders an entire village of people down to the last child (we'll come back to this one). So we need to be told more WHY Padme is so into him when he is this weird, awkward, whiny manchild. Like, sure, he's pretty, but being pretty isn't enough to explain why Padme is willing to jeopardize her entire career to marry him by the end of the film.

So Padme either needs to be more corrupt, more angry herself, more connected to this part of Anakin that desires power, or they need to show us a better genuine connection. One of the things from the extended/deleted scenes from AOTC that I think could've helped with this is the bits where Padme mentions she had thought she'd be a wife and a mother by now and we see how close she is to her own family when she takes Anakin there. We know how close Anakin was to his mother and I think it would've been REALLY easy to use that as an easy connection. You could even help along the next movie by having Anakin mention that when he was a kid, he'd always sort-of wanted a big family. He didn't HATE that it was just him and his mom obviously, but it had been a sort of dream of his that one day they'd be free and he'd find a beautiful wife and have a big family for Shmi to dote on later in life. This gives Anakin and Padme a shared dream that neither of them is allowed to pursue due to their chosen careers. They've both sacrificed a desire for a family in favor of duty to the galaxy so when they get together later, you can kind-of understand why. No one else gets it but each other, etc.

The second thing I would change is the Tusken Massacre. I think that going as far as completely massacring the entire village is too far too soon. This is something that works only if you as the viewer don't truly see the Tuskens as equal to humans like Shmi or a people like the Jedi. The Tuskens aren't QUITE animals maybe, but they're also just savages who torture innocent women to death, so their deaths aren't sad for THEIR sake, the massacre is sad because of what it represents for Anakin - it's the beginning of the end. And obviously from a modern viewpoint, this really doesn't work anymore, especially with the way the Tuskens are being written these days. It also feels a little redundant with Order 66. It's not as impactful that he murders Jedi children when we already saw him murder Tusken children in the last movie. Baby murder is baby murder, there's no escalation in the evil he commits aside from sheer numbers I guess.

So I would probably have Anakin either choose to just leave the village quietly without killing anyone, or have him stop at just the guards/men and leave the women/children alive and either way he admits to Padme that he WANTED to kill them all and only just barely stopped himself. This also helps the romance aspect in that now you don't have to figure out why Padme is super chill with marrying a MASS BABY MURDERER and her moral code is a lot less gray. If he only killed the people who attacked him in the village or didn't kill anyone at all but just WANTED to, then you can dismiss it a lot easier. The rage is sympathetic and understandable and relatable, but Anakin is still mostly in control of himself. Padme can say that she's felt the same rage and not acted on it, so Anakin is the same. She can insist he would never murder Jedi younglings to Obi-Wan in the next film without sounding like an idiotic hypocrite.

(There's obviously a LOT of other issues with the Tusken Massacre in terms of how the Tuskens are written and presented in this film that could be rewritten to be a lot better and make the Tuskens more sympathetic, etc etc, but that's not really what you're asking me about and I'm not necessarily the right person to speak to that anyway.)

#star wars #attack of the clones #padme amidala #anti anakin #anti anakin skywalker #anakin critical #anakin skywalker critical #tusken massacre #anti anidala #anidala critical

[sideblog-usernametaken]

Something I haven't seen anyone talk about with the most recent chapter of Undead Unluck (Chapter 196) is Fuuko's eyes.

So at the beginning of the chapter her eyes are drawn normally with normal shading as you can see in the compilation below:

Then she sees Beast eating the soul of the octopus, and her eyes are still fairly normal

But shortly after this panel her eyes gain shading motif used for souls.

You can even see it in the panel that's zoomed out, this isn't a one time thing either it continues to the end of the chapter.

Now the question here is what does this mean? At first I assumed it was just a visual representation of Fuuko's ability to see souls, but then I remembered that being able to see souls is supposedly a default Negator ability. Back when Ichio was learning how to astral project she basically says as much (i.e. "Oh! [Nico] can't see me because he's not a negator!") and on top of that everyone at the Round Table was able to see Fuuko's ghost in the previous loop, and Rip was able to see Andy when he was astral projecting in the previous loop.

(Tangential side note here: Everything about Negation abilities makes so much more sense with this chapter's explanation that every Rule is using Soul has a starting point for their abilities. It was already estabilished that Negation abilities are tied to the soul of a Negator, but it's never explained how or why this is the case. But with this chapter it shows that it's basically impossible to negate a Rule without the use of a soul because any given Rule's ability is based on the effects of its soul, and we know from the previous loop that the only thing that can directly affect a soul is another soul. So why can all Negators see souls? Why can seemingly any Negator astral project if they try hard enough? Why can Negators manipulate their own souls with ease [Changing appearance subconsciously, Fuuko just imbuing a sword with her soul like it's no big deal, etc]? Because what separates Negators from non-Negators is their soul has effects that they're constantly using subconsciously, so any other soul related ability becomes a matter of if they are aware of their own soul or not. This kind of also extends to the whole thing with UMAs and altering memories, since cannonically memories are stored in the soul [Andy can think without his brain and in this chapter they explicitly say that souls contain memories]. So protecting their memories is likely a subconscious soul ability for negators, like how they can change their appearance in soul form. It's one of those revelations that retroactively explains a lot that you don't even really think about)

I think what the significance the eye change is supposed to show here is that Fuuko can now see the effects of a soul and not just the soul itself. Remember her eyes were normal when the octopus soul was getting eaten, but once she started channeling her own soul into a sword and cutting soul chains with it her eyes changed. What's really interesting here is that cutting those soul chains effectively negates part of Beast's abilities, he can't really have allies now and in theory this is how Unbeast would work if anyone had that Negation ability.

Even more interesting is the amount of Unluck that got loaded into that whale at the end of the chapter. It (presumably) got hit with a meteorite and that kind of unluck has only happened to people Fuuko deeply cares about in the past. So it seems by using her soul she can bypass the most restrictive part of Unluck by removing likability from the equation, which is going to be huge in their fight against Sun. This also begs the question. If Fuuko can now consciously use her soul to increase the amount of unluck imparted into a target regardless of amount of physical contact or likeability, can she decrease it? Does she now have full control over her soul's effects? Will she be able to touch people without hitting them with Unluck? Will she be able to teach other Negators how to have full control over the effects of their souls too?

To be honest, that last part does feel a bit reaching, and all in all this entire post might be rendered useless with whatever else we see in the next chapter. But this is all really exciting.

#undead unluck spoilers #uu spoilers #undead unluck #undead unluck chapter 196 #long post

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

so.... I just finished my first read through of Clementine Book Two and... spoilers below the cut, but what the hell did I just read?

I don't even know what rating I'd give this honestly?? It was certainly more enjoyable than Book One but probably not for the reasons intended..... 2/5 stars for now?? I think?

I guess my feelings about this second installment are... it feels like a very big missed opportunity.

The art style is significantly improved though the characters do still sometimes look like potatoes, but the environments? Lovely. Really makes me wish this was done in color but alas, the walking dead is allergic to color.

The story goes that Clementine, Ricca, Olivia, and their pet cat Dr Barnaby ended up crashing the plane in Canada... because if you'll recall from Book One, they all escaped in a plane after Georgia decided to be evil and murder Amos, then tried to murder everyone else.

So they're in Canada, and Clementine's leg got so infected due to lack of proper cleaning that she goes into a coma for a month... no really, she goes into a coma. But it's okay, because Ricca and Olivia manage to flag down a boat to help them. Clementine wakes up on this island, we're introduced to a whole new cast of characters, we see how the island works, all that.

I like the Island group. They're not as likable as the Ericson crew, or any of the groups from the games. But we've got:

Miss Morro: the "doctor" of the island

Emi: She saved them and brought them to the island.

John: Miss Morro's son

Amir: A kid who lost his arm because his father didn't believe him when he said a dog bit him and he was too little to fight getting it cut off. Also one of my favorites.

Shu-Fen: she's probably the most interesting of the new cast. She and her family were on vacation here on the island when the outbreak occurred, and since she's originally from Taiwan, she's slowly trying to piece together a map to see if it's possible to ever make it back home.

Ginette and Giles: elderly couple who only speak French.

Mercy: a little girl that Ginette and Giles take care of.

There's a lot more focus on emotional drama and trauma, which I don't mind, especially since we're not given any real antagonist... well, I guess the closet person to an antagonist is Miss Morro, but she's just kind of... an asshole? She's verbally and physically abusive with her son. She's petty. After Clementine and Ricca have a big fight, Miss Morro says things clearly meant to hurt Clementine, and imply that Clem's incapable of love.

