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simp4konig · 8 months

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"Can I sit here?" König X Gender-neutral Reader

Word count: 3060

*Part one?

*Slow burn?

*Strangers to Friends (to Lovers?)

Not decidedany of those yet 😶

Edited on 23/8/2023 for some grammar tweaks.

*!!Fanfic inspired by @theeggrollslord's drawing on Twitter!! I really wanted to use their art as the cover for this fanfic, but due to me not having an Twitter (or X 🤮) account, and not knowing whether the original artist consents to people reposting their art, I held back. 😿 If anyone knows whether they are able to give me permission or are cool with it, please let me know!! ☺️

*Author has played MW1 + 2... but not the newest reimagines. 😭 all I remember from the campaign is that Shepherd shot Ghost in the face,but in NO way did he look as fine as he does now ☠️☠️

*Author does NOT speak German... but can use Google Translate !!😊

As is customary with all foreigners, English is not my first language!. Pls do not bully me if my grammar is bad i will cry 😢

König sat by himself in the cafeteria.

Three sausages, a spoonful of beans, and two eggs alongside a 500ml water bottle were all that consisted of his daily breakfast. Hash browns would be served raw, and the bagels were solid enough to break teeth when bitten into. He didn't even want to consider the sandwiches, as their stale, stinking cheese and slick ham made him gag. A pity that they didn't serve Bratwurst or order authentic — hell, even half-decent — eggs, as the meat in his sausages tasted out of date and the yolks were a dull yellow. The beans weren't even Heinz.

Looking at the cheap slop on his tray made him lose his appetite. At least the water was drinkable, but its taste was peculiar at best.

König sighed.

Every day "eating" the same breakfast, sitting in the same spot, at the same time.

To say that he enjoyed the routine of the barracks would be an overstatement, as he felt oppressed by the monotony: rigorous and thorough briefings pre-missions; intense training three times a day; shooting drills and target practice right after the sun barely opened its eye or into late hours of the evening when it was hard to see. Yet he couldn't complain, and forced himself to appreciate the predictable structure of the barracks.

After all, routine meant safety.

Knowing the details of the misson and the intel required guaranteed a flawless operation. Knowing how exactly to eliminate an opponent in any given situation meant that it made the job even easier. Knowing when to dive for cover to avoid a rain of bullets and the rumbling thunder of machine guns in an active shootout equalled survival.

And knowing that you intimidated everyone on base at least made social interactions easier. All of these extended his life expectancy, yet by how much was anyone's guess.

Being a 6'10 wall of a pure muscle made him the perfect human bulldozer, and paired with his animalistic instincts taking over while on the battlefield, he struck fear in even his own teammates.

Most of the time, König didn't even need to use a gun, as he could snap an enemy's neck faster than they could blink; and, even if they could do that, they wouldn't be able to react fast enough as he manhandled their body like a rag doll and snapped their spine in half over his knee. Quick and easy kills. Other times, frantic stabs in the abdomen, chest or neck finished with a harsh cut of the throat sufficed when sneaking, and allowed him to release any pent of frustration he felt that he wouldn't have been able to relieve through strangulation alone.

Yet, all of the time, seeing König's brutality first-hand made his teammates lose their balance and struggle to collect themselves during the mission, fearing that he would turn to indiscriminately killing anyone that had the misfortune of entering his field of vision. Compared to König's animalistic instincts taking over in an active firefight and causing bloodshed, his allies putting down enemies with a bullet to the head seemed merciful, and even kind.

Unlike friendships, killing people was easy. Keeping good relations with people was difficult enough for König to begin with — with his first hurdle being his social anxiety, and the hurdle of others being getting used to his frightening exterior — and it grew more and more into a challenge as he moved up the ranks, until his position as Colonel made him feared, not respected. People avoided his eyes, and kept conversations to a minimum, bowing their heads in fear, not respect.

After witnessing him maul enemies like a feral animal, König walking down the barracks had people scuttling away like rats in opposite directions, a horde of people dissipating in an instant. Crowded rooms with rowdy laughter suddenly were brought to silence once he made the mistake of entering, with people speaking in hushed whispers or not even speaking at all, opting to escape before their colonel addressed them.

Truth of the matter was, König never wanted to be a colonel. He'd had rather been the one receiving orders than the one making them, as his social anxiety in front of innumerable pairs of expectant eyes put pressure on him in the moment and made it near impossible to let a single word out.

He was not a natural born leader: he knew it, everyone knew it; but he kept his position solely due to his ruthlessness in action and his cold efficiency, as there was no one like him that could come close to imitating his behaviour.

Then, to say that he enjoyed the daily routine of life in the barracks was a stretch to say the least. The thrill of killing on missions and the primal adrenaline that took over his veins and clouded his senses could not be more of a contrast to this boredom and overwhelming isolation on base: of every day sitting in the same damned spot; of every day pretending to eat the same damned food; and, of every damned day being avoided by the other operators to be at a peace he was forced to accept, whether he liked it or not. What a miserable life to live.

The beans on his plate looked menacing, and he had the urge to crush each one individually until they'd stop sneering at him so, as being judged by off-brand beans was running his patience thin. Yet, he wouldn't do that, as everyone else would view him as not only a brute but a mentally unstable lunatic who was now using food scraps as an outlet for his temper; so, he resorted to just picking at the rations instead. His head was in his palm, and his gaze went elsewhere, his pale blue eyes drooping.

So engrossed in absentmindly pushing the beans on his tray with his fork and contemplating what went wrong with him that he did not hear the footsteps walking towards him.

You cleared your throat. "E-excuse me, sir, but can I sit here?"

König looked up, and saw a young recruit hovering over him with a small brown paper bag in their hands. Your face was one he hadn't seen before around here, and you weren't in the standard military uniform, so he assumed that you were perhaps a groundsperson of sorts.

Your ignorance of him was probably the only reason you dared approach him, as any other person would have avoided his table at all costs and gotten whiplash from how quickly they'd turn their head the other way. However, he was glad that he didn't intimidate everyone that encountered him, and was internally thanking you for giving him a chance. Some hope.

Feeling uncomfortable under his scrutinising stare, you tugged the collar of your t-shirt and struggle for words.

"S-sorry," you begun, sheepishly looking down at the floor. A rub of the neck and a shuffling of feet. "It's just... all of the other tables are crowded, and I don't know anyone here well. And yours—" You looked at him, shooting him a lopsided grin, "—yours is empty."

"I understand," he stated, before looking back down at the mush on his tray. "Not a problem."

You gulped, feeling like he was dismissing you, and beginning to regret approaching him. "Are you sure, sir? I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable."

Look at you, he thought, so thoughtful over his feelings. When was the last time anyone bothered to ask him how he felt, or treated him like a human being?

"Ja. I am sure."

Still standing, unsure as to how to interpret the tone of his statement, you shot him a shy smile and sat down at a reasonable distance from the man, beginning to unpack the contents of your bag.

König kept stealing glances of you from under his eyebrows, trying to be discreet. Although he actually was uncomfortable — not used to company in the slightest, especially with someone so polite and courteous — he was oddly drawn to you.

