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multifandomfanficss · 9 months

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Home Is Wherever You Are P1

Adrian Chase/Vigilante x Reader

With a very heavy emphasis on platonic!Christopher Smith/Peacemaker

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

Adrian Chase Masterlist

Prompt: You jump in front of an explosive device to protect Adrian from the blast and end up getting separated from him with no way back.

Warnings: mentions of trafficking, mentions of child abuse, panic, meltdown, crying, divorce, mentions of August Smith, cannon typical Peacemaker violence and language

A/N: In July I started cooking up a new idea with the help of my friend @countlambula and what was originally meant to be a 2 parter moved to a 4 parter and somehow I ended with 7 parts?! Not quite sure how that happened! I’m very excited to share what I spent a huge part of my summer working on. I hope you guys enjoy!! Also despite the main ship being Adrian x Reader there is A LOT of platonic!Chris content in this fic so I really do hope Chris fans can read and enjoy this! I loved getting into the thick of Chris’ backstory for this! All of the 11th Street Kids have their own importance in this series, but it is very Adrian and Chris centric. Please enjoy!!

“I love you.” You sighed in relaxation, smiling as you were gently woken up by your boyfriend.

“Well somebody has to.” Adrian joked.

“Shut up!” You lightly hit him on the chest, laughing.

“Never.” He smiles, kissing you. You could look at his beautiful, infectious smile for hours. Your phones both buzz at the same time, an indication that it’s probably a text in the 11th Street Kids chat because you both got it.

“Didn’t we just get home from a mission?” You groan.

“There’s no time to rest for super badass super cool heroes, babe.” Adrian kisses you on the cheek quickly before getting out of bed.

“Okay, but if we have to pair up there is no way in hell I’m going with Chris again. Last time he told me I looked like his sexy babysitter growing up. Like who the fuck says that? Our lives aren’t some shitty porno and it’s almost like he doesn’t even give a fuck that we’re dating.” You sigh.

“Yeah he constantly tells me that you’re way out of my league. I think his exact words were I’m in little league and you’re on major leagues, but I don’t know. I was never on the bowling team.”

“I think he meant baseball, honey.” You smile at him, finding his little knowledge of sports cute.

“That might actually make more sense with his home run and base metaphors! It took me way too long to figure out what that shit meant. Why can’t people just say what they mean?” He questions.

“Because they’re trying too hard to sound smart. I think sometimes not saying things they actually mean, but understanding that’s not exactly what they meant makes them feel smarter. They don’t know lots of facts like you do and they definitely can’t come up with intricate strategies either.” You smile at him, taking his hand in yours. You watch his smile grow, but there’s something more behind his eyes. He seems moved.

“How do you always do that?” He asks.

“What?”

“How do you always make me feel so smart and validated?” He clarifies.

“Because you are smart. You’re a hell of a lot smarter than Chris and if anyone gave you a second and actually listened to you, they’d realize that. You helped save the world last year. There’s no way they could have done that without you. If it weren’t for you, Chris’ dad probably would have killed him that day, honestly.” As you speak Adrian starts to realize.

“I tried to tell Peacemaker about the gaps in the armor, but he didn’t listen.” He reminds you.

“Well that’s because he’s too deep in his own bullshit to see past it. He should have listened to you, but this isn’t just about him being stubborn. I don’t think most people would have noticed such a small detail like that. Give yourself some credit.” You kiss him again.

“You know you’re like everything to me right? I’ve never felt this way about a person before. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had feelings for other people, but like…it’s like I just never fit in as a kid. I just kinda felt like an alien who crash landed here as a baby and I know I’m not, but I just didn’t feel human. You make me feel human.” He’s giving you that look he gives people when he’s worried he’s said something a little too out of pocket or strange.

“I get what you mean. It’s almost like we were made for each other. We’re each other’s rocks…wait does that sound too cheesy?” You look at him, blushing.

“No! I love rocks! I had a rock collection when I was a little kid!” You giggle at how cute he is.

“Me too! My mom would find rocks in the machine every time she did laundry because I would stuff my pockets!” You tell him and you both laugh. Then your phones go off again, interrupting your good morning. You sigh. “Harcourt’s gonna kill us if we’re late.” You kiss him one more time before getting out of bed and heading to the shower.

“Let her kill us.” He laughs, smirking, following you to the shower.

Several hours later you found yourself sneaking through a warehouse. You didn’t quite know what to expect, you just knew a lot of people had gone missing at the hands of this guy. You figured maybe they were being killed off or trafficked. If you knew what you know now maybe you would have done things differently. Maybe you wouldn’t have even done them at all. You wished you were at home with Adrian. Adrian. You may never see him again…

You were running after the guy when he pulled a grenade on you. Adrian had survived a grenade once, but you didn’t think he would survive again. You on the other hand were testing out new armor from ARGUS that could probably withstand the blast, so you did what anyone would do for the person they love the most. You pushed him out of the way. Your ears were ringing and everything was so bright. You think you hear Adrian and maybe some of your other teammates screaming your name, but you’re not sure. Suddenly you’re on the ground, but the ground is different… you try to open your eyes, but they’re still strained from the bright light and now you feel lightheaded and nauseous. You black out.

You wake up to arms shaking you.

“Adrian?” You question in a whiney tone. You open your eyes to find a construction worker looking over you.

“I don’t know who that is. What even happened to you?“ You blinked a couple times, moving around slowly, getting your bearings. “You’re in my construction site for the new factory warehouse that’s going up. What happened? Did you slip down the dirt mound and hit your head?”

“I- I must have…” Your voice trails off as you try to make sense of everything.

“This is going to be so much paperwork.” The worker sighs.

“I’m sorry… what town am I in?” You ask.

“Evergreen, Washington.”

“I don’t remember there being any big construction sites like this recently.” You try to think of any signs indicating any recent work sites.

“We just broke ground yesterday. I’m surprised you didn’t see it on the news.” The worker helps you up.

“I don’t tend to watch the news. My boyfriend thinks it’s depressing. I usually get my news elsewhere, but I’ve been a little busy to read up on it in the past few days.” You smile at the worker, thinking of Adrian.

“Like the newspaper?” He asks.

“No, online.”

“On what? You wait in line?”

“No… like the internet…” You give him a confused smile.

“Oh, I don’t mess with that new stuff. I don’t want robots in my house, stealing my information. You young people always just want things faster, faster, faster.” You tried to refrain from giving the man an odd look. He’s probably from one of the more rural areas. You knew how radically conservative Evergreen could be at first hand, having met Chris’ dad and been told stories of how he grew up. You were just happy Chris’ dad was dead. As awful as that sounds you’d hate to run into him.

“Yeah…” You give a nervous laugh. “Well thank you, but I should probably head out before your supervisor notices.” You quickly excuse yourself, walking down the street. You pulled out your phone, but had no service, so you put it away. That’s odd. Usually there’s dead zones in town, but you didn’t think it was this bad. As you walk down the street you see a beautiful vintage car parked by the side of the road. It’s in pretty good condition.

“I love your vintage car! What year is it?” You ask the woman getting out of it.

“What this clunker? I got it from my parents. It’s only an 81, but I guess it’s getting old now. It’s got tons of miles on it. They just got a new car, so they gave me their old one.” She says, locking her door.

“They didn’t wanna keep it?” You ask in shock.

“Why would they? It’s old.” You look at her in confusion before she excuses herself to walk into the grocery store. Guess some people just don’t know the value of collectibles.

Today has been fucking weird. How did you even end up in that construction site anyway? You must have gone for a walk this morning and fell in, but it’s a little alarming you don’t remember. You could walk home, but it’s just so far. You walk into a nearby corner store hopping they have wifi to connect to. You couldn’t call Adrian without service, but maybe if you could get wifi you could get him a message to come pick you up or you could order an Uber.

You walked into the building and made your way up to the counter. “Hi, do you have wifi here?” You ask.

“No, sorry we don’t sell that.” The teenage cashier dismisses you and goes back to the pad of paper they’re doodling on.

“Okay… do you know anywhere near here that has wifi?” You ask.

“I don’t even know what wifi is. I could call the hardware store and see if they have some.” They look at you like you’re the stupid one.

“What do you mean call the hardware store?”

“We have a phone behind the counter.”

“How do you not know what wifi is? Wireless internet?” You stare at them, losing your mind a bit.

“You think we have a computer here? This is Evergreen. Half the town is poor as shit. You’re not gonna find a computer in a gas station. Go to the library. They just got another one.” The teenager rolls their eyes at you.

“Can I at least use your phone?” You ask, trying to keep your patients with the idiot in front of you. How do they not know what wifi is?

“You have to use the pay phone next door. My boss said this is a business only phone.”

“The pay phone… What is this? 1985? I didn’t even know pay phones still existed.”

“Well some of us again can’t afford a cellphone. Not to mention, my mom says they fuck with your brain.” They roll their eyes again.

“It’s the 21st century who cares what their mother says? Practically everyone has a phone?” You give them a strange look.

“I don’t know what you smoked before you walked in here, but you’re still half a decade away from the 21st century.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” You look at them dumbfounded before it all starts to register. The comments about the internet being new, no wifi, no cellphones, the vintage car. You feel your ears start to ring as your eyes begin to tear up. You feel like you’re underwater. You take off, booking it down several blocks. You’re out of breath and you have a cramp, but you don’t care. You keep running. You’re sweating, but you keep running. You can taste metal in your mouth, but you keep running. You keep going. You have to. Finally you reach it. You stand in front of the building, catching your breath as you watch people walk in and out of Henelotter Video. Your heart is in your throat.

“No…” You look at it and begin to cry in shock at what was once your headquarters… or you guess what will one day be… That day hasn’t come yet. You walk over to a newspaper box and grab a free local paper. You see the date says August 31st, 1994. Fuck. You drop the paper, rushing to the back of the building. You collapse on the ground against the back wall of a building that should feel more familiar to you than it is. You remember now. The grenade must have been some sort of weaponized time travel. The people weren’t being killed or trafficked. They were being displaced in time. You sob quietly, not trying to cause a scene. This wasn’t supposed to be this way.

You lean against the building staring out at the parking lot, the parking lot where you shared your first kiss with Adrian. You had just gotten back from a mission that he was a little too reckless on and you needed to tell him how you felt in case you never got the chance again. You look over at the dumpster, clean of the graffiti it will one day be littered with. That was the dumpster he was hiding behind when you first met him as Vigilante.

Adrian… You may never get to see your perfect boyfriend again. He was by no means actually perfect, but he was perfect to you. He was your personal version of perfect and you knew you’d never find anyone else like him again. Now you may never see him again…

You cry until it starts to grow dark. You wonder about what you’ll do. Anything you do could change the future. What if changing the future makes it so you never meet Adrian or what if you change something and it branches off into a different future and you get stuck away from him in a parallel universe? You’re not a time travel scientist. Anything could fucking happen! The only thing you do know is that you’re alone and it’s getting dark. If you’re getting your timeline right, Chris’ dad would be coming out soon with his awful fucking army and you knew if they tried to fight you, you wouldn’t be able to take all of them on your own. They rule the streets in these years. You pull out your wallet from your pocket to find you have enough money to at least go get dinner. Your debit card won’t work, but you have just enough cash. You head to Fennel Fields because you knew it would probably be the only consistent thing left in town. You just wanted something familiar.

As you’re seated, an overwhelmed waitress rushes past you saying “I’ll be right with you!”

“Take your time. I practically have all the time in the world… like 30 years of time…” You whisper the last part under your breath. The overworked waitress runs back to you and apologizes.

“Hi, my name is Diane. Can I get you something to drink?” You want to order a soda, but decide against it to save money.

“Uh… I guess water will have to be fine.”

“You don’t look so sure. It’s free refills.” She smiles at you.

