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drvscarlett · 2 months

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Let Him Cook Pt 3

Charles Leclerc x MasterChef contestant!reader

Series Part: 1, 2, 3

Taglist: @bookstore-of-dreams @barcelonaloverf1life @ririyulife @minkyungseokie @mehrmonga @sltwins @charlesgirl16 @six-call @spideybv28 @casperlikej

"I honestly can't believe that this is actually happening"you told Charles as you sit down on your couch with your laptop.

The past few days have been a lot of preparation for the three most important dish of your life. You have been replicating and timing yourself to make sure that you are a perfectly well-oiled machine during the competition proper.

Charles is currently in Abu Dhabi for the final race which is a complete bummer. He wanted to be there but work is work. So that's why he spends most of his available time doing a facetime with you. It was pretty helpful since his conversations with you helps soothe your nerve and helps avoid overthinking the whole process.

"You got this mon amour. You know I always believed in you since day 1" Charles grinned.

"I really hope that everything goes well tomorrow"

"It will and I will be watching all the way from Yas Marina to hear that my girlfriend is a MasterChef winner"Charles proudly states "I'm really getting so excited, is this how you feel when you watch me race?"

You laughed "Oh mon ami, you are much more stressful to watch with your high speed corners and those wet race misshaps"

"But doesn't this technically make me your WAG if you win? Don't they have WAG gossip accounts that I could be part in?"

It was moments like this that Charles made everything lighter by focusing on trivial things. It helps a lot with the building pressure that everyone has been placing on your shoulder.

Y/NCooks posted a photo.

Y/NCooks the boyfriend is so supportive. I'm pretty excited for today!

Gordongram goodluck Y/N! Boyfriend reveal when you win?

User1 Gordon is so real for that Y/NCooks thanks Chef! Lets see???

User2 win or lose, you already made it Y/N!

User3 its just so wholesome to see how Y/N keeps the relationship private but never secret. I ship them so much

User4 i don't know if i want to be Y/N or I want to be her boyfriend

User5 goodluck Y/N! Get that trophy!

Final episode.

Former contestants lined up at the balcony with some of your friends and close relatives. It was a very surreal moment because you used to watch this sitting in the comforts of your own home and now you are actually the one being watched.

The moment that the clock starts ticking, you started to work. There was no room for any delays today as you were creating dishes after dishes. You have to use your time wisely so that you can finish the dishes you have in mind.

"Charles, were going out to drink, are you coming?"

"You guys go ahead, I'm going to watch something" The minute that the cars were back in the garage and the ceremony was over, Charles couldn't wait to go back to his hotel room. He was to turn on his TV to watch the live broadcast of the MasterChef Australia.

He was just on time with the last five minutes of the appetizer round, technically he haven't miss much. You were focused in tasting everything and ensuring that all the flavors are there. You plated really well and it shows how much you have grown. Charles is extremely proud of you.

"Aren't you a little worried to be working on the octopus so early on?" the judges wondered. The judges were currently tasting the soup that you have given them.

"I know that its a lot of risk but I have to push for it to show my talent"

The judges find the soup beautifully seasoned but their only slight flaw with the dish is that the octopus is a little bit tough due to the water not boiling hot enough. Its that flaw that sets a 2 point difference with your fellow contestant.

Charles could feel his eyes getting heavier from all the events earlier that day but he really wants to stay awake. He believes that Y/N could do it. The main course was a stronger dish for Y/N which is how she tied the score with her fellow contestant.

The dessert is the make and break for Y/N. Charles knew that its also her greatest opponent as you prefer savory over sweet. However, seeing the way that you are cooking right now that you have massively improved your skills in the sweets department.

It was tense as you run back and forth to the freezer to make sure that the pana cotta is chilled enough while you went back to your work station to mix the pot. Charles almost had a headache after seeing you trip over in the last 20 minutes of the session.

But all in all you pulled it off. The dessert was stunning and exquisite as the judges noticed. It was an elevated traditional pana cotta

"I believe we have made a decision and the scores are very very close with each other" one of the judges concluded.

The guests from the balcony went down to join the homecooks and Charles wishes that he could have been there for you. Instead, he records the moment through his phone. The announcement will be here in any seconds now.

"And the MasterChef Australia winner is....."

MasterChefAU just posted a photo.

Liked by Gordongram, Charles_Leclerc, and 670,000 others

MasterChefAU congratulations to Y/NCooks you are the MasterChef Australia winner!

User1 That was worth the wait, Y/NCooks is now a masterchef winner!

User2 she was so brilliant! what a performance!!!

User3 tell me why is Charles Leclerc is in the likes, isn't it like 4am there in Abu Dhabi?? Didn't you just race sir???

User4 Seems like Charles is a fan of MC Australia User5 Answer the crowd Charles_Leclerc User6 Didn't Arthur and Lorenzo guest in MC Australia, they say they are good friends of Y/N User7 That is some interesting information User6

Y/NCooks posted a photo.

liked by MasterChefAU, Charles_Leclerc, and 308,000 others

Y/NCooks I have a new plate!!!!

It was such a wonderful experience to be a part of this kitchen and to win this prestigious award. Thank you so much for all your support and love. This is such a dream come true!!

User1 im so proud of her

User2 Can't wait what's next for you!

Gordongram Well-deserve! You did amazing!

Y/NCooks this means a lot Chef! Thank you for watching

MasterChefAU Our winner!!!!

Charles_Leclerc 🏆❤️

User3 what even is that? you are putting sebastian vettel to shame with your rizz User4 Charles, she has a boyfriend!!!!!!! User5 Bro really thinks he can bag Y/N when he can't even cook Y/NCooks Thank you :')) Charles_Leclerc liked this comment. User6 SHUT UP, CHARLES IS COOKING SOMETHING User7 Silence for Y/N's bf, Charles is coming after your seat!

#charles leclerc x oc #charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc fluff #f1 x reader #f1 imagine

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youhideastar · 2 months

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Why you should watch Story of Yanxi Palace

It seems ridiculous to do a promo post for literally the most-watched television show on the planet, but I follow a lot of accounts that post cdrama gifs, and I don't think I've ever seen a single Yanxi Palace gif, and that's a tragedy.

Story of Yanxi Palace is a 2018 period drama with 70 episodes, set in the harem of the real-life Qing Dynasty Qianlong Emperor and featuring some real-life events and characters from that period. Our heroine is Wei Yingluo, a teenager who enters the Forbidden City as a maid, seeking to solve and then avenge her sister's murder. It was a smash hit when it was released, although it was later censored. You can find it on Viki.

If you liked Nirvana in Fire, you will probably like Yanxi Palace: Wei Yingluo is very similar to Mei Changsu in all the best ways, in that she is devious, ruthless, occasionally very funny, driven by revenge, and possessed of a fundamental core of decency despite her scheming ways. She is also a fifteen-year-old girl. (At the beginning of the show, that is - the drama spans more than a decade.)

Wei Yingluo's relationship with the primary love interest, Fuca Fuheng, is also just *chef's kiss.* She suspects him of her sister's murder, tries to secretly off him a couple times, and he then confronts her about it and hands her a knife, saying, "If you really think I killed your sister, you can kill me now. I won't stop you." We've all seen this scene a dozen times in assorted movies and shows; she loves him so she can't bring herself to do it; she'll drop the knife, they'll embrace--

Reader, Wei Yingluo takes that knife and STABS HIM IN THE CHEST. She stabs him in the chest!!! How can you tell she likes him? Because he survives the experience. Barely.

After that, you think this is a Mei Changsu/Mu Nihuang pairing where there's a relatively normal person who loves their devious little meow meow--and then Fuheng turns around and gaslights Yingluo with zero remorse and you realize that this pairing is actually 100% deranged 4 deranged. The shit these two do to each other and for each other is completely unhinged. At one point, she kills his wife and the two of them never talk about it. Not before, not after, not ever. Legendary. He calls her his zhiji. They will convince you that the height of romance is marrying other people but knowing one another so deeply that you can coordinate intricate political schemes without ever communicating with each other because you can predict one another's moves with perfect accuracy.

Also, the costumes, sets, and props are ridiculously beautiful (and historically accurate!), the characters are like 20 incredibly intelligent and complex women and then like 4 hot dudes, and the score is incredible.

Is there queer rep, you ask? Nothing explicit. But there are a lot of female characters who have very intense, passionate relationships with other female characters. Also, there's a subplot where the Emperor suspects the Empress is having an affair with one of his consorts and you can see his point; finally, there's a character who is intentionally set up to have a very ambiguous sexual orientation: I think you could plausibly argue that he's ace, that he's bi, that he's gay, or that he's straight. I'm not sure even he knows.

There's a lot more to love about it, but when a show's been streamed more than 15 billion times (yes, with a b), I feel like I don't have too much to add. 😂 Give it a try!

#story of yanxi palace #letter of recommendation

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stoopid-turtle · 7 months

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moar made-up thoughts about dd's thoughts

Some of the replies on my previous post left me re-evaluating, and I don't know that I was incredibly effective at what I meant to communicate (honestly, that is really frustrating for me). So I just want to clarify and maybe add some context.

