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descendants-brat · 3 years

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How I feel about Mal Bertha and her character PART 1

This is not a Mal bertha Biography and it is biased in the sense that I don’t like her at all. Read with caution.

Descendants 2 was actually the first movie of the trilogy that I had watched. My little sister was watching it and I happened to be passing by and sat to watch it with her when it caught my eye. 2017 me had a completely different opinion of Mal bertha than today not because I was younger but simply because D3 hadn’t come out yet and I hadn’t watched the first movie or even knew there was books. I can’t stand Mal bertha, not even the D1 version of her and that’s the one even Mal antis love. I didn’t like her in the first movie but it was more of a “I wouldn’t be friends with her.” I didn’t think that she was unforgiveable and that it was impossible to give her a second chance. She made her own bad choices but she expressed genuine regret for them and was only 16. Despite me, loathing Mal’s existence I related to her in sense that it’s scary wanting to change but you don’t know whether or not your actions have caused too much damage.

In D2 watching it as a stand alone I saw a girl wanting something other than the ‘happily ever after’ and deciding she would go for what would make her happy when she went back to isle. I was desperately hoping that after the ‘It’s going down’ scene that she would go back to the isle and not choose to stay somewhere she wanted to leave. But we know how that went and the ending left me bitter and sad not for her, but for Uma. She began to leave a bitter taste in my mouth when she broke up with Ben and came back and just expected him to get back together with her. I’m going to go around every version of her character.

PRE D1

She was a dick. That’s the simplest way I can put it. I don’t like even acknowledging pre d1 Mal because it leaves me with this very negative view of her character that I don’t think was necessary. I feel like this is a big fuck up, wanting to have Mal be her ‘evilest’ before coming to Auradon. I understand the reason why they wanted to show her growth and change throughout the series. But after looking at some real life scenarios with a similar Mal situation it made me look at it differently. Imagine this: someone who severely bullied you and harassed you and everyone around getting to go to a new place and get the best treatment there, then she’s congratulated with becoming queen of that land and not only that she then decides she’s going to be queen of the place she was bullying and harassing people at without ever properly apologizing. This happens in real life and these people get exposed which is why I don’t like it. It would be different if Mal actual grew throughout the series but it was real just her gaining more power and the scenery changing from Pre D1-D3. She also continued to make the same type of ‘mistakes’ with no actual direct consequences all she had to do was cry and they forgave her. She would be okay if it Descendants was a stand alone movie. But knowing the type of life she would get to live after all of this behavior puts me off from reading it. It would also be different if Mal lived a simple life in Auradon (Aka not trying to take control by dating the king and then stepping all over said king) She got more than what she deserved to have. In my opinion she did deserve the chance at all better life just like all the other kids who didn’t commit any crimes to be locked up. But in the eyes of people she victimized she wouldn’t deserve to be Queen become royalty, live in castles and get gifted with limos and bikes.

D1 is the version of Mal everyone generally likes however, like I stated before I didn’t like her even then. At the start we see someone who is clearly trying to please her mother so if her mother wants bad behavior she gives her that. Throughout the main plot she did things of her own accord that she can’t use her mom as an excuse for. There’s a couple different things but a lot of them had to do with Ben and I’m making a whole post on how Ben was treated like shit throughout the franchise so that will be addressed then and not in this post. However for a reference she drugged him with a spelled cookie into falling in love with her for the wand. He wasn’t even willing to eat the cookie at first but she guilt tripped him into eating it. We could brush this off as her doing whatever she needed to do to get to the crown but to me she took advantage of the situation by actually going on dates with him. He was already spelled and willing to listen to whatever she wanted so besides for her own personal interest why would she go on the dates? (Granted a 16 year old wanting to get cute and have a nice date with a nice boy is not a fault or wrong in any way the fault here is all of this was happening when Ben was not in his right state of mind until the spell washed off.) Her taking advantage of Jane’s insecurities was not cool either and I’m interested in what ways she would’ve tried to use Jane if it was easier to get to the wand through her. Since her main crime in my opinion was Ben and since he’ll have his own essay post I’ll focus on Audrey here.

Her disrespect to Audrey

It was unnecessary, she had no reason to have had Audrey’s name in her mouth as much as she did D1. It would make more sense for Mal to like Audrey’s sassy boldness to me not shit talk her every chance she got. At the start they had a small passive aggressive conversation that could’ve just been left at that because technically they burred the hatchet between the two families. It was a “hey I don’t fuck with you, you don’t fuck with me” type of a situation that could’ve grown civil. However, throughout the movie in comparison to Audrey who really just had a problem with Mal’s mother until she spelled ben then it became direct problems with each other. Mal was continuously talking shit about Audrey as if Audrey was the one who fucked with her family. This time her upbringing can be referenced, on the Isle she most likely was allowed to openly hate things and Audrey was most likely raised to at least pretend to be polite. But from the Audrey we’ve seen she clearly doesn’t care about holding her tongue she’s straightforward with how she feels and she didn’t have a problem with Mal she had a problem with her mother. The only time she talked about Mal directly was about the hair spells which she ended up being right about (Mal’s addictive reliance on magic in D2 and Jane at the end of D1). After completely ignoring Audrey’s feelings and literally stole her boyfriend (not even on the the you can’t steal a loyal man type of shit she literally stole him he wasn’t even allowed to consent to it.) She later in Audrey’s Diary multiple times tries to reason this with she never meant to directly hurt Audrey and that she didn’t really want Ben she just wanted the wand etc etc. The evidence doesn’t back this up Mal, you’ve made your disdain for Audrey clear and talked shit about her to Evie right after you spelled Ben the did I mention bs claiming “Chad will see her horrible personally” as if you knew her personally and that Chad didn’t grow up with her. Mal can say she didn’t mean to hurt Audrey but she clearly didn’t mind that she did.

I’m going to make a whole separate on Audrey and how I do think she gets a lot of slack because people can relate to her, but also how her treatment in comparison to Mal’s is unfair.

I did think she deserved a chance to show remorse for her behavior (spoiler: she didnt) Again, I like to look at things from the pov of other characters for things like this. If I was an Auradon kid who was friends with Mal and ended up finding out she was using me and plotting to take over and destroy the place I lived with/for her mother but changed her mind last minute. I would see her as forgivable I just wouldn’t want her around me. In other words I would expect her to start her own new life, not continue trying to live the one where she was plotting without even actually apologizing to people. AU: After descendants instead of continuing to date Ben she breaks it off and goes to an Art school frequently coming back to visit Auradon and after high school she goes on a quest (with the C4 of course) exploring all kinds of different kingdoms and countries because she was locked up on the isle her whole life. In the future she possibly returns to Auardon and even could get back together with Ben with a proper start.

The first Descendants Movie I ever saw so it holds a special place with me and I actually rooted for Mal the first time I watched it. I sat in to watch at the argument scene and knowing all of the plots now and after rewatching it my opinion has change greatly. We see a blonde and very stressed Mal who’s dealing with the pressures of becoming a royal in order to secure her place with Ben. I do feel bad for Mal when she was talking to Evie, she was trying to reach out to her friend about her situation and was basically told to stop talking about it. I understand Evie’s feelings of wanting to leave the past behind but I can also understand Mal feeling like she’s cornered and can’t even talk to her best friend. I can also understand her feelings of ending up overwhelmed with her decisions from going to somebody who did whatever whenever to becoming a royal with duties I get the pressure. If Mal decided that wasn’t the life she wanted to live and went back to the isle where she felt more comfortable I don’t see anything wrong with that. She wasn’t required to stay in Auradon if she felt like she was unhappy there. That says a little something about Auradon to me if somebody would rather live where they ate rotten food than live there. My sympathy for Mal stops there because everything else was a result of her own actions and things she brought onto herself.

1. The royal situation

Let’s get one thing clear nobody was forcing Mal to hand sign up for the prime and proper royal life. She did that herself.

Nobody told her that she had to dye her hair blonde and have a complete wardrobe change, she did.

Nobody said she even had to continue the terrible relationship she had with Ben and go straight into being a royal in order to basically become Ben’s wifey, she did.

She’s saying all of these people are expecting things of her when 6 months ago she was stealing candy from babies when she was the one who let people have these expectations. She decided to take up the role herself because that was what she wanted. Let’s be honest with how it happened Mal would not live in Auradon if she had to be a regular citizen she wanted to be in control of everybody and to have power because that how she always lived. However once she realized that nobody was just about to hand her this power just for being with Ben unlike with her Mom (getting to rule the isle just because she was her daughter and not because she actually worked her way up there) and that she actually had duties and work to fulfill if she wanted to be the boss. She let her pride get in the way by feeling she had to prove she could last with Ben and become an Auradon girl and ended up miserable and blaming Ben for something she decided to do herself.

She then had the responsibility to fulfill all of those duties and she was struggling unlike anybody else who would’ve had to abide by the “don’t use magic” quote on quote rule she decided to use Magic after claiming she’d give it up and was still a hot ass mess. She can’t even use the excuse that was to help her with her lady in training because she was using it to not be late to class and later to try and manipulate Ben. @ishiphumasohard made a good response on why it was unfair for Mal to use magic as her ‘right’ because at what point would it be unfair to other kids? While all the other kids have to show up on time to school Mal gets to use magic to turn back time instead of just being on time. If other kids studied all night for a test Mal can use a speed reading spell. If there was a cooking contest Mal can spell her way into a feast while the others would have to the actual labor. You get the point, because magic is not universally used by everyone in Auradon and it’s an unspoken rule that it’s not to be used then she should have followed this rule.

I will say the girl was stressed and was feeling alone, I already gave my sympathies for that.

