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strikearose · 4 years

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It’s all about connections (SasuNaru) (Part 1)

Finally, here’s the very first part of the !YoutubeSasuNaru story - the idea’s quite silly but I had fun writing it so hope you guys enjoy it! (English is not my first language so please don’t be too much of a grammar nazi Summary : Sasuke has had that massive crush on a youtuber for years when Rasengan randomly starts going to his class. You can also read it on ff.net and ao3. Part 1 (here), Part 2 (clic), Part 3 (clic), Part 4 (clic)

Poc.

The ball of paper missed its trajectory and crashed into the corner of the wall, barely half an inch away from the waste basket that originally intended. The student didn’t mind, though - he was far too busy trying to finish his economics presentation that was due for the next day.

Despite the fact that many of his classmates insisted on seeing him as a relentless hardworking student, Sasuke Uchiha was very much like any other normal twenty-one year old boy : a procrastinator at heart. So it was precisely on the night before the big day that he finally decided to finish it, even though he had had all of his vacation time to do so. Well - it would be a lie to say that it would take a superhuman effort to accomplish that task, but unfortunately the young man had another flaw: he was a perfectionist.

Even if he had to pull an all-nighter or give nothing back at all, Sasuke had always refused to be average - because before (and in addition of) setting high standards for others, he would always set himself very high standards.

The black-haired man frowned as he read what he had written on the previous line and, impulsively, he ended up tearing up the entire page of his notebook and threw it on the floor.

However, the paper pellet did not make a Poc - as he had, this time, managed to reach the bin, it made a Ting instead : he had just received a notification.

His mind being elsewhere, the student rummaged around on his desk, looking for his phone. It wasn’t a text message, but a Youtube alert. One of his Subscriptions had just uploaded a new video. Sasuke took a quick look at the time (1:03 am) and let a loud sight when he saw how long the video was: fifty-seven minutes.

Of course, it has to be Rasengan.

He was the only one there who could publish a barely edited gaming review at such odd hours. One hour of uncut video was too much, even if it was to discuss the New Zelda. ‘That moron clearly don’t understand how the logistics of youtube work,’ the young man thought while stretching his legs under the table in order to get into a more comfortable position.

Because even though Sasuke might found the Youtuber’s marketing choices quite stupid and questionable - he was still his favorite. The only one he was following so.. assiduously.

And if he was really going to pull an all-nighter in order to finish his presentation on time, he might as well relax a little on the go

The coffee machine finally agreed (even though it sure had taken its’ sweet time) to give him his change money, but it still wasn’t not enough to lift Sasuke’s spirit. He really had spent his entire night working on the presentation. Well - he even had to give up his usual fifteen minutes of hot morning shower for just three minutes of shampoo-rinse-toothbrush altogether to make sure that everything was perfect.

But at last - there he was ! His eyelids stung horribly and he could feel the dark circles hollowing out his eyes, but everything was finally ready to make sure he would receive his usual congratulations for the seriousness and thoroughness of his work.

An amused grin escaped his lips when he looked into the face of Kiba Inuzuka, one of his classmates - a gamer and procrastinator emeritus who unfortunately didn’t have enough wits to back it up. With some luck, they would be called in alphabetical order for once and it would save Inuzuka the embarrassment of going Sasuke’s presentation.

Or maybe not.

Sasuke left the cafeteria just as the legendary lack of luck of the dog-loving student seemed to catch up with him:

« FOR FUCK’S SAKE NARUTO DON’T PUT YOUR DR PEPPER ON TOP OF MY COMPUTER ! »

« Hey Sasuke, did you also get Ichiraku’s mail about the internship? »

Shikamaru Nara calmly called out the black-haired young man as he sat down.

« Yes, I got it. And my documents have been signed and validated by the office earlier today.

- Cool, mine too, Shikamaru sighed. ‘t'was about time. »

He nodded his head knowingly: all the steps of searching, finding and getting the official documents concerning the internship signed were an unspeakable mess. Luckily, though, his partner this time was not a nutcase of Zaku Abumi’s caliber.

The Nara was placidly calm (Sasuke wouldn’t dream of seeing him threatening the Dean of blowing up the uni if he were to fail the exams) and quite intelligent: in short, he was one of his peers. And their little discussions were not too unpleasant.

« Well, we’ll talk later about carpooling?

- Yeah. And also dividing the task.

- Yeah, no problems, Shikamaru sighed as he turned away - tired in advance of the amount of work ahead. Ah, good luck with your presentation by the way. »

Pfft.

He didn’t even bother to answer.

Wishing him luck ? Sasuke gladly left ‘good luck’ to losers such as Inuzuka or Sarutobi who were very likely to be sending prayers at that very moment to every heavenly spirit existing, Jashin included, to have the course delayed.

Good luck ?

Sasuke definitely didn’t need it.

He was brilliant, meticulous and confident: talking in front of sixty or more people didn’t bother him at all - unlike the younger Hyuuga who getting more and more on the verge of fainting as she practiced her speech. More than that, it was even something he enjoyed. Knowing every aspect of a subject - mastering it ; defending it tooth and nail, tearing apart every remark made by his opponents until they surrender..

Some malicious people would say that Sasuke liked to boast on stage, that he was too arrogant. That he was far too pleased to thwart the traps set by his teachers, to answer the questions of his classmates with a smirk. A smirk just visible enough to make them understand how foolish he thought their interventions were. Or worse, that he had precisely expected for a moron to make that remark, thus allowing him to assert his assistance with a dutifully prepared response.

Saying that Sasuke Uchiha sometimes behaved like a complete asshole would be quite slanderous - indeed.

Because, no he did not.

He was brilliant, meticulous, confident… and humble on top of that.

« Hurry up, Kiba, I think it’s already started!

- You should have eat your lunch quicker ! »

The two latecomers were forced to take the front row seats of the auditorium while Sasuke finished to prepare. The slide show was on, the cable was connected - he was simply waiting for Mr. Hatake’s approval to start.

« And to finish with and anticipate some questions you may have, I’d like to add that while the data I used regarding market flows may be from two thousand and four, other studies that I have provided in the appendix tend to show that all exchanges concerning telephony have been profitable thanks to the takeover of the company by its competitor three years ago. »

Click.

He couldn’t have done better.

The teacher scribbled an umpteenth inscription on his rating form with a discreet approving wink and Uchiha smiled smugly.

Perfect - everything had gone on smoothly.

His onyx eyes wandered around the room: not surprisingly, half the auditorium hadn’t listen a word to what he had said, too focused on themselves (and the realization of their own projects).

Pfft.

The other half, however, completed his little moment of glory: some of them shook the head in bitterness, disappointed in what they had done in comparison, others gave him an admiring look. In the distance, Shikamaru nodded his head slowly while the Egyptian fury sited beside him, more belligerent, pretended to stifle a yawn.

But Sasuke quickly looked away, his mouth pinched, as he saw the thumb up that Lee Rock had kindly addressed to his attention. Lee was overall quite a nice fellow - Sasuke himself had to recognize it, - but no.

Just no.

« Well, if no one has any question, because I don’t have one either, let’s move on to the next presentation, Kakashi Hatake thought for a moment as he watched over the assembly. Inuzuka, you, in the front row? Well, that’s great, now’s your turn. »

Sasuke, quite disdainfully elated, was about to come down from the stage when a voice stopped him dead in his tracks:

« Oops, you’re in deep shit, Kiba! »

That particular tone was familiar to him.

Strangely familiar.

« Heyyyyy everybody! I know, I know, sorry! I promised to upload more often… But sometimes I just completely forget to turn the cam on. Or to remove the lens cover ahah! Anyway, today…- »

…

Come to think of it, Sasuke knows that he should have, at least, tried to make it look like it wasn’t that big of a deal. He should have try to tighten his jaw, clench his teeth or even hold his breath until he could return to his seat but of course - he didn’t.

That damn brain of his really had to go on mental-break down as he looked over to the lips from which those sweet, sweet words had just escaped.

He literally froze on the spot.

HOLY FREAKING FUCKING FUCK.

Why the hell did Rasengan have to show up in his class on the very-day he looked like utter shit?!

Sasuke let himself fell on a chair of the uni library. The research room, fortunately, was still quite empty - this haven of peace was the only place where, he was ready to stake his life on it, this stupid Inuzuka had not and would never set foot in.

Yes - Sasuke Uchiha had simply run away : with clenched fists, he had spent the forty-two minutes separating him from the end of the class to scrutinize meticulously the auditorium clock’s second hand. He had tried everything: scrolling down his twitter feed, pretending to be interested in what was happening downstairs, humming softly a bit of that stupid Latin-sounding song that his brother Itachi kept playing in the car, but nothing helped. That same frightening moment was played again and again in his mind:

Meeting certain cerulean eyes had literally made him go speechless. If he had for a long time now suspected the blond guy of drowning his instagram pictures with saturated filters, he was now forced to admit that this guy had the bluest eyes he had ever seen.

And by blue, Sasuke wasn’t talking about that pale, bland cyan that Ino Yamanaka, a high school ‘friend’ he often saw in the cafeteria, boasted about - no, Rasengan’s pupils were of a deep, bright, intense blue. It wasn’t a grey that stretched to be too light or green; his eyes were neither grayish nor turquoise: they were blue. Irrevocably blue.

