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#and i thought i could finish drawing that while watching later episodes
polarsirens · 2 years
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The Ring of Brass endures.
i have made the mistake of beginning this series at a very emotionally low point and now i am just.... grieving for all of these people. of this city. of this land and i don’t think i will be okay for a long, long while. i know this is not my usual terror content but i just ... made this and i wanted to save it somewhere. oh my god i’ve never watched d&d, let alone critical role before i literally don’t go here but this series.
i will need some time to recover but oh. i am just continuously weeping while drawing my hands are all curled up. i only wanted to see more of brennan lee mulligan because i saw a short on youtube and thought he was a comedian i did not expect this. (again i’m sorry for inflicting this upon you all and offer you a textless version ??)
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py-dreamer · 1 month
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So... I know I'm late...
But yea! I said I was coming back with some stickers and I kept my word! I would've hoped that I could've completed the sheet in like a day but as you can see...that didn't work out
I know I've been a bit MIA lately but burnout sucks. I do have a lot of WIPS I really want to work on but again, it seems that the ProcrastiNation hath struck my feeble mortal brain again.
But anyways:
I headcanon Aroace Mei, just a personal headcanon (disagree if you like) I also like lesbian Mei but thought I'd give some aroace appreciation
Silktea was only given 1 episode but OH BOY did it fuel our wild shipping habits. And I jumped on the bandwagon. It's a reference to that scene in She-Ra where Scorpia tells Catra she 'didn't want to do this' then wraps kitty up in the blankey and cradles her like a wee baby. And Sandy would do that for any friend, I will die on this hill
Saw a fanart where Mk had a pig nose themed pacifier and I just yoinked that idea. The pig hoodie and the pacifier seems like something Tang would do for Pigsy (also to get away with free noodles cause who can say no to that face?~)
Mac showing Wukong the lantern. What can I say, mans' fascinated by them pretty lights. Though our little performer's eyes seem to be straying from the show (^u ')
I know many people have issues with shipping with Nezha and such and I know the two had a rough history but y'know what fans do; they love to make the people who kill each other soulmates (platonic, romantic or otherwise) Even if it wasn't romantic, I still love the idea of them being buddies and just chilling, the danger noodle prince and the angy prince snuggle and watch a movie (mainly from Nezha 2019 but I also saw New Gods and can I just say, I want those two twinks to bicker then kiss awkwardly and I want Yun Xiang to BEAT. HIS. ASS) but in case anyone asks, I do perceive Nezha to be a consenting adult in general outside shipping drama and if the two are adults, it does make my heart squeal when I see these two hold hands and whatnot
HOW COULD I EVER FORGET MY SPICYBOIS, inspired by that one Ponyo kiss scene. I was actually gonna make a bigger piece but then I saw someone do it already in a much better fashion than I ever could and I just gave up on the idea but Ig here, its just like the two cakes mentality and I gave it a go. Hope I could do the concept justice
Have spider queen or scorpion queen ever interacted before? No. But they are both queens and I believe Spider Queen's confidence could rub off on Scorpion Queen and she'd appreciate the company of Spider Queen's children henchmen. Also she give yummy food so lesbian venomqueens for the win
Redraw of that moment with Peng and Azure. I normally detest that bird but these two do get some gears grinding and whatever anyone says. Neither of those two are straight. I'll tell ya that.
Toxicinsanity is another rarepair that had like 1 sec screen time. I don't think they'd ever work out in canon and had virtually no chemistry. I still love all the fluffy ship content I can find of them though and if it ever were to happen. I think the mayor would scare the sh!t out of Syntax
Let's get at least one hetero couple here, Chang'e and Hou'Yi are a couple of favorites ngl, I took most of their outfits from Over the moon cause both of them looked stunning, Chang'e especially. I've seen people ship mah girl with other people and while I do agree it's healthy to move on, in my heart she will always long for Hou'Yi
Also irl, on valentines, my mum took us out for lunch, she treated us to bubble tea and donuts. We walked home so I waited to drink mah drink in my room while I drew and I accidentally finished it all... I'm so sorry mum
f*ck I forgot ironbull. Uhh....I'll draw something later, rn I need to go to bed before I get yelled at...
click pic for less sh!ty quality!
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Panic (Steven Grant/Marc Spector x Reader)
Author’s Note: So I started writing this last Tuesday (April 19th) and finished it this morning (April 27) before my first class; during lunch, I watched episode 5 and was devastated. I feel this fic takes on a completely different life now and holds some different weight behind it. Please heed the warnings. Enjoy! :)
Summary: You and Steven met each other at work. You are wonderful friends with one another, and each of you have feelings you don’t know quite how to voice. When someone from your past shows up at a museum, you shut down completely, and it’s Steven Grant (and Marc Spector) to the rescue.
Warnings: Angst (mention of past abusive relationship/domestic/physical abuse, mentions of blood/burning/hitting, panic attack/terror/anxiety), protective Steven!Marc!Khonshu, fluff, mutual pining. The “—” are a shift in POV from Reader to like 3rd person omniscient, I guess. Later when Steven and Marc talk, italics represent Steven and bold represent Marc.
Other Characters: Our main man Khonshu, Donna, JB, OFC (Theodore)
Word Count: 3,989
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You were the sunshine in Steven’s day, every day. It could be the best day in the world, and you would make it brighter; he could be exhausted, body aching, having the worst possible day, and he would see you and all the dark clouds would be pushed away. You were the best thing in his life. He’s never told you in so many words, but he’s done little things for you to try and show it. Some days he’d bring you coffee, other nights he’d say a bit later to walk you to the bus or your flat. On your birthday last year, he brought you a bouquet of Egyptian lilies, and he thought his heart would melt when your eyes lit up.
And this friendship-but-so-desprately-wanting-to-be-more-than-that was not singe-sided. You adore Steven. But Steven is so kind to everyone, you don’t know how to read his exact feelings towards you. A few months ago, he went on a date with one of the tour guides; even though it didn’t end well it didn’t mean it hurt any less when you found out he was seeing someone. And if you ever confessed how you felt and he didn’t feel the same way . . . Well, you don’t know how you could deal with that rejection. All you know is that you could never lose Steven. He was the best part of your day, your job, your life. 
“I mean, c’mon,” you insist as you lean against the register’s counter. “You have to admit it.”
“It does make him look quite knobbish,” Steven chuckles as you both peer over to JB.
“I mean, why?” you giggle. “Who told him a patchy porn ‘stache was a good call? Especially with that haircut!”
“Probably the same people that think Eye of Horus jellies are the best thing to sell at a gift shop.”
“At least those probably bring people joy.”
“Nah. I got curious one day and tried a pack. They’re quite terrible.”
The happiness that you feel radiating throughout your body when you’re with Steven is sucked right out of you as your gaze expands just past where JB flirts with a new tour guide. A face you never hoped to see again stares at one of the statues on display. There’s nothing particularly conspicuous about the man with the well-groomed hair, kind profile, and well-put-together appearance, but you know better.
“(Y/N)?” you hear Steven ask. It sounds like he’s been trying to get your attention for a long while. “Darlin’, you alright? You look as white as a ghost.”
You don’t respond, your breath only increases as a cold sweat breaks out all over your body. Pulling from the counter, you move as quickly as you can without drawing attention to somewhere that you can hide. Your feet move on autopilot, taking you to the stock room where you let all your anxiety and fear bubble up and take control.
“(Y/N)?” Steven asks as he opens the door. “What’s wrong?”
You can’t form words. You can only move as a way to try and put the adrenaline coursing through your body to good use. Your breathing only increases as hot tears prick at your eyes. Your back hits the wall and you brace yourself against it, just wanting to disappear into the plaster and drywall.
“Hey, hey, hey, c’mon now,” Steven says as he carefully approaches you. You continue to pant heavily against the wall, hand on your chest, feeling like the world is crashing in on you and suffocating you as your body shakes like a leaf.
“I can’t . . . I-I-I can’t breathe,” you huff, slowly sliding down the wall and into a small ball. “I-I can’t . . . I can’t . . .”
“You’re safe, I’m right here,” he says gently as he kneels down next to you. He takes one of your hands and places it on his chest as he puts one of his over your heart. “See? Right here. Right in the stock room. Just you and me. Nothing scary about the two of us, yeah? We’re friends. Nothing scary about that.”
“S-Steven. I-I . . .”
“What’s going on, (Y/N)?” 
“I—My—That man, w-with the gray button down,” you swallow hard. “H-He—He—.”
“You know him?”
“I do. I did. I do.”
“Alright, talk it out. You’re safe, love. It’s just me. You can talk to me about anything.”
Tears prick at your eyes as you try to keep yourself steady.
“His name is Theodore,” you start. “We were together for two years. He was great at first, but then . . .” Your fingers move to the back of your neck. “They were just cigarettes, quick little stings. The stings turned to slaps, and then punches.” You hug your knees to your chest. “At his worst, he slammed me into a mirror and then threw me down on the glass. I tumbled down the stairs after that. Three broken ribs, fractured wrist, glass in my arms and abdomen. There was so much blood . . .” You swallow hard. “He went to jail. I took a protective order out. Oh no, oh God—did it expire? No, no, no . . .”
You don’t realize the torrent of tears running down your face until a wet plop hits your arm as you continue to mutter in fear and panic. When it does, you let out a violent sob and begin to weep. Steven wraps his arms around you, holding your head against his chest and a comforting arm around your shoulder. He whispers soothing reassurances into your hair as you try to remember what he said earlier to ground yourself to him. You’re safe, right here in the stock room. You’re with Steven. You’re safe with Steven. 
“What are you—?” you hear Donna’s voice cut through the stock room.
“Not now, Donna!” he snaps, stopping her storming footsteps in her tracks. “Tell JB to get security ready. You stay with (Y/N)—I need to take care of something.”
“What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing, St—.”
He gets up and faces Donna. He’s never looked so bold before. “The man that abused (Y/N) and beat her within an inch of her life is in the museum,” he says lowly. “You stay here with her, radio over to JB and tell him to be ready, alright?”
Without waiting for a response, Steven walks out of the stock room and takes off his name tag, sliding it into his pocket. 
Steven wants to confront this pillock as himself, but he knows that he doesn’t exactly ooze intimidation, even when he’s as rilled up as he is right now. He doesn’t even need to call on Marc to front—he knows what to do.
“Really nice, huh?” Marc’s American accent rings quietly next to the man he wants to throw in front of a double decker bus. 
“It’s fine,” he shrugs at the mural hanging on the wall.
Marc takes a step closer, his voice entering a very threatening timbre. 
“I know why you’re here,” he growls. “And I think you should go.”
“I’m just here to look at some history. Besides, I’m free to be here. This is a public space,” he smirks. It seems innocent enough, but Marc recognizes the underlying venom in it.