The magic situation really hit the fan when she felt comfortable enough to spell the boyfriend who had already put enough trust in her to continue their relationship that started with her drugging him for her own benefit. Compared to her Ben did seem to be taking it easy but maybe like her, he didn’t want to show it. It seems Ben and Mal had a sort of pack to work hard together to become ‘the king and queen’ of Auradon they were supposed to be in it together. In my opinion it would make more sense for Ben to be hiding things from Mal than the other way around due to the nature of their shitty relationship. But that’s just not how it went down and after Mal tries to spell Ben into not finding her spellbook he gets RIGHTFULLY ANGRY. That entire scene was her fault, she could’ve explained herself and why she was using magic and that she was having a hard time but she once again decides to take advantage of Ben’s trust. Then proceeds to make sure she ends the fight with her being the victim. So much so that the entire fact that she spelled Ben was never brought up again.

Going back to the isle

She then decides to go back to the isle, if this was really her decision I wouldn’t mind it. There’s nothing wrong with her liking the isle better than Auradon if that’s where she felt at home. The problem was she was clearly emotional and let’s be honest, if she had called all of her friends together and actually broke up with Ben and told them this was her decision to go back to the isle before leaving they MIGHT (hard might) not have ran after her like they did. Not only that the duties that we were speaking of earlier, she didn’t formally pull out of anything which is why it irked me when she was so irritated that they came back for her.

Some people actually didn’t like her attitude as soon as she got back on the isle because she expected to run it. That wasn’t surprising to me honestly, because for her whole life that’s how it was, only person she was scared of was her mother. She quickly realized however now that her mom isn’t around and in lizard form nobody was scared of her. Most unrealistic part of D2 was how Mal didn’t get jumped as soon as people realized she got back. Like I said Isle Mal was a straight dickhead and had too many enemies to be walking around like she was.

Another point was when she got her hair dyed by dizzy, the shop wasn’t open, she saw this, ignored it and went in anyway. Not even because her and Dizzy were tight like that she just expected her to do what she wanted (get the pattern with Mal here?)

Skipping her scene with harry because it did nothing to the plot.

The rest of the C4 and Ben come to get Mal back as expected and she acts all surprised and angry. Ben apologizes to her and instead of apologizing for what she did and then explaining that she doesn’t want to go back to Auradon and be a lady of the court. She continues the narrative that Ben wanted her to change and that she’s not good for Auradon so she’s going to stay on the isle. What’s the difference between the two? The first one is her taking responsibility of her actions and deciding for herself that that’s not the life she wants. While the other is acknowledging none of the blame and deciding to run away not because that’s not what she really wants but because everyone will turn on her so she has to run first. It painted a narrative that nothing of this was her own doing while at the same time making it seem like she is doing the right thing by backing away which in hindsight probably was the better decision. Mal’s feelings weren’t the problem I understand them, she thinks she won’t be accepted as herself so she wants to leave before they can kick her out but that’s not what caused her to leave and she knows it. You got caught doing something shitty and instead of apologizing you ran away.

After Ben gets kidnapped she lectures the C4, again she does have some blame in this. With the way the fight ended it made it look like Ben was in the wrong so he was going to try and apologize regardless if they brought him or not. The rest of them came to keep him safe and as her gang members come back for her. Was this not something she considered after she calmed herself down? Ben honestly had no reason to be directly on the isle unprotected besides to sneak and apologize to you so are you really going to just blame the C4 for bringing him there and getting him captured?

Then when Uma, who has him captured plans a meeting she antagonizes her like that’s what is best for Ben at the time. Even in the mist of Ben being in danger she thought it was a good idea to try and piss off the person holding him captive. If you don’t remember what she did she called her shrimpy, insulted the smell of the restaurant and said she never thought of Uma while implying that Uma always had her on her mind for no reason. None of that was necessary to ask what Uma’s conditions were to give Ben back she just couldn’t help herself.

She didn’t care about Dizzy

Who had just performed a task for her and right after she paid her got robbed and had the place trashed just for Mal to say she’ll be alright. This should’ve been foreshadowing at the very least that she wasn’t ready to be making decisions for other people’s lives because besides her own and her friends she didn’t care for many especially those on the isle.

It’s going down

Even though it was in the song and not directly her words again antagonizing the person who has Ben held captive and threatening his life, insulting them is stupid. This entire scene is messy and they shouldn’t even had been able to win a fight against pirates outnumbered. When has Mal ever picked up a sword???

Car ride Back

She gets mad when Ben has sympathy/ shows understanding for Uma. She somehow realizes that it’s wrong Uma kidnapped him but was comfortable spelling him without a second thought. In my opinion she thought she had some type of ownership over Ben she could do what she wanted to him and if somebody else did it was wrong. (Even though this can be applied to what she did in D1, I’m only talking about D2 because most people agree she showed regret for her actions in D1) When he calls her out on her hypocrisy she goes mute and does that thing, of letting her mouth hang opened whenever she gets called out on her shit.

END OF PART 1

I was going to make this one long post but I’ve been putting this off long enough so here is part 1, no idea when part 2 will be up. I do hope to have the Ben posts up before that.

#anti mal #anti mal bertha #anti bal #anti ben and mal #ben florian #ben descendants #descendants #disney descendants #audrey descendants #princess audrey #Audrey Rose #evie descendants #ben deserves better #uma descendants

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jaybug-jabbers · 3 years

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Review: Pokemon Gold and Silver 97: Reforged

The Review

What a fantastic game. I went looking for a hack that fully realized the sort of pokemon game we glimpsed in the Spaceworld ‘97 demo, and I was not disappointed.

This alternative version of Gold and Silver takes that Spaceworld demo and builds on it with loving care and attention to detail. All the beta pokemon sprites were freshly made from scratch or edited to update them for the final, polished Gameboy Color look. The pokemon movesets and stats were crafted so that they were balanced and didn’t contain placeholders, and the pokemon were populated throughout the world in a logical fashion. Dex entries were written and the pokes were integrated smoothly into the world. There are even different sprites and different encounter rates for Gold and Silver-- although you can ‘catch them all’ in either version, an excellent choice.

Meanwhile, the world map was colored, tweaked and polished, allowing us to explore that beta world that was stunningly different from the final Gold and Silver. It’s a place that in many ways seems even more vibrant and varied than final Gold and Silver, and is truly exciting to explore.

Along with this fully realized map, this hack’s creators also gave us a fresh new plot for Gold and Silver. This one was inspired by the differences glimpsed in the demo, including Oak’s increased involvement in the story, Silver’s different personality and role, and the inclusion of an Imposter Oak. The plot stays true to the style of pokemon games and doesn’t seem out of place.

All of the exciting little beta details were included too-- including the original Type alignments, the original Gym Leader designs, beta pokemon moves, new hold items, access to the Skateboard, being able to name your Mom, and even the minigame on the game start screen. The attention to detail and the polish on this hack is truly impressive.

Essentially, I feel like this hack can be considered the definitive edition of the beta Gold/Silver that we never knew. It gives us a chance to experience this alternative world, and breathes life into these wonderful pokemon that never were. Giving us a chance to know and love these beta creations is truly a gift for pokemon fans.

Perhaps the only downside is the sadness that this is not the official version of Gold and Silver. I experienced Pokemon a little bit differently then my peers. As a child, I adored Red and Blue, but once I’d finished with those games, I moved on from pokemon. I have no nostalgic memories of Gold and Silver to hold onto. I only returned to pokemon years later as a teenager. At that point I played several generations, one after another, at the same time, as a sort of “pokemon binge.” While most would call it blasphemy, I was never too terribly fond of Gold and Silver. I think it was largely because I didn’t happen to like a lot of the pokemon designs in those games. In many ways, this ROM hack presents a Gold and Silver that I adore and can love even more than the originals.

That’s not to say the official Gold/Silver games are all terrible, of course. There are still definitely some beta pokemon that I feel were axed or altered for good reason. Not all of them are better then the final cuts. And there are other elements that are an improvement, too; for example, I actually really like Silver’s storyline in the official games and the fact we dealt with a character who actually stole pokemon and treated them poorly.

That said, there is an awful lot to love in this ROM hack, and I’m grateful that we have it. Pangshi, Bellrun, Warwolf, Madame, Volbear and others may not be officially recognized by the Pokemon franchise . . . but they will always be very real in my heart.

The Team

Cinnamon (Flame Wheel/Crunch/Scary Face/Earthquake - Charcoal)

Selecting the starter was difficult, because both Honooguma’s line and Kurusu’s line appealed to me. Ultimately I think I went with my old Fire bias. Cinnamon was everything you’d expect a Fire starter to be-- powerful, intimidating, and very reliable. My only real complaint would be that I happened to strongly dislike the sprite the team had created for Dynabear. This isn’t really anyone’s fault, because the team did an excellent job with spriting-- for example, their sprite for the mid-evolution, Volbear, was incredibly good and I adored it to bits. I think it was just a matter of personal taste; I just didn’t like the final evolution’s face. (I’ve actually replaced the sprite in this picture with the original sprite, because I don’t want it to dampen my love for this species) Other than that, seriously, they did this evolution family justice. It was a joy to have on my team.

Doomsday (Curse/Confuse Ray/Body Slam/Shadow Ball - Power Wings)

The second member of my team was found in Brass Tower, to my great excitement: Kurstraw. This was possibly my favorite evolution line to come out of the beta discoveries. This pokemon’s stats were not exactly breaking any records; he went down pretty easily if I wasn’t careful. However, that never really mattered. Doomsday still did his job anyway-- pulling his weight just fine, relying on Confuse Ray and Curse a fair bit to take care of foes. He often was an excellent team player, messing with especially troubling pokemon before passing them over to an ally to finish off. His Normal Immunity also was a strong advantage at times, which I made sure to make use of. Basically, he was a fantastic companion, who helped me all the way through to the Elites and Champion fights.

Rumtum (Slash/Thunder Wave/Thunderbolt/Crunch - Leftovers)

Along with a Rinrin, this round good boy was added to the team next. I was slightly wary of Kotora because it seemed to be one of the most popular beta pokemon among fans. But, the pokemon does seem to be worthy of praise, as it turns out. It is an excellent, cute, cheery little creature and seems to do Pikachu’s job just as nicely as Pikachu, both in fighting and in charisma. Where Pikachu is focused more on speed, though, Kotora and its evolution focus a little more on bulk. The tanky tiger was able to take hits long enough to outlast the competition, even when working with relatively low basepower moves. When he *finally* learned Thunderbolt, though, man, look out -- he was quite a force to reckon with.

