#honestly this pretty much sums up my entire existence
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Feeling super normal about fictional characters (lying)
#honestly this pretty much sums up my entire existence#I'm thinking about the trobedison trio again and augh <3
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now that my brain has somewhat unscrambled itself i have gotten most of my thoughts in order about season 3.
and the first thing i will say is: i loved it.
while it was gutwrenching and polarizing in some ways and i feel that i am entitled to financial compensation for what its done to my mental health, i loved this season for pretty much almost everything it did.
i cannot fault people for having issues with much of the characterization and plot choices made—that’s been the trend during the entire run of the show after all, and imo it’s a testament to the phenomenal way it generates nuance—but i wanted to share my feelings on the recurring opinions i’ve seen about some of these things.
first, i do not blame simon at all for the things he said in the final scene. he’s a child who has been receiving endless verbal and physical harassment on top of all the trauma he is still trying to heal from. he just watched his boyfriend lash out in anger and hurt—while not at him, but it must’ve been a close resemblance of how he might’ve seen micke act. at least, that's what i thought, though i've seen others say otherwise.
and yes, wille is not micke, but just because wille’s source of outbursts is different from micke’s doesn’t mean simon is wrong in drawing similarities. at least he's finally getting a true glimpse into what wille has had to deal with. i've honestly grown to like that they didn't have simon immediately comfort him though; wille's mental illness is not his fault, but it is his responsibility, and instead of pushing a message of unhealthy co-dependence, the show has simon be honest: "but i see that everything hurts you and that hurts me too." and to me, that's so important.
plus, it doesn't make their love any less genuine. wille is a victim of the circumstances; he is not evil, and he is not undeserving of simon. he just has a lot of growing and healing to do, a lot of unlearning and exposure therapy because he's still blinded by privilege even when he tries not to be.
speaking of, i have so many thoughts about wille that i feel like i need to save for its own separate post, but to sum them up: i'll still defend him with my life, and he needs to get the fuck away from that institution.
also, the fact that the responsibility of controlling simon's media decisions was placed solely on wille confused me at first like—why wouldn't they get a professional to give him proper media training?
then i realized, this could be the royal court's way of sabotaging their relationship. they knew that making wille the one to tell simon what he can and cannot say or post would create distance and animosity between them. despite the ramifications of simon's behavior on social media, it seems they still thought it best to have his boyfriend be the one to try to mold him into the system. because they knew that's how they could get rid of him. in conclusion, fuck the royal court (we been knew but still).
one of the standouts this season was their transparency regarding the show's politics. it not only works well with the show's arc (wilmon is public, everything's out in the open now and there's nothing to hide), but also it felt necessary at a time where censorship has been rapidly gaining momentum. it felt so refreshing for these characters to talk so openly about racial discrimination and queerphobia and class disparities, forcing both character and viewer to acknowledge that they exist and you should feel uncomfortable about it.
i don't think i can add much more to what was already said about it—most of the fandom is more eloquent and observant than i am anyway—i just wanted to reinforce how important this season is to myself and the story even with how controversial it is to fans right now. a lot of people may disagree with me and that's fine.
#young royals#wilmon#simon eriksson#prince wilhelm#yr spoilers#yr s3 spoilers#ad speaks#i don't know how they're going to tie everything together in under an hour but so far this season is strong enough for me to like it despit#what ending we receive#and i know i'm in the minority in that sense but i've been spending most of the hiatus trying to keep myself from setting expecations#so i haven't really been let down too much#i really don't want to let this show go though :'(#forever my heart#yr season 3#young royals season 3
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Can I ask, who are your top favorite romantic couples (can be canon or non canon) of all time from any media? Why you love them? Thx :D
here i go with another grand list that i was very happy to write! i’m in love with these asks, really. i’ll mention all of them, but at first i was in doubt if i could include one that isn’t ‘canon’, but rather rpf. either way, i added bonus couples for good reasoning! let’s go.
1. wangxian (lan wangji x wei wuxian), from mo dao zu shi — they are THE moment, they are THE couple, they are THE goals. who ever could have imagined someone would come up and write a troublemaker who falls into demonic arts and gets reincarnated to fight together with a sucker-for-rules expressionless man and make it work? they fit into any au as well, this fandom rocks. my lovely cultivators!
2. kagehina (kageyama tobio x hinata shouyou), from haikyuu!! — i dont even play volleyball. i dont even like sports! why do i love this anime and this duo specifically so much? they are so passionate about their hobbies, the rivalry and frenemy relationship? the POTENTIAL. the STORY they have. the "someone better will come and find you" promise. sheer beauty. they are silly and fresh and cute and i dont think i'll ever get tired of it.
3. yizhan (wang yibo x xiao zhan), from the untamed cast rpf — i know all the problematics about writing real person fiction. i KNOW, okay?? but people, let me like them and support them in peace?? 😔 i have so much love for these men, and its overall hella fun following their life unfold, even if they are not working together anymore. nonetheless, they are my dose of serotonin when i need it.
4. daiharu (kambe daisuke x katou haru), from fugou keiji: balance unlimited — i will not scream for a seson 2 here. i will scream for more FICS of them here! there ain't enough! its not even about the 'sugar daddy' appeal, its more about the 'partners in (solving) crime' appeal. oh and also the 'i hate you you arrogant prick but i WILL do anything for you' part. everything and every detail of this show.... seriously though: gold.
5. hilson (gregory house x james wilson), from house m.d — oh, my sweet stupid and repressed doctors, i would do unspeakable things for you. wilson has been through every hard moment of house's life. you can name them, he's been there. through every ridiculous situation of his too. it is overwhelming, honestly. the ending couldn't have been more reasonable and fitting for them, in my opinion.
6. hannigram (hannibal lecter x will graham), from hannibal — this gif alone of them with scratches and smiling conspiratorily to each other sums up their entire dynamic. they're toxic and no one's doing it like them. like, yeah, no shit, who would even dare, right? murder husbands can do anything and eat the rude as much as they want, i will be sipping on my drink and watching intently. (man truly looked at this detective he framed for murder and said he would remember their moment together forever??? just dont throw him in jail then???)
7. shiguang (lu guang x cheng xiaoshi), from link click — these pretty boys traveling through time invented the concept of yearning, and i will not explain more to not give season 2 spoilers. i fell in love with them as soon as i saw the first shot of the anime. it doesnt help that they have the same dynamic as wangxian, too. cheng xiaoshi, my beloved, you would never do anything to harm anyone (not purposefully) and i (as well as lu guang) worship you 🙏
8. renga (hasegawa langa x kyan reki), from sk8: the infinity — let's be true tho, can they never do a sports anime without pulling up homosexuals?? not that im complaining at all. please continue, in fact. every couple in this story is valid (adam does not exist), and i love this spirited, young concept of redescovering the beauty of a hobbie. lovely, all of them, but most specially my langa and his admiration for reki. their dynamic has no complications, its just so sweet.
9. moshang (mobei jun x shang qinghua), from the scum villain self-saving system — i will not share a pic of moshang official art because i find shang qinghua appearence too much childlike and annoying, meanwhile i find him much more interesting in the book and fanarts. in any case, i love this couple more than the main couple simply because our airplane-bro can make everything so hilarious. there are fics of them out there which are peak entertainment (check this one!). mobei's tsundere attitude and shang qinghua's shamelessness are a great combo.
10. hualing (hua cheng x xie lian), from heaven official’s blessing — the longing is unbearable. hua cheng loves this man so much, for real. waiting 800 fucking years?? being his most devoted believer? can you believe the audacity?? my man, though he has low self-steem, does anything to protect his god. he doesnt care about any realm. he only cares for xie lian, his dear god. they are the cutest couple.
bonus: aziracrow, johnlock, tododeku, victuuri, blackbonnet, mafuyama, redblue (from this is how you lose the time war).
these are my favorite ships ever! they are what i scream about alternatively, and when i say so, i'm not joking. one week i'm freaking out over new link click content and in the other one i'm reviewing house m.d episodes. my life's a circle with my favorite ships in it and i ain't regretting anything.
thank you for asking, by the way! big hugs! 🤍
#bjyx#yizhan#hualin#moshang#renga#shiguang#link click#hannigram#murder husbands#daiharu#kagehina#hilson#wangxian#mdzs#couples#lgbtqia
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I don't have a twitter account and refuse to get one so I can't jump in on there, but I just gotta say *something* about the whole thing of Chris "throwing Taika under the bus." Did anyone saying that read the article?? Chris doesn't even mention Taika! He just says he feels like he didn't do a good job there. How is that in any way disparaging Taika??
I get people hate Love and Thunder so much that even mentioning its existence is enough for some people, but questioning if Chris and Taika are still friends because Chris wasn't happy with his performance is a little much. This is not saying "hey go attack Taika for making me make this movie," this is saying "I didn't do the best I could and I think the film suffered for it."