Miss Morro used to be a pathologist who performed autopsies, and her whole thing is she spends all of her time in her little hut doing these autopsies on every walker the group kills, she documents everything, and then buries them. She prioritizes this over the living people of the group in a way that feels like she's trying to convince herself that she's a good person?

Honestly, I was waiting for the big reveal that she was actually doing science experiments on the walkers... but alas, that's what I mean when I say this book feels like a wasted opportunity.

But don't worry, we have more drama because guess what. No, really, take a guess at what was revealed part way through this book. Do it. Guess.

That's right, Olivia's pregnant.

Yep. Apparently she and Amos had sex in Book One, and now Olivia's pregnant.

But why, though?

Can I share my conspiracy? Imma share my conspiracy, I think Tillie's fucking with us now. I know I've said time and time again, "When you review the comic, leave Tillie out of it," but my tinfoil hat says she's getting the last laugh and honestly? .....I'm here for it, ngl. I don't have the fucks to care anymore.

Because c'mon. Another side character from Clementine's group having a baby that she'll have to help raise? If Olivia dies next book and Clem and Ricca have to raise that baby, I'm gonna laugh.

Oh my god, what if they name the baby Amos Junior...... AJ 2.0

do it, Tillie, doooo iiiiiit

what, no I'm not losing my mind shut up I am so normal about this

Anyway... Clementine even has this line of dialogue: "I've seen a baby born before, but it was so scary I blocked it out." You blocked it out??? Are we talking about Christa? or Rebecca?? If it's Rebecca, that means Clementine blocked out AJ's birth.

It's absurd, right? And Olivia is soooo uneducated about it! Clementine finds her in the lighthouse and Olivia tells her she got bit *because she felt something move inside of her*..... and then Olivia asked why it matters when she last had her period.... How the hell did she and Amos even figure out what to do, honestly.

Speaking of Amos, my hopes and dreams were crushed. He did not come back as a twist villain, he only came back as the voice of the dream sequences.

No Lee in this book, btw. Or AJ. Amos served that purpose this time and I am disappointed. I still refuse to believe he's actually dead, you gotta show me his dead body or his walker form. We still have one more book, I'm just saying. He could come back. I won't lose hope. It wouldn't be the most ridiculous thing to happen.

And I guess I should talk about Clementine and Ricca... y'know, I kept an open mind. I really did. I went into this wanting to ship it because it's pointless to go into this mad, y'know? I can't change it, there's nothing I can do about it. So I had high hopes that we would get more development on their romance and we did... it just wasn't good.

Clemricca isn't a very healthy relationship, nor is it entertaining. Clementine's fickle, Ricca's demanding. She tells Clementine that she's willing to wait for her since Clem's still hesitant about these feelings. But then they get into an argument and I just... here's the dialogue. I would show the actual pages but from what I've found, no one has actually uploaded the book yet and I don't have a means to do it myself but:

Clementine: I don't want you to think that anything is more important to me than you. Ricca: That's kind of how you made it sound. Clementine: What I meant to say was that I… I want this island to be safe for us. We can't do anything if we're dead. Ricca: What do you mean "do"? Kiss? Date? Talk about how we actually feel? The dead decide when that can happen? Clementine: … Ricca: I love you. And I'm pretty sure you love me too. But you're not making me feel loved. You're making me feel you just want to protect me or… Clementine: But I do want to protect you. It's all I ever think about. Every minute of every day. Ricca: I don't need saving, Clem. I need you to love me. And I need it to be always. It can't start and stop. Clementine: …I… Ricca, turning to leave: Oh my god, maybe this has all been in my head- Clementine: Ricca- Ricca: I get it, okay? Clementine: If I let… If I let myself… Ricca: Forget this. Clementine: You said you would wait for me! Ricca: That's not fair. You want me to wait for the impossible!? Clementine: No, I- Ricca: I'm done, Clem. Clementine: Ricca, don't go in yet, please, we can talk more- Ricca: What else is there to say?

I dunno, Ricca, what else is there to say? Because I'm speechless.

By the way, at this point they haven't even had their first kiss. They don't have that kiss until the very end of the book...... and then they have sex. I think?

Again... but why, though?

It's not explicit, nothing is shown, it's not really anything, it's just implied that it happens through dialogue and a "fade to black." I don't even know how to talk about it, and I keep questioning myself like, "IS that what's happening??" but again, it's not explicit or sexualized in any way, it just is and I don't know how I feel about it. Hopefully I can collect myself for the big review and properly discuss it because... I think I get what the story's going for with it, but I don't love that direction, y'know?

So much happens in this book that I haven't covered, like... so much happens, it's longer than Book One and there are more characters. There's a lot of bullshit, but it was honestly enjoyable for what it was until the ending... which the ending was a problem in Book One, too.

I haven't covered that big tragic ending yet, I'm saving that for my in-depth review. I don't know when that will be out, I want to read this a few more times and be thorough. If y'all have read it let me know your thoughts. I'm very interested to know what you thought of that ending, just... all of it, Chapter Seven onward.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go read a palate cleanser and to collect my thoughts.

#twdg #clementine book two #twdg clementine #y'all these comics are so far removed from the games #i'm laughing

[blackberriebrambles]

The thing that's fun about the Vees is that they're all just horrible people. Like, genuine scum-of-the-earth evil. They feed off of each other's terribleness (and idiocy) and it's just such a recipe for disaster.

Like, everyone knows that Valentino deserves fire and brimstone and everything in-between. He's a predator, he's abusive, he's violent - that is all very evident onscreen.

But Vox and Velvette are bad too! They're all toxic as fuck! It's why they all get along so well!

Vox, especially - so often he's made out to be this guy who got caught up in the wrong crowd (and to each their own! You don't have to agree with my interpretation - that's part of the fun of it!). But, as far as I see it - the man is obsessive, manipulative, unstable, and he does not care who gets hurt so long as he gets his way. He volunteers the "lowest earners" as cannon fodder for Valentino's temper tantrum, for fuck's sake. His whole thing with Alastor, as funny as it is - HUGE red flags, there. This is not a good person.

Velvette - we don't know much about her history, but we do see her onscreen as impulsive, brazen, unapologetic, and bloodthirsty. She has a very "I do what I want, fuck you" attitude, which in and of itself is not necessarily evil, but combined with her involvement with Vox and Valentino - it spells trouble. I'm excited to see more of her next season.

And I mean, the show is set in hell, and these are Overlords. It's kind of a given that they're not gonna be saints. But every so often I see a take that seems to try to soften the sharp edges so to speak, and I just. Yeah, sure. They're people - that means they're complicated and complex. They can hurt, and they can also be hurt, and sometimes it's fun to explore that. But also, I think it's really fun to let them be evil and explore that, too.

A lot of people seem to be afraid to talk about or explore toxic/abusive/morally abhorrent characters. They seem to feel the need to either justify/explain away the bad things, remove them, or very explicitly state that "Character does bad things and so I hate everything about them and also anyone who likes anything about them deserves to rot in hell" (hyperbole here, kids). It's okay to write about characters doing bad things. It doesn't hurt anyone, and it doesn't mean that you approve of what they're doing. Also, it's okay to explore characters that are morally despicable and their complexity. Evil characters aren't always evil all the time. Bad people have feelings, emotions, likes, dislikes, passions, and hobbies. Bad people can be hurt and suffer and be likable. Exploring this in fiction is not bad.

I guess the point I'm trying to make here, in a roundabout way, is write whatever the fuck you want. It doesn't hurt anyone, and if they don't like it, they don't have to read it. They're fictional characters. Go crazy.