Wonderfully blue.

The more he thought about it, the less Uchiha was willing to accept it: there was no way a guy who spent at least twelve hours a day on screens could have such marvelous eyes. He probably wore contact lenses, yeah, there was no other explanation.

All Sasuke could remember was meeting that seing that blue and then - nothing. His foot had stayed up in the air, his breathing hastened and he had stood there like an idiot - staring at the video maker who hadn’t pay the slightest attention to him, his mouth wide open.

How long had he been frozen there, like a fucking fangirl oozing hormones and sebum?

…

Thank’s God - an unfortunate accident had come to his rescue : Kiba Inuzuka and his legendary clumsiness who, probably not expecting Sasuke to suddenly freeze on the spot, had stumbled over the stairs.

PAF.

He had cracked his forehead open and the fit of hilarity (well - they didn’t need much at eight o'clock in the morning) in the auditorium had instantly brought Sasuke out of his enamored trance. He had quickly taken his attention away from the blond young man hurried back to his place, his heart beating fast.

Shit - what the hell was Rasengan doing in his college?

And why did he have do pull an all-nighter on the day before?

Sasuke looked around him and hesitated for a moment before putting his phone in selfie mode in order to inspect the extent of the damages.

Ouch.

He had rarely looked so bad. His eyes were red because of the entire night spent on a computer screen, his skin was tugging at him and - what the hell was that old scale on the edge of his eyelid ? But despair truly overcame him as he looked at the state of his hair - thank God it was still pretty clean, but there was absolutely no volume left. Nasty, long (too long) strands of hair were stuck to his temples and fell back a little on his forehead.

Shit - it was as if he was unpleasantly reviving his teenage years when - even though he still adamantly claimed to that day he had never turned emo, he had tried numerous dubious kind of hairstyles.

The Uchiha turned pale when it really came down to him : this was indeed the very first impression he ever had make on Rasengan.

When Sasuke set foot on campus the next day, curious glances were exchanged. While his complexion was as fresh and glowing as ever (he had gulped down five liters of water the night before), his hair was…-

Well - he rather gave the impression that he had swallowed five litres of gel. That observation made the usually impassive Shikamaru raised an eyebrow - for a moment he thought that he too had returned to his high school years. The Nara genius finally shrugged it off, plunged back into his textbook - well everyone had bad hair day every now and then.

Fourth day of the week - Sasuke grumbled as he put his computer back on his bag.

Of course, Rasengan had to disappear completely off the face of the earth as soon as he had decided to rock his best outfits to go to class.

It was as if Rasengan’s divine appearance had to be provoked by Sasuke losing some of his splendor.

…

The next day, Sasuke had the impudence of wearing a T-shirt… with a hole on it (an old accident involving a hook and his brother-in-law, a fisherman), but still - nothing happened.

There was not the slightest sign of the handsome blond with eyes too blue to be true. In a bad mood, Uchiha decided after lunch to put the Ralph Lauren sweater, which he’d slipped into his bag in the morning just in case, in top of his crappy shirt.

The following Monday came quickly but - no, Sasuke wasn’t expecting anything.

His decision to resume his daily abdominal sessions hadn’t been motivated by any hope of meeting a certain blond again.

He was doing it for himself - and for himself alone.

Although it was true that he didn’t even need it.

The coffee machine forgot inadvertently to give him a stirrer - Sasuke sighed. Great, the day was starting out just fine : how the hell was he supposed to retrieve the sugar that had fallen to the bottom of the cup and drink his coffee now?

« Ahah, I can’t believe it, I didn’t even finish my presentation and Hatake gave me the passmark ! »

Sasuke’s ears tensed imperceptibly as he recognized the voice of the injured-Inuzuka who had just entered the cafeteria.

« He felt sorry you had a concussion Kiba, Shikamaru was there too.

- Whatever, man ! I’m definitely going to pass that semester ! We got to go celebrate. »

Celebrate?

Like in a bar or club where Rasengan might also go to ?

Sasuke suddenly found his cup too heavy to carry around and chose to sit down at the table next to the one the two friends had chosen, any worry of lost-stirrer long forgotten.

« Mhhh. Shikamaru sighed and rummaged through his wallet, seeking enough change to buy himself a hot drink. The delicious scent of Sasuke’s coffee was tempting him. You know what I think about your improvised parties.

- Pfff, anyway, you hardly go out anymore now than you got hitched.

- It's not like that, Shikamaru sighed again. Tem and I simply go to different places. »

Sasuke rolled his eyes out, bored. He wasn’t there to hear about other people’s marital relationships: why didn’t they discuss Rasengan’s appearance AND disappearance instead?

The black-haired man had spend the weekend trying to figure something out, but nothing helped. Not a new video on Youtube (well, there was nothing that strange about that, Rasengan’s upload schedule had always been rather dubious), not a single clue on twitter or insta.

Nothing.

« …- never thought you’d actually manage to hook up with her. By the way…-, Kiba’s sentence was left hanging in the air. Oh, here he is. It’s about time! »

Sasuke’s pulse suddenly accelerated. Damn it.

He hadn’t expected Rasengan to pop up out of the blue, though.

Wasn’t his presence so close to his group of friends too suspicious?

Was he going to get busted that easily ?

He needed a pretext - quickly.

« Hey Shino. You’re here just in time, let’s go! »

Eyes glued to the poster for dark-metal band, Uchiha struggled to conceal his disappointment.

Shino Aburame - of course.

Always where he wasn’t expected.

Jaw clenched, Sasuke pretended to take a closer look at the tour dates on the wall while the three companions got up to go to class. The disappointed student was about to do the same when a voice called out to him:

« I didn’t know you liked this kind of music, Sasuke.

- Uh… yeah.

- We’re performing next month at the bar around the corner, Shino let out a rare smile as he reached into his pocket to hand him something. Here, I’ve got plenty more.

- … Thanks ? »

Uchiha arched an eyebrow as he received a Radioactive Worms sticker.

…

Well.

It took all sorts to make a world.

Wednesday, nine o'clock - Sasuke sighed as he realized that his computer was already out of battery. He pulled the charger out of its’ case before giving a nasty glance to a student who was cackling a little too loudly a few rows away.

Inuzuka.

Again.

He was getting on his nerves more and more.

For how long has he been getting along like pigs in a blanket with Rasengan? And was he, as Sasuke strongly suspected, responsible of his mysterious disappearance?

It was all so damn confusing.

« Um, yeah? »

The microphone sizzled and Sasuke turned his attention back ont he lecturer who he had almost forgotten.

When he saw who standing next to him, he almost fainted.

Rasengan.

#sasunaru #narusasu #sasunaru fic #sasunaru fanfiction #narusasu fic #narusasu fanfiction #naruto #naruto fanfiction #youtube #sillyme #shino is a key character there #hope you guys enjoyed it #i really need to study but oh well #naruto x sasuke #narutoxsasuke #sasuke x naruto #sasukexnaruto #sasuke x naruto fanfiction #it's all about connections

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sage-nebula · 5 years

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Thanks! So they've mentioned a war and Sonic being imprisoned for awhile? Also curious about Shadow's history, as it was alluded he was a villain in the past. And in one of the panels where Sonic was thinking about his infection, it showed outlines in the background suggesting comparable things had happened to him in the past. One seemed to be him turning into a monster, maybe?

So they’ve mentioned a war and Sonic being imprisoned for awhile?

That’s the plot of Sonic Forces. The long and short of it is that the game opens up with Eggman successfully taking over the world and, with the assistance of a jackal named Infinite who had the power of the Phantom Ruby (a gem which allowed him to warp reality), capturing Sonic (though many believed Sonic had died). Sonic was imprisoned and tortured for six months until he managed to escape, and during that time a Resistance was led by Knuckles and Amy against Eggman’s empire. As you can expect, the game ends with Eggman being overthrown (and Infinite being killed, we think).

Also curious about Shadow’s history, as it was alluded he was a villain in the past.

Shadow’s history is … complicated, to say the least, but I will explain it as best I can, haha.

So, fifty years ago, Eggman’s cousin, Maria Robotnik, was suffering from some kind of terminal illness. I think they said it was something along the lines of a degenerating immune system (neuro-immune system?), but the specifics aren’t really gone into very much. As a result of this, their grandfather Dr. Gerald Robotnik, started work on what was known as Project Shadow, a.k.a. the Ultimate Lifeform project. The goal was to create the Ultimate Lifeform, who was immune to all diseases, and then use that DNA to create a cure for Maria’s illness, which otherwise had no cure. Throughout the course of this project, two beings were created: the Biolizard, and the hedgehog we know as Shadow.

Now, I can’t remember if very much was said about the Biolizard’s DNA, only that at the end of Sonic Adventure 2 (the game where Shadow was introduced) it was kinda-sorta believed that the Biolizard may have been the true Ultimate Lifeform. Regardless, Shadow was created with the DNA from an alien known as Black Doom, who as it happens is also evil. But regardless of that, being created from Black Doom’s DNA is, I believe, what makes Shadow the Ultimate Lifeform. Although he has been alive for fifty years (in stasis for most of those years, to be fair), he is only sixteen years old. He’s not immortal (in the sense that he can be killed), but he doesn’t exactly age, either. He is immune to most diseases, and he can use Chaos Control, which allows him to teleport various places. The bracelets he wears on his wrists are inhibitor rings, which keep his power in check, but if he removes those he can also unleash a very powerful Chaos Blast. It takes a lot out of him, though.