Anyone who thinks that is Chris inviting people to attack Taika is just reading pure bad faith. Anyone who thinks they had a fight is reading pure bad faith and making huge assumptions about two people they don't know. I doubt Chris even pays attention to the online hate and was in no way thinking to sic the rabid Marvel bros on Taika again. He was talking about a role he had and thought he didn't do the best at and he is perfectly in his rights to discuss that. It was barely a short paragraph in a long article and anybody who takes it as a cue to go after Taika just wants an excuse, not that they need one.
okay so i’m not entirely sure if this is all supposed to be directed at me but to clarify, i never said chris was attacking or throwing taika under the bus. i was actually the one to bring up the fact that afaik they’ve been friends since pre-ragnarok. i have zero issue with chris as a person or an actor. your last sentence basically sums up the entire point i was making, anon.
i know that chris is just being critical of himself. he’s talked about his issues with his performance before, it’s not news. i’m a bit upset to hear it because i honestly love the movie, but he has every right to feel that way. and he has the right to talk about it.
all i was saying is that it’s exhausting and annoying that any time anyone involved with tlat does some sort of press tour, we know they (as in the media) are going to start pushing the whole “so-and-so says they hated working on this movie and it was a miserable soul-sucking experience” narrative for clicks. and like clockwork, the dudebros come crawling back out to swear their undying hatred for taika and how he “ruined thor” and is a talentless hack who should never be allowed to direct anything again because he made one movie they didn’t like.
they have the right to talk about it. and i know they sometimes don’t necessarily have a choice if interviewers keep bringing it up. but i also stand by my point that everyone (that includes the cast, the media, and the marvel fanboys) needs to stop dwelling on something they pretty much only have negative feelings about. like taika clearly has. we get it. there are regrets. it wasn’t well-received. it’s been two years. let’s get over it and move on to new things.
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alright brainworms haver . can i hear about prime bros :]c
Hohoho, so since this is as broad of a prompt as I could've been given I've decided I will now proceed to uncontrollably ramble for half a thousand words about the relationships and their slow building!!
As established, Nine is an invasive brain fungus that has replaced my thinking organ entirely so it's all from his perspective.
While he's...not mad about his current living situation (he enjoys not being unceremoniously erased from existance, thank you very much) he's also not exactly thrilled either. With everything that recently happened (whatever the hell will that be in season 3), he's not in the best place mentally and most of the time would prefer to just dig himself a hole and hide in it until he feels better (might or might not have done that once already)
But no matter how alright he thinks he's in a current moment, having to interact with either Tails or Sonic (Chaos forbid if they're both in the same room) he's automatically and always on the defensive.
Nine may or may not have tried to and almost ended up killing Sonic, so there's everpresent guilt regarding that. And it flares up pretty bad whenever the hedgehog shows him even the tiniest bit of unconditional love because what the fuck, he doesnt seserve any of that after all the prblems he's caused, stop that.
He's, unsurprisingly, also not the biggest fan of Tails. The fox being a reminder of everything that's presumably wrong with him as well as the general jelaousy of his overal much healthier presentation, Nine does not enjoy having him around. So he also may or may not have tried to kill Tails as well after all of his pent-up emotion resulted in blind action. (and Nine got his ass handed back to him pretty badly actually, he didnt think the other would stand a chance and yet.)
The whole debacle silently blew over eventually and after a lot, and I mean a lot of time the two began to see eye to eye, or rather, Nine let that be the case. Realizing that being able to technobable around each other and compete in the field only the two of them are highly competent in is very welcomed form of enrichment.
Sails is a mixed bag because at first Nine absolutely despised his high energy and annoying fight-picking attitude. Also the accent, the goddamn accent (Duke of Soleana fandub voice: I can't fucking understand you) but while everyone else walks on eggshells around Nine, Sails has a habit of uh, pretty bluntly saying things to his face. Which usually manages to snap Nine back to his senses and also giving him a necessary vibe check from time to time. So Nine might not say it ever, but he ends up being grateful for the pirate.
And on Mangey, he didn't have any strong opinions besides being glad he's not another over-the-top smart-ass or insufferable quipper. Letting him do whatever, because Nine couldn't care less honestly, unknowingly endeared the other fox to him. Aaand than Nine had a panic attack around the time he attempted to put Tails 6ft below the ground in the middle of the night and Mangey, being the lightest sleeper of them for now, broke into Nine's room and calmed him down (you should check out my head, there's a really banger fic about this in there) Mangey is also the only one that doesn't evoke the need for Nine to prove himself while in his presence, so most of the time they just end up silently vibing together.
Also a song I found buried in my 8 years old playlist me thinks sums up the first couple of weeks pretty well (its not a rickroll dw/srs)
#sonic prime#prime bros#As for the logistics and explanation of their shared existence?#eeeh I have some ideas but they're probably way too shallow and fall apart under the smallest bit of logical thought#So I'll be purposefully leaving them out#Maybe s3 will give me a better idea#thanks for making me put these things into words#miles nine prower#nine the fox#sonic the hedgehog#sonic#miles tails prower#tails the fox#sails tails#sails the fox#mangey tails#mangey the fox#silly brainworms
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Another WIP? From me? Who'd have thought it.
This time it's not romance though, so there's that, right?
........
She put me in the worst spot imaginable. The woman who appears to run this…place.
She put me right in the corner of the window which faces out onto the street, under an old item of some sort of clothing which I'm sure is a hat…it probably smells dusty.
I think this place is some sort of shop, I know that people come in here and exchange money for goods, so it must be.
I wonder if I have a price.
I hope I’m expensive. I certainly feel as if I should be.
Anyway, I digress. My point is that I'm sitting in the least advantageous spot in this entire world and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it.
I used to be worshipped. I used to be adored. I led an entire civilisation to prosperity and for them, I gave my life. That much I have gathered over the years with the help of the occasional receptive host.
My journey has not been a glamorous one by any means, but it has led me here and I must hope that it means something if I am to get through this.
I was taken from my homeland hundreds of years ago by tomb robbers. They disturbed my sleep with their harsh words and actions, they desecrated the sanctity of whatever place I was residing in. They shoved me into an old sack and carried me to some other place I didn’t quite get to see before I was packed tightly into a box of other stolen artefacts and moved once more.
I travelled for a long time, I’m unsure of exactly how long, but eventually I came to the home of a very stuck up man who mistreated many of those around him. He was receptive to me but I could not use him as my host fully.
He wasn’t right.
His dark soul wasn’t open enough to sharing a body with another. So I gave up on that pretty quick. Instead I tried to focus on his housekeeper.
She was a lovely woman, too pure and kind hearted to be working for someone like him, but she did a great job…and if I helped her by occasionally using her boss to increase her pay little by little then it is what it is.
Not that she ever knew that was what had happened. She only knew that her bank account suddenly looked significantly healthier and she could suddenly afford to live much easier. However she never heard my pleas, never realised I was trying to talk to her.
Perhaps she was too pure to be receptive to someone like myself…
I wish I could have done more with that man's fortune but he was stubborn. I could only maintain control over him for short periods of time…but luck was on my side it seemed when he was found at the centre of a million dollar fraud scheme and lost everything.
His possessions were taken from him and I was among them.
It was a relief honestly when the kind housekeeper stopped by the box filled room I was being kept in and decided to take me with her. I thought she had finally heard me, that I could use her as my host.
I was wrong.
The kind housekeeper took me to another place where a balding man inspected me. He opened the container I reside in and tipped out the contents. I felt as if my soul lay scattered across the table before him but all he saw was a complicated puzzle, a mess of shapes which made no sense because he was not the one I was looking for.
He told the woman I was a worthless trinket. Just some strangely complicated and expensive jigsaw that no one had bothered to solve. He told her that he could only offer her a small sum of money to take me off her hands.
I begged her not to accept, to keep me with her instead of leaving me there but she either didn’t hear me, or didn’t care.
She left me there and the pieces of my soul were scooped up roughly and dropped back into the box I still reside in now, placed upon a shelf and never looked at again. I slept for a long time, I spoke to no one, I didn’t even bother trying to feel out my surroundings.
I suppose you could say I was moping, but in my defence, thousands of years with no real meaning to your existence and no idea what to do will wear a spirit down.
I continued to wallow in silence, embrace the darkness I found myself in and told myself I was perfectly content with that.
That was until the woman who put me here found me.
She paid for me with a handful of coins and took me away from that place but I never tried to speak to her. I didn’t feel like it after so many years of disappointment.
Now here I sit, in the corner of a window of some sort of shop for lost things.
I have no idea how long I've been here, no idea how much longer I may have to sit and wait…for the right person, someone perceptive enough to hear my plea.
So I wait.
Each day I watch people pass, some stop to look, but none of them hear me. I have no idea how much longer I can do this, but somewhere inside me I know that I must.
I know that I will find that person one day, that I will once again have a purpose to fulfil, that the world will need me once again.
But until then I must wait.
#ygo dm#atem#yugi mutou#fanfic#what if Atem was just a kind of sentient haunted puzzle Yugi found in a charity shop and decided to take pity on?#another strange AU from the mind of Bastet#But its not actually a ship thing?