#hazbin hotel #the vees #what started out as an attempt at character analysis veered left into 'write what you want rant' territory #i don't even know #i just think it's a shame that people seem afraid to write about certain things because they're afraid it makes them a bad person #it doesn't #that's wacky nonsense #write whatever your freaky little heart desires

[td-frog]

thoughts on dcas e7:

tom+jake+aiden

god this season is doing such a good job with jake. after last episode it'd make so much sense for him to just be jealous and upset, but instead he's genuinely trying to communicate. and literally saying "you always wanted me to do this, so i'm trying, please talk to me" is like. really good.

idk for sure but it does feel like tom's lying about the boyfriend. at the very least, not giving any more information (valid choice if it's true given they're on tv and that ruined his life in s1) makes it seem like he's lying, which sucks for jake because at this point he is doing everything right.

not really surprised that aiden's mad at jake about it given he and tom are friends and he and jake don't know each other, but it is a little disappointing given how clearly (to the audience) jake is Trying His Best

also i do kind of love that this very much could have been the end of it if it weren't for ellie intentionally fucking it up.

villains alliance

i fully forgot that alec didn't know about the letters. of course he didn't, he would absolutely have taken it seriously because he's the only person in the alliance trying to make it work. i do think it's funny that he and riya had a conversation about it without even checking if anyone was listening tho.

gabby finding out was inevitable, ever since the "ellie would've told me line" but i do feel bad for her. i'm worried this is going to backfire on tess tho, since she offered to talk to ellie first. their relationship is really sweet and it makes sense for the game to mess it up, but yeah :(

magenta team

prediction from last time: "if it's magenta team it's probably fiore, which makes me think it won't be magenta team." well i was half right!

i love fiore so much and i'm sad to see her go, but honestly i really really love what they're doing with jake here.

like the theme of his character is Trust Issues, and in s1 that was a lot more lashing out at people over tiny slights which was not the most likable trait. but now he's learned that that's not healthy and is trying to correct it, but the core issue is still there. the fear and worry at being hurt or abandoned hasn't gone away, he's just not externalizing it as much.

like i genuinely don't think ashley is wrong for hanging out with ally, not eliminating ally, not picking up on the severity of jake's anxieties, etc. in fact i think kicking ally out would've made it worse, bc what he needs more than immediate reassurance that he's her ultimate bestie is to build up resistance to the fear of abandonment- being able to experience the worry and have it turn out okay without needing ashley to do something dramatic will help demonstrate that it doesn't have to be as big of a deal as his relationship trauma is telling him.

but also i get it. and i'm not worried about ashley turning on him, but i do think he's not going to handle it well bc he needs to be liked so bad and is not having a good time.

other thoughts

yellow team took more of a backseat this episode (besides the villains alliance thing, but that was a bit more ellie focused), but yul continues to be the world's shittiest boyfriend. grett has grown so so much since s1 and it's gonna hurt so bad when this gets exposed i know it :(

#trevek confirmed ig, still kind of largely ignoring it for personal reasons.

predictions

cyan team should be high focus next episode, mainly bc of the villains thing. i think it's likely ellie will react badly to being confronted about it, and i can see it causing team tension esp with gabby. if they end up having elimination i don't really see ellie surviving at this point? mostly because tom and aiden are already biased against her and while i can see gabby sticking with her i don't think she could convince tess.

i don't think magenta will be up for elimination again, mainly because i think their current drama needs some time to marinate. ashley won't turn on jake unless he gives her a Really Good reason, and i don't see that happening in a single episode. and if they take ally out that kills the tension of jake not knowing how it'll go. so that (along with them having the smallest team) has me leaning against them.

if it's yellow, it's probably yul. riya and alec have not been subtle about their dislike, and there's no longer a non-villain option. i guess if grett hasn't figured out his act by then it could be a tie (in which case i think yulgrett would vote for riya, and yul would win the tiebreaker for narrative purposes (it not making sense for him to go home before being exposed to grett)), but it could go differently. i think it's more likely to be cyan tho.

i should note i have no idea when to expect the merge. it feels too soon right now though.

also! i don't really think tess is in danger (although as team mediator and the tiebreaker between gabellie and tomaiden, she is the obvious candidate for getting out via trickery), but i do think she might be out soon- mainly, i'm expecting ally to be the one from her trio that lasts the longest, and i'm really interested to see how she reacts to tess elimination vs hunter. i also think it'd be interesting if tess gets out before they get much of a chance to catch up, and how that would affect things. anyways not likely to be next episode but i can maybe see that coming up at some point.

also also! i will very much enjoy seeing alec's response to fiore's elimination :3c (not that there will be one, of course, because he does not care :3c)

#frog.txt #disventure camp #disventure camp spoilers

[sapphire-weapon]

Okay so I love reading your opinions on all things RE. Your take and the way you write it is so refreshing, I really love it. Your observations and analysis is great and often makes me rethink a lot of things.

So here's what I've been trying to figure out. Since you said nobody but Chris looks past Leon being likable and respected. And that man needs some loving for real. Someone actually committed to the mess he is.

Would you say he is too unstable to be in an actual deeper and meaningful relationship? Is he to broken/ otherwise concencerned/ distrusting or is he just the kind of guy to not wanting to pursue deeper connections other than flings and friendships at arm's length?

Like this guy is lonely. This guy needs a hug and smack on the back of his head sometimes fr.

thank u anon. my goal here is to get ppl to think about the actual text/scripting of the story without the noise of the fandom coloring their perceptions, because this is an old fandom with a lot of pre-conceived notions and biases that poison the #Discourse almost to a cultish degree, which causes the actual story itself to get lost.

but

there are a lot of words I'd use to describe Leon. "unstable" isn't one of them. he's just... Busy. and has a hero complex that honestly makes him a little selfish.

Leon has a really abnormal life, and he knows it. he also knows just how much of a fucking nightmare it is, and he doesn't want to drag anyone else into the world of bioterrorism who otherwise would have no reason to be there or even know about it. he doesn't have the time to dedicate to a relationship, and even if he did, he wouldn't.

this is why we see him hitting on other operatives and not the civilians involved on any given mission (for reference, see: hitting on Hunnigan in OG while turning down Ashley's explicit offer of sex). there are still ways in which his lifestyle can make a civilian's life worse, even if they've already been exposed to bioterrorism. but an operative is pretty much just as fucked as he is, so they're fair game.

because, like. there's never any point where he rejects Chris's love for him. he might push back on the method with which Chris chooses to express it sometimes, and he might have other moments where he'd rather just be self-indulgent with his misery (Vendetta), but there's never a moment where it's like... "don't waste your time caring about me/I'm not worth it."

even with Ada, like... I'm not going to rehash my whole "guide to OG Aeon" post, but Leon never expresses that he feels unworthy of her help/affection/attention. he accepts it with as much grace as he can muster, in fact.

a romantic relationship just isn't his priority. relationships are work, and there are other things that he feels that he needs to give his emotional energy to -- and, because of his depression, the amount of energy he has emotionally is just much lower than that of other people. so he uses what little he has to focus on his job, because that's what's most important to him.

and I know that this probably sounds like it's running counter to my thesis statement re: Leon's character of "Leon is lonely and he fucking hates himself" but like. deprioritizing human interaction and relationships and the opportunity to be truly loved is, in and of itself, a form of self-harm. he'd rather cut himself off than put in the effort required to be vulnerable -- and that's the part that goes back to the idea of "I'm not worth it."

Leon sees what he's doing as being infinitely more important than who he is. he doesn't see who he is as a person as being worth giving up his work and/or exposing someone else to The Horrors.

and this is true for both OG and Remake Leon -- especially after the conclusion of Remake Leon's positive change arc in RE4make. prior to RE4make, you could maybe make the case that he was too broken and distrusting to pursue a deeper relationship with someone, but post-RE4make, that's not the case. post-RE4make Leon would love nothing more than to pursue a HEA with Ashley, but he knows that he has to prioritize Sherry, and his depression prevents his brain from considering the very simple question of: "Why not both?"