“It is. But not for you. So unless you want to be escorted out—either by museum security or the police for violating a restraining order, you. Should. Go.”
“(Y/N) would never take out a restraining order against me.”
“Wouldn’t she? Because I believe by entering this museum, you’re in violation of the minimum required distance. So I suggest you leave now before you make a scene and become the source of gossip for the five different schools on field trips here today. If you don’t I will take care of you personally. And instead of being escorted out, you’ll be leaving in a body bag. Do I make myself clear?”
“What exactly will you do, pretty boy?” he sneers.
Khonshu briefly takes control, making Marc’s eyes glow a terrifying white. The man steps back in fear with wide eyes and a pale face. Without a word more, he takes some steps back and hurries out of the museum.
“Thanks, man,” Marc says to Khonshu.
No one threatens (Y/N) in such a manner, the god acknowledges. 
“How come you like her more than me?”
A lot of people are more likable than you. (Y/N) is too good for this mortal realm.
“That she is,” Marc sighs as he lets Steven front on the walk back to the storage room.
“Hey,” he whispers as he sits next to you on the floor, placing a careful hand on your knee. “It’s all over. He’s gone. It’s alright.”
“He is?” you ask.
“Gone,” he repeats. “Took care of him myself.” He looks up to Donna. “I think it’s best that (Y/N) go home for the rest of the day, maybe have tomorrow off too?”
“Yeah, no, exactly,” Donna says. So she does have a soul. “Take some time, (Y/N). Steven, why don’t you make sure she gets home alright, yeah?”
Steven offers you a hand and helps you stand, walking with a careful arm around your shoulder the entire way to the break room so you can grab your stuff. It’s like his embrace is helping hold you together, and you appreciate it so much. You undo your locker and grab your bag quickly before closing it and moving back towards Steven. As you pull the straps of your tote bag up on your shoulder, you stop dead in your tracks.
“I—He found where I work. What if he knows where I live?” you ask, your heart still racing like a hummingbird’s.
“He won’t bother you ever again, I promise you,” Steve assures you as he stands by your side. “But, if you’re uncomfortable going to your place, we . . . if you want . . . You could crash at my place for a day or two. You can have the mattress and everythin’. My, uh,—,” he clears his throat, “My sleepin’ disorder doesn’t let me do much with it other than sit and fiddle with a Rubik’s cube, so. It’d be good if it got used for it’s intended purposes, yeah?”
“I couldn’t put you out like that.”
Steven gives you a small smile. “But you’re not. I promise you, it’s no trouble at all.”
“As long as you’re sure I’m not gonna be an imposition on you, Steven.”
The look in his eyes that he gives you is so soft, and something seems to snap him out of it, because he starts to clumsily shake off his jacket. “You never could be,” he tells you, placing the warm article of clothing over your shoulders. “C’mon, then.”
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“Any milk for your tea?” he asks as he stirs in a tiny bit of sugar.
“No, thank you,” you say as he approaches and hands you the turquoise mug. You let the warmth from the ceramic spread into your hands. “Thank you. For, um, . . .”
“Don’t even think about it, love,” he tells you. “I just glad I was there and could do something for you.”
You give him a small smile as you bring your lips to the mug. “Steven Grant: Giftshoppist, lover of Egyptology, and knight in shining armor,” you hum before you take a sip of the soothing liquid. Color rushes to Steven’s face as he ducks his head, muttering some kind of thanks before he sips his own tea. “It’s a good list of titles.”
“Only issue is that I can’t ride a horse,” he nervously chuckles. “What kind of knight can’t ride a horse?”
“Batman?” you smirk. “He is the Dark Knight. No horse involved.”
“I don’t have my license, either,” he smiles softly. “No Batmobile for ole Steven with a ‘V’.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter.” You swallow hard. “I don’t think you’ll ever be able to understand just how much it means to me, what you did.”
“Honestly, (Y/N), don’t even think about it.” He pinches the air in front of your forehead and throws an invisible something behind him. “See, out of mind.”
You give him a smile, your eyes gazing behind him and properly registering how many books he has. They catch my attention and you stand, your fingertips running over the spines.
“Wow,” you chuckle. “These are amazing.”
“You think so?” Steve asks, a new light beaming from his face. He gets up and joins you by the shelves, telling you all about the books and their contents. He grabs a few of them and you both sit back down on the couch, going through them together as Steven passionately tells you about Egypt. You listen attentively as he speaks, continuing to sip on your tea as he goes on, but your eyes eventually grow heavy.
“Oh, bugger,” he sighs as he looks at his watch. “I’ve talked your ear off for hours.”
“No, Steven, I’ve really enjoyed it. I love seeing you this happy about things,” you tell him. “I just don’t usually stay awake until—.” My eyes work to focus on the clock. “—1:14.”
“Well, then, I think it’s time you kip down, yeah?” he says with a tender smile. “I’ll grab you somethin’ to use for jammies. The bathroom is right over there, and there’s some extra toiletries and things in that tall side cupboard.”
Following Steven’s instructions, you freshen up. As you spit out the toothpaste in the sink, he gently knocks on the door. 
“I’ve got you a long sleeve and some loungers,” he announces through the door. “They’ll probably be a little roomy on you, but better than work clothes, yeah?”
You open the door and see Steven already changed into his pajamas. “Thank you, Steven,” you tell him softly as you take the clothes from his hands. He nods and leaves you be, and soon, you are out of the bathroom, placing your clothes on the seat of one of the chairs in the kitchen. Steven sits on the sofa, his reading glasses on as he curls towards the table lamp.
“Are you sure I can take the mattress?” you ask.
“Of course you can,” he smiles softly as he raises his book. “I’ve got Mr. Alexander the Great to keep me occupied.”
You can’t help but adore this man. He’s patient, kind, and so caring. As you walk to the bed, you detour behind the couch and place a kiss on top of his curly hair.
“Thank you,” you tell him as the air grows thick with nerves. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“G’night,” he says, his voice barely audible in the silent apartment.
Moving to the bed, you slide under the covers, letting the scent of Steven completely devour you. Not only is he in the clothes, he’s in the pillow, sheets—he’s in the wooden shelves behind the bed. You roll to your side and nestle your face into the pillows, taking in a deep breath to get as much of the smell of him as you can. It’s incredibly soothing, but every time you try to go to sleep, a fear radiates through your body and scares you awake. 
“Steven?” you ask, sitting up on the mattress.
“Mm?” he hums, gazing at you over his glasses as he lowers the pages of the book.
“Would you mind sitting with me until I feel asleep? It just feels like something is gonna grab onto me and suck me away.”
Steven knits his eyebrows together in tender concern, nodding his head as he drops the book in his hands, moving across the studio to slide in next to you on the mattress so he can hold you like earlier. You snuggle down on the mattress and rest your head on his chest, hearing his heartbeat as loud and clear as a steady drum.
“You know, the ironic thing is, I was finally starting to make peace with it. I hadn’t thought about it in years. And then he comes in, and it’s like I’m in the thick of it all over again.”
“You’re safe,” Steven softly assures you as he adjusts his wrapped arms around your body. “I promise you.”
You lie there in silence for a few minutes, the warmth of his body and the beat of his heart help keep you present and not sliding into memories you have worked to suppress.
“Have I ever told you about the greatest love story in all of Ancient Egypt?” he says quietly.
“No,” you say as you nuzzle your head into his chest.
Steven’s thumb begins to rub up and down your arm absentmindedly. 
“One day, Osiris came down to Egypt to rule as Pharaoh; he was wise and powerful, and he helped Egypt prosper. His brother, Set, was jealous, so he arranged for a beautifully decorated and adorned sarcophagus to be made that fit his brother. That night, Set threw a big party where his brother was the guest of honor, and there was this game to fit in the sarcophagus. Once Osiris got in, Set slammed the lid shut and brought it down to the Nile and dumped it in. Isis grabbed her baby son, Horus, and got the hell out of dodge before they could get hurt. Once they were safe, she scoured the Nile to to look for the sarcophagus. Now here, tellin’s of the myth don’t line up exactly, but in some form or another Osiris’ body is found and it’s in fourteen separate pieces, so Isis and Nepthys put him back together to do the proper burial rituals and create the mummification process. The only issue is is that he’s missin’ his . . . well, little pharaoh, so Isis makes a temporary replacement. Once they’ve reverse Humpty-Dumpty’d Osiris, he comes back to life. But since he’s both alive and kind of dead, he becomes ruler of the underworld. Isis’ love and devotion to Osiris was so powerful, she wouldn’t even let death get in her way. It’s beautiful.”
“It makes you wonder if that kind of love still exists,” you say, just above a whisper.
“Of course it does. When you find the right person, that is. I guess half the trouble is finding that person, innit? But then it’s all worth it when you do.”
“If you do.”
“Don’t think like that. Of course you will find the right person. It’s me who oughta be worried.”
The silence is loud, and you swallow hard. “I’d search the Nile for your sarcophagus,” you confess. It sounds utterly morbid, but the sentiment behind it is genuine. You love Steven, and you have for probably as long as you have known him. You feel Steven’s breath hitch and can hear his heart begin racing before he places a careful cheek on the top of your head. 
“I think I’d do just about anythin’ for you,” he breathes.
Your heart flutters, and as much as you want to hold him, kiss his lips, pour out your heart to him, you just can’t do it. Not after how this day has gone. You’d never want Steven to think you’re advancing onto him because of your own trauma. You turn your body around and bury a majority of your face into his soft waffle shirt. Oh, it smells amazing. It smells like him—sandalwood, vanilla, and old books. You want nothing more than for this smell to fill your lungs until they overflow, all your senses being absorbed into Steven.
She looks so beautiful.
I know. I love her.
I know. I do, too.
But we can’t exactly tell her that now.
Well, yeah, not now. Thank you, for earlier.
You know I’d do anything for her. Just like you would.
Steven shifts his gaze down to look at the top of her head. Her hair looks so shiny, she’s so warm, and she smells so good. If this was the moment that he died, he’d be fine with it; holding onto her, feeling the rise and fall of her chest against his body, inhaling nostril fulls of just pure you . . . His heart races when you give him hugs, and you lying on him is like a hug on steroids. He feels euphoric.
I feel like my heart is gonna burst straight out of my chest if I don’t tell her. No one has ever made me feel like this.
Steven—.
I know, but, it feel like I’m leading her on—manipulating her. It’s not fair to her. She should know. She should know about you, too.
I agree, but, she’s been through a lot today. You know that, I know that, Khonshu knows that. We just . . . we need to wait.
“Steven?” you ask quietly, your voice slightly muffled by his shirt.
“Yea?” he asks. He sounds almost taken off guard.