He was thankful that you were oblivious to his status around these parts, and he wanted to leave a decent first impression on you before you finally overheard the true rumours about him, and paid attention to how quiet the cafeteria had gotten now that you two were sat together.

The thing was, he didn't know where to begin.

Communication was not his strong suit. He mused over potential ways of starting a conversation, yet not only had he never been faced with a situation like this, the language barrier was ever so present. Perhaps if he could speak to you in German he'd be able to formulate his thoughts better, yet at the moment it felt like all his knowledge of English seemingly evaporated in an instant.

"You prepared well your breakfast," he stated plainly, angling for any kind of small talk. He internally cringed at the order of those words and how wrong that sentence sounded in his voice, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

An awkward smile. "—W-wow. Thank you, sir!"

König felt his chest tighten, but he didn't know why.

"My first day on base I had the misfortune of being served breakfast," you continued, "so, from then on I decided right then and there "never again". The food—" you laughed weakly, "—sure is something."

"Du hast recht," agreed König. "I mean... You are right. If I had a dog, I never would feed it this— these... scraps."

You could sense König hungrily devouring your food with his eyes. Although he tried to be subtle, he was not good at going unnoticed. Really, stealing glances of this behemonth in front of you, you kind of pitied the man, especially when the next edible meal would be in precisely 5 hours. With his breakfast beaten and bruised into an unrecognisable pulp, it was definitely too late for him to consume.

Mourning your sandwiches, you silently bid them farewell and took a deep breath:

"Well, sir. I would assume that you're hungry." You took out the contents from your bag and slid them in front of him, smiling meekly. "You can have my breakfast."

He looked down at your two sandwiches and his eyes visibly widened under his hood; four thick slices of sourdough bread, a generous slather of butter, cheese, rocket lettuce, and thinly sliced pieces of meat, topped with tomatoes, and most likely seasoned with spring onion and pepper.

They looked so appetising, and he felt his mouth salivate, yet he shook his head vehemently. "Nein! Ich sollte das nicht tun, nicht, wenn du dich so sehr bemüht hast!"

You tilted your head in confusion. König mentally facepalmed.

"I-I mean... you tried very hard, and it isn't right of me. They are yours."

You waved a dismissive hand. "Honestly, you need them more than me. Have them."

"Einer wird ausreichen," He shook his head again, and picked up one slowly. "One will be enough."

He reached over to take one and you looked at him expectantly, patiently waiting for him to take a bite and give you his thoughts, yet it hit you. He was wearing his mask. He probably wouldn't eat in front of you.

A cough. "S-sorry. I'll look away while you eat it. Tell me what you think about it."

König practically shoved the entire thing in his mouth the moment your back faced him and and started choking. He saw you turning back to assist, but he raised a weak hand to stop you.

Getting over his coughing fit, he could finally appreciate the freshness and the flavour of the sandwich. It tasted of... nostalgia. Like the sandwiches his Mama would make for him after school to reassure him and to take his mind off the day's events. He felt like a young boy again. When he closed his eyes, for a split-second he imagined he was in the kitchen with his mother chatting energetically, taking his plate and ruffling his hair when he had finished and feeding him another, insisting that he "was a growing boy".

"So köstlich..." he said, and was disappointed to see that the sandwich was gone from his hands, already eaten. "Mein gott, that was perfekt. A sandwich of the Gods."

You turned around and you were beaming so brightly that König swore he would need to shield his eyes from the sight.

"Thank you so much! You don't know how happy that makes me."

You looked at him, your smile unwavering. "Do you know what would make me happier?"

He gave you a blank look. "...No?"

"If you ate the other one," you said, and König's eyes widened comically. "Though, please, be careful. Sandwiches can sure be a choking hazard," you dared tease him, and was actually surprised when he let out a quiet chuckle.

After savouring his second sandwich, the two of you were quiet. Although the tension had evaporated, the silence was deafening, and you felt suffocated by the lack of conversation.

"Uhm... Sir. What is your name?" A hesitant start, your hands folded neatly in your lap. "If it isn't too much of a personal question, of course."

He deliberated for a few moments, before responding with a quiet "König."

"König," you repeated, making sure to pronounce it properly. Your eyes widened in realisation, and you smiled broadly. "That's King, in German, right? That's so funny, because I go by King!"

König froze up like a statue.

"Holy fucking shit, what are the chances?" You rambled, not realising how quiet König had become. "Honestly, what are we doing here? Where are our castles, our riches? Our chariots led by silver horses and our toilets made of 24 carat gold?"

König shrugged stiffly. "Blown up by a grenade, I suppose."

You looked at him, dumbfounded, then burst into laughter. Like, fits of giggles, too many of them and too strong for his unbelievably dry response. Maybe that's why you were laughing so hard.

Either way, König couldn't believe it at first.

It was so... beautiful. Almost angelic in a way, despite you holding yourself up with a palm on the table and unable to contain your pig-like snorts. He could get used to hearing you laugh more often.

And, just like that, he dropped his guard. Slowly, all of his stiffness melted, and he became more of his confident self, this trait only ever coming out when he was actively shooting.

The two of you spent the entire length of breakfast chatting, joking, and telling each other things about each other. Although König insisted that his English wasn't good, you assured him that you understood him just fine — if anything, his confused looks and furrowed eyebrows at idioms you used were adorably endearing, each time earning a sympathetic giggle from you.

At some point — and though he would've been ashamed to admit it — he tuned out the babbling that came out of your mouth as he admired your face, noting all of your features: the colour of your eyes and how they'd crinkle in happiness whenever you smiled; the way your hair flowed and framed your face; taking the time to count all of the freckles on your nose and committing the number to memory.

He'd only catch himself staring when you'd suddenly finish talking. "But what do I know, I'm kind of stupid if you ask me. It's a wonder I passed the tests to qualify for this job in the first place."

You locked eyes with him, interested in hearing what he had to say. "What do you think, König? I bet you know the answer!"

To which he'd quickly clear his throat and respond with, "Ich weiß nicht. I don't know. To be... frank, though that is strange for me to say when I am not "Frank"—"

You struggled to struggle to contain your laughter, and quickly apologized as soon as you stopped shaking, before attempting to explain to this clueless Austrian man why it was used. König didn't feel demeaned by your explanation, though, as he thought that his blunders would be worth it every time if it meant hearing you laugh so sweetly.

To König's dismay, half an hour flew by in minutes, and it was time to part ways as you began your daily duties.

As the two of you stood up, you initially had realised that König was taller than the average man based off how his knees could barely fit under the table.

You sure as fuck did not expect to see this.

He towered over you, casting a shadow down below. You had to strain your neck to make eye contact with him, and a painful cramp was already forming.

"Ha—ha.... you're pretty, uh... big."

That statement had more than one connotation. Gott sei Dank für diese Maske, he thought. Thank God for this mask, otherwise you would have seen the blush from his neck up to his ears after his mind went to a place he hadn't thought it'd go, especially not with a person he had formally met not even an hour ago.