It’s funny, actually. When I first saw this tubby tiger, I assumed it was a fire type. Electric was somewhat surprising, but I quickly grew to like it as that typing. Most electric type pokemon are rodent-focused, as Pikachu clones, or Magnemite’s kin. Having a big, bulky tiger is unexpected for the archtype of electric pokemon, but it’s a very refreshing change.

Poprocks (Fire Blast/Surf/Body Slam/Flame Wheel - Mystic Water)

Next on the team was this awesome fellow. Well . . . sort of. Technically, next on the team was TRICKY the Bomsheal, which I traded a Rinrin for with an NPC. Later on, I felt like being able to name the pokemon myself, so I bred Tricky with Cinnamon and trained Poprocks up from scratch. This seal was the cause of some angst for me. I loved Manboo’s evolutionary line a lot, but I also loved the fire seal. They both vyed for the position of the water type on my team. For a while, I used Manboo (and Anchorage) . . . intent on keeping it. But I missed the seal so much, eventually I went back for it to retrieve it from the PC. Yes, it only added to my team’s Rock/Ground weakness, but I didn’t care. I loved this guy too much.

I’m not sure what it is. The freaking amazing typing of Fire/Water? That was definitely a big part of it. But there’s also just something so appealing in its design, simple as it may be. He’s just a cool seal with a fireball. And boy . . . I sure learned how INTENSE its stats were. This seal was RIPPING through the competition. Using it was basically pushing the win button. Honestly it might need to be nerfed a little, it was nuts. But yeah, Bomsheal is a badass and doesn’t need any evolutions to be cool. Best surfer ever!

Darkwing (Slash/Fly/Swords Dance/Faint Attack - Stick)

Right around when I was handed the TM for Fly, I ran into an area that had two types of birds available, depending on the time of day: Hoothoot at night, Farfetch’d at day. As cool as beta Noctowl looks, I eventually decided I needed to have a Madame. I just had to. Like many others, I always, always felt Farfetch’d deserved an evolution and was kind of screwed over. Learning it used to have one was a revelation.

Madame on this team was kind of funny, though. Next to all of these exotic beta pokemon, Madame seemed so . . . normal. She had moves and performed pretty much the way you’d expect a Normal/Flying type to act. It was much like using a Pidgeotto or Fearow. She couldn’t take many hits but usually could take out one pokemon. Her typing had her as an ideal Generalist pokemon-- something that could be used in various situations, not to any amazing effect but usually to a passable one.

That may sound a little underwhelming to you, but honestly, it’s what you’d expect of this cool-looking swan; it’s a Normal/Flying type. It fills that archtype as a familiar, dependable generalist. And I am someone who can really appreciate a generalist pokemon. I think the pokemon world’s richer for having Madame in it, even if only in our dreams.

Alpha (Strength/Blizzard/Screech/Ice Punch - Nevermeltice)

The final member of our illustrious team. You have to wait until fairly late into the game, when you reach the snowy towns, to get a hold of one of these fellows.But the wait is well worth it. What a beautiful pokemon design these two are-- mysterious little creatures hiding inside their wolf pelts, a perfect mix of cute and creepy. Wolfman/Warwolf actually struggled for quite some time on my team, unfortunately, just because of its movepool. I was left with the very weak Icy Wind for a long time. To compensate, I taught Strength, which worked somewhat, but I could still tell Warwolf wasn’t reaching its full potential. I taught it Blizzard, but the poor pokemon had a rough time ever landing its hits. What I SHOULD have done from the start is buy and teach it Ice Punch for a reliable STAB move with decent base power. I FINALLY decided to do that around the time I reached the Elite 4. I kind of had to-- its learnset wasn’t providing it with reliable, decent Ice moves, for some reason. Once Warwolf was properly equipped, he did great work. Admittedly, a pure Ice type pokemon isn’t the best, defensively. They have four weaknesses to some very common move types-- Rock, Fighting, Fire. (Steel moves weren’t really implemented in this game). That said, when used wisely, a pure Ice type can still be a valuable team member.

There was one hitch, though. Warwolf was mainly a physical fighter. This makes sense if you look at him. Of course he’d be a physical fighter. Thing is, in gen 2, Ice moves were all special. So I suppose technically Warwolf still isn’t hitting at his full potential-- not until the special/physical split in gen 4 so he can take true advantage of physical-type Ice moves. Still, despite that fact, he did a great job anyway. He landed the final blow that defeated Lance and won the game, after all.

I think my only real regret is how relatively little time I spent with him when compared to the others. This is, of course, just the nature of the game; you find some pokemon later on when you’re nearing the end of the game. If there’s any sort of post-game, perhaps I can spend more time with him.

And the Ones Who Didn’t Make the Cut . . .(This Time)

There were so many beta pokemon that it was impossible to have them all on the team, of course. I was especially sad about leaving my Bellrun, Tibbs, behind. I adore Rinrin and Bellrun’s line, as yet another set of pokemon that should have been included in the final cut of the official games. Alas, ultimately I removed Tibbs from my team, though. The reason was simple enough. With the beta Type alignments, Dark type was heavily disadvantaged. It was weak to Normal-type and Dark-type moves (as well as Bug), which was extremely significant. Pokemon’s movepools were positively saturated with Normal and Dark type moves, and it was impossible to avoid. With her already weak stats, and her lack of any decent basepower moves for so long, there was just too much stacked against her. It’s my hope that Rinrin/Bellrun get a bit of a buff in future updates, because they really seem to struggle.

In any case, there were also plenty of others not on my team: Aquarius, Noctowl, Belmitt, Jumpluff, Turban, Plux, Grotess, Girafarig, Leafeon . . . and so many more. Honestly, that’s fantastic. It gives such replayability to the game. I have no doubt I will return to do more runs and get the chance to try out other pokes.

And, who knows? Maybe in the future they’ll even update this hack to include even more beta pokemon that were uncovered last year. If they don’t, I’m sure someone else will.

(This hack is largely the work of lvl_3, who created ‘Pokemon Super Gold 97.’ Then, the hack was further changed and refined by a team into ‘Pokemon Gold and Silver 97: Reforged.’ Both can be found at the PokeCommunity as patches.)

#pokemon reviews #pokemon ROM hacks #pokemon fan games #mycontent #beta pokemon #spoilers

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razberryyum · 5 years

Video

The Untamed/陈情令 Rewatch, Episode 11

(spoilers for everything MDZS/Untamed)

[covers MDZS chapters 51 and 52]

WangXian meter: 🐰🐰+🐰+ 🐰🐰+ 🐰🐰+🐰🐰+🐰🐰🐰

I’m frankly surprised Wuji didn’t start playing as soon as Wei Ying turned around and saw Lan Zhan walking towards him. They even slo-moed the scene to further stress the romanticism of the moment so it was rather odd that Team CQL would let this chance to WangXian things up get away from them, especially considering the fact that since Wei Ying spent most of the episode thinking about Lan Zhan, that would’ve been completely appropriate.

Wei Ying insistently saying Lan Zhan’s name to get his attention, even though he was being totally ignored, always makes me think of an image, which I’m going to share now, despite the fact that I’m pretty much opening myself up to humiliation due to my shamefully lack of artistic talent:

I wish this was actually drawn by a right-handed 3 year old using their left-hand, but unfortunately that truly is the extent of my drawing abilities, which is obviously less than nonexistent. I hope the spirit of what I’m trying to convey still comes through since I think the dynamics between Wei Ying, Lan Zhan and Jiang Cheng are applicable for pretty much the entire episode.

Thinking from Jiang Cheng’s point of view, he’s probably both annoyed and befuddled by how obsessed Wei Ying seems to be with Lan Zhan. Of course he couldn’t understand the greater significance behind Wei Ying’s focus—how could he, when even Wei Ying didn’t understand at this point—but I can imagine him replaying these events years later, after all that’s happened, and only becoming even more angry and bitter at Wei Ying for already choosing Lan Zhan over his own family this early on. I mean, Wei Ying almost followed Lan Zhan to Cloud Recesses because he was concerned for his safety before he even spared a thought about his own sect and family’s safety. It's a good thing Jiang Cheng was still in his loving, brotherly phase during this time, otherwise Wei Ying would’ve more than deserved his ire. Actually, considering how much Jiang Cheng warned Wei Ying against acting out and doing something rash that would negatively impact their sect, I can’t blame him for the anger he felt later on when Wei Ying did exactly what he, and even his father, told him not to do.

Even though we didn’t see Lan Zhan reciprocating Wei Ying’s obsessiveness in return, I did love the fact that he utilized Wei Ying’s talisman to get away from Wen Xu since that was yet another indication of how much he appreciated Wei Ying’s abilities. I guess he might have gotten the talisman when they were trying to subdue the dancing goddess in Dafan Mountain. This will be the first time he’s kept Wei Ying’s talisman, and even though he was forced to use it, I love that the second time he kept one, he actually treasured it like a precious keepsake and only used it because Wei Ying was once again by his side. It serves as a nice marker of progression of their relationship.

Jiang Cheng Appreciation Time

It hurt my heart all over again that we will never get to see this kind of interaction between these two brothers any more, I actually got teary-eyed watching it tonight, especially with how adorable Wei Ying was being. I really love their brotherhood before everything went to hell because it’s just so...loving and unselfish, and I give Jiang Cheng a lot of credit for that. If he were a lesser person, he could have easily been an abusive brother to Wei Ying, taking full advantage of his status as the heir of Yunmeng Jiang sect to make Wei Ying’s life as difficult as possible. I know Shijie helped a lot in smoothing their relationship in the beginning, but it is also a testament to Jiang Cheng’s sweet nature that he could even be coaxed into opening his heart to this orphan his father brought home, especially when rumors of his true parentage started floating around...mostly thanks to his own mom.