“I love you,” you admit. If not now, you don’t think you’ll ever have the guts to tell him. “I have for a while. And after everything that happened today, well, I want you to know. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
The longer Steven stays silent, the worse you feel. You’ve ruined it. You’ve ruined it all, and you’re gonna lose the most incredible, kind, and loving man you have ever met because you told him you’ve been in love with him since you met him.
“Why me?” he breathes, his voice mixed with shock and awe. “I’m . . . I work at a gift shop.”
You move out of his hold and look at him, your heart hurting at the sentiment.
“You can’t really think that’s all you are, Steven,” you say softly. Now you want to cry for a different reason.
“You’re just so, personable and wonderful and kind and intelligent,” he responds. “I just don’t understand why you see me like that.”
Tears pick at your eyes. “Because you saw me when I felt invisible. You were kind to me when you didn’t have to be. You care so much. There’s no one else like you, Steven. I’ve never felt safer with anybody in my life than I do with you.” You close your eyes and take a breath. “I should have said something sooner, and I—.”
You don’t get to finish your sentence. Steven cuts you off with the biggest, tightest of hugs. One arm is firmly wrapped around your waist while the other is gripped firmly around the back of your neck. He buries his face in the crook of your neck, the warmth of his breath feeling so comforting on your skin. You hold him back just as tightly, afraid to let him slip away.
“I love you so much,” he mutters into your skin. “I didn’t want to lose you, so I’ve said nothing for years, and for years I’ve regretted it when I come home from work. I try to tell you every day, and every day you take my breath away so much, I bloody well lose my nerve. I’m sorry I never told you.”
You inhale his scent and play with the hair at the nape of his neck. You want to absorb Steven into your body. This man is unlike any human you have ever met, and he feels the same way about you that you do him.
“Steven?” you ask into his shoulder. “Can you . . . Can you stay with me tonight?”
He runs a hand over your hair to smooth down the locks.
“Of course,” he whispers. “Come on, then.”
Keeping a tight hold on you, he slowly lies you down on the mattress, resting you on the pillows and pulling the blankets over your bodies. If you felt comforted in Steven’s sheets before, you’re now the epitome of tranquil as you lie with him in bed, letting your eyes close as you fall asleep on his chest.
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theemissuniverse · 6 months
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“TIME OUT” RAIDEN X COMEDIC RELIEF FEM!READER
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SUMMARY : I cannot stop laughing at this idea. All y’all need to know is that it’s based off THAT Drake and Josh episode. Also reader has a big crush on Raiden and Raiden does feel the same way but he’s more chill about it
WARNING : slight implication of smut so minors don’t interact
MASTERLIST
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You and Raiden had finally finished building the wooded shed for the monks to hang the garments on.
Raiden dusted his hands off. “Alright. We’re done. I just got to go down and get the-“ He was walking to where he thought the door was. His body collided with the wooden wall. Raiden stood there confused. He then saw the problem.
You were suppose to cut the damn door out with the power saw but you did not. All you did was draw a door on the wood.
Raiden blinked his eyes as he could not believe you didn’t do the one thing he had asked you to do because he was the one that was doing all the work. He slowly turned to you. “(Y/N)…”
You saw the angry expression that was on Raiden’s face and you shrugged. “What?”
“Where’s the door hole?”
You pointed like it was obvious. “It goes right there. I drew it with magic marker.”
“You were suppose to cut it out with the power saw.”
“I’m gonna!”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah!”
Raiden motioned for you to try and leave. “So go get the power saw.”
“Okay I will.” You said to him while walking. “Sheesh. Grouchy much?” Your face planted on the door. You stood there confused. Why did it not open? You placed your hands on the wooded wall, trying to push it. You then looked around to see if there was a way out, there wasn’t.
You nodded, now understanding Raiden’s anger. “I see the problem.”
“Oh do you?”
“How do we get out of here?”
Raiden noticed a tiny hole that was cut out to be like a window. He stuck his head out a little and saw Johnny and Kung Lao walking by. “Johnny! Kung Lao!” They turned to him. “I need you to get me the saw.”
Johnny looked at him confused. “Why?”
“Because (Y/N) forgot to cut the door out and we’re trapped.”
“Oh!” You placed your hands on your hips. “So you’re blaming me? You know, I shouldn’t even be in here! I’m a woman!”
“I’m not blaming you.” Raiden told you. When he seen the look on your face, he rephrased it. “Okay I am blaming you but only a little bit.”
Johnny thought this was a perfect idea for you two to be alone together. He knew that you had the biggest crush on Raiden so now would be your chance. “Oh..we would hand you the power saw but..we can’t.”
Kung Lao turned to him confused. “We can’t?”
Johnny nudged him. “No, we can’t because we gotta be at that thing.”
Kung Lao understood what Johnny was doing. “Ohhh. Yeah. That one thing. We’re getting snow cones.”
“Yeah. Sorry.”
Raiden gave them a look through the hole. “It’s literally right there. You can just hand it to me.” The two of them looked at each other and ran away. “Johnny! Kung Lao!”
“Bring me a snow cone!” You yelled out.
Raiden sighed. “Now what are we going to do?”
You brushed it off. “Relax. We’ll be fine. We’re Earthrealm’s champions. We can handle a little claustrophobia.”
FIVE MINUTES LATER…
“I CAN’T HANDLE CLAUSTROPHOBIA!!!” Raiden watched you scream as you ran all over the place (or at least you tried since the space was so small.) He had his head in his hands, shaking his head.
You stopped in a corner and felt the walls. You started to hyperventilate. “The walls are closing in. The walls are closing in!”
Raiden grabbed a hold of your shoulders and brought you into his chest. Your back was facing his chest. “The walls are not closing in. I’m sure Lord Liu Kang will find us and we will be fine.”
You giggled like a school girl at his touch. “Yes. We will be fine.”
Raiden felt your hand reach lower and lower to his private area and when you made it there, he raised a brow. “(Y/N)?”
“Yes, Raiden?”
Before he could say something, the two of you heard noises. Raiden walked over to the hole and saw Johnny and Kung Lao eating snow cones. “Are you two going to let us out now?”
“No.” Kung Lao said before handing Raiden a snow cone. “But we got (Y/N) a snow cone.”
Raiden examined it in his hands and you cheered, clapping your hands. “Yay! Snow cones.” You took it from him and started to eat it.
Raiden looked around him as if everyone was crazy except him. “Am I the only sane one here?”
“We’ll let you and (Y/N) decide that. Bye.” Johnny told him and they walked away again.
“By the Elder Gods…” Raiden mumbled. He started to undo the button on his clothes. “It’s getting hot in here.”
You nodded, practically drooling of the imagination of Raiden having his shirt off as you ate your snow cone. “Yeah. We should both honestly just get naked. You know, to prevent heat exhaustion.”
“Yeah..” Then he realized what you said. “Wait what?”
TEN MINUTES LATER…
Raiden was falling asleep. You were playing a game on your phone. You yelled out when you lost the level. “Fuck you! Stupid train.”
Raiden woke up. He rubbed his eyes a little and saw you on your phone. He immediately stood up. “You had your phone on you the entire time?!”
“Yeah. Why?”
“We could’ve called somebody to let us out, that’s why. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“You didn’t ask.” You said simply. Then your phone died. “Dammit. Stupid IPhone.” Raiden slowly was starting to lose his sanity. He rubbed his temples to try to make the irritation go away. “Something tells me you’re upset.”
You stood up from the ground and all Raiden did was sigh. “Elder Gods, if you can hear me, please get me-“
“SPIDER!” You shouted and immediately clutched onto Raiden.
Raiden looked down to the ground and stomped on it with his foot. “It’s gone.”
You didn’t let go. You continued to snuggle against him and sighed dreamily. “You’re so warm.”
“Um, thank you?”
TWENTY MINUTES LATER…
You and Raiden were sitting next to each other. You were playing with a hair tie. Raiden was playing with a rock. “I didn’t think a human being could get this bored.” He said.
You shrugged. “You want to make out?”
Raiden gave you a look.
FIVE MINUTES LATER…
Raiden cupped the right side of your face as he kissed you. You cupped the left side of his face. Your stomach was doing cartwheels.
He had to admit, you were a good kisser. He gently laid you down and got on top of you, still kissing you.
You pulled away and started kissing his neck. Raiden moaned slightly. His hand was about to slide in your pants so he could play with your clit.
They heard the power saw turn on. The two of you immediately pulled away.
Johnny had cut out the door. “Hey, kiddos. Thought it was time to let you out of jail.” He looked at the two of you and you two were fixing yourselves. He gasped, putting two and two together. “No way!” He looked away. “Kung Lao! It totally worked! They were going at it.”
Raiden rolled his eyes slightly and stood up and walked out. “Finally.”
Johnny turned to you and winked at you and you laughed.
Well that was something.
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TAGGING : @zhivaxo , @sinclxirx , @roseflowerbed12 , @daeneeryss , @blexel
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hallowpen · 1 month
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The plan was to start watching The Sign by divvying up the series into two episodes per day until I could finish. Well…that plan went completely out the window and I ended up binge watching the entire thing in one go. So, as I try to gather my thoughts, I wanted to sort of get my feelings out there on what I thought was an incredible show before I finally unfilter the tags (as to avoid any outside influence on my opinion).
Let me preface this by saying that this is going to be an incredibly bias opinion given my cultural upbringing and background (I'm half-Thai and I've spent almost half of my life living in Thailand), so please take that into account before reading any further. I metaphorically removed my western-lensed glasses while watching this series and preferred to watch as a Thai viewer, which probably made the more confusing or difficult parts of the show a lot easier to swallow. So, yes, I will admit that the show was not perfect by any means, but I was able to overlook a lot of its shortcomings given the parts that had been done so well and what this series could mean for Thai QL media going forward.
My goddess, where do I even start…
I'm a sucker for the reincarnated/fated lovers trope, so the show had me before it even started. What I absolutely loved the most about the romance and the A+ chemistry was that it didn't dominate or singularly drive the story, which was refreshing to see. It gave room to explore the fantasy/mythological elements of the show, the investigatory plotlines (which we'll get to later), and the relationships of the characters surrounding the "main leads".
Episode 3, my beloved, was what solidified my trust in this series and served as the foundation for the personalized experience I curated in my continued viewing. First off (and a bit of a side note), seeing Yoshi show up as Sand just made my heart super happy. I've been following her off and on since 2018, and she was one of the only things I actually liked about หมอ มือ ใหม่… but I digress. Behind the main story (and maybe even because of it), this episode was, for all intents and purposes, a love letter to Thai culture and its religious mythology. Which, when you consider how much international draw a BL series can hold, is truly momentous. International viewers got to experience the Bang Fai Phayanak (the naga fireball festival) that occurs every Wan Ok Phansa (the last day of what is considered Buddhist Lent) and the significance it holds over Thai history and culture. Using this as the stepping stone to establish the importance of the series' reliance on naga folklore…brilliant! The episode was also the viewers' introduction to the Buddhist idea of the cyclical intermingling of karmic fates. How the implications of an interdependence on one fate more than the others would later define the relationship between Phaya, Tharn, and Chalothorn…genius! All of this!? In one episode…of a BL!? I was overwhelmed by a sense of cultural gratitude and pride, that I still can't quite shake. I think Saint knew exactly what he was doing when he chose to adapt this series and I love him even more for it.
