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r3medialch8os · 9 months

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so since u guys liked that i did this with remedial chaos theory i will now also be doing this for epidemiology.

the most incredible thing about this episode is that it is in fact Not merely an homage like most concept episodes are; it actually happens. a zombie epidemic For Real takes place at greendale. it's not a gimmick or a game or a way to frame the plot. the actual conflict is derived from the fact that people are zombies and the study group need to outrun them/turn them back. how often can you say that a sitcom incorporates a storyline like this and sincerely pulls it off? never.

the emotional tension in this episode is framed around troy/abed/jeff and the dichotomy of being a nerd vs. being cool, which respectively get attributed the qualities of caring about the people around you who have turned into zombies or wanting to run and escape from the zombies without trying to help. abed and jeff's costumes are both pointed out in the beginning receiving clear denotations of 'lame' and 'too cool to care' and therefore their positions in the conflict are cemented. the episode has a push-pull with troy being the moving factor, having to decide what he thinks is most important. he gets swayed in the beginning by two girls rejecting him over his costume and jeff mentioning how expensive his suit is. he changes from his ripley costume into a 'sexy dracula'. abed spends the whole episode trying to get troy back to his side, even saying "what defines a nerd? committing to an awesome halloween costume with your best friend?" troy is eventually 'turned back' into his nerdy self (perhaps a zombie metaphor itself, keeping in tone with the theme of the episode) because jeff cares more about his suit getting dirty than surviving the herd of zombies.

a crucial part of the episode is that it is soundtracked by abba music playing from the dean's playlist. now, who would i be if i didn't investigate significant music choices connected to scenes? first up and probably the most important one: s.o.s. is used in the background of a scene where abed confronts troy about changing costumes. troy insults him and walks away. the lyrics are: 'you seemed so far away, though you were standing near. you made me feel alive, but something died, i fear. i really tried to make it up, i wish I understood. what happened to our love? it used to be so good.' next; gimme gimme gimme plays right before the scene where chang and shirley hook up. another insane choice is at the end when troy is fighting the zombies. the whole sequence has mamma mia playing in the background Faintly. then when troy eventually gets to abed and has to fight him, the music comes in much louder with the lyrics: 'here i go again, my, my, how can i resist you?', which i think fits perfectly. the ending song fernando has the lyrics 'there was something in the air that night', both referencing the thermostat changing the zombies back and the fact that it was just an incredibly weird fucking night.

troy is dressed as ellen ripley and also kind of acts as the ripley of this episode. his journey in this as being the sole survivor and the one to eventually save greendale adheres to a common science fiction model where a life-threatening force is faced against the protagonists and they fall off in degrees, resulting in one person being left to mend everything. here specifically, it seems to mirror ripley's journey in alien (1979) as it starts with a crew that eventually gets cut down leaving only her. i thought that was really cool.

more alien tidbits, but the jumping cat scene is also inspired by it. jones the cat is an imporant figure in the first alien movie. in various scenes, members of the crew will go looking for him, then get ambushed by the titular alien and subsequently killed. it is a minor homage to the movie through yet another subtle reference. the bit is also parodying jumpscares in horror movies in general, and how they are used to cheaply amplify the tension. anyways, it's quite the multilayered joke because it also really works out of context as a bizarre comedic moment.

troy and abed's scene in the basement pays homage to princess leia and han solo's scene in the empire strikes back. the conversation in the film takes place just before han is frozen alive in carbonite by darth vader. not knowing if he’ll survive, he kisses leia, only to be torn away from her by stormtroopers. she says 'i love you,' and as he descends into chamber, han replies, 'i know.' an undeniably romantic moment, maybe one of the most memorable ones ever, is applied to troy and abed who have held reign over the emotional core of the plot for the entire episode. it's pretty special that such an iconic moment is given to them, i feel like the creators of the show wouldn't just do this sparingly. it also perfectly resolves their conflict as troy makes such a vulnerable statement and abed assuring him that he already knew, validating their bond once again.

more on troy and abed, it is pretty amazing realizing the emotional implications tied to how dire the situation was. everyone in this episode was under the direct threat of Not Surviving, and still abed sacrificed himself for troy. he knew this was for real. he couldn't be sure if they were going to make it. but i think he had enough faith in troy to aid in his escape. it's very touching. further, it's incredible that troy is willing to fight all the zombies (all his friends) but when it comes time to punch abed, he refuses to do it. he's struck by the force of their friendship, mumbling 'we're friends' defeated before eventually succumbing to his bite.