I assume it goes without saying that everybody in turtleland adores dd and gg and that we think dd is a sweetie-pie (I can't conceive of being a turtle without that belief). And as a group, dd and gg's sweet moments get highlighted a lot, which I adore. These posts I have on dd are more about stuff I don't see discussed quite as much and they're not meant to encapsulate all that dd is because, wow that's a lot. For the previous post, I'd been thinking a lot about dd's mentality and how he approaches things, as seen in SDC, because his captaining style seems really distinct in a way I wanted to dig into.

Honestly, we've known dd for years at this point, and he's grown and changed throughout that time. He's been influenced by gg and by other friends and mentors. And like most people, how he acts is variable and dependent on context.

I do think dd was sometimes thoughtless when younger, but I don't think that's anything out of the ordinary for his age at the time, and I think he's grown out of it. In any case, it was never mean-spirited. Still, I think the way he expresses his feelings is pretty reserved and that he's not incredibly prone to sentimental gestures, like the gifts he sent Yang Kai. I think he can be thoughtful in that he's responsive when people indicate what they want, but I don't think he's the type to think up a gift idea on his own. Given that Yang Kai actually knows the guy and said as such, I don't think it's too far off-base to say that. I honestly think he probably gets help from gg with that sort of stuff, and he's likely to have gotten better at it as a result. But dd has never struck me as a sentimental guy.

(though with the captain gifts, I have no idea the logistics of how those worked, and I suspect, like most things on reality shows, that production assistants helped with suggestions and such)

I think he's a fantastic captain! I don't think I said that, because it's one of those things I assume goes without saying, especially as it's often said as such in turtledom. I think even back to Produce 101 when he was mentoring the young girls who were fawning over him. He did the cutesy dance with them to support them, even though he hates being cutesy (and bless him for it. That dance is a gift (and led to cute bts moments of gg poking fun at dd)). He's passionate about dance and he's passionate about helping other people improve (and learning from others). Dancers want to join his team because of that passion, and because dd just has a natural talent for it that is incredibly inspiring.

But he does like winning. He explicitly said as much himself. And that one episode I highlighted where his team lost is pretty tense. The rehearsals were tense, the performance was tense, dd's response to everything was tense. During one round, his team only gets 4 votes compared to, like 40 for the other team. I can't recall the score ever being so lopsided, especially when the losing team is full of top-tier dancers.

And dd's behavior then is incredibly relatable to me. He laughs about it, joking about how he only got 4 votes. But it's the laugh you get when you're really unhappy and kinda embarrassed but trying to keep a good, positive face on things (or at least, that's a strategy I have for those moments, and given dd's switch to serious-times when he's doing the team debrief, I think he's somewhat similar).

And dd recovers well. He has a debrief with his team. He talks to Han Geng about what his team is lacking (they specifically talk about his team performance not being thematic like the others) and realizes they need a choreographer to pull everything together and give them direction. And the very first round of recruitment, he gets a choreographer for them.

I don't think dd only likes winning. The reference to "not here to make friends" thing was a bit of rhetorical exaggeration for fun. Like I noted, he makes friends. He learns a lot and he mentors a lot, and that's definitely a big part of the draw for SDC for him. And while dd never intentionally cultivates a family atmosphere (as opposed to the other captains who explicitly tell their team that they're like a family), they come together like a family anyway. But he still likes winning, and I think he has trouble enjoying everything else as much if he's not winning.

It's not a bad thing to be competitive like that (I once got into a fight with my wife because I kept losing in thumb wars against her. I personally know when competitiveness becomes stupid). DD has a passionate drive to succeed. This is how he's managed to excel at basically everything he tries (except cooking). I think way back to the auditions in SDC 3, when dd impresses his group by being savvy about street dance gestures (like the plagiarism gesture) and by knowing how to appeal to dancers (by having them warm up with some freestyling). He quickly overcomes any doubts the dancers have based on his idol background by being genuine, sincere, and passionate and that's why people want to join his team.

*rereads all this* Hmmmm...feedback and replies are good. This is a better post.

Also, this judge is the one who always says nice things about dd. He's said at one point that dd has an extraordinary natural talent for dance even among professional dancers. He's right and he should say it. Best judge. A+ I hope they keep bringing him on.

#bjyx #yizhan #in this house we use a lot of words #the first photo i put in this tumblr and it's some random white dude wtf me #dd would def roll his eyes at alla this #still an honor

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the-eeveekins · 5 months

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The 23rd Day of G-Witch: The Woven Path

It's finally here, my 2nd favorite episode in the show.

The army of Gundnodes is absolutely formidable, and Suletta goes against this entire army solo. A lot of people list the massacre of the SAL Fleet as one of the crimes Prospera should have paid for, but I'll be honest, I don't vibe with that one. The SAL may be opposed to the Benerit Group, but they're just as complicit in the oppression of Earth as the BG is. They're just trying to take the power and authority of the BG for themselves to be the new rulers of space and reap those benefits themselves. So I don't really feel bad that Prospera wiped out a fleet belonging to another group of oppressors along the way.

The revelation that Suletta's beloved list were almost all her mom's ideas is pretty stunning. And at this point, the only desires that Suletta has expressed that were actually her own were building a school on Mercury and marrying Miorine. But now she has a new desire, one all her own: she wants to stop Prospera and Ericht from harming more people, and save her family.

And of course, one more desire: to see Miorine again and talk to her.

After doing a lot of thinking on it, I've ultimately decided that I do like this scene, even if the time could've definitely been better used elsewhere. It serves as a conclusion to the "rivalry" between Suletta and Guel, as well as a homage to both Gundam history and Utena. My only major complaint is that Miorine should have been the one to give Suletta back the Holder uniform, not Guel.

I think Guel was trying to motivate Suletta to take the fight seriously by telling her he wouldn't let him see her, and for her part, she agrees to the duel, because she knows she can beat him. But I also think there's a universe where Suletta just tells Guel straight off and that she's going to see Miorine whether he likes it or not.

The reunion. I love the way Suletta & Miorine reflect on their past mistakes, and that Suletta knows that regardless of the mistakes of her past, she needs to move forward in life. When Miorine expresses her fear of making mistakes, especially with regards to Suletta, Suletta makes an important point: Suletta would not be the person she is today without Miorine. Even with the pain and heartbreak, meeting Miorine and falling in love with her made her who she is today, and that was not a mistake.

I'm sorry, I have trouble articulating my thoughts on this scene. But I love Miorine asking Suletta to come with her to Earth, because Suletta gives her the strength to move past her fears and face the future. Just like Suletta gives her the strength to get up and open the door for her, to let Suletta see her at her most vulnerable. And Suletta reaches her hand out to Miorine because she accepts all of her, not just her strengths, but her weaknesses too, and wants to be with her no matter what. And Miorine, who probably never though Suletta would come back to her or accept her after what she did, accepts her hand.

For the first time, we see Miorine partake of the love she nurtured with Suletta. They are truly a couple now, with mutual love and trust in each other. Miorine says they'll grow more tomatoes, and Suletta agrees. They'll continue to grow the love they share together.

Suletta struggles as she hits score four, but she's determined to make it to score five and stop Prospera and Ericht. And even though Suletta could very well die and it terrifies her, Miorine respects her choice and raises the Permet score to five. As Suletta succeeds and stabilizes the Calibarn at score five, you can see the relief on Miorine's face as she lets out the tears she was holding back. It was a scary choice that may have killed the person she loves, but she placed her trust in Suletta's decision, and that trust allowed Suletta to succeed where her mother failed and gain the ability to face her family head on.

I just love the Calibarn's introduction. Liberation From the Curse is an amazing song, and it's used to incredible effect as Suletta flies into Quiet Zero solo and takes on an army of Gundnodes that had thus far torn apart everything they'd faced. She expertly dodges all their firepower and wipes out swarms of them with the broom rifle, to the point that Ericht is forced to sortie in the Aerial to try and stop her.

Up until this point I had been fairly underwhelmed with the Calibarn, but I absolutely fell in love during this scene. The cool factor of the broom rifle, Suletta expertly dodging fire from hundreds of Gundnodes and their bits while taking out multiple enemies with each shot of her rifle. It has since become my favorite mobile suit.

You can practically hear the defeat in Prospera's voice. Sure, Prospera has prioritized Ericht, but she does still love Suletta and wanted to avoid a conflict with her other daughter. But I think deep down she knew that the only person capable of stopping her at this point was Suletta, and seeing a Gundam that only she could pilot breach the Data Storm confirms those fears.

Likewise, if you've read Cradle Planet, you'll know that Eri loves Suletta and has always cared for her little sister, and was against the plan to send Suletta to the school or get her involved in their schemes. The last thing she wants to do is fight and hurt her sister, but at this point Ericht doesn't have the will to oppose her mother.

(There was so much I could've addressed and wanted to talk about in this episode that I just couldn't fit in, and I really felt the struggle of properly articulating the thoughts I did put down. I may make a 2nd post just for extra stuff.)

#25 days of g witch #g witch #the witch from mercury #sulemio #gundam #g witch spoilers

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ac-liveblogs · 12 days

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Manshine City vs Bastard Munchen Part 2 "Oops I stopped Reading For Two Weeks" Edition

Last time: Nagi stood underneath Reo's window with a boombox and asked him to take him back. Reo, who swore he didn't need Nagi and was going to do this for HIMSELF, flings himself out the window.

I do like that Isagi is trying to master-mind the field 'oooh I can predict your every move!', theoretically Kaiser is doing the exact same thing, and they still fail to account for each other and completely fuck up their Pro Strats. I swear, Kaiser is just if the Isagi That Plays Soccer existed off the field as well as on it.