“I- I’m okay…” You stutter, tired. You could really use the caffeine, but shouldn’t.

“Well if you could have any pop in the machine which one would you pick?” She asks.

“I’m really fine with water…” You laugh nervously.

“Just humor me.” She smiles at you.

“Uh…maybe a Diet Coke…” You smile shyly at her. She leaves and comes back with a Diet Coke.

“On the house.” She smiles at you again. Something about her is so comforting.

“Oh, no. I couldn’t possibly-“

“Take it. You look like you’ve had a long day. I know I have.” She smiles at you.

“You’re very kind.” You smile back, taking a sip, letting the cool bubbly liquid trickle down your throat, which is sore from crying.

“Now what are we doing for food?” She asks.

“Uh…I’m gonna be really honest with you. I know most restaurants won’t let you order a kids meal if you’re over 12, but I’m really tight on cash, so I was hoping to maybe get the chicken tenders and fries?” You try your luck and she gives you another comforting smile.

“Great choice. I’ll go have the kitchen whip it up.” She walks away without any other questions.

You stay and eat at the restaurant for a while. Even long after you’re done, you stay and enjoy more free refills just so you’re not out on the streets.

“You know we’re technically closed right?” Your waitress, Diane asks.

“Oh! I’m sorry. I’ll leave…” You start to collect your things as she begins to sit at your booth with a bin of silverware and some napkins.

“No, please stay. Mind if I join you?” She asks.

“Um…no.” You smile. “I don’t mind at all.” Truth be told you loved Diane. She had such a comfortable, familiar air around her. Even in all of this chaos, she felt like someone you could trust. She starts rolling silverware as you sip on your drink.

“So what’s your story? Are you running or were you kicked out?” She asks.

“What?” You look at her confused.

“You just look scared and tired and like you’re not quite sure what to do. It’s none of my business, but you just look like you need someone on your side is all.” She smiles again, hoping she didn’t overstep.

“Why were you so kind to me? I walked into this restaurant with thirteen dollars to my name and you didn’t even roll an eye at me.” You question her.

“Just doing what I think is right, I suppose. It’s been hard for me too lately. My husband just left, so I picked up this second job to make sure my kids will be alright.” You shoot her a sympathetic look.

“Um…kicked out…I guess….” You open up. Being exiled from your time period is sort of like being kicked out.

“Do you have anywhere to go?” She asks. You shake your head silently. She finishes rolling the last bit of silverware before standing up and putting the bin behind the counter nearby.

“Let’s go. I’m taking you home with me.” She smiles.

“Oh, no! I- I couldn’t possibly-“

“Yes, you can and you will. I’m a mother. I’m not going to let a young adult with nowhere to go and no money sleep on the streets.” She cuts you off. She couldn’t be too much older than you, but clearly motherhood had aged her.

“You don’t even know my name!” You protest.

“What’s your name?” She asks.

“Rey” You panicked. It was the first name to come to your head. You and Adrian had watched Star Wars yesterday.

“Well then, Rey, let’s go home.” She insists.

“I can’t just stay in your house. That’d be rude.” You continue to debate.

“Then work for me.” She says.

“What?” You question her.

“I’ve been wanting to hire a nanny, but haven’t been able to afford one. If you come stay at my place, while you’re there you could watch the boys when I’m at work and in return you would have a roof over your head and food to eat. It sounds like a win-win situation.” She proposes. It isn’t a bad idea. You worry doing just about anything else would have an insane impact on the timeline. How much could one family affect everything?

“Are you sure about this?” You ask.

“More than sure. There’s something about you. You just seem…right.” She tells you. You smile.

“Okay…let’s go home then I guess…” you say as you follow her out of the restaurant. On the drive home she tells you about her kids.

“I have two kids…officially…” She starts.

“What do you mean officially?” You ask as you watch the passing streetlights illuminate her face.

“Well my son’s friend is always over, so more often than not it’ll probably be three boys. I let him sleepover a lot even though he’s a handful because every time he sleeps at home he comes back the next day with bruises. I can’t do anything about it because…well…that’s just how the town is…I think if I said anything things would just get worse, so I keep my mouth shut and put out an extra table setting for supper.” Her hands tighten on the steering wheel as she speaks.

“That’s so awful. I’ll never be able to understand parents who do that to their kids.” You sigh.

“Me either. If anyone laid a finger on either of my boys I’d kill them.” Most moms would be exaggerating, but you saw fire behind her eyes. You knew she loved her kids and she wasn’t fucking around. When you get home and walk inside you see a toddler with tight brown curls running around the living room in nothing, but a diaper.

“Dorian?!” Diane yells through the house. She catches the giggling toddler who has food on his face.

“Dorian Gut Chase! I told you your brother had to be in bed by 8!” Diane starts to scold her son who could be heard from the other room playing video games. Oh fuck.

“I’m sorry. Can you please hold Adrian. I don’t want him getting into anything else before bed and it seems like Dorian and Chris are upstairs killing aliens on the Super Nintendo instead of watching him, which is why I need a nanny in the first place.” She shoves Adrian in your hands. Holy fuck.

“Hi.” You hold him stiffly in your hands.

“I’m Adrian! I’m three!” He tells you just about the only thing every toddler is trained to say upon meeting a new person, shoving 3 fingers in your face.

“I know.” You say back. That’s probably not what you’re supposed to tell a three year old when they introduce themselves, but it’s not like he’ll remember anyway. You’re too in shock to care.

“What’s- what’s- what is your name?” He asks, stuttering out the words, obviously new to keeping up conversations.

“Rey, could you bring Adrian upstairs to help get him ready for bed please?” Diane calls and you remember you told her your name was Rey. Fuck if only baby Adrian could catch the joke in all of this. This is so weird on so many levels.

“I’m Rey, I guess, and we’re going upstairs now.” You tell him.

“Is it bedtime?” He asks.

“Um yeah. You’re up a little late, bud.”

“It’s not late!” He protests in his squeaky voice.

“What makes you think it’s not late?” You ask, as you walk up the stairs.

“I’m not tired!” He says.

“What time do you think it is?” You ask.

“Um 2- 2- 27” He giggles.

“That’s not a time!” You laugh at him, pretending to almost drop him. He breaks out into a fit of giggles. You had almost forgotten who you were holding.

“You’re really good with him. It’s almost like you’re a natural. He’s usually not this happy with strangers. He loves you!” She says, pleasantly surprised. If only somebody else could see the irony in the situation. Freud would love to be a fly on the way during all of this.

“Oh…uh…thanks.” You smile, as Adrian situates himself in your arms, hugging you closely. You would do anything to have Adrian back. Well this is sort of Adrian, but… you wish you had the older version. You wanted your Adrian back.

“I’ll take him from here.” Diane offers. “Check out the guest room. It��s the one at the end of the hall.” She says, taking Adrian from you.

“Thank you. You’ve been really kind.” You smile at her.

“It’s no trouble. You’re doing me a favor.”

You bid your goodnights and head to the guest room. You sit on the bed and think for a moment. This is so fucked up on so many levels. Forget about how you could fuck up the timeline… How are you gonna fuck up your boyfriend?! Not to mention, what kind of fucking ethics are involved in nannying your future boyfriend? He’s fucking three! He’s impressionable! On one hand this is weird, but on the other hand it might be your smartest move. Free room, free food, and you know how Adrian, Gut, and Chris’ lives are supposed to play out, so maybe you can stick to the script of your own timeline a little easier. This might be the easiest way to change as little as possible. You sigh, flopping onto the bed. You pull out your phone. The battery is only half charged and you have no way of charging it, but you don’t care. You need him. You pull up a picture of him that you took this morning in the van on your way to the warehouse, as tears come to your eyes. You open your voicemails and play one he left for you the other day.

“Hey babe, it’s me. I’m just calling because I know you had a bad day today and I was thinking maybe I could bring takeout home from the restaurant and we could just have a movie night? I just wanted to know if you were feeling chicken parm or meatballs or if you wanted to just scratch dinners and have me bring home a pizza. Just call me back when you get this. I’m really proud of you- uh…not that I’m not always proud of you. I’m like totally proud of you all the time and I’m rambling again and this voicemail is about to be like 10 years long, so uh bye I love you.” As soon as the voicemail ended you played it again, letting your tears fall freely. After you’re sure everyone is asleep you sneak into toddler Adrian’s room to check on him. He’s fast asleep in his bed. You let your silent tears continue to fall. He starts to move in his sleep. He seems distraught like he could be having a nightmare.

“It’s okay. I’m gonna take really good care of you, just like how you always take really good care of me.” You put on a teary eyed smile, giving him a kiss on the top of his head and adjusting his fallen blanket to cover him better. He seems to look more comfortable now. He stays fast asleep as you sneak back to the guest room for the night.

128 notes · View notes

shima-draws · 3 months

Note

Hi Shima! You have a lot of Pokemon content on your page and I’m sorta curious about the like, world of Pokemon, so would you have any recommendations on what like game I should start with or what I should watch first? Thanks!

!!! YOOOOO OKAY I GOTCHU ANON. Buckle up bc my 20 years of being a Pokemon fan is about to kick in

As for where to start with the games--this is all really depending on how your own personal playstyle! Do you like games that are more easy going and light on plot? Or do you like ones with heavy amounts of story? Or do you prefer games that are a perfect blend of the two? Pokemon's got a mixed bag of all of the above so you really can't go wrong

If you're into that really nostalgia feel I'd recommend starting out with the first Pokemon game I ever played as a kid, which was Pokemon Emerald! You can actually play this for free by downloading a Gameboy Advance emulator and the Emerald ROM. I have a lot of fond memories of Emerald and it's still one of my favorite games to date. I actually even prefer Emerald over its remakes (Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire) bc it just doesn't quite hit the same lol. I think even without having played Emerald as a kid it'll just spark that nostalgic feeling? It's that kind of game, at least to me :")

Going off of that if you REALLY want to hit nostalgia central and start where it all began, Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen is also a good game to start out with. It's a remake of Pokemon Red/Blue, which were the first ever Pokemon games that were made. Personally I'm not a super huge Gen 1 fan bc I feel like it's been WAY overdone at this point (it's had two remakes already) but if you've never played a Pokemon game again it's definitely a good starting point. It's barely got any plot so it's really a game you can just dive into and enjoy without focusing too hard on the story. AND as an added bonus, Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver is the direct sequel to Gen 1 (and a remake of the original Gold/Silver/Crystal) so I'd definitely play that one as well, it's lots of fun!

Of course I will also recommend Pokemon Black/White and Black 2/White 2, which is generation 5 and my FAVORITE mainline Pokemon games of all time. BW released right before the transition to the 3D games so it still has sprite art. It's a GORGEOUS game honestly and I think it's really well balanced with story VS gameplay. It's got great characters and fantastic design elements (with everything honestly like the Pokemon designs are great, the character designs are great, the city/town designs are great, etc) and the most KICKASS soundtrack ever (looking at you Driftveil City AKA Toothless dancing meme music). I could go on and on and on about Gen 5 for hours lmao I really hold it near and dear to my heart. Also it's one of the very few games that actually has a sequel which I LOVE. BW2 takes place two years after BW and I love the story and character progression 🥰

Shouting out Pokemon Platinum as well, I know it's a huge fan favorite and honestly I also love it very much!! Platinum came out before BW did so it's got that early DS era feel to it. It's got a decent plot and classic fun gameplay elements. Also Pokemon Legends Arceus which ties directly into Platinum as its prequel (but you should play Platinum first? I know it's confusing lol). PLA is SUPER fucking fun, it's got a completely different gameplay style and mechanic than regular Pokemon games, and it ties in with Platinum so well.