Aside from the cultural dependency and relevance, the show delivered so much beyond that as well. The production quality sailed high above previous BL standards and, in turn, lent itself to beautiful visuals and cinematography.
The casting! Billy and Babe's chemistry was just so *chef's kiss*. I knew Billy would absolutely smash it in the role of Phaya, but I often forgot that this was Babe's first ever acting role. It was an undertaking, that you could tell, he did not take lightly. Heng!? Wow! What a performance! He's been a staple in every Idol Factory series thus far, but he really nailed the purely villainous role of Chalothorn. Gap as Yai? No notes. He was able to flesh out what could have been a very one-dimensional character. Tack and Poom as Khem and Thongtai were a welcome levity inbetween, what was otherwise, a more weighty plot.
If I had to address any gripes I had with the series, there were only two that really stood out:
1) I wish the moments/conversations between Tharn and Chalothorn that eventually led to Tharn's return hadn't happened off-screen. There was a lot left to be resolved that could have been explored in that instance. But using my own inference based on Tharn as a character, his relationship with Chalothorn, and the core of his personality, I could kind of piece together how that ending came to be.
2)The lesser intriguing elements of the investigation storylines were shaky, at best. (If you were looking for the show to have a firm western-influenced ACAB agenda, then I'm sorry to say you were setting yourself up for disappointment. As much as I selfishly wanted it to be, this series was never going to be that show, it's a Thai drama.) From a Thai perspective, it made sense that the "copaganda" aspect of the series focused on the incompetency and inefficiency of a police force where justice is often informed by wealth and greed. I got an idea of what the show's stance on the matter was supposed to be but the overall plot and its consistency got lost somewhere within the final execution.
Other than that, I was left feeling satisfyingly content with where the series landed and I will continue to highly recommend it. It's easily one on my top five favorite Thai BL dramas and just Thai dramas in general! And…
There is such a rich history of mythology and folklore left for the show to still sink its teeth into: the garuda of it all, the pre-existing feud between the naga and garuda and why that is… Aside from a few minor specificities that were missing from naga folklore (their exclusion didn't really detract from anything, but it could have served to benefit non-Thai viewers), all of that could be addressed in a second season. Which, at this point, seems pretty likely 🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾 and would be HUGE in the BL world.
PLEASE, LET IT HAPPEN! 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
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room-surprise · 3 months
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Delicious in Dungeon Anime Season 1, Episode 2 Review
Spoilers for season 1, episode 2 below the cut! There may also be mild manga spoilers so proceed with caution.
This episode was great! I think it was a big improvement on the first. Honestly no real complaints... I do kind of wish both Marcille and Chilchuck could have had stand-alone episodes dedicated to their character development, to allow for a deeper focus, but I understand why they didn't do it, and the pacing was still excellent. I do still sometimes feel like the show is in fast-forward at times, because with 3 meals in one episode, it feels like the characters finish eating, and we jump cut to them saying that they're hungry again, without anything to help really impress upon viewers that time has passed. Makes it feel a bit like we're reading a collection of short 4-panel gag comics instead of a continuing story… which, early Dungeon Meshi DOES have that as part of it's format, but it changes with time, as we get into longer individual stories.
During the Basilisk/Doni and FIonil section, I really do miss some of the dry humor from the manga. ("Hurry, he's getting cold!" "Move him closer to the fire!") The hilarity of slowly preparing a meal while someone is dying of poison has unfortunately been lost, which makes Doni and Fionil much less memorable characters…. But it benefits the other 2 stories in the ep to have more time so I think it was the right choice to make. It also gives people something to go back and read the manga for, since it's a little different! If you're reading this and you're an anime only, consider reading the manga while you watch the anime! I promise it's worth it. I'm excited about next week because I think they'll devote the entire episode to Laios and the living armors, which is me and my spouse's favorite early DM storyline, and the part where we both said "Oh, I LOVE this manga..." and got really invested. It's 2 chapters in the manga so it could be an entire episode…. which also would make sense, if that's why they needed to crunch 3 chapters into episode 2. Just like the first episode, animation was fantastic, and as usual the weakest points are when characters are just walking or talking and not doing much. Everything more dynamic is just bouncy and adorable and full of life. Very rarely is anything animated in a dull or flat way. They're doing their best to use "move a drawing around" or "zoom on a drawing" for comic effect and I think it's working well so far. There's some great animal animation in this episode, the bat flying around and the basilisk chasing Marcille in particular. Translation was better this time around, no dumb modern or game references in the dub ("newbs" "as if" etc.) … But there are differences between the subtitles and the dub script that change how easy it is to understand what's happening. When Senshi tells Chilchuck to cut up the giant bat, the subtitles make it hard to understand what he's telling him to do, and the dub makes it a lot clearer. In the subs when Senshi calls Chilchuck a half-foot child, the subtitles say "I'm not a child" and the dub says "I hate it when people call me 'kid'"… The latter is more interesting for keeping the mystery going for things that happen later in the story. If the show continues like this, I think the English dub may be the more satisfying way to watch it (even though the Japanese performances are great), mostly because the subs are very literal and sometimes miss things that the English dub somehow manages to include. And for some reason Netflix isn't including translation of Japanese signs on-screen during the subtitles, but they DO provide them when you watch the English dub. A lot of Dungeon Meshi's humor is sometimes in those background signs so completely missing out on them sucks. Anyway those are my thoughts for this episode! See you next week Meshiheads.
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xb-squaredx · 20 days
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A Tribute to Akira Toriyama
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It’s been a bit over 24 hours since I’ve heard the news that acclaimed manga author, Akira Toriyama, has passed away, and frankly it’s still hard to process. I’d like to just say a few things to honor and mourn a man that I have never met, but whose work touched me and millions of others all over the world in ways I am only now really beginning to see.
Like a lot of 90s kids in the United States, my first exposure with Toriyama’s work was through the Dragon Ball Z anime. Despite the fact that I didn’t even know this was a sequel to a completely different series, and I had no real clue what anime even was at the time, I was captivated. For years I would race home from school and sit glued in front of the TV as Toonami would air the latest episodes. A phenomenon that rippled out across the world for several years in waves, from the original airing of DBZ, to some snippets of the original Dragon Ball and even later on with the anime-only continuation that was Dragon Ball GT, this series had such a hold on me. Friends and I would spend recess trying to recreate the iconic Kamehameha Wave, we’d scream trying to become a Super Saiyan, or take turns fighting each other in one of the MANY different video games based on the series over time. I’ve made friends through my love of Dragon Ball and it would go on to foster a love of anime and later manga. But little did I know just how far Toriyama’s influence would reach.
While I was never all that knowledgeable of his past work, particularly Dr. Slump, so many other series would be inspired by him or have his involvement in some way. Sonic the Hedgehog’s Super Sonic is an easy reference to spot, but less so was Cloud Strife’s garb in Final Fantasy VII being a dead ringer for Gohan’s outfit in the Cell Saga. As long as we’re talking about RPGs, Toriyama’s long history with various properties, from Chrono Trigger to Blue Dragon, and going back to the grandfather of all RPGS in Dragon Quest, it’s safe to say his legacy is felt in multiple mediums rather than just one. This wasn’t even limited to Japanese media either. I would see references to Dragon Ball in things like The Powerpuff Girls or Codename: Kids Next Door. Even well into my 20s, I was still seeing series inspired by him, like the whole fusion concept that made up Steven Universe. His reach was vast and multigenerational.
As I would get older, I would listen to Linkin Park AMVs on YouTube, with songs like Numb or In the End overlaid over the various hypest moments from the Dragon Ball series and its later movies. Even long after the series had finished airing, you’d still see the rare movie or special crop up, alongside an endless series of games trying to capitalize on the success of the Budokai Tenkaichi games. Toriyama was inescapable, and in a way it was comforting. You start to get used to his work being there, whether subtly or overtly. You never think about the day when he’ll be gone.
When first reading the article stating his death, it took a moment to really let it sink in. This man who had been with me, inspiring me throughout my childhood, was gone just like that. Over the past day I’ve seen the greater Internet in mourning, as people share their favorite manga panels, or iconic moments from the various anime interpretations of his work. Outpourings of fanart and inspirational stories from people who grew up with his work just like I did. There are people that got into bodybuilding to be just like Goku, for one. For another, during the finale of Dragon Ball Super there were massive watch parties set up in Mexico and even when authorities tried to stop the events they went forward anyway because they just had to see how Goku could finally defeat Jiren. I remember when Trunks first appeared in the anime, and I thought he was the coolest. I had to try to draw and replicate his first appearance, how he defeated Frieza, the person that took Goku so long to defeat, in a mere instant; I’m realizing now Toriyama might have been my real inspiration to start drawing, alongside who knows how many thousands if not millions of people. As sad as it is to see him go, to see so many people pay tribute and remember him, it really does lay bare just how influential he was, just how powerful art can really be.
It was only in more recent years that I’ve come to really respect Toriyama’s craft. Far beyond the screaming and power ups that many associate with him from Dragon Ball Z this was also a man who valued whimsy. He got his start as a comedy author, and for the longest time the Dragon Ball manga was just a humorous retelling of Journey to the West. The man loved a good bit of toilet humor and the occasional fourth wall break. Looking back at his manga, you can see just how amazing his panel work was, and how it still holds up. The ease at which he guides your eye from panel to panel, the expressiveness of his characters conveyed at all times. Many of his peers have called him a God of Manga, and I think they’re right to do so. The likes of Osamu Tezuka, the creator of manga, had called Toriyama his heir apparent, and stated he was “almost too good.” You can’t get higher praise than that.
Outside of his manga work, just his raw talent at creating iconic character designs needs to be praised. Taking a rather uninteresting mockup of the slime enemy in Dragon Quest, Toriyama would create perhaps the most iconic enemy in all of video games. His enemy designs are often cute and goofy, but occasionally can be quite ferocious. If nothing else, they are eye-catching and never boring. He was also a fan of vehicles and machines, with some really interesting modes of transportation shown off in a lot of his work. And then there’s the fact that so many of his characters have the trademark spikey haircut that has become shorthand for “anime hair,” that is understood to this day. To see him effectively retire after finishing with Dragon Ball back in the 90s, with the occasional contribution here or there, only to get right back to business as usual in the 2010s with amazing designs like Beerus or Android 21, not to mention his continual work on the Dragon Quest series all throughout that time…the man never lost his edge even once.