Anyway, back when Shadow was created fifty years ago, he formed a very close friendship with Maria. It could be said, truthfully, that she was both his first friend and his only friend at that time. However—and my memory on this is a bit shaky since I haven’t played Sonic Adventure 2 in a long time, so bear with me—during the course of Gerald Robotnik’s research, I believe Project Shadow was defunded by the government, or something along those lines. Gerald was furious, because this of course meant that he wouldn’t be able to create a cure for Maria. So instead he set to work on creating the Eclipse Cannon on Space Colony ARK, which would allow him to decimate planet Earth as revenge, because of course that is the logical next step.

Unfortunately for him (and Maria, and Shadow), his hopes for revenge were in vain. The government found out about his plan and had their military force, G.U.N., storm Space Colony ARK, killing everyone on board … except Shadow, who was sent to safety by Maria, but including Maria herself. Shadow, trapped in an escape pod, could only watch as Maria was shot down by G.U.N. (and keep in mind, Maria was only about 12 - 14 herself, and had absolutely nothing to do with her grandfather’s plans). Right before this happened, Maria told Shadow was that her final wish was for him to protect the people of Earth—to give them a chance to be happy. Then she died, and Shadow was sent off in the capsule, though presumably at some point accosted by G.U.N. and put into stasis.

In any event, the trauma of seeing his first and only and best friend brutally murdered for literally no reason affected Shadow pretty deeply, including warping his memories of that event. As a result, Shadow remembered the promise he made to Maria being one of revenge, which incidentally is the exact opposite of what she actually wanted, but … he was a traumatized teenager who was then thrown into stasis by those very same soldiers, so you can’t really hold that against him too much. Anyway, fifty years after that event, Eggman (i.e. Gerald’s grandson, Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik) busted Shadow out of containment because he’d heard tell of the “Ultimate Lifeform” and wanted to see that himself. Shadow, seeing Eggman as a useful ally in terms of getting his revenge, agreed to help Eggman so long as Eggman could make it to the Space Colony ARK (I think that was the deal, anyway). Shadow himself went and procured a Chaos Emerald, framing Sonic for the deed along the way (since apparently G.U.N. is so incompetent they cannot tell Sonic or Shadow apart—but then again, neither can Amy later in the game, so), and eventually Shadow and Eggman strike a deal to work together officially. The deal, it should be said, is to gather all seven Chaos Emeralds to power the Eclipse Cannon, which they will then use to explode the planet. (Well, Eggman wants to rule the planet; he doesn’t realize that Shadow wants to explode it when they make the deal.) Unfortunately for them, they were spied on by Rouge the Bat, who followed Eggman to the Space Colony ARK after he tried to steal the Master Emerald (and failed because Knuckles shattered it to prevent it being stolen—mind you, Rouge had been in the process of trying to steal it herself). Rouge pretends to be a simple jewel thief to get in on the action, but in reality she’s a G.U.N. agent investigating the Ultimate Lifeform, a.k.a. Shadow. Neither of them realize it at the time.

All that said, the neat thing about Sonic Adventure 2 is that it initially has two story paths you can play: Hero Path, which lets you play as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles; and Dark Path, which lets you play as Shadow, Eggman, and Rouge. The ending seems different on each, with Dark Path making it seem as though Shadow and Eggman’s plan will succeed, and Hero Path indicating the opposite. But if you beat both paths, a third path—True Path—opens, which shows you the true ending. The Biolizard is revealed, the plan to explode the planet (and the fact that this is now going to be accomplished by the Biolizard crashing Space Colony ARK into it) is revealed, and more importantly, during a time of quiet, Amy gets a chance to talk to Shadow. She inadvertently reminds him of what Maria truly wanted by talking about how everyone on Earth has different goals, but that ultimately they just want to be happy and deserve that chance. As I said, this unlocks the real memory of what happened that tragic night for Shadow, and he rushes off to go help the others stop the impending disaster so that he can do what Maria wanted. He kicks the Biolizard’s ass (which is his way of proving to himself which of them is truly the Ultimate LIfeform), but when the Biolizard transforms into the Final Hazard and starts to forcibly drag the Space Colony ARK toward Earth, he and Sonic use the Chaos Emeralds to activate their Super Forms to fight it in space. This battle results in Shadow sacrificing himself to finally defeat the Final Hazard once and for all, but also falling all the way to Earth from space in the process, his last thoughts being directed at Maria, telling her that he kept his promise to her. Sonic brings one of Shadow’s inhibitor bracelets back to the ARK and gives it to Rouge, and when everyone else has already left, stays in the room a moment long to deliver one final, “Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog.” (Yes, he says “sayonara” in the English version as well, just as Maria did; this is not me being a weeb lol.)

Anyway, Shadow was originally going to be Killed Off For Real there, but because of his immense popularity was revealed to have survived the fall to Earth, albeit he had amnesia as a result. Eggman also created some clones or robots of him as well, and that’s all explained in Sonic Heroes … but it’s not really relevant to the comics right now, lol. The important thing is, Shadow was an antagonist bent on the destruction of the world (and several brutal fights with Sonic, including at least one being intended to the death) in Sonic Adventure 2, but he realized the error of his ways at the end and sacrificed himself (everyone thought permanently) to help protect it. This leads to Sonic saying, in response to Rouge asking if Sonic thought Shadow really was the Ultimate Lifeform, “He was what he was—a brave and heroic hedgehog.” Which is part of why Sonic making his quip about how he didn’t think Shadow cared about innocent people in the most recent comic pretty ehhhh, even if it was a joke.

But yeah, those are the most important deals about Shadow. Note that Maria is still a very sensitive spot for him, to the point where, in a Twitter Takeover where the characters were voiced by their current voice actors in the games, Eggman refused to read a question asking Shadow how Maria was doing, and when Sonic started to read it, his response was, “Dear Shadow, how’s Mariauhhh, oh, oh yikes.” It’s really not a good idea to invoke her name carelessly around him.

And in one of the panels where Sonic was thinking about his infection, it showed outlines in the background suggesting comparable things had happened to him in the past. One seemed to be him turning into a monster, maybe?

That would be the game Sonic Unleashed, where Sonic was turned into a “werehog” at night due to a … curse? Infection? I can’t exactly say for sure since I didn’t play that one, haha, but essentially throughout the game Sonic was himself during the day, and then was a werehog at night, though this was cured / reversed by the end of the game, obviously. I don’t think knowing too much about that particular adventure will be necessary going forward; that was more just a little allusion to game fans to let them know that the events of Unleashed are canon in the comic.

Let me know if there’s anything more you’d like clarified!

#ravivkit

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bisexualgaledekarios · 5 years

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Top 5 UE moments?

This is a tough one because I want to just say “every moment ever because I love them” lmao

War Games II. This one is a real emotional connection for me, even though they lost the match (and yeah I still disagree with that, whatever). This is the day I met them ♥ My first NXT event. It’s Bobby’s first televised match back after he got injured. Their first match as a four-man team. The first time they had matching gear. I particularly love Bobby’s shouting while he was locked in the cage (I was in a box on the opposite side of the arena from the stage and we could still hear him yelling), and his antics when he locked Pete in the cage (what a DORK).TIED FOR #1 is Bobby’s return. I remember reading the spoilers and FREAKING OUT. I literally yelled at my brother the second I saw it. I messaged Meg and screamed at her. I cried when I watched the video someone had filmed from the audience. I took the day off work to watch that episode of NXT when it aired and I sobbed. The incoherent posts are still somewhere on my blog. It’s still the pinned tweet on my twitter. I’ve rewatched the segment uhhhh a few times. It was everything I’d waited months and months and months for ♥♥♥

War Games I. It felt like their first big win in NXT and it felt like they’d truly arrived then. And it’s a great match that I’ve rewatched countless times. Seriously, I’ve seen it at least five times. I never get tired of watching it.

Their debut. Takeover Brooklyn III was the first time we saw that reDRagon were going to be together in NXT, and then when they reappeared at the end of the show and Adam debuted, and we realised that it was going to be the three of them together…. amazing.

Roddy joining/Takeover New Orleans. I hated Roddy joining UE for a long, long time. But now, I just can’t imagine them without him and this is such a great moment. When they all stood on the stage together and Bobby was there even though he was injured…. looking back now, I really love this moment. Especially once I heard Roddy say that it’s his favourite moment from his career ♥

Interview from Takeover Brooklyn IV. They did a ~10 minute interview before takeover that’s on youtube, and it’s the funniest shit. It somehow made me love them even more, especially Roddy. They’re so entertaining and every time I think I can’t love them even more, we get content like this and I’m proven wrong.

Bonus: (I really couldn’t narrow it down to just five, but I’ve put these separately because technically they’re not moments for UE as a whole)

Bobby and Kyle winning the NXT Tag Team Titles on TV in late 2017. It made reDRagon the first team to win the tag titles in ROH, NJPW and NXT, and they’re my favourite tag team ever. It’s just special to me because I love them so, so much. Adam’s reaction is priceless and a whole damn mood.