GOD Reo's inner monologue. "We split up once... we followed different paths..." ONE it's been like a month absolute tops TWO I maintain that Reo and Nagi exist in a totally different genre than the rest of the cast.

(Tbh I'm a little disappointed the Reo-Nagi drama seems to have resolved so easily, though there might still be tension outside of the field. I doubt Nagi's going to try and split up with Reo again at this point. Gotta wrap up these character arcs and move on, save the real meat for Episode Nagi in 4 years. Which is a shame, because given how batshit things were back in Blue Lock Reo absolutely Losing It was one of the things I was looking forward to most. What, he can't be too crazy in the insane soccer manga?)

Kaiser and Isagi, you two are my only hope... I need a murder attempt, c'mon...

I don't know enough about soccer to say if a two-stage volley is an 'insane, godly move' but I think a 5-stage anything has got to be pretty impressive. Who knew Nagi could be bothered to count that high. (I know Nagi didn't actually punt Isagi in the face but it sure looked like it, I was taken aback for a second.)

I love the way Nagi's 'ego' manifests on the pitch too, it's great. Gets really hyped up for a little bit of a game, gets super intense, trashtalks like a champ, I am a GOD routine, scores an absolutely insane fucking goal, goes 'yep that's all I wanted' and powers down mid-game. It's not over yet but he did what he came for! He's just like me forreal

"If not for the simple fact that Nagi doesn't know how to play this game, he would be unstoppable!!!" - Reo Mikage, probably

Agi... Reo... guys... chill

Chris' absolute lack of class is the funniest thing about him. This match is being televised, don't go calling your opponent a slut again.

Isagi "I have every tool I need to beat Kaiser except actually being better at this game than him!" Yoichi

Noa's just watching his team burn around him like "hmm. Excellent."

Chigiri throwing his hat into the 'dumb eye power' ring with a truly outstanding entry.

I know Kunigami is in this game, it just really doesn't feel like Kunigami is in this game. The match is losing track of Chigiri as well, I got a little surprised when he popped back up. I know the lack of synergy is on purpose due to the 'every man's either out for himself or the guy he's mentally ill about' aspect/'build your team around the striker' philosophy, but it does make the teams feel really uneven when the only characters that tend to matter are the Strikers + whoever's supporting them at the moment. It wasn't so bad when they were playing with limited teams, but right now half the teams feel like total space filler.

(The whole 'guaranteed shot' thing feels a bit... insulting to the concept of goalies/defense players too. I don't know much about soccer but it does feel like a major dick move LOL. To be fair, Gagamaru is not a goalie. Does Bastard Munchen not have a goalie better at goal-keeping than 'guy with hard head that doesn't play this role normally'.)

But yeah seriously Kunigami went to an ambiguous soccer torture camp to get his whole personality destroyed and for what. This? He doesn't even get to pretend to be the biggest threat on the field for even one game. Give that man a refund. Or at least some free therapy.

"go... the world's most random shot... even i don't know where it's going!!!" that is NOT impressive that's what i do every time I kick a ball. maybe i should be a pro soccer player. i could beat noel noa

Isagi has some nerve being shocked that Yukimiya is sabotaging him because ~they're on the same team~ yeah okay whatever dude and what was your end-goal here again

man, these matches just keep getting longer and longer despite the fact that they're aiming for way less goals...

#blue lock

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remidyal · 14 days

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Favorite D20 Villains

Just for some positivity on this, and because it's been a minute since I did a tier or ranking list, have my ten favorite Dimension 20 villains! I'm not going to include anyone from Junior Year since it's still running, and I'm going to go ahead and mention that I'm not including Ragh or Aelwyn who could both easily make this list otherwise because they've spent as much or more time on the Intrepid Hero's side as they did villains.

Obviously, there are potential spoilers in this list, so proceed at your own risk! I'm putting a read more link here just to save people who haven't seen a lot of seasons.

10. Galfast Hamhead, Escape from the Bloodkeep.

Okay I know this one is cheating because the party are the villains and Galfast is, like, the one actually good figure on the opposing side, but I'm still counting her. Just an absolute tour de force in the parts of the series she appears in, and gets away even though she technically loses to the party.

9. Natalia Cicero Connie Lee Carter Bajar, A Starstruck Odessey

She's not the most threatening villain in ASO, but there are really three fronts where villains can work for me: They can be hammy and fun, they can be actually threatening and scary, and they can be someone I desperately would love to see get taken down. Natalia scores all her points in the first and last of these categories; she's not scary, but her entire concept is just so stupid that it makes me laugh every time.

Bonus points for being the target of what I think is the best joke in ASO - high praise - the "My fiancee doesn't really do art" - "I agree" by Ally.

8. Robert Moses, The Unsleeping City.

I believe the only actual person to ever be a main villain in Dimension 20. Genuinely a monster of American history; I was familiar with him prior to watching The Unsleeping City but I would wager that I was in a fairly slim minority. There's some problems with the presentation here and the details of it - I am guessing they would have just made him a powerful vampire if this season was more recent, for one - but I can't say I wouldn't want Robert Moses' plan thwarted. Probably the closest we'll ever come to actually having a campaign fight Ronald Reagan directly.

7. The Stepmother, Never After

Never After for me has a structural problem in that there are too many ideas stuffed into too short a season, and so quite a lot of it feels extremely half-baked. The Stepmother isn't immune to this, but she's also an actual imposing figure for much of the series that feels like a true threat to the party even after they prove that a TPK isn't enough to stop them. The scene where Ylfa looks before they head to the Lines Between is maybe the best Never After has to offer, for me.

6. Madame Loathing, Mentopolis

Honestly, this feels like a more full version of the Stepmother in many ways even though there are only six episode. This is probably because she's not competing with like five other factions in her villainy. The moment where she turns is great, and there's something very satisfying about landing a twist where the villain was someone so obvious that they were dismissed by many as too obviously evil to actually be the main evil.

5. The First Stoats, Burrow's End

Here I'm referring to the four that remained at Last Bast; I think the series in some ways peaked with fighting them, though certainly there were some highlights still to come. I don't think Aabria necessarily meant for this fight to go down at the time and place that it did, but genuinely creepy designs with a creamy layer of fascism on top.

4. Tony Simos, Unsleeping City 2

Remember those three categories? Tony here scores real, real big in the "I wanna see him die" category. He's not the worst person on this list (that's honestly probably Robert Moses), but he's the one I most wanted to see get crushed, and ultimately was in an extremely satisfying way. TUC2's villain duo was overall incredible - we'll revisit that in a moment - but I cheered more when Tony dropped than any other villain D20's ever had.

It is what it could be, asshole.

3. Calroy Cruller, A Crown of Candy

Do you know what I've always hated about you, Amethar?

There's a lot of people who would have this guy at the top of their lists, and I really don't blame them; the main thing holding him back for me is that he really doesn't do very much after that crowning monologue until he goes out like a chump at the end of the steamroll that is ACoC's last battle. (Those of you calling JY's last fight easy should rewatch that one). It is, admittedly, the most satisfying of any of the villain deaths of that finale, especially with Liam's baffling last second resurrection of broccoli pope and captain carrot. Scores very well on all three fronts, and honestly if Amethar had actually died there or if he'd just been front and center at the end then he'd maybe be number two for me.

2. Null, Unsleeping City 2

A dip into real eldritch horror, and does it better than Never After in part because it stands out more against the backdrop of New York. Null scores great on the threatening front; a monstrosity of apathy and depression and lack of connection is a hell of a villain. The world where Pete doesn't roll that crazy banishment check and vanishes partway through the season would have maybe robbed us of some of the insight into this, so I'm glad we got the one that we did.

Kalina, Fantasy High Sophomore Year

This was never going to be anyone else. Kalina's getting points on all three fronts, but conceptually is just an incredible concept for a villain, feels like a real threat throughout the season until the moment they dispel her, and you can feel the amount the players both want to take her down and are in fact worried about her throughout the season. Because of her nature she's able to show up repeatedly without a fight without that not really making sense, which is kind of hard to pull off - most of the villains on this list aren't met much after their villainy is revealed. We'll see if she's back at the end of Junior Year and what kind of state Cass ends up in, but either way we'll always have spring break.

#rankings #d20 #dimension 20

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destinygoldenstar · 5 months

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I Answer The Would You Rather Questions From TD2023 Episode 17

(IK what you're gonna say about the title, idc, I'm calling it one long season because I feel like it)

youtube

Here's the video I'm basing this off of in case you're curious.

Would You Rather...

A) Camp in a Graveyard for a month

B) Go without toilet paper for a week

I WANT to say I wouldn't be scared cause zombies aren't real, BUT I'd be lying cause in real life, I'm anxious like no tomorrow. Plus at least with the other it's a lesser timespan.

(I relate to Damien so hard with this one.)

Would You Rather...

A) Have to wear clown makeup for a year

B) Have your direct messages made public

I don't actually DM that much, most you'd find are a bunch of sex bots that I blocked immediately, and other than that it's really just me answering people's questions about media. So I can't really say I'd lose much.

But honestly, I think clown makeup is actually pretty fun. Didn't say I wouldn't get to design the makeup myself. I'd just be cosplaying as Pomni, and I think I'd be okay with that cause Pomni is adorable.