A sentiment I’ve seen over the last day or so is that Toriyama might, with no exaggeration, have inspired more artists than anyone else in modern history. So many people making their own “Saiyan-sonas” or being inspired to make manga of their own…we may truly never know how far his reach really was at the end of the day. But we do know that the “Big Three” of Shonen Jump throughout the 2000s can be attributed to Toriyama, as the likes of Eiichiro Oda, Masashi Kishimoto and Tite Kubo are all big fans of Toriyama, with Oda in particular worshiping the ground he walks on. Kubo is also on the record for stating that a letter from Toriyama, when his first draft of what would later become BLEACH was rejected, gave him the encouragement to try again and later be accepted into the magazine. And now these authors have gone on to inspire the next generation and so on and so on.
Over the last few years, we’ve lost a lot of creative figures in the manga industry. Toriyama now joins other similar legends, such as Yu-Gi-Oh creator Kazuki Takahashi as well as Berserk author Kentaro Miura. It is the end of an era, arguably of many eras, and it can be hard to imagine the future, but the Earth continues to spin and as Toriyama has inspired and influenced others, we too will inspire future generations with our work. It isn’t enough to call him a legend; he truly was in a league of his own, a legend among legends, and the outpouring of love for him across all manner of social media posts in just a little over a day alone is a testament to his immense talent and reach. I can think of no greater sendoff than the one that Eiichiro Oda gave him: “I pray for his soulful rest in peace. May heaven be the joyous world he envisioned.”
Rest in peace, and thanks for everything, Mr. Toriyama.
-B
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khaleesa · 8 months
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Writing prompts: 11!
I haven't written a word since I finished Guidance Counseling, but this prompt ("just once") finally inspired me! Thank you for submitting it! And thanks to @bratanimus for giving it a once-over. <3
==
Tomorrowland
The rocketship slide, layered with decades of chipped paint and rust, would've been a better vantage point to watch the Creel house for the signal, but Chrissy couldn't bring herself to approach it. Eddie, on the other hand, thundered up the metal slide like an overgrown boy showing off on the playground--which was probably exactly what he was doing. Goofball. She had no such urge and was drawn instead to the ramshackle picnic table tucked beneath the sheltering canopy of the old sugar maples, near a light post that she hoped to God still worked. It would be dark soon. 
In spite of the very serious--not to mention scary--circumstances that brought them here, she felt a smile tug at the corner of her lips as she watched Eddie flail and narrowly avoid falling off the top of the slide when he attempted to crouch beneath the child-sized opening of the rocket. The hatch? It was so weird how they barely knew each other--had never talked before last Friday--but somehow he could make her feel comfortable even in truly uncomfortable situations. 
He bumped his forehead on a metal bar, swore, and rubbed it dramatically as he turned to face her. 
"Laughing at my misery, Cunningham?" he called down to her. "I knew it--you're a sadist!"
"I am not!" Chrissy retorted, groaning inwardly at how lame that sounded. 
They should probably be more quiet; the team inside had planned on absolute silence until the time came to draw out Vecna. Could he hear beyond the dilapidated walls of the old house? 
A shudder rippled down Chrissy's spine. She didn't want to think about Vecna yet. It was hard not to, though, with the darkened windows of the run-down house staring like hollow eyes in skeleton faces. She was glad she wasn't looking at them dead-on. She didn't like how they seemed to be fixed on Eddie. 
Scary as it was, the Creel house also made her feel heavy with sadness. Once upon a time, it had been pretty. Ladies wearing dresses with puffed sleeves and trailing skirts and hair pinned up in elegant styles had sipped tea in the front parlor, while children in lacy pinafores and knickerbockers played in the garden. Later, in the fifties probably, someone had built the space-age playground. It would've looked a little like Disneyland, with pastel Victorian Main Street, USA perched just around the corner from Tomorrowland. There was nothing magical about this, however--except for back magic. The Unhappiest Place on Earth. 
"You okay?"
Chrissy's gaze darted from the house back to the slide, where Eddie stood at the top of the stairs, frozen with that same look of concern that had taken her so much by surprise that day in the forest. You okay? he'd asked then, too. Other people had asked that since she’d started having her episodes--Jason, her friends on the cheer squad--but Eddie was the first one who'd actually seemed to give a damn, to make her feel like maybe she could explain, and maybe he'd get it.
If he hadn't exactly gotten it then, he definitely did now. Chrissy felt just terrible that she'd dragged him into this horror movie that her life had become. Even if he did work awfully hard to make people think he was mean and scary. 
He didn't look scary now, though. He just looked…scared. Like he thought her eyes might glaze and she'd start levitating again, and this time…No. More things she didn't want to think about right now. 
Maybe she could do what Eddie was so good at. Make him feel comfortable. 
She sat up straight--no easy feat on the bowed and off-balance picnic table bench--shoulders back, chin raised, and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm a little offended that you think I'm a sadist." 
Eddie barked out a laugh and bounded down the slide steps, skipping a few, and over to the opposite side of the picnic table. He slapped his palms on the surface and leaned forward, eyes dark and gazing down at her. Chrissy had read about men flashing lascivious grins before; now, she finally had a real-life picture of what that meant.
"I didn't say sadism was a bad thing." Eddie's grin somehow grew even wider as he waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Did he hear how sharply Chrissy drew in her breath? Could he see the flush that prickled like a sunburn across her cheeks and ears? Thank goodness for the long shadows cast by the sunset, and that the light post over the table still hadn't turned on. She wracked her brain for a clever response, but Eddie leering down at her was too distracting, and she was totally out of her league when it came to knowledge from dirty magazines and movies. Anyway, Eddie seemed thrilled to have rendered her speechless. Somehow, this didn't make her feel dumb, like Jason did when he knew things she didn't. Eddie just got a kick out of scandalizing her, or corrupting her innocence, or something. 
And over the last couple of days, Chrissy was learning she got a kick out of being scandalized, or corrupted, or something by Eddie.
The light mood didn't last long. Eddie's grin faded as he trudged around the picnic table to straddle the bench next to her. For a moment, they contemplated the Creel house in silence. Eerie silence; no doves cooed in the tree limbs above, no crickets chirped in the unmowed playground grass. Chrissy was about to comment on how weird this was, when Eddie spoke, a cigarette clenched between his teeth. 
"Me and the band…" He trailed away as the lighter snicked and the end of the cigarette flared.
Although Chrissy wasn't a fan of stale, old cigarette smell, she liked fresh smoke. Now, it brought the reassurance that she wasn't the only living thing here, that Eddie was warm and alive beside her. She felt herself shifting a little closer to him, her knee bumping one of his.
Pocketing the lighter, Eddie took a drag, then removed the cigarette to exhale, smoke wreathing him as he went on. "We always talked about having this dump as an album cover. Or shooting a music video here. It's creepy as shit."
Chrissy nodded her agreement. "I feel kind of silly for ever thinking the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland is spooky." 
Eddie blew out another puff of smoke. "You've been to Disneyland?" 
"Just once. Have you?"
"Nope." He popped the p definitively; it almost seemed to echo in the quiet of the playground.
"It's probably not your kind of place." 
Eddie sat back, a deep frown tugging at his features, buckling his forehead. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?" 
Chrissy flushed as she realized how that sounded. Not like she'd meant it at all. "Just that it's cheesy fantasy stuff. For kids." 
Eddie's shoulders relaxed, and a grin slanted across his face. "Cunningham. What do you think Dungeons and Dragons is? Honestly, Disneyland sounds right up my alley." 
That wasn't exactly in line with how he and Dustin had explained Dungeons and Dragons to her, but Chrissy was just relieved he wasn't offended anymore. "But you wouldn't think the Haunted Mansion is even a little bit scary," she said. "Not compared to all those movies you like." 
Eddie seemed to consider this as he smoked, turning his head toward the Creel House. "After this week, I think maybe I've had enough horror shit." 
Chrissy's heart gave a squeeze in her chest, but before her guilt could take hold, Eddie's fingers closed around her knee, and she found herself looking into his dark, glittering eyes again. 
"Tell you what," he said. "If I graduate? We're going to Disneyland." 
An image sprang into Chrissy's mind of the two of them strolling toward Sleeping Beauty Castle, Eddie in denim and leather and chains and Mickey Mouse ears. But that wasn't what made Chrissy let out a shriek of delighted laughter, then clap her hand over her mouth lest Vecna hear them or Eddie somehow read her mind and think she was making fun of him. Or it wasn't only that. If I graduate, he'd said, not, If we make it out of this alive. Graduation came after. They would have an after. 
"Not if you graduate, Eddie," she said. "When." 
Eddie smiled--not the maniacal, teeth-baring grin, but biting his lip, ducking his head, hair falling in his face. He leaned in, close enough that Chrissy could smell the cigarette on his breath. She wanted to taste it on his lips. 
"And, uh, if the Haunted Mansion gets too spooky for you…you can…" His tongue darted out to lick his lips. "...hold my hand." 
His gaze dropped, and Chrissy saw his hand had moved from her knee, close to hers on the bench. His pinky touched the side of her hand. She flicked hers out to touch it. 
In the dormer window of the Creel house, a light flashed on, and they both sat up. The signal.
"But I'm the one who'll probably be shitting my pants," Eddie rasped.
Gripped with a sudden courage and decisiveness, Chrissy stood up. "Then you can hold my hand," she said, and twined their fingers together. 
~*~
If you'd like a fic, drop a prompt in my asks!
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theweirdhybrid · 10 months
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SOOOOOOOOOOOO WHAT DID YOU THINK OF SEASON 4!?~
-Abandoned King anon
So answering this is like [ checks watch ] two months late but I finally found a place I could watch it! I'll admit I wasn't spending a whole lotta time looking bc my brain switched to hyperfixating on TMNT instead of LMK, BUT, that doesn't mean my love for the series disappeared!
I'm actually hoping to start working on Into The Wukongverse again after I finish the season :0 I haven't seen the specials yet unfortunately, the website I'm using doesn't have them bc they're not out in english yet I don't think :(
But also, if I start work on Into The Wukongverse again, I'll be working on it alongside my ROTMNT fic "Just This Once, Everybody Lives" because I refuse to abandon that fic. I have vivid stories in my mind for both, and sure, I haven't touched ITTW in... a while, BUT I haven't stopped thinking about it this whole time! I still have the masterpost pinned for a reason! I'll have to go back and redo some of it, but I'm still working on it, I promise!
(this gets long so I'm slapping a read more on this bad boy)
So my initial thoughts when I saw how different the sworn brothers were from the original cast of brothers (i wasn't terribly surprised honestly considering how different LMK already is to the source material) was actually delight! I'd already known about the new demons, since they made book appearances (it's been... a while since I've thought deeply about LMK, I'll be honest, so some lore has slipped from my brain unfortunately) and I can't quite remember if they were part of the og brotherhood or not, but I DO know they were adversaries that Wukong fought later on! So it was really cool to see them animated like that! Makes me wonder what became of the og brotherhood members, tho.