Bobby calling out EC3 in a backstage promo. This is….. purely here for self indulgent reasons because oooof. Yeah. That was a hell of a promo and I’m still bitter that we didn’t get more out of this feud (but that’s a discussion for another time).

Thank you so much for the question! ♥

#how many of these are on this list bc bobby #i adore them and i will rhapsodise about them at every chance i get #answered #Anonymous

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musesoftheminds · 6 years

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Scandal 707- Winter finale

Alrighty. It’s been some time since I’ve done a review. Scandal as of recent has been focused predominantly on Quinn’s disappearance and Olivia’s endless fall and there have been some incredible reviews and analysis regarding the episodes. I’m pretty rusty but I promised that I would do one, so here it goes.

The first scene on our screen is Charlie flipping through pages of pregnant dead ladies, looking for Quinn . Huck comes in and to my surprise he doesn’t seem upset, or teetering towards his own darkness instead he’s talking about creating a spiked fidget spinner so they could use it on the person who took Quinn.

That’s it. Where’s all hands on deck in search of her? I honestly am confused by how cavalier QPA is with Quinn missing, the only one truly breaking down is Charlie. When Huck went missing everyone was on pin and needles searching for him and there was a sense of hopelessness with his case. Not the same for Quinn. Perhaps they think highly of their leader that if anyone can come back it’s Quinn. I don’t know but expected more urgency and fear.

Quinn is the perfect foil to Olivia Pope, she is the one who introduced us to Olivia’s world. And we see because of Quinn that Olivia Pope isn’t all that she portrays herself to be. In fact Lindsay Dwyer is the first person that Olivia Pope killed, so it’s rather symbolic that Quinn Perkins would be the one to shed light on this continuous cycle that we have found ourselves on.

Olivia and Quinn have similar mannerisms, as evidenced by the above gif both of them seek the shelter of a bathroom for a moment of peace. There is a obvious disconnection between Quinn and Olivia that has been intensified with Quinn’s takeover of QPA and her personal life coming together. But the interesting thing about Quinn and Olivia dynamics is that Quinn doesn’t appear to have any animosity with Olivia, she warmly and gladly invites her back into QPA never reminding her that it’s her name on the door, she welcomes Olivia with open arms. Olivia, not so much. There’s jealously and a sense of aloofness when Olivia is around Quinn, this portray of being happy with her choices only seems magnified when someone of a personal standpoint enters her glass world and reminds her of her failures of having it all.

Back at the submarine. Jake and Olivia are discussing that once again they have no leads but as the screen pans on Quinn, I notice something shiny, it could be her watch or it could be her ring either way it’s telling. Now. why would Quinn show up for her wedding and leave her ring....ahhhh....the ring.

When Olivia was kidnapped, in order for anyone to connect that she was taken and not simply running away she had to leave behind her most personal possession. Deux Bebe. The ring Fitz gave her all those years ago. As we know, Quinn too leaves her ring behind. And the thing about the ring symbolism is that it’s not the ring itself but what it represents that is of value to them. Is it a coincidence or is this more. The paralleling connection between Olivia’s kidnapping to Quinn’s is remarkable to note as these little nuances continue to provide us with information that is subtle yet precise. Things are fishy around here, and for me things are becoming more murkier as we move through.

Is anyone else smelling rotten fish whenever Jake speaks? Jake attempts to give Olivia her own speech she made when looking for Huck “we don’t give up. we don’t quit.” But baby girl ain’t having it telling Jake “to be better” but honestly how can he be better when subpar is all he knows.

“I want the monster who did this. I want them here. I want them to face command . I want them to understand who’s fight they stepped into, and then I want them finished.”

Olivia wants the monster who took Quinn held accountable and facing judgement day with herself as the

judge, juror and punisher.

But as the episode progresses Olivia begins to see that she might be the monster responsible for Quinn’s kidnapping. Will Olivia make herself accountable and face her own judgment day, that will be the question.

After voicing her list of wants to Jake he attempts to comfort Olivia who shudders at the touch and instead tells Jake to just find Quinn. Baby girl isn’t looking for comfort especially from him.

Olivia isn’t attempting to null her guilt and ease her conscious with bastard’s mediocrity. Sexual gratification is no longer desired when Olivia finds herself in a vulnerable state, and the swine’s tool of manipulation just dropped a peg. Yes. Olivia.

It’s funny for a women who struggles with saying her deepest desires she had no problem voicing her ‘wants ‘ when it comes to finding the person who took Quinn. If only Olivia didn’t fear what her true wants could mean to her.

As Olivia looks at Quinn on her screen she says a loud “where are you?” And interesting and perhaps foreshadowing we see Mellie giving an interview but as the screen pulls out we see Marcus and Fitz at the Grant institute with Marcus watching Mellie on the screen. Fitz is hard at work looking sexy and serious about doing whatever it is he must do. With his tie and jacket off you truly see Fitz actually putting in the effort and being functional in ways he couldn’t be at the White House. His office is bright and not with artificial lights but the natural source of light; the sun. A Stark contrast between the scene we just left with Bonnie and Clyde literally inside a vacant shallow pool with their only source of light being man-made just like their relationship versus Fitz’s office having rays of light that doesn’t require fluorescent lights being needed.

Marcus wants to seize on Mellie’s popularity and have her support their criminal justice initiative but Fitz reminds Marcus that he has only eight minutes in the White House to pick up his son, in so many words they don’t have an ally in the White House , they will have to do this on their own. And once again Olivia’s AU dream connects to reality as Olivia and Marcus struggled to get their criminal justice bill passed without an influential politicians approval but in the end of the AU Olivia learned that she didn’t need the White House to conquer her dreams instead she did it on her own and though it proved more challenging Olivia didn’t have to compromise her soul for a goal.

Another day goes by and still no Quinn. Exhausted and mentally spent Charlie goes to Olivia for answers and looks to her for the truth; that Quinn’s dead. Sad irony that the gladiators still place their trust in Olivia and Charlie needing answers goes to Olivia who couldn’t be any further from the truth or her own truth for that matter. But still they believe her. They trust her. Their blind faith in Olivia is not therapeutic for any of them. I’ve discussed this on twitter but I have a problem with how everyone projects who they want Olivia to be and because she hates failure, Olivia channels the person they envision her to be. A mother. A savior. A fighter. A legend. Anytime Olivia branched off to find her own sense of self one of the gladiators would blame her for abandoning them and Huck too would tell Olivia that he worried about her with the president, when staying with Fitz made Olivia a better person.The intention of this scene is crucial as Shonda is scraping off every projections we have placed on Olivia and starting over. And I’m here for it.

Charlie seeing the reminder on his phone that his and Quinn’s baby is due tomorrow. Is also a reminder that due day is near. Quinn’s supposed to have her baby, but she’s not here.

After comforting Charlie we see a rattled and upset Olivia struggling to put the key in and open the door. Hello euphemism

Jake.

After talking with Abby, Cyrus is able to put two and two together about admiral Ballard and confronts him about hurting an innocent person (thus far) who’s no where near president rashad’s bombing. Jake with arrogance and aloofness remarks that accidents do happen. You see this is why I can’t stand or condone his character. How did Jake find this footage of Quinn when Huck hasn’t? Jake couldn’t even turn on a printer three seasons ago and now he’s back to being the best spy.

Jake tells Olivia that Quinn isn’t dead because the two people who want her dead are in this room.

He’s right there . Jake tells Olivia he’s worried about Curtis Pryce because there’s no telling what Quinn told him, but before Jake could dictate the dialogue, Olivia’s assistant barged in after ease dropping that Olivia is being summoned by her father.

You have to watch the episode a second time to truly see how disgusting and revolting Rowan is. Olivia tells her dad that she doesn’t have the time for him because she has to find Quinn Perkins and immediately Rowan focuses on that and tells Olivia that he has Quinn, and declares her ‘mine.’ Elated, Rowan smiles at Olivia’s shock pleased that he has the upper hand. Unknowingly Olivia bends at Rowan’s will, moving from standing over him to sitting beside him and reasoning.

“Quinn Perkins. The one person who can take you down. The one person that knows about your new assassination. hobbies. The one person that you would never kill. Your recking. I have Quinn Perkins. Your down fall and the key to my freedom.

Checkmate.

I win. You lose”

For those crying about Olivia being evil and dark this is the root and seed of her issues. Rowan once again playing mind games with Olivia just so he could punish and control her once again. I am truly flabbergasted with how callous and manipulative he is though not surprised, once again Rowan extracts Olivia’s truth and turns it into a weakness, and afterwards he has the audacity to tell Olivia that it’s “a fair trade” how can he justify his four months of fear to Olivia’s lifetime of it. This man cried to Fitz about wanting his daughter back yet when he had the chance he help her he turned his back, almost eerily similar to his candor with Olivia’s kidnapping.

Which tells me, Rowan doesn’t love Olivia or anyone for that matter. This is all just a game to him, and he once again is pulling the strings . And like many I do believe Rowan had a role to play with Olivia’s kidnapping.

Interesting things to note: 1. How does Rowan know about the bombing and Quinn having intel on Olivia. 2. “Your her child’s godmother” 3. “I win. You lose” Jake said those same words to Olivia and now their father is using them. Foreshadowing of their interconnectedness and how Jake might still be working with dad. Possibly 4. Olivia’s distaste for Rowan’s wine. Is their horrid connection coming to an end? Please be a hell yes.