"Oh well, I can finally put those 4-inch combat boots in the bottom of my closet to good use," you laughed, playfully nudging what meant to be his shoulder but your height difference meant that you instead touched his pec. Not that you minded though.

With your arms behind your back, you shyly averted your gaze. "Well... It was nice to meet you, König."

"You too... King."

Furrowing of brows as you tilted your head. "How do you say it in German? "Auf Wiedersehen"?"

"Ja, das ist es."

"Well then, Auf Wiedersehen, big guy. I'll see you around!"

Big guy... In more ways than one...

God. König had to get a grip.

Yet, with the way he was looking at your backside and fantasizing about your next meeting, he already knew that not even Gott could help him.

...

Note: I HATE this fucking fanfiction WITH MY SOUL 🤬🤬. This fucking thing was NEARLY FINISHED and I was in the process of tweaking yet my phone decided to erase half of my progress !!!! 😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡

My phone 📵 and God 🤬 didn't want this fanfiction getting published yet guess what!!! 🖕🖕🖕🖕Fuck you!!!🖕🖕🖕 Ive gotten it out anyways🗣️ fucking shaved a decade off of my life trying to recovervthe opening part of this fic,,

,,,,literally why did I get punished for writing a very mild and unextreme fanfic 😭😭😭😭 like the first half was just in Königs perspective and Ur telling me that i can't do that?????

I mf get fucking crucified like Jesus on the cross, only this time I sarcificed my sleep and sanity to not be ressurected again,, bitch I would have rather died if I had known tjis would happen ☠️☠️ I could have actually SLEPT?!! 🤬🛌

Never again writing fanfictiosn on my phone, I can't trust this evil technology!! I'm gonna draft them with PEN and PAPER bitch!!!! Typewriter!!!!!!!! Chalk On Pavement™!!!!!!!!!!!! PERMANENT MARKER ON MY FOREHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...

If you read this rant of mine, I hope you have a lovely day/night, beautiful person. <33 (please wash your eyes after reading that,,I needed to release my anger somrjow don't judge me hhhhhhhHHHH—)

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notsosimstober · 7 months

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Not-So-Simstober: a (love letter) 31 day sims challenge

A staple of the season, Simstober posts have been delighting our games and feeds for the last few years. Unfortunately, word on the street is our fangtastic friends @simstober are currently busy with other haunts. But the legacy of those years of magic lives on...

Help spread the spirit of Simstober with 31 haunting prompts. Use one each day in the month of October to create the spooky sims content of your choosing (edits, renders, lookbooks, stories, CAS creations, builds, etc.). Share your creations with #simstober challenge or #simstober 2023 so the team can know they are in our macabre little hearts. 🖤

And tag or hashtag @notsosimstober where the lovely @luverofralts has offered to make an archive of this year's posts! (My hero!)

If you plan on creating content that may be sensitive or graphic, you know the drill - trigger warnings, content warnings, and keep those babies under the "read more" cut!

The haunt begins October 1st 🎃

Witching Hour

Into the Woods

Vigil

A Bite in the Air

Fairy Ring

Boo Thing

Noir

Kiss of Death

Gloom

Widow's Walk

Villain

Uncanny Valley

Funhouse

Burning Man

Changeling

Flicker

Hallowed Grounds

Devil's Food

Styx

Revel

Smoke Machine

Bar the Door

Purgatory

Fallen Angel

Clowning Around

Maze

Behind the Curtain

Dollface

Shadow Realm

Bonfire

Dead of Night

If thirty-one days feels frightful - have a single prompt for any day this month: Thank Boo! Send the @simstober team a spooky greeting card to let them know you appreciate the legacy they've left for many Octobers to come.

#simstober challenge #sims challenge #ts2 challenge #ts3 challenge #ts4 challenge #simblreen #simstober 2023 #simstober #notsosimstober

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robo-dino-puppy · 6 months

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horizontober 2023 | 30: favorite weapon (death-seeker's shadow!)

but I couldn't leave out my runners-up, ancestor's return and the last argument

i had to go with a hunter's bow for my favorite weapon. horizon's bow combat is seriously the most fun i've had in a game, ever. i love it to bits. and while there are arguably "better" legendary bows with the addition of NG+ and burning shores, i always go back to the death-seeker's shadow because 1) i want the shock arrows to pop shock canisters and 2) rost T_T. also 3) just visually i prefer the nora style!

the ancestor's return is also super fun for me to use, and reminds me a lot of ratchet & clank weapons (ratchet & clank was a childhood love of mine ^^). the tear damage from the shock shredders is awesome.

and finally, the last argument was the exact weapon i wanted from burning shores! a legendary spike thrower with drill spikes! using drill spikes to inflict knockdown is one of my favorite new things in HFW (even if i feel sort of bad for the machines getting drilled into...) and it was super frustrating that there were no legendaries that had drill spikes. thank you gildun!!!

#horizontober2023 #horizon forbidden west #hfw #burning shores #hfwbs #hfw weapons #aloy #i wasn't feeling super inspired with these pics but i tried to get action poses #apparently shock is my favorite status to inflict lol #srsly tho i almost screamed when gildun handed over the spike thrower and i found it had drill spikes #thank u best buddy

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misscammiedawn · 1 year

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50 Days of HypnoKink - Day 30: VR Headsets

Alignment: 80% Bottom

First off, obligatory link to Snatch & Grab for a "based on true events" story that involves tying a dolly up and putting her in a VR headset. Thanks as always to @redcap3 for writing and for any parts of the story which may have happened in reality.

Link also to Charmed 2023 Day 2 where Daja plugged me in to a VR headset for programming.

I am so so so lucky to get to experience this!

Throughout my entire life it has been such an evocative image. VR headsets forcing a person to look in to a spiral. Even if they slammed their eyes shut they'll still feel the light blinking against their eyelids. The audio would pour into their ears. You're stuck. Helpless. Trapped and subject to the power of the programming.

Like I'm not a drone fan but there is something so so lovely about that.

*I just said "I'm not a drone fan" and imagined being in a skintight zentai suit while plugged in to a headset and let me tell you, that is QUITE the reaction for someone who isn't a fan. Because WANT*

So for those who want to do this, please check out the Mind Melting Massaging Machine. All the info you need is here on Sleepyhead's Mind Control Games wiki

MMM allows you to put on custom spirals and audios. I have put a few together before.

At Charmed 2023 Daja put me in a headset with a pre-scripted 15 minute session that MELTS MY HEART! And my mind! I was a puddle!

I write about that a bunch in the Charmed entry I linked above!

VR headsets are just-- if you can sideload it on an Oculus it's a really good use of time and money.

Here! Have a video of me getting absolutely OBLITERATED by a binaural drill that was designed to hollow me out <3

---

Day 29: Safe Spaces

FULL SCHEDULE MASTER POST

Day 31: Auto-Fractionation

#cammie posting #hypnosis #hypnokink #50 days of fetishes #cammie photos #hypnosis on display #hypnokink OC

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mmmichyyy · 9 months

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a.u.gust 2023 - day 4: teacher(s)

1.5k words of shop teacher!mickey & school nurse!ian @gallavichthings 🖤 posted on ao3 too!