A ; For the fun of it

Would You Rather...

A) Lose the passwords to all your devices everyday

B) Spend the entire next school year in a hot dog costume

Jokes on you Chris, I'm not in school anymore.

I SUCK at passwords anyway. So, NO THANKS.

Would You Rather...

A) Be Hockey Superstar *Whatever he said*

B) Be the puck that scored the game winning goal in the 1980 cup finals

One, I am not a sports person let alone a hockey person

Two, I was not alive in the 1980s!

I'd go with B cause I don't want to 'be other people'. I do that in fiction already and with my cynical online persona. I don't do that in real life.

Would You Rather...

A) Slide naked down a ski hill

B) Spend a day in a wave pool that uses bark instead of water

I hate the cold. So let alone being naked, it would suck.

But swimming in VOMIT?!

NO THANKS

Would You Rather...

A) Popcorn that tastes like poop

B) Poop that tastes like popcorn

NEITHER.

Straight up. NEITHER.

I hate both of these so much. I do not understand how Zee can possibly pick one without hesitation. (Then again, it is Zee, so...)

I am SUCH a sensitive eater. I will vomit no doubt at both of these.

I guess technically one isn't s**t, it's just the flavor sucks, so... A?

But if there was an option to pick C, I'd do it.

Screw the rules of this challenge. make it a trick question and have the person fall no matter what. TROLL, Chris. Why wasn't there a troll like that in the challenge? I'm surprised.

Would You Rather...

A) Take truth serum and be questioned by Chef

B) Only be able to eat Chef's cooking for a whole year

Again, sensitive eater over here.

DEFINITELY A.

Would You Rather...

A) Eat a bowl of toenail clippings

B) Not shower for a month

I'm actually tolerant to nail clippings, but AGAIN...

He said SHOWER, he said nothing about baths, swimming, deodorant, washing your hands and face, etc. So YEAH, it's actually not that bad if you think about it.

Would You Rather...

A) Eat 200 Lemons

B) Wrestle your best friend's grandpa

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY CHOICES THAT INVOLVE EATING SOMETHING?!

I'm a softie, so I'd lose, BUT...

My best friend in particular actually hates her grandparents. So she'd love me if I wrestled them, even if I'd lose.

Would You Rather...

A) Eat pudding directly from a gorilla's armpit

B) Jump from a plane with a parachute packed by your ex

In the episode, they make this sound worse than it actually is.

Or maybe that's just me because I actually DON'T HAVE AN EX

(At the time I am posting this)

HA! GOTCHA!

Even if I were to break up with my partner just for the sake of doing this, (then get back with her afterwards) she is very skilled with this sort of stuff, has made several crafts like this, and I trust her completely.

Usually I'd hate falling, or anything that involves a vertical motion like that, BUT there's a parachute so it wouldn't be that bad.

And at this point, you'd know I'd do basically anything to get out of eating nasty stuff. If my choices are something to go off of my character.

Would You Rather...

A) Fight one bear

B) Fight 100 Rabid Kittens

I'd lose no matter what.

I am a HUGE cat person, so at least I'd be used to the kitten's scratching and biting. And maybe I'd tame them rather than fight them. That's my method of fighting.

Bear? I'd DIE.

(Also i love Wayne and Raj here. They're so cringe in the wholesome way)

Would You Rather...

A) Give up texting for five years

B) Lose your bathing suit at a crowded wave pool

I text my partner ALL THE TIME, and I will NEVER GIVE THAT UP

At least with this option I could just run away, just one embarrassing moment rather than stuck there for five years or something.

And if someone said took a video of me and posted it, uh, JAIL FOR THEM, CAUSE THAT'S ILLEGAL

Would You Rather...

A) Dirt poor but celebrated as a great poet

B) A filthy rich lawyer who puts guilty criminals back on the street

Hello. I'm a writer.

I ain't gonna put people in danger like that.

Would You Rather...

A) Be genetically merged with a warthog

B) Have Chris McLean as your dad

First off, who f****d a warthog to begin with?

You know Chris as a person, you know it would be AWFUL

Looks don't matter, I'd say

Would You Rather...

A) Apologize for something you're not sorry for

B) Go bald by the time you're 23

In the episode they act like this is a really hard one because it's Chase.

I knew what he was gonna say right away. You see ONE episode with this guy, you KNOW his answer.

SERIOUSLY EMMA, HE'S YOUR EX, HOW DO YOU SCREW THAT UP?! HOW?!

Anyway, for MY answer,

I'm not a jerk.

Yeah I have stuff I'm not sorry for, but it is leagues better than hair loss. Let me tell you.

Also I realized Julia didn't get questioned at all. What's up with that?

What are your answers? Reblog them. I'm curious.

#total drama #total drama 2023 #td damien #td bowie #td priya #td wayne #td nichelle #td zee #td scary girl #td emma #td chase #td caleb #td millie #td mk #Youtube #td axel #td raj

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martianbugsbunny · 8 months

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Not the gospel not the blanket statement but I don't like the way the Loki series, at least thus far, has treated either of Loki's queer identities. because guess what!! I happen to also be bisexual and genderfluid.

(also, this post has been in my drafts for enough days that I do not remember if I wrote before or after season 2 started, but I do know that 1: I wrote it before I watched that episode, and 2: I wouldn't made a damn lick of difference anyway.)

Okay so right off the bat, the bisexuality within the show is actually pretty decent. It's not a big deal, Loki isn't throwing himself at every character onscreen, that's pretty respectful. But I feel that (and this is simply my weary, jaded-at-the-MCU opinion) the writers decided to finally commit to him being canonically bisexual because it can be made more palatable for homophobic straight audiences. If you decide to say, okay, Character X is gay, they will then be shown in same-sex relationships or in a conspicuous absence of any relationship at all despite chemistry and history with same-sex characters, one of which pisses of the straights and one of which pisses of people like me. Now, I don't think Marvel minds hurting us, but it's still not a good look to say here's a canonically gay character but wait! we're not actually going to show a gay relationship onscreen. It feels like going for the cheapest of sucking-up options and ain't nobody buying. Therefore, the number of canonically gay characters in the MCU is low.

If you have a bisexual character, however, they can be in an opposite-sex relationship and the straights can pretend the character is also straight or going through a phase or some bullshit, and we can't say hey this feels like a cop-out because well we gave you what you wanted, the character is bisexual, and also because the biphobia card can be played against us immediately.

To avoid that, I'm saying right here and now I love opposite-sex bisexual relationships as a rule, whether it's bi4bi or one of the characters in the couple is straight. I'm bisexual and while the gender situation is complicated (we'll get to that in a minute) I'm AFAB and my only relationship ever has been with a cishet man, and I would throw hands with anybody who suggested that I'm not a real bisexual just because I haven't made that kind of a connection with a woman yet. (Trust me, I would love to date a woman.) Now, a wee bit of a caveat, the complicated gender also complicates that, because I am not female, so technically my relationship with that one man was not a straight relationship, but I also hadn't realized it at the time so it's difficult to parse what it was, and frankly I don't care.

The point is, it's the context, not the relationship, that really bothers me. The context is the MCU, which has proven itself pretty damn against having queer characters or queer relationships, particularly visibly same-sex ones, for the sake of the box office. Taking that into consideration Loki and Sylvie's relationship feels like a way to cop out of having to show a same-sex relationship with a queer character while also making queer people look bad if we say that it feels like a feeble attempt to score progressive brownie points. It also gives the straights in the room a reason to point and us and say why can't you be grateful, you've been thrown a bone, what more could you possibly want, you're so demanding. The MCU does the bare minimum, doesn't have to show a same-sex relationship, and we look like the badguys if we say what I'm saying right now.

But you know what I don't want? I don't want my identity weaponized against me, against other bisexual people who feel like we're being used as a not-really-queer statement for a character because not queer enough is something that I think is directed against bi people way too often. I don't want the MCU to use that logic in having a bi4bi couple, which I personally think is probably what at least part of their motivation was. I don't want to be accused of biphobia simply because I don't think an identity that I share with the character, and therefore have some experience with, is being used properly. Bisexuality is not a tool to say queer-not-queer about fictional characters, because using it that way I would go so far as to say can actually be detrimental to bisexual people in real life.

The gender fluid claim I hate with every ounce of my own gender. It's canon because what, it's showed on a file in the end-credits sequence? Lazy. Bullshit. I don't want it. Sylvie is treated like some kind of exception for being a woman and ostensibly a Loki; if Loki was actually genderfluid nobody would give a rat's ass. Our Loki could qualify as a woman and a Loki every now and then. Sylvie wouldn't be anything special...oh, wait. That would defeat the purpose of having her on the nice little pedestal the writers built for her. So they shoved in some quarter-assed claim (I say quarter-assed because it wasn't even enough effort to be half-assed) that's blink and you miss it, in fact don't specifically look for it and you miss it, to gender fluidity because...I don't even know. Because they want to bring MCU Loki closer to the comics version of Loki, who has been slaying gender fluidity for a darn while? Well, if that's why, they failed. Because they were looking for some more of those no-effort brownie points? If that's why, they've once again failed, because I am giving them none. There are no feathers for the MCU to preen here. Our Loki is a man and Sylvie is a woman, that's all there is to it, and putting that Loki is genderfluid in that stupid end-credits sequence doesn't change that. What would change that it actually depicting both of them as alternately male, female, nonbinary, etc., because that once again avoids the exceptionalism complex for one of them that would make gender fluidity look like a deviation for Loki when really it should be the norm. They tried to claim my gender identity for Loki and I'm not even sorry, I'm not having it. They failed. Of course it's not to say I'm the Almighty Keeper of the Gender Fluid. I'm not. But am I allowed to take full offense when someone majorly screws up at what they're barely even attempting to depict and it's my identity? YES. I am.