#resident evil #leon kennedy #meta analysis

[hikennosabo]

trimax vol 12 random thoughts

okayyy i'm FINALLY done with all the art i had to do this week so i can focus on writing this post lol. this volume is so much, i don't know if i want to read it again...

i love that vash is ourple on the cover <3

chapter 1:

i like domina, she's cute. tbh i wasn't sure whether she was a plant at first because i assumed they were all blonde...

wait, pause, tell me about this. what are the circumstances of the other plant fusion incidents. were they rebelling against humans, same as knives? or were there other reasons??

vash's black hair is so STRIKING. i'm sad about it but i also kind of love how it looks...

the memory montage has been talked about like a dozen times by now, so idk if i can add anything that hasn't already been said... LOL. there's some deep cuts in here, i don't even remember them all... it really speaks to vash's memory of people. and there are anime-only characters too, which is cool! part of me wants to go through each page and label everyone but... nah.

ik they've taken a bit of a backseat in the latter half of the manga, but i feel like meryl and milly's section should be larger. :( and for that matter, legato takes up a lot of real estate on his page?! that's kind of unexpected... although legato and vash DID have that seven-month-long psychic battle... and i guess legato is on vash's mind rn because of the coins... so i suppose it makes sense...

a few things about the ghg page - first of all, WHO is that on the top right?! is that supposed to be elendira??? is it??? because it's not like vash doesn't know what she looks like, they've met face to face!

secondly... livio. this is his old self. face in shadow, skull mask visible. i don't think this necessarily means vash still views livio like this; that's unlike vash. livio's face is obscured while his mask and long hair are highlighted, both things that he has discarded along with his identity as a gung-ho gun. this is vash remembering the gung-ho guns specifically. it IS a bit sad that this is what livio gets... i suppose drawing him twice might've been redundant, but still...

a bunch of people have already pointed out wolfwood's grave being depicted next to rem and given equal weight/importance (page space) as her, so all i'll say is that scrolling through the pages and expecting to see wolfwood but getting hit with his grave instead was a fucking gut punch that i DID NOT need.

anti-plant missiles... so plant incidents have been common enough that they'd need to be built in the first place, and built into the fleet at that...

so they CAN be broken apart?! i see...

domina is so funny.

the ark just straight up vanishing really had me think for a second "wow! so that's the power of thor's hammer!" but no it just teleported. LOL

knives... oh, knives... he's looking less and less like a person. i'm probably supposed to be horrified, but i'm just sad.

chapter 2:

knives is the first creature in the universe to warp... wow... he's so talented~ i'm proud of him~

domina is so CUTE!!!! it's too bad what happens to her right after this... and it's impressive how likable she becomes in just a few short scenes. it makes her death more effective than it would be otherwise.

nothing to say, i just think they're cute.

knives putting his feelers out to interfere with the earth fleet was brought up in... volume 9, i think... so it's not like this was completely unexpected. (also "feelers" is kinda cute... like a bug...) wow... knives is fighting so smartly~ i'm proud of him~

i speculated a few volumes ago if knives would try to "save" the earth plants, but he just want to kill them... or at least kill the independents. i still feel like i don't have a full picture of what it's like for plants on earth or the relationship between humans and independents. either way, it's unconscionable to knives that independents would work with humans like this...

chapter 3:

perhaps i shouldn't laugh but shooting straight up into the air is such a dumb thing to do. haha get rained on idiots.

brad is stunned at their idiocy, lol.

chronica worrying over domina is sweet. she's not always "cold and calculating"...

i love how this spread is framed, with the black bars on the top and the bottom. it's cool.

and the double meaning of the chapter title. "the interceptor"... knives intercepting the earth fleet and vash intercepting knives's connection to the fleet...

uhhh... i don't have that much to say about this chapter...

chapter 4:

the universe conspired to deal me massive psychic damage by having 'brother' by gerard way start playing on shuffle while i was rereading this bit... i don't NEED this right now!!!!!

NOT THE IMAGE OF THEM AS KIDS

I'M EATING ROOOOOCCKKKKSSSS!!!!!!!

people have already pointed out knives covering his eyes (and vash covering his own with his sunglasses), it was a fucking punch to the gut the first time i read this chapter and it still is and i am fucking EATING!!!! ROCKS!!!!!!

is that REALLY the reason why you don't want to see your brother's corpse, knives?? is it really???

people have already talked about vash's little gunman speech so i won't say too much about it, except that it's fitting that we started this story with vash being just that - a gunman - we didn't even know about him being a plant - and now vash is determined to end this story as a gunman. well, "end," sort of. there's still 2 volumes left.

also, we're recycling chapter titles again for some reason... we already had a chapter titled "the gunslinger" in volume 6...

chapter 5:

should i call these their "teenage years"? ...i'm writing that in my notes.

i wish i could express my emotions about the plant twins beyond incomprehensible screaming and eating various things (rocks, glass, drywall...) because then i might have more substantial things to say LOL...

the virgin "did you really just shoot me?!" 98 knives vs the chad "if you're going to shoot me, improve your aim" manga knives

y'know, up until now, i never really bought the claim that "tristamp made knives more morally grey," because i was thinking along the lines of "the morality of his actions didn't change, orange just took a magnifying glass to his emotions, so he's easier to sympathize with," but... they COMPLETELY changed the context of knives cutting off vash's arm, huh?! i guess they DID make him more morally grey...

he's ready to go down with knives. if you'll excuse me, i'll be crunching on some more rocks.

chapter 6:

can't help but remember baby knives saying "we can work through a few little differences if we just talk to each other" :')

trying to talk to the plants... yeah... good idea! it's too little too late for knives because EVERYTHING is for him, but... it's a good idea!

okay, so the story of the village. they got kicked out of the city for being "contaminated," so they built their own village and had to resort to stealing from travelers to survive. right... chaining vash up is pretty extreme but i suppose it's indicative of their level of desperation. (especially since vash still looks like a teenager, like, as far as the villagers knew, the person they attacked was just a normal human kid...)

obviously this story doesn't move knives in the slightest, but even with the explanation for the villagers' actions, the bit about "the contaminated humans being kicked out of the city" is a different example of human cruelty that knives could've spat back at vash, lol. like, they were kicked out, and just left out there to die i guess? with no resources or plan to supply them with anything? except for the lone girl who seemed to be bringing canned goods back, but 1. this wasn't a regular thing for her since she hadn't been back in three years, 2. she was literally the only person trying to help, and 3. it was just luck that she wasn't contaminated to begin with - if it weren't for that there would be NO ONE trying to help. not trying to justify knives's worldview or anything but i just think this is interesting because even though now we know and understand the villagers' situation, there's still an undercurrent of human cruelty in this story, and that's something that can't be erased and something that knives invariably clings to to justify his actions.

and his worldview gets even further reinforced in this moment because the military starts shooting at the ark lmao. but then it's vash's friends to the rescue...! the takeaway from all this and the entire ethos of this story as a whole is "humans are complicated," they're not all bad and not all good, vash acknowledges that and tries to see it, and knives does not, blahblahblah it's been said a hundred times...

microorganisms :)

someone in the tag pointed this out already, but the way the earth fleet talks about independent plants is weird. "salvage," "persona," "repair"... that's weird, right? in my last post i said they were giving like, advanced-AI-robot vibes, and this is doing nothing to change that impression. but they're made of flesh and blood...

chapter 7:

knives is wrong about human nature but there sure are a lot of humans in this story who piss me off. fuck you, military guy!!

we all knew that vash was going in to this fight prepared to die, that his plan is to bring knives down with him, but actually seeing him bleeding so much... hurts.

LIVIOOOOO!!! I LOVE YOUUUUU!!!

he's so cute, what the fuck!!!! "i'm mr livio"?!?! oh my god. i'm sobbing. he's so cute.

gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss. manipulate, mansplain, malewife.

this image of a single man facing down an entire military...!!! he's so cool!!!!!! also he's kinda caked up too

and he just bowls through them like it's nothing!!! i LOVE watching him fight, livio is one of the coolest fighters in this entire story, i'm so glad we get to watch him kick some ass!!!

chapter 8:

they said it's just a projection, but this is what i was imagining the "consciousness" of the merged plants to look like...

no concept of the self except for independents, i suppose. so do all plants think the same? last volume, vash said something about billions of thoughts being "exchanged," so there is SOME mental distinction between individuals, i think...

i wonder what information chronica is gathering from this, exactly. just the essentials, since time is limited? or all of it, every single detail?? knives's past and trauma included??

he's talking as if this is a mercy. i wonder if that's really how he's justifying this to himself.

oh, just this panel by itself is a fun dynamic. i don't actually expect elendira to live to the end (sadly...) but i AM looking forward to seeing these two fight again. interestingly, she doesn't seem surprised that livio is still alive...

this last bit of the chapter feels like all the dominoes falling at once, lol. elendira and livio, chronica and knives... and then BOOM! LEGATO JUMPSCARE!! ...from. seemingly nowhere. where did he come from. also i still don't know what to make of his... iron maiden... giant matryoshka... i don't know what or who this is!! it's driving me nuts!! is it going to be explained?!?!

chapter 9:

it's SO funny that vash says this because I WAS ALSO WONDERING THE SAME THING!!! the previous volume put so much emphasis on the coins that i assumed vash would fight legato FIRST and THEN move on to knives. but he never wanted to fight legato to begin with, so it makes sense that he'd skip right to knives LOL.

knives GRINNING when the earth ship appears and then staring straight down the barrel of their cannon... he's not afraid at all. dare i say this scene is pretty cool. knives and chronica are now on even ground in terms of knowledge about each other, and knives probably knows this, but he's still so confident. and then the cannon fires and he BLOCKS it. i shouldn't be complimenting him so much in this post. but i must give cool credit where cool credit is due. this scene is COOL!!!!

oh, so this IS how his powers worked all along, okay... i was confused. i guess this means his power in tristamp is different... because it's clearly NOT strings... it's just straightforward telekenisis i think... hmmm...