And to my last few recommendations -

Pokemon Sun and Moon!! There's mixed feelings about this one from a lot of people but it's one of my personal favorites...I think people dislike that it's so plot heavy, there's a LOT of dialogue even when starting the game so if you're not into that I wouldn't go with SM. But I LOVE games that are heavy with plot and SM just does it so well. The characterization is really well done and I love watching Lillie go through her development arc 🤧 But yeah it's SM NOT Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon which are like. The same games but Worse. USUM took SM's plot and stomped all over it so I would not go for those lol

And, of courseeee. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet! These are the most recent mainline games to release and ohhh my god. Is the game laggy and bugged out as hell? Yes. Is it also fucking FANTASTIC and has made me cry multiple times? ALSO yes. If you don't mind occasional shitty graphics then please please PLEASE play SV. The open world aspect is a ton of fun, the new Pokemon designs are so charming, the characters are wonderful, and the STORY??? The plot literally blew my socks off the first time I played it. SV endgame you will always be the king of my heart. It's definitely heavier than any previous Pokemon game and it had me reeling for DAYS after. The story is just. So so so good. And we get a continuation of the story kicking ass in the DLC. I love SV to death it really redeemed Pokemon after the disaster that was gen 8 for me (and it's REALLY fun to shiny hunt in).

And LAST but certainly not least. My favorite Pokemon game of all time period ever in the history of Pokemon. Not a mainline game but a side/spinoff game--Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky!! If you want the classic Pokemon experience I probably wouldn't start with this since it's so different from the mainline games but I'd 10000% play it after finishing your first Pokemon game. It's a dungeon crawler, you get to BE a Pokemon, the music is phenomenal, the gameplay is phenomenal, the story is PHENOMENAL, everything about it is incredible and I will love this game until the day I die. I CANNOT recommend it enough. It's so so SO good and it means so much to me I can't even. Please play PMD Sky this goes to everyone who hasn't played it I prommy it's worth it

So basically:

Easy games with no/light plot: FRLG, Emerald, HGSS

Games with a perfect blend of actual gameplay and plot: BW/B2W2, Platinum, PLA

Games that hit HEAVY with plot/storyline: SM, SV, PMD Sky

Honestly you really cannot go wrong no matter where you start out. Even if it's with one of the games I DIDN'T personally recommend, all the mainline games have their own unique charm and each generation has its die hard fans (UNOVA GANG RISE). I've played all of them and they're all enjoyable!

As for the anime, my personal recommendations are the XY saga and the SM saga! The SM saga is my ultimate favorite, it's really cute and charming and fun, with some heavier plot arcs sprinkled in so it's a good blend between lighthearted stuff and more serious story. XY is VERY plot-heavy especially in the latter part, there's a lot of character development and crazy stuff going on, so I'd go for that one if you want to get hit hard with Feels. I haven't watched as much of the anime so I'm sure other people would recommend other seasons (I know the original saga, the Hoenn saga and the DP saga are fan favorites).

I'd also recommend watching the sub instead of the dub,, especially if you haven't grown up watching the Pokemon anime like me the dub is VERY hit or miss. I prefer subs as well bc the dub actually cuts out a LOT of stuff? I know for SM they had fun extra little bits at the beginning and ending of each episode that the dub just. Didn't include. For some reason? Like they'd cut out entire scenes. Idk. It's up to you either way tho ^^

And that is my introduction to Pokemon list.........if anybody has anything to add feel free! These are just my personal recommendations based off of what I like so naturally not everyone will agree lol. If you have any questions anon don't hesitate to ask, I'm always down to talk Pokemon. And I hope you have lots of fun playing whichever game you decide to go with!!

#Shima answers questions #Long post #Pokemon #Sorry I word vomited there LOL can you tell Pokemon has been my hyperfixation since I was 7 #It is Everything to me <3 #ANYWAY HAVE FUN ANON!!! So glad I managed to catch your interest with my Pokeposting lmao

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evelili · 10 months

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okay I’ve been reading your magnum opus fic and I’m at the chapter with fluttershy and the manticore and GOOD GOD this fic is amazing. Your writing of twilight is stunning. Her steadfast belief in science at the start seemed odd but now that her past bullying has been revealed it feels like she was just clutching to the one thing that couldn’t hurt her. God sunset getting possessed is so cool and I am TERRIFIED of when twilights going to be forced to see her like that. Your characterization of Celestia blows me away, she’s this perfect mix of a loving mentor and a woman who would do ANYTHING to keep her demons locked away. I really like how you write that there’s this shift between her when she is talking to twilight normally vs when she’s talking about magic. She goes from loving to almost cold, it’s brilliant! I’m halfway through fluttershy’s chapter and good god. Applejack’s speech about it not being Twilights fault she got bullied and having to trust her in spite of all that has happened nearly brought me to tears but GOD. Twilight being a bit possessed by the manticore is such a cool shift from the original episode it makes it all so much more intense. Fluttershy and twilight talking about how twilight didn’t deserve to be bullied and it’s alright that she didn’t get over it!!

“Something’s wrong with me,” she whispered back, her mouth dry with guilt. Fluttershy nodded carefully, the stinger still inches away from her throat. Twilight didn’t trust herself to move, and instead added, “I don’t mean just right now. There’s still—” She choked on her words. “I didn’t get over it,” she said instead. “I couldn’t. Not like you.”

Like!!! This bit right here fucked me UP. Your descriptions of the emotions she’s feeling and how she’s expressing it physically between her mouth and her voice and how the wings and scorpion tail are reacting are BRILLIANT!!

Twilight didn’t try to move away. “But I’m not better,” she admitted. Fluttershy’s hand brushed against her cheek, gently tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. “And I don’t know why.”

This line is the one that broke me and made me write this. GOD. I don’t have words besides just. oh my god. Fluttershys gentleness is so good and so heartbreaking and I love it

I’ll be honest I’m not yet sure how to write long comments on fimfiction, but when I finish this fic you’re eithering getting a long ass ask in your inbox or a comment on there if I figure it out. Love this fic so far!!! Ah!!!!

AHHHHHH tysm for taking the time to write such a lovely comment!!! like holy shit you have just given me enough serotonin for WEEKS omg, it makes me so happy to know that you're enjoying the story!!

celestia is a rlly interesting chara to me, and im super happy w how the version of her in the fic turned out! actually, most of the reason for the 30k epilogue jumpscare is that i really needed to properly resolve her "arc" with twilight, so if you are a fan of this version of her please look forward to that! and, sunset as a "villain" was something we only saw briefly in eqg1 (and for my tastes, i wasnt a huge fan of how it was done) but there's so much POTENTIAL there i couldnt help myself in exploring it :)

chapter 5->act 2 is the real "turning point" i guess of the fic in terms of tone, and even tho it was a struggle to write shy's chapter i think over time i've rlly come around to liking how it turned out :D in the fic i ended up writing fluttershy as more of a later season version of herself (less cowardly maybe?), but the essence of her chara to me is someone who can be kind even in situations when she is receiving unkindness in return. and sometimes, this "fighting fire with kindness" is actually the only solution, and one that only shy can find.

wahhh i never know how to properly express how much i love and appreciate these sort of detailed responses, so please also accept a little doodle of the scene you mentioned liking as part of my thanks!

#FOLDING THIS ASK UP PUTTING IN MY POCKET KEEPING IT FOREVER #tysm again i appreciate u so much!!!!#lili talking #tte #mlp fanfic #my art #twilight sparkle #scitwi #fluttershy

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ominousvibez · 5 months

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So I originally published this post a little bit ago about how important it felt to me that Arin should remain without an element in Dragons Rising, because it would be such an interesting character arc to explore. But I also published that super late at night and it was more a train of thought, not something fully written, but I want to expand on this more.

Arin should not have an element, and here’s why.

(Runtime: 3:29:09) (JK I’ve just been watching hbomberguy vids for the last week)

When we’re first introduced to Arin as a character, he’s shown to be a huge ninja fan. He carried around Lloyd’s mask for God knows how long, too afraid to wash it in fear of damaging it. He wears it as a mask, too, when he tries to be just like the heroes he looks up to (which is a lil’ gross buddy). He propped the ninja up as these great heroes, and his optimism generally bounced nicely off Sora’s more pessimistic view of the world.

Arin grew up with the stories of the ninja, so it makes sense that he would try to emulate his heroes. And when he meets Lloyd, and starts training to be a ninja, well, it’s kinda his dream come true.

Other people have compared Arin’s character to that of a longtime Ninjago Fan IRL, too. He knows the lore, he knows the stories, he knows about the ninja. Sora, on the other hand, is the opposite, and a good representation of the new fans in the audience. She didn’t know these brightly color-coded ninjas existed until the Merge, after she ran away from everything she knew in Imperium, and she’s just trying to survive with her silly bestie Arin.

But then, Sora unlocks her elemental ability over technology—a new elemental ability, unlike anything seen before in Ninjago—and the story really begins.

Throughout the first season, it focuses a lot on Sora’s struggle with mastering her new abilities. At first she thinks it’s something that only their dragon baby Riyu can activate with her, but then starts to think that all her efforts lead to suffering, before finally coming full-circle and accepting them as her own, eventually unlocking her true potential in the climax of the second half of Season 1. BendoBricks on Youtube has a much better breakdown of her character arc, which I’d really recommend, cause I’m not here to focus on her.

No, I want to focus on Arin.

Arin—the long-time Ninjago fan’s self-insert baby boy who I would gladly kill for—is a great character, and despite being the POV character at the beginning of the first season, does fall to the wayside a bit when focus goes onto Sora and her character arc. Which is fine, don’t get me wrong—because Arin falling a bit to the side feels like it’s being done on purpose.

Imagine this. You’re a fan of this group of superheroes in your world, and you spend your days wishing you’d be like them. Or maybe you’d daydream about your parents selling you to these superheroes, or something. And something really bad happens, the world completely changes, and then you’re on your own, and those superheroes vanished.

You make friends in this new world, and you share these stories with your new friends! It’s great. And then one of those heroes comes back, and wants to train you and your friend to be heroes, too, as your friend has a superpower. Doesn’t that sound absolutely amazing!

You’re a prodigy, too—you’ve trained and taught yourself the techniques these heroes used, and they’re all impressed. But your friend has a superpower.

And you don’t.

This is the situation Arin is in. Everyone around him has an elemental ability. Sora, Riyu, Lloyd, Kai, Nya, Zane—everyone he basically associates with daily has this amazing power (or is a cute lil’ dragon). And he doesn’t have anything. Even though he’s taught himself how to use Spinjitzu, and has managed to unlock a technique where he can transfer that spinning energy to an item, he doesn’t technically have an elemental ability. It’s less impressive compared to other characters, especially the ninja, who have known Spinjitzu for like thirteen years. It’s impressive he’s learned it on his own, unlocked the key for it by himself, but in comparison, he doesn’t have a lot to set him apart from the other ninja other than the fact that he doesn’t have an element.

In my opinion, this would be a much more interesting route for them to take his character. Staying without an element.

Of course, it could later be found out that Arin’s a new elemental master of, like, momentum, or something like that, to explain how he picked up Spinjitzu so quickly and can transfer it to objects, but I think that would be the lazy way out.

Arin’s character acts as an amazing foil to Sora through Season 1. He’s a ninja fanboy, she kinda doesn’t care. He’s energetic, optimistic. She’s cautious and a bit pessimistic. Arin later gains oni-like horns on his ninja gi, and Sora is associated heavily with dragons (which I’ve heard is quite a duality in the lore, idk I haven’t seen the later seasons yet).

Sora is an elemental master, and Arin… isn’t.