Once again wanting to be the hero in Olivia Pope’s eyes, Jake goes to see Rowan who remarks that Jake is pathetic for crawling to Olivia with his tail between his legs. Jake is gnat that won’t go away. Jake begins with empty threats about him needing to leave and not to underestimate Olivia. Has anyone noticed the common pattern with admirable Ballard , when people get too close to Olivia he warns them that she’s not the person they use to know. First it was Fitz, then he had a moment with Mellie and now Rowan. Jake is going rogue he’s no longer listening to Olivia’s orders because she’s no longer command, that’s why he killed Curtis and used Olivia’s assistant which I doubt Olivia knows is an assassin to kill him. This is still survival of the fittest and Jake is acting on self preservation.

By the way does anyone think Cyrus is going to lay down and not come for Jake after finding out Jake killed Curtis and instead of appearing remorseful, Jake emphasized that Curtis was snitch and a rat. Cyrus hasn’t forgotten James who was a journalist and also one of Jake’s victims.

Cyrus, when you come for jake.

Needing help with how to remain untouched by Rowan, Olivia goes to the one person who shows just how impotent he truly is . Shonda, heard our cries and delivered Maya to us.

Maya is screaming Olivia Pope season 2 with them creamy silk pajamas and her apartment is also similar to Olivia’s style before she lost the light . Interesting that Olivia styled her mama’s apartment with such brightness and light meanwhile her apartment looks like the ninth circle of hell. But like all mama’s they know their child and she’s able to read Olivia like a book; had Quinn not threatened Olivia with the truth she would have been rescued by now but because she’s a liability and a threat Olivia’s uncertain of saving her. But Quinn isn’t just a threat to Olivia’s professional world, but her personal one as well. When Olivia looks at Quinn, she sees the person she was supposed to be, the life she was supposed to have and she’s angry. Quinn is starting a family and being a boss all while remaining true to her self and her values and most of all she’s happy. Quinn dying would mean that Olivia doesn’t have to look at herself and be reminded that she’s failed to capitalize on her hopes and dreams.

Maya, sees that what Olivia is asking for is her permission to let Quinn die. Maya grants Olivia her permission to kill Quinn but even she too wants to know what’s in it for her by helping Olivia. Damn. Poor Olivia.

But Maya’s right though, that’s how she remained unscathed by Rowan when he threatened to kill Dominic (Maya’s lover) Maya let the clock run out and chose to let Dominic die then submit to Rowan showing that nothing and no one can trap her, she is the power that Rowan preaches about.

Mama knows best. And in this situation Olivia is bound to lose. There’s no winner; either she saves Quinn and gives Rowan the upper hand or she remains firm and loses the remaining piece of her soul by choosing to let her friend die instead of saving her.

Feeling the overwhelming weight on her shoulders Olivia is crying in her bed, she pats herself on the chest, the way a mother comforts their child when upset but that is the thing - Olivia’s utterly alone. ultimately Olivia made her bed and now she must lie in it literally and figuratively speaking. The physical act has Olivia trembling as she wrestles with consequences of her actions.

In a formal room of the White House in the lightest blouse we’ve seen Olivia wear in some time there seems to be a sense of calmness to Olivia, there’s finally natural light in the space she’s occupying. The door opens and Olivia closes her eyes to prepare herself for Mellie and their charade. Olivia gives Mellie her notes and she attempts to leave but Mellie stops her, speaking to Olivia’s need to be wanted, moving towards Olivia, Mellie talks about the sacrifices of President Rashad’s death and that she’s here signing this treaty because of Olivia.

This highlights to the me why I could never stand mellivia and why neither should you. This pretense of feminism is infuriating and Mellie seeing that her key to freedom is leaving uses Olivia’s own words against her in order to convince her to stay. The stark contrast between their clothes and height. Mellie’s wearing the power colors (dark&red )as she towers over Olivia who’s now suddenly seems so small and fragile.

Mellie calls Olivia ‘the champion’ the same word Rowan said to Fitz when describing Olivia. Mellie has the nerve to tell Olivia that they need to be worthy of their sacrifices.

What sacrifices have you made? The one’s where you used your husband’s father raping you as leverage? when you freed your son’s killer so that you could blackmail Olivia to work for you? or when you used the token black girl as your mule to carry you to the finish line. Fuck you Mellie .

Mellie feeling empowered tells Olivia this is only the beginning for them and for some reason I can’t tell whether Olivia was repeating Mellie’s statement flabbergasted or whether she’s simply playing her role of hyping Mellie up. I don’t know.

A member of the Lena Dunham feminism, Mellie makes Olivia repeat after her that they need to be worthy of their sacrifices and that there can’t be nothing , no one and no man standing in our way. As Olivia repeats those words it’s only when Olivia gets to the no man part that she looks away from Mellie and towards the ground. Hasn’t a man already come between them. Even though Fitz wasn’t seen much this episode, his presence is felt throughout it and certainly at this moment where Olivia no longer seems as tethered to the white house and this way of living.

Waiting for the time to run out, Olivia goes to Rowan and of course she enters the red door but we don’t see Olivia opening or closing the door instead we are moved immediately to the living room where impatiently Rowan points a gun at Olivia in the same manner that Olivia did to him.

I thought jake removed all of Rowan’s toys and guns so how in the hell does Rowan have one pointed at Olivia! You see this is what I’m talking about , y’all think I’m supposed to believe that super spy was the only one who found Quinn’s footage when his incompetent ass can’t even remove firearms from Rowan’s house? Olivia’s not surprised by seeing the gun pointed at her, she’s use to Jake being a disappointment.

The chess match begins as Olivia and Rowan make threats towards one another. Unable to kill Olivia, Olivia puts a bounty on Rowan’s head; in 20 minutes he’ll be dead if he doesn’t hand Quinn over . But Rowan counters that letting Quinn die is worse than death for Olivia as her soul will be gone forever . And this is where the true conversation begins.

“ you think Quinn and I are BFFs that I’ll let this cloud my judgment . Or that mini Quinn She’s caring is a little person I’m already in love with. That I just can’t handle the idea of them both dying . You think there’s a soft chewy center in here . You do think that! You gave me a dead mother. A life in boarding. then you told me everything I knew was a lie. You took away the only man I ever truly loved . You killed his son. and you have consistently erased my hopes; my dreams, my ambitions. You made me in your image.”

The Horrible truth and acknowledgment of their relationship. The first step of recovery is acknowledging and as a start Olivia acknowledged the psychological damage Rowan has put her through since she was a child. Rowan made Olivia motherless and then sent her off to boarding school, her childhood ended. And then Rowan taunts Olivia that he’s the only man she will ever have and to never pick anyone over him again. Finally Rowan strips Olivia of her remaining freedom by continuously putting a wedge between her and the only man she has ever truly loved. To make Fitz hate her and ruin their love, Rowan kills Fitz’s son; what love can survive that?

I’ve said it many times that Olivia loves Fitz because she choose him. He wasn’t created and orchestrated to seduce her. Fitz is real, not some manufactured b613 toy pulled from the assembly line. So I appreciated Olivia admitting to Rowan and herself that Fitz is the only man she’s ever truly loved and still loves to this day. Olivia has yet to even begin working through the Fitz of it all but this moment of acceptance is a good start for me.

Rowan has infiltrated his way into every aspect of Olivia’s life, her professional, her personal, and her sexual life. We are reminded that Olivia is a victim of her environment, how can we hate her when she’s tried so hard to prove herself unlike him that she finally succumbed to what she perceives is her fate.

Has anyone taken note that Olivia is recreating the same moments that Rowan committed to her.

Olivia has played a role in almost all of her gladiators relationships not working. She broke up Abby and David, she manipulated Mellie into breaking up with Marcus. Rowan took away the only man she’s ever loved, Olivia controls their relationships the same way Rowan controls hers. If she can’t have love then neither can they.

Olivia has shot down a plane killing a President and innocent civilians, mirroring Fitz shooting down a plane that was supposed to have her mother in it.

Olivia, has finally killed a child on her orders. She killed Yasmeen because it suited her agenda the same way Rowan killed Jerry in order to break up Olivia and Fitz.

Quinn mentioned that she has a witness who knows Olivia bombed President Rashad’s plane so if and when that witness comes out will Olivia kill him/her the same way Rowan killed Harrison?

I don’t believe Quinn is dead though her dying wouldn’t be the worse thing for Olivia as there it would be a real and tangible consequence for Olivia’s own grave yard of bodies .

With Olivia unleashing some of the weight she’s carried all these years we see the predisposed patterns that has influenced and motivated Olivia to this way of living and thinking.

Olivia still kept her and Rowan’s picture on her table in her apartment yet Rowan has no pictures of Olivia or of anyone hanging on his walls or tables. It’s time for Olivia to move on with her life and she has to let Rowan go and not just figuratively speaking because she tried that and it didn’t work. No. Rowan must die so Olivia can live.