... i'd previously heard about what legato's backstory entails, but actually seeing it...

...

knives isn't even visible in this spread. legato hasn't even seen knives yet. but the framing of legato looking at the vast sky, the light, is evocative enough.

legato being able to even control knives with his strings... well, he was able to (somewhat) control vash, so it makes sense that he could, but i've never really thought about the implications until now. under different circumstances he could've been a massive obstacle to knives, if not outright stopped him.

new hair, new outlook, right?

and okay, sure, it's likely that knives's train of thought was "i could use this power for myself, so i won't kill him," but i want to believe there was something else... legato was used and abused by humans, and knives isn't stupid, he can see that just from looking at the state legato's body is in. so maybe knives recognized there's a kinship between them, even if he'd never admit it... i dunno, it's just, his expression here... it's hard for me to describe, but it's something...

oh, this is making me feel something. this is implying knives gave legato his name, right? that's... oh man. i want to say that it was kind. i don't know if i can call it a bond, but their relationship, whatever it is, is deeper than i imagined.

"...but in that moment, i was reborn." new name, new life, new purpose...

on a lighter note, now i'm thinking about where legato's name actually comes from, and i'm remembering this comment from nightow:

i want to believe knives thought the same thing... LOL. as for "bluesummers," "blue" obviously came from his hair, but "summers"... i want to say maybe it was summer at the time of this flashback, but i'm not actually sure if this planet has seasons...? do they ever say if it does??

oh, legato... my legatito... i should've known he'd be one of my favorite characters the instant he showed up in tristamp voiced by kouki uchiyama LOL. i've laughed at him a lot and made fun of him a lot but i really do genuinely love him.

i fully do not expect him to live to the end... but i'm looking forward to seeing whatever else he does before he goes...

#trigunbookclub #by some miracle i did not go over the image limit and was able to fit everything in one post #june speaks #trigun talk #this would've gone up earlier but i had to focus on art #finished this post just in time to read vol 13 tomorrow lol #i can't believe we're so close to the end?!?!

[a34trgv2]

Top 10 Best Cartoon Siblings

#10. Bunny (The Powerpuff Girls): Bunny may have appeared in 1 episode, but she still made for a great character. She has all the best aspects of each of the main 3 girls including the innocence of Bubbles, the determination of Blossom and the unhinged temper of Buttercup. When her sisters need her most, she did not hesitate to beat the bad guys and save their lives. If Bunny had been more stable, she could've been a lovely addition to the team.

#9. Ducky and Spike (The Land Before Time series): The sweet, bubbly, and playful Saurolophus (aka Big Mouth) found the stegasaurus, Spike, as a lonesome egg and almost immediately adopted him as her new brother. While Spike doesn't talk much, Ducky understands him completely and encourages him to be brave and helpful. They have their disagreements, but ever since they first met they couldn't imagine life without one another.

#8. Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher (Phineas and Ferb): A dynamic duo through thick and thin, these 2 inventive boys find genius ways to make their day exciting and fun. In addition to getting along with each other, they also get along well with their sister Candace. Despite her constantly trying to get them in trouble, they never hold it against her and, in fact, encourage her to join in the fun.

#7. Seto Kaiba (Yu-Gi-Oh): Seto is egotistical, narcissistic, a showoff, and a more than worth rival for Yugi. But the one thing he most certainly is NOT is a bad older brother to Mokuba. Seto is caring, fair, kind, and helpful to Mokuba whenever they're together. Kaiba did everything in his power to try and save Mokuba after the latter was kidnapped by Pegasus and protected him from bullies when they were younger. He may never be Yugi's best friend, but he's the best brother Mokuba could've asked for.

#6. The 7 Little Monsters (Seven Little Monsters): I couldn't single out one of the 7 Little Monsters as they're all likable, funny and well rounded characters that get along really well as siblings. One is athletic and caring, Two is smart and helpful, Three is a master of disguise and a really good tracher, Four is reasonable and relatable, Five is playful and innocent, Six is funny and energetic, and Seven is so sweet and kind. They all have great chemistry with one another and with their Mom they make one monster-sized happy family.

#5. Moses and Rameses (The Prince of Egypt): Before becoming enemies, Moses and Rameses had a wonderful relationship as brothers. Moses was fun, playful and charming while Rameses was more responsible but still just as fun. When Moses returned to Egypt from his self-imposed exile, Rameses was overjoyed to see him again and even pardoned him for killing a man. Moses and Rameses had such a great relationship and if it wasn't for the latter's stubbornness and pride, they could've worked together to bring the Hebrews to the Promised Land.

#4. Anna of Arendelle (Frozen 1&2): The central core of both Frozen films is the sistethood of Anna and Elsa, and without Anna, there'd be no Frozen. Anna is funny, caring, determined, and really smart and does whatever she can for her sister. Even when they are separated, Anna never stops thinking about Elsa and wants nothing more than for them to be as close as they were when they were kids.

#3. Bluey Heeler (Bluey): Bluey and Bingo have such a cute and believable relationship as sisters. Bluey is funny, smart, very playful and comes up with fun games to play with her sister. Bluey is also there to comfort her when she's feeling down and bring out the best in her by playing fair. They disagree on how games are played at times, but they get along so well and always come to a compromise.

#2. Barley Lightfoot (Onward): Barley is the ideal brother for Ian, whether he knows it or not. Barley is brave, smart, funny and caring as he continually pushes Ian to be the best he can be. I also really appreciated that he's actually happy that Ian's a wizard rather than being jealous about it. What puts Barley so high on the list, though, was him being genuinely afraid Ian might fall to his death over the raveen and is overjoyed when he made it across.

#1. Nani Pelekai (Lilo & Stitch): A surprise to no one reading this list, Nani is the best showcase of all the qualities for a great sibling. She's brave, smart, funny, caring and willing to sacrifice her job and time with her friends to make sure Lilo is safe. What makes her go above and beyond in being a great sister is how she never once thinks Lilo is weird and actually plays along with her theories and quirks. Lilo is absolutely blessed to have a sister like Nani and siblings everywhere are blessed to have a role model like her.

Conclusion: Cartoon siblings are at their best not only when they get along but also when they work through their differences and compromise. Some honorable mentions include Sitka from Brother Bear (like the shaman woman said, he left too soon), Margo Gru from Despicable Me (would've been #11 for sure), and Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender (what was Sokka on with his sexist bologna? 🤦‍♂️). Thanks for reading and I'll see you soon ;)

#reblog #share #like #follow #animation #disney #anime #yugioh #bluey #lilo and stitch #nani pelekai #onward #frozen #seven little monsters #phineas and ferb #the prince of egypt #powerpuff girls

[forthedancingandthethriving]

Frenzy is.. not really sure he's on board with SMG-1 and SMG-2's whole plan of revoking the Union's statuses as Avatars. Initially he was all for it, especially back when he first met Tulip and Nimbus. The two explains the goals of the SMGs, and the Union members all agreed.

Though the alliance was.. tenative, to say the least. Barry clashed heads with the Guardians more often than likable, and the SMGs weren't exactly kind. Though it was nothing compared to what Frenzy had seen said to Nimbus and Tulip..

He was pretty sure what those two had been called was not good for their self esteems.

Glancing around, his ear flicks, catching the slow growing argument of something between Barry and -1. Those arguments had become more often now, now that the Guardians were insistent that the Union had to be more secretive. If they were found out, apparently everything would be ruined.

It made Frenzy question their motives, but at the same time.. he was a part of this for his friends. To keep them safe.

Turning on his heel, the chupacabra decidedly doesn't head in that direction and begins walking towards the main tent. While the Guardians were insistent that none of them ever go into it, a small peek never hurt anyone!

It didn't take long for him to get there, considering his speed, but it was tedious. The main tent was positioned further away from where -1 and -2 had everything else set up for some odd reason.

Soon, Frenzy was there, and he peeked his head it. His eyes widen, seeing the grey tent painted with color. Flowers and vines hung from the poles and ropes above, with more lining the tent walls. It was obvious the Guardians made it a point to try and spruce this place up.

But why?

"Frenzy?"

Tulip's voice makes Frenzy's ears perk up, and he looks around.

"Up here!"