So the thing is, I'm probably overreacting a little bit. And as a member of a mistreated and marginalized part of society, and as a member of a fandom for something that feels sort of actively hostile towards people like me pretty often, I think I have the right to be. And as a person who actually lives with the identities that Loki is trying to claim, I also think I have the right to hold my opinion about it.

Now I'm not saying all genderfluid people or all bisexual people who watch the show will have the same reaction I did. That would be ridiculous. In fact, if not for the context of the MCU existing around it, I would be ecstatic about Loki being bisexual myself. But I am saying that these are the reactions I did have to it, and if you disagree, that's fine, but please do it as civilly as I am doing with people with whom I disagree. Queer representation is a complicated, messy thing, as is queerness itself a lot of the time, and different people will see different things in it.

Slay on.

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no-psi-nan · 2 years

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I think everyone agrees that the most telling scene for Teruhashi and Saiki's relationship is the karaoke mixer scene (with Imu and Chiyo and the guys from the fancy school).

However, I also think it's the most misinterpreted part of the series. I haven't seen a single analysis of it that I agree with tbh, so I figured I'd write my own:

However, as Saiki points out, her understanding of him is completely wrong. She doesn't think he would have a good time or could make things more fun, when in reality, HE'S the one coming up with all the jokes the guys say, and their kind gestures like adjusting the temperature of the room for her. And to top it off, he was even doing actual karaoke during the mixer and killing it, based on his 100% score. Saiki was secretly being the whole life of the party, something that Teruhashi can't even imagine at this point.

Teruhashi appreciates that Saiki doesn't actively chase her, that he treats her like everybody else, that he isn't waiting for her to slip on her perfect pretty projection. However, while Teruhashi wishes Saiki was there with her at the mixer, she also thinks that he would just be there glooming it up with a dull expression in the corner. That seems to show that she finds Saiki's presence comforting but doesn't really think he can contribute otherwise to this kind of social situation. And based on what she's seen of him, it's a reasonable expectation tbh!

And that's because whenever we see Saiki at parties with his friends, he ISN'T charming and funny then. Saiki even feels bad about being so boring and unexpressive, sending in his father as a substitute for one birthday party. But that's because he's actively masking his powers and by extension, his real personality, to almost everyone.

We've only ever seen him at parties with people who DON'T know the truth about him. So we can't know exactly what he'd do at a proper party post power-reveal. But we CAN see the difference in interactions that he has with people who don't know about his powers and people who do.

People who know about Saiki's powers and who he acts genuinely around: his family, the Psychickers, and little Yuuta.

The biggest immediate difference between how he behaves with them vs with everyone else is that Saiki is a huge backtalker lmao. He has a smartass remark for everything but only says it "out loud" if he's comfortable. He disrespects his dad on the daily, roasts Toritsuka half to death, and repeats [no] at Yuuta every time he begs.

In fact, Teruhashi has never seen Saiki be genuine around her, which is why she has to dig desperately for something positive to say to Saiki's grandfather when she meets him. All she can say is that he seems studious (the man gets strictly average grades so this is kind of sad actually lmao) and that he has a lot of friends for some reason hsfjdlshfks.

Saiki is also a bit of a show-off / kind of prideful. We see it when he's a kid in the Time Leap episodes, we see him fly up to get Yuuta that balloon instead of using telekinesis, and we see him refusing to lose any games to his friends despite low or no stakes (and being a very sore loser when Akechi beats him).

My personal favorite example of him being his hilarious self is when he and Aiura are trying to keep Chiyo alive despite her death mark, and Aiura thinks to herself something like "well, there's no way he can hear my thoughts at THIS distance or he'd be some kind of god" and Saiki IMMEDIATELY replies [what's up, God speaking] like WHAT. THE LEVEL OF SASS. He's just naturally that fucking funny and repressing it all the time. And most of his friends have no clue that this guy is actually a hilarious mfer!

However, we as the audience actually *do* see Saiki be his genuine self around Teruhashi: that one episode where she's trying to find him but he turns invisible so her simps can't catch him. Instead of being a quiet, emotionless presence, he steals her milkshake and makes fun of how she can't see him and is generally silly. Maybe one day they'll truly know each other well enough to where Saiki feels comfortable being silly like that where she can see it, but due to all their circumstances (powers/crush/simps), he has to try to be as boring and off-putting as he can be instead.

Which all leads me to say that the end of the mixer scene is actually really bittersweet imo. It's Saiki realizing how much fun he *could* be having with his friends if he was able to be open and honest about himself around them, and if he didn't have to worry about inadvertantly encouraging an unwanted crush. That is the life he's always wanted to have, a normal one where he can just relax and be himself and hang out with his friends without risking cataclysmic consequences at every turn.

And at the same time it reinforces that most of the people he genuinely cares about and considers his friends don't really know him well at all. While they all clearly enjoy his presence and care about him, they don't know that he's sarcastic, selfless, incredibly clever, tsundere af, generally anxious, and kind of nosy.

Does that make all of Saiki's friendships fake? I don't think so. Everyone presents different parts of themselves to different people, this is a normal. We live in a society, etc. The same behavior and conversation isn't appropriate for someone who's a coworker vs a lover, half your age vs twice your age, etc.

But it sure hurts to know that a friendship was built under false premises and could crumble if the truth is revealed. And that's why Saiki even considers never stopping the volcano so he can stay in the same status quo with his friends, because he's certain that once they leave high school, they will all forget about that quiet, stone-faced guy in the background of their memories. He's sure that even if everyone finds out about his powers, after he's been made powerless, giving him the opportunity to be himself for the first time ever, that they won't like the "new" him.

That mixer was Saiki being his whole self with his friends, just through a different face, and while he had fun, it was with the full knowledge that this is essentially as close to being genuine with his friends as he can possibly get, for a limited time only. Because the volcano and their senior year are both looming large on the horizon.

#spoiler alert: I don't think it's a cute romantic moment. I think it's actually deeply melancholic #nopsi meta #saiki k #saiki no psi nan #the disastrous life of saiki k.#sknpn

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choster33 · 10 days

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Bridgerton Season 3 ep 2 Reaction

Again, I am going at this slowly and probably going to be spoiled mercilessly until June but I am watching one episode a week until June. So here is my reaction to Episode 2. Spoilers ahead.

Ok, so I've been spoiled by references to this already. But Colin and the whores. So right now I don't feel any way about this because Colin is over age and single. He is back from Europe and has had the influence of Anthony and Benedict before him. He is not cheating on anyone here and having fun especially because he can. He has the money and the freedom to do it. He is not deflowering virgins and lying to women or mistreating them, he is getting in practice.

Now back to Polin. Ok the discussion about the first meeting is SO CUTE! He brings it up which shows how much of it he remembers and shows that it is important to him, not some insignificant thing. I would be melting! "Because we were children" indeed. The best love starts with friendship and there is no better friends than the ones you have as little children! You are your purest selves! Even Rae the housemaid thinks there's something going on! Plus I love the ease Penelope feels around Colin and that they are friends. Yes!

Colin talking to Penelope about going abroad and finding himself is surprising and refreshing. In the books, a major plot point was Colin chafing at the Bridgerton name and wanting to be known and admired for himself which leads to Penelope encouraging Colin's writing. I wonder if they will ever include Colin writing in the show and am curious about that. But I'm not mad that show!Colin is more at peace and one with himself in the show than the books, it makes him more grounded and by the time they get together Penelope will be getting whole, mature Colin. "Living for the estimation of others is a trap, once you break free, the world opens up." Swoon!

Bridgerton drawing room! Colin listens to her. He asked her where she was most comfortable and uses that information. This is the kind of stuff that makes me love friends to lovers. Whether there is sex involved or not, this is the one person who actually knows you, who actually cares about your wants and needs. He's not doing anything nefarious or even self serving, he is just being her friend. Yes! This is also one of the reasons I've always liked Colin, he is a cinnamon roll sweetheart who truly is a good friend which makes Penelope's crush on him a healthy choice.

OMG! The eyes bit! Yes, Penelope yes! See, she loves the kindness in Colin and she was vulnerable, even he needed a drink then! Ooh they put in the journal reading and hand cutting scene from the books! Yes, it was one of the scenes I loved! He is angry at her for seeing something so intimate, but he also is super close physically to her as well as a type of freedom that someone has seen his most intimate thoughts.

Ooh, hand twitching, he's definitely thinking of Penelope! Eloise is not wrong here, they are single and often unchaperoned, if they are really playing friends and leading to nothing it does not look right, but we know better! Aww, Polin laughing together! Yes, that is a horse joke! One thing I love about Polin is their mutual sense of humor at puns, jokes etc. They are both word nerds at heart and I love it.

Featheringtons and the lack of sex knowledge is a hoot! They are not my favorite people and side story, but I did cackle at that. Aww, I;m glad that Bridgerton is putting people in wheelchairs in the show! Yes and he's not a joke or anything, good for them! And Colin isn't judgmental or disapproving, score!