Bits of a new character arc can be seen through S1 for Arin. In the last few episodes of the series, while Sora masters her element, Arin withdraws a bit from it all. In Episode 10, following the first battle in Imperium, he sits by himself, away from the others, and dejectedly tells Lloyd, “If you have all of them, you don’t need me anymore”, before it cuts to not just Kai, Zane, and Nya; but also, Sora and Riyu. Their conversation was less about Arin’s lack of an elemental ability, and more of Arin’s fear of losing others; they have a similar conversation in episode 20, where Arin laments his object Spinjitzu only being accessible when he’s literally scared to shit and how frustrating it is, and Lloyd comments on how all of the ninja had moments when they were scared, but they acted through the fear.

I feel like both of those scenes happening in the mid-season and season finale happen interestingly. For once, they center Arin by himself; he’s sitting aside by the wall, messing with a shuriken in ep 10, and he’s throwing the shuriken and trying to activate his object Spinjitzu in ep 20; but they both put him on the sidelines, away from others.

(Okay I know in ep 20 Sora is also by herself with her mech, but Arin is still aside, so my point still stands.)

The opportunity of a character like Arin not ever developing an elemental ability like the other ninja feels like something almost too good to waste. Before Nya became the Water Ninja (and when she was actually allowed to be a character and not just The Girl), Nya had interesting moments, such as developing Samurai X as a way to be a part of the team without actually being a ninja.

I think the ideal character arc for Arin would work similarly to Sora’s, but flipped, if that makes sense. Perhaps having him attempt to unlock an elemental ability, running out of luck with everything, and getting frustrated at his lack of worth, despite his skills with Spinjitzu, would be an interesting way to go for his character. Eventually he would learn that he doesn’t need to have a cool elemental ability to be a ninja; he’s just fine as he is. And maybe that can be what’s holding him back from truly developing his object Spinjitzu is that fear that he’s not worthy enough to be a ninja. He turns his lack of elemental power into his strength.

The DR writers have a cool arc they could give him, and I think they ought to go for it. I’m sure more about Arin will be revealed in S2, and he’ll have his character arc then. I just hope that the writers don’t take the easy way out, and give Arin a much more interesting character arc than the same “omg I have an elemental ability I gotta learn” that Ninjago has done multiple times already.

#ninjago #ninjago dragons rising #ninjago dr #arin ninjago #ninjago arin #analysis #ninjago analysis #i just really love him okay.#i will protect him i want to see him grow healthy #i want to tell my friends and family about him #i hope this makes more sense than my first post L M A O #ominouswrites

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ad-hawkeye · 3 months

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You came up on my recommended feed at the perfect time bc I have Artem brainrot rn AND YOUR ANALYZATION OF ARTEM’S CARDS ARE FANTASTIC! I’m one of the few players that avoids most CN server spoilers, and I’ve been abstaining from pulling most cards so I can pull for 3rd anni(which now I’m kinda questioning if I should LOL), so I missed out on a TON of content for all of the male leads. BUT, from the very few cards I had pulled this past yr, I did notice an odd shift in Artem’s personality. Although, I wasn’t too sure if it was just me being dumb or if it was a real thing that was happening. And after reading some of your posts I kinda want to re-read Artem’s Second Anni Card again bc I was so excited for the artwork from that event, that I didn’t pay much attention to the story LOL However, now that I’ve seen what you’ve said and what many other Artem fans have said, I’m sure my feelings weren’t wrong. And now I’m sad 😢

Artem was my favorite bc his relationship with Rosa felt the healthiest and was built on respecting each other’s boundaries, learning how to set boundaries, and working as a team, while also having a more traditional framework of a male leadership role(which I’m extremely fond of). Artem never restricted Rosa from spreading her wings as his work partner or as his life partner, he simply asked if he could come along beside her where ever she wanted to go. AND LIKE HIS ORIGINAL PERSONAL STORY IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THIS BEHAVIOR! Rosa makes a reckless decision to go get evidence, without Artem, for a the domestic violence case they were working on and almost gets hurt in the process. After that, Artem scolds Rosa for being reckless and for not taking better care of herself. And Rosa doesn’t take it lying down either! They equally argue and get their grievances out in the open, feel bad about later, and apologize. (THE COMMUNICATION IS SO REAL 😩) FURTHERMORE! This incident leads them to learning and understanding how differently they work as lawyers. Artem learns that Rosa is a lot more personal with her clients and handles her cases with an empathetic approach, while he works more pragmatically, so through this case they learn to work to each other’s strengths as partners, covering for what the other person lacks. And the chapters this incident took place in solidified my growing love for Artem bc unlike Luke or Vyn(I’m not sure about Marius bc admittedly I haven’t read his original personal story 😅), Artem doesn’t hinder Rosa by being overprotective like Luke or push her beyond her capacities like Vyn tried to do in his original personal story. Artem allows a natural course of growth to occur in Rosa, while being a hedge of protection for Rosa BUT ONLY when she seems to REALLY need it, and the same can be said for Rosa towards Artem.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk, sorry for ranting 😅

WAHHH YOU'RE TOO KIND!! ;_; thank you so much for the sweet words, it really means a lot!!! i'm so so happy you enjoyed my ranting and raving, honestly having a community of super awesome people to talk about this with has been such a comfort and ive made some awesome friends from my time here, even if we don't chat as much anymore!

and omg, do NOT ever feel bad for ranting in my inbox!!!! i've been ranting about tot in the main tag for two years at this point and i will Always be thrilled to read delightfully written meta such as yours!!!!!

i have to say, i entirely agree with all of this. and i mean ALL OF IT. his personal stories 2, 3, and 4 are my absolute favorites of his and gosh that's like. prime artem to me, i think. your ask reminded me of some meta i read such a long while ago about his second personal story (link can be found here, it's SUCH a good read)

i think a huge issue is that artem originally always felt like the antithesis to your typical daddy dom boss character. when you start playing tot, appearances wise, he looks and even comes across as one. but these initial appearances are quickly shattered.

he is absolutely inexperienced with interpersonal relationships. he fumbles the bag CONSTANTLY with rosa. he's terrible at holding conversation, he's constantly apologizing for being boring. he needs his own fucking boss to wingman (haha. wing) for him. he blushes if mc looks at him the wrong way. he's kinda strange. but he's earnest and genuine. he respects rosa's boundaries. he makes mistakes, but learns from them. he gives rosa time to think over her feelings for him so she can still say no to him if she changes her mind.

it's the contrast between this and his initial appearance that makes him interesting. what is extremely bizarre with artem's recent writing is it feels like someone who only read artem's introduction scene got some vague pointers and was like oh. your typical daddy dom boss guy. okay yeah i can write this. and then they did. which . defeats the whole entire point of what made artem compelling in the first place. he was compelling BECAUSE he subverted this trope. by just making him play the trope straight, you remove any and all intrigue from his character.

by not building off of older cards, you abandon all of the plot lines he had set up. they undid any angst in his stories. they dropped his issues with his parents. they downplayed neils impact on his life. he doesn't even grieve for him anymore. he doesnt even think about him most of the time. what happened to entwined fate? praying for neil's safety? what about neil being his father figure? neil potentially betraying the nxx? are we just going to ignore that now so we can watch artem be an insane freak who just apparently woke up with the skills of a sex god, forgot all of the lessons he learned, and doesnt care about consent anymore?

god, now IM ranting.... regardless. youre so right. i hear artem's newest cards are good so im praying those rumors are true : ((

EDIT: SORRY I MEANT TO TALK ABOUT HIS THIRD ANNIVERSARY CARD!!! it's not as bad as his second anniversary card. i know the bar is in hell but it's something. it's pretty contrived in the grand scheme of things (like why are they moving into a house...?) and has some weird moments, but is ultimately not as bad as it could have been in the slightest. i'd say its biggest crime is being boring as sin. holy fuck. i put that shit on 2x speed and i still found myself wanting to fast forward. like nothing happens at all???? it's so bizarre HAHA

#asks #tears of themis #artem wing #fifty shades of artem #sorry i know i sound bitter but i think its just bc i really adored artem so much (and still do LOL) and want better for him #ugh #long post

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taz-ma-raz-skylar · 7 months

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Taz for Nuit Magazine

TAZ SKYLAR

~Boiling Point is an amazing choral piece about the hi-strung competitive world of cooking. How was your experience surrounded such top-notch actors?

It was great to watch them work. Matthew McConaughey has a great quote, which is: “Be less impressed and more involved” and I just kept reminding myself of that. I was just focusing on being involved with the team and the process instead of constantly being impressed with who was in the room.

~What about the pressure of doing everything in one single take?

I do a lot of theatre, so that bit I was fine with. Just do whatever you can with what happens on each take. That’s all you can do. If it goes wrong, use it to your advantage and make something special out of it.

~What is your relationship with food and cooking?

My relationship with food and cooking is a nuanced one. I originally come from a Mediterranean country, so food is part of the culture in a very strong way. I always loved food and cooking. But through my early twenties I went through some pretty severe eating disorders. Anorexia and bulimia. And so I had to completely emotionally detach myself from food to get through it. For those who have had those disorders or even the ones going through it in some way now, you soon learn that it’s not something you can ever fully get rid of once you’ve had it… The best you can hope for is to manage it. And I do now. I’m proud of how far I’ve come in handling the demons that pushed me into the disorders in the first place. And now with Sanji I get to reconnect with food in a way that’s about finding the joy & pleasure in feeding others. Making sure that everyone is well fed. And finding new ways to even make the food I’ve been used to eating myself, taste and look better. Gordon Ramsay made a really good point in his masterclass which was, and I paraphrase, cooking is a skill that everyone should learn… it’s one of the only skills which you can literally use every day, three times a day (or more, depending on how often you eat). And I love how Anthony Bourdain put it too: “Everyone should at least know how to chop a fucking onion”.

~And now you are playing the legendary cook Sanji himself, in a live adaptation of the classic anime opera one piece. Feeling any pressure?

I wasn’t at first… Then I went through a few months leading up to the announcement where I did start to feel the pressure and the anticipation build up in a negative way. There was also just a lot to juggle. I was in Hamlet at The Young Vic whilst also doing two to three hours of Tae-Kwon-Do training a day + chef training after the show in the evenings and it was a lot to handle whilst also trying to keep my centre of gravity as a human… But now, I’ve reached a point where I’m just kinda like… “You’re just gonna do your fucking best bro” and whatever happens fucking happens. If I walk on to set thinking “how are people wanting me to play this” I’m bound to fail… If walk on to set thinking, “this role is mine now and I’m going to rip it to shreds and pour my heart and soul into it” I’m always going to be proud of it. Letting the pressure of expectations from the huge fan base mess with my head isn’t useful. Again the quote, “be less impressed and more involved”. I’m over it (the pressure that is), I’m just getting my head down and focusing on enjoying the training, the experience, the character, the source material, the new continent I’ve moved to for the shoot and the new family that’s just welcomed me in. The fanbase has been incredibly welcoming, don’t get me wrong… I have thousands of super sweet and lovely messages, filled with excitement for the show. And I’m immensely thankful for each and every one of them, but again – be less impressed and more involved… All I can focus on is what’s in front of me and all that’s in front of me is the task at hand.

~Sanji’s character is shaped by a very traumatic past, how do you relate to him?

Sanji’s a person who had to fend for himself from a young age and did so by becoming a master of his trade. Weirdly I’ve lived a similar life… I left home when I was fifteen and became an apprentice to surfboard builders. All of which resemble Sanji’s mentor Zeff in some way or another. And I learned to fend for myself through trial and error. This was all before I started acting and writing. His trauma and his reasons for leaving are the thing that drives his behaviour in adulthood… I have my own things I was running away from and which drive my own behaviour now… But we won’t go into those, that’s a whole other story.

~Trauma and its after effects seems to be a recurring theme in most of your work, especially your acclaimed play Warheads. Can you guide us through its impact on your artistic process?