It was honestly a little funny how Azure told MK and Mei not to draw attention to themselves and the first thing they do is try to kidnap Tripitaka after saving him from being eaten XD Honestly, these doofuses... The episodes are very fast paced, but it's understandable considering they're only eleven minutes long
And also...
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Married. Married, holy SHIT they are so married I'm not even joking LOOK AT THIS OH MY GOD also the "I'm your Tangy :(" line- HUSBANDS. MARRIED. OH MY GOD. Literally this was so fucking cute oh my goooOOOOOOOOOOOOD-
Also, the entire thing of "No, Wukong's not my dad. Pigsy's my dad." and MK denying Wukong being his dad w the "If he was my dad don't you think he would've said something by now?" and then Mei shooting back with "Yeah, because he's sooooo forthcoming with information." was AMAZING. It had me looking at my lore for the Wukongverse and going "Yeah that tracks" XD
AND THEN TANG BEING TELEPORTED TO THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN AND BEING OFFERED WATER FROM THE RIVER AND IMMEDIATELY SCREAMING IN TERRORR AND TELEPORTING AWAY WAS FUCKING AMAZING I'M FUCKING CRYINGGGGGG
AND THE- THE BRIEF TELEPORTATION TO NEZHA AND AO BING'S FIGHT?????? HI HELLO I'M GOING FUCKING INSANE
AND THE LADY BONE DEMON CAMEOS...
AND AO LIE!!!!!!!! HEHEHA
I love knowing my JTTW history this is so fucking cool :D
Also, regarding who MK really is, I just wanna say... I FUCKING CALLED IT. I CALLED IT!!! I KNEW, THE MOMENT I SAW MK REVERT TO A STONE EGG IN THE FIRST EPISODE THAT THERE WAS NO WAY HE WASN'T A STONE MONKEY TOO >:D
In fact, depending on how canon fully reveals what's going on MK and his past, I might even be able to say I predicted it w the ITTW lore :p I never did reveal how MK came to be, but I never forgot that piece of lore, so we'll have to see how it holds up to canon, but it looks like my version of the lore is pretty similar to canon but! We'll just have to see :)
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My thoughts on
The Midnight Club (2022)
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I just finished watching The Midnight Club last night and couldn't help feel how it was like a beautiful work of art left unfinished. When I started the show, I was really impressed by the way the foundation was laid but several things were left unexplained but we'll get there later.
First off, let's talk about the true essence of the show; the stories. While I absolutely loved the way the characters expressed their unconscious/concious desires through the stories knowing that they wouldn't come true, that the future they paint will continue to remain trapped behind words, I couldn't help but feel that we could've been introduced to this world in a better way.
By the time we learn about Natsuki's story regarding the Japanese myth, it's already progressed into a "frenzy of jump scares" which completely ruined the atmosphere for me and I found myself wanting it to be over as soon as possible.
The next thing I wish to address is Ilonka's character. She is a complex teen who is unable to accept the terminal nature of her life and that she cannot be saved. Initially, I liked her drive to survive but as the episodes carry on, we see her completely lose herself in the desperate attempt to grasp what's left of her life. Her character itself had multiple flaws which were further enhanced by the fact that so many things about her were left unexplained.
Why was Ilonka having visions?
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Was it because of her medication? Maybe. But it could also, be due to her being most open to the spiritual aspect of the place. She openly sought to achieve wellness through the nature and was engrossed by the past which might've manifested in the form of visions. Maybe her sharing these thoughts with Kevin was the reason for his own visions.
Another aspect of the show I really wanted to see were the stories coming together in the end (as we had in the haunting series) but was really underwhelmed. There were too many plot holes which raised a lot of questions.
Who is Dr. Georgina Stanton?
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In the final episode, her ties to the Paragon are hinted at. I personally found myself drawing ties between her and Regina Ballard (Aceso). Regina, upon performing the ritual had lost her hair which kinda made me think if Stanton had also tried to do the same for her son (resulting in the loss of her hair, being the only survivor).
Who are the old ghosts?
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This really got me scratching my head finding answers. Maybe they're yet again manifestations of the negative emotions arising in the kids but I'm not sure. Also, how is Kevin connected to the old woman and why does Ilonka keep seeing her where Kevin is?
All these are left unanswered which really irks the viewers to know more.
(I have not read the books and all my interpretations are solely based on the show)
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oneofthepowerful · 2 months
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February 10th 2024 - Blog 2
Roughly every week or so, I would like to share some behind the scene progress of my series One of the Powerful, as it has been going through some developments, which we shall be discussing starting with this blog.
Rigging
After hand drawing two, over 10 minute animatic episodes. While storyboarding Episode 3 (which will be heavily action focused) I began thinking about how I could save time drawing as I noticed each episode taking longer and longer to make due to me being a one-man animation team. One of these ideas was creating 2D puppet rigs, that could allow me to pose characters like an action figure. And since I learned how to use control points to rig hair strands in Clip Studio Paint, I thought I could settle with that. As yes, it saves time, however since the program is very limited when it comes to puppet animation, being more of an illustration and frame by frame 2D animation software, I felt like there could be a better way to do what I felt would be best for this series.
I proceeded to study a few cartoons that I noticed used 2D rigged puppet animation, and looked into the software that some of the shows were made in. One that really interested me was Toon Boom Harmony, I saw that some people were able to give the appearance that a character is 3D by using controls even though it was all 2D, like this. I knew I wanted to learn something like this for my series, being able to pose a character’s head in different angles with some adjustment here and there would save so much time!! However, Toon Boom is WAYYY out of my budget sadly, but then I saw that Blender Grease Pencil and its rigging tools could give me a very similar if not the exact same result:
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I’ve used Blender in the past, however only for creating basic camera movements for some of my animations. I had made a donut a couple of years ago but that was just about my experience with the program, my knowledge with Blender is very much limited. However, I was dedicated to try and give this whole rigging idea a chance so I proceeded to watch some tutorials to learn not only 2D rigging, but also Blender’s Grease Pencil, due to it being able to draw with vectors. Over a month later, I thought I’d share my progress:
After learning how to rig an eye, mouth and eyebrow to understand the basics of rigging; I noticed just how time consuming and tedious the whole process is, there is a lot of steps and A LOT of trial and error as anything can go wrong, it can take multiple rigging attempts to get the result you are after. But once you finish a rig, it’s such a rewarding time saver in the long run!
Once I understood the basics of rigging, for the past few weeks I have been chipping away at a 2D rig head turn, following this tutorial series! Using Hoshi as a test, since I thought he would be the easiest out of the main cast to rig, and well… that was until I was drawing out and rigging his hair - I had to really think about how each strand was all layering on top of one another and it was extremely time consuming, however I have got it mostly working now!
Currently, all of Hoshi’s facial features are rigged, this past week or so I’ve been rigging his mouth using what I learned rigging the last one. And it’s decent -but like most of the rig, it needs more refinement, being all a bit unpolished. I have also been having a lot of trouble rigging his lips, as they don’t deform the same way as the mouth rig, causing me having to place the lips manually, every time I change the mouth pose - which is a pain, so I’ve been trying to get it working with little luck at the time of writing. I also need to add in proper controls for the rig to make it more easier to animate, which will be done once everything is rigged and working as it should.
Down below, are some expression tests I did with Hoshi's rig, keep in mind these are all still a work in progress as I mentioned the rig is quite unpolished, however I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!! ^^
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Concepts
While working on the rig, I have been making some minor rewrites, like adding more depth to events and characters in the story of OotP - which at this point in time I cannot speak much on due to heavy spoilers. However, Season 1 may end quite differently than originally planned, the ending being more polished and more organically linking things up, instead of things just coincidently happening. This all leading into season 2 more smoothly! ;)
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Since I’ve been rigging, I’ve been thinking about character design a lot and thought since Episode 1 and 2 are likely going to be remade using 2D puppets for consistency sake. I’ve been wanting to slightly update some character designs, as I’ve barely changed the main casts' civilian designs since 2021 if memory serves me right, and there is somethings I want to change more with Cassidy and Hoshi’s designs - Erin’s design is fine for the time being, but I will change a few minor things like simplify their hair slightly for rigging, however their design changes will come up at a later date.
With Cassidy since she is based off a lion, I had her hair be in a braid to sorta resemble a lion tail.
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However, for her new civilian design I’m considering having her hair more curly and bushy to fit her more happy, chaotic, bubbly personality, and to have it now sort of look like a lion’s mane? Then when she goes into her Powerful State (where a Powerful, someone who has magic, transforms to use their full abilities) I will have her hair transform in a long braid like before! Imagining the transformation for that is super fun!! 😀
I am also considering changing her outfit a little to be more casual and to have it easier to rig? I think changing her colour scheme to fit more with her blonde hair and the whole lion resemblance would be cool, however I might leave that for her powerful state outfit? I’m still figuring out her outfit, but I like the bright colours of the middle illustration (down below) as it fits her loud, outgoing personality!!
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Also did you know that once a Powerful’s magic awakens (this can happen from when they are a child, like Erin’s case, or when they are a teen like Hoshi) it can sometimes alter their appearance when in their civilian form or "disguise", most commonly their hair. For an example, Cassidy used to have dark hair, however once her magic awakened, her hair changed to blonde. However everyone in this world, Powerless or not can be born with any hair colour, or people can choose to dye it. :D
Onto Hoshi, I have drawn some expression tests, being reference for the rig!
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While working on Cassidy’s redesign sketches I thought I’d tweak Hoshi’s outfit a little as well. Without spoiling much, Hoshi wants to become as unnoticeable as possible, like he doesn’t exist (at least in his civilian design). When I designed Hoshi a few years back, I didn’t really flesh out his past or motivations all that much. So now looking at his current design, the contrasting colours of red and green could symbolise his messed up mental and physical state, but I’m not sure how much it really fits him outside of that, and I think the colours also stand out a bit too much for what Hoshi wants. So I’ve been thinking of toning his outfit's colour palette down a bit. I still don’t know if I will get rid of his red jacket as that has stuck with him since the very start back in 2020:
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For rigging, you really want to avoid placing details on joints, and I knew that Hoshi’s knee ripped jeans would most likely make things quite complicated, so I am going to also play around with different designs for that in the near future!!
Down below are a couple of colour variations of a sketch from a potential updated Hoshi design:
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I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on this!! I hope these blogs provide more insight on the progress of the series behind the episodes!!