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A Newcomer's Guide to Goncharov
Hi! If you're here (on Tumblr specifically, but on the Internet in general) then there's a pretty good chance that you're seeing info about something called Goncharov. I've done my best to learn as much as I can and I want to present it to you. This is no bullshit, this is the best explanation I have at present.
Recently, the internet has discovered a film called Goncharov. The movie is from 1973, was directed and co-written by Martin Scorsese, and stars Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Cybill Shepherd, Gene Hackman, and several others in a star studded cast, in a film about Russian mobsters in Naples, Italy. The movie is very ahead of its time, the film has quite a bit of LGBT subtext, explores themes of cultural identity, has a recurring clock motif and a general theme of being aware of one's own mortality and 'running out of time', and also the internal conflict of choice between spending your life building your legacy versus spending your life actually living your life. It is regarded as the greatest mafia movie ever made.
The film also, and I cannot possibly stress this enough, doesn't actually exist.
Goncharov is kind of the storytelling equivalent of a flashmob. The entire thing started back in August when Some Guy On The Internet ordered a set of boots which were supposed to be referencing a 2008 film called Gomorrah.
He got these instead.
Naturally the internet, being what it is, was not going to simply let such a bizarrely specific error like this go untouched and forgotten.
Fast forward to twelve days ago. November 10th. I don't know how or why but the internet suddenly just... descended on this non-existent film like, well, like the opposite of vultures. Instead of feeding on a dead concept, over the last not even two whole weeks, people have created content for this thing that doesn't exist. There are now movie posters, soundtracks, some celebrities have talked about their experiences with the film both making and watching it, whole segments of lore and story beats, there's fanfiction based on said lore, falsified IMDb pages with full cast lists...
...I can't make stuff like this up, and I'm actually a writer. The story has been kind of decided by mass consensus, even where parts of it are contradictory or unclear enough that it's difficult to be specific. There's a whole post detailing the 'accepted' lore somewhere out there. Some amateur filmmakers are talking about 'creating' the 1973 cut of the film. Half the internet has just simultaneously subscribed to this weird collective unreality in which there is a fifty year old film that nobody's ever heard of starring some of the biggest names in film history. I cannot tell you how much this amuses the hell out of me, both as a writer and also as a Person on the Internet observing the madness from a relatively safe distance. I honestly don't know what else to say; I don't know if I could possibly say anything more meaningful. Thousands of people who have never met and may never meet, came together twelve days ago over a set of bootleg boots (a pair of words that continue to amuse me), and collectively created a piece of internet history so much greater than the sum of its parts. It's insane and beautiful and absolutely one of the strangest two weeks of my entire life. :D
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i'm currently rereading thtf rn, and in one of the author's notes at the end of the chapter you said that you think voldemort wasn't a good villain. i agree with you on that 100%, and i'd really like to hear all your thoughts on why you think that way.
fun question!!! i am happy 2 discuss w the caveat of course that this is all my subjective opinion etc etc
i feel like the reasons i don't think voldemort is a "good" villain (in terms of storytelling) can sort of be broken into 2 main things
1: voldemort as a character
so by this i mean, without looking at the broader story or wizarding society + how voldemort's character functions like...narratively within the story, just looking at the character itself. characterwise i think voldemort is just....pretty flat.
like, from the way dumbledore describes voldemort as a child, we're basically supposed to view him as a character who has always been fundamentally evil, like he was "born bad." sure, there's some gesturing towards society with the tragic backstory w his parents, growing up in an orphanage, hating his dad, etc. but none of that is fully fleshed out in a way that indicates voldemort might have been good if his circumstances had been different; instead, it's mostly just used to explain why he hates muggles so much. but he's portrayed as sadistic and manipulative from the time he's a child, a kid who has always wanted power and just continues to seek power his entire life. this is just....a boring character, in my opinion. tautological evil doesn't really give us anything to think about, anything to question, anything to pull from the story and relate to real life--because in real life, people aren't just born evil, y'know?
and obviously people can say "oh well it's a kids' story of course it's gonna be simple and black + white when it comes to good + evil!" but honestly i just don't buy that argument. i've encountered plenty of kids' media that is not so boring and black + white with its portrayals of good vs evil (animorphs comes immediately to mind). so! to me it still just feels like a flat + boring character.
2: voldemort as a figural evil
a lot of what i have to say here can be summed up in this quote from harry potter and the leaky genre:
"And herein lies the true fantasy in Harry Potter: that systemic dysfunction can be destroyed because it has been artificially projected onto, and reduced to, one locus: the person of Voldemort."
rao talks about this in his essay very succintly, but basically--in the harry potter universe + the overarching narrative of the story, voldemort functions as a figural symbol onto which all of the systemic issues of wizarding society can be projected + neatly defeated in one fell swoop. throughout the series, we see an abundance of systemic flaws + oppression in the wizarding world, all of which are deeply ingrained and none of which can be boiled down to one single person's individual intent. and yet, voldemort becomes the symbol for Everything That's Wrong, and we are led to believe that if harry potter can just triumph over Evil, then everything will be fixed.
essentially, voldemort becomes a political sleight of hand. our eyes are drawn away from the systemic issues that need to be uprooted and overhauled, and we're so busy watching harry potter embark on his quest to defeat The Bad Guy that by the time the dust settles we're supposed to be satisfied with our nice little happy ending, rather than questioning why harry potter would become a wizard cop working for the ministry of magic when that institution was shown to be fundamentally flawed throughout the course of the series.
this representation of evil is very much rooted in jkr's conservative politics + worldview, and it's something that you'll find throughout a lot of political rhetoric--the idea that there is a specific outside figure or group who is the Source of Evil and a Threat to Good (read: our pre-existing institutions + society), and so we need to focus all our energy on destroying The Bad Guy rather than taking a look at our own flawed institutions and overturning existing oppressive structures. all in all, it's a type of evil/villainy that i do not find compelling in storytelling and that i think is actively bad because of the political narrative it perpetuates. and so that's what i'm getting at when i say that i don't think voldemort is a "good" villain!
#ask#ranting and raving#thtf#honestly there's probably more that could be said/expanded on in terms of like#how voldemort as a character is just not super well-written#and also in terms of the politics#but i did not want to ramble on too long lol#highly recommend that article i linked if u r looking 2 read more!
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I mean I get the feeling of what you mean with tongues & teeth, but who am I to pass a chance to ask -taz
guy who hasn't stopped thinking about the post since they reblogged last night: good being taz please imagine i am gesturing unhingedly at the conspiracy wall while you read this
bc i mean the main most obvious bit of it is. well. they Are all mob bosses (*and right hand) who do kill and torture and commit crime so yeah the blood on hands is pretty clear to see they are not hiding that
the fun part is the way it applies to all the dynamics just in different ways/to different extents
mumbo and scar probably have it the Least because like. theyre both bosses, they both know what they're doin, scar has a thing for blood and all of them have a thing for torture, honestly this is like flirting to them. mumbo says i have blood on my hands and unfortunately this makes him irresistible to scar
mumbo and grian have it but in a funny like, almost reverse way? i have a different post that kinda touches on this already and it's pretty well established in the fics that they Do Not Care what crimes/evils the other is committing, but they both deep down wish the other Wasnt in the business™. not because they want them living a life on the str8 and narrow, but because they want the other to be Happy and Safe and things you cant be in a literal killer of a workplace. but despite the fact that either of them would immediately quit and abandon the South the second the other did, they both have this thought process that. the other doesnt want to leave, so it would be cruel to ask them, and of course neither will leave the other so theyve sorta deadlocked themselves in a situation that doesnt really exist. i need you, i need you to be safe, i want you to leave but i cant ask that, i want to stay with you whether that's here or there or the ends of the earth, i cannot overemphasize how ridiculous it is that these two will do Literally Anything for the other yet neither ever seems to put two-and-two together that that could also include things like Being Safe and Saying I Love You
none of that paragraph made any sense but the feeling is there . ok
now . scar and grian . boy oh boy. putting this one under a cut bc a) gets a bit long b) technically touches on stuff that hasn't yet (but will!) come up in the fics themselves so like. idk if anyone cares about slowly written fanfic spoilers but yknow youve been warned
just. to Start. as very recently established scar has a Too Close thing. anyone getting too close is a threat, for scar and also themselves. scar (accidentally) lets mumbo get close and now it's all I Trust You And Because Of That I Don't Trust You I'm Sorry, scar (accidentally) lets grian get close and now he is not beating the allegations from bdubs
but GRIAN. oh he's the real one of all this with him and scar
see this is the thing i havent got too much in fic but the main reason grian obviously knows he likes scar and vice versa but wont do anything Real about it is like the epitome of the post. in grian's view of self, Everything he is can be summed up and finished at 'mumbo's right hand'. mumbo and scar, they can be somewhat normal, they can be something outside of the business (ignoring all their torture dates), but grian- he cant
grian is mumbo's right hand; mumbo will always be his number one priority, no matter what. he cant- and wont- give anyone else an equal amount of time/care/etc. grian's a facade and sharp edges and the Essence of the business and it doesnt matter what he thinks of scar or what scar thinks of him, that will never change
(this isnt a problem for grian, he prides himself on being Mumbo's Right-Hand as his entire identity, but he knows what it costs the one other person who might want to get close to him)
(this also isnt a problem for scar, as we will later see and have already kinda seen, bc scar has no problem with sharp personalities and he's arguably much too onboard with being mumbo and grian's third, he's just in denial about it)
but. Despite. Despite that. grian does want scar close. he already kinda is by default, given he's dating mumbo, but he wants to be close past that too even tho he knows (he thinks) they cant be, that it would only be cruel to scar. he sticks by mumbo and refuses to drop the professionalism and Mr. Chronos but also he sees scar struggling and he goes
im going to Get Close, and that's a Threat, and i know you know that, i know you know the danger, but you're still letting me and i wont stop myself. cant i want to get close? say no, you're saying yes, you think ill kill you and i Will, hand on your neck i could kill you right now, are we enemies? say yes. say yes and let me stay here anyways. i dont want to hurt you but i want you close and this is a contradiction. i will continue to make our relationship oddly tension filled until whenever we reach the point that i realize you Do Not Care about any of the warnings i have been trying to give you. why do i always write scarian like this
anyways. i think that was a lot of me saying nothing but still do you understand. how they are all making things harder for themselves then they need to be
#oizys mumbles#taz anon#bloody fruits au#everyone official s-i-southlands welcome to taz come see more of my mental illness#but yeah so much of this au is like. they have trust issues getting in the way of things but somehow MoreSo are the issues theyre creating#theyre very skilled at many things. communication is not one of them. somehow
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SP Merch Review
I'm an artist, if there is anything art-related going on with SP of course I will have something to say about it.