I still wince when I watch this scene where Madame Yu basically cuts down her own son out of vindictiveness towards Wei Ying. I love Madame Yu, I really do, but wow do I not admire her parenting skills. Wei Ying almost nonchalant attitude to her rant was a good indication of how common her dressing down was, that he was able to even develop an immunity towards it. Jiang Cheng’s reaction broke my heart though. So did Shijie‘s: her non-stop peeling of those lotus seeds were clearly an indication of just how stressed she was by the situation. But since Jiang Cheng bore the brunt of his mom’s criticism, my heart bled for him more. Yet, despite having lived his whole life being told he will never be as good as Wei Ying, he still loved him like a brother and even admired him, as exemplified by this scene:

Instead of being jealous of Wei Ying being able to hit the target when he failed and the accolades he received from their sect disciples as a result, Jiang Cheng looked downright proud of his brother, as if Wei Wuxian’s success was his own. If I didn’t love Jiang Cheng before, I sure as hell loved him after this moment. It really showed how big of a heart Jiang Cheng has, how decent a person he is, and just how wonderful a brother he is (despite his constant nagging and disapproval), and it also made me so much sadder about what happened to their relationship and Jiang Cheng as a person later on. I really mourn the loss of his sweetness and magnanimity.

Madame Yu Appreciation Time

I’ve talked about how much I love Madame Yu before, and despite how brutal she is towards her family, I still love her. I loved her the moment she shot that glare of death at her husband. Him looking away and down like a properly whipped man just made me love and admire her even more. Again, I don’t approve of her parenting methods, I would not want her as my mom, but otherwise, she is just fucking awesome in my book. She is also beautiful. Makes me wish Jiang Fengmian was more of a match for her aesthetically-speaking, since he definitely was in the donghua. I wish they didn’t go older with him in the live action since the actress herself (Zhang Jingtong) is actually only a couple of years older than Xiao Zhan. I guess this version of JFM just hadn’t developed his cultivation level enough to retain his youthful appearance.

Liu Haikuan Appreciation Time

Any opportunity I get to show Big Brother some love, I will take it, although in this instance I would actually like direct that love and appreciation towards actor Liu Haikuan specifically for his heart-wrenching performance in the scene where he begged Uncle Lan to leave Cloud Recesses to preserve his life. I totally felt his desperation and fear for his uncle, and how completely unwilling he was to leave him and Cloud Recesses behind. Some actors can’t even produce a single droplet of moisture even when a scene is calling for them to cry their eyes out, yet Liu Haikuan drops those tears even when he doesn’t need to since they were hardly noticeable. I just love his performance.

Lan Zhan Appreciation Time

Technically I probably don’t need to set aside a specific section to appreciate Lan Zhan since I appreciate him all the time already, but since I wasn’t sure where to stick this moment, I decided to put it here. I don’t say it enough but I truly love the way he floats down to the ground; he looks like an angel descending upon the Earth.

Ex-BFFs

I really cannot wait for The Fatal Journey’s release because I am dying to find out how Nie Huaisang and Jin Guangyao went from this to what they become sixteen years later. I know Nie Mingjue is the reason, but the journey to that point is what fascinates me, so although I love Wen Ning and Sizhui and I do look forward to their movie, I must confess that I am most excited about the Nie brothers and JGY’s saga. January cannot come soon enough.

A Questionable Picturesque Setting

I love the way both Lotus Pier and Nightless City looked, so much so that I wish such places existed so I can go visit them one day. While I’m sure there are probably places in China that resemble Lotus Pier (or can be dressed up to look like it more or less), I doubt anything like Nightless City exists because it doesn’t even really make sense as a residence. Who in their right mind would build their stronghold on a volcano? And I guess an active one at that considering the lava running down all the surrounding mountains. Maybe that’s why Wen Ruohan looks so sweaty all the time. Since this part of Nightless City is obviously different from the section we saw during the Sunshot Campaign and Wei Ying’s final stand later on, I have to wonder just how freaking big is this place. And where was Wen Chao appearing from since there’s no building nearby? Is there some underground tunnel where he popped up from? I didn’t see any openings during the long pan up those steps. And also, for a sect known for its sun motif, I didn’t see even ONE sun printed on any of those banners. I wish they kept the original design; Nightless City made more sense in the donghua’s version of the place.

Overall Episode Rating: 8 Lil Apples out of 10

Disclaimer: The Untamed would not be possible without Mo Dao Zu Shi and Mo Xiang Tong Xiu-laozi. I mean no disrespect whatsoever with my humble comparisons between the novel and the live action, even when I sometimes favor the changes in the show. All hail MDZS and MXTX-laozi always and forever!

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the-cookie-of-doom · 4 years

Note

You know, I love seeing your posts about your processes and your thoughts about your writing. Your mind amazes me because one can see how much you strive to make your writing creative and thought-out. I think it’s sweet about Stiles& Mitch being committed to each other for a year, pinning for each other but my next question is, does their familial tie make each other hesitant? Despite only being related thru Claudia. Also, it seems Stiles latched onto Mitch and considered him and the safety (1)

Of Mitch’s apartment home, entirely disregarding the home he grew up in with his father and mother. Beacon Hills no longer seems like a home to Stiles and it was refreshing to see him escape the darkness that ultimately harmed him as well. Mitch doesn’t seem to be a man of speaking his affections but it sounds like Stiles would be home to him too. If that makes sense? However you decided how this story takes place, over years or one, I really adore hearing from you and just reading. - Ursula

Thank you!! I try to think things out before/while writing them, even if it occasionally leads to me overthinking the hell out of it...

One thing I don’t want to be misleading about is that they are very devoted to each other, but Mitch is lagging behind when it comes to commitment. Full disclosure, he’s totally sleeping around lol. But there is a reason for that!

Stiles has some wicked dysmorphia due to the Nogitsune and the whole Body That Isn’t His, and the lowkey trauma from what happened with Malia, and his self loathing in general, so physical intimacy is very difficult for him. But by contrast, he’s very good at connecting with people! Stiles is in tune with his emotions, he feels things very deeply, so it’s easy (easier?) for him to be emotionally intimate with people.

Mitch is the exact opposite. He’s lost everybody he loves, has had multiple girlfriends in high school/college use him for his father’s money, and because he can read the thoughts of everyone around him, doesn’t trust anyone. He knows no one has his best interests at heart. (Of course that’s not true; he’s got Felix, and Gio, and the Greys, and Sean... more people care about him than he realizes.) Mitch keeps people at a distance at all times, because he doesn't want to open himself to being hurt again. By contrast, sex is perfectly fine. But because it’s not very sexy to sleep with someone while all they’re thinking about is how to use you to their advantage, Mitch prefers to treat sex like a business transaction.... which means he has regular acquaintance with a few escorts.

I’m actually going to include a scene in Mitch’s sequel where, to deal with his growing attraction to Stiles, he decides he just needs to get laid and so he calls one of the usual women he meets up with. “I’ll just get it out of my system,” he thinks. “Then I can act like a normal fucking person,” he incorrectly assumes.

It was actually Sean that set Mitch up with the escort agency. That’s not how it started, but that’s where it ended up. Sean thought Mitch was lonely, and so tried to set him up with some of his friends, but Mitch kept turning down the offers. Then Sean... misappropriated... his phone and downloaded a bunch of dating apps and secretly set Mitch up with profiles. (”Grindr? Really?” “Just keeping your options open, boss!”) When that doesn’t pan out, Sean just emails Mitch a link to the website and neither of them bring it up. Mitch ends up scheduling a date because it’s not like Sean has to know, right... Now at this point in time, Mitch is a semi-regular client and almost friendly with three or for women, and he is perfectly content with that arrangement!

The family connection is definitely a struggle, but I think more for Mitch than Stiles? Stiles has already pretty much accepted that he’s a bad person, and this is just one more fucked up thing to add onto everything else he’s done. But with Mitch, there’s also the age gap and the power dynamic between them. To him, it would feel like he’s taking advantage of Stiles, who’s clearly a messed up kid in a really bad place right now. And he feels that since he’s the adult, he should be the one to put an end to this. But obviously he can’t, because he’s got his own share of issues.

Something I actually forgot to mention in my response to your last ask, is when Mitch meets John. I did have this part somewhat written out (idk how well it will fit into the story now) where Mitch flies back to California with Stiles once. Mitch is technically John’s step son, but he’s also old enough that that ship has sailed, but John doesn’t want Mitch thinking he was the one keeping him away; he never knew why Claudia did what she did, but John would never have intentionally separated Mitch from her. So now John is almost trying to make up for lost time, but it makes Mitch uncomfortable for a number of reasons; just in general, Mitch doesn’t know how to respond to be trying to Take Care of Him, the fact that John’s treating him like family while Mitch is sleeping with his son and the whole host of problems that presents, etc. It actually messes with his and Stiles’ relationship for the week or two that they’re there. Mitch can barely stand to touch him because it makes him feel guilty.

The other version that may be more likely to work into the fic, was where John flies out to New York instead. At this point Mitch and Stiles have been a thing for a while, they don’t even pretend to keep up pretenses by having Stiles sleep in his own room. Which is something John notices; Stiles says John can have his room and Stiles will take the couch, but John thinks it’s weird that Stiles’ room seems almost unlived in; given that Stiles’ room back home was always a mess, that’s very Suspicious. But idk where it would go past that. He does catch them in a semi-intimate moment one morning, though. They aren’t doing anything incriminating, but at the same time John feels like it’s a private moment between them and he feels weird watching. It’s a whole complicated situation lol

New York has definitely become home to Stiles, which is something he will be forced to harshly realize in the next chapter. Home is where the heart is, as they say. And yes, Mitch absolutely feels that way too, but may not be able to say it. I haven’t even decided if he’s going to say “I love you”. Because he does love Stiles, but saying it makes it real, and if it’s real, he can lose it, and he can’t take losing yet another person he loves. But yes, Stiles is the first person Mitch truly feels at home with since his mom left him.