The empty threats are exchanged until Rowan walks away and we hear a gun shot followed by what sounds like Quinn begging for mercy and then a couple more shots. Olivia jumps shocked, surprised that Rowan actually shot Quinn she trembles with fear as she clinches her stomach from the straight shot to her gut. Olivia mourns and with a matter of seconds she turns cold as she faces Rowan.

I’m terribly sad to see the show I love go and the characters who I’ve connected with leave my screen. However I’m excited for when this show returns, the trajectory of this story is clear as it moves to the finale stages.

I’m highly optimistic for Olivia and her pursuit of happiness. The finale scene was dark and brutal but the beauty is that Olivia can learn from this and create the life she wants and the people she wants in it. I will always have hope for Pope and so should you.

Enjoy your holidays with family and friends.

Until next time ,

Muse.

#scandal #scandal commentary #Olitz #olivia pope #Fitzgerald Grant #all roads lead to fitz #hope4pope #ofakegrabAlifeVest

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moodymurda · 6 years

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shanemundi forever and ever

tw: mention of death

i knew i was going to want to come here for this but i kept putting it off. thinking about this and everything else it makes me think about hurts so bad. i honestly don’t know where to fucking start. idk. I’m going to try.

so shanemundi. my fucking niggas. my fucking family. my babies. all that shit. shanemundi is what the fans of the shane show are called. (i write this shit like someone reads it, no one reads this shit. download the shane show app tho. they’re also on the podcasts shit if you have an iPhone.) i became aware of who shane was and then the show obviously like mid 2015 thru being subscribed to golf media and listening to golf radio on dash. (for some reason tho i didn’t realize that there was a whole ass community of fans and shit on twitter until 2016. i truly do not know how i had no clue fr. i deadass live on fucking twitter). but anyways, the shane show quickly became one of the most important things in my life. it became something that got me through the day. i’d listen to the live show and then re listen throughout the day whenever i felt like i needed to. even then tho, i don’t think i realized just how much that show was going to mean to me. I’m just thinking back to the headspace i was in in 2015, i would not be able to comprehend what the fuck happened. i wouldn’t believe this shit.

so anyways like i said, i realized there was a whole ass community of fans on twitter in 2016. i followed a couple people, i really wish i could remember who i followed first and all that. i know it happened around the time where everyone was taking over the shane show snap. i know my takeover was march 7th, 2016. It’s crazy that I was sitting last night and realizing i dead remember that day. like i rememberrrrr that shit, i remember what i did that day and how nervous i was when dc dm’d me the password for the snap bc i was 100% sure my snap takeover was bout to be weak as FUCK. anyways. I remember ru had quoted my tweet and said something along the lines of “i enjoyed your takeover” or something. i remember some of the replies people sent to my snaps and shit. and a couple people dm’d me bout some shit i was talking about on snap, saying they could relate and shit. anyway. I’m all over the fucking place. but recalling this shit is, fuck i don’t know. it’s just like we were innocently just encouraging each other while basically being fucking strangers. we just knew for sure that the shane show and OF were two things we had in common. fuck the fact that that shit is damn near the foundation for all this shit is fuccking crazy.

anyways. we have a twitter group chat for the show now. i am so assy at timelines bruh i can not remember how shit happened i just know what the fuck happened. other shit happened between there but imma make this shit short and sweet so I’m skipping to the twitter gc. i think it got started early 2017. i know it was after cfg 2016 had already happened. it was so that anyone could be in the chat and it wasn’t about like who’s s100 and who isn’t and shit (I’m not going into explanations about what the shane 100 is rn. i don’t have the time i got too many thoughts flowing rn and i gotta get these bitches out. I’m already bad with words and this shit probably don’t make sense already). anyways by this time i had already bonded with some people but honestly the bonds i had grew stronger after this chat was made and i gained some new ones. the chat is a fucking mess to say the least. i say that in the most loving way possible. so many disagreements have gone down in that bitch. full out arguments. so much shade (yassss honey i LIVE!!!!). but one thing you can’t question is how much we all love each other. i really grew to love everyone like family. like i was talking to my mom today about me graduating next yr & my grad party. deadass my main concern was who would be able to make it and how much i just want my friends to be there. I’m thinking about it and i’ve dead talked to these niggas damn near everyday. that shit is fucking crazy. i traveled alone for the first time and i did it with them. fuck. thats crazy thats fucking crazy.

but yea anyways. i guess i gotta get to what i’ve been avoiding now. so a lil while ago someone had added ru back to our chat. now that I’m thinking about it i don’t remember when he left or for what reason. everyone was like “where have you been” etc etc but he never responded. thinking back on it I’m wondering why i didn’t think anything of him not responding to us…. anyway. last night lost came in the chat and was like he hadn’t realized ru was “gone”. when he said gone my first thought was “fuck do you mean we just added him back to the chat”. and i checked to see that he was in fact in the chat. and then i looked at his twitter account and realized his last tweet was december 15th i think. then i started to reconsider exactly what lost meant by “gone”. like “fuck does he mean gone like gone gone” i don’t know bruh. i didn’t want to believe that he meant gone like.. ya know. and i don’t know. i didn’t reply to the chat when i saw it because i just.. i don’t know i don’t know i do not know. i can’t remember who asked what he meant. he sent an article though and the article had a video of a news report attached to it. which i put off watching because i felt like if i didn’t hear it then it wasn’t real. i watched my friends be like “wtf” “is this real” etc in the chat but i was just like nah this can not be for real right now.

i haven’t had to deal with the death of someone that i knew a whole lot yet. the first death of someone in my family that i actually knew and was close to was november 2016. that shit was rough as fuck for me because it was the first ya know. for some reason i thought that the next time i had to deal with it, maybe i wouldn’t take it as hard. boy was i fucking wrong. the thing about death that i guess I’m not understanding is that it’s final and that it kinda just creeps up on you. whatever all of our (meaning shanemundi) last encounters/conversations with ru were, we didn’t know that would be the last one. shit he didn’t know either. makes me wonder like what if, what if niggas knew ahead of time ya know? maybe we (as people. like society) would appreciate shit more. idk. anyway. one part thats super hard for me is that we found out damn near a month later. i guess thats the trouble with internet friends. the only way we know whats going on with each other is when we decide to get on our phones and post some shit. and truly i be checking for my internet friends on social media more than my local friends because they’re less accessible to me and I’m a mom friend at heart. i need to know how everyone is doing. (hi friends if you are reading this. i stalk all of you. like i be seeing all y’all’s tweets and snaps and shit. i love y’all okay. anyway)

ru was probably one of the most dedicated fans to the show. he had a whole ass meme account where he made meme’s related to episodes of the show. that was highkey something i looked forward to, seeing what meme’s he’d make. he was a fucking witness for the world record show. (s/o shane & vanger. they fucking killed that shit. also s/o all my other friends who were witnesses). he went to vanger’s games to support him like.. so much shit. fuck. I’m sure he made sure everyone around him knew about the show. he shit on my music opinions a lot to fuck with me. and he’d always tell me nas was better than jay (nas was his fav, jay is mine.. so you know how that goes) that shit used to be so funny. fuck man.

i feel like at this age a lot of us feel kind of invincible. i truly don’t realize that any day could be my last.. whats going to stop me ya know? i’m 20, i’ve barely gotten to live yet. I do what I’m supposed to, what could possibly go wrong? i didn’t realize that was my mindset until shane kind of said it on the show today. life truly is so precious and we don’t ever sit back and realize that. on top of that, we impact others lives so much with out even knowing it. the HARDEST part about this for me is not my own sadness but knowing that my friends are hurting. Seeing everyone reminiscing in the chat and on the timeline just makes me think did ru KNOW. did he know how much he meant to everyone? and do we realize how much we all mean to one another? There have been times where i’ve felt down & I didn’t bring it up to anyone because I’m not always up to talk about how i feel. But somehow one of them said something in the chat that inspired me, or simply made me laugh & realize whatever was wrong wasn’t THAT big of a deal.

i don’t entirely know what i’m trying to say here because i’m feeling so many things at once. what i do know is that we should all cherish our lives and make the most of it. we should also cherish and love one another because friends/family is all we’ve got. to this day it still amazes me that the shane show brought all of us together. i gained close ass friends from having a fucking radio show in common. HOW THE FUCK.

Rest in peace Ru. Thank you so much for being a friend to all of us, I’m glad to have known you. If any of my friends are reading this, I’ve said it a million times already at this point but I love all of you so much. I hope that you all keep growing and learning and prospering. You can literally have whatever the fuck you want in this world. You guys are deadass the coolest group of people I’ve ever met and I’m so inspired by all of you in different ways. I'm not just saying that, I'm deadass. Shanemundi for fucking ever. I can’t wait until i get to see and hug all of you again.

#RIPRU #MISTER818 #shanemundi #me #ni

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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The Legacy of Batman: Tom King, Kevin Conroy, and Scott Snyder on the Dark Knight

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This year, we talked to Tom King, Kevin Conroy, Bruce Timm, Scott Snyder, Jock, and Pete Tomasi about why Batman still matters.

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It all began with two shots in the dark, pearls spilling onto the blood-soaked cement. No, it all started when the bat crashed through the window. Actually, it was when the boy fell into the cave. Maybe it was that hostile takeover at Apex Chemicals? Dozens of stories have shaped the legend of the Batman over his 80-year history, tales that have made the Caped Crusader arguably the most iconic character in comic book history, rivaled only by Superman.