It's long, it includes pics and it's under the cut. Enjoy.
Ok, started off with the video bc apparently I love to torture myself.
"But it occurred to me, with the amount of control I exert over all things Skulduggery I would not be entirely comfortable handing someone else that level of control, so I realized-oh- I'm going to have to do it."
^^^^That quote not only sums up why the merch looks the way it does, but this is also why there is no SP movie yet.
"Pins that I have designed, keychains that Jaime [pin maker] has designed"
That explains why the keychains are so much better than the pins
"Booksmarks that Laura has designed"
oh no D:
"I never liked wearing anything intented for the mass-market I always preferred the cult, which is what Skulduggery Pleasant has become."
He does sound like an entitled rich kid AND a gatekeeper at the same time here. Amazing. Also, massive cope here for SP not having become as successful as he wanted it too. And if he means cult like cult-classic than no. If he means cult like cult, then yes. Later on, he goes on about those pins and stuff being little identifiers to find each other and he makes it sound very exclusive and omg people with low self-esteem and the desire to feel like one of the special few are gonna love this.
But he is right, the SP stuff it kinda cultish. It has no more mass appeal but it has a few very dedicated fans that are gonna eat up all things SP no matter what.
_____________________
I'm reading the intro text and this actually does read like he wants to start a cult.
"There are people who exist in this world only because of Skulduggery Pleasant."
Yeah, people do find each other bc of shared interests, SP ain't special in that regard. Also, suspecting that this text was probably written by Landy himself makes reading it even more of an acid trip.
Now to the art related reviews.
Skulduggery and Valkyrie Enamle Pins
2/10
Fuck these are ugly. What's going on with Skulls mouth? He be like OMO he looks lost. Meanwhile Val has no eyebrows and forehead for days plus her outfit could do with a little more detail.
The shape of the actual pin is not only ugly AF (at least make it symmetrical or something for fucks sake) it also gotta be unpleasant to the touch with how spiky it is.
For a fix, honestly just let Jaime (pin maker) do them in the same style as the "Shadow and Bone" ones bc these are freaking gorgeous.
[here is a link to the pins]
If you want something more in the noir-ish style of SP you could also shade the faces like in the mini artworks the old SP books used to have at the beginning of each chapter instead of leaving them completely blank. I can't find pics of that online but it was like a darkest dungeon kinda style.
Tote Bag
?/10
This one has no pic yet but it's supposed to be just covered in SP quotes. No extra points to creativity here, but I don't know what it looks like, so I have nothing much to say yet.
Midnight Hotel Keychain/Bag Charm
8/10
Once again, no points for creativity. Hotel/Motel keychains are pretty popular and Vograce even has their own category for it. But it looks pretty amazing. The pic of the hotel looks good, love the gradient on it, the font is gorgeous. I'm also really digging the silver and blue colours. The only thing that needs to go is the mini skull charm bc it's ugly as fuck.
Hibernian Cinema Keychain/Bag Charm
9/10
Oh, I really like this one! I haven't seen a lot of keychains in ticket form and I think this old school ticked design looks quite quaint. Again the pic of the cinema looks good and the font fits perfectly, the colours harmonise and are pleasant to look at.
Mini Skull Charm
0/10
I hate this. Landy drew this in 5 seconds in MS Paint, didn't he?
I showed this to my mom and she insists it looks like a sad little ghost no matter how much I try to explain to her it's the top half of a skull.
Bookmark
1/10
That one point is just a pity point for the effort.
That skull looks like it was traced from a photo by someone who doesn't even know what the word 'line dynamic' means. The random texture on it makes it look dirty and its grin is derpy AF. The colours clash with each other, especially the yellow of the 'kind of' looks way too saturated and out of place. Visually it's just a mess. Also the colours are kinda too dark, especially the blue. The red colours need more contrast between font and book colour. Rule of thumb, if you print it tends to turn out darker than expected.
Plus the fonts(s) are weird. They don't seem to fit SP, instead they make me think of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"??
Not a critique point but bc Tanith likes to read it would have been cool if her sword would have been leaning against it. What also would have been cool, different book stack bookmarks for different characters. With their own quotes and colour schemes.
Here is an example of a bock-stack-quote from the LitPinsAndCo website.
The colours harmonize and the fonts are different but they all fit to each other. Simple but nice book design. It's just pleasant to look at.
I tried to do a REALLY QUICK quick fix to show you what I mean. Added detail to the skull, lightened the colours and tried to harmonize them with a gradient map set to colour with lowered opacity.
Still doesn't look great, but I refuse to spend more than 5 min on it. But you get my point, right?
Stickers and Magnet
?/10
There are no pictures for these either. I would have really hoped at least the page would actually be complete prior to launch :/ on the other hand, I don't like waiting so I actually do prefer quick over complete.
Conclusion
I'm not going to pledge to the Kickstarter personally since I don't actually want any of the items. You know me, I just want nasty boi stuff.
The only ones that turned out good were the ones designed by a professional. Since neither Landy nor Laura are artists I don't understand why they insisted on making official merchandise designs. This is just an ego trip for them again, isn't it?
You know this is the kinda shit I mean when I say Landy is the biggest weak spot of SP. His own ego keeps getting in the way. Laura is just as bad and probably enabling him. I also feel that with this he kinda wants to self-validate himself and 'prove wrong' those that kicked him out of animation school/people that said he is a bad artist.
He needs to let go of his ego and let the professionals take over when he is out of his depth.
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is that a yanfei pfp omg, my inner and outer yanfei main loves you oh oh oh and and and also screw that dumbass ask this anon sent about yuuka THEY ARE SO INCORRECT GRRR "y'all only like yuuka because she is a girl!1!1!1!1!1!1!"
yeah no fucking shit so many of us like her because it solidifies the place of fem!yuus in the twstverse and stops dumbass people saying "hmph. its a MALE ONLY COLLEGE why do you have a female OC?? Just make a male OC???" (obviously not every person is like this and we should still appreciate masc OCs they matter just as much mwah) but we should denounce people who are so close minded.
like mannnnn that ask made me so annoyed but your response literally summarised everything i would've wanted to put into words but a bit less violent. the audacity they had to send in that dumbass ask smh like damn bitch let people enjoy a new character? so what if it's fem!yuu? like this is one of the times twst isn't being problematic but nah people still gotta have a problem with this and not the other issues (cough cough "Monsieur pyramid" cough cough)
also yuuken was actually pretty hyped up intially did that anon just sleep through an entire period of twst tumblr fandom lmao. i remember people writing so many fics and i haven't seen anyone say jack shit but the moment it's yuuka its "Nooo you're gonna project onto her waaaah!" like pls stfu we are literally just excited for a new character joining our silly fandom and becoming the subject of either a) unimaginable fluff or b) unimaginable angst smh /j
im sorry for taking my silly anger out in your askbox (ofc none of that is directed at you cause you wrote a bomb ass response to them and honestly you really put them in their place!) but that ask just annoyed me so mf much and i been thinking over my anger of it for a day and a half now
love your fics btw I get so mf excited when you post EJFHHEJD I hope you're having a lovely day mwah mwah, feel free to ignore this ask too no pressure 💓
(_____)
NO BECAUSE I HELD MYSELF BACK, I say a lot of shit when I'm mad so it's better I hold myself back in these scenarios. But that's true, like search the Yuuken x reader tag and you'll find a sum of fanfic's, if you go to the yuuka x reader tag.. It's just me!