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poeticblissme · 6 years

Text

Sorry

Summary: You and Bucky act like children fighting over a simple apology

Warnings: Painful amounts of friendship :), playful arguing. Heated kiss? Honestly I suck at these lol

Characters: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word count: 1883.

A/n: Repost from old blog. I really did like writing this one.

The morning lights spread throughout the park, illuminating the small delicate water droplets hanging on the little blades of grass. The breeze was subtle, combing through the leaves slightly giving the silence it’s own natural song. This was the type of morning you loved. It was a morning you lived for…well…almost.

It only took minutes….minutes for the pain to hit you. Your heart was pounding, your hands were trembling, each breath you took became thinner and thinner causing your knees to buckle from pure exhaustion, sending you down face first to the sharp grass below.

“Okay…..okay.” You called out completely out of breath. You held your finger up alerting the two men of your surrender. “I give, y’all win.”

“That will be twenty bucks, buck.” Steve winked holding out his hand out next to his person clapping his fingers on his palm.

“Really Y/N?” Bucky spoke throwing back pieces of his hair back behind his ear. “I just lost twenty bucks and we have not been out here for more than five minutes!”

“Yeah, come on Y/N you’re the one who said you could hang with us.” Steve laughed as he looked at you slowly make your way to sit on your legs and feet.

“Okay first off it has been well over forty five minutes You adrenaline junkies.” You pushed yourself up, brushing off the stray blades of grass littered over your jogging suit as you did so. “ Second off, when I said “hang” I meant watch a movie, get some drinks, not ruin my muscles with cardio running through seven different parks…When you can fly you have no need for running.”

“Or in your case, very fast paced walking.” Steve chuckled crossing his arms at how out of breath you were as if it were some kind of joke. It so was not.

“Hey!” You spoke wagging your finger at Steve. “You have the advantage of super serum so running around seven parks with steep hills is easy for you.”

“That is a terrible excuse.” Steve spoke laughing. “Before your powers you ran all the time, I think you got lazy.”

“Of all the fights and chases we have been in, you never had to run this much?” Bucky asked.

“Yes-” You spoke grunting in slight pain as your hand reached to hold the small of your lower back. Your voice slowly returned to normal allowing you to scold them with confidence. “but when I need to catch up with someone at a distance I fly, I. do. not. run.”

“Well, by the looks of your sweat stains you seriously need to change that not running thing.” Steve teased, a playful smirk on his face.

“You know what Steve, you need to lay off hanging out with Sam for a while.” You spoke crossing your arms, a smirk slipping through your hard exterior.

“Well I left my wallet back at headquarters, we can run and fast pace jog back to the car, I think we ran enough today anyway.” Bucky called out looking at Steve before he turned to you “Come on Y/N can you do the thing?” Bucky asked, a big childlike smile on his face.

“No.” You spoke flatly.

“Oh come on please!” He asked again.

“Nope.” You spoke turning your head up in protest

“Come on Y/N” Bucky pleaded.

“I am not flying you home Bucky, the car is right there.” You called out pointing to the 1997 impala in the parking lot right in front of them.

“But-” Bucky started. “It would be faster if you flew me home.”

“No!” You spoke in disbelief. You glared, crossing your arms in protest. “You both just teased me and now you want a favor?!”

“Technically that was Steve.” Bucky pointed out in a failed attempt of defense.

“You helped!” Steve called out turning to Bucky.

“You’re not lazy, we are.” Bucky smiled trying to win you over, the look in his eyes hopeful.

“Well you two lazy super soldiers can help each other then….to Steves car . See you two back at the tower.” You winked, launching your body into the air allowing the wind to guide you back to the place you called home.

5:36 P.M. - I can’t believe you just left them there!

5:36 P.M. - Yup, not a hint of regret to be found. I have not seen them since. How is mom? Tell her I said Hi! :)

5:39 P.M.- That is too funny! And she is good, she said hey and Y/F/N Y/L/N stop mistreating her future son in law Bucky! hahahaha!

5:39 P.M. - Ugh figures she would take his side. He started it! And he is sooo not her future S.I.L

5:40 P.M. - Oh she’s just teasing, it’s another form of love <3 Bucky is so your future boo ;) Tell him I said hey and can he can hook me up with Steve?

5:40 P.M.- Lol Sure, I’ll ask. And Shut up Ashley he is my-

Your text exchange with your little sister was cut short as your path toward the outside of your door was blocked by a strong force. The phone that was once in front of you, tightly secured in your hands was now pushed upwards, connecting with the tip of your nose.

“Ow!” You spit rubbing your nose trying to sooth the sting.

“You owe me an apology doll.” Bucky spoke ignoring your comment.

“Excuse me?” You spoke letting go of your nose. “You made me hit my nose, you owe me one.”

“You didn’t fly me home.” he objected. He leaned against your door frame with his muscular shoulder. His fingers intertwining with each other as he placed them in front of his person. “I had to listen to the same Taylor swift song on repeat for the entire ride home.”

“And?”

“And the ride home took an hour.” He pressed as if it was a excruciating memory.

“You should have thought about that before teasing me” You spoke turning away from him to go back into your room, forgetting why you were leaving your room in the first place. “I am not apologizing, you deserved it.”

Truthfully Bucky being that close to any part of your body was starting to make you feel uncomfortable. You could feel the heat from his body radiating outward toward you the closer he was, causing your body to create heat of it’s own, just in the right wrong places.

You totally didn’t have a crush on the misunderstood ex assassin. No way, it was more you were slightly smitten. In your defense your feelings sprung on you accidentally. After the mission to apprehend one of Hydra’s captains backfired on the team, you ended up injected with some chemical concoction that changed your DNA giving you full fledged superpowers.

Flight and telekinesis were the powers bestowed unto you. Dr. banner was convinced with time and better control more powers would integrate themselves into your DNA structure. He was also convinced that it was non reversible, you had to live with them, and you had to learn control. Without control, you risked being a danger to yourself and to the people around you.

That scared you. Hurting the people you cared about put such a fear in you, you stayed up night after night either from nightmares or from researching for hours on what was injected into you. Bucky, whom connected with you over baby pictures of Steve knew exactly what you were going through. He comforted you, stayed up with you, helped you research anything he could.

Bucky was there for you through every difficult situation you found yourself in since then. With his support and guidance you now had enough confidence to use your powers on missions and become an official member of the Avengers. The more time you had spent with him the harder it was to deny those pesky feelings you knew were trying to creep it’s way into reality.

You really couldn’t help yourself, it wasn’t like he wasn’t attractive. Those ocean blue eyes, those precious cheek bones that no diamond could cut. His perfectly shaped hands that fit into yours so well. And that smile…. The smile that could melt any heart in seconds. That smile that in your mind was the world.

This however would be your version of the forbidden fruit. You knew Bucky would never see anything more than friendship. Which is why you tried so hard to throw away these feelings before you hurt yourself more than you needed too.

“Okay how about this.” He began. Pulling you back to reality “I’ll count to three and we both apologize at the same time.” He pushed himself off the door frame and into your room. Making his way to stand in front of you.

“You really think I’m going to fall for that agreement?” You laughed crossing your arms as you turned to face him. “You are trying to trick me.”

“I think you will agree.” He nodded. “ and no tricks, I’m just killing two birds with one stone.”

You squinted your eyes in suspicion, not sure if you want to pull the string and get caught in the trap. You sighed closing your eyes as you nodded. He smiled fixing his position in front of you.

“Okay, you ready?” He asked. “One…two….”

You readied your mouth to apologize, your shoulders now tensed as you took a breath when you felt hands cup your face and lips press gently against yours. It felt so natural, so perfect.

Wait…

What?!

You were kissing Bucky, Bucky was kissing you, you both were kissing. Oh. dear god, you were kissing. It took a couple of seconds for you to react, your initial shock now turning into a passionate display of affection. You relaxed into the kiss, now savoring the feeling of his lips on yours. His hands switched from your face to your hips pulling you closer to him.

Bucky begged for entrance into your mouth, now blinded by your sudden greed and lust you agreed without question, and by god He tasted so good. You both whimpered in longing as if this was something you both had desired more than life itself.

You lifted your arms slowly, slowly feeling up his arm with your hands before wrapping your arms around his neck. You tangled your fingers in his hair, that soft luscious hair .You wanted to feel him, every inch of him that you could, just in case this was a dream your mind had made up just to torture you.

You both began to pull away slowly, much to your dismay. You reminded yourself to curse whoever said you required oxygen during important times such as this. Your hands left his hair to rest on his arms. The cold delicate feeling of his metal arm on one hand, and the warm soothing feeling of his human flesh in the other.

You opened your eyes, welcoming the sight of the precious blue ones that meet, and never left yours. Your breathing became linked, your chests lifting up and down fast, yet steady.

“Three.” You whispered slowly. Observing every feature on his face that you adored so much.

“Sorry.” Bucky said simply.

You shook your head a huge grin on your face as you responded, you eyes still looking into his own.

“No apology necessary.”

TO BE TAGGED OR UNTAGGED in future writings please let me know :)

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky imagine #Marvel fanfiction #marvel imagine #bucky x you #bucky barnes imagine

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texanredrose · 6 years

Text

Voltron: Legendary Defender S1

So... I’ve made a few posts about how I grew up with the 90′s run of Voltron, and I have all the GoLion episodes, and maybe I’ve mentioned I have editions of some of the comic runs, and I’m pretty much really into Voltron, y’all. Of course, I’ve been watching the reboot. And I just- I want to rant a little bit about this show, okay? Below the cut is a reaction to the first season (I’ll probably do one for each season) because I wanted to rewatch the series anyway.

But y’all gotta know. It’s long. Because I can talk about some Voltron, y’all.