Thank you all very much for reading! ^^
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floofz · 8 months
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i just finished watching ep five... can i know your thoughts on it
OUGH... so many thoughts my dude... where do i even start...
well first of all this episode completely wrecked me emotionally. domestic violence is always hard to watch, but damn did they do their best to make it as horrible as possible (in a good way! its amazing how studio lan sheds light on these kinds of things happening). the animation - the expressions, the hitting, the bruises - the audio design - god the sounds of the violence alone were so fucking heartwrenching. and then the involvement of the kids too. it was so so painful to watch but it was so incredibly well done.
we finally get to know more about the two siblings (and also confirmation that the two are actually involved! plus that lu guang turns out not to be the good brother in the childrens drawing). the scene with cheng xiaoshi being amused about the brother's behaviour and childish thinking seems funny at first, but when you later see the family situation theyre in, it all just makes so much painful sense. he has all this rage and strong sense of justice in him bc they are growing up in this unstable household full of violence. its heartbreaking.
the boy the brother met at the fountain, i first thought it was a young cheng xiaoshi bc of the haircut, but his voice was very different so now im perplexed. they could just be trying to throw us off here but i cant imagine them picking such a drastically different voice from cheng xiaoshi for him, especially bc we already heard his voice as a kid in s1. now my guess is maybe a young qian jin? it would check out with what we know about younger him. and i mean were 5 episodes in we kinda need to get to all the connections eventually.
now, lu guang and cheng xiaoshi. i've already seen people on reddit talk about how lu guang seems off again this episode. what particularly makes me think though is that one scene where their connection supposedly went "bad". i mean, everything, especially in animation, is very intentional so there must be much more to it. im wondering if someone interfered with their connection. one theory i also saw and thought about it a bit more on my own: what if red eyes - either one of the siblings - somehow possessed lu guang during their dive for a short time, making him unable to talk to cheng xiaoshi on his own, hence the silence. and after that he also doesnt realize he was silent for a while. and bc one of the siblings took hold over him for a sec, they saw what lu guang saw and that would explain why the sister supposedly knows cheng xiaoshi (and wants to talk to him at the police station) and that he was involved with her past through the dive. though i guess she could also know about him from qian jin. idk, I JUST HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.
all in all a fucking fantastic episode but i did have to take a break after watching it. its very emotionally draining. but you can definitely tell the care and thought they put into this.
OH WAIT I ALMOST FORGOT. the little soft expressions and smiles from lu guang when cheng xiaoshi acted cute as xixi in the episode made me explode<3 gdi once again cheng xiaoshi never sees his soft expressions, LU GUANG LOOK AT HIM LIKE THAT WHEN HE CAN SEE.
anyway yeah lots of thoughts 😭 PLS also let me know what you think!!!
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jicklet · 1 year
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Finished the Persona 5 Anime, and I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would!
I definitely wouldn't recommend it to someone as their primary P5 experience, but if you've played the game and are hungry for more, it’s worth checking out!
Most of the fun is in how they connect all these various plots together into a coherent narrative, linking the confidant progressions into what’s happening with the overall plot or character development.
My favorite example of this is in the episode with Yusuke's confidant where he makes his speech at the end about his friends keeping him on track. Ren clearly learns from that, and so later when he gets into a discussion with Akechi about the Phantom Thieves being dangerous, Ren is able to echo Yusuke when he says that as long as the Thieves stay true to their justice, they'll stay on track. It’s a nice way to keep everything moving forward.
Another nice thing is that two infamously problem scenes got (imho) massively improved: the Mona-Ryuji fight, and the Ryuji scene at the end of Shido’s palace. I’ll go into more detail on how after some other stuff under the cut.
Cons 😅
They also threw in some weird extra fanservice moments in the first half, along the lines of generic anime “Ah yes Ann’s ass is talking” moments. Thankfully they seem to drop that in the second... season? half? whatever it is. Basically midway through there’s a new intro and they stop pulling that shit.
Yeah so the animation quality is notttt good, they seem to have been working off Yusuke’s food budget and everything went into making the fight scenes look almost decent. If you watch video essays, this can almost be treated like that; if you have a project to work on it’s nice to have this on to mostly listen to and occasionally look up at. BUT they do some nice stuff with stills, that's how we get things like baby Yusuke and Makoto and Haru, and some extra time of them all actually having fun at Destinyland. ♥
Ren 🙋‍♂️
So our protagonist is both helped and hindered by the medium shift. He does get things to say and I enjoyed that! Overall though he definitely feels less main-character-y with so much else to focus on. He shines in one-on-one scenes, over time you can see him become more comfortable and confident over time, especially once Futaba joins and we get some more time with Sojiro. But in group scenes I honestly tend to forget he's there.
Shippy stuff 💗
You could easily headcanon Ren as ace or gay or just shy. They keep all his relationships platonic and he never really reacts to being flirted with any way except being uncomfortable.
Oh, though if you’re an Akechi or Joker/Akechi fan... yeah just go watch this, trust me.
Most of my Yutaba moments got skipped or cut short, alas but it’s understandable. The real win here was for Ryuann! They're always rushing over to check on each other, and oh man Erica seriously brought it for Ryuji-possibly-died scene. And, speaking of...
Improvements!! 🌟
Mona-Ryuji “fight”: I was dreading getting to this part as I always do, and then... I actually ended up kind of enjoying it?
Part of it was just due to the medium switch, you don't have all that excruciating in-game time as Joker where you're forced to do nothing while something is CLEARLY bugging Morgana. The tighter timeline and focus of the anime does a better job drawing a line directly from the dream/Morgana’s growing insecurities to Morgana lashing out at Ryuji, making it more obvious how much he's projecting.
The game also splits the focus between “The problem is Mona being insecure but also Ryuji’s ego” which muddies things. In the anime, you didn't get everyone crawling up Ryuji's ass about apologizing; Ann could tell Ryuji was worried because they've been friends and she knows him. Ryuji apologizing was his own choice, which put the focus less on “it’s Ryuji’s fault this isn’t getting solved” and more towards dealing with the actual problem of Mona feeling unappreciated. The lesson was more clearly “You weren’t wrong to feel that way, what was wrong was how you handled it,” which made it all hit stronger when everyone came together to be like “hey man we’re sorry we made you feel like that, you absolutely belong here.”
Shido’s palace: They cut the end off!! 🎉🎊🎉 It only showed Ann, Haru, and Futaba crying and yelling at Ryuji, which is fine and believable as them being emotional and worried, cut to Ren, Makoto, and Yusuke watching them, then it ends! Bam, fixed, we’re good.
Conclusion 🎉
So yeah, think of it as supplemental material. If you’re already a Persona 5 fan, I recommend checking it out! If you have a friend who hasn’t played the game... either have them play the game or show them a let’s play or something, don’t use this as an intro, we all know it could be better 😅
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yourubersawcrit · 4 months
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I've been divinely inspired to send asks to others, so here I am. You've sent me some asks about my thoughts on Invincible, so it's about high time I send you some myself. I want to hear all of it; your favorite characters, least favorite characters, thoughts, predictions, the works. Feel free to rant, as I am actively encouraging it. :))))
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I FOUND IT, HUZZAH!!
So! I'll do my best to write my rant as best as I can. Disclaimer for spoilers of the fourth episode of S2 if you haven't watched it, just in case, heh.
First of all, I learned about the series' existence by that meme at the top of this post a friend sent on a chat group we had; he drew fanart as well! After that, some users of another server wanted me to draw a character on that meme pose Omni-man was doing that showed his ass while kneeling —I believe it's still on my art sideblog—.
I wanted to watch it on my own, yet upon realizing I needed a Prime account, I decided to watch it with my parents. The first time I tried, it was night time, and they fell asleep before finishing episode one, which, in the context of the series, it was the best possible outcome for them. In my case, I watched all of it; it was just nice to have a more realistic approach of a young superhero and a family!
And that change of tone? Delightful! I gasped and enjoyed all the graphic details, as well as how much the GotG were hurt upon realizing Nolan was killing their colleagues, their friends.
Time passed, and I forgot about the series until I made my parents watch the Meet the Team videos, to then take advantage of their willingness so we could finish the series.
And oh boy, they did enhance the experience.
I still remember when Debbie said that Nolan was going to come home later for lunch, to then hear a small chuckle from my mother. A little bit of context should be provided, so I'll do that. My father works for the Navy here, and as consequence, he tends to go to other cities or board ships for days, weeks, even months, as well as working late; it has been normalized.
Watching a 17 year old guy wanting to be more than he was able to ever think possible as a 17 year old kid at the time was fascinating, if not sometimes painful. And now Mark is in college, heh. Yeap, the show hit home a few times, more than necessary.
What can I say about S1 overall? It was amazing! The sort of murder mystery tone it got was great to follow since we knew the who, not the why; and watching how Debbie was more and more sure about her theory was entertaining yet heart-stopping, as she was the only person capable of confronting Nolan and getting away with it. She worries me still, I want her to get her catharsis so she feels better; please writers, Debby deserves to be happy. She reminds me of my mother from time to time.
It's interesting how in the comics she is a housewife, yet in the series they decided to give her some agency and make her have a stable job, which may be the reason why they live in that house on the first place! She said “Get out of my house!” for a reason.
Mark, oh Mark. Watching him get physical and mentally damaged was such a journey that I enjoyed until I began caring for him just as with Debbie. He reminded me of another character that I deeply love, Kiana Kaslana, based on the fact that both characters were compared to someone related to them, as well as kept fighting for humanity although there were many reasons to stop doing so; also they are deeply traumatized.
And if the series' writers decide to follow the arc that Mark had in the comics, I may not survive. I'd implode from all the implications of it. TL;DR, let my guy be happy!
Nolan, ah Nolan. My partner thought he was going to be my favorite character, but Mark's existence takes the first place for sure. This man is so fascinating, being one of the strongest beings yet a complete insensitive dum dum goofball at the moment he has to express his honest feelings and thoughts thanks to all those years of Viltrumite indoctrination.
I hope he stops using Mark as a punching bag for his internal struggles. Looking at S1 episode 8 and S2 episode 4, he grabs his son as a ragdoll and yells at him as if that would convince Mark to be by his side? And the way he's feeling empathy now, hahah you fucker, have deep emotions now! It would have been preferable back on Earth, though. I wonder if the other Viltrumites will commit the execution or not.
I like most of the secondary characters, William is on thin ice, though, since he's uncaring of remembering Mark hurtful mistakes he's done, it doesn't seem William is joking sometimes, which confuses me since both characters are good friends and should know what may be a negative memory to the other.
My girl Amber is doing well! Good thing the writers realized that making her get mad at Mark based on his superhero life was not the best idea, resulting in Amber being more understanding on S2.
Eve is isolating herself, and her father kind of pisses me off because the story is quite vague in trying to prove if he's right or just trying to be more realistic, I'm referring to the incident he showed Eve that was wrote on the newspaper.
And the way they convey the concept of being more akin to someone you once saw divine, now showing its true colors, realizing you may go through the same path while everyone else acts if you already were that person, who brought nothing else but pain. It's wonderful.