Faculty meetings are–in Mickey’s opinion–the bane of his entire existence. Completely unnecessary, redundant, a total bore. Just send it in an email for god’s sake. Especially when the meetings are scheduled at the ungodly hour of eight on Monday mornings, an entire half an hour before he usually arrives at school. Well, twenty-nine minutes, to be exact - if the first class starts at eight-thirty and it takes him a minute to rush from the parking lot to the shop classroom, then he’ll show up right as the bell rings, not a minute more.

Except the new bright-eyed and bushy-tailed principal went to some new-age educational conference over the summer and came back brimming with ideas of bonding and connecting amongst faculty members. How important it was to foster a community and create an open forum and a safe space for communication–her words, not Mickey’s.

As if any of the underpaid teachers give a flying fuck about any of that. None of them would've gone to the first meeting and continued to attend week after week without the bribe of free bagels and the not-so-subtle suggestion of possibly taking away the one good vending machine from the teacher’s lounge. The threat of losing easily accessible corn nuts and milk duds really was the reason why every person working at this underfunded Southside high school had to suffer through thirty minutes of mandatory torture every week.

Mickey worked there for two years and never laid eyes on half the staff at the school or knew anyone’s name until these meetings. He stays in the shop classroom all day, makes sure none of the students drill a hole through their hand or cut themselves on a hacksaw, then goes home. But now, everyone from the basketball coach to the art teacher to even the goddamn janitor had to attend and endure the principal babbling about upcoming school events and ways to improve the school–like time and resources aren’t already limited as it is.

What a colossal waste of time, Mickey grumbles to himself, as he strolls through the main doors of the school after smashing snooze multiple times on his alarm clock and begrudgingly getting his ass out of bed.

At least his on-the-fritz coffee machine decided to work today, or else he may be prone to commit murder without caffeine this early in his system.

But to Mickey’s luck, he doesn’t get two steps into the foyer before slipping on an invisible wet patch on the linoleum floor, crashing forward into what his mind registers for a split-second as a moving wall, which he practically bounces off of, if it's even possible to bounce off a solid surface. The impact causes him to stumble backwards and nearly collide against the glass trophy display case.

“Fu– watch where you’re going!”

“Oh shit, are you okay??”

Mickey rolls his shoulders with a groan. Just as he’s about to unleash hell, he looks up to a pair of worried green eyes staring right at him. Turns out the walls aren’t out to get him - not this time at least - it’s a person. Not just any person, a man who is built like a fucking brick barricade with a firm taut body and fierce red hair that nearly causes Mickey’s jaw to drop in surprise.

“Uh…” Words. What are words? He didn’t hit his head, did he? Why can’t his mind form coherent thoughts?

Unaware of Mickey’s temporary brain daze, the redhead continues to ramble in an apologetic voice, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been blocking the entrance, it’s my first day and I’m a bit lost–”

“It’s fine,” Mickey mumbles, cutting the guy off. Not that he cares if he’s late to the faculty meeting, but he needs to not be here right now. But before he can make a quick exit–

“Do you know where the teacher’s lounge is?”

Huh. A new teacher. With a body like that? Probably another meathead coach, Mickey thinks. To save his ego from continuing to make a fool of himself, Mickey wordlessly nods towards the east hallway, silently signalling the man to follow him. The man does, a bit too enthusiastically, much to Mickey’s chagrin.

Mickey hopes Clifford the Big Red Dog isn’t a talker. The teacher’s lounge is at the end of the hall around the corner and there’s only so much conversation Mickey can handle early in the morning. Especially after sustaining a possible phantom head injury. Especially after almost falling flat on his face in front of someone who looks like that.

But you know what they say about hope - it breeds eternal misery.

“Never thought I’d be back at high school,” the man chuckles. “But I saw the job posting online and thought, what the hell? Might be fun.”

Fun is definitely not the word Mickey would use to describe working at a high school. The very high school he dropped out from, actually. Life has a twisted sense of humour sometimes, but he’s made his peace with his current reality a long time ago.

“Are you a teacher here?” the man presses on.

Mickey grunts as a response. Quickens his pace, but the man doesn’t take the hint.

“What do you teach?”

Only a few steps left...

“Shop class.”

“Oh cool! I’m the new–”

“There you are, Mr. Milkovich.” Ms. Tinsley, the principal, peeks her head out of the door to the teacher’s lounge. Looks behind Mickey and beams. “And Mr. Gallagher! I’m glad you’re here, I was starting to worry you might’ve gotten lost.”

Gallagher? Mickey furrows his brows. The name sounds vaguely familiar, but then again - half the Irish population in Chicago probably has the same last name.

“I was, but then I bumped into Mr. Milkovich here and he led the way.” Gallagher flashes Mickey a grin, and Mickey tries to ignore the somersault flip inside his chest. “Hope I’m not too late.”

Ms. Tinsley shakes her head. “You’re just in time, I was just about to start the meeting.” She turns to Mickey. “Mr. Gallagher here is replacing Mrs. Farris since she’s gone into early retirement. Fell down the stairs and broke her hip, the poor thing. ”

Retirement? Mickey doesn’t remember seeing any of the sports coaches being geriatric enough to retire. Or maybe he’s not paying enough attention to the stupid faculty meetings.

Seeing the confusion on his face, Ms. Tinsley adds, “Mrs. Farris, the school nurse.”

A lightbulb clicks in Mickey’s head. Must’ve been the grouchy old woman with the Q-tip head and a permanent scowl on her face he used to see roaming the halls. He just assumed it was someone’s grandma who had gotten loose from the senior home and got her rocks off yelling at anyone in her way. Did the old bat fall down the stairs or was she pushed? The latter seems more plausible.

“Anyway,” Ms. Tinsley continues, “Mr. Gallagher here will be taking over as the new school nurse. I might get him to teach a couple health classes too, god knows these crazy kids need proper sex health education!” Both she and Gallagher laugh while Mickey cringes.

“I’d be glad to,” Gallagher replies with a smile. Glances at Mickey out of the corner of his eye. “Sex education is very important.”

No. Not today. Nope. Mickey slips past the principal through the door and quickly plops down on his usual seat in the back corner, silently praying the heat he feels under his skin isn’t reflective of how red his cheeks are. What the hell has gotten into him?

And because the universe is fucking with him, the only empty seat left is directly beside him. Mickey stares straight ahead and pointedly avoids Gallagher’s gaze as the principal starts the meeting.

“First thing on the agenda: the school bake sale! Who wants to volunteer?”

“Hey,” Gallagher whispers in a low voice, so only Mickey can hear him above the surrounding chatter, “my first name’s Ian by the way.” Leans in close, hot breath fanning Mickey’s ear, sending a shiver down Mickey’s spine. “Maybe you can show me around sometime?”

