<< pick up the receiver, i'll make you a believer >>

I’m so glad I found your fic here 😩😩 i have two prompts thst could honestly probably be written into one?: a) gyuhyun wants to have some serious discussion, like Mahbe about moving in together or meeting each other’s parents, or anything like that, and bitna just keeps trying to change the subject, avoid him, distract him Bc feelings r hard So gyuhyun confronts her about her lack of ability to handle her emotions or have serious discussions

Or b) gyuhyun says I love u to bitna for the first time

Hi!!! I'm so so so sorry that this took so long, but here it is anyway:

Fandom: Nevertheless (K-Drama)

Rating: T

Tags: Nam Gyuhyun x Oh Bitna, Post-Canon, Established Relationship, Declarations of Love, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Moving In Together

Read on Ao3 here

Title from Halsey’s Bad at Love

always make the same mistakes ('cause i'm bad at love)

After various trials and tribulations, most of which are self-inflicted by Bitna and Gyuhyun, they finally become a couple. Gyuhyun is overjoyed, and the cycle of pain they’d been stuck in comes to an end.

Their other friends aren’t even surprised when they finally announce that they are dating.

Nabi is genuinely happy for them, and she showers Bitna with questions that the latter is hesitant about answering. Gyuhyun pretends as though it doesn’t sting him; he has her for now, they can figure out the specificities of whatever this is later. Jaeeon is happy, but for the most part ambivalent, and other than a quick ‘Congrats’, there isn’t much to say from him.

Sol and Jiwan are the most genuinely excited and happy for them, he thinks. Considering all that they had to go through to get together, they have the best understanding of what conspired between Bitna and Gyuhyun till they got together. Gyuhyun is well aware that Nabi and Jaeeon, particularly, were far too involved in something in their own little lives to focus on him and Bitna or Sol and Jiwan. Gyuhyun doesn’t know the specifics about what happened between them, but Nabi and Jaeeon are a thing now.

The other Art students generally express their congratulatory sentiments and that’s that.

He isn’t particularly close to anyone else, at least enough to tell them about his and Bitna’s official relationship, and Bitna’s other friends are very surface-level friendships.

In the end, their announcement is far more anti-climatic than either of them had thought it’d be. Gyuhyun knows Bitna was hesitant about this, but he doesn’t know what she feels about the rather normal and toned-down response.

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

Right before college ends, she decides to talk to Gyuhyun about their future. God, she hates that word.

Bitna loves Gyuhyun, she really does. But, she knows she’s shit at relationships; it’s easier to keep her heart warm and keep everyone at a distance. It fulfills her very human social need but also doesn’t encroach on her fear of getting hurt.

Realistically, she knows that not everyone in her life is ready and prepared to leave, especially Gyuhyun.

That little girl inside her is still scared, though. But, she’s trying.

As she had expected, he has many thoughts about their future. (So does she, but Bitna prefers to keep her hopes and dreams buried deep within her, so if things go wrong, no one knows).

It begins somewhat like this:

“Hey Gyuhyun-ah, let’s talk,” she nervously says walking into his room.

He’s lounging on the bed, reading some book.

Looking vaguely amused, though she can catch the glimmer of fear, “Is this ‘let’s talk’ or let’s talk?”

“Uh, the latter, I think.”

“So, what is it?” He asks, patting the free space on the bed beside him, and she sits beside him, leaning her head against his arm.

“Iwantedtotalkaboutthefuture,” she mutters in one quick breath.

The amusement in his features is replaced by seriousness, “The future?”

“Yes.”

“Like after college?”

“Yes.”

“So, um, what about the future then?”

He looks hopeful, uncomfortable, and anxious all at once. She loves him, she does, but what can she give him?

“Uh, do you think we’ll last after college?”

“Yes,” he answers without even a pause.

They are both trapped in the stifling silence.

“So-” “What-”

She laughs and gestures for him to continue.

“Do you want to move in after college?” he asks seriously.

Does she want to? Yes. God, yes.

Is it a good idea? No.

He tolerates Bitna in doses, and maybe after living with her, he’ll realize that maybe he’s better off without her.

“I was thinking maybe something like uh, we can live nearby?” she offers, painting a bright smile on her face to hide her reluctance.

“Bitna, we’ve been dating for a while now, and you already sleep over 90% of the time in my dorm now, anyway.”

“It’s still too soon, and besides, I’m not used to living with someone,” she argues.

He lets out a frustrated sigh and looks at her more seriously.

“Bitna, you can tell me why you don’t want this. You don’t have to hide anything from me,” he’s reassuring and coaxing her to open up.

It’s working. Sort of.

“I- I just think we should take some more time,” she feebly answers.

“Sure, but is this an eventuality in the near future?”

She doesn’t know, and she tells him as much.

“If two years is too soon for you, that’s fine. I’ll wait, but I need to know how much longer I’ll have to wait for you?”

He’s looking expectantly at her.

What does she tell him?

“I- I can’t,” she sobs, the dam holding her tears back breaks.

He immediately pulls her closer to him and rubs her back soothingly.

“What’s bothering you? Please, tell me,” he pleads.

Breathing heavily to try and compose herself, “I- How do I even begin?”

“You can tell me. I promise I’m here for you.”

And, she does believe him. Despite her fear and her brain telling herself to not, she does believe him. He’s never lied to her, and why should he start now?

Choosing to be brave, she confesses her fear to him.

“I’m scared,” she admits.

He looks incredulous.

“Of what?”

“You’ll leave me when you know what I’m like. When you don’t want to, can’t tolerate me anymore,” she cries.

He smiles at her, all gentle and indulgent.

Pressing his forehead against hers, he whispers against her lips, “I love you. I won't leave you. I don’t want to leave. I promise I’ll be here for as long as you’ll want me.”

He kisses her, and she clutches at his shoulder to pull him closer.

Ages later (or perhaps, more realistically minutes later), they’re both breathless.

He looks at her softly, opening his heart for her once again, “Will you take a chance on us?”

She looks into his eyes, and answers, “Yes.”

I made a post on Twitter and learned that Pantheon x Aphelios is a genuine ship like Aphelios x Sett is? Honestly I only ever cared about 200 years when I kicked his face in while ulting bot. I think his story while tragic is very isolating. So I went back to read through the lore of his again to make sure I remembered everything correctly from the first time I read it back when he was released. 

Now bare in mind I do not ship bash, if you like the ship more power to you, I won’t discourage anyone from shipping what they like. It’s all fiction. That said I will analyze the two of them and see if I can find some common ground from the lore material we have. 

Aphelios and Alune were both children of the Lunari and were heralded to be these great children of destiny for the lunar faith. From a young age they had all this weight thrust upon them to defend the Lunari as fighter and seer. This supposed great destiny, while it turned out to be true is quite brainwashing for young children and incredibly manipulative. It is stated that Aphelios had a very strong and deep connection with his sister which in turn hurt him when she was not there since he likely felt isolated and had severe problems fitting in with others. Its a common phenomenon that certain individuals who have a singular best friend or sibling suffer immensely when that person leaves and they are left to deal with others, much like some of us have most fiends online these days and desperately wait for said friends to get on so they will have company. It even says that without Alune his faith wavered, clearly tying him immensely to her so much that there is a dependency on her closeness that correlates to his effectiveness in combat or even as a functioning human being as it is said that he lost his very purpose. It seems like while Alune firmly believes in the Moon Aphelios believes in her and whatever she stands for, so will he. I don’t want to say Moon Simp here because they are brother and sister but in essence he very much does what she commands, even in game. Its a very unhealthy sort of hyper dependency as without her he just falls apart. 

In this desperation he comes across noctum on a spiritual journey and consumes it only to later understand that he is to live as a conduit for Alunes magic. I like this excerpt out of his story because it highlights the duality and the tragedy of their relationship. 

Only now did they understand their destiny. Aphelios would hollow himself out with pain, but would become a conduit for the moon’s power. Alune would live alone, isolated in her fortress, but she would guide her brother, able to see through his eyes.

While it is tragic it really takes away from his own character. He has no real will of his own at this point, Alune is faithful to the moon and guides him in any way she sees fit as she is the seer, he is merely the earthly vessel for her actions that are in the best interests of the Lunari. 

With Aphelios previously already being quite anti social as he only focuses on Alune this connection should amp it up tenfold. Imagine having the only person you really care about in your head constantly talking to you and telling you what to do so long you are under the painful influence of a harmful substance. It makes him the epitome of a living tool, because he does not speak or feel and because he is hyper fixated on his sister. When you hollow your body out with a poison that numbs you to all sorts of feelings there is really little sense for physical companionship as you have numbed yourself to the point of not being able to speak, with constant pain coursing through you. That is without Aphelios innate antisocial behavior

All and all this paints Aphelios as a silent killer who works alone, gets his missions either from Alune exclusively, or convenes with Lunari elders on what targets need to be eliminated. He very much reminds me of Agent 47, take the job, maximum efficiency, get it done, get the next job. His destiny or purpose is to serve the Lunari and keep them safe and anything that keeps him from achieving his singular purpose is either an obstacle or not worth his time. 

Pantheon is a whole new problem in that he hates everyone on the mountain, to varying degrees but still. His one big defining trait is that he stands up to the gods, aspects and darkin. He renounces the power of the aspects and the gods dominion over Targon and will fight nearly anything to follow his belief. He threatens Aurelion Sol, fights Xerath and generally just howls at every aspect ascended, demi god, or darkin there is. When mom told Atreus to pick his battles he simply said “I’ll pick em all” and off he went kicking everyone ass. 

Pantheons place in Targon is very uncertain. I said this before when he got reworked that this stance against the gods will put him at odds with everyone on Targon. The Solari and Lunari believe in their respective gods, the Rakkor or Targonians all believe in either of those gods or worship other constellations since in Targon this ascended magic is something to aspire too. People look up to the stars, ask them for guidance, read their fate in the stars, trust them and even pilgrim from every corner of the earth to worship and marvel at the gods. Pantheon would be at odds with every single person and while he won’t slaughter everyone I think the canonical thing for Pantheon to do is just leave mount Targon and fight other gods OR actually challenge and kill Leona, Diana Taric and so on. Which would be a very dark but also very possible path. Kill the aspects to show the masses that their gods do not save them and demand exponentially more than they ever return. For that Pantheon would have to end the Lunari and Solari faith and completely reshape the way people on Targon think about the stars, and as much as I love Pantheon I do not see that as something possible, nor do I see him as the kind of man who would force anyone to agree with him. He carries his rage and resentment but he will not force it upon another, rather confront the person responsible and settle it with them (the gods). 

Now Pantheon did fight with the Ra’Horak in his fight against Xerath. Where it was actually the Ra’Horak fighting Xerath before Pantheon arrived. I am guessing that was because the first sun disc was constructed in Nerimazeth and the Solari desired it for some reason, but I am getting off track here. Pantheon helped the Solari warriors, which leads me to believe that perhaps he can exist on Targon in a way. But with the circumstances I think it was more him fighting against Xerath. Since that thing was clearly a godlike entity that he was all but ready to kill. The Solari just happen to be there and he decided to aid the mortals fighting against a god, that does not mean he agrees with their beliefs. 

Had Aphelios fought Xerath, would Pantheon have helped? Sure, probably. I think Pantheon would also help Leona and Diana against Aatrox if they needed his help again. It’s all a matter of hierarchy. Who is the greatest threat and who is a lesser one. So I could see them working together against a greater common foe for sure but more I think not. 

His quote to Aphelios is at first glance more positive, but considering all the underlying character traits I think it is a little darker than what it at first implies. Pantheon knows that it is human destiny to fight for survival and only those strong and brave enough do not shy away from the pain and anguish that decision costs. Pantheon understands Aphelios motivation, why he fights, that does not mean he supports it. 

To Pantheon, Aphelios is a man so zealous and devoted to the moon that he would willingly forsake his humanity, poison himself and suffer for eternity so that he could enact the will of the moon, a god. This is going to really set of Pantheon’s past when the god of war possessed his body, forced him into the back of his own mind only to do what he wanted with Atreus flesh. That is the exact breaking point on why Pantheon and Aphelios will hardly ever see eye to eye. One of them a devoted zealot, willing to surrender it all in service to the moon, the other a warrior who despises the gods and their machinations above all else having once been at the mercy of one of them. With Aphelios added antisocial character I really doubt they would ever exchange much words. Perhaps Pantheon extends an olive branch and tries to get Aphelios to live for himself. But Aphelios would refuse, if no one else could sway him from this singular purpose in life which he has grown up with since his birth, this random warrior won’t be able to sway him either and here the line from Pantheon comes back in as a sort of, “I understand and hail your conviction.” before the fight, where he respects the resolve, but not the reason for it. 

That’s why I don’t think they are quite shippable. The only two people I could really see Aphlios with is either Diana or Taric. Diana only if she embraces her role as leader of the Lunari where she comes to appreciate what Aphelios does for her people but is worried about his own mental health, from one antisocial who has grown above it to another. She could perhaps understand and through said knowledge know how to help him open himself up more. That is if she cared enough. Taric on the other hand would feel the damage and pain in Aphelios, and as all life should be beautiful so would he try to mend Aphelios. He clearly has the warmth, care, compassion, and patience to deal with someone as secluded as Aphelios, gently prying him open until he finally lets himself feel again and maybe finally finds someone who can help him open up to other Lunari and Targonians. Isolation is a terrible thing and it leaves horrible scars. I see only Taric in a position where he could mend those scars. Pantheon likely would not care, he is cold and angered himself, no mercy for the strong, as he says. That’s why I think they would clash or would just never get past the cold nodding before combat phase. 

This isn’t to bash any people who like the ship, I just thought id give my two cent on Pantheon x Aphelios and why it never occurred to me to ship these two. I get that emo x himbo is a thing, probably also why Aphelios x Sett is so loved, but from a lore and character standpoint I don’t really see it. 

This was a post I’ll link to twitter, but if you have input or a different opinion I am always open to discussion and new viewpoints. Go crazy! 

I have been sitting on this for a minute but now I have it fully fleshed out. So please feast your eyes on another AU no one asked for:

Pirate AU☠

Theme:

Let's meet our crew:

Solange Gbadébọ̀

AKA “Stingray Sol”

Who Solange was before she reached the colony of Saint Domingue was of little consequence. Who she was there made little difference either. For those bold enough to ask for her past, Solange would tell them that she was born of fire and strife. That she was born the night her and her small troop of slaves revolted and took a sailing ship for themselves. There, in the light of the rising sun she was reborn. Solange. A sun angel. Granted, her enemies would call her a vast number of things, none of which would include ‘angel’. Captain of the Solanase for 15 years, Solange sailed the seven seas, hijacking slave ships and freeing the people. She also attacked European merchant ships to help fund her anti-slavery efforts. Eventually she settled down on an uncharted island with her crew and a few people she had freed, creating a pirate colony of sorts. She also ended up marrying the annoying mulat that had followed her there. They had 7 children in the end, though her husband took care of most of the childrearing.

Mustafa El-Saieh

AKA “The Arab Viper”

Mustafa holds his Nubian mother in high regard, so he finds it more than annoying to be only the Arab Viper, but… he digresses. He could admit that he was born of love and comfort. Mustafa’s parents did their best to give their children a warm home but misfortune touches us all. His father was staunchly against slavery and held no slaves for himself, despite the common practice. And once the Europeans got involved he became even more vocal. Mustafa’s older brother Ali followed in their father’s footsteps and took it further. Ali joined an abolition group that travelled through the continent and freed captured people. Unfortunately, Ali was caught and at the behest of the French government, hanged. From that day forward Mustafa swore revenge. At the age of 17, not even a man, he joined a pirate crew and never looked back. Mustafa rose quickly through the ranks and eventually staged a mutiny. He became captain of the ship and renamed it Afeaa. Captain Mustafa became the thorn in the side of many European empires, looting and hijacking where he could. He eventually met Solange in Tortuga and she was not impressed by his reckless destruction. ‘Justice,’ she had spat when he gave her his reasons for action. ‘Justice for whom exactly?’ They eventually joined forces and fell in love. Well… he fell in love almost instantly but he eventually grew on her.

Andrico El-Saieh

AKA “Pretty Boy Drico”, “King of the Caribbean Sea”

The eldest son of the two most notorious pirates of the century, he tries not to let it get to his head (try being the operative word). Bold yet cunning, Andrico took to his parents’ line of work like a fish (or crab) to water. He began sailing at 20, committed to continuing his mother’s work. He quickly made a name for himself commanding the Solanase II across the Caribbean. Andrico takes great pride in his work and is ruthless when it comes to dissenters. He is also an accomplished scientist in his own right, developing a way to filter sea water on his ship. Not only does he always have enough drinking water, but always enough to bathe as well. It is through his cleanliness that he earned the name Pretty Boy Drico and his domination of the seas that got him labeled a King.

Jean-Marc

AKA “Quicksilver” “The Diplomat”

Jean-Marc’s father sailed with Andrico’s mother and so Jean-Marc sailed with Andrico. Best friends since boyhood, Jean-Marc stands as his voice of reason and Quartermaster. There have been many petty disputes that Jean-Marc had to talk his captain down from in the early days. However, despite his calmer nature Jean-Marc is not one to be crossed. He has the quickest draw on this side of the Atlantic and one would be hard pressed to find a swordsman as good as he. The best man to have at your side. Just don’t leave him around the rum though…

Jasna

AKA “Jumping Jas” “The Cannonball”

Jasna refuses to be second in anything, so she demanded that she be Quartermaster as well. Andrico’s other best friend, Jasna is often the little devil on his shoulder. All the duels Jean-Marc talked him out of, she talked Andrico into. Despite her chaotic nature, her intuition is sharp. No one can count how many potentially disastrous missions she had led them away from. She gets her names from both her skills on the rigging qnd also her explosive personality.