Ooof, damn you meddling mamas and gossiping bitches leave Penelope alone! And I am proud and clinging to the writers allowing Cressida to be a fully fleshed out person and not just a villain for not starting the gossip. Ooh, yes though on Colin defending Pen so heartily even to his own sister.

I knew Cressida wasn't the culprit! Yes, the writers are really trying to make Cressida a rounded out character and worthy of forgiveness or at least some understanding. I wonder what they are going to do for her as the season progresses... I think it might be a good look to turn things on its head and to put out the message that no one is irredeemable and etc.

The scene of Penelope at the window is so sad, even her mother doesn't believe she will get a husband and she was forced to write as Lady Whistledown about how pathetic she is. She herself knows how the game is played and how courtship works and this is not the way to get a husband, she's definitely in some deep darkness right now.

Then we get Colin coming over to check in on Pen! Ohh, she asked for a kiss! They started and now they are really going for it! Yeehaw! Squee! Omg! SO hot. The look in his eyes afterwards! Oh! I see where Colin is the prince being awakened by the kiss! Pen is like bye thanks for the kiss and it probably meant nothing to you so I won't make a thing out of it. And he is all I did it to be kind to my friend but it feels so good and right and HOT damn what am I feeling?? Yes, yes, yes!

I can't wait for the next two episodes! I'm living for this!

#bridgerton #colin x penelope #colin bridgerton #penelope featherington #polin

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rsa-everything · 2 months

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FRIEREN - a mockery of an anime review

(Anime only perspective) *Although, I am aware of many things in the manga*

----

Can an anime be 10/10 perfect score? Possibility, says yes! But time, says no! With time there will always be something better.

9.99.../10

Should you give it a try: 99 % Yes - ( 1% no if you can't control your attention)

Done.

----

I finished the first season and I'm amazed at how well this story follows its main theme so well. Starting at the end of what would be the common resolution of most fantasy animes, the victory over the demon lord, Frieren delivers a storyline of how life really works, despite reaching the end of one story, another continues. And in the grand scheme of all life, the story really never ends.

You really need to watch this anime past it's opening prologue (roughly eps 1- 2)

The audience is thrown into abrupt point in the story, you don't see the party of heroes take down the demon lord or any action really. You find your hero party in it's victory parade and you are left with piecing together of what happened and how will this story continue.

Initially, what you get is an at leisure fantasy, slice of life, and a mundane world exploration But it's really an overwhelmingly spacious world building experience. Frieren, the last great mage, is roughly over a 1000 years old in the story we begin and that really correlates with her pace of life and her emotionless outlook. The story starts after 10 years of journeying with the hero's party. Frieren leaves to explore the world, but for every moment or event we watch-time easily passes by. So quickly that we reach the death of main hero of her party, Himmel. This is point where Frieren's sense of time really slows down for the audience and constant event flags stick to the story. She suddenly self realizes what she missed in a blink of an eye, because sudden rush of feelings that are resonating within her for once (IMO regret, sadness and determination *in that order*)

She decides to leave the remaining members to change herself mentally and actually live in the world before her. Of course, her habits of constant leisure are still a foundation of her deminer, but changes are subtle. Eventually the changes pick up when she reunites 20 years later with Heiter, one of her party members, again.

As I would enjoy to retell the story, I shouldn't. it's for ppl to enjoy.

Just stop reading and enjoy watching the anime. It's a masterclass of new perspective in an anime genre riddled with Isekai plot armor. (I personally enjoy that still) But if you already did watch Freiren, watch it in another language. You might find it refreshing for slight changes of context.

For the people that would like to continue:

Feieren explores the idea of what shapes your decisions currently are the actions and events from the past. Simply put, everything is a reflection of the past. I believe this is the main plot driving force of our main cast of characters. Whatever happens, no matter how small it's eventually reflected on future events. If you stop and rewatch episode(s) before the main event(s) you'll realize there's more meaning in what they do. Sure, this anime uses flash backs to explain how this came to be, but the actions are explained often with actions and dialogue from previous episodes. Frieren, the mage, is an odd ball and is questioned often as to why she does things and audience often will understand before the people she speaks with. The amount of layers of this is ridiculous and are splendid tidbits along the way for the audience. (like specific spells for really specific things that wouldn't be really that special or "useful")

Besides the superb story, the animation really doesn't get enough credit. For some reason ppl often bring up the dance scene being amazing with all it's movement in fabric, hair etc. But, looking back at previous episodes, watching the characters hair, earrings, fabric etc..., everything is so subtle that it mirrors reality. The director really knows how to make the audience focus, from cinematic angles to the unusual poses. People will joke feet *cough cough* and armpits *cough cough* but they just make a common conversion or fight more interesting. Speaking of fight scenes, the animation is also highly praised for good reason. They are just pure enjoyment and a nice refreshing change of pace when it arrives. The scenes are not only a spectacle in their own rights, but emphasize the importance of experience and skill development for both the characters and the audience. Even the dialogue during the fights really means something and everything seems to have purpose. It's wonderful that the the dialogue is calm and subdued as if the opponents are using the weight of their experience to dominate the fight.

to be continued...

maybe

#anime #frieren: beyond journey's end #frieren #himmel #stark #manga #review #anime review #rsa #reviewselectall

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dragon-cookies · 4 months

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Okay onto episode 3, let's do this *cracks knuckles*

These little guys are back!!! I love them!

Pentious genuinely getting upset over having to let his egg boys go and said egg boys not caring is actually funny, this guy's definitely carrying the humor of the show

Charlie opening admitting she trusts everyone doesn't... feel like a smart thing to say. Especially when demons are notorious for taking advantage of said trust

"Are those your ears or is it your hair?" FINALLY EGG BOYS ARE ASKING THE REAL QUESTIONS

Al once again being the most interesting character on the show, what on earth was he doing being gone for so long??

JESUS another song jumpscare

Literally what was the point of that song, I feel like it just existed to pad the time out a little

Husk letting the BDSM demons just give him a massage is IMMENSELY relatable. Don't do anything kinky just get me a cup of hot chocolate and ask me about my day, 10/10

Charlie bestie I know you mean well but I'm kinda siding with Vaggie here, it's gonna take more than trust falls and silly little skits to properly redeem sinners I think

Wait if Carmilla wants to avoid war with the angels, why is she a weapons supplier?? Isn't that kind of completely antithetical to what she's trying to do?

Oh okay another song jumpscare. Why are we giving songs to characters who have only been introduced like 10 minutes ago

I'm getting really strong vibes that Vaggie's supposed to have a crush on Charlie without her knowing, yet they're already supposed to be together so??? I am confuzzled

God it's kind of insane how much the show's quality leaps miles upward when characters aren't swearing or making sex jokes every millisecond. You get these tiny glimpses of genuine sincerity before just getting yanked back into crude humor

I also feel like knowing Carmilla killed the angel would be a lot more interesting if we knew her for longer than like, 15 minutes?? Why are we expected to just immediately care????

Pentious got his egg boys back!!!! Aaaaaa!!!!!!!

Okay overall, least grating episode so far. Pacing is still very wack and they keep giving these big musical scores to characters we've literally never met before, but this was the least frustrated I've felt watching this show so far.

Can't wait for all these good vibes to probably be immediately squandered in ep 4 lmao

#dc talks #hazbin hotel critical #dc watches hazbin hotel #queue

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bettsfic · 28 days

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desperately hope this is going to be one of those posts where i give some kind of Opinion on a piece of media and then someone comes into my ask and says, "hi betts! actually [extremely detailed contextual information about said media that is not readily found but known within that fandom's discord server]." and i will go, "omg anon, thank you so much for telling me that, that makes so much sense," and feel a million times better knowing there is a reason and my Opinion either changes or becomes more informed.

and that Opinion is: why did the Bad Batch ending suck so bad?? like did they drop the episode with a 20 minute scene missing? did someone fuck up? someone please tell me there is a reason for such a good setup to be such an astronomical failure. like did they really just (spoilers)

tease out the reveal of Tech as the clone hunting them throughout the season only just to have Hunter stab him with a spear without revealing his identity? make Crosshair's hand-shaking a prominent body-keeps-the-score sort of motif only to cut off his fucking hand? and a million other botched plot threads? did they just fire the writing staff and have AI write the last episode??

i spent so long in the tag today looking for some explanation, like there's another episode in the wings, or an Echo or Rex-centric spinoff is in the works and we'll loop back around to the loose TBB threads. but i couldn't find anything. i hope someone points out some big stupid thing i missed or news that there's going to be a movie or...i don't even know. just some explanation. this shit is crazy-making.

it's so sad that TBB up until this point was so smartly written. it felt like the creators actually cared about these characters and wanted to do the series justice. i should know by now not to get my hopes up about any mass media, especially franchise media, but still. i had just a skosh of hope that TBB would be the first star wars animation that would be good without any caveats or the whiplash effect in all SW media where the good parts are great and the bad stuff is nearly unwatchable.

i hope some very talented, very outraged writer writes a fixit fic to address the plot holes and dropped threads of the finale. it can't be me because i'm too busy writing my 1985 rural missouri AU that definitely everyone will totally read and it will be wildly popular and my subscribers absolutely won't be opening their notification email and going "what the fuck is this, betts."