It does seem to recur a lot. I don’t really have an answer. I think you can choose what to do with trauma (to a certain conscious degree). You can let it cripple you… Or you can turn it into the best thing about you. I think I just do my best tot turn it into something that pushes me, instead of holding me back.

~Do you think this has influenced your passion/attraction for extreme sports?

I don’t know if trauma is the reason I’m into extreme sports. But it probably has something to do with it. I have a very desensitised adrenalin response to most things. It takes me fifty jumps from a plane to have the feeling that most get from just one jump… All I know is that when I do get that buzz from a jump or that feeling of a flow state from something like surfing or climbing, my mind gets silenced and reset to it’s neutral position, giving me the base from which to re-evaluate problems and come up with solutions.

~Do acting and writing helping you cope with this?

Very much so. I haven’t had much time to write lately and I definitely miss it. Acting and writing, when it’s going well, are the only two non life threatening activities that also have the ability to silence my mind. When I’m in the zone, I can write for twelve or sixteen hours straight, without even thinking about it. I forget to eat. Same with acting… When you’re in a play and you’re having a great show, everything else around you stops.

~Where is Taz Skylar going next?

Emotionally, hopefully to a slightly more stoic place. Artistically, I wanna bleed on the jeans of my next character. Personal projects?There’s a couple of films I’ve written that I’m praying to god get a green light.

#taz skylar

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bugeyedfreaks · 1 year

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youtube

Here’s what everyone was totally waiting for: my unsolicited thoughts on this cartoon man panel thing I found that got posted on YouTube! I… ended up writing MUCH more than I thought… but you know what, I can’t do text cuts on mobile. So I’m not cutting it. Sorry not sorry for forcing you all to read my opinions. 😆

I just kind of focused on the PPG parts because those are really mostly what I was interested in and scrubbed through the rest (since I’m not a huge fan of Foster’s, love WoY but just am not as invested in it as deeply, aaaaand I’ve only seen one or two episodes of Kid Cosmic). The whole PPG section was essentially me just nodding my head at all the stuff I knew that was repeated from other interviews (immediately blurting, “COWARD,” when he said he wouldn’t name them Pink/Green/Blue, occasionally laughing at the “I’m weird~, I’m artsy~, I’m not like other girls~” type of comments 🤣) but mostly agreeing on what he said about the girls. I mean, no surprises there! It’s cool to see how he’s thought about it all, especially in regards to the 2016 reboot and the live action thing.

…althooooooough…

I mean, agh, I dunno if I would say them getting older takes the Powerpuff out of the Powerpuff Girls (like… not gonna lie, REALLY bummed my mood to hear him go, “Oh, if they get older they’re not Powerpuff anymore, they’re just three super girls,” like…… I dunno, similar to other comments he’s made in the past that have irritated me, I’m sure it might’ve just come out bad and he didn’t mean it that way, but the way he said it just made me feel awful for the characters… sheesh, Craig, God forbid the girls grow up, then they’re just like eeeevery other woman, they’re not ~special~ anymore 😬😬😬) but like I understand that, what makes the girls different than other superheroes, specifically in the OG show, is that they’re little kids and they deal with kid issues. But… they’re also special because they’re sisters! They also have this cool id, ego, superego thing going on (I guess it’s more accurate to call it their heart, mind, and soul connection, now that I’m re-reading this, but what other superhero team has that? It’s very unique to them). Those are just two other big parts of who they are! I don’t think it’s impossible to have them be adults with adult issues (there could certainly be similar types of adult responsibilities that might serve as “kryptonite” as well, ones that are also more universally relatable). And I don’t think it’s impossible to make something with these three very interesting, iconic, strong characters in a setting where their femininity still wouldn’t be the main focus. They still would be living very unique lives: they don’t have secret identities like most superheroes, they still could be trying to live “normally” despite their amazing powers, like… it’s not that you automatically have to focus on them being women all of a sudden when they get older. You can still treat them like, you know, people. Why it seems like there’s an inability for these reboot creators to do that, whether they’re writing them young or old, I’m not sure (…I mean on a certain level I know but I won’t let myself rant about that). …also, yeah, like I’ve said before on here, for live-action you’d need a much bigger budget to even begin to give any of the villains worthy representation! Anyway. I guess tl;dr I personally would of course prefer them be their kids selves because that’s the original concept but yikes dude. I dunno, the comment just rubbed me the wrong way. 🫤

…also, I don’t know if it’s just me, but he seems to really light up talking about the Foster’s thing he wants to do. I would really, really, really want him to just work on THAT instead of doing that plus a PPG reboot. That kind of passion put into a project is great! I keep thinking about how PPG suffered with Craig having little to no involvement with it while working on Foster’s, and keep thinking about how… yeah, essentially, the PPG reboot is happening because money. Which, it is what it is, let’s face it, but I just hate thinking how, if they’re being worked on at the same time, the quality might suffer on one or the other, and I have a nagging feeling that it would be the PPG that would suffer, especially since I don’t really detect that same genuinely excited feeling he seems to have about the Foster’s thing when he’s talking about the PPG. …I dunno. I just feel like the, “Stop, stop, he’s already dead!” kid and I don’t want the series to needlessly suffer more. 🫠

Also that whole “bigger battles, tougher stakes,” etc., thing for the PPG… like, yeah, sounds cool I guess, but I hope it’s fun? It sounds like the edgy kind of tagline I would hear from these kinds of animation bros who want a darker, super-bloodier, serious PPG. I, too, love a good brawl and some gore now and then, but there is…… a balance. I hope he doesn’t veer too off-course in an attempt to make the series what other people haven’t made it. It’s a cursed enough series for something like that to happen. I dunno. I am trying my HARDEST to stay neutral about it guys, I am going to try to just bleach my brain and forget anything being said about the reboot. 😩

#count the number of times I write ‘I dunno’ lol it’s a lot #also I wrote ‘suffer’ a lot………….. oh boy 🤣#anyway cool panel and hope he made looooots of mooonnneeyyy from the gallery show haha

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tutuandscoot · 1 year

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Let’s talk about this lift

~an essay

First, some brief history..

This is probably VM’s most iconic lift, along with ‘The Goose’, and to a lesser extent I would also say the curve lift in MR (the Prince Lift). I include that last one from an ‘iconic Olympic moments’ pov. It is often used in media packages for the Winter Olympics. It was one of the most iconic moments to come out of VM’s performance- because of the way it fit with the music, created a moment, electrified the crowd… it just became one of those things that you now picture when you hear Come What May, and a truly memorable moment from their skate- when you think of triumph and super human achievement that’s an image that comes to mind. It’s an Olympic lift. In that respect I place it in the same company as the two former lifts, however I wouldn’t give it the same VM specific, iconic to them status as the two former.

The difference with The Goose and this lift (which will be referred to from here on as the ‘Carmen Rotational lift’ (CR) as I hate that other name it was given) is The Goose was largely popularised within the skating community. [I may be wrong with this, I wasn’t around back then but from what I’ve understood and learned about their career/legacy]. (Also I’m not going to recite the whole passage about it’s creation from the book.. IYKYK). It was first performed in Pink Floyd. It was then used as one of the many, but maybe most memorable, highlight moments in Mahler. The fact that in Mahler she originally jumped out of it seemed mind blowing, then when it was changed to blindly falling back into his arms I think just added even more to it’s poetic beauty and mind boggling difficulty. This lift was made famous in 09/10 and was then retired from competitive programs. It became ‘their move’ not just of the season but of their careers among fans especially, and/or anyone who attended ice shows more than once. It’s an iconic move, but it largely stayed iconic within the confines of the skating community, maybe seen more now through FS edits on IG & TT.

The CR, debuted in the 12/13 season as the furious, passionate, violent climax to Carmen. Now this post isn’t about that program so I’ll keep this brief, as with all* their programs they were always able to create new, or modify lifts that were unique and deliberate for each character and storyline. Carmen as a piece is arguably the most raw and thematically dark program they ever did, and this lift, along with several smaller, nuanced moments throughout the program are such perfect embodiments of the specific character interactions they wanted to portray. It’s violent, it’s unexpected, it’s daring and death-defying… one slip on that exit and her head would smash the ice and she could be paralysed.

Moving onto this lift in MR..

Lets start by talking about the athletic and logistical nature of it.

As with everything they do, they make it look so easy. And as has been discussed many times, the reason they can do the lifts they do and make them so unique and seamless is because they play equal parts. It is not simply Scott lifting Tessa- she gets herself into and can hold herself in all types of bizarre positions effortlessly while Scott is the strongest, most secure male partner for her in the base/facilitator of the entry and exits of these lifts.

So let’s break this down. First, let’s talk about Tessa’s role

[WARNING: prefacing this for all readers that NO negative/crude/ comments/rbs will be tolerated, this is an educative/admirational essay. ALSO: discretion is advised for younger readers- adult themes will be discussed].

They prepare for the lift with just two backwards travelling synchronised crossovers, just two to gain a huge amount of speed to get up the momentum they need for T’s flip. She kicks her left leg up then forcefully (but not aggressively) digs her toe pick into the ice and immediately starts the twist and dives forward while still travelling at speed.

So now once she’s off the ice (which I guess is officially when the 7secs for the lift starts ?) is when it becomes mind boggling when you break it down. As she twists and flips, as she takes off she can’t really see him, she just knows he’s gonna catch her. She sees him briefly as she twists towards him but she’s in the air at this point so the lift can’t be aborted (side note: that’s the other thing with a lot of their lifts- they are so dangerous and physically demanding, there is often this kinda point of no return.. I’m sure they do, as we’ve seen in some practice footage, have emergency exit strategies if a lift doesn’t go right) but with this one, considering the speed and that they are travelling backwards, at least in this transitional part before she gets on his shoulders there’s kinda no going back.

What’s so interesting when you start to look at the detail of it.. she doesn’t just twist to flip forward and stays square, she continues to twist a bit because of where he has to step in and forward.. as she goes upside down, her body continues to twist slightly and her right arm gets left behind (1). Once he’s rotated her enough, she gets her right arm out from beside him so quickly and smoothly (2) and immediately starts to square up her shoulders and hips so as she sits up she’s as even as possible as to not throw off the rotation and sit on his shoulders evenly (3). Also while this is happening, she needs to be so specific with how wide she opens her legs. Too wide and she’ll slip off his shoulders, too narrow and he won’t be able to get his head in between. Also, partly due to the twist but also because he is stepping forward from her right side (once she’s twisted) she has to open her right leg slightly wider than left so timing wise it matches up to when he is stepping forward and he has that space as he’s coming from the back to be in line with her (4). The timing has to be perfect because if he steps forward too early he’ll hit her leg. Then once he’s in position she has to close her legs tight together- since that’s really the only point of contact/stabilisation for her throughout the rotation.

1. Upper body is twisted-hips slightly uneven, shoulders more so as right arm gets left behind. 2. Hips have evened up and right shoulder is brought forward. 3. Sit bones are even and right shoulder is (just about) square approaching top of the lift. 4. Right leg open further than left

Once she sitting up right- which she basically does all on her own, he is more or less acting as the pivot point for her hips and she rotates, there’s a little assistance with his left hand but it’s pretty much just her core strength. As she sits up, she has to not throw her upper body forward. She also has to be so careful not to use her legs to get her up because if she were to continue bending her knees and her skates go back, she could risk stabbing him in the back. So what she does to counter all that, is she does more of a ‘crunch’ motion- she lifts her knees up/brings her chest to her knees as she hunches forward, but keeps her hips very square and balanced as to not throw off the axis of the turn (5).

I feel like the Olympics version was the best version of this lift, because where as in other versions, some where she really hunched over but the weight was back (7), and others where she didn’t hunch over as much- she sat upright but she still held his head (6), what they achieved this final time was a balance of all of it. She got into that hunched over position and ‘grabbed’ his head right away- which I imagine just from a physics perspective, being in the tightest shape possible at the top of that lift is the most aerodynamic position. She also sat upright enough- or should I say she wasn’t hanging back on his shoulders - her thighs were at/close to a right angle.