Jai

AKA “Machete” “Starry-eyed Jai”

Jai remains a bit of a mystery, even after all these years. As straight-forward as they come, Jai is the best Sailing Master the Solanase II could ask for. They met up with the crew while rowing away from a burning ship they were supposed to hijack. When questioned on what had happened to the ship, they simply answered ‘slavers’ and that was that. While initially stand-offish, Jai is no stranger to a good time and knows the bawdiest songs of the crew. They are also sharp as a tack and can be often counted on to be a tie-breaker in any argument amongst the crew.

Andrés

AKA “Babydoll Drés” “The Priestess”

The sweetest lady in the Caribbean Jean-Marc would argue. Andrés was a trans Vodun priestess they met on Torutuga. She was leading escaped slaves to ships that would take them back to freedom. She ended up joining the crew and quickly became their moral compass and unofficial spiritual leader. To say Jean-Marc is smitten would be an understatement and Andrés knows this. She does not abuse this knowledge however, extra rum cakes and presents aside. Despite her honey sweet disposition, Andrés is not one to be trifled with. May the gods have mercy on the soul of anyone who crosses blades with her. 

Marie-Carmel

AKA “Boss Lady” “Owl Eyes”

Marie-Carmel is another figure shrouded in mystery on the ship. All anyone could glean from her was that she was originally from the colony of Saint Domingue, her father was one of the last Taino chieftains, and her mother a maroon, a runaway slave. She never speaks of why she left but given her intense hatred of the French and their documented viciousness, everyone has a hunch. The ship's gunner, Marie-Carmel could tell you the parts of a cannon in her sleep. Also quite the sharp-shooter. She is second only to Andrico in the number of soaps owned onboard.

If you want to join in with any pirate content for your ocs, feel free to tag me!

reddie fic rec

I started this list a while ago, but here’s something to help us while we self isolate

COMPLETED FICS

Winterbreak (Push and Pull) by @thegloryof Summary: Oh baby, I think we both know this is a love we won't get right. Still, if you said that you wanted, I know I'll always have one more try. (Five times Richie and Eddie get it wrong and the one time they just might get it right.) My thoughts: This is it, my FAVORITE Reddie fic. I’m currently on my fourth re-read. Why I love it: 1) the Stozier friendship that is depicted here is *chef’s kiss*. It’s Richie centric and his friendship with each loser is presented really well, but this is the Stan & Richie content I’ve needed in my life. 2) The angst is perfect. If you’ve ever had a close friendship deteriorate this will probably hit you where it hurts but like, in a good way? I can’t recommend this story enough I love it.

Skin&Earth series by @hanscom Summary: A love song to both the Losers' Club and Lights' Skin & Earth album. My thoughts: This was the first Reddie fic I ever read. I hadn’t read fic in y e a r s, but I was still devastated after recently viewing It ch 2 and was like, eh. why not. I have been hooked since.

the edification of eddie kaspbrak by @kaspbrak Summary:ed·i·fi·ca·tion (n.) /ˌedəfəˈkāSH(ə)/ the instruction or improvement of a person morally or intellectually.

Eddie thinks that sometimes, the saddest stuff life is made of isn’t the permanence of death, but the tragedy of losing something you can still have.or, Eddie Kaspbrak falls and learns how not to hit the ground. My thoughts: I feel like it’s a fandom classic? But if you haven’t read it you need to. This fic spans years of Eddie’s life and his relationship with Richie. I’m just saying that maybe film canon could’ve taken a few notes from this final battle with IT

Satan Is My Username by @toziesque Summary: The delicacy of a man made numb by a life long effort to keep it all out, and the archaic entrance of a trigger in the form of an anti-Trashmouth Twitter activist.

@doctor_k: Richie Tozier's comedy is duller than the ache in my left testicle. #trashmouth

"It consumes us from the inside until we don't have a choice anymore."

(A slight AU in which the phone calls don't come, but Richie and Eddie find each other, anyway) My thoughts: There is a playlist that goes with one of the chapters and it is... incredible. I ugly cried to this fic in the best way. I downloaded a few of the songs from the playlist and whenever they come on shuffle I become that Kermit meme where he’s looking out a window into the rain. You know the one. Read this asap let me name the stars for you by @rchtoziers Summary: “So. To summarize. I’m stranded on Mars, entirely alone. I have absolutely no way to communicate with my crew or with earth, since our communications antennae turned me into a human shish-kabob. If the oxygenator becomes compromised, I’ll suffocate. If the water reclaimer stops working, I’ll dehydrate. Breach in the Hab means I’ll go poof. And if, for some god-forsaken reason none of those things kill me first, I’m gonna run out of food and starve to death. Oh, and we can’t forget that everyone I know thinks I’m dead. So… yup. Totally fucked.” * On Sol 6, an unexpected windstorm cuts the Ares III Mission short and six astronauts retreat back to Earth.On Sol 7, the astronaut they left behind wakes up gasping for air.(Or, The Martian au) My thoughts: This part is completed but it’s part of an on-going series. When I tell you I cried. I saw the movie The Martian years ago because a friend wanted to see it and I enjoyed it. BUT I LOVED THIS. The love Eddie and Richie have for each other is PALPABLE. And while it focuses mainly on Richie, every character feels substantial and real and like their personalities work. You simply have to read it. In Fact, Everything's Got That Big Reverb Sound by @dystopiary Summary: Richie Tozier deals with dry socket, the prodigal sister, shifting dynamics in his friendships, babysitting, and the maddening unavailability of Eddie Kaspbrak. My thoughts: I am a Richie Tozier lover first, and a human second, and I really loved this Richie and thought this story was refreshing and different and really well written. I Would Have by @blissymbolics Summary: “I would’ve let you. You didn't even need to ask. I would’ve let you.” My thoughts: Anything that deals with Eddie and Richie regretting time lost with each other really hurts me deeply and this is written really well. I also really like their other one shots!

WIPS

ribs by mikeshanlon  Summary: // you're the only friend I need sharing beds like little kids laughing 'til our ribs get tough but that will never be enough // --- Almost every time the lights turn off and they cram in the shitty twin bed, Richie seems to become a different person. Maybe not different, per say, but the stupid jokes and teasing die down, the guard of nonchalance dropping. Eddie feels lucky to see this side of Richie, soft and caring-- vulnerable. It’s not like he hates the other side of Richie, he secretly enjoys their constant banter and his dumb jokes. No, it’s that this side is rare, and it’s something beautiful. Here, safe in the soft flannel sheets, it feels like they are the only two souls for miles, and they can be themselves, and that is terrifying and reassuring all at once.“I’m gonna miss this. When we go off to college,” Richie admits, the weight behind his words telling Eddie he felt the same about their shared nights.“Yeah,” Eddie agrees softly, “Me too.” My thoughts: I... I love this fic so, SO much. I read each update as soon as I can. I feel completely immersed in each scene. The yearning... I feel like I’m drastically underselling how great I think this is. Just read it. pls.

& That’s For All Time by @tossertozier Summary: It's the summer before college, and Richie Tozier is prepared for approximately nothing to change. The club works at a Renaissance Faire, and somehow in between the turkey legs, marathons of Super Smash brothers and cheap beer, some of them have time to fall in love. My thoughts: This is more Losers Club focused than straight Reddie, and each loser is really well rounded. The tags “you think you’ve read slow burns, you wait, you just wait” are the most accurate tags. I never thought I was into playlist fics until ch 25. (I think it’s 25? idk when you get there you’ll know and it is AMAZING) Honestly the fic could never be updated again and I’d be completely satisfied with where it’s at currently so if you’re wary of wips it’s worth it. there's an angel and he's shaped like you by @89tozier Summary: "Guess I owe you one, huh?" Richie chuckles.Across the table, the boy blinks at him with those dark eyes, slow and calculated like a cat. For a moment Richie is struck with the terrible fear that he's going to end up in shreds and spatters of gore, too, but then the boy simply shrugs his narrow shoulders, digging his spoon back into the bowl and helping himself to another mouthful of Froot Loops. In the yellow kitchen light Richie catches the remnants of blood on his chin."I'll take that as a yes." Or: Richie, on the cusp of fifteen, knows he should be worrying about kissing girls and sneaking out and keeping his grades up just enough to warrant fewer trips to the principal’s office. ‘Harboring a runaway half-vampire in my bedroom in exchange for saving my life’ was never supposed on that list. Richie still isn’t sure it should be. My thoughts: @owlpip’s art for this fic is what initially inspired me to read it. I looooved this story. Very angsty and sweet at the same time. I want to say a lot but I feel like you just need to read it. Angels in Outfields by @reddie-for-anything Summary: He slams his locker shut just in time to see Stan walking over, smug look on his face and something clutched in his left hand.“I think I might have found the perfect thing for you,” he says. His voice is smooth and easy and his eyes read trouble. He raises his hand and holds a flyer in front of Richie’s faceDerry High School Baseball Tryouts Week of February 25th Please come with running clothes, a baseball mitt, running shoes, and cleats.“Oh, fuck no,” Richie says. He doesn’t even need to read the whole thing to know that this isn’t his jam. Nothing about this has is name on it and no. Fuck no. This isn’t happening.Except it is.Richie takes solace in his inability to play any kind of physical sport ever. He knows he’ll hate this, but he also knows he won’t make the team. Not in a million years. My thoughts: Do I know anything about baseball? No. Do you need to know anything about baseball to enjoy this fic? Also no. If you enjoy Stan/Bev/Richie being good friends, blonde!Eddie, jock!Eddie, angst, slow burn.... You’ll love this.

ONESHOTS

I Would Not Wish Any Companion In The World But You by @queen-sock Summary: 9th January 2003 // 06:24amThere are fifty four seats on the subway. Fifty four seats split across two carriages. Eddie knows this because he’s counted them. He’s counted them, over and over again, when he boards at seventy-eighth street, and takes the blue line south into the city every day at 06:24am. The air whips around his head cruelly, a mocking tempest that whispers in his ear, the rest of the world slumbers, the rest of the world sleeps like the dead. The subway station is buried deep in the underbelly of the street, five flights of stairs below the surface. Eddie descends every day, Persephone to her kingdom beneath the earth, a daily pilgrimage that he’d rather not take.The air whips around his head, a bizarre faux-breeze created by the whooshing of the subway trains, and Eddie seethes silently. [OR: Eddie gets the 06:24 train into the city, Richie joins the train at 06:45. Somehow, they always seem to be on the same carriage] My thoughts: This and De Profundis are really beautiful fics and they’re unlike any other stories I’ve read in this fandom. Highly recommend! De Profundis by @queen-sock Summary: Considering it was the first time in just under a month that they had spent more than brief moments in the hallways together, small waves and tiny smiles at each other over the raging sea of other students, before one of them got swept up in the tide and was pulled away before greetings could be exchanged.“I’m going to take a lit elective,” Richie said, as easily as if he’d just told Eddie that it was going to snow the next day. “Oh, and it’s supposed to snow tomorrow”“Pardon?”“Yeah, the weather dude said we were supposed to get a few inches over-night, but I’ve got a few inches I can give him overnight if you catch my drift,” Richie said, grabbing at his crotch gratuitously.‘What? No -- gross. I’m not -- No. I meant the lit elective, you’re taking a lit class?”“Yup,” Richie said, popping the ‘p’ like it was bubblegum, “I got it all sorted a few weeks ago, actually. I’m taking the ‘poetry and experiment’ class” [Or, Ben starts a new literary journal for the University of Maine, and, unbeknownst to each other, Eddie and Richie start submitting poems under psuedonyms] little pieces of the nothing that fall by @spunknbite Summary: Eddie shook his head, lips quirking upwards in a confused half-smile that Richie was immediately drawn to. “You seem stupid familiar,” he said with a laugh.“I don’t think we know each other,” Richie replied, then added, like the moron he was, “I’d remember you.”This guy wasn’t the sort you forgot.*Or, the one where it's 1998 and Richie sits down at the bar next to an asshole with a Palm Pilot. My thoughts: You HAVE. TO. READ. THIS. You just. Have to. Slow down, you crazy child by @anderbum Summary: Richie looks down at his own body and like the bed and the bedroom before it, he doesn’t recognize what he sees.A broken sound escapes his lips and he slaps his hand to his mouth. Then he pulls his hand away, looks at it again, and slaps it back in place before his mouth gets any smart ideas.“What the fuck,” he says against his not-hand. (A 13 Going on 30 AU, sort of.) My thoughts: Such a good idea and so well executed. Boyfriend by Anonymous Summary: Based on this post by tumblr user chenetic: Imagine Eddie being harrassed by someone at a party who can’t take a hint until Richie comes over and wraps an arm around his waist and says “sorry babe, they don’t have the drink you like here, who’s this?” and Eddie plays along until the person leaves and Eddie thanks him and asks for his name but Richie just says playfully, “you don’t know your boyfriend’s name?” and all through the night Richie follows him around as if they didn’t literally just meet.(In which Richie and Eddie don't remember that they know each other, when they meet at a college party) My thoughts: A meet cute but they’re both human disasters. In the best way. Okay I’ve had to save this draft a few times and the formatting of the post has become a nightmare so I’m going to stop here for now. If anyone has any fics they want to rec me, pls do!

My top 10 all time favorite characters

10. Captain Basilisx (SMBZ)

One of the few redeeming factors of SMBZ, Captain Basilisx is one of Bowser’s more threatening forces. An incredible badass who’s better than Shadow the Hedgefart (fight me) that has Medusa’s gaze and is the only one out of Bowser’s army who canonically kills Mario in the og series (the Reboot does not count, it does not exist to me). And his theme song, like god damn, that remix of Show No Tears from DMC3 is a banger. The only reason he’s this low is cause Basilisx is a one time character. His debut episode, The Great Doomship Offensive, was his final episode because Carl Marx Haynes refused to put him in the reboot, so thanks a lot, Alvinlaskan Bullworm.

9. Rosalina (Mario series)

Is anyone surprised she made it to this list somehow? Rosalina first appeared in the masterpiece of a game, Mario Galaxy. She watches the Comet Observatory and was accompanied by thousands, scratch it, millions of Lumas. They did her dirty in Mario Galaxy 2 by reducing her appearance to a cameo in the base game, and 3D World made her a straight up playable character to wash off the disrespect. She’s pretty much the only Mario princess that I adore. Pauline’s not my type, I despise the hell outta Peach, and Daisy is too sassy for my liking. Why she is at number 9 is that I don’t like her as much as I used to. Don’t get me wrong, I still liked her, I just don’t like her as much. Still a decent Mario character though.

8. King K. Rool (DK series)

Another case of Basilisx, he’s basically if Goofy from Disney tried to be Bowser. He’s many things. A boxer, a king, a scientist, hell even a pirate captain. His goal varies throughout his appearances. In the first DKC game, he wants to hoard all the Kongs’ bananas. In the 2nd and 3rd, he plotted revenge against the Kongs. In 64 is where he’s most serious, cause he wants to BLOW UP DK ISLAND with his Blast-O-Matic. he’s a wacky one, but that’s what we all adore from him. The reason he’s this low is that he’s another case of Basilisx. He’s underused as hell, he and the Kongs haven’t batted eyes in years. And truth to be told, I really wish he’d stick around. The villains we got in the recent DKC games are just generic as hell. Tiki Tong is Knucklotec but before Odyssey happened, and of course the Walrus is the main villain of Tropical Freeze. How anti climactic.

7. Blaze (Sonic series)

While I stated before that my faith on Sonic sinks as deep as the Mariana Trench, she’s one of the better Sonic characters. She’s the anti Sonic where while Sonic is social, caring and all about action, Blaze is an introvert, has no friends, and plans ahead. Kinda like everyone in 2020 when you put it in perspective. She has incredible fire powers and is the guardian of the Sol Emeralds, the Sol Dimension’s Chaos Emeralds, which looked like the Royal Rubies/Savvy Sapphires/Equable Emeralds from Dragon Quest. At first, she was hostile towards everyone except Cream, but in the end of Sonic Rush, she had character development and grew fond of everyone. She’s one of the best Sonic characters, and Sega did her dirty by pulling a Basilisx. Seriously, Generations was her last appearance, not counting spinoffs.

6. Metal Sonic (Sonic series)

In the Sonic series, Metal Sonic was the chad to Sonic’s virgin. He was first introduced in Sonic CD, as Sonic’s faker, who strived to be better than Sonic. And can I just say that Metal Sonic is 99.9% better than regular Sonic, despite Sonic kicking his ass multiple times? Safe to say that the scrap brain has acheived his life’s purpose (hohoho-) . He has speed that outmatches Sonic, can overheat his circuitry to catch up with Sonic when he’s far behind, but the biggest highlight was when he turned to flying metal godzilla. And his theme songs never cease to disappoint. Stardust Speedway is a banger and What I’m Made Of. Dear god, WHAT. I’M. MADE. OF. If you never smiled hearing this, don’t even speak a single word, cause you’re an alien and I’m calling the FBI. The only problem with him is he’s another Blaze/Basilisx. His last official appearance was in Generations, not counting Forces cause he was a hallucination at the time, and Mania was made by Whitehead and not Sega so it doesn’t count. The only reason he’s higher than Blaze is because I prefer him over her.

5. Vivian (TTYD)

In this tumblr, I normally trash talk TTYD, but now, let’s talk a positive from the game. Someone get me the bucket, cause after this section, I’m gonna barf. Anyways, Vivian from TTYD is by far the most developed out of the TTYD roster. We get glimpses of her being abused by Beldam and eventually in Chapter 4, she has a change of heart and joins your party, practically defying her purpose in life. She also has a wide array of useful attacks. Shadow Fist being her neutral special, Veil which is basically Bow’s Outta Sight, Fiery Jinx which inflicts Burn, and Infatuate which confuses enemies with a kiss (might as well call this The Thousand Kisses Door). The reason she’s this low is cause she’s not exactly my favorite female character in paper Mario, she’s rather the 2nd best.

4. Koopalings (Mario series)

Maybe I watched too much Bowser’s Koopalings for this one, but shut up, this is my list.