When Bill Finger and Bob Kane put pen and pencil to paper for 1939's Detective Comics #27, they had no way of knowing that they were creating a new American myth that would captivate readers and movie audiences for decades to come. They certainly didn't expect their first Batman adventure, "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate," to spawn 973 more issues of Detective Comics, let alone become a blockbuster franchise featuring movies, TV series, video games, and McDonald's Happy Meals.

But what bigger testament to the long-lasting appeal of Batman than March’s Detective Comics #1000, written and drawn by some of the best creators in the business? The giant-sized, 96-page issue featured stories by legends such as as Dennis O'Neil, Neal Adams, Steve Epting, Christopher Priest, Jim Lee, Kelley Jones, Paul Dini, Brian Michael Bendis, Warren Ellis, and Geoff Johns as well as the current custodians of the Bat-mythos -- Tom King, Tony S. Daniel, Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Joelle Jones, Scott Snyder, and Greg Capullo. And that's not even including the excellent covers by Jim Steranko, Bernie Wrightson, Bruce Timm, Frank Miller, Jock, Tim Sale, and more.

Batman is only the second DC superhero to reach such a massive milestone, the other being the Man of Steel. What is it about this character hellbent on avenging the death of his parents night after night that has kept him at the forefront of our pop culture?

“I think what makes him deeply enduring is that it’s a really primal folk tale,” Scott Snyder, who’s been writing Batman stories since 2011, says. “It’s a story about a boy who loses everything and turns that loss into fuel to make sure that what happened to him never happens to anybody else.”

While most of us aren't billionaire playboys with the resources to fight crime on a global (and sometimes cosmic) level, we understand pain, both emotional and physical, and a need to rise above it, even if we can't always do that. We sympathize with Bruce's biggest regret -- if only he hadn't made his parents take him to see that Zorro movie; if only he hadn't been frightened by the opera; if only he'd been braver and faster as the thug pulled the trigger. For Bruce, his crusade to stop evildoers comes down to replaying that single fateful moment over and over again and making possible a different outcome.

Yet, Batman perseveres despite all of this pain, which is why people flock to the character, according to Snyder.

"It's a story of triumph over your worst fears, worst tragedy, and about taking your loss and turning it into a win," the writer says. "There's just this kind of power to him that speaks to our own potential, the human potential, even when we're challenged by things that seem insurmountably horrible."

Snyder has spent the better part of a decade showcasing Batman as a symbol of hope for the citizens of Gotham, putting him through the ringer, reopening old wounds while also making new ones -- the writer even killed the hero off at one point -- just so that he can pick himself up again and keep fighting.

But the character isn't driven solely by tragedy. Who could hang with a downer like that for 80 years?

"There are the fun elements, of course, that are similar to James Bond, like the gadgets, and the cars, and the planes, and just the cool factor of his costume."

Tom King, who recently wrapped up an 85-issue run on Batman and currently has a Batman/Catwoman miniseries in the works, looks back to the character's real-life point of origin as the reason he has stood the test of time.

"You have to go back to the moment of creation with him. You've got [Bob Kane and Bill Finger], the children of immigrants, so we're like, what, 1938, '39, we're in Manhattan. And at that time, I mean, go back and look at the pictures, Batman was created like 20 blocks from Madison Square Garden where they had a Nazi rally that attracted a hundred thousand people. They were marching in the streets."

These tumultuous times shaped the fabric of Batman, according to King.

"[Kane and Finger] were living here and their literal cousins and grandparents were getting killed in Europe, right? And they created something uniquely American. Batman succeeds because there's something genuinely beautifully American about it."

According to Batman: The Animated Series voice actor Kevin Conroy, Batman’s continued popularity goes back to something primal. To the classically trained actor who was immortalized as the voice of Batman in the ‘90s cartoon, the Caped Crusader is a modern retelling of myths and stories humans have been passing down for thousands of years.

“He’s such a theatrical character,” Conroy says, admitting he was at first hesitant to audition for the role. At the time, he was a theater actor who'd never done an animated role. But when he read the script, the character clicked. Conroy recognized this story. “They were absolutely right to cast a theater actor, especially one with a classical background, because this is Shakespeare. They’re doing high drama. Batman is Achilles. He’s Orestes. He’s Hamlet.”

The tragic Greek character Orestes, in particular, was on Conroy’s mind when playing Batman. By that point, he’d performed several plays as Orestes, a son who avenges his father’s murder and goes mad because of it. By the end of the story, Orestes has gone through hell and back because of his thirst for vengeance. Naturally, Conroy brought that familiarity with Orestes to his portrayal of Batman.

“He’s a Homeric hero,” Conroy says of the Caped Crusader. “I think of it often when I’m doing Batman because Orestes is haunted by the Furies. He descends into hell. He comes back. He’s resurrected at the end, and I think so often, this is a very Orestial-like journey that Bruce Wayne goes on. His Furies are the memory of his parents’ murder. It haunts him through his life. It’s transformed him."

Conroy calls Batman a “classic character.” Like Orestes before him, Batman has become the protagonist of our very own mythology.

“He’s come out of such a fire and instead of letting life crush him, he turns that metamorphosis into something even greater than himself,” Conroy says. “They’ve been telling that story for thousands of years in different cultures, and this is our culture’s way of telling those stories, and I think they’re just as valid.”

Bruce Timm, who co-created Batman: The Animated Series and designed the show's iconic Art Deco aesthetic, is unsurprisingly most taken by Batman's look.

"I just think Batman looks great," Timm says during our chat at NYCC in 2018. "He's got the best costume motif in comics. Nothing comes close. He's dark, sexy, and broody. It's really intoxicating and compelling in a way that almost no other in comics can come close to it."

He also admires the durability of the character through the different eras of comics, from the Golden Age, to the sillier '50s and '60s stories of the Comics Code era, to the darker takes we're more accustomed to today.

"It is amazing to me how flexible he is as a character. That you could have something as silly as the Adam West show or the old '50s comics, and then you have stuff like Neal Adams and Frank Miller and what we did. And you know, even more extreme, [Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's graphic novel] Arkham Asylum and things like that. And yet their all kind of the same character. It's like that character can encompass all of those different things. He can do space aliens and serial killers, you know? Yet, it kind of works."

This flexibility has allowed plenty of writers and artists to experiment with the Dark Knight, creating different versions of the character over the years. There really isn't a definitive take on Batman. You can love the Batusi, Bat-Mite, or Mr. Freeze's cool party and still be right on the money about the Caped Crusader. You'd be remiss to call the character stale. The guy has done it all.

"It's almost like he's a force of nature, in which stories can happen around him, and there's something primordial, maybe, about the character and the way he looks, as well," says veteran Batman artist Jock, who most recently worked on a seven-part miniseries with Snyder called The Batman Who Laughs. "You could put Batman in a new pose, and he'd still flourish, and I think those kinds of characters are very rare."

Peter J. Tomasi, who is currently writing Detective Comics, puts it best:

"He's a character who can work across all genres. Somehow, someway, he can simply fit into every story, be it a war story, a western, a love story, a comedic angle, sci-fi, horror, fantasy, you name it, and of course any detective story you can possibly imagine."

Superheroes won't always be at the top of our pop culture food chain. It's inevitable that many of the characters we love today will fade with future generations, just as the Shadow, Doc Savage, Zorro, and the Scarlet Pimpernel did. Will we still be talking about Batman in another 80 years? We may eventually embrace new forms of familiar myths, becoming obsessed with new idols. But only a fool would bet against a character who's survived as long as Batman has. Remember, the Batman always wins.

John Saavedra is an associate editor at Den of Geek. Read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @johnsjr9 and make sure to check him out on Twitch.

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celticnoise · 6 years

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Well, well, well. Swerved in time after all, Mr King.

Last night, King announced on the Sevco website that he was, in the end, backing down and submitting an offer for the rest of the shares in Sevco, in accordance with the Takeover Panel ruling. So, here we go then folks, we’re going another round with this eejit.

What is going on over there?

On the same day they leave it until the final moment to submit half yearly accounts – unaudited ones, again – King has decided to come forward with the Takeover Panel offer. So much for all the people who said that we were inventing deadlines where there were none, that we were making it up as we went along.

I guess we just got lucky with our dates, right?

That’s kind of beside the point though; let me ask that question once again; what is going on over there? What kind of game is this guy playing now?

It’s not Chicken, as I pointed out last night. Because in that game if neither side blinks then both are destroyed. In this game, only King is destroyed if he maintains his crazy course. But if he knows that, if he knows that the end result is humiliation and surrender to the inevitable, what’s the point in playing these things out like this in the first place?

What was the endgame if not this? And if he knew this was the endgame what was the point in it all? What was the point in court cases and appeals and banging his head against the wall? Does he like conflict? Does he mix it up just because he can?

When I heard the news that King had decided to comply my first thought was not of a game of Chicken but of watching someone hopelessly out of his depth at the card table. I use poker analogies a lot on here; bear with me for a second whilst I use another.