#tbb #negativity #spoilers

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dorizardthewizard · 5 months

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Galactik Football season 3 rewatch, eps 10 - 12

Episode 10:

So we open up with Yuki getting mad at Micro-Ice and thinking Zoleen is his girlfriend, and Mice is dumb enough to not reject that claim when she asks him directly if they're going out. He also barely acknowledges Yuki's birthday despite previously rehearsing this dramatic confession of love to her. Thran and Ahito are literally, and I mean literally the only Snow Kids that don't have any love drama going on (I know Mark's got something coming) and every single one has revolved around love triangles, whether misunderstood or not. I can't take this anymore, I'm at my limit.

Anyway, *hits play again*

Since when did this Cyclops dude have a wholeass funded show, when he wasn't even a proper journalist before?

WOOWAMBOO RETIREMENT RUMOUR?! SAY IT AIN'T SO!

Oh christ this is the start of the Sinedd parents arc isn't it. Holy shit they try to stuff so much into this season. But happy we finally got the backstory on Sinedd with him not being born on Akillian!

I can barely watch this segment holy shit it's just so awful (in universe, I mean, not the writing). Not just because I know they're con artists but it's so sudden, Hush Sharky making a whole spectacle of this on live TV in front of an audience and Sinedd had NO IDEA that he was going to meet his freaking PARENTS. WHO HE THOUGHT WERE DEAD ALL HIS LIFE. This emotional and insanely personal moment being used for entertainment fits with the corporate hellscape that the show takes place in, but what the hell. He has the full right to be pissed at Sharky.

Not the con artist parents running off immediately when the ground starts shaking 😭 Parents my ass

lol of course Micro-Ice has to fall in the cake. I think they use him for slapstick too much in this season

Tbf I quite like the villains in this season, it's an interesting dynamic with Lord Phoenix having his own motives but losing control of Vega

Sinedd's reunion with his parents is a pretty sweet moment if it weren't for the fact that IT'S A LIEEEE ToT.

Aarch yelling at Artegor about Adim... all this drama...

THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTIINNNNGGNGNGG and it's so silly

This is how I picture it

Is that the fucking Netherball music

The little TV spots with Yuki and Mei talking about each other before the match are cute! Makes the world feel more lived in and gives us some more interactions between the girls, even if not directly face to face here

I like Mei berating Sinedd for taunting Yuki when she's injured but... girl. He was always like this. You knew this. Why are you surprised?? They never actually showed him becoming a better person, just that he suddenly liked Mei and convinced her to join the Shadows. And Mei does not strike me as a poor judge of character so why would she date him....?

Wow Elektras not letting Mei through to help her friend? Why? They were literally celebrating her birthday together tf??

Poor Yuki, what a shitshow of a match for her although she did score a goal (I'm guessing the Breath is more powerful than the Elektra's flux since she's running in to attack). Loved her lil' chat with Mei though, I will say this season gave us more of the girls in the team being friends which I really do appreciate.

Here for the other Shadows players cooing and awing at Sinedd with his parents, I want to see more of what the team dynamic is like since they seemed to welcome him quickly back in season 1

Thran coming through with his tech knowledge!

Episode 11:

Does Bennett just carry a harmonica on him all the time haha

Harvey fought in the flux war?? ok cool lore I guess?????

Corso wondering whether to trust Sonny just because he didn't bring up Magnus straight away is a bit weird? I just feel that with all they've been through, it would take more for Corso to start questioning his faith in Sonny. This is also like, a 5 minute plot point that goes nowhere so why???

Tia talking with her parents about her concerns is an improvement from what their relationship used to be like in season 1, it's good to see!

Oh so Mei is a striker now. Is this implying that Mei's decision was influenced by her mother? Weren't we over that?? Still kind of sad to see her mum dismiss the SK and seem like she's still the same. Mei probably feels she'll never be good enough for her.

Not Sinedd complimenting D'jok just to be polite to Maya 😂 But what do you mean they haven't met yet? It's literally this season (I think?) that shows Sinedd was friends with D'jok when they were young kids! Maya hangs out with Mama Ice at the cafeteria as well, there's no way they've never interacted before!

Yeah Tia, it WAS stupid of you to be jealous of Lun-Zia. Weird though bc the show previously implied Lun-Zia liked Rocket but turns out she had a boyfriend all along?

Aarch: Artegor? Aarch: I'm sorry we started a bit earlier today, I forgot to mention it

Aarch you're such a petty bitch 😭

Oooo Micro-Ice is up for kick-off. Seeing them antagonistic towards each other is so sad :( Although season 1 Micro-Ice would have found a way to roast D'jok lol

I just realised team Paradisia and the Elektras probably have visors so they can have more diverse character designs in the 2D animation, while still copy-pasting models in the 3D scenes lol

Go Mark! Why did the goalkeeper run out from the goal I don't know anything about football

Nice to see Mark and Micro-Ice working together and having fun

D'jok's plan being to pass to Nikki-4 because the SK will think he's too selfish to let someone else score is so fucking funny

Oooo you don't get penalty shootouts that often in GF

I do love and miss sassy D'jok

Nikki-4: I guess you'll always be a Snow Kid at heart D'jok: At least I've got one

Bold claim with the way you've been acting, D'jok

Niki-4 threatening physical violence on D'jok lmaoo I guess she is a cyborg but it's weird D'jok actually held out until now with the way he's been acting towards the SK. Why does he suddenly now have a moral dilemma?

Episode 12:

Now to rant about the Ahito betrayal plot <3

Ok this how to beat Ahito thing is dumb from the get go. It's treated like some big secret and it would be a big betrayal to reveal it, but that's not how sports work. They could easily have figured out his weak points by just watching a load of videos of his saves, in fact they SHOULD have been doing this anyway – the best teams don't win just by playing their best, but by knowing their opponent's strengths and weaknesses and being able to exploit that! It's not dishonest it's just... how it works! Rocket was doing this back in season 1 when he was suggesting tactics!

So to treat it like a big betrayal to reveal something that's easily obtainable public knowledge is dumb. And also, they're treating this as if knowing a player's weakness is some magic key that means they can definitely beat him if they exploit it, which is... also not how sports work!! It's not like he'll definitely fail to save your shot if you hit in a certain way, and it's not like he can't adjust his play after you score a goal. It just.... it makes no sense!!

It was also kind of weird to hear D'jok talk about wanting to win honestly when he was fouling Warren last match and got scolded for disrespecting the game, they made it look like D'jok fully only cared about winning now, whatever the cost, but now suddenly he's having second thoughts and doesn't want to betray a team he's been shit-talking all this time?

I also don't like that what made him cave in the end was mind control, it takes away a lot of accountability. It also would have fit more for D'jok to continue doing anything it takes to win, so he can realise he's wrong later and that he's just been using that to run away from his feelings. As stupid as this “betrayal” is, it should have been his low point showing how far gone he is, his big mistake, that he can then work up from.

Rant over <3

Nork, commenting on a player's health problems is just rude

Of course Rocket starts feeling ill the second he has to go up

THRAN SCORES!!! Nice to see him do some shots

Goooo Lun-Zia! She's been a good addition

Last season I got sad that Micro-Ice was the first to flunk his shot, please don't let me down this time

YESSSSS

D'jok: Ahito always jumps in place, a little more to the side he's gonna leap to. He can't control it, it's stronger than he is!

And THAT's the way to beat him? Totally foolproof? Bruh. If all the SK knew this and it's sooooo easy to score against him once you figure it out, surely Aarch should have.... I don't know, helped him train so that he doesn't reveal which way he's jumping as easily?? THIS IS EASILY DISCOVERABLE INFORMATION GUYS THE POINT OF TRAINING IS TO IMPROVE ON YOUR WEAKNESSES

NOOOOO TIA OF ALL PEOPLE???!!! I HAD TO TRADE A MICRO-ICE GOAL WITH THIS? 😭😭😭 It happens though. Also weird she's the first to use her flux so far for this like, it's penalties. You don't have to conserve your energy, just use the goddamn Breath!

TT^TT Nooooo they look so devastated :( On the other hand, kind of crazy it took three seasons for them to actually lose an important match lol it's been win win win the whole time so far, so kind of refreshing.

I want to cheer on Mei for putting Sinedd in his place after shit-talking the Snow Kids but like, girl, HOW IS THIS SURPRISING?! HE'S BEEN LIKE THIS IN EVERY MATCH YOU'VE PLAYED AGAINST EACH OTHER, YOUR LAST INTERACTION BEFORE SEASON 3 WAS HIM PUSHING YOU TO THE GROUND AND THREATENING YOU!!!

She thought he only hated D'jok and now she's realising he's just nasty to everyone? Girl where were you when he was bullying Micro-Ice on your team lol. I mean she didn't care back then but she does now! Mei is not dumb, writers

That was a pretty good pick me up speech, Aarch

The animation makes this kind of funny out of context but, Artegor hesitantly reaching out to Aarch but then thinking better of it... aarrrrgh </3

Quick shoutout to the background designs in this show, they look really cool and I love how it's futuristic while still being colourful and bright. There's some beautiful art of the natural scenery too

What's up with reporters immediately wondering if a team is done for, or the coach might be resigning, after ONE loss? They're still GF champions, losing once doesn't mean it's all downhill from there

Adim standing up for her man <3

In this dub he calls her Mum-Ice lmao. So I guess it is just Mama-Ice? I do prefer the novelisation with her actual name, she's not mum to everyone, although I wouldn't mind having -Ice at the end of a name being some family tradition or cultural thing. Also love seeing her hanging out with Maya!