Mickey should ignore him. Ian. Pretend to be fascinated by fundraisers or pep rallies or whatever the fuck Ms. Tinsley is droning on about. Definitely not focus on the hopeful tone in his voice. Tell Ian to fuck off and leave him alone, like everyone else in the school has learned to do.

But maybe Mickey woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. Or the right one? Or he’s in an alternate reality? Or maybe someone drugged his coffee this morning?

Or maybe it’s his lucky day?

Because against his better judgement, Mickey angles his head to the side. Pretends to be nonchalant and shrugs in agreement. Tries to bite down his own smile from seeing the way Ian’s face entirely lights up, all eager and warm and full of light.

Maybe eternal misery isn’t the only outcome to spring from hope.

#a day late oops #i might add a lil more to this au we'll see!#gallavich fic #my words #ian x mickey #gallavich #A.U.gust 2023 #ian gallagher #mickey milkovich

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notscarsafe · 4 months

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"I'm not about to jump into the next season and build another pinball machine... But I mean Beef is going to jump into the next season and build more TCG cards"

-JoeHills Livestream December 19th 2023

MORE TCG MORE TCG, NOT A DRILL! Joe even went on to confirm it a second time saying "that is his plan"

#hc tcg #hermitcraft tcg #hermitcraft #vintagebeef #joehills #hermitblogging

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awakenthemusic · 7 months

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LARPing for Fun and Profit

"You just got back from a year trapped in purgatory after you saved the fucking world, again. I don't know how you could get much more epic than that." "C'mon, Sam, swords will never not be cool." Sam sent him a look that read, Not what I asked, jerk.

Tags: Short fic, ~300 words, Family Bonding, Humor

For Suptober 2023 Day 11 - Epic

Under the cut or on Ao3

"Right, no, I get that," Sam said as he dumped detergent into the washer beside Dean. "I get why Joe Shmoe working a nine-to-five would want to be a part of something bigger, some epic story. My question is, why does it appeal to you so much?"

"I mean," Sam continued, lowering his voice with a wary glance at the woman reading a paperback at the other end of the Laundromat. "You just got back from a year trapped in purgatory after you saved the fucking world, again. I don't know how you could get much more epic than that."

"C'mon, Sam, swords will never not be cool."

Sam sent him a look that read, Not what I asked, jerk.

Dean shrugged and folded another pair of jeans. He thought back over the case they'd just finished with Charlie and tried to put things into words. He said quietly, not looking at Sam, "It's not about the epic, 'hero's journey' of it all for me. I guess... I guess it's nice to use what I know to help people have a good time instead of just keeping them alive. There's a lot less pressure when all the weapons are fake, you know?"

Dean cleared his throat, hyper-aware of the searching look Sam was drilling into the side of his face. "Plus," He said, turning to Sam with his best don't-look-too-close-or-you'll-see-the-cracks leer. "Chicks in corsets, am I right?" Not to mention the dudes in armor and leather pants, but Dean wasn't about to comment on that.

Sam stared at him for just long enough that Dean knew he hadn't bought the act, then mercifully let the subject drop. "I guess it's always nice to know you have another career to fall back on, too."

Dean frowned. "What do you mean, Sammy? LARPing doesn't pay."

Sam cranked the quarters into the washer and leaned back against the machine with a smirk. "If you ever get tired of hunting, you can always look for work as a handmaiden."

#suptober23 #fanfic #fanfiction #spn #supernatural #myfics

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homenecromancer · 3 months

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i am incapable of judging how comfortable other ppl are with reading about medical issues, sorry if this readmore doesn’t work, this is a needlessly detailed post bc this blog is partly my diary lmao

recap: in October 2022 i had a big fuckin abscess in my upper jaw above one of my rear molars (tooth X), which was incredibly painful and led to the coincidental discovery that my rearmost molar (tooth Y) had to be extracted. tooth X had previously had a crown placed on it, so draining the infection required drilling through that crown, performing a root canal, and then placing a filling over the drill hole. tooth Y was extracted and, over the course of almost a year, replaced with an implant

and then, late in December 2023, i started developing some slowly-building dental pain, seemingly localized to tooth X. last week i finally got around to seeing my regular dentist, who took X-rays and essentially went “…I gotta send you back to the guy who did that root canal, he has a fancier X-ray machine and will be able to see more”

and as it happened he was able to fit me in after only a couple of business days, so this past Tuesday, i went and saw him and he did a 3D X-ray. (ok. side note. this was actually done by an extremely kind, skilled, very pretty technician. which i tell you because “a nice lady tells me what to do” was a pleasant note in this whole lightly-nightmarish sequence of events.) anyway this was extremely cool to look at with him, because explaining what it showed required a bit of a basic course in looking at X-rays, and it was very interesting

unfortunately what the X-rays showed was that there was a dark patch of infection above the root area of tooth X. as he showed me, and explained: after the root canal (which was beautifully done), only the vertically-running nerves had been cleaned out. this probably left a small amount of material in horizontally-running tunnels which would have been impossible to see at the time. that material slowly died over time, leading to the infection. cleaning it out in a way that attempted to save the tooth would be fiddly, complicated work with a low chance of long-term success. yanking it out, on the other hand…

so he referred me back to the oral surgeon who had done my previous extraction — and as i drove home from the endodontist, my mom performed a minor miracle and managed to get me an appointment that afternoon with the surgeon. turnaround is never that fast. it ruled

the surgeon basically had a quick look and went “yup, that’ll have to come out, when do you wanna do it”. as it happens, i am away from work until next Tuesday, so i mentioned that to the scheduler, who said essentially “how’s Thursday [today] work?” and i said “YES”

fast forward to today, everything went much as it had for my first extraction… until i woke up and fuzzily noticed that they were still removing tools from my mouth

what had happened was this: they got in there and extracted tooth X, but noticed that the implant which had replaced tooth Y was attached less strongly than it had been (it was fine at my last post-implant checkup). the theory was that the infection at the root of tooth X had started to weaken the whole area. so, since i was still sedated, they called in my mother (medical power of attorney, for exactly this sort of situation), told her what was going on, and asked her opinion. she agreed with them — as did i once i was conscious enough to understand what had occurred — that it was best to take out the implant as well, let the whole area heal, and place both new implants at the same time

this has all happened over the course of a week from when i decided to drag myself in to go see the dentist 😑

#personal #anyway im on pain meds right now so that’s why this is a thousand years long

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myhaulshop · 4 months

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100% safe.

Optimized for safe use. No risk of electric shock or burning if used properly. Ergonomic non-slip handle for strong grip and unmatched control.

@myhaul_shop @myhaul_shop @myhaul_shop

#MyHaulShop #BeautyWellness #PortableNailDrillMachine #NailDrill

#myhaul #myhaulhasitall #myhaulshop #Portable Nail Drill Machine

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historyhermann · 6 months

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Futurama Season 8 Part One Spoiler-Filled Review

Futurama is a mature animated sitcom with elements from the sci-fi and comedy drama genres. The original series aired from 1999 to 2003, then 2008 to 2013. Matt Groening created this series, like The Simpsons and Disenchantment. He developed it with David X. Cohen. Both were executive producers along with Ken Keeler and Claudia Katz.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the fifty-fifth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on November 9, 2023. By this article, I've surpassed how many reviews I wrote for The Geekiary (52 posts), meaning I have written more for PCM than The Geekiary!