5. Hunched over so her head is right above his. Curved spine for tighter ‘ball’ shape. Hips square- not hinging in an acute angle. Knees not physically moving but pressing upwards to counter knees and skates bending back. 6. Spine straight, only head bent forward and not touching his. 7. Hips at an acute angle, slipping/hanging back-knees bent over shoulders, skates uneven meaning hips aren’t square.

Lets break down Scott’s part in the lift before continuing:

So, as said before, they are skating backwards very fast, he quickly positions on himself in a spread eagle. I’d say it’s this position specifically so she has clear ice to dig her toe pick in for the flip-he could’ve traveled backwards in that parallel stance but would be in T’s way, also the SE position is more flattering and increases the difficulty of the lift.

Where I say she’s flipping blindly and just knowing he’s there, yes that is part of it, but if you look closely. Just before she goes he has just the tips of his fingers on the crest of her pelvis. I’d say that’s the ‘go’ signal (8). If you’ve seen the footage of WYWH where they had to abort the lift (I’m sorry I can’t find it to link) you will see he has his hand in this same ‘go’ position, but stops it by putting his other hand on her other hip. Now in a competition scenario (OF COURSE safety comes first) its not really possible to stop. So with a lift like this where it’s a blind entry and she just has to go.. they know each other so well they could have their eyes shut and he knows exactly when she’s going and knows she won’t hesitate, that’s the signal they use. So, as soon as she takes off his left hand position switches to being in front of her as she flips forward (9) and becomes that first pivot point across the front of her hips. Once she forward and moves past horizontal, his right hand comes over the top and pushes her back down and around. That hand isn’t really doing any lifting though. This whole thing isn’t really even a ‘lift’ (in terms of lifting her upwards, it’s a movement that results in her off the ice). The only point of weight baring contact is that left hand/arm and that only bares weight for not even 180 degrees of her rotation. That right hand then keeps contact with her and does a full pivot on her back to her hip to give her some assistance in getting up, and holds her steady as that the left hand switches from her front to her hip.

8. Light contact so she is aware of him spatially. Prepares to launch off toe pick. 9. As she flips his left hand moves in front of her across her pelvis to catch and establish pivot point. Right hand prepares to push and rotate her upper body.

THIS IS ALL BEFORE THEY’VE EVEN DONE HALF A ROTATION ON THE ICE!

Ok let’s keep going.. I’ll discuss both of their roles simultaneously from here on.

By the time she’s fully in position, they’ve already done a half rotaion, Meaning she has to do that sit up- getting past the hardest bit which is moving through horizontal, with that turning force pushing sideways and around her as she sits up. They only stay at the top of that lift for no more than 1 rotation, so it’s so important that she gets to that position and holds it as quick as possible and can spend as much time held there before changing position again so we see that image and it doesn’t just become all messy transitional movements.

Another important factor in making it work so well and would’ve taken so long to perfect, is he had to get his head right to the top of her legs before she sits up. This is what creates the visual everyone freaked out about, but it’s very important from a safety aspect that he does because as she sits up, she is gonna slide back a bit. Going from a position where there is no bend at the hips, to a hinged hip position, causes the thigh bones to slide backwards [try this for yourself- if you lay on the floor legs straight out and do a sit up/roll up, as you reach towards your toes you will feel your sit bones slide back, as you roll back down, you will notice you have shifted a few centimetres backward]. So here in this gif: the tops of her thighs, just under her sit bones get onto his shoulders as he gets his head in place (10) but as she sits up and hits that position, it’s more the middle of her thighs on his shoulders (11). This is important in creating that tight shape once she at the top of the lift. Obviously she isn’t actually ‘sitting’ on his shoulders, her pelvis is off at the back, so they have to get as high up on her thighs as possible onto his shoulders so she can squeeze her legs together and hang on that way, creating more of a ‘sitting’ look, rather than hanging off with just her knees bent over his shoulders and therefore look like she’s falling off.

Watching in slow motion, she is really only at the top of that lift for no more than 1 rotation-starting it when she’s facing the direction they have come from, when she faces that way again is when she starts to change position. This is really impressive because it is such a highlight moment in the program. It has a huge impact and carries so much emotion, while it really only lasts about a second out of a seven second lift (I’ve timed it and they actually complete it- the whole thing in six seconds easy).

So this is where the CR portion of the lift transitions into a hybrid with the Latch rotational lift. Its a very similar position to that in Latch but has a quite a few differences, partly because of the different position they are moving out of.

Where as in Latch, she only has to slide one leg off his shoulder, and they were facing the same way. Here she has two thighs to get off and twist/change direction. To get out of this sitting position, their timing with each other has to be impeccable for it to look as smooth and clean as it does. It’s actually very hard to notice when and how they change position when watching it at full speed.

Here I will break down the lift in written form, and at the end of this part of the analysis is a chart of accompanying screenshots showing each position at each half rotation.

How it works is: at the 1/2 rotation (12), T has got her position. She stays here fully for really only 1/2 a rotation, before she begins to change her hand position (13), completing the first rotation. By 1+1/2, I think very cleverly, Scott releases holding her with his right hand when she is facing the direction they came from and his right hand is upstage (away from camera) therefore we don’t see the change in hold (14). By the time they have made another half turn, completing 2 rotations, T has straightened and slid her left leg off his right shoulder and is now lying with her right side over his right shoulder (15). There is a point in this which lasts for again about a half rotation, where T has no hold on him at all- she has lengthened her arms from where she was holding his head, her legs are no longer squeezed tight together around his neck to hold on-they are now in about a 90 degree split. Scott is holding her just around her right thigh which is also rotating as she slides down his body (visible in motion between images 14+15). When the lift is at speed, there is no way to really comprehend all that is happening and how much coordination this takes from both of them to make it look so clean and effortless, all while he is maintaining speed and rhythm of each rotation on the ice- every rotation matches and is perfectly controlled and balanced despite the weight changes, curve, etc. He is also turning to the left- I don’t know if this is his more comfortable side, I know with jumps most skaters prefer left but since these are essentially chenés the left is often more uncomfortable- though thinking more about it many of their rotational lifts do turn this way so I guess that isn’t an issue. The thing that is so glaringly obvious, but is also the thing, at least I often forget/take for granted, is that are not doing this on the dry floor without fast rotation- it is on ICE, and happening within very fast rotations and must be completed in a matter of seconds. It’s easy to overlook all these things because of just how good they are and how easy they make it look, but breaking it down reveals all the tiny details that if one thing is off could affect the whole lift.

In just one more full rotation, they are essentially in their final position, with just T left to lock her hands together. From the position we left them in with just the one point of contact from Scott, we see his hands change to his right hand over her front (16), to hold her lying now on her back over his right shoulder, to then be able to completely release his hold around her leg with his left hand, which has to slip narrowly between his body and now her right leg which is dropping further down. His left hand then comes over her and reaches around to her right hip. Finally, that right hand/arm which was holding her over the top as she was lying facing up on his shoulder, releases once the left is now around her to move to holding the base of her head and support her neck (17). [pfeew that was a lot!] Tessa meanwhile has maintained such a strong and clean position throughout this transitional phase of the lift. This is an instance where it is not so much up to Tessa to get/move herself into a position, but she is required to stay so strong yet pliable for Scott to move her into that final position. With something like a rotational lift where there is a central axis point of all the moving parts and any unnecessary movement could fight against that centre of balance, counter balancing through their body positions and not ending up fighting each other for position is so necessary, and that’s exactly what they both do. From that 90 degree split position, over the final half rotation Tessa gradually closes her legs straight, finishing with that right leg in a parallel retiré position. Her body flips from right, to back, to finally left side lying against him- a drop in position from her pelvis above his shoulders, to finishing with her shoulders at the same height as his. In less than three incredibly fast revolutions that is a considerable amount of movement and to be made to look so smooth is very impressive. Finally, and again this goes back to the cleanliness of the lift as it relates to aerodynamics and not throwing off the axis of the rotation, she slips her right arm down his back so that isn’t something else pressing against the force of the turn. Her left arm stays high and circles around till she has been lowered enough and is rolled the right way around to wrap that left arm around his neck. The last thing to happen is her right arm passes forward past her side to be held by her left hand.

Another thing that is so impressive about what Tessa does in this lift is the use of her core to keep her legs up. From the second she moves out of that position at the top of that lift, she isn’t particularly high off the ground. She has to use her core to keep her legs lifted, straight and pointed- it is not simply the force of the rotation doing that. She is obviously not close enough to actually hit the ground, but to still have the affect of it being a ‘lift’ and that unlike other girls she is not just simply being thrown around by her partner.

The whole lift is completed in about 4 1/2 rotations. It is just mind boggling really, thinking about all the detail in it. This is classed as a level 4 (the highest level) lift- and you can see why, although comparing to many others both of this era and currently, it probably should’ve been classed as about a level 10.

What is also particularly impressive with this lift is the musicality. It’s very hard to hear but there is a little trill in the music right as she’s in her flip and ends as she sits up.

Now let’s talk about it artistically.

Firstly I want to say a few things: All art is subjective/interpretive. It is completely up to each audience member to interpret and decide what you are seeing the artist/s do. Sometimes it may be very literal- the artist/s is telling/showing you exactly what is happening, but more often than not there is always an element of interpretation and that varies between each viewer. I feel this lift is quite obvious what it’s implying, my take on it I think is the same as most, but maybe with a bit more artistic and athletic nuance..

So YES. Everyone on Twitter/tumblr/media outlets who childishly freaked out about it and talked about TS like strip teasers, this lift is exactly what it looks like. It is implying sex. It is meant to look like a sex act. And, credit to them for their artistry and bravery, a pretty dark and twisted version of sex.. now let’s talk about it like actual adults appreciating TS’s beautiful artistry and not like 5 year olds seeing the word ‘F**k for the first time.

Moulin Rouge is a very ‘sex’ orientated story. In the live show 95% of the chore is sexual. That’s just what it is, it is a factor in the story. Both consensual and non consensual. TS needed to portray what happens in this story, not only the sex but the abuse, the prostitution, Satine’s death, them falling in love, the setting of the story and the stakes at play, in just 4 minutes and with 3 tracks from the movie soundtrack. That is a lot to take on and frankly only a team of VM’s quality could pull this off this well. Baz Luhrmann confirmed as such that in watching TS he didn’t feel like he was watching an ice skating routine, but a ballet; a masterful piece of story telling where you felt so overwhelmingly invested in not only their characters but them as performers. TS said upon hearing it they felt so connected to the music and the story and it had all the things they wanted in their final competitive program:

Something raw, contemporary. Something with passion, drama, romance. Something with a changing storyline they could evolve over the telling of that linear passage of time where everything is affected by what comes before it. Jealously, rage, sex, raw fiery chemistry.

To convey all of those things in 4 minutes through a piece of art with very specific restrictions as to what must be included/excluded, to work all those themes, emotions and physical acts in in a way that is seamless, athletic, beautiful, classy while at the same time not shying away from being literal about certain things. It’s the true mark of genuses.