Okay, first off, if you’ve never watched the 90′s run of the series, or the 3rd Dimension, or anything other than this new run, understand that S1 was mostly me fighting my nostalgia. I’m very familiar with these characters and they generally have the same characterization across incarnations... until this one, and I, for one, am so okay with that. Let’s take a look.

Lance, Hunk, and Pidge: Okay, being introduced to Lance, Hunk, and Pidge first, separate from the others, is a nice change of pace. They also seem younger in a sense; I’m not going to bother looking up ages, but the 90′s run always had the Pilots acting as adults, occasionally goofing off, but serious more often than not. As much soldiers as space explorers. So seeing Lance be excitable, Hunk as a genuine expert in things (not just related to food or lifting heavy stuff), and Pidge as being secretive with ulterior motives- that’s all interesting. You can’t really knock the original run because, hey, it was technically made in the 80′s, imported in the 90′s, and defined by the tropes of that era. Hunk and Pidge, especially, were one dimensional, while Lance often functioned as a background character, except for that one time he went to a special world in blue lion- I don’t remember the episode exceptionally well (gimme a break, I was, like, nine at the time, it was twenty years ago) but I remember he had some sort of love interest on the planet, there was a pouch of seeds, had to save the Princess, but that’s the only time I recall him having a solo journey. All in all, the original trio functioned to support Keith and Allura and to stand as a contrast to Lotor. Having them be the first characters we’re introduced to, aside from allowing them to exist as characters first within this series, worried me that they would just be a vehicle until we could meet the rest of the main cast. I’m pleased to see that their characters continue to grow throughout S1 and that Hunk even gets a somewhat solo journey relatively early on in the series. VLD!Hunk is just so much more of fun now that he has a clear heart and soul to his character. Lance, while I’m not a fan of the flirt archetype, is still pretty fun, and Pidge is just awesome all around. These three possess far more depth this go around, not just establishing that they had lives before Galaxy Garrison, but also delving into their homesickness and ultimate decision to stay.

Keith: This is probably one of the bigger surprises, at least in the first few episodes. Originally, Keith was the cool and calm leader that was a quintessential part of any 90′s team. Now he’s, like, this rebel with a secret cause (which doesn’t come around until S2, but I digress), which makes him feel so much younger in comparison. He’s hotheaded and kinda arrogant (Lance too, but he kinda always was) On the one hand, yeah, he’s not a blank slate to shout the appropriate catch phrase, but it’s weird to see a character I associate with strong, dedicated, almost single minded adherence to what is “right” walking more of a grey line. I mean, original Keith was definitely lawful good, and to see this version’s chaotic good is both refreshing and weird. Also, I just realized it’s never really explained in the show how Keith and Shiro knew each other. It’s clear they have some sort of history but it’s never stated, just kinda hinted at being mentor/mentee and then developed in that vein along the way.

Shiro: ... who are you... while it’s been an adjustment to get used to the other characters, Shiro being essentially a brand new character threw me for the second biggest loop in the first season. He’s very much what I expected of Keith but in a more... subdued manner. Keith at least yelled in cheesy 90′s fashion when he charged into a fight, whereas Shiro’s more apt to be tactical. On the one hand, good to see that leader role filled by a similar archetype... but like... ass in the whole Galra arm thing and the amnesia thing and just... Shiro... who are you...

Allura: Where do I fucking start? Unlike the other characters, the differences between original Allura and this Allura gradually became more evident. At first, she pretty much is the support Princess who cheers on the pilots and worries for them and all that, Team Mom and such, The Chick, all the usual tropes, but as early as the second episode, she’s showing herself as a headstrong, assertive taskmaster, which, honestly, was hilarious. But where Allura in the original run fulfilled the role of damsel in distress more often than not, this Allura is very much a fighter, and she reflects a history of being raised amid war. She’s decisive once she’s made her decision but shows hesitance in trying to balance her father’s and people’s ways with her new reality. Unlike the original, Allura is one of the last remaining members of her race- oh, and quick note? Love her fucking character design. For the first time, she actually looks like an alien, which I adore- and tries to be both the fighter needed to take down the Galra Empire and the peaceful ambassador that Alteans have always been. Her most decisive moments in S1 are when she’d hellbent on saving the Balmerans and the Balmera, and she shows hesitance when it comes to actually trying to tackle the war with Zarkon, and bringing back King Alfor as an actual AI instead of just a vision she sees is a nice touch. Her decision to infiltrate the ship in disguise is also one of the times she’s decisive and that one, again, doesn’t directly involve fighting. I really like how Allura shows the challenges of being both dedicated to peace and being forced into a position where fighting must occur. She’s also equally assisting in getting the castle running again, showing that she’s a talented enough engineer in her own right to actually do the work without Coran’s supervision. She’s smart, she’s strong (lemme tell ya, when she was disguised as a Galra? Fucking, end me, that was beautiful, be honored Shiro that you bore witness to that), she’s certain of the outcomes she wants but shows a very mortal fallibility in attempting to reach them. She’s not just the Princess; she’s so much more, she’s a rebel leader, a fighter, a daughter trying to continue and protect her father’s legacy, her peoples’. Out of all the cast, Allura (alongside Pidge and Hunk) is one of the few characters I don’t find myself missing from the original run. Sometimes, I miss how Keith was the calm one and Lance was supportive of him rather than their constant bickering (it’s funny, don’t get me wrong, just a different dynamic than I expected) and so on, but I don’t find myself missing Allura’s almost Disney Princess archetype from the original. The fact that there’s a somewhat sensible canon reason that she can communicate with the Space Mice, for instance, is nice. Which, on that note...

The Space Mice: Oh God, you assholes are back... thankfully in a reduced capacity but still...

Coran: Okay. This... took an adjustment. The biggest adjustment, honestly. In the original, Coran was the older, calmer, steady hand who helped guide the pilots and Allura through trial after trial. Collected and certain, he rarely faltered, and would chide people for their mistakes the way a father figure would. New Coran is... a complete and utter goofball and I love him. As much as I hate to use the word, I’ll admit I did cringe at the first few episodes, purely because every time Coran was on screen, I was reminded very much of how the original Coran would handle the situation. At least in the other characters, there are shades and moments where they behave just like their original counterparts (Allura with the Space Mice, Keith tackling problems head on, Lance being a bit of a flirt, Pidge using her size to her advantage, Hunk and food, and even Shiro shows some commonalities with Sven) but with Coran, there’s no real moment when he behaves exactly like his counterpart would. He’s always dropping little one liners or making offhand comments that strongly remind the audience that Alteans are an alien race with alien customs and alien words, even when he’s fulfilling his role as pilot/co-pilot of the castle. It took some time to grow on me, and I’ll be honest in that I don’t always enjoy his character the way I’ve come to enjoy everyone else’s, but it is purely because of nostalgia. I’m aware enough to realize that, when I completely check out and don’t think about the original, I do like his character, and I do find his scenes to be funny more often than not. But- like in later seasons- there are times when his antics get to a point where I’m genuinely missing the old Coran. I think it’s mostly because the stakes in this version just seem so much higher- the Drule Empire seems almost harmless in comparison to the Galra- so not having that consistently steady hand is almost a step backwards in being prepared for the fights. However, I’m also acutely aware of why Coran is written in this way in the new version, and that’s because...

Nanny: ... is not fucking here and thank fucking god. Always my least favorite character and she came off as a caring but ultimately flat stereotype rather than a character in and of herself. I realize the new Coran is basically old Coran and Nanny rolled up into one and that impacted my view of the new Coran but, if I had to pick, I’d take new Coran over Nanny any day.

The Lions: I didn’t think I would ever have to do this but I actually have to do this and I love it, honestly. The Lions themselves are actually characters, albeit subtle ones through the course of the show. In the original, the Lions didn’t so much as have their own personalities or ‘talk’ to the pilots; they were just giant mechs. But in this version, they do have their own personalities and characterizations, and it wasn’t until the second viewing of S1 that it started to make sense. At first, I took the Lions’ independent actions- telling the pilots about weapons, moving of their own accord, etc- to be functions of Rule of Cool and simple plot vehicles to advance the action. Now, I’m rethinking that. Coming back with the knowledge of King Alfor being the former Red Lion paladin, I understand why Red brings out the big gun at the height of the S1 climax; it’s not just Keith trying to stop Zarkon, it’s Red, who watched what Zarkon became firsthand, who lost his previous Paladin to Zarkon, who wants to stop him, too. Being in sync like that is what allows the Paladins to unlock the Lion’s abilities. I understand why Black Lion was so eager to connect with Shiro, who arguably made the strongest attempt at connecting with his Lion, and what that meant to the Black Lion; though Black Lion and Zarkon still share a connection, Zarkon is augmenting it with quintessence, and Black Lion is trapped in this unhealthy bond that it wants to break, as evidenced by connecting with Shiro and coming to save him, but is also partially powerless to do so without Shiro’s help. The Black Lion is trying to do what is right and help but is also collared by Zarkon and trying to break free of that bond. The Lions have their own personalities and quirks, but as silent and mystical robotic creations, their characterizations are far more subtle, and I think that’s a super neat way of both supporting the mystical power being built around them within the lore and expanding on the Voltron legend itself. My memory is really fuzzy, but I don’t remember there being a concrete explanation for how Voltron came to be originally. I remember the legend about it being torn apart by a space witch, but that’s about it. In fact, I think early on in the series, it’s implied that Voltron wasn’t five separate parts but a single whole, and then adapted to being five separate parts later, but that could also be a different version as there are some Lion specific roles that seemed to be designed, so I might be getting my continuities mixed up. Bottom line: the new lore surrounding the Lions is fantastic and I love it.