Sure Yuuka's hyped up, but like you said a decent chunk of it was due to the fact that her existence makes it so no one can attack fem oc's. And yeah a whole other part of the fandom simped for her, but you have got to understand that majority of the twisted wonderland fandom from my experience is homosexual.
Like I know a decent few lesbians, who write twst fanfic, so it's like not much of a shock that people simp for her a lot. And anon has to realize that fanfiction was created so you can self insert yourself in a scenario.
Like making that comment on a fanfic blog, was really fucking stupid ngl. And it seemed misogynistic from my perspective, ngl. I didn't say it because in my humble opinion that might've been "taking it too far"
Anyways, thank you for sharing your opinion, (And it's ok to rant to me as long as your not being rude abt anything) AND THANK YOU FOR ENJOYING MY WORK <3 And abt Yanfei, I've been growing her! I may main her one she gets to lvl 90!
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Happy STS!
What are the dietary staples of one culture/region in your word and how do they affect the geography, politics, culture, religion and/or economy?
Happy belated STS! Honestly I'm the kind of writer whose worldbuilding can be described as "all vibes no substance" and if you look closer nothing even makes sense, so uh. I actually haven't thought about this at all. Usually I just use the excuse of "welllll it's a fantasy world so maybe they discovered some technological advancements earlier than us and some later" to run from my responsibilities. Also the entire story is set in Kosei so I don't have much to contrast it against exactly???
But generally I think it's just?? Medieval food?? Also the usual things you can expect like more seafood based foods near the coast, crops like wheat in uhhhh wherever they are grown. Flat?? Land?? Forgive me my geography absolutely sucks and I did not even learn it in english. However I will say that most Beasts covens often are completely self sustaining with farm animals and crops though, bcuz foraging outside consistently is both dangerous and not very reliable to feed a big community, and trading with humans is a definite no-go. They manage most of the time, though it's harder if they don't have ppl talented in nature/plant-based magic. (The magic system is... another mess. How are you supposed to regulate a system that relies on emotions???)
Also once while I was writing the first book I wrote one of the characters eating a french fry before remembering france doesn't exist. So. Yeah. I think that about sums up the level of my worldbuilding skills.
Tldr - it's an absolute mess, my worldbuilding skills are in the negatives bcuz all I have are pretty words, and I do not even have enough brain cells left to bs it. Thank you for coming to my ted talk I went completely off-topic
#sorry for being so unhinged#thanks for the ask!!#exposing my bad worldbuilding skills for all to see#asks#wip: beast#beast#storyteller saturday#writeblr community#worldbuilding
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Persona 5 Royal.
Hm.
I think even with the newform of post shortening I'll read-more this, so let me get a gist out of the way.
This easily became one of my favorite games. It's on the list, it's embedded in my mind, it's granted me interesting plot lines and characters and it's quickly given me something I'm happy to love.
There's the gist; And the elephant in the room is that I got a smile out of the mysterious glance at what appears to be Akechi in the background, that's fun.
Now to say.
Much.
I'll try to separate different thoughts with a header of sorts because this is gonna be a mess.
This game is honestly pretty incredible.
I feel like this is a weird way to start this out but, I didn't expect to so quickly play an RPG that so enraptured my mind and heart after DQ11.
I've played a ton of games that have touched me in various ways, but it's rare for me to play one that so thoroughly entrenches itself in the miasma of experiences that make up who I am; Just finds my core and sets up shop. Offers a mirror, offers challenges, offers a shoulder, and plenty more.
Playing a game like that isn't common; It's a matter of having something to say, or do, or show, and it's a big matter of personal bias.
It's just how art can hit ya, or miss entirely. Sometimes you find one that stops you in your tracks and you dwell on it for years after.
Despite playing a lot of games, I, and I assume most others, don't play games that hit that note too often.
It's rare.
I've played so many games I would happily recommend for being phenomenal in their own ways, but that list isn't fully comprised of titles like that.
When I played DQ11 I found myself with a story so dense with things I appreciate that it took over my mind for months. It's still left quite the impact, being a title that can easily bring a happy tear to my eye if I dwell on it too long as I find what they've told to be such a beautiful heroes' tale.
Persona 5 has hit that same deep place in my mind, and, in the grand scheme of things, so quickly after I just found a different title that did the same.
And this isn't by any means a ramble on how P5 is perfect; Far from it because that doesn't exist and because it was created by people- people aren't perfect- people don't make perfect things.
Just in the way of cultural differences and personal morals there are things in P5 that I simply believe weren't handled as well as they could have been, be that gay characters, flip flopping on whether sexual assault as a subject deserves respect or laughs, or the ways in which relationships with minors and adults are presented and treated.
While conversely at least some of these faults could be argued for by virtue of life itself not being perfect, but then it becomes a matter of what is your art's morality; What is it trying to say, and is it being presented because it's true to life, or because it's titillating, silly, or something a creator believes to be right.
I digress.
This is a ramble on how what P5 is is something extremely special to me. And an incomplete one at that, as I couldn't possibly revisit every important moment in this 236 hour (inaccurate*) long story on a post made at a whim at the end of said playthrough.
*= I was AFK a lot, and my gameplay included a lot of rendering video, it wasn't this long but my save sure was lol.
I don't (currently, maybe I should) keep notes of my playthroughs- the posts themselves are catalogues of my thoughts at each time. The finale post is more to sum up where my heart lands me, not to substitute a well rehearsed and scripted video essay.
I guess that makes this even less than an essay- it's just a ramble, lmao.
Let's start with the end because it's so fresh.
I'd say what I understand to be the base game ending (I'm assuming it's just the previous god going) was bombastic, exciting, and even had the bite of the metaverse disappearing and Mona potentially dying. I fucking adore that.
The ending of Royal is a lot more clean... and reminds me of something I already mentioned lmao.
Spoilers for DQ11 skip to next red text:
but both include a Perfect ending and a Broken But Hope Filled ending but inversely placed in the story.
DQ11 ends on the Perfect ending, with the weight of knowing you created the Broken But Hope Filled ending and effectively killed yourself out of that ending to create the perfect ending.
The point of it all being that you did the best you could for the world, then found a way to try to do even better for another cursed world (parallel timeline shenanigans), so you sacrificed the life you've fought for, and the relationships you've forged to 'try again'. The Perfect ending in this case IS perfect, just not for the Hero. They gave everything up for this as a sort of ultimate sacrifice.
P5R ends on the Broken But Hope Filled ending and you spent the last dungeon literally killing the Perfect ending because you refuse to give up the relationships you've forged and the meaning you find in the struggles you're lives have experienced.
I find that interesting. (continued but not spoilers anymore)
Royal's ending is bittersweet. We're saying goodbye (THAT SUCKS), the metaverse is (I believe) gone again- but that sting isn't as bad since it's already done that before, Akechi is 'dead' but he simply doesn't compare to Morgana who was a true friend through the entire game, and we gave up a utopia to get this.
The entire moral that lead us here is literally golden in my book- I appreciate the insistence that our experiences hold value, including the negative ones as we grow from them. But I think as far as ending on a bang or whimper it's a lot less flashy than the base ending seems to have been assuming assumptions assumingly on what that is lol.
Basically, I think base had a better ending, but Royal had more to say and what it had to say was very good in my book, it just then had to end and kinda went "Uh, then we ended, shit."
I still teared the hell up multiple times doing my Earthbound walk about in the post game. And I still wish desperately that I got to get closer with Yusuke and Haru.
AH I love all the damn characters so much.
I feel I've said it all on these fuckers, I love these dunces and they are the best. The party is one of the absolute best out there- it's truly a crew you WANT to be in, you want to go hang with these guys at a ramen place, you want to go hang at a library because one of them needs help with something, you want to go wander the shops with them, you just want to be friends with absolutely all of the party members (maybe not Akechi in the later game when he actually joins the party but that's a whole other complicated goof).
It's an accomplishment to go and create so many likable and befriendable characters- I love em.
And the side characters and confidants are just a fantastic eclectic group- I'm being so vague simply because due to how P5 is formatted, I'd argue 99% of my posts are just me talking about the characters because you GET to do all these things with them. You GET to go to the movies and study and hang at the baths- so I've said all there is, I'm sure.
But I love them. <3
Another thing I've talked plenty on already but is worth mentioning in this finale post is that fantastic gameplay
I literally can't expand on it much in one post so I'll leave it simple.
It's flashy, it's EXTREMELY involved, it's combo heavy in a fantastic way (and with multiple avenues for combos!), and the worst I can say about it is that on Normal difficulty it became exploitable pretty early on and didn't really challenge directly much until the end, but, difficulty is not the end all of the gameplay's quality.