There’s several different ways they could’ve incorporated the idea or in their case ‘act’ of sex into this program (or any of their programs that warranted it for that matter). They had to find that balance of sensuality and sex in their choreography and story telling because they just didn’t have the run time, set, costume/s appropriate setting/audience or physical (movement) freedom to perform and compete something so stylistically reminiscent of the movie or stage show. Their MR program is ‘sexy/sensual’ (specifically the Roxanne portion) but for the way they told the story, to compress it into free dance format while hitting all the emotional beats, and as dancers, interpreting the music and convincing an audience, it needed to be this big highlight moment- as this scene is in the movie and is a huge turning point for especially her character. It’s a testament to their bravery as artists to make that big moment also the most ‘controversial’ (as some critics called it) but, pivotal moment in the program through choreography that you’ll remember. They could’ve done ‘sex’ in a story dominated by sex in many ways, but as with everything they do, they manage to incorporate it into an element, make it so classy and kind of in a way, give to the story and musical grandeur what it deserves without shying away from the darker themes, and also give us what we want without giving us too much. There are obviously several other references to the ‘brothel’ and ‘prostitution’ setting of the story and in fact the very first lift of the program- the stationary lift has an even darker context seen so subtly through their movement than most would think (but that’s for another post).

What’s brilliant about the way they did it was it’s athletically spectacular, but also as harrowing and (if you think about it the way I do) upsetting but in a really beautiful way to see them perform as their characters but appreciate them as people and their friendship- the strength of their bond to move in and out of the platonic friendship and their dance partnership where they are actors of the highest, most believable quality.

So, let’s talk about it emotionally- and how it managed to produce such visceral reactions by combining the athleticism and artistry.

• The Position: As I mentioned above talking about the movement break down. Earlier in the season, she didn’t hunch forward over him as much as she does here. It was a difficult position to balance. Here at NHK it’s very balanced but she stays upright. Here at nationals she hunched over more but slipped back.

[Side bar: I’m not gonna go back and track down all the articles about this lift [here’s two I found by accident later on after I wrote this post] and line them up with dates and what happened when, so if I’m wrong oh well, I’m not gonna stress it’s just a lift we’re talking about, but my research tells me that the stuff about this lift and that it supposedly had to be changed because it was taken to some board and it was deemed “too sexual” so it was “banned” seemed to occur after nationals when the media around everything olys related was gearing up. They were also announced as flag bearers so idk if that had something to do with it- sweet ol’ 🇨🇦 didn’t want their flag bearers performing o*** s** in a skating program at the olys. [that was a joke]. Anyway. The line VM gave was not that the lift had been banned, but after going back and watching tape, they didn’t like the shape of it, so they changed it. This contradicts what they said later about them going back to the CR lift for the IE, and that ‘they wanted to go back to original vision and intention’ of that lift. To be fair they do say that as they changed the second half of the program and music it ultimately made the whole story less dark, so not having an as intense and literal lift position for the new version they felt was better. I’m not totally sure what I want to believe, I understand that reasoning behind changing it more over the ‘someone banned it because it’s too sexual’- after the hell they went through with Carmen and having to change all that and forgo their true vision over a couple of people getting offended- I think at this point they were done being told what to do. The idea of it being too. ‘R rated’ for an Olympics viewing audience is BS- the lift is so quick and children would not understand what was going on. Not to mention really the most spectacular part of the lift is the twisting freaking back flip- I think kids watching would be more inclined to exclaim ‘did you see that girl do a backflip on ice!’ rather then ‘hey that’s a sex position’. So, if I may theorise for a moment: What I WONDER is if they changed it because they were trying to get T into that hunched over position and it wasn’t quite working- as seen at nationals, so they played around with other positions. It could’ve also been that with the points between them and 📎✂️ so (unnecessary) tight, and as they said, refined everything to the point where no marks could be taken off. This again is ironic considering as they said here that the lift in the TE was marked lower so they went back to the CR.. so there’s my theory on that. I’m not sure considering I always like to believe what they say, but the contrast between the CR lift at nationals, then when they went back to it after the team event is so obvious and it looks so much better then all the times before, I like to think they must have been aiming to get to that- an even more literal position for a while. Ok side bar over].

They achieved what I think is as perfect a position they could in this final performance. She hunched over him so her nose almost touching his head. She (just about) held his head with her elbows in. She squeezed her legs tight. When seeing it at full speed, while in that top position, you can’t see his head. That’s for me what gives it off as what they are implying. While earlier in the season, it’s still pretty obvious but that specific position they hit adds so much emotion to it.

The idea is that she has her hands clasped behind is head and forcing him into her. (I believe in one of the articles I linked above it’s what one reporter describes what she’s doing as- I can’t remember though it may be a different one). That’s not exactly what she’s doing but that’s what’s implied, and by this version at the olys it looks most like that. I would’ve loved to see them actually be able to do that because the lift is what it is- there’s no hiding from that- so if there was some way it would’ve been possible to complete that image I would’ve loved to see them do it. (I feel) it’s because the lift and rotation is so fast there just isn’t the time for her to actually clasp and unclasp her hands in less than one rotation. I also think, even though it’s only marginal-he is so close to her body he can hardly see, but if she were actually forcing his face into her her, having what little he has of peripheral vision in the position they do probably aids in his balance and spacial awareness. (I know this little bit seems contradictory to what I said about it being so quick kids wouldn’t understand it- but the difference is kids/people in general seeing it once and fast, and taking no further interest in TS, and taking the interest in dissecting it athletically/artistically for appreciation purposes- of course looking at it more with that educational frame of mind more can be gathered).

• The emotional factor/what is happening in terms of the story: I’m gonna do my best to just ramble about this exact moment and not go into the whole thing (I’ll do that in another post). I’ve thought about this in different ways. Earlier in the season, when they still were doing the (what I call) ‘darker’ version of it, where Scott’s character in Roxanne was more menacing and aggressive. Playing not so much a specific person in the story but more the idea of what is happening to T’s character, I saw the lift as him assaulting her. They go into it with so much aggression on his end and it feels more violent. He’s more that version of the character/s of the one/s doing the abusing to Satine (The duke and then also Zidler in enabling it). In the diagonal leading up to it he is playing to the darker, aggressive voice on the lyrics ‘you’re free to leave me but just don’t deceive me’:

The olys version differs where they softened his character and he starts playing into Christian’s qualities earlier. On this same bit of chore he’s playing to Christian’s side of the lyrics, and as they go round into the lift it’s T with more aggression. He’s trying to help her but she’s so caught up and afraid and feels she has no choice so all that anguish she takes into the lift and out of panic and confusion she ends up assaulting him. It’s amazing how they can take literally the same chore and music and just by tweaking the character intentions it can have a huge impact on the direction of their specific story.

Another way to read this is more literally to the scene in the movie (up until recently I hadn’t seen the movie so I had adapted my own interpretation based on that I understood of the story). This scene in the movie is comprised of intercuts to Satine having to seduce and ‘go through’ with letting the duke r**e her in order to continue funding the Moulin Rouge- and her livelihood, and Christian watching the company’s corps play out this tantalising tango in front of him as he yearns for Satine and fears for her safety. The scene then is alarmingly cut as Satine races into Christian’s hotel room, throwing herself into his arms desperate for him to keep her safe as she couldn’t bare being tortured (emotionally/physically) by the duke any longer. She begs Christian to run away with her and promise they will stay together forever. This moment literally plays out this entire scene from the movie in one lift- the terror in the climax of Roxanne, to falling into Christian’s arms as he screams ‘please believe me when I say I love you’. In this one lift, Scott transforms himself from the duke (or representative of the duke’s character intentions) to Christian promising to protect Satine. I’ve said it many times before but I’ll say it again: give that man an Oscar!

In a way I feel a little bit ridiculous spending months and months composing thousands of words to explain a 6 second movement in an ice dancing program. And I’m questioning whether I would’ve had it not been for the ‘controversy’ around it. Yes, I remember the FB posts talking about how ‘these Canadian ice dancers had to tone down their free dance for the olys’ and ‘you won’t be seeing this lift from Canada’s top dance team at the olys’. All made to drum up hype.. but then instead had actual consequences enabling those who can’t tell the difference between sleaze and superior artistic expression. I more than anything was astonished at Tessa’s athleticism and fearlessness. “She did a back flip entry into a lift on freaking ice!!” I’m pretty sure was my reaction, but then immediate after was stabbed in the heart with aching emotion for what that movement and moment was implying in the context of the story, and my heart continued to ache for days on end rewatching this beautiful masterpiece by some of the most fearless artists I have ever seen, on top of the narrative of these precious best friends who had never left each other side for over 20 years in pursuit of greatness in their field and admiration for each other.

I’m going to finish this post essay off by speaking more broadly about the judgement passed on them more so than other teams for boundary pushing themes and choreography, and maybe offer a way to understand their art form on a deeper level.

There are several instances of lifts performed by both pairs and dance teams that transition through ‘sensitive’ positions as a matter of entry and exits. However the difference with this lift (and the stat lift and their other programs with similar themes) is the entire thing is intentional to what it is implying. The ‘eye catching’ position serves as both a means to transition into the main feature/positions of lifts, but it is that very lift position that is implying that moment in the story, and funnily enough, it seems that the position at the top of the lift is the most “””concerning””” part of it. I don’t mean to labour the point of this and reminisce on the controversy, trust me I don’t like it because I understand what they are doing and have never had a problem with it, but I think this is useful in understanding this art and how to convey a story, even if those stories are sometimes uncomfortable- TS are being truthful and honest and want to be literal yet tasteful in the way they tell their stories which they always managed to achieve.

The idea of ‘intent’ with something like this has come up before with them in relation to Carmen- some posts from way back in the day commenting on ‘the thigh grab’ moment. There was a post in helping people understand the difference for those non-versed in artistic movement and physical story telling, that Scott would always be touching/holding/grabbing Tessa’s thigh/s as a matter of partnering and lifts, but the difference in this moment in Carmen was the ‘intention’- it being deliberate and removed from transitional/lifts/partnering movements. That was the entire point of that moment for it to be intentional, obvious, send shivers up your spine. On the opposite end of the (lack of respect/lack of common sense) spectrum there was another old post I came across that claimed in one performance he had reached his hand and grabbed all the way up under her skirt, which was not only completely incorrect (that’s obviously not what he did) but utterly disgusting the fact people were seemingly getting their jollies over something that was completely exaggerated. Now, we’ve all heard references to the ‘OG Carmen’- the ‘very very very’ not toned down version, the ‘NOT Mickey Mouse’ version.. so could that have actually happened in the original version? Maybe. Sure. Would I have been outraged by it and objectified them for being s**ts? NO. There is appreciating intent without it being completely literal, and not exaggerating something to claim they were actually ‘grabbing’ or doing whatever when they clearly weren’t, however if they were to, that should also be respected in the context of what their craft is. There is a matter here of ‘artistic consent’ that they (and all partners doing this sort of stuff) need to have. In the case of actors in a movie/TV show it comes in the form of contracts, chemistry tests, and intimacy coaches (which is actually something finally starting to make its way into the dance world), in TS’s case it is years of foundational trust in each other and a mutual desire to challenge themselves as artists, this along with having coaches and mentors at a young age (and throughout their career) that nurtured their relationship and gave them a safe space to learn how to be intimate with each other. Had either of them ever felt uncomfortable with anything at all, they would have been honest with each other and it wouldn’t have happened, or they would work around their apprehensions through comfort and communication. But because they have (artistic) consent- all of it is 100% consensual, there is zero need to think of any of the more ‘questionable’ choreography they do as anymore than simply choreography servicing their story. Obviously, and I say all the time they have to be very brave to put out the stuff they do- anyone does (not that I’ve seen every program ever so I’m sure there have been others taking on ‘riskier’ subjects) it’s obvious they have felt very connected to these stories for them to be so passionate about performing them, doing them justice and interpreting them the way they want. It has nothing to do with wanting to perform sultry, sensual, ‘R rated’ choreography for the sake of it. They can and when it’s warranted, do it so well because of their trust and chemistry making those moments all the more emotional because you really believe them and feel invested in them as characters and artists.