troy saving the school by controlling the temperature; nicely setting up his further plot with the ac repair school.

him being the one to escape and abed saying 'be the first black man to make it to the end' subverts the common horror trope of 'black dude dies first'. a playful way of keeping up with the horror movie theme of the episode.

also ironically this episode, which features the song mamma mia by abba, sets up a plotline in season two about shirley not knowing who the father of her new baby is, which is functionally the plot of the movie mamma mia!, a musical based on abba's music. probably a coincidence but a pretty funny one.

at the end when the army arrives, they ask the dean about witnesses. when he says he is the only witness, one of the guards reaches into his jacket, suggesting that he's pulling a gun intended to kill the dean and get rid of the witness. when they notice everyone in the school is still alive, they abandon this plan and go for 'scenario b'. kind of dark but i laugh every time that scene happens.

anyways that's all i could pull from my brain crevices for now. this episode is a genuine masterpiece, it will never ever get old and will remain to be one of the most unique sitcom episodes ever created.

#community #abed nadir #nbc community #troy barnes #troy community #abed community #trobed #trobed community #troy and abed #epidemiology #community analysis #jeff winger #six seasons and a movie #shirley bennett #britta perry #annie edison #tv show analysis

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swiftllama · 7 months

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September Compliments ☀️🔍

[Compliments Masterlist]

Hey guys! Back for another month! A month of a lot of small compliments sprinkled throughout this time around, but we still got quite a few full-on great complimentary moments. One in particular was very special 🥰

So let's get into it...

September 2023

Thinking OUTSIDE The Box (Herd Mentality)

Right off the bat, first day of the month, we got a Games video, and this video actually started off a theme throughout this month. The boys were in quite a few videos where they were playing games this month and were either competing against or working as a team so we got a lot of them complimenting each other on a job well down, plus the bestie-ism was shining through :-

Q: 'Name a brand beginning with an A’

Anthony: "I went to clothing for some reason."

lan: "Oh then I know what you did then."

Anthony: "Do you?'

lan: "You went to clothing.”

Anthony: "I put American Eagle. I'm thinking mall culture."

lan: [nodding] “I was thinking- I actually thought you'd either put American Eagle or All Saints."

Q: 'Name an animal beginning with a P’

lan: "I'm giggling [at his answer]."

Anthony: "I think I know why you're giggling.”

lan: "I put p**sy!"

Anthony: "I knnnew."

Anthony: "Did you [lan] just win?"

lan: "Oh!'

Anthony: "That's a win!" [cheering and clapping] "Yoooo! Because the nose [lan's answer for that round] knows!'

Q: 'Out of all the animals in the world, which is the cutest?'

lan: "I said cat."

Anthony: "I said kitten."

[everyone debating whether it counts as the same animal]

Anthony: "Also Ian," [shows him his card] "I wrote cat and crossed it out. I almost wrote it."

Q: 'Who is the toughest Disney princess?'

lan: "I did, I think her name is Merida?"

Anthony: "I put the one from Brave."

lan: "Oh!"

Anthony: "Yeah!"

I actually made a post of this moment because it was so cute! How excited they were they had the same answer and also Anthony's little tap dance when he realises 😊

l also loved Angela pointing it out :-

Angela: "Wait, that was so cool that you both said that really random one."

Chanse: "That is fun. Yeah."

Anthony: "Yeah."

lan: "She's tough."

Anthony: "But isn't she- she's like an archer."

Angela: "Sure, but like nobody talks about that movie."

Jackie: "I thought of it too, but I was like 'That's too much of a deep cut.'"

What did I say about the bestie-ism shining through? 🥰

lan: "Hey everybody. Here's a good one, Anthony I feel like you and I are gonna be aligned on this one."

Q: 'Name a rapper'

lan: "I said Drake."

Anthony: "I wrote Snoop Dogg."

So obviously not the same answer but very cute how lan thought they would be on the same wavelength and he gives the reason as to why he thought that :-

lan: "So Anthony and I played a, we played a fun little game yesterday, where we went on Spotify and we were trying to guess who were the top artists, because it ranks them-"

Literally awing out loud! the fact they were just playing that game together, it wasn't for a video or anything, just something they were doing together in their free time 🥹

Bonus - HELP! I became an NPC!