Part One of Futurama's eighth production season (and eleventh broadcast season) is a Hulu revival. It focuses on a crew of six misfits who work for Planet Express, a package delivery company. Turanga Leela (voiced by Katey Segal) pilots the Planet Express Ship. In a continuation from the Season 7 finale, she is the girlfriend of Philip J. Fry (voiced by Billy West), a man cryogenically frozen for 1,000 years before arriving in January 2999. They are joined by a foul, impertinent, alcoholic, smoking, and egocentric robot named Bender Bending Rodriguez (voiced by John DiMaggio), or Bender for short, the staff physician and lobster-like extraterrestrial John A. Zoidberg (voiced by West), and long-term accident-prone and ditzy intern Amy Wong (voiced by Lauren Tom). Other protagonists include company founder Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth (voiced by West) and company accountant/bureaucrat Hermes Conrad (voiced by Phil LaMarr).

Some characters play supporting roles. This includes Amy's partner, Kif Kroker (voiced by Maurice LaMarche), a lieutenant and assistant of Captain Zapp Brannigan on the Nimbus, a Democratic Order of Planets (DOOP) starship. Brannigan, like Fry and the Professor, is voiced by Billy West. He is a general with 25 stars, part of DOOP, and has feelings for Leela. There's also a highly intelligent animal, who often acts cute and innocent, named Lord Nibbler (voiced by Frank Welker), the rough janitor Scruffy (voiced by David Herman), and an aggressive corporate CEO named Carol "Mom" Miller (voiced by Tress MacNeille). She heads a mega-conglomerate known as MomCorp, which monopolizes robot production. She has three sons (Walt, Larry and Igner), and previous romantic relationships with the Professor and his nemesis, Dr. Ogden Wernstrom (voiced by Herman).

The first episode begins by re-introducing viewers to Futurama's characters. Bender cheers return of Leela, Fry, and their friends. The series takes place in 3023. Fry believes he has "achieved nothing" for his 23 years in the future. After taking Leela's advice, he pledges to watch every show ever made. He does this even after Bender warns him about the terrible TV content out there. There are also jokes on actual show names in blink-and-you-miss-it moments. Fry subscribes to the fourth-biggest streaming service in the world, known as Fulu, a play off Hulu.

The episode has social commentary about the binge model: Fry wears goggles which drill directly into your brain. Such devices allow a user to watch all the episodes in one continuous stretch but you must sit perfectly still in an all-encompassing metal suit. In the real world, binging a series can lead to regret, depending on whether viewers plan binging ahead of time. It can contribute to people feeling like they are "bored" unless they binge shows. In the case of this episode, Fry stays in a chair, sitting perfectly still for months without any breaks. His mind is soon overpowered by binging. He loses touch with reality.

In a plot line which echoes the goals of the recently concluded WGA strike, and ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, Fry's friends convince the robot bosses of Fulu to reboot All My Circuits. They produce episodes as fast as they can, so that Fry doesn't die. To make matters worse, Fry watches the episodes at double-speed. The writers can't keep up with the fast script production. Bender declares that "any idiot can be a TV writer," beginning to write scripts himself. This episode makes clear how writers are so stressed/crunched in the current entertainment industry. The writers collapse from exhaustion during the episode.

The episode ends with the reality of the entertainment industry: executives give constructive notes, say the show isn't working, cancel it, and declare "you will always been an important part of the Fulu family." The episode undoubtedly comments on how TV shows work and ravenous corporate executives. I the past year, Ridley Jones, Inside Job, Dead End: Paranormal Park, and Human Resources were cancelled by Netflix, while The Owl House and Archer ended. For Fry, his friends attempt to shift his focus from the streaming world back to the real world. This plan is unsuccessful, as there is a huge explosion, and they believe he is dead. In reality, he had left the suit two days before, so he could catch up on reading.

Fry admits he stopped watching All My Circuits because the show quality decreased in the last couple of episodes (because Bender wrote them). In another timely moment, there is a mock presidential summit on the dangers of streaming television. Fry declares that shows should not be rebooted without quality. He states that viewers must binge responsibly, streaming no more than 10 episodes in a row. He adds that a TV show must be cancelled every few years if it cares about its audience. This episode is an effective way to begin the series. Even so, it is more dramatic than funny, with some comedic moments.

The next two episodes focus on entirely different subjects. One talks about definition of motherhood, noting that Amy is the smizmar of Kif Kroker and mother of their child even though she contributed no DNA, unlike Scruffy, Kiff, and Leela. Another is on the nose when it comes to social commentary about the cryptocurrency boom and Bitcoin. In that episode, Leela calls the latter a "pyramid scheme for rubes," after the Professor reveals that Planet Express went bankrupt because he invested in it. What follows is an episode spoofing the Gold Rush. The characters go out West, hoping to strike it rich, traveling to a town where all the electricity goes to Bitcoin mining computers, with everything else resembling the Old West.

If that isn't enough, everyone has a Wild West-flair. Roberto has a knife-shooter gun. Leela becomes a barmaid/sex worker. Fry meets a man made of borax (Borax Kid). Zoidberg becomes the town doctor. Dwight tries to team up with Roberto to rob a stagecoach (and take a USB stick). Bender kills a donkey by accident. In one of episode's, best jokes, they use Bender's "shiny metal ass" to sift through river stones. Amy complains there is very little Thalium and just "worthless gold."

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The episode ends with their confrontation at the Bitcoin mine. The saloonkeeper, Delilah (voiced by MacNeille), is using robot heads to calculate numbers. She defends her action, says that all the money earned is donated to an orphanage. In the end, she gets away with it, even putting three heads of the robot mafia into "the mine." Even so, the Borax Kid is punished for copying public domain stories almost word-for-word and changing a few words himself, so he could get the glory. This story ends with a classic so-called "Mexican standoff": everyone fired guns at each other, and the characters shown from multiple angles. The episode closes with everyone walking off into the sunset together, a good ending for the main cast.

The fourth episode is one of the best in this series revival. The beginning, which centers on worms attacking Nibbler's brain, seems to be on par with usual shenanigans in other episodes. This changes when the crew are transported in a toy tank, inside of Nibbler's litter box. They come across dung beetles and magic psychedelic dust. In a clear parody of Dune, the beetles lead them through the sand to find the worms, setting off a pounder (like a thumper) to attract the sandworm. In a callback to the original series, these worms are the same ones that once made Fry smarter. This goes even further: Nibbler claims to be "the messiah." He declares that everything is interconnected and should stay as it is, undisturbed.