3. Bowser Jr (Mario series)

Bowser’s spoiled son here takes the 3rd place for multiple reasons. One, look at him. He’s adorable. How could you hate him you soulless pricks. Two, he’s smart as hell. I mean it’s evident since his debut, he literally framed Mario and got away with it. And mind you, framing someone for a felony is not easy. Takes years of planning, lawyers, hiding of evidence, and did I mention lawyers? And it doesn’t stop there. Unlike Bowser who normally uses brute force, Jr here uses all sorts of tech to keep Mario at bay. Megahammer, Mecha Jr, Boomsday Machine, you get the idea. Third, his father son relationship with Bowser is adorable as hell, seriously, HOW DO YOU HATE THIS GUY.

2. Olivia/Bobby (Origami King)

It was hard ranking these two individually but then I decided to put them both in the same tier. First up, my favorite Paper Mario character, Olivia.  She’s basically a precious sunshine baby and if you dare lay a single scratch on her, I WILL BE FORCED TO TRAVEL THE WORLD AND BACK TO FIND YOU AND WHEN I DO, THEY HAVE TO MAKE ANOTHER COFFIN FOR YOUR FUNERAL. Yeah, her hints usually don’t help and I can see why there are people who hate her, but that’s what kids do, and I don’t even wanna see how an Olivia hater parents his kids. I just assume they donate them to an orphanage or something. I was kinda sad to see her go honestly, she was the only one travel companion out of the modern trilogy that I feel actually matters. And now, we have Bobby. He’s basically a Bob Omb who was a passenger of the Princess Peach (the narcissism, I know) until Olly took over and he eventually lost his fuse and memory. He doesn’t do much in battle, but his story arc is his spotlight. Eventually, he got his memories and the fuse he kept as a memory for his fallen bestie, which means it’s time to say goodbye. I know some TTYD fanbitch is gonna question his death because “aLl bOb oMbS sUrvIvE aN explOsiOn” but listen. Bobby isn’t a special case like say, Bombette or Bobbery. He’s just a regular factory made Bob Omb, which means he’s gonna die should he explode. And not gonna lie, that was one of the saddest videogame moments I experienced in my life. I almost cried, true story, and it takes a lot to make me cry. Olivia’s despair doesn’t help either. He was a valiant hero, a chad, and most importantly, he was a FRIEND. The reason they’re not on the top is because there’s one surpassing the two of them, and all who know me know who he freaking is.

1. Bowser (Mario series)

I mean, c’mon, who else would it be? He’s basically the supreme chad to Mario’s virgin. He’s one of gaming’s most iconic villains and he deserves that fucking role. He’s incredibly badass, like look at Giga Bowser and Fury Bowser and tell me he’s not the icon of awesome. If he’s not, don’t speak to me. Hell, even Pyrrhon from Kid Icarus Uprising acknowledges his badassery, if you’ve seen Hades’ Misguidance Season 2. He’s also crazy powerful, being able to conquer entire galaxies and punch out castles, TWICE. He even punched an entity of darkness to oblivion once. And did I mention he’s an incredible parent? He’s one of the most complex Mario characters, and that’s why we love him, is it not? For me, this is rather the case of rooting the villain more than the hero. And if I get judged for it, then so be it. I wish one day for a standalone Bowser game (Inside Story does not count) where Bowser beats the shit outta Mario. I salute you, King Koopa, you don’t need a crown to be my ruler, my throne’s already yours.

Well now that the initial shock has settled in and everyone is basically in agreement that our new antagonists for season 3 are more then likely going to be Human!Ai and Human!Roboppy (probably more in a henchman-like role for her though (I can already tell the dialogue between these two is going to be hilarious), I wanted to go more in depth on this because there is just so much to dissect on what Ai is planning on doing and just how far he is willing to go to complete his goal of what we can all assume just from the ending of episode 103 is to bring back the other Ignis (Flame, Aqua, Windy, Earth, and even Lightning (who is the main reason the other four are dead in the first place).

The key thing to note in this whole thing from just the simple scenes of Ai at the beginning and end of episode 103 is that he seems to be driven by guilt. The guilt of not being able to save his kin. The guilt of being the last Ignis. Maybe some guilt of not being there when the Cyberse World was destroyed by Lightning and Bohman. Maybe if he was there, he could have been able to stop Lightning before any of these tragedies were set into motion. Maybe at that time he could have been able to talk Lightning out of his plan and try and help him not seem so inferior. After all, Lightning did say that Ai was the wisest of the Ignis and the one to truly show them what it meant to have free will.

Now we have already seen first hand what guilt can drive a person to do in this series. I mean look at Ryoken for example. He has a giant guilt complex. The guilt that lead him to freeing the Lost Children because of him leading to Yusaku kidnapping and what his father was doing to him and the rest of the children. The guilt that made him feel responsible for what happened to his father because of that one simple choice. The guilt that lead him to almost nuking the whole world wide web to make up, in his eyes, his previous mistake that got his father killed. Guilt is just terrifying on what it can lead someone to do to try and set things right. The purest of people can make the worst decisions when they aren’t thinking straight if they truly believe that it will make amends to their crimes, even if it means committing another crime to do so. And that’s exactly how I see season 3 playing out in terms of what they are going to do with Ai’s character.

I don’t see Ai as the villain in the typical sense. He isn’t going to be the bad guy just to be the bad guy and turn on humanity just because he feels like it or blames humanity for what happened to the others (since again that was all Lightning’s fault (but I guess you can make a case for Earth’s death but again that wouldn’t have happened if Lightning didn’t destroy the Cyberse World in the first placing, forcing everyone to flee for their lives). Again like Ryoken in season 1, he probably thinks he’s doing the right thing even if the way he’s going to go about it will be completely wrong. Now there’s the whole debate if he has gone a little crazy (as the new opening has shown with his psycho expressions that we are all familiar with when it comes to Yu-Gi-Oh villains) but it is still up in the air at the moment if when Ai took in Lightning’s remaining power, he also took in some of his madness (in a Yubel/Light of Destruction kind of situation from GX) or when he reformed himself from the backup he left in Roboppy, he didn’t come back completely the same and became corrupted over time. Still I don’t think Ai will turn pure evil because of either of these reasons. His views might just get a little warped and mix in the already existing guilt of not being able to save his kin and that just doesn’t sound like a good combination to be left unchecked. It also doesn’t help that Ai was based on Yusaku and we all know how Yusaku handled his trauma during season 1. If the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree with these two, revenge might just be Ai’s best medicine (btw amazing parenting right there, Yusaku).

Which leads me into what Ai is planning on doing from within SOL Technologies. Safe to say, there is a LOT Ai can gain if he’s able to take out Queen (which is what more then likely is going to happen). If he can take control of SOL, he has access to the main controls of Link Vrains and can start screwing with the system for whatever else he has planned. He will have their new androids, the SOLtiS, under his control (which he can use to give the other Ignises human bodies such as himself and Roboppy have (since I think they already stole two of them to give himself and her human forms) when he is able to bring them back or if he does go mad with power during all of this (since absolute power corrupts the mind absolutely is a thing), he will have an android army in the making). They still have some of Earth’s data (which I’m pretty sure Ai hasn’t forgotten that little detail and is probably going to enjoy murdering Queen for dissecting his friend (after all he said his famous “I’m starting to hate humans too” line after he found out what happened to Earth (again revenge is the best medicine) which he can use to find a way to bring back Earth or to use as a starting block on how to. And if all of Earth’s remaining data is still inside of Go, pretty sure SOL will still have Go’s file on hand, meaning that Ai can easily find him and take him out to get his buddy’s data back. And most importantly, Ai will have access to all the Lost Incident files. SOL Technologists was the one to cover the whole thing up so they should have records of everyone who was involved. If Ai really wants to bring everyone back, the best route, if he has no other options, might just be to recreate them from their source, aka their Origins.

I talked about this little theory of mine the other day so I’ll just quickly sum it up. Takeru, Miyu, Spectre, Jin, and WO aren’t in good positions right now and might have to go through the Lost Incident again just to bring back Flame, Aqua, Earth, Lightning, and Windy if Ai is really willing to go that far. Heck he might even guilt trip Takeru into willingly participating if he himself is missing Flame that much (since I think Soulburner is going to lose to Revolver because he doesn’t have Flame with him to help him and that’s what’s going to cause Takeru to really try and find a way to being his partner back). However they aren’t the only ones in danger. If Ai wants to recreate the Hanoi Project to a T, he might also go after the Knights of Hanoi since they were the ones to create the Ignis in the first place. Obviously since Dr. Kogami is dead, I don’t think they are going to be exactly perfect (more on that in a bit) so he’s going to go for the next best thing in Ryoken since he obviously knows the Ignis algorithm because his father taught him. He could also go after Blood Shepherd, Kusanagi, and/or Yusaku since they all also know their algorithm but Ryoken makes the most sense in this situation. Back to Ryoken, I think it might be some nice character development for him (since last episode kinda had him regress in it a bit in some people’s eyes) if he’s the one to try and get Ai to stop what he’s trying to do, not because of his whole anti-Ignis thing but because he knows what it is like to be completely driven by guilt and he also knows what it is like to lose someone dear (aka his father) and trying to being back the dead isn’t a good idea (if anyone here has seen Pet Sematary, you know what I’m talking about). 

Which leads me into the fact that if the other Ignis do come back through this way, I don’t think they are going to be the exact same. They might not be fully operational, they might not have free will anymore or their memories, or they might all just come back as super anti-human and turn on their human friends (on that note I will cry if Flame comes back and tries to kill Takeru like Windy did with his partner). We saw what happened in ARC-V when Leo tried to play god and bring back Ray. Things go horribly wrong fast. This season could very well end up like that, where all the Ignis do stay dead, with Ai joining them, with the show ending on the note that we shouldn’t let technology get this advanced or bad things happen or on a more happy note with all the Ignis do coming back and showing us humans and artificial intelligence can live together just like how Yusaku and Ai dreamed of. 

Now I want to talk about Yusaku and Ai and what the actual hell is going to happen between these two. Just from the new opening alone, these two are going to clash at some point but the question is over what? Where is the line going to be drawn between what is right and what’s wrong? I don’t anyone on Team Playmaker will object to trying to bring back the other Ignis (besides maybe Lightning) since Takeru clearly misses Flame and Aoi with Aqua. I’m willing to bet that Spectre would also want Earth to return and be able to meet his Ignis. So it has to be the method of what Ai is willing to do in order to accomplish his goal that is going to drive the wedge between these former partners. Like I stated before, if Ai is willing to try and recreate the Hanoi Project and put Takeru, Miyu, Spectre, Jin, and WO through that hell again just to recreate his family, obviously Yusaku is going to have a GIANT issue with that, even if he wouldn’t be about of it again. Yusaku has finally been able to move on from that event. Takeru finally has been able to move on. Everyone is finally looking to be able to move on (well we don’t know much about Miyu, Jin, and WO at the current moment but you get the idea). To thrust these teenagers back into this event is nothing short of just pure wrong. And Ai knows this. He knows VERY well what the Hanoi Project did to Yusaku. What it means to him to finally be able to move on from it. And yet if it means being able to bring back his kin, to fix everything that he blames himself for, a necessary evil is justified, right?

No, it isn’t. Not even in the slightest. Even if it doesn’t get to that point, going after SOL to begin with (from the looks of things) was a step in the wrong direction if Queen gets murdered next week (which again I can very well see happening if Ai is still pissed at her for murdering Earth). That’s why I see Playmaker being the one to confront Ai first, not the only way around because Ai has obviously no reason to go after Yusaku at all. He has risked his life time and time again to save his partner and might not want to bother him for something he purely blames himself for and trying to make immense to everyone he has made sad because of him not being able to save the others from within Bohman. Unless Ai goes freaking yandere crazy for some reason (which I’m not objecting to since since I’m ALL for the yanderes in this franchise (Yubel is my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh character for a reason) and is willing to hurt Yusaku in order to protect him (for some reason I keep thinking of a scenario where Ai tries to use his and Yusaku’s Link Sense to try and rip Yusaku’s consciousness out of his human flesh and try and throw it into an android or make him into an A.I just so he can live forever and not pass away over time (because after this guilt trip, I think Ai will lose the last bit of his sanity if something does happen to Yusaku), I don’t think he will fight Playmaker until that line is drawn and Ai comes to the realization that since Playmaker isn’t with him, he has go to against him, even if that means it will destroyed both of them emotionally, especially in terms of the dream they share together. 

So that’s pretty much my initial theories to what we could be expecting from Ai going forward into season 3. This season very well has the potential to be the best season yet for Vrains and I very much hope it doesn’t disappoint in regards to how they are going to write Ai in this role. 

On one final random note, I am curious to know though if we are just going to be seeing him in his human form 24/7 now or if he will occasionally be back in his Ignis form once in a while. I mean from what I’ve been seeing, I don’t think anyone wants to see Ignis!Ai again because damn boy, you definitely took after Ryoken in the looks department after apparently digitally puberty hit you like a truck. On that note, Yusaku and Ryoken, do something about your teenager child before he actually does murder someone!

From the Tabletop #1

In recent times, I've been trying to get more into one of my favorite hobbies: tabletop games. Primarily D&D (of course), Exalted, and Shadowrun. Actually, some friends and I have been running an Exalted game for over 2 years now (since 3rd edition dropped) and I wanted to share with the world some of our fun stories and "That Guy" moments we've had forced upon us as well. Going back to the very beginning, I was, unfortunately, "That Guy" of our initial 3rd Edition Exalts. I built a strong, competent battle-ready Solar Exalt built around the Righteous Devil martial arts which, for those who may not be familiar, is essentially flamethrower-fu. Her name was Sunset Shimmer (yes, I snuck an MLP joke into an Exalted game, and only one other player at the table was in on the gag). The biggest issue with Sunset was a general lack of direction of the character. She had a backstory but no real goal to speak of and it didn't help that meatspace conditions made my attention to her spotty at best. She was an active participant, and I had freakishly lucky rolls playing her, but she was just kind of boring. I really should remake her. It really didn't help that I was the "That Guy" of a party of "That Guys". Another in the group was Hrothgar, whose defining intimacy was Ultra-Violence. But another major intimacy was about what a nice guy this bloodthirsty faux-viking was. It made about as much sense in context as it sounds here. Not helped by not really having a backstory or a goal to speak of. Ditto for Drago, affectionately nicknamed "Ivan Drago", also lacked any characterization to speak of. He was the man of 1000 backstories, because he couldn't settle on one. Once from the 100 Kingdoms, then a peninsula, then an island, then about how much of a great pirate his grandfather was. The GM eventually demanded he put up or shut up, essentially fusing together all the ideas, mostly because we never brought it up again and never actually went to his homeland in that game, but would in later ones. Whereupon we set it on fire (more on that later). The only competent Exalt of the circle was Petral. Sol Invictus knows she tried. Essentially Samurai BatMan, complete with high levels of investigation (she never used) and murdering people (that she really should've left alive), the only really meaningful connection this circle managed was that Targon and Drago's players shipped Sunset and Petral, due to a moment where a badly-drunken Petral, while worshipping the porcelain god, was comforted by a sympathetic Sunset. I'll be honest, as I was a frequent truant at these games, I can't accurately account for the flow of the game, but it did lead to moments wherein I'd find myself saying things like "But last time we agreed to murder some nobles! Why are we 200 miles away from them now?!" or declaring that a large, squid-like creature was, in fact, an aquatic horse upon botching an intelligence check. Things at least became more consistent with our second round of characters. Unfortunately, it was consistently God-awful. We had a cult leader, Zen, who barely had any idea why an Exalt would have a cult. He also didn't know what it would take to run one, having a character with zero personality to speak (I frequently confuse him with the next character here because of this), and - quite frankly - acted extremely evil at times. He had terrible conditions for his cult, food was constantly scarce (not helped by our being in Malfaes for this entire game), and draconian laws oftentimes seen in actual real-world deathcults. Calling this character "incompetent" is kind of like calling the ocean "a bit wet". The second one, Targon... ho boy. His backstory pegged him as an arena gladiator, which is fine on its face. The problems cropped up after that, whereupon he was also a successful businessman (resources 5), owned a chain restaurant which he managed himself (despite claiming to have locations all over creation!), and demanded his demonic clients pay in artifacts of all things. Now, in Malfeas, this could work, as a single-location eccentric establishment that catered to the super-rich. But this is Targon. And he ran it like a Pondarosa Steakhouse, except less competent. He would spend 20-minute long scenes (real time), in how exactly he would cook and prepare food. This established a precedent wherein we realized this player just absolutely would not accept flaws of any kind of his character - not real flaws at any rate. Just the informed "type variety" - his words. And, yes, he always attempted to sound smarter than he actually is by speaking in a roundabout and obfuscatory manner. Next was Taiga, and Taiga was a great character. She became the team mascot, punch-monkey, and little sister all in one. There was literally no one who didn't like her, in terms of player characters, because she was cheerful and cute as a button. She won big in Hell's many arenas and even won herself a few Pokemo-- err-- I mean, pet beasties. Her main concern was patrolling the mean streets of Hell, forming her own police squad - the Justice Buddies. And last, but not least, was my new character, Master of the Eternal Golden Paradise, named from the Exalted Name Generator, in case that weren't obvious. Master was a shrewd businessman (resources 3 to start), who operated as a flashy, guild liaison with some business contacts that helped him ultimately build a theme park in Hell - Super Happy Fun Land. He sort-of adopted Taiga as a little sister, and would go on to help her undermine Zen's cult leadership status, whereupon they would form "Taiga-ism", a rather loose set of morals and ethics as Master devised ways of educating the unwashed masses to make them more productive members of the work force and economy. As I recall, the greatest among these religious prohibitions was against taxadermy - as Taiga kind of thought it was gross. To really drive his themes home, Master as decked out in heavy artifact weapon and armor - his weapon (a reskinned Great Goremaul) was an abicus named "SmithLocke & Keynes" and his armor was a heavy platemail named the "God-Dragon Plate" (or GDP). Among the bizarre things this team did included: Operation Eats & Poops, an attempt to save Zen's hopeless cult by fertilizing fields. This almost got derailed due to a severe drought, but Master had two harthstones that happened to solve the problem. (This itself became an issue later on, due to fukken Zen not signing the proper paperwork while taking up space in the Endless Desert. Master would then go on to petition Cecylene for use of the space, and did so with such an amazing bureacracy roll, that he, and I'm quoting my GM here, "Made the Endless Desert moist".) Zen then begged Taiga into assisting him in getting a magic book - not even getting into his begging for magical martial arts training he ultimately bitched out of (thereby humiliating Taiga in front of her master). This was kind of like trying to explain color to a blind person, because Zen's answer to Taiga's taking him to a book store, was to casually saunter up and begin asking for what amounts to black market wares in the middle of the day. The GM, God bless him, took pity on this faux-pas and Taiga was eventually able to get said book. Not that Zen put it to any meaningful use. Apparently, the 17 year old girl understood the black market better than the man in his 30s. The team would go on to battle many times in the arena, sans Master, who was on the sidelines betting on his comrades's success (when it was Taiga) or their failure (when it was Zen and Targon). Strangely enough, Master's bets were almost always right. At one point we even battled what was essentially a battlemech. The team managed to topple it despite even man-down at the time, and Master sealed it with a linguistics charm essentially reading "DON'T TOUCH. THIS MEANS YOU, ZEN." And the sin that I shall never be forgiven for was Master's casual investment in the entertainment/security measure known as the TaigaBot. These mechanical abominations were fully able to dance, sing, answer simple questions for guests and beat the shit out of anyone who attempted anything funny, be it stealing or attempting to couple with a TaigaBot. Endless innuendos were made, of course, and that's part of the reason I shan't be forgiven for this. Master briefly considered a ZenBot or a TargonBot, but we all know where that would've ended up. Those robots would've killed themselves somehow - likely out of shame for their source material. And the last bit, something Taiga's player really should've reconsidered, was during a battle atop a giant bird-behemoth (Master was absent from this fight), Taiga's Mouse of the Sun, a rather vicious fighter named Fluff Mousington, brandished an anti-warstrider rifle and leveled it on Zen, prompting her for an answer. Taiga relented (her player, less so) and admitted that they should save Zen, causing a battle against a gigantic eagle. In retrospect, probably should've just pulled the trigger. Remember everyone: backstory, intimacies, long-term goal. Not negotiable. So, join me next time as I discuss some D&D (and how I became a half-ork pop star) and a later Exalted campaign involving slutty pirates, a reincarnating old man knight (who happens to be a teenaged girl), and three boneheads no one likes. See you there.