You want to feel involved and challenged in *some* way (if not direct difficulty), and I felt both of those things- just without much risk of failure. Arguably- ARGUABLY- that's damn near perfect. But for preference, I'd have preferred a slightly harder time- more HP on enemies and more risk of losing- but this isn't a complaint- it's a recognition that I will probably highly enjoy replaying on a harder difficulty :)
Simplifying the entirety of the gameplay to combat would be a crime though because this game was also half life sim, and quite an enthralling one at that. Hell, half isn't enough, MOST of this game was life sim, and I loved it so much more than I thought I would.
It also kinda screwed me a bit because I LOVE reading everything I have access to at any given moment.... and this meant a metric ton of reading every day, sometimes accomplishing next to nothing.
You could easily do all the things I did in this game in like 10 hours of gameplay, but it took me 23 times that because I would regularly take trips EVERYWHERE to seek out new NPC dialogue that added nothing to the game itself but was quintessential to my experience.
Loved it.
And before I close for good on this playthrough, I want to just speak some appreciation towards some of the morals and themes in here.
Not all, I'm stupid (for one), and tired (another), and some fucked up third thing as well so just a couple that I feel like talking about.
For one, RIDICULOUSLY big fan of the personal justice angle. It lent itself to so many narratives about the problems with the world from the angle of these things being normalized, expected, or accepted by society at large- but that doesn't mean we should accept them and stop trying to make things better.
It's just a solid theme to build around and it tied itself to the motivations of our characters so damn well with many of them being upset at how Adults handle the world or mistreat others and seeking to make things better.
Also, if the like 8 times I brought it up didn't make it clear, a big fan of the strength of kindness in the Akechi - Joker storyline. It's really a show of how Joker's refusal to turn his back on others, even people as, to be frank, shit as Akechi with his murder fun time nonsense, is literally what grants Akechi his moment of redemption.
That murder kid really tried to turn self sacrifice into a selfish move for personal revenge, and Joker's refusal to be insincere to him left Akechi stunned as his motivations were changed in real time right before he died- that's just a fun narrative, man.
And while I think it made the stakes feel less "scary" than the prior chapter, I really do enjoy how Maruki was our final baddie since he's quite literally a goodie.
It offered a completely different angle to challenge the PT's morals and allowed us to end on a narrative about the worth of our whole life experience rather than a narrative on defeating evil, it was honestly a really good choice in my book.
And I suppose that wraps up this mindless ramble.
To close I just want to say, I fuckin' love this game. It's a favorite now, as I've said.
I'd also like to say I'm surprised that getting to the post game wasn't as demanding as I was initially lead to believe.
I had been lead to believe, since launch of Royal, that this game was some weird "Do it perfectly or you're fucked" kind of game.
I avoided playing Royal for YEARS, because I thought I'd HAVE to shove a guide down my throat in order to experience half the game.
But as it turns out the Royal content is rather short, all things considered. And the requirements are MILES less intense than I was lead to believe- like- MILES. I thought you needed all confidants or else, like, it's not that hard lol.
Getting a perfect run on a blind run is a bit rough, but even that isn't remotely out of the cards if my playthrough is anything to go by.
And on whether / when I'll play more; Now that I've seen the credits, I'm not sure.
This playthrough was.... strange for me. When I pick a game up for the blog I usually stay pretty consistent with it. I've had flubs here and there over the years, but this might be the single most disjointed playthrough I've ever done- with months of no updates multiple times throughout just because of where I was outside of playing.
But because of this, I've basically been playing this game for 8 months. That's a long time to be on one single player game that I think a few weeks coulda done.
Kinda want something else. But my desire to play through on a harder difficulty, on NG+, and to get a perfect end to my playthrough with all confidants maxed remain.
Part of me wants to just jump right back in- especially since very very little of it would "need" (I do this for fun lol) to be blogged about in the first place, but a lot of me wants to sit this on the shelf and come back later in life.
And a lot of me also worries that doing that might table it too long, as I table many things and then decide new experiences trump them.
This game has the benefit of being one of my all time favorites now, so it's less likely, but I mean. FFT is an all time favorite. Doing modded runs of that for the blog has been backlogged for years. I don't want to put replaying P5R off that long at all.
But enough idle worrying in my game diary.
I am going to play something else for a while. That's my current plan. Mostly because that whole mishap with myself that caused this playthrough to be so disjointed is very much still a struggle- so I don't want to dive into a full new playthrough that's just as disjointed.
I might set a date for myself; Come back in a year's time perhaps. I have nothing set in stone. But I want to replay this. Harder difficulty, NG+, perfect confidants. I want that.
We'll find out when.
In the mean time I'm going to bask in the post-game joy of this phenomenal title.
I'm grateful for the opportunity.
And thank you to all who saw fit to interact through this playthrough- I doubt many would get this far into this nonsense post to see said thanks, but I'm sending that out there into the world all the same.
This was a ridiculously positive gaming experience in terms of the game, and a pleasure to chat with some fans.
Everyone, have a good one :)
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DAY 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ashe pov lets watch him have the worst time of his life
NOT THE MUSIC PLAYING RIGHT AFTER. GN.
cleepy claire again
ashe the worst thing you can do right now is be alone i think.,,,,,,,, these hallucinations are gonna fuck you bad
pain and agony in the world
so true charlotte
honestly lime?? get a life and a grip
she’d definitely see you venting and go “well at least-” that sums it up. she wont understand anybody and she wont ever be understood if shes like this all the time
the world is cruel because and unfair and it was to you but its your mindset thats keeping it that way. i guess same could be said for all the haters in some sort of way as well becaquse their entire existence is to keep up their hate of humanity thats why they relieve their deaths every single day
i understand her and i feel bvad for her story she deserves so much more she really does but . gaghhhg
i relaly hope one day she snaps out of it
UGH SHYE IS SUCH A GOOD CHARACTER
i dont wanna be too harsh on her since yea. she doesnt even know love or anything she couldve been she had no choice it was all so stupid but
the cage symbolism of her still being in it.. i love
“ah nothing” *proceeds to think about it*
i wonder if ashe’s having a nightmare right now. probably not though since they said to give it a rest
im shocked he didnt reread all of the books more
EVERYBODY STFU SHE SINGS THATS LITERALLY SO CUTE
ashe is the embodiment of the meme “the thoughts are getting louder” with the crying laughing emoji
HRELP THE TYABLES HAVE TURNED SIRIUS IS THE ONE SHOCKED AT CLAIRE NOT KNOWING
AJKFGKRE OLHY HSITR THATS ADIRABLOE
IS THIS THE DOODLES MENTIONED BEFORE.. I AM SO IN LOVENJKEWNHFWKEJLJR3IO2
SIRIUS LOOKS SO NAGY HELPP
bro she somehow drew the hairs and collars better than i ever could
CAT CA T C A T CAT CXA TC A T
SIRIUS PRETTY PINK FLUFIFEST MOST SDPEICALIST PRICNESS INT HREW HOLE WRODLD NOOOOOOOOOO
oh my god.....................................................................
that is not him at all im wheezing
TOP TIER ME AND THE SIBLINGS (REAL)
WHY DOES SIRIUS LOOK LIKE A MII.. JFKSDHFKJAESHRQWIEURH332 I KEEP LAUGHING AT THISHEKEWFEW
IM TAKING SO MANY SCRENESHOTS BUT HE REALLY JUST DID THAT THATS SO MEAN
THEY ARE ALL EMPTY SOIL AROUND EACH OTHER WHETHER SIRIUS LIKES IT OR NOT!1!!!!
and then they were siblings.......... (one suffering)
wilardo screentime gogogogogogogoogog
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ALRIGHTTT season 9 thoughts. this one wont be nearly as long as last time because honestly i dont have too much to say
um first things first i cant believe they killed the ultra dragon offscreen and nobody even made a comment on it. okay thanks ninjago writers. like i guess it died how it lived (aka completely irrelevant) but also.......... wow thats pretty brutal
jay losing his mind and completely giving up on life at the beginning of the season was really funny. i feel like this sums up lloyd & jay at the beginning of s9 pretty well
this frame made me laugh really really hard. is it really that funny? ... ok honestly yes yes it is
... and other important intellectual discussions that were had
also the old tea lady is so funny. if shes dead im sad about it but this is ninjago so there is an at least 67% chance she will come back next season. its no wonder she and wu got along theyre basically the same person
i was also DELIGHTED by the fact that we got not one but TWO scenes of people who really deserve to be run over by a truck getting run over by a truck. the only way this couldve been improved is. okay because comedy comes in threes right. and, as much as i love him and as much as i know this is entirely 10000% not his fault, this season's garmadon really deserves to get run over by a truck. frankly. im not sure if it would help lloyds mental state any but who knows maybe he'd find it a little cathartic. but i am very pleased with what we got anyways.