As a result, Leela becomes despondent. She even surrounds herself in pure uncut magical sand. It helps her see how everything is interconnected. It is revealed that smaller parasites are weakening the worms. They put aside the whole "everything is connected" mantra to stomp out the smaller parasites, saying a line must be drawn somewhere. This is akin to characters discussing eating good "meat" in a 2000 Futurama episode, entitled "The Problem with Popplers." Later, Nibbler talks to his fellow intelligent beings about how Leela's bravery and loyalty allowed his previous consciousness to be restored.

More than other episodes, this is the most inventive, even featuring a character chewing on a Bart Simpson doll. As Jean wrote in a review on this very website, Dune, based on the well-known novel by Frank Herbert, can have a twisted timeline, dense plot, and have a wide scope and scale. It is, more than anything, a sci-fi epic, centering on the desert planet of Arrakis, with the resource of spice sought after by all. Even with its sweeping visuals, make-up, and CGI, there is exposition over the top. Characters are often referenced by their full names rather than abbreviations. The film is relatively long. Some of this energy comes through in this Futurama spoof, which is a sci-fi series quite different from Dune or Release the Spyce.

The fifth episode has extreme relevance when it comes to corporate conglomerates which dominate the economic landscape. Mom is the epitome of this, with her Momazon service, a play off Amazon, which runs a "fulfillment center" on the Moon. Some people resist these efforts, saying that her warehouse is polluting the Moon. She buys everyone off with speech recognition software known as Invasa, her version of Alexa. The way that the warehouse functions echoes criticism of Amazon for avoiding taxes, toxic work culture, and mass data collection from consumers. These workplaces take the conditions of the real-life equivalent a step further. They are fully automated by non-union robot workers who endure the conditions 24 hours, 7 days a week. When Mom is challenged by Leela, saying the robots are engaged in forced labor, she says the workers enjoy the work.

Not everything is happy: Bender, after quitting Planet Express, is forced to work at the plant. He even sends a package with a warning so his friends will save him. To make matters worse, the "wonderful" artificial intelligence (A.I)., turns against Mom, going rogue, and it ends up taking over the entire universe. As such, they can order what they want from Momazon with quick deliveries, which is supported by abysmal labor conditions. There are many Futurama callbacks, like the destruction of the Apollo lander, the man with a hat declaring "The Moon Will Rise Again," and the return of Al Gore's floating head. Bender ends up back in the same apartment with Fry and Leela, and is fine being the third wheel, rather than working in a warehouse.

This episode is not unique in criticizing A.I. Take Light Hope in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, who tries to activate a planet-destroying weapon to annihilate the universe, and attempts to exploit Adora (as She-Ra) to accomplish that end, or Lunella's A.I., Skipster, in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, which skips important parts of her life that she found "boring." Also consider Cyrano in Cleopatra in Space, an A.I. created by series villain Octavian who tries to control a protagonist, and a paranoid A.I. scared of ghosts, the godlike A.I. depicted in The Orbital Children, or malevolent A.I. in Star Trek: Lower Decks.

Moon Girl has a living/A.I. supercomputer named LOS-307. An A.I. named T.O.M.I. (Technical Operations Management Interface) is in Supa Team 4. A ship navigator named KRS is in My Dad the Bounty Hunter. The worst example of A.I. is in the first, and second (to a lesser extent) of idolish music series Kizuna no Allele. That series had a pro-NFT segment and almost encourages creation of anime by A.I. This Futurama episode leans toward criticism in Cleopatra in Space, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Moon Girl, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and The Orbital Children, and away from other depictions. The episode acknowledges prevalence of A.I., as Carole & Tuesday does, with a music producer named Tao using advanced A.I. to ensure performers are profitable. It hints at danger of relying on A.I., which relies upon models trained by extremely low-paid workers.

Other episodes are callbacks or more relevant now than they would be even five years from now. One is an X-Mas themed episode featuring efforts to stop murderous Robot Santa with a time travel machine. Another parodies the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This involves quarantines, masks worn on ears, people working remotely, and conspiracy theories on Facebag (the version of Facebook in this world). The latter is enhanced by competition between the Professor and his sworn nemesis, Wornstrom. The Professor gives people a flimsy paper card (a dig at COVID-19 paper cards) and 3D chips inside of a vaccine to track it. The episode ends when everyone gets a vaccine using voodoo practices, likely a reference to Louisiana Voodoo rather than Trinidadian Vodunu or similar syncretic religious practices in the African diaspora. The episode ends with the statement that any sufficiently advanced magic is distinguishable from science.

This Futurama episode was one of the more hilarious ones. It echoed a "missing" Cleopatra in Space episode about protagonist Cleo facing the consequences of avoiding quarantine, and the August 2011 Futurama episode "Cold Warriors." The former includes Cleo realizing, after she infects the entire campus (but is a carrier), the importance of quarantine. At the episode's end, she enters quarantine as she presumably has common cold, and declares “quarantine stinks!” The Futurama episode is different because it parodies the oft remote work and hints at delays from the virus.

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The eighth episode is just as strong. Zapp is brought before a DOOP disciplinary hearing after an egregious incident with Kiff. It is declared that he is "cancelled." DOOP strips him of his title and states that he must undergo mandatory sensitivity training. The episode centers on "cancel culture," known as consequence culture. It has been covered poorly in some media and better elsewhere. In this episode, Leela becomes captain of the Nimbus. Fry and Bender join her as first officers. The sensitive training class teacher, Dr. Kind (voiced by DiMaggio), is abusive, and DOOP's worse groper.

While Zapp apologizes to those he harmed and Leela gets a medal of valor, there's a lot more going on. There are sequences which resemble Star Trek films, part of an all-around parody of Star Trek itself, including about the Prime Directive. Leela, Fry, Bender, and others come down to the planet in a bucket, making the residents of Tacila believe they are not advanced. Their society has sophisticated machinery running on pneumatic technology. This aligns with the original Futurama series where DOOP engaged in intensive mining operations and worry of Beckett Mariner in Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 that Starfleet has become a fighting force involved in armed conflict. DOOP only wants a treaty with Tacila to acquire air rights.

This episode ends with Dr. Kind, almost ruining the air with a Durian. At the last second, Bender (likely) orders the Nimbus to fire upon Dr. Kind, killing him. Later, Leela gets the aforementioned medal. She is discharged for not wanting to fire on innocent civilians. Everything returns to the status quo. Leela, Fry, and Bender return to Planet Express. Zapp goes back to DOOP. He doesn't care about civilian casualties if it "gets the job done." At the episode's end, the idea of consent is emphasized. Zoidberg sucks on Leela because of the Durian smell, and she thanks him for asking first.

Futurama's penultimate episode is a mixed bag. It includes some good moments poking fun at toy commercials, but is also dark with death, dismemberment (of cars), horrors of war, and the like. There is a strange plotline about a Space Prince (voiced by LaMarr), who Leela only loves because of a spell. Even so, there are good points about absurdity of religion (to an extent) and respecting ability of women to voice their opinions (although Bender doesn't support that view).