Poor Kernor just can't eat her ice cream in peace huh 😭

Aww Mama-Ice's speech is so sweet

Aarch needs a new start now more than ever? Why exactly?

Norata dancing in the back <3

Holy shit, Brim Simbra actually intervening?

Oooooo secret supplier guy was Harris all along, who would have guessed?

Huh looking at the ending screen of this youtube upload, I didn't know Robotboy was Gaumont animation too! Well probably Alphanim back then

#galactik football #dori watches galactik football #my posts

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redwineconversation · 2 months

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Olympique Lyonnais Behind the Scenes (Episode 6)

Kind of like last month's segment, I didn't want to do this one either because of how annoying fucking stans are. They genuinely make me want to not translate / transcribe things because they have an inability to just take a step back and act like a normal human being / football fan. However, I also want [normal?] people to get to a point where they can understand this team the way I do, so it leads us to this: me screaming into the void at how much I hate stans overstepping boundaries while I translate a genuine cause of sleep paralysis.

Again, I feel this would be simpler if OLPlay would let one screen record and my technology skills were better, but here we are. Can't have everything in life.

Blah blah standard disclaimers apply; @OL Comms Dept either chip in for Starbucks or a bottle of wine, I'm cool with either option; banning stans from stadiums would make the sport a better place; what won't I do to put off vacuuming? Apparently not much; y'all know the speech by now.

Come for Cascarino being unable to hide her Lyon DNA, stay for Becho's admiration of the likable red team. Love a team who literally recoils in horror at the thought of being seen as human. It's not that Lyon creates monsters, they honestly don't. The players were already monsters before they signed for Lyon, the only thing Lyon did was take the muzzle off.

OLYMPIQUE LYONNAIS BEHIND THE SCENES (EPISODE 6)

[LYON -SLAVIA PRAGUE GAME FOOTAGE]

Danielle van de Donk: We had a draw against Slavia Prague at home as well. It was a bit frustrating, it was just not nice for us because we wanted to get into a nice flow.

Vicki Becho: It's not the kind of performance we want to do, it's not the kind of result we want. So it was disappointing for us, for our fans. It's the type of performance we have to keep in mind to tell ourselves there are still lots of things to work on, and that we have to do much more.

[OPENING SEQUENCE]

[LYON - STADE DE REIMS GAME FOOTAGE]

Delphine Cascarino: After the draw against Slavia Prague, we wanted to do much better, and then we played against Reims. There was good content in the game.

[LYON - STADE DE REIMS GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Becho: I was really happy for Euge[nie Le Sommer] because she was going through a complicated period and that she scored, I was really, really happy for her. I remember Eugenie's brace because I provided the assist on one of her goals. Having playing time again, getting some minutes under my belt, it was the best of things. And in that game, when I provided the assist, I'm happy. That's what I take away from it. Beyond that, I told myself that I can do much better and those are just the kind of performances I should keep in mind to do even more.

[LYON - STADE DE REIMS GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

van de Donk: Eugenie [Le Sommer] scored her 300th goal, so that was amazing for her. And I saw the people in the stands with the little paper going up. Everyone on the bench was asking what that was for, I think it was Laura [Benkarth] and I explained to her that she [Le Sommer] had 300 goals for Lyon, which is just amazing. It's great, they're so much more up to date than I am. They're actually very helpful.

Cascarino: Obviously - obviously we were happy for Eugenie [Le Sommer] because she deserves that status of top scorer for Olympique Lyonnais. And yeah, I hope she will score many more. It's quite frankly exceptional for her and the club. It shows that she's really a club legend.

[LYON - STADE DE REIMS GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Cascarino: There was a good context within the game. However we conceded a goal, so that was - that was a negative.

[LYON - STADE DE REIMS GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Cascarino: Conceding a goal is never easy, be it for the goalkeeper or even for the forwards. We owe it to ourselves at Olympique Lyonnais to not concede any goals.

[LYON - STADE DE REIMS GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Becho: We won, but it remains super frustrating because we've been conceding quite a lot lately. At the beginning of the season we weren't conceding at all. Lately we've been conceding more. We need to do better. We know our previous performances haven't been that good, we need to do better in terms of defense, and offensively we need to do much better.

[LYON - STADE DE REIMS GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Becho: At the end of the game, when I saw Eugenie, I said to her "Another one? Another record? How am I supposed to catch up to you?" [Becho laughs. I don't] No, I really like to tease Eugenie. I'm really happy for her. She leaves such a big imprint at Lyon and even in French women's football, and global women's football. And I know that for many girls, she's a role model.

van de Donk: After the game, in the locker room, we celebrated of course with the song and everything. We did a little bit extra for Eugenie [Le Sommer], of course, because it's just amazing to achieve that.

[TRAINING FOOTAGE]

[UWCL DRAW FOOTAGE]

Cascarino: So there was the possibility between Benfica, Ajax and Hacken. We landed on Benfica, who is a really good team. So yeah, we know it won't be easy. They drew 4-4 against Barcelona. So we're expecting a really good opponent.

Becho: They can cause problems for us, so we will need to avoid falling into their trap. We'll need to play really good football to get past them. I would have liked to have played against Ajax, I see what they're doing this season and honestly it's incredible. They manage to sell out their stadium, they're doing a lot of things. So they're a really good team that I wanted to play against. In any case, to win this competition we have to beat the best.

van de Donk: I do think Benfica is like very tricky, they're all very technical players. I feel it's just like the Portuguese team. As we experienced it lately with the Netherlands, they're quite hard. But yeah, I'm just very excited. I mean, they're kind of my style of football so I love to see them play, now I have to play against them. They want to keep possession all the time, they have all the skills. It's just going to be frustrating, but we're just not going to have to bite, you know. And then get them when they're the most - I don't know how you say it - when they're the most vulnerable?

van de Donk: The thing is, when you build it from the back, that's kind of my quality, coming out with the press[ing]. I know when to go, so when people do it, it's fine for me. But I do think that Lyon has a good press. It's kind of our game.

[MICHELE KANG FOOTAGE]

Cascarino: Honestly, it was positive than it ended - that it became official, but unofficially we knew that the club had been sold to Michele Kang, so it was just formalities that needed to be sorted out. Now it's done and we can move forward with peace of mind.

Becho: We talked about it a lot. We heard a lot of people talking about it as well. But as long as it wasn't done, we couldn't look ahead as much as we can now. And now we have peace of mind. We know there is someone there for us, we know there is someone who wants us to have the best possible conditions. We know our future is set, so there aren't any worries in that regard. We're very happy on our side.

Becho: She hadn't even officially taken over her role and she was already doing a lot for us. We saw the number of staff members increase. A lot of things changed. For the better, but with the caveat President Aulas had already done an enormous amount for us. Knowing there will be this person going forward, it was reassuring for us.

Cascarino: Since Michele Kang's arrival, there has been a lot of positive changes. There's almost as many staff members as there are players. So it shows we're becoming even more professional. We're getting even closer to what is done for the men's teams. So it's really positive for Olympique Lyonnais. In every area, whether it's nutrition, fitness preparation, psychology, mental health, in every area, if there's any doubt then we have someone we can ask questions to. It really helps us to reach the highest level.

van de Donk: We were kept up to date with how the process was going with Michele [Kang] buying our side, of course. Because as soon as she stepped foot in our changing room, when I met her, I was blown away by her. I think she's amazing. She's going to do very, very good stuff for women's football. So yeah, I'm a big fan, not going to lie. When I heard it was done, it was just a nice feeling. I think we're in good hands.

van de Donk: She's so involved with the women's side. She was already making so many changes for us. You can tell that she wants things to be better and bigger, which is really nice for the next steps of professionalism in women's football. When it was all done, because everything in France takes a while I think, I think it was very good. I was very happy.

[TRAINING FOOTAGE]

Becho: You're not allowed to lose a Lyon - PSG game. You're not allowed to lose. Those are the types of games we like to play, those are the types of games we want to play.

Cascarino: We know that PSG knows us by heart, we know them by heart. So it really comes down to tactics to win the game. We worked really hard in preparation for PSG. We worked really, really hard on tactics that week.

van de Donk: Every time we play against PSG, it's just - it's wild. I think everyone goes into a different mindset. I think everyone is just a little bit more focused because the rivalry, it's just amazing. It's just a different kind of level, everyone just really wanted to beat them.

van de Donk: Before the big games, we do a lot of tactical training during training sessions [news to anyone who has watched Bompastor coach recently]. It's not necessarily my favorite part of training sessions, but I like all the small stuff, all the small games, the technical stuff. But I do think we need all the tactical stuff. But it was good. You can taste what kind of game you're going to play or something. It's hard to describe how it is if you're not a player yourself. But normally you have a whole week to prepare. So the beginning of the week it's a bit more chill, a bit more jokey, we can have a bit more of a laugh during training. But before PSG it's just not like that, everyone is focused, "we need to get this and go."

[LYON - PSG GAME FOOTAGE]

Cascarino: It was a pretty close game, pretty difficult.

Becho: We started the game off well. We started really strong, we managed to press pretty high, we're in their half. We had chances.