regarding the oni thing with them being shapeshifters, i have a few questions. 1) can garmadon and lloyd and wu do it. i hope so. canonically im leaning towards no but in my heart i want it to happen at some point. 2) ok so you can shapeshift into other people / things / stuff that already exists. so my question is: can you mix and match. can you give yourself pointy teeth. can you make yourself a furry. im asking the real questions here.
the ninjago timeline continues to elude me. i feel like i make this comment every single season but its true. the old tea lady implies that garmadon and wu have been living for a very, very long time, but also they were young adults at the same time the elemental masters were. my questions are infinite and my answers are few. between how old lloyd is and how old the elemental masters are and how old wu and garmadon (and misako ?????????) are and how all of this fits into a coherent timeline, i havent the FAINTEST CLUE. the writers arent even trying and they werent from the beginning. in fact i would honestly argue that the timeline is the most confusing aspect about ninjago, which is saying a lot because frankly this show is very, very, very very very confusing. all the time.
if possible, ive become even more annoyed by the writers' inability to let lloyd lead for more than five minutes. theyre allergic to changing the status quo, frankly, which is why we're rehashing the entire first two seasons i guess. like literally we are rehashing it entirely except making tumblr user iratusmus more annoyed along the way. mainly because they've taken out what makes garmadon an interesting villain and made him bland and boring and im annoyed. but we've already gone through that. OH YEAH BACK TO MY ORIGINAL POINT
anyways so what i was trying to say is that now that wu has returned, we're walking back the past three seasons of lloyd and his kind of character development in regards to leading. because, like, s7 kickstarted an arc where lloyd is now put into a position of being the leader which he isnt prepared for and doesnt really want, but a responsibility he has nonetheless. they dont really resolve it by the end of the arc - lloyd's barely even relevant in the climax and his decisions as a leader certainly arent, but we're left assuming that this will get resolved next season... right? and the writers skip most of that by giving us a 1 year timeskip, but then give him a leadership crisis anyways so whatever i guess we're still going to do that, and then after we sort of resolve that, wu shows back up again with the ninja and immediately starts dishing out orders and lloyd goes back to not being the leader and its just. well. what was the point of all that then? but also as stated previously, thats mostly just these past two seasons in a nutshell. what was the point of all that then. because we are, again, rehashing. the first part of the series. but whatever.
im also still sad about the noticable lack of oni teeth on garmadon or lloyd but like. whatever. fine. im not bitter (<- bitter)
so yeah thats my season 9 thoughts. coulda been worse, probably. it was fine. i miss lloyds old hair. thas about it
ah, the good ol ridiculously overpowered plot device that gets wordlessly shelved when they arbitrarily need them not to use it... we will miss you greatly (until the latest season finishes pulling off whatever bs its heading for given the sets)
... i have heard much about s9 jay and ngl im excited. he's fascinatingly messy as a character im looking forward to it. he deserves a bit of a breakdown i think. good for him. lets him pioneer a whole new way of being annoying. quoting someone from the tags of one of my jay posts but yeah being annoying is a character win actually.
it IS that funny asdkfjksdfj. the shot composition on this show is either painfully bad or utterly hilarious and kudos to the storyboard artists having to work within the lego constraints either way. the return of garmadon's sewing skills... ty. wu deserves his thematic counterpart in mistake. he also deserves to finally learn how to make good tea. the fact that hitting people with trucks is its own whole trope is just delightful. congrats to movie knuckles for joining their ranks.
they SHOULD. you are asking the important question its a damn shame they didn't capitalize on it. lloyd deserves to have one of those goofy episodes where someone finds out they can shapeshift and gets stuck in increasingly confusing and hilarious forms. he also deserves to fuck with his friends and change minor things and pretend he's always had them. what do you mean the tail's new.
i'm an annoying cole leadership truther but yeah,, yeah. at the very least commit to it. if you're aiming for lloyd to be the leader all the time rehashing the exact same arc over and over is both boring and?? squandering it?? there is SO MUCH potential for arcs beyond the initial can-they-lead and i know we're allergic to change in this writers room but cmon. once again a very comic-y trope and it does not work here just as much as it does not work there, though I do think going yj1998's route of having an episode dedicated to an over-the-top election full of sloppy handmade promotional merchandise where the fans get to vote for what team member they want would be an undeniable win. especially bc it would definitely go exactly how yj1998's did where a bunch of people voted for impulse despite him not being on the ballot. i want to see ninjago fandom rally around dareth as team leader it'd be great.
i definitely lost the plot there. anyway uh. fanart ideas aside. extremely correct. you are right to be bitter im right there with you. the loss of lloyd's hair (and the symbolism of him and garmadon sharing the same mold) is immense.
#this is unrelated but im listening to the sonic vocal tracks playlist again while answering these#and WHY is the version of the Japanese sonic x theme in this playlist in *spanish*.#universe. explain. that's two whole levels of translation. what the fuck#text✨#ninjago#liveninjablogging#im glad you're having fun again!!! i am too experiencing this stuff second hand is great askdfdsjkfjk#that one shot.... asdfjsdjkfkjsdfjk
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CutCat’s ATLA Takes
Here I am, jotting them down before doing a series rewatch. This is gonna be a bit disorganised, so beware!
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First I guess I oughta put a quick disclaimer in that Zuko is one’a my biggest Blorbos, comparible with Son Goku! ...so like, you may notice me focusing more on him than other characters or topics or whatever lol
Also I am Not interested in the Comics or Korra series...s. The former for writing that is plain ass bad, and the latter for changing so much of the setting (not for better) and uhm, also less than good writing. If I want bad takes on Communism and Anarchy I can just go look at Twitter or some rubbish. Also I know Kyoshi novels exist. I’m just talking about the OG show, even if select pinpoints of the subsidiary installments have good moments.
This got PRETTY LONG and ain’t particularly coherent, so I’ll put a Cut in here ;3
Overall Show:
Not gonna lie, some’a the Book 1 eps get pretty throughly memoryholed, even what happens in the first two! They ain’t bad, but it does take The Storm for the series to really hit its stride with the delish Backstories.
Following that solid W of an ep is The Blue Spirit, and this is actually one of the best in the entire show. Seems they initially wrote it like it was a season finale to get more eps approved, and it worked! lol
I dig that all the characters get some character focus and growth even early on
...I’m mixed on my stance on Aang’s crush on Katara. If it was a one sided thing that started off quite strong and then de-intensified over the series, I’d find it very cute and endearing. But that sure ain’t the course they took lol, but I guess I’ll sum my thoughts on shipping in its own section later.
The real highlights of S1 are in The Storm, The Blue Spirit, The Northern Water Tribe and the Siege of the North 2-parter. All these have a lot of Zuko, fancy that XD
Also I like how early it’s set up how Built Different he is, especially them last three eps. Dude gets blown up, swim through long underwater tunnels in freezing water, barely wins a fight, treks out into the arctic, gets 1-shot in a fight, and THEN starts another fight, this time with Zhao. His only true weakness really is his mental state and lack of planning, innit!
Book 2 overall kinda bothers me. Objectively it has some of the strongest points, but so much of it feels like it’s dark and dingy or really damn slow to get moving.
Strongest points are of course Toph’s entire existence, the zigzags of Zuko’s arc, and Azula’s anatagonistic omnipresence
The rest of it, myeah... while it’s more focused on a through line plot, it feels a bit monotone until The Library and eventually The Guru and Crossroads
Zuko Alone might be the GOAT episode. It’s not my favourite but DAMN it is firing on all cylinders!!!
I also like Bitter Work a lot. Gotta eat up more Parallels Episodes, babes!
The “Brainwashing” / Sleeper Agents thing feels OP. I get ya need an antagonistic force different to the Fire Nation but myeahhh... not convincing me
But yeah, then there’s Zuko’s continued character thread with the Angst Coma and the dreams and then the REALLY WEIRD turn of him being all smiley and optimistic. It always felt really fake and non-Zuko-esque to me, but I can ‘get’ that given he’s trying hard to shift gears from the status quo of before, overcompensating in the process. What’s odder still is that Iroh doesn’t seem to question it...
Like, sure, he wants to settle down and Tea Shop it up, but even if he could get Zuko to stop pining for the position in the Royal Family, does he honestly believe a day of fever dreams will have had such a profound effect last longer than a few days of re-settling? Zuko’s actions feel like someone having decided to turn their entire life around starting tomorrow and then swiftly burning out as change is a slow and gradual process in reality, and shouldn’t be forced.