So this next moment doesn't really fall under the 'compliment' umbrella, but it is something that has become a sub-genre of these posts - is the 'daddy’ thing. Yep, you guessed it folks, Anthony was at it once again. Although, like in the 'You Posted That' episode, he's switching it up and now he's referring to himself as 'daddy’ :-

Anthony: [face appearing as if through a phone screen like in the main sketch]

lan: [pretends to put his fingers up Anthony's nose and then into his mouth]

Anthony: "Ooooh, daddy like."

Why are they like this 🤦‍♀️

Also I think @lilac-hecox & @only-frann summed up a perfect description of this Compliments Series :-

Hope you guys don't mind me tagging you, but this is literally what this series is 😄

Anyways, that was just a jokey little one, but as I said, it's now a 'thing' of these posts so I couldn't not include it.

Moving on...

We Already Regret This Embarrassing Photoshoot ft. Smosh

The boys went back on Good Mythical Morning for the first time in almost 8 years, and although this time around we didn't get any frosting foot massages or Titanic re-enactments there was a few compliment-adjacent moments :-

Link: [talking about the photo they had to re-create] "And lan, I gotta give it to you, man. You remembered a lot."

Anthony: "He did! The glasses. The shirt."

Anthony: "I'm feeling good about that one [their photo]."

lan: "I'm feeling good."

And then we got one of their high-five/hand-grip moments that they do a lot.

[lan and Anthony announced as the winners]

Anthony: "Yeeeah!'

Another high-five, of course

Anthony: "Yeah! Let's go!'

They just absolutely live for congratulating each other on anything and everything now and it's very sweet. And there's more to come!

Food Battle 2011 - Flashback w/ Smosh

As they're rewatching Food Battle 2011, lan points out in one of the shots how his cross-country team photo can be seen in the background :-

Anthony: "That's you lined up with all the cross-country... pals.

Oop was that jealous!anthony shining through a little there 🫢

lan: [laughs] "Pals."

Anthony: "Backlit. Looking epic."

So again, just another small little compliment, but lan's cross-country/running is brought up again and praised/complimented by Anthony in...

HELP! I became an NPC! Watch Party

[discussing how American sports are confusing]

Anthony: "I feel like Smosh and sports just don't mix in my brain."

lan: [laughs] “What sport do you think that aligns the most with Smosh?"

They go through multiple silly suggestions between the two of them and ones they read from the chat, before lan suggests :-

lan: “I feel like, and it's probably just because I did it, but cross-country. Smosh is cross-country."

Anthony: "Just cause you're part of Smosh and you did it?"

lan: "And you just keep going, and you just keep going. Just keep running."

Anthony: "Is that how you felt doing Smosh even when I left?"

lan: “Yeah. Like just gotta keep going. Just one more mile. One more mile."

Oh lan 🥺 I just had to pause to react to that before I get to the complimentary part of this conversation, but that's so sad. But also a perfect description of what I imagine it was like for him during those times when Anthony was gone. Having to remind himself to just keep going and pushing forward regardless.

Anthony: "What was your longest run?"

lan: "I did a marathon."

Anthony: “Yeah, I remember you ran past my street and I woke up bright and early, and I was like [pretends to be half asleep and waves].”

lan: [smiling] “Yeah, yeah I did."

Anthony: "How long was that run?"

lan: "26.2 miles."

Anthony: "Daaaamm, I didn't know [the] marathon was 26.2 miles, shiiiit.”

lan: “Yeah, and I averaged a little under an 8 minute mile.”

Anthony: “That is not bad. For 20 times 26?! That's good!"

So couple things to cover here!

1. Anthony waking up early to catch lan run by his street so he could wave to him CAN YOU HEAR ME CRYING 😭 that's the cutest thing ever!

2. Anthony saying how good of a time lan got in the marathon is so sweet. I live for Anthony bigging him up 🥹

Anthony's Birthday

This next lot I'd call complimentary-by-extension. Anthony's birthday rolled around and in typical lan fashion this was the birthday tweet we got from him :-

Oh lan, wouldn't expect anything else from you 😅

Thought that was going to be it but then Mr. Padilla came through for us! And this was the particularly special moment I mentioned in the beginning of this post. He made the post linked in the main header of this section, thanking everyone for the birthday wishes and said how it had been Mykie and his anniversary the week previous and how she took him to the Grand Canyon. The post was all photos of the two of them, but in amongst it all, he included this gem :-

lan 💛

Isn't this just the softest thing.

I mean...