My goodbye to Voltron

Hi guys! Some of you know me, some of you don't, but my name is Sol I've been on this fandom since the end of season 2, Im -or was- a Plance shipper and I'm graduated in filmmaking.

I'm a peaceful person by nature so I'm not writing this to generate any type of conflict, I just need to get it off my chest. So, these are my thought on season 8, but mostly on Voltron as a whole. This is my personal journey through the serie and is something that I feel the need to post somewhere because I crave closure. Spoiler: Is not nice. So if you liked this season, or if you just want to avoid any type of rant. Please don't read this.

Ok, here we go:

Thoughts on Season 8:

Just why?

Plot? weak Characters? Totally out of characters

Just why. 

I watch the first 2 episodes and I just couldnt  go through the whole season. For the first time in my life I couldn't end a serie. I talked with some people so i know what happened... but damn. What a mess.

Shiro was almost like a background character. And the original backfroundcharcaters, instead of growing up and have a moment to shine, they simply vanished. I we could have seen more of Hunk... but I was expecting this. He was an important character on season 7... so I guess thats all for him.  Keith giving pep talks?mmm... I mean, it could be? But it still pretty weird. I sounded like a fanfiction...Pidge was... was such a nerd stereotype. Her character ended up being two dimensional. And yeah, sure, I wanted Plance... but beyond that, it would be nice to see for once the  nerd character have feelings. Sure, she cared for her family... but after she found them her plot was over. She just stood there and give a lot of info, like in a exposition. We get it, she is smart. Youve been telling us that for 8 season. And then there's Lance, who was promised a great arc.... and yeah, that didn't happen. His arc was what? Have a gf? His insecurities magically disappeared because he get to be with the girl fo his dreams? And this comes for a person who dosent ship Allurance BUT who think her little date was cute as hell. Just... no.

And finally... Allura.

I could never connect with her... why?I don't know, probably because her 3 main features were:  being a diplomat, being loved by everyone and suffering... she did had her moments...but I could count with the fingers of one hand the times on the show where she was actually happy or just being goofy and having a good time. Thats bullshit, and it isnt fair... But you wanna know what it also NOT fair? Killing her like that.Is messed up. Just why?

The villains motivations were exaggerated. (Haggar actually had her son dead body on that robot, like what the fuck) I feel like they solve everything with the power of friendship  and the whole thing was a big example of deus ex machina.

Also: Shiro wedding? really? that... that isnt... god, I just cant.

And finally, the biggest what the hell of the whole season:

Lance alteans marks.

How why and when?

Is he an Altean now? Why? How does it work? The power of true love or what? Don't throw us random stuff to us and then leave without any explanation. This mean that Lance have altean blood? Or Allura love turn him into al Altean?  Guys, you are writing a show and this is not a continuity error. This could change the characters story and consequently the whole plot. Is some random and just a big nonsense to put something like that on the final season and dont even have the decency of give an explanation.  So now Lance is gonna outlive his family and friends? Is that a real thing? Wow, how wonderful.

Oh and wait, The Lions just flew away ... like..what...why... Guys you are not even trying, thats lazy writing at it best.

Thoughts on Voltron:

Here we go.

I preferred character driven writing above plot driven writing anyday... and personally I think Voltron could have had a really nice balance between the both of them. But they screwed up their characters and then they also screwed up their plot.

After season 2 the show started to lose it quality. That just a cold fact. And I dare to say that it was because they stop focusing on the relationships between the paladin (just take Keith and Allura for example. They had the perfect oportunity the create a great bond between the two of them after season 2... and they just didnt care. AT ALL)... but ofc, it could also be because the plot started to lose sense. Who knows.

But I stayed. I stayed for season 3, and 4 and 5, and 6. Why? Because the great voice actors and the amazing storyboard artists, digital animators, ... the crew was fantastic. But  after season 7 I lost hope, and season 8 was a mess. With bring me to point out this: The people who says "Don't be an anti, if you don't like it go create you own content". I get it, I really don't like ants, they just awful... but Im point out facts and trying to explain why Im so dissapointed in a show that actually helped me a lot when I was feeling terrible with my life.And the thing is. I AM TRYING TO CREATE MY OWN CONTENT. In a graduated in filmmaking, and working my ass off to have a job on the industry, and I'm actually writing a script for an animated movie. But is hard.

  And the simply true is this: JDS and LM are designers, not writers.  I know they have talent... but again: They . are.  not . writers.  So yeah, I cant help but feel like thats a little unfair for people like me who actually studied for years to become a scriptwriter. Because here the thing: to have a good show you need to have a good script, you need to know the tone of the story you are trying to tell and you need to know your characters inside and out .And here is the trick: you need to show us all that, instead of telling us about it.

We all know that Voltron could have been the next Avatar... but ended up being just was another show with a big budget. And that's sad.

Here are some perosnal things that I cant beleive they didnt touch on the series:

-Keith almost dying for the greatest good.

-Lance actually dying.

-The whole friendship between the paladins never really show... is always just told  to us “yay, they are best friends” but not once they actually talk about their feeling, about their lifes, etc.

-I could talk about why plance make a lot more sense, especially because their stories arcs really compliment each other and help them grow as a individual characters... But whats the point.

-Axca ended up being just there.

-Lance having an altean sword? uh... hello?

-Lance explaity saying  that he is from cuba but never speaking in spanish. Thanks for that latino representtion Voltron, I loved it.

- Shiro becoming a background character.

Anyway, it used to be a greta show and I'm always gonna be thankful to help me on my darkest time... but I'm glad is over.

Now lest forget about the last 3 seasons and be happy. 

Operation: Playmaker

Title: Operation: Playmaker

Anime: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS

Words: 3,335 (or somewhere around there lmao) 

Summary: Two months after Takeru and Flame find out the Cyberse has been invaded and desolated, they are approached by a man, not much older than Takeru, who asks for a very peculiar favor, one involving Playmaker.

Notes: SHE LIVES!!! AND SHE HAS A NEW FIC (a one-shot, as usual lmao)!! 

This is my first ever VRAINS fic, so hurray for milestone fics lmao. Honestly, this is just a fanfic version of the “my son Takeru and Ryoken are working together, and Ryoken told Takeru to watch Yusaku b/c Yusaku is a mess” theory I came up with as a result of the “BRING REVOLVER BACK” and anti-Soulburner sentiment on Twitter so lmao there’s that.  

I tried a narration experiment with this, but I don’t know how effective it is, so any thoughts on that is much appreciated. Either way, happy reading, pals, and I hope you enjoy it! :D

[FFN] 

[AO3]

Off the Coast of Den City: Kogami Island

Takeru glanced with uncertainty at Flame, who had taken its place inside his Duel disk, as he followed the man who had approached him only hours before. He couldn’t care less what happens to him, but, if Flame was hurt in any way and it caused him to disappear, Takeru wouldn’t forgive himself. It almost happened before. He wouldn’t let it happen again.  

But, Flame could never know he thought that at all.  

Quickly, Takeru’s eyes shifted to the man in front of him. The man didn’t seem to be a threat when they first met, but there’s something . . . something off. His energy’s full of unbelievable tension as if burdened by some grand fate, yet he remained calm on the exterior. It didn’t make any sense, but Takeru wasn’t about to inquire.  

As intimidating as he seemed, white-haired man also gave off a familiar vibe, as if they had crossed paths before. That was weird. They’ve never met before today . . . right?  

“Of course not, Takeru. That’s ridiculous,” he muttered under his breath. He let out a small gasp, realizing he’d been thinking out loud.

The man stopped. Takeru - and his heartbeat - also stopped. Oh god I’ve never prayed to before today, did he hear me? They were in front of what seemingly appeared to be a dead end in the dark cavern.  

“We’re here,” the man said, giving no indication that he heard nor cared about Takeru randomly mumbling to himself. Good news on that end for Takeru, but the fact that they were "here" created a whole new set of problems.  

“Here?” Takeru repeated, his voice trembling a bit. He hadn’t mentioned anything about a final destination or where they were headed before. He tightly clenched a fist to keep his nerves from spiraling tornado-style inside of him.  

The man acted as though he didn’t hear the question and, after inserting a code on a screen, what was a dead end turned into an entry way to a room, brighter than the dark space that they were in. Takeru forced his jaw to remain shut, but it was hard. There was just so many machines he had never seen before, especially not back home. He was no machine guy, but the room was certainly impressive, even if it did make Takeru shiver a bit.  

The man in front of him sighed, placing a hand on his hip. “Spectre, we’re here.”

Takeru blinked. Why is this guy speaking to a ghost? Once Takeru accepted that possibility, he felt his stomach churn. He was not in the mood to deal with the supernatural.

The individual Takeru presumed to be Spectre walked in, even though it really looked like he teleported, from the right. Spectre's light blue eyes felt as though they were piercing Takeru's soul. Takeru felt a shudder slide down his back. Forget whoever guided him here. This guy was especially frightening, almost as frightening as a ghost, a specter, if you will. Didn't help that he was wearing all white. Was this guy even human?

“My apologies, Revolver-sama,” he began. “We were just prepping for you and – ” Spectre peered over the man’s shoulder, making eye contact with Takeru, “ – the honored guest’s arrival.”

The man in front of him emitted a guttural noise, most likely of disapproval. “Spectre!”

But, if he wanted his identity hidden, it was too late. Takeru couldn’t hold in the gasp that escaped from his mouth. This guy . . . was Revolver? The guy who threatened to destroy Link VRAINS? Come to think of it, he never did introduce himself. That. That was why!  

“Hey, hey, hey hey hey,” Takeru broke in, his voice gradually becoming lower pitched with his growing anger. “You didn’t say anything about being that Revolver! You said you needed help with Link VRAINS, even though you’re the one who tried to destroy it?  Give me a break!”

Spectre and the apparent ringleader and Takeru’s personal escort Revolver-sama allowed a moment of silence for this apparent unfortunate turn of events Spectre had created. Revolver glanced at Spectre, shook his head, and turned to face Takeru again. At that moment, Takeru noticed another man walking in, one with suspiciously green hair and a grin that reminded him of an evil goblin.

This Revolver-sama guy sure hung out with a creepy crowd.  

“Revolver, sorry I’m late -” he began but stopped when he saw Takeru. “Oh-ho, pardon my interruption. Is something really important going on here?”

Takeru didn’t break his gaze with Revolver and he let a “tch.” escape through his teeth. He was trying hard to appear tough, but he could feel his legs wobbling a little. Pathetic. Flame would hardcore judge him if he saw him then.  

“That’s enough,” the white-haired young man commanded. “Dr. Genome, wasn’t Dr. Aso with you?”  

“He’ll be here momentarily, Revolver.” The goblin green-haired man pushed up his glasses and made his way toward Takeru, sending a shiver down his spine. “He says to start without him.”

Revolver sighed and made his way over to what appeared to be a circular screen built within the ground, Takeru’s eyes following him.  

“Not going to answer my question, are you? Why should I help you?” Takeru had the courage to say. It tasted awful, coming from him. He hadn’t been this combative since . . . since he confronted that gang back home. But, he needed answers, and this Revolver guy was just dodging the point.

“Show some respect for Revolver-sama, you little -” Spectre started to say, but the white haired-man raised an arm to cut him off.  

“That‘s enough, Spectre.”  

Spectre crossed his right hand over to his heart and bowed ever so slightly to acknowledge the reprimand.  

Takeru could feel beads of sweat forming in the back of his neck.  

“Homura Takeru,” Revolver said, “I understand your concern well. I haven’t exactly displayed myself as someone trustworthy, especially to someone with an Ignis.”

He knew?!?! Takeru dug his nails into his palm and glanced at his Duel Disk. “How did you know -” Takeru started to ask.

“- that you had an Ignis?” Revolver finished. “It’s not a talent I’m particularly fond of, but it can’t be helped. I sense those who were in the Lost Incident and the AI created from them . . . or from their data, I should say.”

Takeru raised an eyebrow. Sensing people specifically from the Lost Incident? That’s seems a little far-fetched. It’s not like the Lost Incident people have a specific smell to them or anything like, so what did he mean? And how does he know about the Lost Incident anyway? Still, if Takeru valued his life, he wasn’t about to ask any of these questions out loud.  

Revolver continued, “But, even though my destiny is to destroy what my father, Dr. Kogami, has created and also tried to destroy, a greater risk has appeared, and it goes beyond the Ignis threat to Link VRAINS.”

Supposed Ignis threat. Takeru added mentally. “Greater risk?” he asked aloud.

Revolver nodded. “Recently, there was a SOL Technology function unveiling the new and improved Link VRAINS before its release to the general public. Ironically, even though I aided in its initial destruction, I was invited to this function. It was there that I met them.”

“Them?” Takeru asked.  

Spectre chimed in almost immediately, “The Harbingers of the New Era, right?”

Quite a name.  

“Exactly. They’re an elite data robbery group that used to work with my father, but they couldn’t come up with an agreement on the creation of the AI. Since SOL Technology came for my father for the Lost Incident, I suppose their opposition is how they got invited.”  

Spectre clapped his hands. “Then the group leader was asked to give a speech since they actually helped to upgrade Link VRAINS. Isn’t that right, Revolver-sama?”

Takeru couldn’t understand why Spectre kept interrupting, so he asked, “Well, were you there too?”

Spectre glared at Takeru for a second before “humph”ing and retorting, “Someone had to manage Revolver-sama's data concealer. He wanted to be at this party without anyone noticing.”

“If you say so,” Takeru returned. Wasn’t he invited though?

Revolver cleared his throat. “They did give a speech. And it was cryptic at best, shady at worst. There was much talk about the future of Link VRAINS but, strangely enough, the future they spoke of, even without any mention of AI, would even make my father concerned. Link VRAINS as being a space for winners, a space where businesses can make a profit. Players being trained to ward off the next imminent attack. That kind of thing. If SOL Technology and this group continue to do business with each other, I’m afraid Link VRAINS will be in greater danger than ever before.”

Takeru shrugged. “Bad news, but what’s that got to do with me?”

“If this group has their way,” Revolver replied, “Link VRAINS and your Ignis will be in grave danger. The technology this group wants to implement in Link VRAINS to create ‘faster and better duels’ . . .  This technology? Equipped with viruses designed to get rid of AIs not registered in a system.”

Takeru gasped, but then shook his head. He had to be careful. What if Revolver was lying to him just to get Flame? Wasn't he just bashing AIs earlier? He couldn’t let his guard down.

“So, how do I know what you’re saying is true? And what’s my role in all of this? How do I know you’re not just saying all this to get my Ignis?” he asked.

“I can’t make you believe me, Homura, but I will tell you that not only Link VRAINS is in danger, but so is your hero.”

Takeru cocked his head to the side, placing his thumb and pointer finger and on his chin. “Which one?”

Revolver stared at him. “It’s Playmaker.”

Oh, duh. Who else would it be? “Playmaker?! But why?!”

“That I haven’t figured out. I just know he’s being targeted,” Revolver continued. “SOL Technology might be after Playmaker’s Ignis, but this group appears to have no interest in that. It’s quite possible Playmaker’s life is in danger. And it could have a drastic impact on Link VRAINS.”

Well, this is weird. Takeru thought. I thought Revolver was his sworn enemy, but he’s concerned about his life? Better just play along, though.  

“So, what am I supposed to do, Revolver-san?” Takeru inquired.

“-sama.” Spectre corrected.  

Revolver closed his eyes and crossed his arms. “Kogami.”

“Eh?”