Zarkon & Haggar: I’ll talk about these two independently at a later point- because dear lord do I love what was done with their characters- but in S1, they behave much like I expected of them. Zarkon’s far more serious, to the point, and built up as being both a terribly powerful fighter in his own right as he is a ruthless dictator. Original Zarkon was more... like the original Rita Repulsa, but with slightly less cackling. Again, 90′s cheese, and in spades. Considering the more serious air, this version of Zarkon is everything I expected, but weaving him in as a former ally was a nice turn. Haggar being... well... Haggar also carried with it no surprises, except in the resentment shown by others towards her. In the original, Haggar just kinda did her own thing but was obviously part of the Drules; in this one, the hostility shown towards Haggar is both a function of others’ lust for power and her possession of Zarkon’s favor and the, at that point, subtle disdain for those not of Galra blood. Something I noticed while rewatching is that, at this point, before Zarkon’s been megainfused with quintessence, he’s very calm, logical, and driven, Haggar constantly refers to Voltron as being “ours” when she talks about capturing it, and they have a relatively calm and healthily evil relationship, considering they’re both main antagonists. Zarkon’s not demeaning towards Haggar in S1. As the seasons progress, and more quintessence is used on Zarkon, this changes drastically, but here in the first season, it’s very easy to see why and how Zarkon’s empire grew to this point over the past 10k years. As Voltron begins to liberate planets, however, Zarkon and Haggar’s bond begins to erode, and I think it’s a very nice touch to show both how things ran smoothly before Voltron returned to the fight and how things started going terribly wrong as both the resistance grew and the bond began to deteriorate.

Okay, so now that the characters are out of the way, there’s something I want to address about the first season that is probably a big difference for me versus a fresh viewer, and that’s pacing. I'm really not sure how it came off to a new viewer but, as someone who’s seen the ‘find the lions, form Voltron for the first time’ schtick done several times, the fact that they’d managed to do it in 2 episodes was such a relief. Compared to the first, like, ten episodes of the original run that it took just to get to Arus, it felt like a lot of the filler was trimmed down. In fact, almost all filler is absent; there’s not a single episode in the first season that doesn’t contain something interesting and/or plot related. Also, this run has a plot, as opposed to the monster-of-the-week style of the original run. Imagine my surprise- I sometimes forget that shows nowadays actually do have plots rather than just a gimmick.

All in all, I had intense mixed feelings over the first season. On the one hand, I could appreciate the new and inventive directions and designs for the characters and the universe. On the other hand, however, I loved the original run and the intense bout of fighting nostalgia really made enjoying it difficult. On the second run, though, I can honestly say I enjoyed the first season much more. In a lot of ways, it feels like canonized fanfiction of the original series- an AU that really focuses on fleshing out the Voltron universe- because of all the little nods and renamings to reference the original material.

Also, hands down favorite thing introduced in S1? Actual fucking aliens. I... honestly can’t remember a single “alien” race in the original that didn’t look straight up human, aside from the Drules (Galra) and even then, censorship made more than half of them robots. So, like, seeing actual aliens with alien customs in this universe is just, 10/10, excellent improvement.

#Voltron #Voltron spoilers #Only if you haven't seen the first season though #TRR reviews

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0100100100101101 · 7 years

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Berlin—February 1st, 2017. I am rushing through the neighborhood of Mitte, slaloming my way through icy mud piles along the streets. Google tells me the sun is setting today at 16:53. I have two more hours of daylight. Just about enough to get a few shots of Errolson Hugh, the Canadian designer behind the Berlin-based performance wear brand Acronym.

We get together at his studio in the Mitte neighborhood in former East Berlin, which is now a popular bourgeois-bohemian neighborhood. In his loft-like studio, I almost crash into one of the stacks of the hundreds of shoe boxes that dot the floor plan like Greek temple columns. “Sorry about the mess,” Errolson says in a calm voice, “all these shoes go online for sale tonight.” Inside the boxes is the Acronym Nike Air Force 1 Downtown sneaker, the latest edition of their ongoing collaboration. Like almost everything Acronym puts onto the market, it is in high demand and soon to be #VeryRare. I find out later that night that all 600 sneakers sold in less than 12 minutes online.

I look past the shoe boxes through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows. The sky is grey and darkening at the horizon. We dash out in the backyard to catch the last rays of gloomy light. Errolson grabs a couple of black jackets, among them the J1A-GT, a revamped version of Acronym’s first collection from 2002. “It’s damn cold,” I gasp, and Errolson smiles, replying, “Oh, this is nothing compared to where I come from.”

Born in Canada, Errolson grew up facing another echelon of cold winters. To keep ourselves warm, I ask him if he can show me a few martial arts moves, knowing that he has been a karate pro since he was a kid. He shortly considers, looks around the neighborhood, then says, “Yeah, why not.” Errolson tells me that he and his younger brother both started training together, when they were 10 and eight years old, respectively. The uniform, the karate gi, is a very traditional example of Japanese pattern-making, and its geometry is such that there are no restrictions to physical motion. That was the first time Errolson realized a piece of clothing could limit or enable the way the body works. “I was always driving my mom crazy trying to find pants that I could wear and kick in. Any kind of pants. I’d always be in the department stores in the changing rooms, throwing sidekicks,” he says.

Errolson is dressed in his own collection, wearing black P25-CH pants, exactly those ones he dreamt of as a kid—pants you can move in freely, stay outside in, and practice karate. I ask him what he learned from karate apart from how to do a badass axe kick. “Martial arts fosters self-reliance, and you learn to trust your own judgment. You realize, in a very real, physical way, that you can do more than you think you can. The whole mind over matter thing, mastering situations, all of that has real world application, particularly if you’re an entrepreneur or you’re in a super competitive industry, like fashion.“

Only much later would the designer apply the merits of karate to his work process, design, and brand. Errolson’s parents, Chinese-Jamaicans, moved from the tropical Caribbean to the woodlands of Alberta to study architecture. After graduating, they worked together all over Canada, moving around to wherever the jobs would take them. “For me, Canada was the feeling of alienation and total isolation,“ Errolson says about his up-bringing, “Growing up there was myself, my brother, maybe one other Asian kid at school, one black kid. People wanted to grow up and be hockey players or work in the oil industry, that’s kind of all there was, so being a designer was about as realistic as becoming an astronaut.”

Nobody knew anything about fashion. Errolson remembers one shop, which had a copy of The Face and i-D, that was like a message from outer space. “I think it was my guitar teacher who first gave me an issue of The Face,” Errolson remembers, “That blew me away. Then my dad gave me a copy of Interview magazine at Christmas in 1985. Madonna was on the cover, along with handmade pencil drawings. It was this giant newsprint magazine. I still remember spending the entire day reading. I knew every single page of that magazine by like a week later.” With no internet, those rare magazines were the only channel to see what was going on outside of Alberta.

In 1989, Errolson enrolled at Ryerson Polytechnic University. He graduated, but it was a bumpy road. “They tried to kick me out, twice. I was a horrible student—very disruptive and not respectful,“ he confesses. I ask him if it had to do with his karate mentality, the idea of being self-reliant and one’s own boss. “Yeah, there had always been that outsider perspective,” he answers. “It is still that way with my brand.”

In 1999, Errolson registered the brand Acronym with his partner and former girlfriend Michaela Sachenbacher. From the start it focused on experimenting at the edges of what apparel can be. “Acronym is conceptual,” the designer says, “You take something and make it compact and useable. You express something very complex in a compact way, which is similar to everything we’re trying to do with apparel.”

Michaela and Errolson are both trained as designers. She now runs all of the legal, production, and finances of the company from Brooklyn, while Errolson does all of the Acronym studio work, collaborations with Nike or Stone Island, rotating between Berlin, Milan, and Tokyo. They both design Acronym together. “I’m the visible part, but Michaela is equally strong as far as aesthetics, and Acronym definitely wouldn’t look the same if she wasn’t co-owner,” Errolson says, “She is the person I’ve probably learned more from than anyone else in my life. I’ve known her since we were 18.”

Before establishing Acronym as a fashion brand, Michaela and Errolson had a creative agency in Munich. They were designing and art directing mostly active sportswear, for mountain bike or snowboard brands like Burton. Both picked up on the technology that was there and through friends came across military and industrial apparel, which at some point led to the question, “Why can’t we have all of this for everyday use?” The couple realized that what they were looking for in clothes was not yet on the market. “People were like, ‘Oh that sounds terrible, it’s so difficult, it’s expensive, why would you want to do that?’ So we started Acronym almost out of frustration. We said, ‘Alright, if you don’t want to do it, we’ll do it.’ At first, people didn’t care. It was like five to six years before anybody was interested.”

Errolson is well-connected in the fashion world, having lived in Los Angeles, Tokyo, and New York, but for years the brand remained something like an outsider, a well-hidden secret. Another reason Acronym stayed detached from the fashion system is the way the company and the studio work. “We operate in parallel with it, and sometimes we intersect with it,” the designer says about the industry at large, “but for the most part our process and the way we work has almost nothing to do with the way everyone else works. This is our strength and it’s also obviously our weakness. The strength of it is being so outside of the system you develop your own independent way of doing things, and it really gives you an individual approach and a fingerprint. Then the negative part obviously is to interface with the system at play. You’re not limited by the limitations of the system, but you also don’t get to benefit from the advantages of being in the system.”

From the beginning, Acronym was focused on soft and light shell fabrics like Gore-Tex, a lightweight, waterproof, breathable fabric membrane designed for all-weather use. A lot of what Acronym does is taking an unattractive or not obviously stylish fabric and finding a way to make it look good. It always starts with the function of the apparel. There is a lot of thought that goes into each design and an obsession with details. The architectural influence from his parents comes into play with Errolson’s approach to materials. “The whole form follows function thing, fitness to purpose, all of those broad architectural concepts. My brother and I grew up with those all around us, and so it was very natural for me to apply that to apparel.”

Acronym’s collections never have more than 15 pieces, an indication of the painstaking detail that goes into each design. It took three years to work on the brand’s first collection, named Kit-1. It was released in 2002 in an edition of 120, consisting of a jacket, a bag, and accessories. The industry noticed, liked it, and the Fall/Winter 2003 collection was picked up by concept stores like Colette in Paris.