He looks up and lets out a small 'huh..'. There, on a large wooden platform supported by more beams he somehow didn't see, Tulip was leaning over. She motions for him to come up, and he does just that.

Taking a running start and then jumping, he lands directly beside her. She flashes him a smile, which he returns before she walks forward and gets down on her knees. She leans forward, crossing her arms over an ornate metal frame to..

A glass coffin. With someone in it.

"Who is.." Frenzy trails off, unable to finish his sentence. Is this why the SMGs didn't want anyone here? Were they imposing on a grave?!

"This is Juliano." Tulip answers, voice soft. "He's the first of us. The first Avatar."

"Oh." Frenzy's panic stops as soon as it starts, and he carefully knelt beside Tulip. "Why is he.. here?"

"Apparently, when an Avatar dies, so does their universe. They're wiped." The human explains, resting a hand on the glass case. "But, somehow, Juliano survived. But he's.. in a coma."

"That explains the holes." The chupacabra's ear twitches, looking at the holes on top through the side of the glass.

Silence overtakes the two before Frenzy speaks up. "He reminds me of Snow White. Or Sleeping Beauty."

A small 'snrrk!' escapes Tulip. "Sleeping Beauty was blonde, Frenzy."

He snickers. "Pink is a shade of red."

"Oh my god-"

The two break into soft laughter before it tapers off, with the duo gazing at him.

"-1 and -2 don't even know I come up here." Tulip admits softly. "They come up here so rarely now ever since we all got freed from Computer Hell."

"They're probably just working extra hard to make sure we don't have to deal with this code anymore." Frenzy assures her, but his tone is weak, as if he doesn't believe his own words.

Tulip gazes into the glass coffin, at the back of Juliano. He was on his side, facing away from them, away from the entrance of the tent. His hat and staff were probably resting on that side too.

She exhales and rests her forehead against the cool glass.

She misses her uncle.

.. she misses her SMGs.

She glances at Frenzy, wondering if he misses his friends as badly as she misses her family. He probably does.

"You can stay if you want." Tulip offers, voice softly. "I'm not gonna be needed for a while.'

Frenzy nods. "That'd be nice."

She nods and closes her eyes.

Neither notices the gentle movement of green vines, topped with bluebells, gently covering the exit to keep the two undisturbed by the argument farther away.

#frenzy the chupacabra #avatar: tulip #act of lies au #fanfiction: my writing! #!posts! #i think these two would have solidarity in this AU because of their confliction with the whole plan #yes the implication is that Juliano's soul is separated from his body. a strong enough charge or of something similar can let him get back #if anyone wants I'll make a seperate post about that :> (I'll probably make it anyway but I'd like to ask)

[fireemblems24]

Fire Emblem Engage 15 - 17

Spoilers for FE Engage 15+. Though, this game is way better at gameplay than it is with story, but the characters are all likable so I'm good.

I really appreciate how different all the nations and their castles and interiors look in this game. I adore Three Houses, but one thing I really wish they did was have more variety in the weather, landscapes, etc . . . This game nailed it.

Solm, a desert country, having waterfalls in their palace is such a good touch. Not only does it show that water would be valued in a place like this, but it's also flaunting the royal family's wealth and power, like a palace should.

I'm not sure I'll ever warm up to Veyle. She's a walking moe cliche. Mind control. Innocent cute loli type otherwise. But, hey, I didn't like Hortensia at one point but her VA sold me in the last chapter.

Does anyone else find it a bit funny that we're a dragon worshipped as a god with influence over the land and this is a good thing. It's like a giant middle finger to those people who tried to rewrite the entire history of the franchise around a certain character's not-so-great view of dragons.

Also worth noting that Brodia invading Elusia is seen as a universal bad and something Diamant's supports resolve around stopping. Just putting that out there.

Ivy/Diamant feels cannon to me. It makes too much sense.

Kagetsu is so awkward. I love him.

I feel like I just took half of my units and got them with level 5 with Byleth. Mentorship is too good not to stick on a few people, and it's cheap too.

I love how literally no one takes Hortensia seriously. It makes an otherwise grating character kind of cute.

Holy shit, Merrin laid it on thick for Chloe. Honestly, don't blame her. But she is not subtle, gave Chloe flowers, called her beautiful, then asked her to dinner. Homegirl's even willing to try and stomach Chloe's . . . uh "food" choices. And Chloe thinks Merrin is like a cool knight out of a fairy tale. 100% new ship happening.

So far I like AlearxAlfred, IvyxDiamant, CelinexAlcryst, and now ChloexMerrin.

Alfred and Boucheron's support went exactly like I imagined it would. Poor dude. Alfred would lose his mind meeting Dimitri, someone who's abnormally strong despite not looking like a hulk, but is still shredded.

Alfred is probably the only person in the world who would've be offended or weirded out when someone asked to lick the flowers he's wearing and also offer to get licked later. Otherwise, Bunet is weird.

Seadall is VERY hot. He's like Sothe and Navarre had a baby. Or like Navarre put Sothe's clothes on.

F!Alear confronting Veyle again had really good voice acting. As long as we ignore that everyone just stood around instead of attacking her. Gratned, it was un-brainwashed Veyle who wasn't attacking so I'll let it go. Maybe.

Doing Ike's prologue is making me feel things. The nostalgia is real.

I love so, so much that one of Byleth's canned dialogue in Somniel is "Nothing to report!" and his paralogue is the Holy Tomb. And most of his dialogue was about Rhea, lol.

Eirika, my beloved, she's finally coming to me 😭😭😭😭😭😭 thank you, Rosado and Goldmary.

Rosado and Goldmary are both amazing. I want to use both, but I can't. There's just no room for both. But I think I'll use Goldmary because she's a bit better out of the box. She takes self-absorbed to hysterical new levels lol.

Anyone else think it's dumb that in Classic your units can die in the ring paralogues? It's like, oh bummer, Lyn/Corrin/etc just killed my healer who's the little sister of my mage, but our bonds are now stronger!

It feels extra sad seeing Firene get attacked. It's such a peaceful kingdom. It's nice to see Alfred back in the spotlight though. His lines about how these are just farmers and not soldiers reminds me a lot of Dimitri after Lonato.

I love how often the villains chit-chat with the heroes before and after battles, but like they never attack or threaten each other.

So mean that they're making Ivy and Hortensia fight their own dad :(

So I didn't start ch 17 after seeing the dialogue because it was too late and I didn't realize it, but I'm seeing the world map now and it's on fire :(

FYI, put Corrin on Alear. She/he can use all of the Dragon Vein terrain bonuses. I know most classes are locked to one type or another. I don't know if there's any other exceptions like Alear, but man I'm loving using this ring on Alear.

Alfred just did 5 criticals in a row. You think enemies would wise up and quit attacking him, but no. He is pissed off right now.

Alfred deserved that MVP. Boy put in the work.

Haha, they lost a ring. Wonder who I got back? And Veyle threw us another one? Nice! She got some points back despite being a character archtype I'm not about.

SIGURD! Fuck yes. Everyone's getting Canto. And Lief. Less exciting, but I'll take it. Jugdral boys are back.

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #fe engage #fe17

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

Let's Rewind! Toast watches Voltron: Defender of The Universe (1984)

Season 1, Episode 23: It Takes Real Lions Season 1, Episode 24: Raid of Alien Mice

Episode 23: It Takes Real Lions I keep noticing how lotor has this chiseled jaw, man they really wanted to make this man seem attractive huh

He's being smart at least, training a robeast by letting him fight 5 robot cats that look WAY sleeker than the actual lions not that the flashback of Zarkon agrees with it

The team is doing some training too though, glad to know they're always prepared Break time! They're going swimming in the lake nearby the castle, using blue as a launching dock

Allura swims too! The boys are stunned they're seeing her in a bikini but nonetheless watch her pretty cool dive,,, except she loses her top and once she finds that out she's not happy about it Neither are Nanny and Coran when they find out she skipped her lessons just to be out swimming in what Nanny deems as Incorrect Clothing,, I know she's doing her job, but MAN IS SHE ANNOYING

I love every screenshot we get of Pidge using Hunk as a pillow, what a duo

Back into her room Allura goes, apparently she can speak at least 50 languages and is studying to learn even more, overachieving to the max Though she's falling behind in her studies, I mean her planet IS at war, so I'd expect a little slack yknow, but not like Coran or Nanny care because they'd rather her not be fighting in it in the first place

A weird light starts coming down to Arus and Coran figures out it's Lotor, obvs the boys set off to stop him but leave Allura behind because "it's too dangerous for her" motherfucker HOW, it's the same shit each time, I feel like you know how bad it gets when there's only 4 lions out fighting but no ig you gotta do it for the DRAMA

The boys get fucked up by the robeast lotor sent out as expected and he knows that Allura isn't out fighting, so he goes to kidnap her from her room which luckily for him is locked because NANNY WANTED HER TO FOCUS ON HER STUDIES This woman good god,,, she couldn't have predicted it but holy crap I hate her with a passion

A couple of guards and Coran get to her in time though, and she runs off to go help the boys while Coran tells her it's too late to do so I WONDER WHO'S FUCKING FAULT THAT IS HUH, GOD IS NO NON-COMBATANT SIDE CHARACTER LIKABLE IN THIS SHOW??