“We’re not in Link VRAINS. It’s Kogami.” The man cut in, tapping his fingers on his forearm.

“O-okay, Kogami, so what’s my role in all of this?” Takeru repeated.  

“Your task is to watch over Playmaker, make sure this group doesn’t get to him,” Kogami explained. “Both in Link VRAINS and outside. I can't take care of the outside arrangements, but I'm sure one of my associates can help you with that."

Takeru raised an eyebrow. "What arrangements are we talkin' here?"

"He's saying you gotta go to school, kid, as much as you probably don't want to" Spectre yawned. "We don't know when these guys will strike, so it's best to guard Playmaker no matter where he is. I'll take care of the whole school thing, I suppose."

Takeru tried to shoot daggers in Spectre direction with his eyes, but Spectre seemed blissfully unaware of the ill intent coming from the fiery teen. Takeru did calm down once he realized that he had to go to school again, though.  

Unfortunately, Spectre was right. That was certainly a tall order. Never mind that this was the guy who tried to destroy Link VRAINS and challenged Playmaker who’s asking Takeru to watch him. An inexperienced Link VRAINS duelist like him? Protecting Playmaker? And he had to go to school to do it?  There’s just no way. But, there was something about Kogami’s expression that sparked a sense of confidence in Takeru. Yeah, Kogami did threaten Link VRAINS, but . . . he also acknowledged Playmaker’s abilities, didn’t he?  

It’s not the same as working alongside his heroes, but working alongside the rivals of one of his heroes was close enough, right?

“You can count on me!” Takeru announced, pointing a thumbs-up to himself. But, he realized he was missing one key piece of information. “Although . . . how am I supposed to know who Playmaker is outside of Link VRAINS?”

Kogami gave a small laugh. “That’s what your Ignis is for, isn’t it?”  

Takeru looked at his Duel disk. “Flame’ll tell me, huh? And how long am I supposed to keep this up for?”

“I have . . . business to tend to in the meantime, so I can’t give a definitive answer. But, this shouldn’t take too long, I hope,” Kogami replied, making his way toward where they first came in.  

“Business?”

“Getting one of our own out of jail, finding more info on this new group, you know. The usual,” Spectre spoke up, shrugging his shoulders and letting an obnoxious smirk show on his face. “Don’t screw this up for Revolver-sama, kid.”

“Kid?” Takeru repeated accusingly.  

“Uh, Spectre, aren’t you the same age as him?” Genome – was it? - broke in and asked.  

“Don’t compare me to him.”

“Enough!” Kogami said. “We don’t have time for this nonsense. Spectre, Genome, be sure to bring our guest back to Den City. And leave his Ignis alone. Got it?”

“Yes, sir!” Spectre and Genome replied in unison, causing Takeru’s eyebrow to twitch a little. What kind of organization was Kogami running here? Could he really be trusted since one of his own is apparently in jail?  

Well, he’s gonna have to fake the trust if he wants to live.  

“That’s it. I’m counting on you . . .” Kogami smirked, closing his eyes, “Soulburner.”  

Takeru stared incredulously at his initial escort. “Wait, I’ve never stepped foot in Link VRAINS before. How did -”

“Come on, kid, let’s go,” Spectre interrupted with a smile that caused Takeru to slightly shiver, grabbing Takeru by the forearm. “Revolver-sama is very busy.”

So why does he get to call him Revolver? This isn’t the Link VRAINS space. Takeru thought. But, he knew better than to question this guy. He wasn't going to let the kid comment slide, though.

“Stop calling me ‘kid,’” Takeru retorted.

“Okay, okay, kids. That’s enough. We’re going to get you back now, Homura,” Genome intruded, pushing Spectre away from Takeru. “This mission is very important, though, so do your best to not make any careless mistakes.”

“Yeah, sure.”  

At least Takeru wouldn’t have to be stuck with Spectre during his mission. Just having Flame make fun of him was enough.  

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

?????

“So, you really believe him, huh?” Flame inquired as Takeru continued to stare at his deck. Takeru closed his eyes and sighed, leaning back in his chair, letting his bangs fall away from his forehead.

“I don’t know what to believe at this point anymore,” he said, eyes still closed. “But, if it’s part of my path to get over my past, I’ll do it. No use questioning it too much.”

“Funny. You seemed to have a lot of questions when we first met, and I wasn’t even trying to hurt you,” Flame countered.

“You sure?”

Silence.

“I’m just kidding, Flame. But, taking over every electronic device I looked at? Come on now.”  

Flame crossed his arms. “I needed to get your attention. But, the point is, if you couldn’t trust me, how can you trust this Revolver guy? He caused so much trouble for Link VRAINS and you’re willing to believe him? Just because he mentioned Playmaker?”  

Takeru glanced at Flame and then back at the ceiling. He should probably replace the ceiling soon.  

“Sure, he did all that, but . . . there’s something that bothers me about him in a not-suspicious kind of way.”

“Yeah, ‘cause that makes a lot of sense, Takeru.”

Takeru sat straight up in his chair. “I’m serious! I just don’t see any reason to not believe him. He could just let Link VRAINS and you AI and Playmaker perish for all he cares. But, despite all that, he asked me to help save them. When he’s got other people who could do the job just fine, except,” Takeru contorted his face in disgust, “that Spectre guy, maybe. He creeps me out.”

Flame closed its eyes. “You really are too nice, Takeru.”  

"Too nice, huh?" The teen glanced at the clock. He decided he should probably be getting to bed soon to get used to the whole school thing again. He still had tomorrow to himself, but he needed to mentally prepare, if only for a couple of months. Imagine. Him going to school. Grandpa and Kiku would be super shocked if they knew. Not that he wanted to go, but a mission was a mission.  

But, there was one piece of info he needed before he could hit the hay for the night.  

"Flame."

"…."

"Flame, I know you don't sleep."

"Yes, Oh Chosen One, how may I be of service to you at this late hour?"

Takeru sighed. Flame was such a handful. "….That's a bit much, don't you think?"

"I asked you first."

"Revol-I mean, Kogami mentioned you know who Playmaker is. Is that tru-?"

"Fujiki Yusaku."

Takeru took a step back. "Eh?"

"That's who Playmaker is. Around your age, goes to Den City High School, where you'll be," Flame continued.  

"That's . . . That's amazing, Flame!" Takeru exclaimed, barely containing his excitement. Finding out his idols' true identities was not something he expected, but if anything can make going to school tomorrow worth it, it's that.  "Anything else?"

"Well . . . not to douse your fiery passion or anything, but he's also a Lost Incident victim. Like you," the AI continued. It reverted back to its eyeball state in Takeru's Duel disk. "You've seen his Link VRAINS form, but just so you don't go chasing after the wrong guy, here's what he looks like in the human world."  

Takeru looked at the image of Yusaku. It was strange. He had been told there were others – five others, to be exact – who were locked up as well, but he was never told of who they were or what they looked like. For his idol, the one who saved Link VRAINS, to be one of the six, it was surreal.  

But, at least Takeru knew that someone else would understand. The weight he had to carry.  

"Fujiki . . . Yusaku, huh?" The teen sounded. "This should be entertaining, keeping an eye on this guy. Right, Flame?"

The eyeball in Takeru's Duel disk blinked slowly once, as if to acknowledge Takeru's statement. "One more thing. Revolver said nothing about this, but I figure you need to know this."

Takeru raised an eyebrow. "Hm?"

"The one who goes by Blue Angel in Link VRAINS also goes to Den City High School," Flame continued. "She's Zaizen Aoi." The AI projected an image of the girl from the Duel disk. "Not a victim of the Lost Incident, but she hasn't been so lucky in her Link VRAINS endeavors, let's say."

But Takeru wasn't paying much attention to what Flame was saying. Two VRAINS celebrities go to his new school? Just his luck! Finding that out made going back to school almost worth it.  

Almost.

"Takeru?"

"What is it?"

"Are you sure you're up to this? You haven't even stepped into Link VRAINS before."

There's definitely a lot at stake with this mission, but Takeru had a feeling it'll work out somehow. It always did.  

"Sure am. I'm not gonna get a chance like this again, so I'm just gonna go for it," Takeru said, turning off the lights. "I'll be fine."

At least, he sure hoped so.  

"Also, how are you going to introduce yourself to this Yusaku anyway -"

"Good night, Flame."  

episode 058: “The soul of a replica” oh boy, this episode wrecked me (and I’m still so mad that I had to adult before I could fully watch and make my screechings – and I mean screechings! and the screen shots @darkxyzduelist posted before killed me) buckle up, you wonderful people, because this might be the longest screechings I’ve ever made (because y’know, I’ve made many, many, many screen shots!)

what the heck!? I thought you knew the plan, you little brat!!

woah, woah, thin ice, Ai! but then again, just think about it: if the switch really did happen (and if the Hanoi Project really did succeed like @scratchface assumed) then having Yusaku as an AI is terrifying because not even Ai can tell the difference! (Ai: He’s not denying it! So Playmaker is the fake? *sob* Ai, for goodness sake! have faith in your Lost Baby!)

bad Ai! don’t you dare to betray your true Lost Baby so easily!

...I hate you

pfff, oi, oi, are you serious? I’m having a heavy flashback moment to this one:

(not as... “bad” and “evil” but still)

okay, Bowman’s anger is the reason the sky darkens. damn, what power... (kiiinnd of funny that even Playmaker and Ai react to it)

eeyy, hey! what kind of frigged up power does their shadow-y figure-leader has!? even he can copy Data Storm?! (in a friggin’ Master Duel, mind you! holy frigg’)

that was what I was asking! it’s 50/50 now if Ai tries to grant Playmaker to use his skill in Master Duels from now on (I mean, he might more than likely think about it, right?). I wonder if he can do it

...crap

o.O what?!

damn, that shadow-y figure is overpowered! goodness, the rules (if we can still talk about rules) are just getting more and more ridiculous!

damn it, Ai! stop that!

holy frigg’! you’ve found a way to corner and uncover his lie! yay!

yes, you can! ask him what’s your real name! end your misery with this! please!

aaaaaAAAAAAHHH!!! the screenshots weren’t fake! aaaaaaaAAAAAHHH!!! just look at that happy bean! my goodness, I can’t even...

oh, my God, dem’ babies! just look at them...

woah, one step at a time! you just met! you can’t already ask him on a date! (with this flashback [Yusaku has, at least one before the Hanoi Project!], it’s proven that they ‘knew’ each other even before the Hanoi Project!) *[1] *[2]

yes! (before you ask, yes – I’m spiteful now!)

lmao! I can’t believe our sweet, little Linkuriboh is the one to save Playmaker’s butt!

thank goodness

oi, Ai, you hypocrite!

ey, Haru, instead of sending Bowman, your so-called “brother”, how about you yourself start to take action, you brat? *[3] human! the real one! hurray! *celebrate* to be honest, I really feared that the writers might go this route (which is still possible! I didn’t forget! But it was clear from the beginning that it’s not Bowman). I wouldn’t really approve of this decision. yesterday, I had a very nice chat with @kurokunero , and we gushed and ranted one, about the spoilers for episode 59 + 60, two, about how much we both hate Dr. Kogami and everything he did [to both, the six Lost Babies as well as Ryoken himself] and three, Ryoken himself. as for the spoilers, and my not-approving the decision to make Yusaku an AI / copy of his true self, wouldn’t it only feel anti-climatic since we followed him since episode 1, but somehow also negate his right to wanting revenge, to be this socially awkward and having so much difficulty to form relationships (not only love-wise). he, and even as a protagonist of the show which is a very powerful move in my opinion, represents so many real life person. me including. doesn’t matter if they experienced such traumatic events in their life or not (because I didn’t, as far as I am aware), and it would even somehow feel insulting if they back down with it and say, like “Yusaku is awkward because he’s an AI”, and that “normal people” can’t be this socially awkward, unable to mingle, to be this closed-up. therapy can only do so much but if the person seeking help isn’t ready yet (because there are so many obstacles that are getting in the way), forcing someone to get better won’t work. never. I, personally, really adore having him as a protagonist, with every good character traits and flaws he possesses. *[1] before I had to adult, and seeing these wonderful screenshots @darkxyzduelist posted earlier, I had this crazy theory that Ryoken was even the one who picked the six Lost Babies. for whatever reason, I thought Dr. Kogami used him to seek good beginners. he may have not even said for what reason he should do it. but then again, all we saw up until now was that he was looking for Specter after the Hanoi Project. the second thought I had when Ryoken asked Yusaku out on a date to come over to play Duel Monsters was that if Dr. Kogami was home, living with Ryoken (and still with his mother?), he might have seen Yusaku there, saw that he was a good beginner and decided to use him for his godforsaken Hanoi Project. (to some extends, it was a little bit painful to see that these two knew each other before the Hanoi Project, and we didn’t know anything in season 1! aaaaAAAAHH) on a completely unrelated note, this episode was animated by the one and only Noh Gil-bo-sama, and it looked so effing beautiful *[2] on another unrelated note, why is Yusaku still calling Ryoken by his VRains-avatar? more so since they knew each other before the Hanoi Project. I can’t believe that the babies didn’t introduce themselves back then! (thinking about that, Ryoken introducing himself in episode 41 feels... off now) *[3] I have another crazy, possibly far-fetched theory since VRains taught us from the beginning always to think around the corner. for this, I don’t really have any “proves” (and thoughts that contradict this) but thoughts as to why this crazy idea Yusaku = AI / copy of the true Lost Baby even popped up in the first place. and I think it didn’t only happen to throw Playmaker off his game. what if the group’s shadow-y figure is the true Yusaku? wouldn’t that be rad? but then again, I really don’t have solid ground for that. one, that shadow-y figure is presented (most of all, his voice indicates this) as a grown man. Yusaku is only 16, and there’s no way that his voice sounds so much like this after the voice break (mind you, this is Reality Check-me again). two, if his goal was to throw off Playmaker in this duel, why didn’t he use the full knowledge (like his real name, Ryoken, him being the Special Person and teaching him the three-things-rule [I still don’t know if this is Ryoken’s doing or taught by Dr. Kogami in the end]). and three, how come he even does possess these information about the Hanoi Project in the first place? I cannot imagine that they were floating around Link VRains (while being rebuild into New Link VRains). either he has connections to SOL Technology, to Dr. Kogami / the Knights of Hanoi (then again, why would they even give these important information away?), or he’s a mighty hacker like Yusaku, Kusanagi and Ryoken. or because he’s Fujiki Yusaku himself. (preview! aaaaaaAAAAAAHHH!!! ‘bout time you get your pretty little but back into the show, young man! and since we see Specter and Dr. Genome in real life, we might even get their real life names)

what are your thoughts www(.)fanfiction(.)net/s/12667631/2/30-Ways-to-kill-Ragna-The-Bloodedge ,www(.)fanfiction(.)net/s/12667631/3/30-Ways-to-kill-Ragna-The-Bloodedge , www(.)fanfiction(.)net/s/12667631/4/30-Ways-to-kill-Ragna-The-Bloodedge

Oh jesus this is uh- something...

You guys just see me as a cleaner for the haters I fanbases don’t you?Well, this is a really fucking ridiculous thing so guess I’ll do it.

Let’s separate this into parts so the arguments are cohesive:

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REBEL 1:

“Do you seriously want an exaggerated anti-hero with little justification, people around him going against his theme and faced with the most evil villains while tearing away the madness he faces?”Yes. Because the world of Blazblue along with all those people around Ragna help support him and make him stand out. Also how is Ragna exaggerated? If he’s exaggerated then what is Guts from Berserk?!

“Then I pretty much made a good argument about why Ragna as a protagonist shouldn’t have his existence acknowledged and be renamed ‘Retard the Dumbedge’“

...Yeah, you’re an obnoxious little shit aren’t you? I don’t see any argument good enough to justify THAT childish behavior. Even Kirito isn't that bad.

“Ragna is said to act like your average Shounen protagonist but he doesn’t even after his character development.”Um...No, Ragna acts like the dull edgy anti-heroes we got in the 90′s. He only LOOKS like a Shounen Protag. And after his character development he kind of does act like a Shounen Protag but in a good way, doing his best to help people and do what is best for them. He pretty killed himself for that goal. What is this guy smoking?

“The characters don't work with Ragna OR with the story that blazblue is trying to tell.”Uh...How? Because all I see is what RWBY originally was: a Rule Of Cool story with an emphasis on good eventually triumphing over evil.

“Ragna is an insult to the “Traditional Hero” for being called a “Chosen One”“

Hey Dumbass, the chosen one trope is used in ALL KINDS of stories, not just traditional hero ones. And Ragna ISN’T suppose to be a traditional hero, he’s suppose to GROW UP into one.

Now onto the next argument-and it’s a copy paste from a previous ask. Okay, the Blazblue ask I had before this one? go read that one for this argument.

“Blazblue’s exaggerated characterization,  unnecessary protagonist, characters that focus on one major role, characters that could have been toned down and UNNECESSARY SEXUALIZATION (comparing it to RWBY) don’t work with Blazblue’s flawed story.”You have not proven any of this, many people like it SPECIFICALLY for this reason, it was the goal of the creators and they succeeded so in every regard you fail.(P.S. Monty Oum was a fan of blazblue dumbass. If RWBY has oversexualization [An idiotic statement by itself] it was probably FROM Blazblue.)

“After the backlash on my rant on Blazblue’s writing and how I will never...NEVER acknowledge Ragna’s existence to this day, even after four failed games.”A. Your rant is barely coherent, nevermind actually GOOD.B. You just acknowledged Ragna’s existence.

And C. Blazblue is almost as famous as fucking Guilty Gear. It’s not failure.

”I do believe Arcsys has left itself in the slammer for letting itself down with this crap.”Take your medication, you’re having delusions again.

“They could’ve seen previous media and make the story light hearted and not rip off guilty gear and make it worse.”*throws a copy of End Of Evangelion at his face* Like that story?

“And fire Mori from the reboot of Blazblue THAT I WANT! NOT THIS!”

Yeah- good luck with that. 