It's an amazing show that has the privilege of being one of the few that made me care for the characters and their journey. Let's hope it ends with a bang when the time comes.
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Just finished the last episode of His Dark Materials...
And it was really fucking emotional, and I’m going to talk more about it under the readmore - it’s more an overview/me rambling about some of my favourite parts of the series, which has been great, than a traditional episode review (though I will probably do one of those when I rewatch it all) but I will definitely be talking about 3.8 because that was one of the most gut-wrenching finales I’ve ever seen, so if you haven’t seen it, don’t keep reading!
This series has honestly been one of the best I’ve ever watched. Beforehand I didn’t really know that much about it - I was aware of the books’ existence, of course, and I’d watched The Golden Compass many years ago, but all I retained from that was Mrs Coulter being Lyra’s mother, and that there was a giant polar bear that Lyra rode on one time, so it wasn’t like it made that great an impression on me. When the series first aired in 2019 I thought it was amazing - the cast, the characters, the world-building, and I loved the idea of people having daemons and Lyra and Pan’s relationship has been one of my favourites and so wonderful to see because they really do love each other.
Lyra was - along with The Witcher’s Jaskier a few months later - one of the first characters in which I truly understood just what people meant when they described a character as feral. This scrappy, feisty girl who snuck up onto the roof with her best friend and who questioned things and who didn’t take any shit was a breath of fresh air, and Dafne Keen is definitely a rising star and I look forward to seeing her in more things. The Magisterium have been a consistently sinister and quite frankly terrifying villain throughout - the fact that they were prepared to murder children in some quest to erase free will...that was scary, and very real, and really showed the dangers of authoritarianism.
I have loved the running theme of nearly every adult Lyra comes across wanting to adopt her - or at least being far better than her bio parents were - was one I really loved, especially the father-daughter relationship she had with Lee Scoresby (who ranks in the top 5 characters, to be honest, Lin-Manuel Miranda has been so good), and of course Mary and Serafina and Iorek, to name a few. I have espeicaly loved the trend of nearly every other adult who’s met or heard of Lyra calling out Asriel and Mrs Coulter for their shitty actions, whether they confront them in person or not, and yet at the same time I have to talk about the complex relationship with her parents, and her parents themselves.
Now, obviously throughout S1 I only rooted against Mrs Coulter - Ruth Wilson has been a force of nature  and S1 showcased how far she was prepared to go, given that she helped create the daemon-severing technology, and snatched up orphans and any unfortunate stray child to test it on. Like from jump you’re shown she’s not a good person, and across three seasons she has been cold and manipulative - she loves her daughter but keeps on hurting her - but Asriel was perhaps the biggest shock for me - like he was an absent parent because of his quest for Dust, but he was played by James McAvoy and for seven episodes there was the assumption that since Lyra knows he’s her bio dad that any reunion would go well.
And then it doesn’t. Asriel isn’t interested in getting to know her, murders Roger without remorse to open the portal, and the end of episode 7 showed that he was in fact prepared to murder Lyra too, if Roger or some other kid hadn’t showed up - he didn’t want her there because he knew what he’d have to do, and since then I have hated him; like the acting and the character’s arc has been great, but he crossed a line and while part of me kind of wanted a confrontation with Lyra in S3, I understood why they didn’t because that is much more in character. Lyra’s complete disownment of him was all you needed, because there could never have been any reconciliation. Lyra draws a comparision between him and Marisa and she’s right - they’re both ruthless and prepared to do anything to meet their goals, and unwilling to admit their mistakes.
Yet one of the best parts regarding her parents has been the complexity of their feelings for Lyra, and that whatever love they have doesn’t change anything, nor is it what Lyra needs. Marisa keeps trying to build a bridge with Lyra despite Lyra repeatedly refusing her attempts for good reason - even going so far as to drug her for months to keep her safe, and although you understand why, you understand her point of view and what has shaped her into the terrifying woman she’s become, that doesn’t change the fact that what she is doing is wrong. Love isn’t enough, not if you’re not prepared to work for it and not if it’s actively hurting the person involved. Asriel’s not even there - he’s preparing for his war and ignores all warnings that Lyra’s in danger, even after learning about the prophecy which he dismisses despite both witches and angels telling him (I have consistently wanted to punch him in the face every time he’s on screen).
And yes, Asriel and Marisa both sacrifice themselves to take down Metatron, which was one of the most epic moments ever - especially when I realised what Marisa was going to do, that she was luring Metatron into a trap- and also emotional, because they may have been shit parents yet I felt there was something tragic about the whole thing, and I do think Asriel cared about Lyra on some level...but it could never be what it should be because he doesn’t know her. He never got to know her, was never a father to her, and part of me wonders whether he’d have made the same effort if Lyra hadn’t been Eve, hadn’t been key to saving the multiverse. And maybe I’m wrong about that - I’m planning to read the trilogy and it’s obviously gonna go into detail on more things and I may have a different perspective afterwards - but at the moment I do have to wonder. He insults Lyra at several points in S3, and though he does seem to marginally regret having to do what he did to Roger, he still doesn’t call Roger anything other than ‘kitchen boy’, so it’s not very clear.
Of course, I can’t talk about His Dark Materials without talking about Will and Lyra, because that has been one of the best relationships in the whole show, perhaps in any show - their friendship was solid and I loved that the romance wasn’t rushed, that it felt completely natural, that their connection was solid the whole way through because of what they’ve gone through together throughout S2 and S3, and I’ve loved seeing that, and both young actors have been fantastic in portraying that.
And that’s what made the finale so fucking heartbreaking. Now, I will admit I was aware that Lyra and Will ended up being seperated forever even before the series was made - it was one of those facts I ended up finding out when I didn’t know I’d ever read/watch anything to do with HDM - but I didn’t know the how or the why, beyond it being a necessity, so the revelation that love saved the multiverse but then the people in love have to be seperated for the rest of their lives in order to truly save the multiverse...that just ripped out my heart and stomped on it, and Dafne and Amir’s acting was phenomenal and I actually cried because they deserved better than this! They love each other so much and they have to give each other up until they meet again in the Land of the Dead before becoming part of the universe again...it was a bittersweet ending, but I do love that they lived full lives - I was glad to see that come up at the end, but it was honestly one of the most emotional endings I’ve ever seen.
So what now? Well, for starters I’m going to be rewatching the whole series at some point, so there’ll be a lot more posts and reblogs. I’m also going to finally read the damn trilogy - I decided early on that I wouldn’t read the books until after I’d watched the series. That obviously didn’t account for the pandemic delaying things along with a whole load of other stuff, but I am interested in reading the books and seeing the similarites and differences, and of course, things will probably be explained in more detail because no adaptation can ever translate everything. But it’s been a fantastic ride, and I look forward to exploring the rest of the universe!!!!!!!!!!
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jetboosters · 11 months
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ok ko and 📌💎💕 for the ask game?
(Sorry in advance I write a lot)
📌(How did you find your hyperfixation?)
2019 was when I was really starting to get into cartoons. I'd been keeping up with SU since like 2016, but 2019 I began rewatching a couple more that I remembered seeing a couple episodes of a few years back. (SVTFOE, WOY and GF), but uh, OK KO wasn't really like that.
I didn't know really anything about it for a long while. I watched Crossover Nexus when it came out because Garnet, but didn't think much of it. Same with Let's Meet Sonic. (funny, i watched that episode before I even was a Sonic fan).
And then like early September the SU movie aired, a couple days later I heard OK KO ended. I'm not sure why I decided to give the show a go. I didn't know anything about it. Maybe it was because of Rebecca and Ian's connection between both shows, the news about SU Future wasn't revealed yet I don't think, so maybe I wanted something to fill the void. I don't remember. But yeah, started watching the show, got hooked immediately, finished it all in four days.
For like the rest of the month I had the urge to draw the characters. I didn't really draw back then, didn't think I was any good at it, but thought it shouldn't be too hard because the characters don't have fingers most the time! So like October time I drew a KO and yeah that's basically how that all started!
💎(Are there any fun facts or trivia that you would like to share?)
Ooo, agh there's so much stuff I've picked up about the show because I've watched/listened to like every podcast/interview/review out there but now i'm struggling to think of any. I guess I could mention the sheer amount of Sonic references in the show? I'm still finding stuff in my most recent rewatches. There's too many to mention so I won't write them all down, but there's loads surrounding T.K.O.
Ian said himself that he's inspired from Shadow the Hedgehog. The promo art for his premiere episode is literally just the box art of Shadow's game.
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Also in the same episode when T.K.O and K.O. fight T.K.O. calls him a "faker" just like that one scene in SA2.
In "You're In Control", he writes in the sky: "Ruin to all who oppose me." Which is another reference to the Shadow The Hedgehog game where Shadow says "Death to all who oppose me!" X
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And in the original animatic of the scene it did actually say death.
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Also! Crinkly Wrinkly shares aspects of his design with regular Sonic characters. He's got the white gloves and his shoes look just like Sonic's but yellow.
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He even showed up in the official fricken IDW Sonic comics what the frick.
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There's so much other Sonic stuff and references in the show but I'll just leave it at that for now haha.
💕 (Tell us about one of your favorite characters and why you like them!)
HIM!!! EVERY VERSION OF HIM!!
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Is that kinda cheating? idk.
But like, I've always really liked K.O. I find it really cute how much he looks up to his mum and his best friends, and how he gets along with them all. I'm just happy to see him happy. K.O.'s Video Channel is one of my favourite episodes because it's just a bunch of clips of K.O. being K.O. and it's so wholesome and charming. I don't know how to properly describe it but aghh.
Like sometimes child characters in shows don't feel like kids. Sure there are times when K.O. is being really mature for his age, but he's silly, he's adorable. I don't ever forget that he's 6-11 years old unlike other child characters. I don't ever get sick of him.
I liked him from the beginning, then HE shows up midway through season 1:
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Characters having a "dark" version of themselves is a trope I'll never grow tired of, and T.K.O. is easily my fav. I also tend to like quite chaotic characters (Fink is also one of my favourites because of this) so he's just really fun to watch.
But also I just love dissecting what T.K.O. is and his purpose and what he means i've written a little personal essay about it because I just love thinking about him. I've written a bunch of little fanfic snippets and storylines just so I could understand him more.
He just makes K.O. as a whole such a much more interesting character. Before T.K.O. showed up I just thought K.O. was cute and funny, but with T.K.O., he is fascinating. I love putting them in situations in my head.
Also, P.K.O. is cool. I wish we could have seen more of him, but with the episodes we got in S3 it's understandable that we didn't. There wasn't anywhere or any reason to fit him in. I see him like less of a character like K.O. and T.K.O. are, but as a vessel and a way for them both to get along more and get used to each other.
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