Voltron forms and after some struggle the team wins of course, look I have no idea what kind of message they were trying to send, but apparently it was "Allura can be a princess and fly a lion at the same time" which is fucking stupid BECAUSE SHE NEVER WORRIED ABOUT THAT, IT WAS CORAN AND NANNY CAUSING PROBLEMS AGAIN I hate them so much you guys

/episode end

Episode 23: Raid of The Alien Mice Shooting stars! Except they're hitting the surface of Arus,,, and they're actually pods for weird mutated mice,, They set off the alarms too, the boys are convinced the mice or some of their friends set them off, Allura not so much

Ah cartoon logic,,, a mouse can't chew through metal or set off a bomb in the castle, but somehow they're still definitely at fault for setting off the alarm Once again reminding me that I'm not the target audience, so it just means it's hard to watch

The boys end up searching the generator room anyway after another shortage, finally seeing that the culprits aren't the mice they know, but killer ones instead Also, Hunk pries open a closed automatic door, apparently he lifts weights, which isn't surprising, but I'm glad the show mentioned it and didn't make him out as entirely lazy

Confirmation that they came from planet Doom, those bitches are always the root of problems These mutant mice are literally melting doors and cameras now, horrifyingly affective, one of the mice (chitter) volunteers to find them so Allura puts a tracking collar on him before he goes, how cute

The team and the mice find the freaky little guys BUT INSTEAD OF TRYING TO SHOOT AT THEM TO TAKE DOWN THEIR NUMBERS THEY JUST LET THEM THROUGH TO THE MAIN COMPUTER WHERE THEY ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO GO also a robeast got sent out, so Keith leaves Allura and Pidge to guard but not like it helps because the other three can't even get to their lions in the first place

Chitter plays bait and fools the mutant mice into leaving since Pidge and Allura can't reach where they are so first chitter can't take them alone, but now he can? great the guy really couldn't fight,, after getting punched out he finally leads the enemies out and Pidge shoots them on sight, as they should've done in the first place

the other boys are running to their lions on foot, almost dying in the process ofc, when Pidge and Allura are finally able to get into their own from the castle a wasted trip because they got to pick up the boys and drop them off at the castle again,, couldn't you have dropped them off directly at their lions lair? no? ok i guess

After the team all regroups and defeats the robeast as voltron, allura treats the mice to some of the best cheese in the castle's pantry, which pidge immediately tries to take a chunk of even though chitter bats him away from it, twice kind of anticlimactic honestly, wish we got more to see with the team actually doing something against the mice and not fighting a random robeast at the end

/episode end

#voltron #voltron defender of the universe #voltron dotu #80s voltron #let's rewind! #toast talks #once again on my anti nany and coran agenda #might make an OC to replace coran because WHY IS HE ACTING AS SECURITY #HE'S AN ADVISOR #gonna kick is ass in TWO universes

[matan4il]

Sorry, I don't know if you've talked about this before, but do you think the show replicating parts of Eddie's introduction with Lucy (the call with the explosion, her competence during that, the way she is presented to the team with Buck turning around to look at her, the Speed reference vs the Top Gun one) was meant to highlight something about Buddie's partnership or a genuine attempt at making her introduction be as succesful as Eddie's?

Hi Nonnie! Thank you so much for the question!

I do think they wanted to make her introduction... one to make people pay attention, if nothing else. Lucy's introduced at the same time Greenway is. Many times, shows create contrasting parallels (think mirror images: they're the same in being the exact opposite of each other) and I think that's what Greenway and Lucy were meant to be. Lucy comes in all cocky, but her saving a woman thanks to a stroke of luck instead of thanks to her skills humbles her, while Greenway comes in seemingly humble, but we'll discover before the end of the season that he has a God complex.

Despite making Lucy seem arrogant at first, the show does seem to want us to like her, so it makes sense to parallel her to Buck's character in s1. Seeing their similarities will help in establishing the kiss in 511, still make Lucy more likable to the audience than she would have been without that similarity to Buck, and it also serves to show us how much Buck himself has progressed since his Buck 1.0 days to where he can mentor her in 514, both because he used to be where she is, and because he's not there anymore.

Is her introduction meant to parallel Eddie's? I tend to think if it did a bit, it might not have been intentional. Yes, she's competent. Yes, she's introduced to the team through Buck (just like Eddie was), but I think that's at least in part due to trying to sell her to the audience while also paving the way for the 511 kiss. Yet, even if it's not intentional, it does end up showing (as contrasting parallels do) the differences between Lucy and Eddie. She's competent, yes. But Eddie was SO incredible, it really got a reaction out of Buck. And at the same time, Eddie was interested in Buck, he was kind and complimentary (despite Buck being a bit of a jerk at the gym), and he saw Buck. Eddie full on told him he's a badass under fire, while the rest of the team were still babying Buck a bit, and teasing him, no matter how good of a firefighter he was proving to be. That's not the case with Lucy. We never see a moment of profound bonding between them, like the promise to have each other's back that we see with Buddie in 201. And that's despite Buck and Lucy having kissed, so technically they got more intimately acquainted... but not really. Because Buck and Eddie, they opened up their hearts, souls and lives to each other.

So at the end of the day, even though it might not have been quite intention, the way she was introduced and some similarities actually end up highlighting that Buddie really are soulmates and they have been from the very start.

Thank you again for this ask, Nonnie! Have a great day! xoxox

(If you're looking for my ask replies, here is my ask tag! xoxox)

#buddie #buddie meta #911 meta #911meta #911 #eddie diaz #evan buckley #edmundo diaz #evan buck buckley #ask #anon ask #new girl lucy #anti-bucklucy #to be on the safe side #is it really anti to acknowledge that no one will ever be as right for buddie as each other #or is it just facts? #911onabc #911 on abc #911abc #911 abc

[missmonkeymode]

So on Disco Elysium.

I think I see some of your points, like a lot of people really connected to the specific game play and narrative combo. I guess that's probably where it's just like, full divergence from the people getting angry at the tweet for me. Like I just... I don't know. I played through a bit of it, and I just really didn't connect to the character of Harry or even really Kim at all. I guess knowing it's intentionally a deconstruction is neat.

I liked the level up system (a lot), the chance and dialogue differences based on your perks felt like someone took FO1/2/NV speech/skill dialogue options and made that into an entire game based on like, every pop culture cop archetype and I'm here for it. I'll admit that is in part connected to the character of Harry the cop and his position in the world, but as a slate for other archetypal characters (like a witch) it really wouldn't be that hard to, at least, on the surface, I feel, make apply the mechanics in other interesting ways in other games with different narratives. (Also Twin Peaks quirks transfer over to a witch game).

The world (the bits I explored, I didn't get very far-- it was just ultimately kind of dull, for me) did feel lived in, and I liked the quirky characters you could meet. My thing is, I didn't really care about the story or the characters-- so for me, a system of game mechanics like this actually makes a lot of sense to use on different types of games, because I found that mechanical system to be cool and a really interesting way to resolve conflict and create game play tension and all that fun stuff.

Harry was alright, I guess. Not really, to me, but people like him so I try not to be too mean. I just don't really like cops at all. I don't need to play through a however many hour game to know that they're incompetent pigs-- I can just go outside. Or even online and type "cop shot black child" and see what new result comes up this week. My mom can't close her fist because a pig shattered her hand during a "non-violent drug offense" arrest. Does Harry ever actually do any police brutality? I never got that far-- is it like...? A different ending type thing? Where use of certain tactics over others produces different results for the case? That's neat if my random guess is anywhere near right-- as it was it just felt like a cop simulator but quirky. Like they get nothing done like regular cops but this time he's likably incompetent.