“if you’re ‘pissed off’ while reading this, then accept it as fact. I will be on your good side, nothing will grind your gears. Now, that something we all want in this fandom with me around. Nuff said.”

*glares* Oh fuck off you facist.

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REBEL 2:

“*shotguns Ragna in the head and burst out in blood and bones*”Hey RWDE, you forgot one of your Jaune haters!

“AN: Oh, so is this the case then? How disappointing. I was expecting much of a reasoning from all of you, but all get is cynical backlash over how much of a dumbass I am.“Hey if the glove fits man.

“Now, I'm really not into Anime & Manga where a lot of tropes I see are very exaggerating, but come on already. You know how much hate darker, edgier, and brutal characters that believe they are badass, yet their misunderstood that term a lot. And I mean, A LOT.“Yeah and guess what? Ragna gets mocked for that and has to change against that to get respect.“Think about Kirby from Hoshi No Kaabi. He is a badass that can copy/paste other dudes into his will by swallowing them. After viewing the whole series as a kid, it's got wondering about what other sources of fiction I would see. I watched DragonBall Z, I watched Naruto, and I watched Ace Attorney.  But then came BlazBlue, and my god. I bet I know what you're thinking. "If BlazBlue ain't for you, buddy. Then take a step back from the red line or you're toast."“

Well yeah, that’s how fandoms work dumbass. also I don’t care about your experiences.

“The mind is a very interesting concept I'm learning here. Not only do many people in this series is very individualistic, but cynical and self-biased as well. And you wanna know the reason? Is it Ragna? Is the exaggerated tropes in the series? Is it the convoluted nature of the series? Is it my overwhelming backlash towards the series? Or is it my fanfiction story that received so much backlash all because I wanted to replace a character that had the same "backstory"?  Because I'm talking about the one asshole who was in charge of the whole series, the one who clearly wasted his own potential for nothing. It is going to be Japanese writer Toshimichi Mori.“

Oh gee, individualism. How terrible for a fascist like you.Also I highly doubt people are THAT cynical given the popularity of the Gag Reels and Bang Shishigami.

Also the backlash has everything to do with you jack ass. But sure, try blaming the creator for your own baggage. THAT hasn’t backfired before right?

“Now let's take a step back for a moment, shall we? Doesn't Mori ever love to take things down the roof? Does he love to put things into perspective like a Vase, then overwhelmingly shove Vases down our throats to show how amazingly complex they really are?”

The first thing Mori talked about with Bullet was her boobs. ... I’m pretty sure he just likes blowing shit up and making stuff that looks entertaining, especially considering the Astral Finishes, the basic character tropes written in their purest forms and characters like Bang.

It ain’t that deep, douchebag.

“You see, Daisuke was a very successful man in Arc Sys. He's written quite literally the best story out of all time, Guilty Gear. But then, one day, he decided to put his story on hiatus. Then asshole Mori shows up to take the advantage on him, and literally took his concept to the next level.”Isn’t Sol Badguy literally a self insert for the creator? Yeah I think Guilty Gear is just the same as Blazblue but with a different way going about things.So basically you’re a pissy Guilty Gear fanboy? Good to know.

“But goddamn, did that fail. A lot of people were brainwashed into thinking his work is awesome and full of depth, and sadly. It doesn't. Mori character concepts are great, but that doesn't exclude his idea of a "protagonist".“

Yeah because people like you think that it has to be brainwashing and not that your egos are disproportionately big and fragile.

“

Now, a protagonist is the lead character, not a hero. That's true. However, they are many flaws to this concept. One is, the protagonist has to fit the tone of the story being presented here. However, what doesn't make logical sense, is that BlazBlue is supposed to represent a cynical crapsack world that's revived by someone who throws his life like a badass and the day is saved. But unfortunately, the other characters who manage to take the spotlight act differently. That's right. They don't CARE about what the tone is from BlazBlue, they just act all non-nonchalant from the so-called "gag reels" and they are barely mentioned ever in the series fandom. Then we randomly shift from one setting to the next, when all of this couldn't have been solved by just staying the one final spot where they were.“

... Okay so he completely missed the point of a protagonist.Also: no fucking duh. The characters are different because they are different PEOPLE dumbass. PEOPLE aren’t a fucking hivemind.Also I find it hard to say Blazblue is THAT cynical given how the final game is one big triumph for idealism.Also not only are the gag reels SUPPOSE to have a different tone but the fanbase LOVES them.

Also that setting one is just-wrong.

“But uhen we have the main villain, who is said by legends to be the most barbaric and most vile creature ever to be exaggerated off the face of fiction. His archenemy is not the knight, but sour ass protagonist we see in this series. Isn't it ashamed that this battle couldn't have been awesome if a protagonist with a kind-hearted soul were to step up and stop this beast? Nope. We never get. Probably, not in a long shot we ain't.”

A. Yeah and Terumi OWNS that concept. Hence why people love him.B. Ragna stopped being an asshole a game and a half ago. There’s a reason why Tao’s nickname for him is “Nice Guy.”

C. The guy literally erased himself from reality so things could be better. Ragna the Bloodedge is everything characters like Ruby Rose aspire to be.

“And do the games improve dramatically from game play perspective? Nope, each and every game is the same. There are no group battles, it's always 2D, and new characters don't make it different. It's a lazy way of getting the game to be new, but it doesn't feel different from me by any means necessary.“Group battles? That;s a spectacle fighter dumbass!And yeah, new characters DO matter. As in, that’s what Fighting Games are based off you idiot.

“o hate how most of the fighting game concepts were ripped solely off from Guilty Gear. It's like if Mori looked at Daisuke's work by demand and copied off everything that didn't add up from before. That's just not right. It certainly makes more angrier and upset to see Mori put his series like that. What a joke.

Somebody whose played Guilty Gear deal with this.

“Then we have BlazBlue Radio, featuring the ugly protagonist sitting next to two beautiful girls. Now may I remind you, I'm not against every single character in the series, except the protagonist and the evil monster. The protagonist gets the biggest spotlight cause I have quite literally, have the biggest boner to pick with him.“

So basically you’re jealous that Ragna gets the girls? Makes sense.

“ I never recognize his existence. Never have. The series has been a colossal heap of mish-mash concepts mixed in with anime drama tropes. Yet, a lot of people in the series don't recognize that. All of which ruined by poor planning and an occupied existence. This has been no exception because I talk to about being against the series as a fact, was a backlash of them showing me how great and awesome it truly is. And that's like talking to a brick here. I'm not braindead guy who suffers from mental retardation who has to live in an asylum for petes sake.”

A. You just did idiot.B. That;s not a bad thingC. people LOVE IT for being a mix mash.D. That argument makes no sense.E. So the complainer is wrong? Good to know I can just ignore you then.And F. That’s an oddly specific example...

“If you want to keep this up with me, then fine. Go right ahead. Build up as much anger as you can until my head ESPLODE. You stick your asses on this franchise, believe it to be some kind god for the whole Arc Sys works, and never again mention a protagonist replacement or a reboot. Cause I'm being clear, this series will never EVER improve. It's all the same shit, different story. And that different story is barely any better from all the crap I've seen from the characters. Nuff said. Peace out.”

Yeah yeah, the usual egotistical hater shtick. You ain’t special.

“P.S. If you're going to say that my stupid ass that brought me here ruined everything or is making you more frustrated. Then believe me, it's pointless to post a review or PM to say that I suck or my logic is ass. And I won't jolt. Ever.”

You say that but I know from experience you people break easily...

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REBEL 3:

“*Places Ragna in a blender and he gets shredded bit by bit, piece by piece until his ass was nothing*“Because this screams “SANITY!”

“AN: Time to get this crap out of the roll...  Okay, so there's a lot of media I'm craving to look for. Of course, sometimes, media doesn't just cut for many audiences, via demographics. And I've seen video games and anime do this a lot, especially seinen. Then I played anime video games/visual novels... Ace Attorney, Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Guilty Gear, Trails/Kieseki, and last but most hated of all time. BlazBlue.“So you know why you’re full of shit but you ignore it and keep going? Okay.

“I know what you're thinking, people. Like I really would love to admit, but people have been pulverizing me over my head saying how shit I was to an argument over a franchise that just screams out "FICTION". But no... People point out my hatred for Ragna The Bloodedge. A character that's unique to me in one way of the direction. In BlazBlue, a post-apocalyptic world that's nothing but trouble and people being dicks for crap reasons. Has anyone ever noticed that there is no "real" hero to the story? It's easy. BECAUSE PEOPLE WORSHIP RAGNA THE BLOODEDGE LIKE HE'S SOME SORT OF "ANTI-SUE". A flawed character that gets way too much attention! And Ragna gets all that crap like he's some kind of gold-digger.“

Ragna killed Blazblue’s Satan. ... He’s uh, kind of a hero no matter what you say.Also Noel, Makoto, Jin, Jubei, Hakuman, Tsubaki, Kagura, Celica-We have plenty heroes.

“As much as I really loved the characterization and all that, Ragna ruins the experience for me. I'm not kidding, he really freaking does! He's not even a character, in my book. Let alone a dumbass that can't do anything right because he was trained by someone strong, has a vampire ally/rival and beats out on other things like an impatient chimpanzee. Because hey! That's his character, folks! Ragna isn't Ragna without his edgy, dark past despite it having no emotional value what-so-ever. GODDAMMIT.“A. Rachel isn’t a rival dumbass.And B. He LITERALLY got called out on that shit with Kagura in Chronophantasma and had to become more heroic in order to become a stronger fighter and a better person.

Oh, C. He STILL sacrificed himself for all his friends and family. I do not joke when I saw he’d be Ruby Rose’s idol.

“AND DON'T YOU BRING BANG SHISHIGAMI TO THIS RANT. Bang doesn't count as a hero in my book, he's better off as a supporting character. ALL I WANT FOR THE SERIES TO HAVE IS A REAL HERO. Not this Redcoat wearing jackass that always gets his way done no matter how much he pulls. The story is supposed to be "Black and White". NOT "BLACK AND GRAY"! Sure, there can be some vital exceptions. BUT I DON'T SEE A SINGLE, UTMOST THING, THAT HAS EVER CAME OUT OF BLAZBLUE THAT NEVER CHANGED MY MIND. EVER.”

A. Bang still counts motherfucker, you said ‘hero’ not ;major character’.

B. Hakuman’s right there trying to stab Ragna. C. No it’s suppose to be grey and gray. Mori built it that way. This is his story, not yours.

And D. So you know you’re wrong.

“Keep coming back to me! I don't effing care where it is. You rant, you whine, you even tell me to leave, but no... That all that isn't going to happen. I will be back and in one story... You'll that it is me that's returning. I won't bother arguing about this again. Sure, I've could've talked this through by PM'ing, but "Black and White" morality is always going to my thing. But hey, Fanfiction is all about tryharding! You use canonically made characters to achieve a thing that's worth a damn!  Anyways, I got back from my awesome trip to California. Nuff said.”

And guess what motherfucker? I’ll be right here, challenging and fighting you every step of the way! Each time you scream about Canon, I’ll be there to tear it down. Each time you rant about canon, I’ll be there to cut it pieces. This is gonna be a battle of wills between you and I. And guess what? My will is damn near indomitable. Good luck jackass.

But let me send you off, Blazblue style. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSDFR4DoOQQ

What are other books/series that you'd recommend that are in the same vein as Animorphs?

Honestly, your ask inspired me to get off my butt and finally compile a list of the books that I reference with my character names in Eleutherophobia, because in a lot of ways that’s my list of recommendations right there: I deliberately chose children’s and/or sci-fi stories that deal really well with death, war, dark humor, class divides, and/or social trauma for most of my character names.  I also tend to use allusions that either comment on Animorphs or on the source work in the way that the names come up.

That said, here are The Ten Greatest Animorphs-Adjacent Works of Literature According to Sol’s Totally Arbitrary Standards: 

1. A Ring of Endless Light, Madeline L’Engle

This is a really good teen story that, in painfully accurate detail, captures exactly what it’s like to be too young to really understand death while forced to confront it anyway.  I read it at about the same age as the protagonist, not that long after having suffered the first major loss in my own life (a friend, also 14, killed by cancer).  It accomplished exactly what a really good novel should by putting words to the experiences that I couldn’t describe properly either then or now.  This isn’t a light read—its main plot is about terminal illness, and the story is bookended by two different unexpected deaths—but it is a powerful one. 

2. The One and Only Ivan, K.A. Applegate 

This prose novel (think an epic poem, sort of like The Iliad, only better) obviously has everything in it that makes K.A. Applegate one of the greatest children’s authors alive: heartbreaking tragedy, disturbing commentary on the human condition, unforgettably individuated narration, pop culture references, and poop jokes.  Although I’m mostly joking when I refer to Marco in my tags as “the one and only” (since this book is narrated by a gorilla), Ivan does remind me of Marco with his sometimes-toxic determination to see the best of every possible situation when grief and anger allow him no other outlet for his feelings and the terrifying lengths to which he will go in order to protect his found family.

3. My Teacher Flunked the Planet, Bruce Coville

Although the entire My Teacher is an Alien series is really well-written and powerful, this book is definitely my favorite because in many ways it’s sort of an anti-Animorphs.  Whereas Animorphs (at least in my opinion) is a story about the battle for personal freedom and privacy, with huge emphasis on one’s inner identity remaining the same even as one’s physical shape changes, My Teacher Flunked the Planet is about how maybe the answer to all our problems doesn’t come from violent struggle for personal freedoms, but from peaceful acceptance of common ground among all humans.  There’s a lot of intuitive appeal in reading about the protagonists of a war epic all shouting “Free or dead!” before going off to battle (#13) but this series actually deconstructs that message as blind and excessive, especially when options like “all you need is love” or “no man is an island” are still on the table.

4. Moon Called, Patricia Briggs

I think this book is the only piece of adult fiction on this whole list, and that’s no accident: the Mercy Thompson series is all about the process of adulthood and how that happens to interact with the presence of the supernatural in one’s life.  The last time I tried to make a list of my favorite fictional characters of all time, it ended up being about 75% Mercy Thompson series, 24% Animorphs, and the other 1% was Eugenides Attolis (who I’ll get back to in my rec for The Theif).  These books are about a VW mechanic, her security-administrator next door neighbor, her surgeon roommate, her retail-working best friend and his defense-lawyer boyfriend, and their cybersecurity frenemy.  The fact that half those characters are supernatural creatures only serves to inconvenience Mercy as she contemplates how she’s going to pay next month’s rent when a demon destroyed her trailer, whether to get married for the first time at age 38 when doing so would make her co-alpha of a werewolf pack, what to do about the vampires that keep asking for her mechanic services without paying, and how to be a good neighbor to the area ghosts that only she can see.  

5. The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner

This book (and its sequel A Conspiracy of Kings) are the ones that I return to every time I struggle with first-person writing and no Animorphs are at hand.  Turner does maybe the best of any author I’ve seen of having character-driven plots and plot-driven characters.  This book is the story of five individuals (with five slightly different agendas) traveling through an alternate version of ancient Greece and Turkey with a deceptively simple goal: they all want to work together to steal a magical stone from the gods.  However, the narrator especially is more complicated than he seems, which everyone else fails to realize at their own detriment. 

6. Homecoming, Cynthia Voight

Critics have compared this book to a modern, realistic reimagining of The Boxcar Children, which always made a lot of sense to me.  It’s the story of four children who must find their own way from relative to relative in an effort to find a permanent home, struggling every single day with the question of what they will eat and how they will find a safe place to sleep that night.  The main character herself is one of those unforgettable heroines that is easy to love even as she makes mistake after mistake as a 13-year-old who is forced to navigate the world of adult decisions, shouldering the burden of finding a home for her family because even though she doesn’t know what she’s doing, it’s not like she can ask an adult for help.  Too bad the Animorphs didn’t have Dicey Tillerman on the team, because this girl shepherds her family through an Odysseus-worthy journey on stubbornness alone.

7. High Wizardry, Diane Duane

The Young Wizards series has a lot of good books in it, but this one will forever be my favorite because it shows that weird, awkward, science- and sci-fi-loving girls can save the world just by being themselves.  Dairine Callahan was the first geek girl who ever taught me it’s not only okay to be a geek girl, but that there’s power in empiricism when properly applied.  In contrast to a lot of scientifically “smart” characters from sci-fi (who often use long words or good grades as a shorthand for conveying their expertise), Dairine applies the scientific method, programming theory, and a love of Star Wars to her problem-solving skills in a way that easily conveys that she—and Diane Duane, for that matter—love science for what it is: an adventurous way of taking apart the universe to find out how it works.  This is sci-fi at its best. 

8. Dr. Franklin’s Island, Gwyneth Jones

If you love Animorphs’ body horror, personal tragedy, and portrayal of teens struggling to cope with unimaginable circumstances, then this the book for you!  I’m only being about 80% facetious, because this story has all that and a huge dose of teen angst besides.  It’s a loose retelling of H.G. Wells’s classic The Island of Doctor Moreau, but really goes beyond that story by showing how the identity struggles of adolescence interact with the identity struggles of being kidnapped by a mad scientist and forcibly transformed into a different animal.  It’s a survival story with a huge dose of nightmare fuel (seriously: this book is not for the faint of heart, the weak of stomach, or anyone who skips the descriptions of skin melting and bones realigning in Animorphs) but it’s also one about how three kids with a ton of personal differences and no particular reason to like each other become fast friends over the process of surviving hell by relying on each other.  

9. Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Louis Sachar

Louis Sachar is the only author I’ve ever seen who can match K.A. Applegate for nihilistic humor and absurdist horror layered on top of an awesome story that’s actually fun for kids to read.  Where he beats K.A. Applegate out is in terms of his ability to generate dream-like surrealism in these short stories, each one of which starts out hilariously bizarre and gradually devolves into becoming nightmare-inducingly bizarre.  Generally, each one ends with an unsettling abruptness that never quite relieves the tension evoked by the horror of the previous pages, leaving the reader wondering what the hell just happened, and whether one just wet one’s pants from laughing too hard or from sheer existential terror.  The fact that so much of this effect is achieved through meta-humor and wordplay is, in my opinion, just a testament to Sachar’s huge skill as a writer. 