If you have made it to the end of this essay, thank you for sticking at it all the way through, I know it was a lot but I felt it deserved it, and as I did end up expanding on, it’s not just about one lift, one moment, but learning to understand and appreciate them on a deeper level. I hope this was educational/informative, maybe even a bit emotional.. (I always like my posts to have that flavour). I like to think those who read my posts are here for the in depth study and appreciation of these incredible athletes and we can move on/ avoid all the trashy stuff xx.

#LONG POST #If you can’t read now please save for future reading #fd: moulin rouge #CR lift analysis #essays #pyeongchang olympics #the greatest ice dance team the world has ever seen

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helluva-dump · 8 months

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Originally this was an oc I’ve had since teen years since she was originally a black butler oc.

But I decided to give her a massive redesign and recycle her to Hazbin hotel/Helluva boss

I know, I have such mixed feelings about the show and I really am not a big fan of their creator but idk… the nostalgic talk of ideas I had with friends during the early days of the fandom and I just kind of miss it.

But yeah that’s Lucinda aka Lucy, she’s guardian Angel (who later becomes a fallen Angel) that’s a descendent of Ruth. She’s very loyal, caring, and a compassionate person that wants to make the best for heaven. She mainly goes by the New Testament and feels like Heaven has an issue with the higher angels still clinging onto the Old Testament. (Much like our political climate lmao )

I was gonna scrap these ideas for her but idk… lately I’ve been thinking about Catholicism again and I recalled hearing how evangelicals and Republican “Christians” are now calling Jesus woke and I’ve been watching documentaries about Christianity and how it wasn’t really always linked to republicans

And I just been looking back at Bible stories I loved when I was really into Catholicism and I got inspired by friends who made Angel ocs and ahhh it made me wanna look back into the religion, it’s mythos, folklores and angelology and it’s been inspiring me with ideas.

I always been fascinated with the folklore with Christianity whether it’s angelnology or demonology, there’s just so many interesting ideas you can do to with a concept of Heaven and hell.

I was sooooo disappointed that Vivziepop was gonna go super biased and go with the “Lmao piss of Christians” root and just make heaven evil and hell good….

Okay, so I’m not exactly super Christian as I used to be but I can tell you why that’s gonna mess up the world building.

How the hell can hell be better than heaven when you get r@pists, n@zis, p3dos, serial killers, and hell a huge captilism problem as well as classism??? That to me doesn’t sound better than Heaven at all and I don’t see how Viv sees why this could mess up her world building.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t want Heaven to be 100% perfect but tbh… I wish she went with a morally grey route for both Heaven and hell. Showing both the pros and cons both places have.

But yeah sorry rant aside, I’m bothered she didn’t do research on such folklores befofe wanting to do a story on Heaven and hell. I get she doesn’t wanna offend Christians that may take it personal…. But she literally had already made pagans and witches angry with how she badly misrepresented Voodoo and potrayed Stolas. (I won’t lie that bothered me too )

And I get religious trauma, but I would still take wha to learned from the Bible and make it work with world building. It’s possible to make a good story while still showing respect to the mythos and faith. Moral Orel was a good example of that and it never was disrespectful to Christianty, but to those that use the religion to harm others. I was so hoping she can take that route but didn’t.

anyways rant aside, I wanna have fun doing more things with Lucy

#hazbin hotel ocs #hazbin hotel AUs #helluva art #yeah I’m so nervous to share in the main tag #I’ve been kind of warming up to some designs and takes #so I can make it work it’s my story #somehow it’s making me calm down #it’s why I’m not gonna critique for a long time #I mean I’ll still here and there but ahh I need some positivity

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lipglossanon · 2 months

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OMFGGG lipgloss i remember reading a fic about stalker leon being OBSESSED WITH READER but it wasn’t really uhhmmm that dark..if that’s the right way to explain it? like it started off really good but kinda ended like huh..? if u ever would write smth similar to it i’d froth at my mouth bc ik you’d do it justice so goooodddd 😵😵 from what i remember is that leon was still a cop..and the reader was someone also at his workplace and i’m pretty sure leon was new at his job and just had met her and became like obsessed to the extent that he’d memorise her schedule and break into her house when she’s at work and jerk off using her underwear and steal some too.. and then the reader noticed the underwear disappearing and installing cameras at her house to see what happens then she gets an notification on her phone when leon does his .. things and GETS SUPER SHOCKED but lowkey kinda hot and ends up surprising him … would u ever be into writing something kinda similar to this but make it maybe a little darker kinda crazy obsessed.. 🫣

Hi there, anon! 👋

I kinda flip flopped on how I wanted to answer your ask. (To start off, I mean this in a very neutral tone! I promise I’m not trying to argue or sound mean or rude).

I’m flattered you think I could write a stalker Leon fic in a way that you’d enjoy! But I’m uncomfortable in the way you approached it. I totally get reading something and being inspired, and I may be taking this the wrong way cause sometimes I just don’t get it the first time lol, but it sounds like you want me to do their fic but in my style?

Which is what I’m uncomfortable with; cause that’s a disservice to not only me but the original fic writer as well. If it were me in their position, it would honestly hurt my feelings and make me pretty upset!

And if you don’t mean it that way and just were talking about what you read and how it made you think of stalker Leon then I totally apologize for the miscommunication. Like I said, sometimes I misinterpret the way things are presented to me 😅

I definitely don’t mind the ask(s) chatting about a stalker Leon! I think that would be fun and have thought about that concept before! It’s kinda why I have Corrupt Cop Leon; I wanted a yandere type Leon but couldn’t find one that hit the mark for me so made him myself 😆 I’m a huge fan of obsessive/possessive unhinged men loving only one person 😌

Anywho, I hope this answers your ask! 💜

#ask box #anon #lipglossanon #lipglossanswers

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rivetgoth · 11 months

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It feels weird to admit out loud but tbh I feel like I’ve completely outgrown “fandom” as a concept. I remember being an awkward lonely teenager who was super isolated from everyone else and fandoms were everythinggggg to me. I don’t hold any regret for that or view it as “cringe” or something, I made all of my online friends that way and some of those friends are people I’m still in contact with today and who were there for me during some of the darkest moments of my entire life, plus a huge portion of the practice I got writing and actually receiving feedback was fanfiction, it was definitely what made me become a confident enough writer to actually start sharing my works with people. I got into “kinning” and all that and just was super into fandoms, shipping, etc.

But nowadays I just feel so removed from it. Most importantly I feel like I reached a point where I felt like a lot of fanfiction culture was honestly holding me back as a writer. It became more dependent on writing a certain way or certain content to generate views and the more I started writing for myself rather than emphasizing popular ships or tropes the less attention my work got and I felt a lot of distaste for all the memes I’d see about how to get more views, about never finishing projects, never editing your work before posting, etc, when I was really pushing myself to try to turn out quality content. I switched over to entirely original fiction when I started realizing that the stories I wanted to tell could be told through my own characters and I could put the effort into actually crafting something of my own for myself that was original from the ground up and that felt way more exciting. Shipping for me was extremelyyyy a byproduct of being very lonely IRL. Both romantically and otherwise. It was like, a way for me to project my “ideal relationship” and envision a world where I basically was making up what I wanted a relationship to look like via the characters I was using as a stand-in for myself. Once I was actually forming complex deep human relationships in real life I actually realized I had a lot of toxic traits and unhealthy attachment of my own I had to work through and it changed my outlook a LOT on “shipping” and how I was going about it and just what a healthy relationship really looks like irl… And I also realized that a lot of the time the characters I was projecting onto were because I was insecure and didn’t really know myself (or even WANT to know myself), so I was putting more stock into comparing myself to these characters I liked and sort of viewing myself through that lens instead of confronting myself…

I still looooove many characters to death don’t get me wrong, and I totally have characters where I either 1. Super duper relate to them or 2. Think they are hot as fuck or 3. Think it’d be hot if they fucked another character. But it’s just not a world I engage with or have any interest in engaging with. I don’t think I’ve actually sat down and read a fanfiction in, like… god, almost a decade now probably. And is it way too mean to say I honestly just find the landscape of modern fandom extremely uninteresting and a bit juvenile? I’m not a huge fan of how much of what I see nowadays is about projecting onto characters rather than trying to come up with interesting new stories or concepts for them pertaining to the character themself. Like, you go through the tags and it’s just like… “omg this character is a he/they MCR fan with autism” and then you go to OP’s bio and they are a he/they MCR fan with autism 😭 & it’s like… just very deeply uninteresting to me to engage with media that way. I see people get called out for headcanoning a villainous character committing a heinous non-canon act as if it’s morally “wrong” and I think it’s because people are more interested in like, projecting onto characters than viewing them as unique entities, so saying “this villain is an abuser” is basically saying “YOU, fan of this character, are an abuser.” It’s weird and not very fun to me. Fanmixes are all music OP already knows and likes, nobody is making anything that feels particularly high effort (fan games, animations, etc) and those SAME DAMN “no line editing we upload at 3 am like men” posts that encourage lazy ass writing are STILL going around!! I just think so much of it feels low effort and I’m at a point in my life where I really desire effort, in my own work and in others’ work.

There’s just a lot of aspects of it I feel so removed from nowadays. I love weird sex and unbridled sexuality and fandom feels so sexless even though people talk all the time about being horny for XYZ characters and I can’t quite put my finger on why. Like even back in 2012 fandom “zomg my ovaries” type stuff felt more sexually charged. I think, and this is quite judgmental I know, it’s because a lot of the people who are immensely into fandom As A Lifestyle kind of substitute real life for these fantasy daydream versions and it’s in part because they are a bit emotionally immature and insecure IRL… and I say that because I was there at some point. Like, they aren’t actually confident enough in themselves to just own unrestrained sexual attraction so instead it’s all kinda milquetoast. Back when I was in fandoms all the time I hated myself too much to ever even make self-inserts. I was like, disgusted with the idea of picturing myself in situations. Once I was freed of that I felt way less interested in “shipping” unless there is REALLY GOOD sexual tension because ultimately if I think a character is hot I’m just like. Damn I wish I could fuck them & that’s really it. Then I just like jerk off and move on but even then I find it more titillating to jerk off to real people than someone fictional 😭 Plus I think a lot of fandom ppl have an issue that I’ve talked about before, which is making interest-based friends that they never attempt to develop a deeper connection to beyond their interests, so the moment one of you stops being as obsessed with something the friendship ends. And I’m just not really interested in that kinda dynamic, especially with total strangers online.

Uh idk. Sorry to be a normie but I think at this point I’m just so much more interested in real people first ov all, because I go out like multiple times a week and am surrounded by so many strange interesting characters and I’m just so much more interested in THEM, and the chance to actually get close to them, than any characters that don’t exist. With cool people in real life you can actually work to be closer to them and get to know them! And when it comes to characters that don’t exist, I’m way more interested in crafting my OWN and developing my own worlds and stories for myself. And I’m just interested in the story of my own life and improving myself and making myself cooler and more interesting rather than getting caught up putting that time and energy into someone else’s creation. I also think I just don’t really vibe with fandom culture around the types of things that get popular, from art styles to character interpretations to the way cliques manifest in places like Discord or whatever. And I haaaaaate the fact that it feels like every fandom in the world just has the most inane pointless drama, people like coming for each other over what characters they like or what headcanons they have, terms like proship or antiship meaning literally nothing of value because they change definition every single time I see someone new use them, really weird fetishism that continues to go unchecked of nonwhite people and LGBT people and the like… it’s just like. Not fun to me.

But like. Idk. I don’t mean to sound like a judgmental ass and make sweeping statements about every single fandom person and every single fandom or try to just sound way more morally or intellectually superior or something. But it’s kinda interesting I guess to realize how far from that culture I am at this point in my life. I just can’t imagine spending really any time or energy focusing on fictional characters invented by other people and projecting onto them rather than just confronting myself and my life directly and making things that are original manifestations of my soul and my desires and my own rich inner world. Huh.

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