There is a misconception in the fashion world that Acronym limits its number of pieces on purpose to create artificial scarcity. In fact, there is so little of Acronym because it is so hard to make. It is very difficult to find a factory that can meet the technical criteria to produce it, Errolson explains to me while pouring himself a glass of Coca Cola. “There’s always a very specific reason for the things that we put in, and those things happen to be expensive, and that’s why it’s expensive. We’re not trying to create something purposefully scarce or purposefully luxurious, we’re just trying to make the best possible thing we can. It’s not a marketing strategy.”

Until 2009, Errolson and Michaela were the company’s only employees. They got so used to working by themselves and for themselves that when people started knocking at their door, they were surprised. Errolson wondered, “Wow, where did people get our number? Why do you call us?“ Even today, it is still kind of like that. There is no PR, no marketing, hardly any events. It was not simple to reach Errolson as he travels and focuses more on work than doing publicity. Yet the team has grown slowly over the years. “I basically hired all of my friends. We joked that all of the lost children of Berlin end up in our office. In other cities, people talk about being cool, because it’s actually a bankable commodity. The way they describe it, that kind of cool actually exists in Berlin as a real thing. People are legitimately cool here, and it’s not about knowing it. I think that also comes because it’s the least materialistic city I have ever lived in. People just aren’t about money. They just don’t care. I think that’s super healthy.”

Only in the past few years has the visibility of Acronym increased. One factor being the cultural shift in the industry in favor of their aesthetic and the rise of high fashion performance wear. Acronym pioneered the introduction of technology as its own category of design aesthetic, and their moves have paved the way for many brands’ ready-to-wear collections in recent seasons. Today, technology is one of the industry’s big trends, blending traditional sportswear with high fashion. Dubbed athleisure, active wear, or performance wear, it is casual clothing designed to be worn both for exercising and for day-to-day use in the cityscape. Fitness and athleticism has become one of the defining cultural paradigms of contemporary urban life, similar to the powers of street culture, that has turned the fashion world upside down in the last decade.

When I ask Errolson about his relationship to streetwear, he says it is hard for him to have an objective view on that, because he knows those guys, and through his work with Burton snowboards, way back in the day, met a lot of the people who invented what everybody calls streetwear today. In Tokyo, he met people like Nigo, Jun Takahashi, and Hiroshi Fujiwara. “Everything we take for granted as streetwear today,” the designer says, “started there organically. They’re all friends. They worked together. They invented the idea of collaboration.”

Acronym itself slowly began working with very carefully selected partners. After five to six years, they realized that trying to do it all by themselves was not possible. “You can’t change the industry as a single brand,” Errolson admits. Among the collaborations are well-established sportswear and streetwear brands that were part of Acronym’s growth. When Paul Harvey retired from his job as creative director at Stone Island, the Italian brand approached Errolson to be a part of that team, a partnership that gave birth to Stone Island Shadow Project. “That’s been super amazing because we get to do things ourselves,” Errolson says. “That’s the only collection we’ve ever worked on where you get to design not only the pieces but also the fabric of those pieces in the collection. They’re so up for trying different things, difficult things, and stuff no one else would even attempt. They’re like, ‘Yeah, let’s add these three processes on top of it and see what happens.’ And you just don’t get that anywhere else.“

Since 2013, Acronym has had another mutually successful partnership with Nike. Both brands worked together to create iconic sneakers, among them the Lunar Force 1 and recently the Presto Air, which has helped Nike develop an avant-garde feel and reach out to the premium menswear segment of the sneaker market. Both companies also worked together on another line, relaunching ACG (All Conditions Gear), Nike’s iconic mountaineering-inspired offering. “It’s the first time we’re really able to work at a scale where we can take an idea and put it on the street in a way that’s much more accessible to more people than we would with Acronym,” Errolson reflects. “Working with Nike means that you’re really working with pop culture. It’s not just a product or a collection. It’s so ingrained into so many people’s histories.”

When Errolson says this, we both glance at the hundreds of shoe boxes in the studio, holding the latest much-anticipated collaboration between Acronym and Nike. By the time the interview ends, the sun is down, leaving this part of the studio in the shade. It is hard to imagine that all the sneakers will be gone soon. Other parts of the studio show pieces of older Acronym collections and accessories, most of them designed from black materials. I ask him if that color is a fetish. “According to my dad, I used to wear all black when I was 10, which is kind of strange to me because that’s before Yohji and Comme des Garçons, which I never would have heard about anyways. He thinks it’s from being influenced by Arata Isozaki, who is a Japanese architect, which kind of makes more sense because there were definitely a lot more architecture books around. But with Acronym later, and the size of production that we used to do, black was the only color that all of the suppliers would have on stock, and that you could order and expect to look sort of okay. That’s why everything is black.”

Besides the underlying constants of dark colors, select materials, and a focus on functionality, in recent seasons, Acronym started to concentrate on pattern-making and how the garments move on the body. As with everything, Acronym takes its time. It’s a culture of methodical tactility. When Errolson mentions this shift, I am reminded of his karate gi and how it sensitized his perception of fashion and empowered him to become a better fighter. “That’s why fashion is so powerful,” Errolson says. “It’s that intersection of design, communication, and identity. It’s a large part of who you are, how you define yourself, how you present yourself to the world. So people definitely get attached to that. Plus, it’s just hard to find a pair of pants that fit you perfectly. It’s actually quite difficult.”

Before leaving his studio, I ask Errolson what was the last mind-opening thing he learned from someone. He tells me about his daughter and seeing her grow up: “It’s amazing to see somebody discover everything for the first time and it’s a good reminder that there can be magic in the most banal things.”

#acronym #acrnm #nikelab #stone island #ghost in the shell #攻殻機動隊 #blade runner #ブレードラーナー #altered carbon #when gravity fails #neuromancer #william gibson #cyberpunk #fashion #goretex #techwear

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nedyma · 7 years

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∞ + Phevor?

Thank you

who’s more into cars?

Trevor’s the one who finds all the small things interesting, so he would take Philip to car shows and car museums. Philip’s familiar with the old gas-powered engines, but he likes the way Trevor talks about the creations.

who’s traveled more?

This may be a trick question… considering Trevor’s been a traveler longer, I do believe he’s the winner! Philip always tries to ask more without being too obvious, but Trevor picks up on Philip’s curiosity pretty quick and answers with a smile.

who swears more often?

Trevor’s guilty of this as well. He likes the way swearing seems to punctuate his words more. But it’s never pointed at Philip, plus he’s also very gentlemanly about it and apologizes when one slips out around Philip.

who believes in ghosts?

Neither of the two entertain the idea of the afterlife, considering they’re from the future. But nonetheless, they like to tease each other whenever there’s a scary movie on.

who would plant a garden in the backyard?

This would absolutely be Philip. Ever since he’s made it to the twenty-first century, he’s realized what little things he can do to help while he’s there without getting in a large amount of trouble. Trevor likes to help after school, coming back and working underneath the afternoon sun with the other.

who would paint the walls in the living room an obnoxious color without asking the other?

Trevor makes it home from the local hardware store after talking to the loveliest woman. He tells Philip about how she reminded him of a sprite, with vibrant, colorful highlights. She expressed her love for a neon orange color that no one ever buys so Trevor bought it to watch her smile. When Philip makes it home, they both stare at it for a few seconds before both deciding it needs to be changed. But Trevor still snaps a few pictures and shows it to the woman few days later.

who owns more shoes?

They own the same amount. Whatever’s needed for a mission, plus their ever day pair. They find they’re not materialistic, so they have enough clean clothes and shoes to live.

who takes up most of the counter space in the bathroom?

Philip. He learns quickly that having long hair is a lot of upkeep. So he buys the best conditioner, after some research with Trevor, to keep his hair from knotting. (Sometimes Trevor grabs the brush and brushes it out for Philip before bed).

who’s the big spoon?

Technically, Philip. But it’s the sense that he curls his legs around Trevor’s waist, and throws his arms over his shoulders. It’s a bit of jetpack situation, but Trevor doesn’t mind one bit. Sometimes when Philip’s going through withdrawal, Trevor will curl around him and hold him tight.

who has the kinkier fetish? (bonus points: what is the fetish?)

Neither of the two thought about sex for awhile, until they were really comfortable with each other they started to talk about it. Even then, they don’t venture very far into kinks.

who forces the other to recycle?

No need! They’re both caring and realize what happens when one doesn’t recycle, so they both recycle without a thought.

who always leaves their dishes in the sink? who ends up cleaning them?

Trevor’s guilty of not cleaning his dishes. He doesn’t think about it much because he’s used to his host’s mom insisting she’ll do the dishes as long as he does his homework. Philip doesn’t mind, and whenever Trevor hears him washing he quickly comes to help.

who would be more likely to cook the other a romantic surprise meal?

Trevor. It started off with bringing Philip fast food once in awhile, then when they moved in together he made them a huge dinner on their first night together. Philip loved it.

who’s more likely to come home with a romantic gift just because?

Philip. Mostly because he hears Ray’s version of what couples should do, and what are good gifts. Trevor appreciates the flowers, and he likes the chocolates, but Philip quickly learned he doesn’t have to stick with standard romantic ideas. So he starts to buy Trevor trinkets or books that have cool stories behind them.

who’s parents are more controlling?

Trevor’s host parents weren’t very happy at the idea of him living with Philip. But Trevor stands up to his parents with confidence so eventually they drop the whole anger phase.

who was more popular in high school?

Has to be Trevor, considering Philip hasn’t technically gone through high school! Philip’s curious about the experience, so Trevor tells him, and honestly Philip doesn’t think he missed out much.

who is more frugal?

Considering the time period they’re from, both are quite frugal. They’ve learned not to take advantage of things!

#otp ask game #phevor #anon #it got long so i had to put the rest behind the cut #thank you for sending!

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