The final episode, for now, goes further, touching on the meaning of "life." The Professor creates a simulated universe, with copies in three-bit form. He declares that the simulation's beings are "nothing more than ones and zeroes" and aren't real. After he promises to Bender that the simulation won't be terminated, he changes his mind. He even finds an alternate power source to keep the universe functioning. Bender goes into this simulated world, wanting to tell them the truth (that the Professor made the world). He decides to not do so after that world's Fry, declares that it doesn't matter.

The episode closes with Bender returning to the real world. A solution to preserving the simulated world is presented: underclocking the processor. Although these beings realize the world is simulated, they care little about it. In many ways, this episode echoes the computer programs, known as "programs" in Tron: Uprising, but those depicted here are more basic.

Moving on, a largely-circulated spreadsheet in which people anonymously described their conditions in animation studios, does not mention The ULULU Company, previously known as The Curiosity Company, an animation studio and production company, that produced this series and Disenchantment. The company previously worked on the five Futurama films. Sadly, it isn't listed on Glassdoor. So, the company's conditions cannot be determined. Hopefully, people are being treated fairly and the work environment is productive.

The same spreadsheet had eight entries for Rough Draft Studios offices in Glendale and Burbank. These reviews were overwhelmingly negative, with anonymous entries saying there was overwork, disorganization, harsh treatment, and inflexible hours. These revealed an anti-union environment with unionbusting in Burbank. The same studio previously reached an agreement with Local 839 of the Animation Guild, which covered animated TV series and features at their studio in Glendale.

It is hard to know where the series will go from here. This is only part one of the eighth season. It has ten more episodes of its Hulu run, as part of the revival. Watching this revival is nostalgic. It was one of the first animated series I ever watched. I fondly remember episodes parodying Napster and homophobes opposing same-sex marriage, and visual jokes. Some episodes coined terms such as robosexuality, meaning love/sexuality between a robot and humanoid. The strong sci-fi themes stuck with me: the series premiere had the protagonist (Fry) time travel from 1999 to 2999. More than that, there was dimensional travel, voice actors such as Dawnn Lewis and Frank Welker, commentary on worker exploitation, heartfelt moments, advertising parodies, and storylines focusing on family history, roots, and connections.

Overall, the Futurama revival is different feel than the original. Even so, it differs from Final Space, and others like Disenchantment, and Steven Universe. The series is not fundamentally different than the original show. It is improved without few changes. For instance, there are no episodes about queer identity of main cast members or anything along those lines. In this way, it is like The Proud Family revival. Hopefully, the series continues to improve as it moves forward into Season 8 Part 2, and beyond. Futurama is currently streaming on Hulu, Apple TV+, and Disney+ (in some jurisdictions).

#futurama #pop culture #reviews #animated sitcom #adult animation #the simpsons #disenchantment #comedy #social commentary #crypto #strikes #sag aftra #wga strike #scifi #bingeing #revivals #hulu #animation #Youtube

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agentnico · 10 months

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Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part One (2023) Review

Tom Cruise - what a guy! I mean yes he’s a Scientologist, has a constant death wish by breaking his ankles on film sets and also guilty of jumping on Oprah’s sofa like a monkey, but my my is he a charmer! Gotta love that Cruise ship!

Plot: Ethan Hunt and the IMF team must track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity if it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than the mission... not even the lives of those he cares about most.

The two of the most consistently successful and critically acclaimed action franchises of the past decade have to be the John Wick and Mission Impossible movies! Ironically both are lead by actors who are around 60 years old, showing us that age should never be a reason to stop kicking butt. Well, maybe if you’re pushing 81 then maybe just maybe you may consider that putting that fedora back on and swinging that lasso might be a bit too much (looking at you Indy), but for Keanu and Tom this is full cruise control! That being said, the most recent John Wick entry Chapter 4 I enjoyed, yet did not love. There were some impressive combat sequences and Bill Skarsgard made for a memorable a-hole, but it was the first movie in the Wick series that began to show signs of wear, with the action being very repetitive and mentally I thought that they should end it here and now. Not that they will, I mean honestly it’s not as if Lionsgate are going to read this review from a nobody like me and use my word against....how much did the last John Wick make at the box office?? *Consults some search engines* Wow - $432.2 million!! Yeah, keep them coming, I haven’t got a leg to stand on! Next though is the return of the MI franchise which is taking a page from the Spider-Verse by splitting this story into two parts, with Dead Reckoning - Part One out now. And how does it stack up to the previous Mission Impossible films? Can these missions get anymore impossible??

You guys know the drill with these Mission Impossible movies - Tom Cruise throws his body around like a tomato fearing not for his life nor broken limbs, but you have to respect the man for wanting to give the audience their tickets’ worth of entertainment, and Dead Reckoning does not disappoint! The action is exhilarating, yet unlike the recent John Wick, the set pieces and Ethan Hunt’s various exploits never felt repetitive. Every sequence, whether it be the car chase sequence through the streets of Rome to the spy espionage antics through the halls of an airport to the Uncharted 2 inspired survival on a train falling off a bridge, this movie was a constant adrenaline rush, all the while managing to also tell an engaging story with a threat that genuinely felt like a force to be dead-reckoned with, pardon the pun. The threat is no nuclear bomb or some war-hero, but in fact an AI system that is growing a consciousness, and the threat being the fearful idea of allowing this system to come into the hands of any government or third party and how they can use it for malicious purposes to take full control of the world. So Ethan and his crew, instead of fighting for a particular side, simply seek to find the key to this system and stop it from coming into anyone’s hands, as no one deserves to have such power of destruction. There’s an interesting moral question to the proceedings, which I felt added an element of gravitas and drama to what really is primarily a collection of ridiculously mad stunts.

The cast is also great. Tom Cruise is a charisma machine, and he’s joined here by franchise newcomer Hayley Atwell, and them two together make for an excellent pairing. The chemistry between Cruise and Atwell was superb with them riffing and bouncing off one another so naturally that honestly I’m gonna say it - I ship the Hayley-Cruise! Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are Hunt’s reliable team, and are as entertaining as usual. Pom Klementieff gives a stand-out turn as a silent killer, and the likes of Vanessa Kirby, Henry Czerny and Shea Whigham round up a very watchable array of actors. The only weak link of the bunch is Esai Morales who plays the villainous Gabriel. It felt like the writers desperately wanted to have a physical villainous presence in the movie in addition to the AI, and such we get this Gabriel character which, I mean, I guess Tom Cruise needs a punching bag, but this guy felt so wooden. Instead of saying his lines in a menacing way, he just kind of said them blandly. It’s a small gripe as this character is rarely a major focus, but whenever he was on-screen I couldn’t be any less engaged with him.

Overall Dead Reckoning - Part One is the perfect summer blockbuster, offering excitement, laughs, charm and entertainment. There’s never a dull moment, the spy techy stuff is cool (yep, the face-changing masks are back!), the signature music theme is as bombastic as ever and somehow they manage to keep making these sequels more and more ridiculous yet still feeling fresh and awesome. If you love the Mission Impossible movies this one is an easy buy, and for any action fans this is a must-watch. Summer movie season is in full swing, baby!!

Overall score: 8/10

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