10. Magyk, Angie Sage

As I mentioned, the Septimus Heap series is probably the second most powerful portrayal of the effect of war on children that I’ve ever encountered; the fact that the books are so funny on top of their subtle horror is a huge bonus as well.  There are a lot of excellent moments throughout the series where the one protagonist’s history as a child soldier (throughout this novel he’s simply known as “Boy 412″) will interact with his stepsister’s (and co-protagonist’s) comparatively privileged upbringing.  Probably my favorite is the moment when the two main characters end up working together to kill a man in self-defense, and the girl raised as a princess makes the horrified comment that she never thought she’d actually have to kill someone, to which her stepbrother calmly responds that that’s a privilege he never had; the ensuing conversation strongly implies that his psyche has been permanently damaged by the fact that he was raised to kill pretty much from infancy, but all in a way that is both child-friendly and respectful of real trauma.  

Alright, I have a lot of thoughts on the first episode of Vrains, like, a ton, so get ready.

We start with our first look at virtual reality...interesting. A representation of countless pockets of data verging into a cohesive whole. It's aesthetically pleasing, even if it could be more stimulating. Revolver is the first character we see, denoting his importance. He's a symbol of power and anger. His monster circles around a pillar, presumably representative of a server. That's one thing that's interesting about cyber space, everything we see therein is symbolic of something else. We see anthropomorphic programs, determined to help, but sealed. Right from the start this is interesting. They are artificial lifeforms that look over Link Vrains, and they seem to be sapient...you could explore the nature of artificial life, creatures that are created purely to serve a purpose. Then Ignis appears, and he's just...great, right from the start. "Your savior has arrived!" "Lol, too bad you got yourself trapped." He's so nonchalant and boastful, it's really entertaining. He also says that being hated has its perks, which...what does he mean by that? Is he used to being hated? And if so, what advantage does that give him? Is it how he avoided being sealed? The trap for the AI reminds me of a Fullmetal Alchemist transmutation circle...though there are definite differences in design. Ignis has this great little smirk, and it's even built into his face, I love it. His first action is to save the network, even at cost to himself. He's a good guy. Also very powerful. He saves the target of their attack by hiding it within himself...making it so no one can get their hands on it. The programs say he won't be able to return that way...for some reason. Because it makes him an outlaw? Then, surprisingly, they brutally slaughter Ignis, if he weren't a program that would be so gory. Notably, despite acting human, programs aren't flesh and blood like humans. Suggesting they're something less...or more. You must wonder why exactly Ignis was helping out, since he seems to be some sort of rogue program. Because this is where he lives? Because he thinks it's his job? Altruism? Lulz? maybe some combination of the above. So we skip to five years later. Interesting. So after five years the knights are still unsuccessful. What's the significance of the timeskip? We get a scene of...someone, or something, surveying many different areas with some sort of digital apparatus. We don't know what it means yet. We get introduced to our hero fighting evil, he's confident, and the music is great. Notably, he attacks with "Link Slayer." In other words, a severer of bonds. An odd monster for the hero to have. Is it foreshadowing? Notably, the monster also attacks with an item of hope. Things are just starting off, but already the technology in this series is pretty cool. We see self repairing areas, manipulation of space, teleportation... The opening is nice, typical showcase, it looks promising. The thing I like most is how it starts in reality, then around the halfway point the lines blur and we get introduced to virtual reality. I hope that's a theme that gets followed up on. Despite the heavy focus on virtual reality, the ending shot of the opening is something natural and optimistic. We get out first hint of Yusaku's past as he dreams in the aftermath of class. I presume he's sleep deprived from all his fighting with the knights. You can tell Naoki is something of a bumbler, just from the way he holds himself. He points out Yusaku must not have many friends, which, dude, rude. But I kinda like that touch, because it gives him some personality. He's tactless but still trying to reach out to a stranger, as well as putting on an air of confidence. Yusaku so deadpan...he doesn't give a fuck. The guy's clearly proud of his new duel disk, which apparently doesn't need cards because it's all virtual reality. Wow, cool development, Vrains has invented Dueling Network. I wonder if Yusaku's unusual duel disk will be a hint about his identity to others...it's cool that they're going for something new. We get these shots that suggest that they're being watched. But who is doing the watching? It can't just be a dramatic flourish, right? It has a real big brother feel. "I have a program that helps me in duels." That's nothing to brag about kid. The scene has good exposition, it's natural. Sol Technology is in charge of the new duel disks. They who control the duels, control the world. The guy says that Link Vrains is only for the elite, which makes me wonder. Is SOL Technology really elitist, only allowing the most qualified into their system so as to curate their output? Yusaku agrees with him that it's not so easy to go to Vrains, but later in the conversation he says the fact that Naoki hasn't gone to Vrains yet means he doesn't have much faith in his skill, and we see virtual reality spectators later on, so...not sure what to make of this. It's kinda confusing. Is spectating allowed but not participation without special permission? Or is it actually really easy to get into Vrains and it's just being blown out of proportion here? He can just access the class's projector with his duel disk? That's some real high tech. I want to see more applications of this high tech...they've already shown us several. Oh my god. Language is regulated by AIs...like, that's just so hilarious. It tells you a lot about SOL technology. They've built their company's image so completely around decorum and class that their userbase isn't allowed to say "fuck." Maybe that's why the Knights want to destroy the network, they can't deal with how stiflingly restrictive it is. You know, this kid seems like a bit player, but I wouldn't mind seeing more of him. Charisma Duelists are namedropped, and I'm immediately interested... I like how Playmaker has his own fanclub, but Yusaku wants nothing to do with it. He's just interested in defeating the knights of Hanoi, he doesn't like standing out (though if he doesn't like standing out he's really doing a poor job of not standing out. Maybe he secretly wants attention?). He has a cool, disaffected personality. I wonder if this classmate is gonna have greater significance. I wouldn't mind if he did. So, does dueling a Knight of Hanoi somehow facilitate their arrest? I mean, i'm kinda assuming that, because everything in Yugioh is solved by dueling and otherwise dueling them would be kinda pointless, but what's the mechanism for it? Also, what incentive does a Knight of Hanoi have for dueling Playmaker? Will it make him go away somehow? The episode is unhelpfully vague, though I will cut it some slack because it's just one episode in. On the one hand, I'm kinda happy that we're getting right into PLOT, but at the same time I remember looking forward to potential slice of life regarding Charisma Duelists and Yusaku coming out of his shell. I imagine we'll still get some of that, but it's gonna be far more plot heavy than initially assumed. I like how Yusaku casually asks if Naoki has any evidence on Playmaker, only for those doubts to be assuaged. He's really good at not giving stuff away, but I imagine the pressure of maintaining a secret identity must get to him. Yusaku shows his analytical chops, pointing out Naoki's flaws and virtues. It shows that he's kinda blunt and has a hard exterior, but also has a good heart. It also rather illustrates Naoki's personality. We keep getting shots of something surveying the surroundings, and I wonder what it could be. It can't be the Knights of Hanoi or Sol Technology, because if so they'd have already figured Yusaku out. Though if it were Sol Technology, that'd really bump up their big brother cred. Is anyone else surprised by how deep Yusaku's voice is? We get a shot of Ignis in VR, being found by some drones. I gotta say, this shot is really confusing because the VR world looks just like a regular city, so at first it's kinda hard to tell where the AI even is. For some reason the way the life form retreats looks funny to me. Bishop too wears a mask of anonymity. Both to save his true identity for a later reveal, and because masks are power in Vrains. Though seriously, making an alias and avatar based on a chess piece is kinda weird. I guess he's just trying to look sophisticated. Notably, they say SOL Technology is the leading group in the network, meaning they aren't the only one. The Cyverse creates Data material, whatever that is. Something to generate new digital landscapes? The scene is expository, but it delivers some good tidbits in the process. SOL Technology is interested in staying on top, but also in maintaining order. They've been on the decline, and are convinced that capturing the program is for the best, positioning them as potential antagonists. I wonder what Ignis' motive was. Like, he hid the Cyverse to prevent it from being destroyed, but now no one is using it. So what was even the use of saving it? People in this setting don't see AIs as people, although they clearly have sapience. I wonder if that's going to be a point of conflict, gradually awakening to the personhood of non-human life, and fighting to protect them. I like how we're dropped right into a power struggle between three parties. Notably, there are many shades of gray here. The Knights of Hanoi seem devious but probably have some sort of goal that they think is noble, given the name "knights." SOL Technology is interested in profit but also thinks it's doing what's right by returning what was stolen from them. And Yusaku seems heroic, but as we'll soon see, Anti-Hero seems more appropriate. He'll take the program for himself even if it means hiding it from its rightful owner, he hacks to make a difference, and he threatens to erase the AI to maneuver himself into an advantageous position against the knights of Hanoi. SOL Technology has a platform in the middle of nowhere in its building, taking up who knows how much space. Those eccentric businessmen. I think it's notable that Yusaku is only able to hide his presence through his hacking skills. Without them he'd be doomed. You can't fight against the powers that be in Vrains by playing by the rules. You have to subvert them. Which makes sense. In a virtual reality, those with admin powers are absolute. We get introduced to Shoichi, and already we get a good idea of their friendship. Shoichi brings up speed dueling to Yusaku, presumably out of a desire to try to cheer him up after he lost his interest in dueling. He feels responsible for getting Yusaku involved, but Yusaku doesn't hold it against him; he's doing this of his own free will. They work together as equal partners. Notably Shoichi is working class. Right from the start that tells us a lot about him. He's a guy who's had to struggle to survive, a guy who knows the meaning of hard work, an underdog. All likeable traits. It's interesting that Yusaku is motivated by a vendetta, adding yet more to his anti-hero cred. It's pretty dark for a Yugioh protag. We get a nice bit of humour, and Yusaku being pushy, but it's urgent, and Shoichi is too reliable to turn him down, he's happy to work alongside him. They also have their hacking station set up in a hot dog stand. That's just...priceless. Yusaku shows his smarts, creating a plan to capture the AI. I hope he remains consistently smart throughout the series. Though frankly the very fact that he's hacking without being caught by SOL Technology shows he's impressive. "It can be done, if we work together." There's that typical Yugioh protagonist friendship speech, Yusaku knows all about kizuna. Though fittingly for Yusaku, this speech is relatively subdued. It seems SOL Technology basically runs the city, not just VR. Are they contracted with the government or something? We get introduced to charisma duelists, and it's nice. Blue Angel clearly loves the adoring crowd, I like her already. Oh look, a generic announcer guy. He'll never measure up to 5D's announcer guy. Man, how must Go and Blue Angel's opponents feel, to not even get their names dropped? The plot is pretty well put together, it feels fairly real. So Ignis is running from SOL. So he clearly doesn't work for them...but what is he then? He still helped SOL. I guess it'll come to light later. They could break through the firewall because of the weakened power from the scan. So wait, normally they couldn't do that? Why do I get the feeling that these firewalls are gonna be next to useless in this series. He gets a feeling while searching for the AI while the knights make their move. Wonder what it means. Oh my god that woman got roasted. Though I've gotta say, this scene was initially really confusing, because according to Shima's words regular people shouldn't be in Vrains, yet here they are. This is further compounded by the fact that the monster seems to do damage even in the area Yusaku is in, despite clearly not being part of virtual reality, which leads you to wonder if they can materialize into reality or something, or if Yusaku is already in virtual reality. It's really confusing. best I can figure, spectators are allowed in Vrains, and virtual reality somehow has some sort of effect on actual reality. Took me my second watchthrough to puzzle that out, because it was not EXPLAINED. Still, that is a pretty great moment, because it shows how ruthless the Knights of Hanoi are. They mean business, they'll do whatever it takes to achieve their goals (not that the guy seems to have a good reason to be attacking people, he kinda seems like a colossal dick). Though at the same time, I have to ask. What happens to people who get attacked in VR? Do they die in real life? Or do their accounts just get deleted? I need to know. The episode is less than forthcoming. "Link Vrains Might Collapse!" What, seriously? Just how fragile is your network? One guy crashing random virtual reality buildings is enough to bring the entire thing to its knees? How has this place not been destroyed by now? Stupid. The monster has a sense of real power to it, but I gotta ask, why only send one guy? Do they not have a lot of guys? The opening suggests otherwise. Yusaku is out in the open, does no one see him? "I'm just a lil'old passing through AI!" Look at him humble himself to try to get out of this. Man that's cute. Yusaku really has a rough start with Ignis, on account of not seeing him as a person. Yusaku gets his own transformation sequence, neat. Yusaku saves Blue Angel, showing his innate heroism, but I have to ask, is there any reason why she couldn't defend herself? Yusaku was able to duel off the Knights of Hanoi before, so what was stopping her from preventing his rampage? Was she just scared? Yusaku sets it up so they have to beat him to get the program. Of course. It always comes back to dueling. Was it impossible to stack the deck more in your favor Yusaku? Revolver seems pleasantly surprised, perhaps happy to see a worthy challenger? The knight of Hanoi seems confident, but...doesn't he look a lot like the knight we saw Yusaku fighting at the start of the episode? What's up with that? And for that matter, isn't he using Revolver's monster? Is revolver letting him borrow it? That could be interesting. Yusaku has snark. So AIs are secular beings. Ignis is stuck between a rock and a hard place, but his natural altruism kicks in, coupled with deciding that Playmaker is better than the Knights of Hanoi. He helps Yusaku out. So this is how speed duels are introduced. I'll withhold judgment on them for now, the setup seems kinda cool. The ending is nice, not much to say about it though. A nice glimpse of things to come. By the way, isn't it kinda odd that the ending song in this purely technological world is "believe in magic?" And a bit of hope at the end. Yusaku already knows how to speed duel. My first impression is that this is effort to make Yusaku super special awesome, but maybe it's more than that. maybe it's tied into his missing past? All told, real solid first episode. My only real issue is the several important questions that were left unanswered. So, thoughts?

LFS provided the creative environment and network of mentors and peers who helped me find my voice, and taught me to trust it.

Monica Santis graduated from the London Film School in 2016, and her graduation film ‘Hacia el Sol’ (Towards the Sun) is currently touring the festival circuit, the highlight of which has been a double win in her home town at the Academy award-qualifying Austin Film Festival. Following a recent screening and nomination for Best Editing at London’s Underwire Festival, we caught up with Monica while she was back in town to talk about making a film about unaccompanied migrants in Trump’s America, why we need festivals like Underwire now more than ever, and what it’s like when your producer is also your Mum …

Sophie McVeigh: Could you explain the story behind Hacia el Sol?

Monica Santis: It’s about a 12-year-old girl named Esmerelda who has recently been placed at a shelter for unaccompanied immigrant children in Texas, and the film is about how she reclaims her voice through her artwork in the midst of the looming threat of deportation. She’s gone through a very traumatic border crossing and we see her confront her scarring past and take the first steps towards healing. She’s a girl whose voice has been silenced by violence, so she doesn’t open up because she’s traumatized. This was my graduation film, shot in Austin, my home town, and I got to work with a fantastic local cast and crew, and I brought several key LFS crew members because I love them and we work really well together, so I wanted them to be a part of this journey with me. My first AD was Andres Salas who is extremely hardworking, talented, and so positive. He has a great attitude, so I knew he would take on the challenge of running a set with up to 100 extras at one time! I’ve got to give a major thanks and congrats to the entire production team for working hard to coordinate that scale of a shoot. My DOP was Zeta Spyraki, and she was so grounded, disciplined, and creative. It was so special to work with a strong woman; Zeta is a true leader and artist and I loved collaborating with her.  The film’s camera operator was the wonderful Mark Kuczewski, who directed ‘Happy Anniversary’, the first AC was Stephen Glass, the gaffer was Sebastián Lojo and the sound recordist was Heikki Simppula … so all phenomenal filmmakers. I was truly blessed to have a lot of talented fellow LFS students/friends there! I co-wrote the script with Elie Choufany, who is an alum of the LFS Screenwriting program (Cohort 9). We met my first year at LFS, and we just clicked and became really good friends and collaborators. We had worked together on several LFS course exercises, so we had developed a good working relationship and I admire him as a writer. I was so lucky to work with a cast and crew who poured their heart into this film.

S.M: What inspired the story and why did you want to make it?

M.S: In 2015, I visited a shelter for unaccompanied minors who had been placed there after being detained by border patrol on the United States-Mexico border. I went with an organization that runs shelters throughout Texas/Arizona—their aim is to reunify kids with their family members in the USA and provide humanitarian services. The shelter supplies housing, educational courses, legal representation, medical attention and emotional support. Their goal is to provide a home-like environment. I was moved by the sense of community and support from both children and adults. The majority of the kids are fleeing violence in their home countries and are desperately trying to reunify with family in the USA and seek refuge. As I sat and spoke with kids and shelter staff, I was particularly moved by stories about healing. A majority of children had survived an extremely traumatic border crossing and encountered violence and abuse along the perilous way. It broke my heart and motivated me to write this story; what I observed truly stirred me into action. I observed how a lot of children were in limbo as they waited - waiting to see what the uncertain future holds for them, waiting to hear from family, waiting for good news, waiting and anticipating bad news. I wanted to explore the point of view of a girl who had recently arrived, and I wanted to take the audience on an emotional journey with her as she takes her first steps towards integration and healing---in doing so, I wanted to humanize and create compassion around the immigration debate, which is being heavily politicized in the US. I wanted to shed light on a resilient community of children who deserve our support and deserve to feel safe.

S.M: What made you choose art as a way to tell Esmerelda’s story?