I also thought Kim was poorly done, honestly. I mean-- not really my place to say, but it feels like the only Asian representation is either tropey Indian or pale East Asian (and sometimes those roles aren't tropey)-- and Kim is very tropey. Like he's the classic stoic sidekick who's more competent than the lead. I know he's got a lot of depth, but... I don't know. It didn't leave a great taste in my mouth. Ultimately he's a non-white sidekick to do all the work the boisterous white lead can't and won't in silence. Also, as far as I got there were no other POC in the game. Maybe there are some tokens... but honestly, it makes sense-- DE takes place in like, a fictional Slav country, right? Not a lot of brown people. I still feel like it would have been more of a deconstruction of the genre if Harry was a Black high femme lesbian who is only a cop because she wants to kill with impunity.

Sidebar-- the OP of the twwet mentioned Harry was an old white guy. It feels weird everyone's calling her hypocritical when she did suggest someone young and very much not a guy. It doesn't feel hypocritical to me to leave her race as white since, like fictional slavland being mostly white, so are the Alps to my knowledge. I mean I'd like her more if she was Latina too, but I also would just connect more to a cute little baby witch than a drunk cop.

Anyhoo like... I don't know. Like our world is a literal dystopia where we spend so much time reliant on technology made with stolen resources and stolen labor, that we ourselves buy wit our own stolen labor, and he cops exist to protect the treasure hoards of the thieves.. That isn't to say we can't have dystopic fiction or games-- that's one of my favorite genres-- but I just wasn't able to connect to DE on any levels where I found the lead characters, many aspects of the world, or the story, engaging, interesting, or important. I liked the mechanics and the dialogue. I think if we had this kind of focus on a game about a little witch girl and her cat that'd be really cute and relaxing.

I am a witch though, so I'm biased.

Also, I didn't find your response rude or anything. I'm just happy to talk about things.

I mean this in a way that does not mean to offend you in any way, but I just think the game isn't really for you. If you don't really like the main character and don't really jive with the gameplay, it's fine to simply go "yeah I don't like this"! I don't want to insinuate that you're dumb or lesser or whatever for not liking the game, but sometimes you just don't like something yknow?

On the surface, I do agree that you can take the concept of "24 characters are constantly feeding you information a la ttrpg rolls and checks" and apply them to a different game, but I feel as though the gameplay and the story are too married to each other where it can't really shine without the other. As for Harry and police brutality, he can and cant if that makes sense? You are given the chance to shoot cunoesse (although its a immediate game over if you do) and generally just be shitty and abuse his position as a cop, but you're also given the chance to not to that, so uhhh it depends on how you play the game. Player decision and such. On your poc point, I can see where you get the perception of him being "stoic and competent" especially since (from the sound of it) you stopped playing early on, but as you play the game you discover that Harry is a highly competent cop (despite like being a mess of a person). I don't want to speak too much about the poc in the game, mostly bc I'm white passing and I'd feel like I'd be speaking over your points about the limited amount of poc in the game and how they're handled so uh yeah. I do disagree with the idea that Harry being a femme black lesbian would work towards the deconstruction though, but that's mostly because the way that I see it Harry gets away with a lot of shit (like routinely showing up to work drunk and high, losing his gun and id simultaneously, letting a corspe just kinda chill outside as he goes on a 3 day bender) because of his position as a white man in a hypermasculine field, and changing him from a white man to a black woman would weaken the critiques that its making. And the game does comment about those who join the police force to live out their fantasy of holding a lot of power (but the characters profession isnt really cop, just cop adjacent, but I feel like that's worth mentioning at least). For me at least, I see op going "i don't want to play as a white man, but a white woman" is hypocritical because in her talking point against the game, she used "white" as a negative to harry, but in the same breath turned around and suggested a white woman instead. Does that make sense? It's like someone going "I don't like this shirt because it's a red shirt and I don't like the color red, I'd much rather wear a red dress", the clothes are still red, the only thing that changed is the article of clothing.

I don't want you to come away from this post and feel as though I'm trying to bash on games like "a witch trying to find a lost cat". That's a wonderful game concept, that is not what most people are upset about (as far as I can tell). People are upset because the tweeter is taking a complex, gritty game that talks heavily about politics and is trying to remove the complexity from it and flatten it out into a wholesome game (whether knowingly or unknowingly). You can't really have a game like disco elysium and take out the parts that make disco elysium disco elysium, and that's generally what people are talking about. Also I'm you didn't find my response rude, I like chatting about things and explaining things.

[hadeantaiga]

Liveblogging Midsommar

Summary: I didn't mind it and parts were good but it should've leaned harder into being weird, and making all the dudes unlikable was cowardly and the movie would've been far more impactful and horrifying if we'd actually liked the victims.

I can always tell when my aromanticism is making me not "get" a movie because like. I've started Midsommar and I've heard "oh her boyfriend is abusive, he deserves what he gets" but all I can see at is two people who just clearly weren't meant for each other?

The Swedish friend Pelle seems like a good guy, but I'm gonna guess in the plot of this movie he's doing that on purpose. Josh seems like an actually good guy. Mark is a dick though.

I'll say, comparing this to Wicker Man: This movie is trying too hard to be creepy and weird. They're just driving. The ominous music isn't needed. Tonally, all of the bright happiness of Wicker Man worked much better to give the movie a sense of "off-ness".

Christian really seems like he's just trying to be a good friend to Dani even though he's struggling with the relationship. Mark is definitely a jerk though. He's the kind of character you want to see die in a normal horror movie.

I do like the use of the midnight sun as an element of disconnecting the characters from reality and placing them in an unfamiliar world, that's a very good touch.

Alright cool good the movie has gotten weirder, excellent. This is what I'm here for.

Come on movie give me some silence to appreciate this gorgeous building. Constant dialogue is tiring.

Oh, so "this is my flame, no higher" was literal huh.

This is a joke, but as a grad student, stealing someone's thesis is totally justification to be killed by a cult. Being a lame duck boyfriend? Whatever. Stealing a thesis? Now you have gone too far!

That said, Christian... You are becoming more and more unlikeable. Josh is the only likeable - dangit Josh I was just saying you were likeable, and now you're sneaking around. And now you're dead, of course.

Do I get why the writers chose to make Christian more and more unlikeable as the movie goes along? Yes. They wanted the audience to be rooting for his demise.

Every death so far has been "justified" - Mark was terrible to begin with, and peeing on the tree and being killed for it is a "justified" death in the context of the movie, both from an audience perspective and the internal perspective of the cultists. I don't think the writers needed to make him a jerk, though - that just makes us root for his death in the first place, so there's very little punch when he disappears. You've been almost eagerly waiting for it to happen.

Josh on the other hand spends most of his time on screen being fairly likable, if bland and boring. He made a single mistake and was killed for it. As far as the cultists are concerned, his death is justified due to his mistake, but we as outside observers might feel it's a little unfair. I think his death could have more impact if he were more interesting as a character. But also, we already know Mark is dead too even though we haven't seen his body. Josh dying so soon as well just feels shallow.

And then there's Christian... Christian's personality has sort of shifted a lot. In the beginning of the movie and even up till the attestupa, he's still trying to be a good friend for Dani. But after that, his personality seems to shift more and more. If it's supposed to be a trauma response, it's not very clear. Overall, he just comes across as more and more of a jerk, but without any actual logic behind why he's suddenly a jerk.

I think the movie would've been stronger and more horrifying if it had not made any of them men jerks - if they had been warm, likeable people. If these cultists were just brutally murdering their guests for "little mistakes", or even perhaps for accidental infractions the characters could never have predicted, that would be terrifying.

It almost feels like making the men horrible people is being done to soften the blow for the audience, so they don't feel bad when the characters die.

That's weak writing, in my opinion. It's a horror movie, I want to feel horrified.

The flowers breathing is weird and I like it. I like what this movie is doing with lighting.

Ok, I have to admit I laughed at the old guy clapping his hands in Christian's face. Poor guy is very drugged and confused at this point. I would've liked it better if I actually felt sorry for him, but the writing is designed so you don't. I want to actually be upset that a nice guy is being torn from his girlfriend; I wish the wedge the villagers drove between them had been entirely artificial

I don't get why we saw the village prophet during the sex scene. Group screaming is very therapeutic though. The hen house scene is creepy but I'm not sure what purpose it serves. Seems like gore for the sake of gore. Ah and now she chooses. I mean, we don't see it on screen, but come on.

I'd heard the ending was "vague" but it seems pretty damn clear to me?? Very creepy, her final smile, too.

#midsommar