The best type of poker is no limit Texas Holdem; in that game, the simplest and yet deadliest of the poker variants, each player gets two cards. Betting then takes place in rounds; after the first round of bets three “community cards” are turned up in the middle of the table, face up, for any and all players to use, with their own two cards. This is called the Flop. Another round of betting follows. A fourth “community card” called the River card, is turned up and placed in the middle. Another round of betting follows, and a fifth and final “community card”, called the Turn card, is placed face up in the middle. There is a last round of betting.

Each player who’s left then has the cards in their hand plus the five in the middle to make the best possible five card hand. The winner takes it all.

There’s a poker term that refers to the way King is playing; he’s going “on tilt.” Which means that he’s letting emotion affect how he plays. He’s lost the plot. He wants to seem more than he is, he wants to bluff up on every hand, even when doing so is rank lunacy. And good players around him can scent blood because they know he’s full of shit.

King never had a winning hand here, not at any point. Like a bad player hanging onto rags he seemed almost like he was waiting for a run of lucky cards. He raised or called each time, and every time he did he put more money on the table, throwing the good after bad hoping, it seems to me, for nothing but dumb luck.

It is daft enough to do that before the Flop when you are holding nothing … but for the Flop to produce a mish-mash of cards of immodest worth, of different suits, and to then continue playing as if he was holding twin Aces, that is foolishness of the purest kind. To stay in the game after the River has failed to deliver a miracle is madness and nobody holding nothing makes another bet after the Turn unless they are crazy or shooting for the moon.

Whatever King’s little drama was about, it has likely cost him near enough £1 million already in legal fees and such like. What he announced last night was an intent to make an offer; where is the share prospectus? Where is the independent financial analysis? Those things will cost him more money. On top of that, as I’ll discuss later, Jack Walker announced in the press this morning that his own clients, the Easdale’s, are highly likely to accept the 20p per share.

He offered this scorching assessment, just for good measure; “Nobody with the slightest financial acumen thinks the shares are worth 27 or even 20p. That’s why many shareholders are tempted to bite King’s hand off.”

And that leaves King a problem, as I’ll write about in due course.

Once again, King has skated right up to the edge of a major showdown which he would not have won only to pivot away on time. I thought he was too late yesterday; it may well be that he was, because all we have is an “intention” to make an offer, but a lot of the necessary framework of that offer hasn’t been put in place yet and Walker is sceptical and others are too. We’ll see if the Takeover Panel and the City of London regulators are satisfied with the small print.

But even if King has done enough to satisfy them, there is trouble coming down the pipe.

With this guy, there always is.

In announcing his intention to comply with the court yesterday – even as he manoeuvres for time to avoid actually doing so – he issued an ominous warning that he intends to conduct a “strategic review” of how the club is run.

Be very afraid Sevco fans, for that can only mean one thing. The days of even daring to dream are almost at an end. He’s talking like a man who is preparing to wield the scalpel and draw blood. Because the upshot of all this is that if enough people accept the 20p offer, King himself will end up the majority shareholder and chairman … and that means the other directors can safely disentangle themselves from further funding requirements.

It means that it all falls on him, and any Sevco fan who really believes this guy has the cash to bootstrap their ambitions, or that he would, hasn’t been paying attention. The source of the funds for this alleged offer seem to be coming from the dividends paid by the company he controls, MicroMega. His daughter is one of the largest shareholders; this is literally the family silver he’s raiding here, but only because he doesn’t believe that the shareholders will bite. But enough of them will. Enough to put the keys firmly in his hands.

And that is the last thing the absentee chairman wants. Mark my words, his talk about a strategic review is bad news. He knows that the club will not satisfy UEFA FFP at the moment. He knows that sooner or later they will be forced to spend only what they earn … and with his own personal wealth now on the line, I strongly suspect he’ll try to slam the brakes on the spending.

Which leaves only one way to fund the team above and beyond what normally comes in through the gate.

Sevco fans, prepare for your next using. It’s coming.

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backroomblogs · 7 years

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Kyrie Irving is now a Boston Celtic - Matt

It seems like this whole transaction happened in a matter of minutes. The move was rumored, twitter erupted for only a couple of hours with multiple potential deals tweeted out by both credible and many non-credible users, and then it happened. Kyrie Irving was traded to the Boston Celtics in return for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and the 2018 Brooklyn Nets pick (Unprotected). I have mixed emotions about what the Celtics gave up in this move, but overall I definitely think it was the right move.

The primary part of this trade that I am down, as I’m sure is relatable to many others, is seeing IT go. Isaiah Thomas was so good for the city of Boston and the Celtics organization, surely more than he will be given credit for. Not only was he our best scorer in his two full years with the team (25.5 PPG), an ignitor for our offense, a better passer than given credit for, as well as living to the nickname ‘King of the Fourth’; He embodied what it means to be a Boston athlete. He didn’t take harshly to the bright lights, obnoxious fans, media scrutiny and everything else that makes it difficult for some athletes to play here. Instead, he embraced it all. Being the 60th pick in his draft and being one of the smallest players in the entire league he was used to playing with a chip on his shoulder. Every time he took the court for the Celtics, he went out and played with such intensity that it was easy to single him out as one of the leaders of the club. He took it to the basket as if he was 8 inches taller than he was and hand problem finishing it off. At any given time, he could go on a scoring burst where he would shoot lights out, stopping on a dime and shooting it with such confidence that it definitely resonated with his teammates. He would dive for loose balls, get hacked and hammered any time he had the ball, and a lot of the time draw the opposing teams best defender. Most of all, he was a man of confidence on and off the court, that cared about the fans and the city of Boston. He understood what the importance of hoisting banners is in this city and he showed consistently that he was driven on helping us raise another one. Everything Isaiah did I am infinitely grateful for as a fan, and the Cavaliers are beyond lucky to have a guy like him on their roster.

Zizic could possibly develop into a fine rebounder in the league, and maybe even a decent all around big, but I don’t think his ceiling was all that high. So really, other than the fact that losing him decreases our big depth (the Celtics most glaring issue going into next year) I’m not in any sort of dismay seeing him go. Crowder, on the other hand was a solid player, and one offer better defenders. A solid addition for the Cavs, but not somebody that I am too sad to see go either. He is young, but so aren’t the other two young men (Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum) that play his position, as well as the 2 and 4, but Both are very capable of playing the 3. I see more promise in the both of them than I do in Crowder, and obviously, so didn’t Danny Ainge, who seems like he had been willing to deal him for a while now. Not only do we have young depth that can help out at that position, we also grabbed another wing to fully takeover the starting SF role, Gordon Hayward. That was the icing on the cake as far as demonstrating that Jae Crowder’s days were numbered in Boston. What he did was definitely appreciated, but he simply wasn’t someone who the Celtics should have been hesitant to pass on, so I like that move. The 2018 Brooklyn pick may even be more valuable to the Cavs than IT in the long run, depending how this year as well as next summer goes. Brooklyn should definitely be one of the teams at the pit of the NBA next year which is something that our conference foes will look forward to this year. However, while next years draft seems to be stocked with some talent, I really don’t think that it will match this years high level aptitude of this years crop of players. The Celtics have a lot to work with in terms of draft picks, so shipping off what is most likely the best of your remaining picks to help piece together wealth of other great young talent and a potential championship core, seems like it is most certainly the right move to me.

What we got in return for this heap of players and a probable top 5 pick next year, is Kyrie Irving. A 25 year old 4x all star, former Rookie of the year, and 2016 NBA Champion. He is a bonafide superstar already, a proven offensive juggernaut. Again he is only 25 years old. With the addition of Kyrie after we already landed Gordon Hayward, the Celtics have precisely what the consistently lacked last year; multiple people that are creating their own shot. Irving is honestly probably better than any other person in this league at that already. He had his best scoring year yet last year in his early career (25.2), and he put up these numbers while playing alongside Lebron James. Now I am fully aware that on the court, there is literally almost no better person to play with than Lebron James, who is excellent at creating buckets forms teammates. However, Lebron was absolutely more of the point guard for that team, in terms of controlling tempo and reading the floor. Here in Boston, he will have many more chances to be that guy, and expand his game beyond being just a tenacious scorer. Although he is not a bad passer by any means, actually to the contrary he is very efficient in that part of his game, being able to read the floor at the start of almost every possession will help him reach his true potential as a passer and floor general. Being the offensive’s best option for putting the ball in the basket, while also being the teams true point guard I feel will really benefit him because it isn’t like he has to change his game, but he will almost automatically enhance it. He has made a name for himself as the league’s premier scoring point guard, and he is still improving in that facet. His time in Boston will only make him better in all parts of his game, most importantly like the ones he isn’t nearly as proficient in, and I am speaking almost entirely about his defensive play. Honestly, I feel like most of his struggles at that end of the court are a matter of effort. Hopefully his role as the leader of this team will make him want to take on what any true leader should, being a force at both ends of the court. Due to the size difference between the two, he is already an upgrade from IT, who struggled mightily at that end of the court when being forced to go against the leagues much bigger and talented athletes. Kyrie isn’t a liability at that end of court when he chooses to actually defend his opposition, so I’m not too worried about that although it could be a concern. Nonetheless, he is a supreme talent, and I am very excited to watch him lead this team come the fall. Trading away multiple key members of your roster is always risky, but when the return is pure talent, that has proven that they have what it takes come playoff time, and aren’t afraid to close games out for their teams, which he has already done on the biggest stage, it is much easier to have confidence in the move.

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