M.S: I remember walking through one of the shelters, and I thought that it would look bleak like the horrible detention centers that I’ve seen in the media. But it didn’t. It popped with color. There were murals, decorations and artwork that kids had drawn adorning the walls. I paused and looked at a drawing that caught my eye - a ten-year-old girl had drawn a beautiful, colorful hummingbird and she had written ‘May joy find you wherever you are.’ And I thought, my God, in the midst of all of this, all the struggle, the fear about an unknown future, this girl had drawn something really beautiful and hopeful. I thought, where is she now? What’s her story? Is she ok? I hope she’s safe, I thought. As I observed and connected with staff at the shelter, they told me heartbreaking stories of kids enduring physical and emotional abuse, of survival and facing death, of kids almost dying in the desert, running away from human traffickers, and crossing the border alone which appears in the film at one point in the drawing reveal sequence. We incorporated these details into the story. Since film is a powerful visual medium, I thought the drawing process would be therapeutic for Esmeralda’s initially withdrawn character, and that the drawings could speak for her.

S.M: Had you started working on the film before the current administration came into power, and do you think it’s had more resonance with audiences as a result of Trump’s presidency?

M.S: Story development and principle shooting took place during the Obama administration, but as we entered post production, and as the election fervor was gathering momentum, yes, I changed my approach because of Trump’s anti-immigrant, racist campaign rhetoric. I thought, should I discuss deportation very directly? Do we call out the monster or do we examine that in a more subtle way? But then I decided to insert the word ‘deportation’ in post because I saw that Trump was probably going to be the next president. To clarify, the Obama administration deported thousands of people, but Trump has run a campaign that cruelly depicts immigrants as the ‘other’, ‘the rapists’, ’the bad hombres’, and he has used that fear to stir up his supporter base. It’s a scary time in the US for undocumented kids/families, and I remember sitting with James Hynes, the film’s sound designer, and we just looked at one another somberly and said ‘yep, the word deportation needs to be included because it’s a palpable fear now that’s going to get worse’. In the festival circuit, during Q and As, we’ve had really good discussions where people are genuinely distraught and had no idea that thousands of kids were fleeing violence at immigration shelters. Generating this discussion about immigration is important because we’re talking about vulnerable kids, so actively creating awareness, compassion and understanding has become more crucial than ever now.

S.M: Was this your mom’s first time producing?

M.S: She had helped me produce a couple other smaller scale short films – as an independent filmmaker, you can’t help but get everyone you know on board in some capacity! (laughs) So, she had helped before and she’s a strong business woman; she’s CEO of a company, so she’s very on it! Those management and leadership skills came into great use, and she deeply cares about the kids at the shelters and knows the topic well, so she was outstanding. We learned a lot together throughout the process. I think she finally understands why I would be exhausted at the end of every shoot (laughs). She was super-Mom, always making sure plenty of food was provided and she recruited a huge amount of extras so I was really impressed. She did a really amazing job, especially for her first big producing role. I love my mom, she’s the best.

S.M: Has she been on the festival circuit with you?

M.S: She’s extremely busy, but we went to the Austin Film Festival screenings together which was great and a very moving experience for both of us. Zeta, Elie, and I got to attend the world premiere at Palm Springs ShortFest together which was truly awesome and memorable. Elie then flew in for the Austin Film Festival. Karen Garcia Cruz, the phenomenal leading actress, and her sister, the super talented Daniela Garcia Cruz, who plays Maria the new girl, got to watch the film with their whole family and with a full house at AFF. The screening was sold out, so that was a special day for all of us. We won the Jury Award for Narrative Student Short and the Hiscox Audience Award for Narrative Student Short at AFF. We won twice which was amazing – the best a student film could hope to do there. It means that people truly connected with Esmeralda’s story, and I am so grateful to the AFF jury, programmers, and audiences that supported us. What a surreal and truly wonderful experience. I’m so proud of our team.

S.M: Did it mean even more considering it’s your home town?

M.S: Yes! My heart was just so full. My passion for film grew there. The Austin film community helped develop my creativity, and to win at AFF was such an honour. I used to go to their screenings and dream about being a part of it someday. ‘Towards the Sun’ is still on the festival circuit now. We just got into another really great festival that I can’t announce yet! We still have a couple to hear back from, so stay tuned - some that are in US border states, which I’d love to screen at since I feel like audiences would particularly understand and connect with the story. I’d really like to be there to generate discussion and help create awareness about the plight of unaccompanied minors, so fingers crossed.

S.M: Could you tell me a bit about your background before you ended up at London Film School?

M.S: I’m first generation in the States, so my mom immigrated from Peru and my dad immigrated from Chile. I’m proud of my South American roots, and I was born and raised in Austin, Texas. I worked at the Austin Film School for several years as the Director of Outreach and it further sparked my passion for filmmaking. While I was there I helped develop the Cine Joven: Filmmaking in Spanish program for young filmmakers. I met a lot of talented kids, and I’ve always been an advocate for children’s rights so after working with them, I followed that interest and my interest in US-Latin America international policy and decided to attend The George Washington University Elliot School of International Affairs to get my Masters in Latin American & Hemispheric studies, focusing on anthropology, sociology and history. My thesis capstone project had to do with researching/creating awareness about human/child trafficking in Puerto Rico. I went into it thinking I might want to go work for the State Department or Unicef, and I respect everyone who went that route, but then I missed writing creatively. I watched a lot of documentaries about human rights while I was at GW, and I realized how powerful films are and I wanted to make an impact that way.  So, I went back to filmmaking and joined the Documentary Film Institute at George Washington University. I learned a great deal there, and I’m still in touch with peers and the amazing mentors who jumpstarted my return to filmmaking. From there I thought I really needed to catch up and get more technical training because I was making a big career change.  So, while I was visiting a friend in London, I immediately fell in love with the creative energy of the city, so I started researching film schools and found LFS. I loved LFS’s mission, and I highly respected the filmmakers that have come out of LFS, so I applied and was so happy to get in. I really liked this idea of organically finding your voice, getting to try out different roles and shooting on film stock.  So I thought, ok, let me give this a whirl. It was the best decision I’ve ever made because the amount of personal and creative growth I experienced during my time at LFS was just amazing.

S.M: How did you find adapting to life in London, coming from sunny Texas?

M.S: It’s a little drearier, obviously, but I didn’t mind it! I did miss my family, but thankfully I was able to make friends quickly. I openly embraced London, and I really loved the creative, bustling lifestyle here. I felt an instant click from the moment I landed, and I miss the film community here obviously, hence why I try to come back so often!

S.M: What’s the most important thing you learnt at LFS?

M.S: LFS provided the creative environment and network of mentors and peers who helped me find my voice, and it taught me to trust that voice. It brought out a confidence in me, towards the end there especially, that I didn’t know I had and that I was searching for.  Being supported by teachers and peers that love the craft as much as I do created a strong sense of community to collaborate and grow with. I loved analyzing and being exposed to new films, styles, techniques.  As a result, I was able to expand my mind, really open my heart and put it into the work. That invaluable network of storytellers/collaborators continues to inspire me, and I truly cherish the LFS community.

S.M: Your background has obviously had a lot of influence on the kind of stories you want to tell, but did you find that the people you met at LFS also had an impact on how you tell them?

M.S: Yes, I was constantly learning from my teachers and peers. I loved the fact that LFS is so international, and I wanted to meet people with different perspectives and different backgrounds but with a similar passion for filmmaking. I wanted to meet and learn from fellow story tellers from all over the world. That was a big selling point for me and why I chose to apply to LFS, because I value diversity. I found it incredibly enriching.  

S.M: You’ve recently screened Hacia el Sol at Underwire in London, which is a festival that promotes the work of female filmmakers. Do you think it’s even more important, given the current climate, that we have these kinds of festivals?

M.S: Yes, definitely. The patriarchy is real and we gotta take it down! The industry is extremely unequal, and women have been systemically undervalued and denied the same opportunities that men get; women deserve representation and to have their voices amplified. At the opening screening at Underwire, I heard someone say something to the effect that, as a woman, it’s important to remember that you have a right to claim your space in the filmmaking industry. To be honest, I got chills. It was a good reminder that we don’t have to make ourselves small, we can claim that space and demand respect. I felt such a surge of empowerment, and I felt so happy that Underwire exists, because they’re creating a space to recognise, support, encourage and celebrate female filmmakers. By the way, we need more female directors and DPs! It was so inspiring to be at festival screenings with up to 80% women in attendance; I felt so honored to be in solidarity with such talented women. When there’s an unequal power dynamic and when abusive men like Harvey Weinstein exist, I believe festivals like Underwire are crucial in helping bridge that inequality gap and creating a safe space for women to learn and grow.

S.M: Do you think that had an influence on the atmosphere at the festival, coming so soon after what’s been happening in Hollywood?

M.S: I think it must have. This was my first time at Underwire so I can’t compare, but I felt that beautiful feminist warrior spirit in full force. In line with the #metoo movement, there were a lot of women fearlessly speaking their truths and sharing their stories on screen. One of the filmmakers at the festival noted how it’s important for women to feel more empowered to just express themselves freely, not be perfectionists as society has conditioned many to be, and just say what you’ve got to say! That spirit of speaking your truth and being your authentic self was really shining through at screenings and in discussions.

S.M: What are you working on at the moment?

M.S: Right now, I’m working on a short script from a similar world to Towards the Sun, so another kid’s perspective in a shelter. And then I’m slowly developing the idea of a feature length story within that world, about unaccompanied minors. That’s in early stages of development, and otherwise I freelance edit. I edited a short documentary that’s currently in the festival circuit called ‘An Uncertain Future’, which was directed by Chelsea Hernandez and Iliana Sosa, produced by Firelight Media and Field of Vision, which is Laura Poitras’s production company. So that was a really cool experience as an editor, to be getting notes from Laura Poitras! I learned a lot!

S.M: Was editing a skill you learnt at LFS?

M.S: I began learning on Final Cut Pro at the GW Documentary Film Institute. LFS gave me many opportunities to edit, and I learned a great deal from the amazing teachers in the editing department. I edited in terms one through three, but I learned the most in term 3 when I edited ‘How We Are Now’, directed by Andrea Niada.  Since there’s so much footage to work with in documentary, the editing process was a true lesson in how to craft the story through the edit.  

S.M: What’s your process as a writer? How do you balance your work and your time to be creative?

M.S: I’m actually in the writing process right now. It can be tricky to fit everything in, so I make sure to write something every day, whether that’s a line or a scene. I try to make sure I keep the inspiration flowing, because writers’ block can happen so easily! I aim to find that kernel of inspiration and make sure that I’m constantly reminding myself why I’m telling a certain story. When things get hard, I remind myself what the heart of the story is and that motivates me to keep going.

 Keep up with Hacia el Sol’s progress on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HaciaElSolFilm/ and Twitter: https://twitter.com/HaciaElSolFilm and watch the trailer: https://vimeo.com/226004442

So @breakdawn-avenue asked me if I could go into more detail about why I liked the season 2 episodes of Vrains that I did. Finally have enough free time to do that so here we are. Since there are 17 of them (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 55, 58, 59, 61, 64, 68, 69, 70, 75, 78, 81, and 84) out of the 38 that have aired (if I did that math right), I’m just going to try and make this brief without trying to fangirl so hard about the ones that I really enjoyed. I’ve went into more in depth reviews about all of these I believe so just go through that long list if you really want me to go into detail about these episodes.

Episode 47: Playmaker Returns I honestly don’t know why I loved this episode as much as I did. It was just a really good introduction to season 2. I loved the tour that Brave Max did of Neo Link Vrains. It felt like I was being taking on a tour of a anime convention and it just made me so giddy. I liked how we start the episode of Ai returning to the Cyberse World only to find it in ruins, setting up right away the mystery of who destroyed it, and his reunion with Linkuriboh was just adorable. Seeing Yusaku finally being able to move on after season 1 by working in the Hot Dog Truck was just nice and his interaction with Aoi was also just really nice to see. I love the real life introductions in Vrains. The introduction of characters like Blood Shepherd by killing a freaking troll penguin and Bohman who did...well THAT to Jin, setting things into motion. Ai returning to Playmaker’s duel disk after Playmaker told BS that he didn’t have an Ignis anymore was hilarious. There was just so much to love in this episode for me that honestly, it has to be in my top ten favorite episodes of season 2 without a question.

Episode 48: Judgment Arrow The duel between Playmaker vs Bohman wasn’t that bad. I think it was the most enjoyable out of three that we have had so far because this was the episode where we got out first Summoning Method that wasn’t Link in Ritual and our final Code Talker in Shootingcode Talker. But the thing that really took this episode was the official introduction of mother f*cking Soulburner and Flame. We got a teaser of them in the first few seconds of the episode and then how do they officially show up to help Playmaker? In a freaking fire tornado. Are you kidding me boy? Looking back at it, how in the world did he even do that? We know Takeru sucks at programming so did Flame do that just to be flashy? I don’t know but my god that was badass.

Episode 49: Duelist Clad in Flames Soulburner’s debut duel was pretty good. The dynamic between Soulburner and Flame was what really made this episode just so good in my eyes. Burning Draw was amazing to see and I liked how the end established that Soulburner’s skill hurts him by using it. I mean we haven’t seen much of that in practice but it is still an interesting concept. The end of this episode made you want to know more about this new character and if a episode is making you want more, then that right there means it was a good episode.

Episode 50: Transfer Student Takeru Homura Takeru became a fan favorite just like that. This boy is adorable. It was also so interesting at the time because this was the first time we got a Lost Child who could relate to Yusaku. Jin was MIA for season 1 and Spectre is well...he’s Spectre. Flame was also an amazing addition at the time because this was the first Ignis we had the pleasure of meeting after Ai. The freaking Ferris Wheel scene...just who through that was a good idea? Firestormshipping just took off as soon as that screenshot was revealed. Yusaku made a friend who could understand what he went through and wanted to help him and that right there just made me happy. Our boy made a friend. That right there made it great.

Episode 51: Man Who Gave Up Charisma I could talk about how Go just lost his mind during this episode, comparing his life story to the Lost Children and all that and while that is another reason why I enjoyed this episode so much, the main reason why I love this episode so much is because mother f*cking Soulburner roasted Go alive and it was glorious. I’m still laughing at that dialogue to this day.

Episode 55: To the Unknown World Windy man. This little troll. Getting to meet another Ignis was amazing but what made this episode so great was this was the first Ignis that we met that was super anti-human and boy was the foreshadowing real. I also liked the little moment at the beginning of the episode where Soulburner and Playmaker reunited and Playmaker was surprised to see him back. I mean after what happened during the Tower of Hanoi, I wouldn’t be surprised if Yusaku thought Takeru was going to lose. The ending though...yeah...let’s not talk about that disaster but at least this episode had come good development for Aoi.

Episode 58: Soul of Replica Yeah no one cared about the Playmaker vs Bohman duel. The only thing people cared about from this episode was the interesting idea of the Lost Children having back ups and Yusaku being replaced by his and the infamous Datastormshipping scene. Yusaku used Ryoken as a way to find out that Bohman was lying and the fangirls went wild. Plot wise, it was interesting to find out that Ryoken was the reason that Yusaku was kidnapped and MY GOD RYOKEN WAS THE REASON YUSAKU WAS KIDNAPPED! ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?!

Episode 59: Hanoi Returns It was a recap but who cares, the Knights of Hanoi were back and they were back with style! Kogami “Extra” Ryoken ladies and gentlemen. Our meme lord knew how to make a return. I also think the Backstreet Boys memes really helped me to enjoy this episode so much more. On another note, I also loved how Revolver ordered his Knights to stay away from Yusaku and Takeru in the real world and when Spectre asked the question “but why hasn’t an Ignis comes to me? :( “ Boy.

Episode 61: Despair from Darkness Takeru’s backstory was just really well down. I loved him and Flame’s meeting and how Takeru was so really to throw down with those bullies. Like this guy actually knew how to fight and I’m still waiting for the day when we actually see Takeru beat the crap out of someone. Just good stupid boy content before the trauma kicked in.

Episode 64: Turning Point The backstory we should have gotten during season 1 but hey at least we got it and it was good. I just loved it mostly for the fact that Yusaku and Playmaker were 100% done with everyone in this episode XD Also Yusaku’s hood. I need more of the hood. The hood is your god now.

Episode 68: Secret Meeting Oh hello plot. Oh hello Windy. Oh hello Lightning. OH HELLO REVOLVER! YOU GOT AN UPGRADE! DAMMMMM! No seriously this episode I think everyone can agree was just so good. Plot, plot, plot, freaking Revolver still being a extra piece of sh*t. It was a good day.

Episode 69: Mission That Must Be Accomplished Playmaker being a hypocrite to Revolver. Revolver continuing the traps memes, and the first part of the duel was just not that bad. It was just nice to have Revolver back in the show. 

Episode 70: Tuning Bullets I loved the fact that so much happened in this episode that the very first Synchro Summon of Vrains got overshadowed by the fact that Windy almost got murdered and that we essentially got the reveal of all the Lost Children and their Ignis partners in the form of Jin being confirmed to be Lightning’s partner and that Windy tried to kill his kid. Vrains, you need to chill. Again just another episode that I think no one in the fandom hated.

Episode 75: The Demon Possessing His Heart The episode that aired on Halloween gave us the death of an Ignis. Just wow. Go officially lost his mind when it was revealed that he allowed SOL to put an A.I. in his brain, the duel was just great overall, the fact that Go beat Earth was shocking and again, the fact that Earth was actually killed was just so jaw dropping. Also Spectre’s reaction to his Ignis’s death. Still not over that.

Episode 78: Rebellious Bounty Hunter Revolver went full on alpha male on Blood Shepherd and it was just amazing. That’s really all I have to say about this episode.

Episode 81: Arrived at the Summit I just found it interesting how far Go really let himself go in order to take down Playmaker. Like he looked bad before during his duel against Earth but man. SOL even put Earth’s data into his A.I. and that just hurt, especially Spectre’s reaction. This was just nice buildup that had a really stupid conclusion in the next episode.

Episode 84: A Turbulent Past This episode is still fairly new so I think you guys still know how much I really like this episode in terms of development for Ryoken and Takeru and the return of the Tower of Hanoi was just epic.