So what I think is going on is Iroh himself having become blinded by what he wants, rather than a more realistic outcome. And that could be fab gear writing! A reminder that Iroh too is not immune to bias and oversights, and is indeed a human who sometimes Dun Goofs. If it is what’s intended rather than lazier writing lol
Also yeah, Zuko’s almost- side switching, I’ll save that for later ;3
Book 3 is both a high point but again there’s some episodes that are pretty lame or have less to offer, but I feel more forgiving of this one as sooo much juicy Plot stuff actually unfolds~
Again it takes the Main Plot stepping up for the quality to rise with the Day of Black Sun, and then the episodes after all feature the long-awaited Redeemed Zuko, and those times ae Gooooooood
The stupidest moment I have to complain about though, in the DoBS, is when Azula “proves” she’s an expert liar by... saying she’s a giant purple bear thing? That’s not lying, it’s absurdism, and it’s incredibly easy to say dumb shit like that without any “lying tells” that polygraphs or Toph look for (keep in mind that irl Polygraphs actually suck, they’re a Stress detector but lying doesn’t always stress liars out... LIKE AZULA, but even the biggest ball of anxiety could say “Yeah I’m Barney the Dinosaur” without triggering anything. GRAAAAAGH)
Back on track, my only complaint with Zuko joining so late is that I want mooooore, all the eps with the ‘field trips’ are such fun AND such Character Building
Ember Island Players was a great ep, though I don’t need to see the closing scene used to draw comparisons to the live action movie any more. It’s been like 500 times.
I DON’T THINK AANG SHOULD HAVE KILLED OZAI
That would be proving Ozai’s point that Might makes Right, which of course is WRONG
The show has been leading up to non-lethal ethos
Taking Ozai’s bending is a good out.
BUT. Holy shit they fumbled the ball bad
Energybending has ZERO build up or allusions even when there were chances to sneak it in, like The Library or The Guru
Commenting on a picture of a Lion Turtle and having Lion Turtle background sculptures DOESN’T CUT IT
Because that is ALL we get!!
At least have the Lion Turtle picture say “They’re so ancient they’re rumoured to pre-date Bending” or something to hook interest in
And the Guru coulda been a great way to drop the 5th Element lore in
But they waste all chances they had to set it up despite claiming they knew from the beginning that there would be a peaceful out
The Rock unblocking Aang’s chakra is also pretty bad, but I’m more inclined to forgive a moment of luck if the Energybending wasn’t so bogus
But it could be improved if Aang like, deliberately earthbent the Rock and then used it as acupressure
Both the Energybending and Convenient Rock make Aang’s victory feel less earned, which is a huge shame as we’ve seen him actually try soooo much. But alas, that last hurdle and they resort to lazy ass writing
The lst Agni Kai rules though. It’s beautiful and tragic, showing how much Zuko has grown and Azula fell. And Katara’s finishing the fight so effectively is bodacious and actually feels really smart~
WHERE IS IROH AT THE CORONATION??!?!
The end is a cute scene that is then strangled by the Red String lol, but damn, what a cool ass show
Characters:
Aang: He’s a cute protagonist, I’ve always liked the Cheerful and Highly Powerful archetype (cough cough Son Goku), though Aang is also heavily defined by his childishness, both a strength and a flaw. As much as I enjoy him, unfortunately I think he got a bit of the short end of the stick writing-wise, he can feel a bit Flat and, worse, like Bryke’s Pet. They lean too hard on letting him get what he wants, and we miss out of the development that coulda followed if the story didn’t twist itself to give him outs. Not unlocking his Chakras properly for selfish reasons should be punished. Finding an alternative to Murder should have had him Proactive. Not getting the Girl would have been a lot more realistic...! See the Shipping section for the latter...
Zuko: Holy rigatoni, man. Zuko is the bar by which Enemies to Friends, Redemption Arcs, Anti-Villains AND Anti-Heroes are all measured. His character has so much incredible nuance!! And yeah, maybe I too am weak to the dark and handsome and yet dorky type’a fella ;3c - I’m in the kinda situation right now where I find it hard to actually phrase everything I dig about him, but that’s from having too many thoughts and they all get crammed in the doorway between my brain and ability to type lmaooo
Katara: This girl is another high water mark (pun unintended) for how to Female Character. She’s the designated Mom of the team, but she ain’t defined by it, also being one’a the most capable fighters, having a hot temper and even a mean streak. It would really suck if she had just been written primarily to Love Interest (as the early drafts seem to imply...), but in the show, she has her own agency and goals that compliment the main quest, and she manages to be both a stable grounding force while having plenty of growth of her own.
Sokka: Again, I really wonder how it woulda turned out if the original plan had been followed; in Sokka’s case he was s’pposed to be the serious, stiffer contrast to Zany Playful Aang and Wide-Eyed Idealist Katara. But his VA is very naturally Funny, and so Sokka as we know him is a bodacious blend of Wacky yet also Level Headed. It’s an odd blend and many have tried and failed to replicate this delicate balance, but Sokka does indeed feel like a real person who seamlessly switches between being the group’s eccentric and also the one making all the plans.
Toph: ANOTHER amazing W for Girl Characters, Toph is such a delight and welcome shaking-up of the existing dynamics. She’s pretty consistently one of the most amusing and Real of the crew, while hilariously OP without it feeling cheap. It’s so weird to think she wasn’t in Book 1 at all, cause once she joins you sure as hell can’t imagine her being absent.
Iroh: Everybody loves this dude, and they’re right! What can I say about him that ain’t already been covered?? Maybe just that I do like that, as wise and benevolent as he is, there are still times where he’s allowed to be wrong or short sighted (see: my previous ramblings about Zuko’s very-un-Zuko behaviour), cause it allows him to feel more Real, and Human. That he’s speaking from experience and not from reading the script. That’s dope, man.
Azula: This is hard... I feel Azula is a massively polarising character, many people enjoy her but there’s too many people who either want to pretend she didn’t do horrible things, too many people who forget she’s also a victim, AND too many people who are just blindly like ‘woo, yeah! What a #Girlboss! Azula’s so cool and automatically wins at whatever”. Like, she’s one of the more nuanced characters but the surface level is indeed of hyper competence, it’s what’s below that veneer which is interesting. I kinda feel like more people oughta talk about the moment where she looks pleased, almost triumphant at Zuko being maimed...
And the rest: Oh god, I can’t talk about every semi-developed character as there’s a lot. Sorry Suki. You’re cool too! But most characters who appear in more that one episode see to be written pretty good, again, like People, rather than just plot devices in human skin. I like that.
...
Shipping:
lol. I think the BEST route would have been to not ‘canonise’ any ships of the ragtag group of kids and teenagers. Alas, we don’t live in that timeline and have dumb ass wars over it. Anyway, here’s my hot take:
Kaatang, while foreshadowed early on from Aang’s side, is a really lame route as Katara seems to have to loose her actual personality for it to work. Also, it jars with Aang’s role as both Avatar (while they’re allowed to Get Freaky, he was s’posed to be able to detach from Earthly attachments to gain the Avatar Powers), and as a totally-not-Buddist Monk, who are NOT allowed to get bizzay. So Aang too loses insteresting notions of Duty and being able to Mature cause he just gets what he wants without having to try. Lame.
Katara doesn’t have many moments where she even looks at Aang as something other than a Friend / Little Brother / Son?? type figure, there’s only brief moments where there is potential moments from her side, and they are far between and seldom deeper than her chemistry with the likes of Jet and Haru. The most I can speak for is the Day of Black Sun, where she’s taken aback by Aang planting one on her, but when he directly and Un-Classy-ly brings it back up in the Ember Island Players, she is quite rightly reserved and when he kisses her again without warning she’s angry! And that’s never resolved!! They just Mandatory Ship them together in the end because Bryke are biased and soooo intent of having their ship even though the writing hasn’t sufficiently built up to it. I don’t dig this, baby!
Maiko is also badly written and the comics make Mai unlikable. [slow sarcastic clapping]
So the ships I do like are:
Zutura - THEMATIC PERFECTION and not because of the red and blue, fire and water juxtaposition, but because Katara and Zuko are fundamentally so similar but coming from opposite sides and thus approaches. Both so kind at their cores but quick to anger or do something stupid on impulse, both so affected by the loss of their mothers and family-motivated. The fake out in Crossroads introduces a fascinating extra crease to their interactions that lasts, and the finale?? HELLO?!?! That’s legit one’a the most compelling Ship Fuel moments ever, baybeee! Other serieses would knaw off their own leg for material that rich!
Also yes, the red/blue, sun/moon, fire/water, and that they are pretty together lol. But still, there’s more in how they are a fantastic combo when on the same side, and also the meta reality that several writers and their own Voice Actors ship it. And they’re right to!
Zukka - The new darling of the fandom and while it doesn’t have as much going for it, I can see it. At it’s worst it feels like people desperately trying to rationalise the red/blue guys from Failtron Legendary Idiot Space Show, but when people who actually care about the characters here in ATLA and draw on their parallels and interactions I find myself enjoying it. Zuko goes well with the Water siblings I guess haha
Sukka - I don’t have much to say, I just like it lol
Also in the past I liked Zukaang but now I wanna redefine it as them being allowed to be Buddies and close friends and teammates, like what the Blue Spirit ep teased at but then didn’t really follow up on outside The Firebending Masters. I want more!! MOOOOORE!!!
...
But man this post is obnoxious and long enough already lol, thanks if ya endured it all~
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