1. We finally get to see lan interacting with Anthony's dogs 🙌 Also the fact you can tell how comfortable they must be around him given the fact she's laying on his chest quite content which means lan is around them often enough to have that bond with them 🥹

2. The fact they spent Anthony's birthday together after so many years of birthdays unshared & it also makes Ian's tweet funnier, like him being next to Anthony, realising people are probably expecting him to publicly wish him 'happy birthday’, him writing the most basic tweet with a low-quality gif, posting it, and then going right back to hanging out with Anthony 😆

Aaaaand…...

3. Probably the softest thing about this, and where I'm going to get a bit emotional writing/thinking about it because I have a lot of feelings about it, is the fact Anthony included that photo of lan within his birthday/anniversary post. It's just so unbelievably soft. I cannot get over it. There was was no mention of lan in the caption or anywhere else, it was all photos of Anthony and Mykie, but within it, this one little candid shot of lan. It's so special. And says a lot without explicitly saying anything at all. It's just like, 'here's a post of things that matter to me.’ I like to imagine Anthony choosing the photos for that post, and even with it being a birthday/anniversary post, he still made the conscious decision to include that photo of lan. Something he didn't need to do, the photo wasn't relevant to the post, and yet, he included it anyways. He wants people to know that's how he spent his birthday, with the people he loves most - he couldn't not include that photo of lan. And I think it comes back around to the fact he's just so happy to have lan in his life again and he'll take every opportunity to say/show it. I can picture him sitting there looking at lan laying on his floor across from him, his dog on lan's chest, and his heart just feeling so full and happy at the fact he has his best friend with him again when a year ago he didn't think this would ever be a reality for him again. It's just so, so special ❤️

Finishing off Anthony's birthday was something that came a few days after :-

Anthony's response to lan's birthday tweet ☺️

What I also love about this, is the fact that lan never tagged Anthony in his tweet and given it was a few days later that Anthony responded and by that point the tweet would have been buried in his timeline, and also that Anthony barely uses Twitter. Knowing all these things it's very likely that Anthony searched for lan's account for him to see that tweet 🥰

POKEMON ROOMMATE BATTLE Watch Party

In the BTS for the POKEMON ROOMMATE BATTLE sketch lan keeps getting distracted playing Pokémon for the whole shoot, eventually getting the gameboy taken off of him by Erin 😅 In this livestream they're watching the sketch and Anthony says :-

[scene where 'lazy lan' is sitting in the beanbag playing Pokémon not wanting to move]

Anthony: “This is actually what you were like on set that day cause you were just playing Pokémon the whole day."

lan: "Oh yeah, so we rented that prop from like a prop house."

Anthony: “The gameboy."

lan: "The gameboy. And it was working - it was full battery, Pokémon Red was in it, and I booted it up and was like ‘There's no way. No. No’. and I was just straight up playing Pokémon on and it was-"

Anthony: "Was it everything you remembered?"

lan: "It was sick, dude. It was fun. I was having fun. I was getting really distracted and it was not good for the shoot. But I think I got my Charmander to like level 11 or 12."

Anthony: "Yeah, you nailed it."

Just a cute little compliment I felt should be included 🙂 But sticking with the Pokémon theme, it leads me on to the next compliment...

‘I Choose You' Smosh Hat

Anthony posted this Instagram promoting the Smosh Pokémon-style hat they released as merch, but what stood out to a lot of us is his choice of the first photo + the caption :-

THE IMPLICATIONS! Him crowning lan with the hat and him saying ‘I choose you' 🥹 It reminds me of something I covered in my first Compliments post - the section covering the Smoshcast with Anthony and Shayne saying how they came back together and "choose to be best friends again" 💛🖤

Our Actual Worst Puns (Puns of Anarchy)

Another round of games and compliment-adjacent moments :-

Ian: [handing the cards out]

Anthony: "Oh, look at you. You're providing for your family.”

Just found this moment cute, Anthony referring to them as a family 🥹

[Jackie chooses Anthony's card and he reveals it's his]

Jackie: "I take it back."

Anthony: “I'm also 'Hand Solo' though, so [the other card Jackie was going to pick]?

Arasha: "I'm so pissed [because Anthony is winning]."

Ian: "Wow. Anthony's cleaning up” [claps]

[Round Category: Baby Boomers]

Ian's card -' A Whole New World' changed to 'A new video of an old, white person freaking out’

Anthony: [picks Jackie's card] “That was good. Although, I will say, I know this was yours, lan [from his handwriting]. That was an adventure, man. I appreciate that."

This isn't the only time the handwriting thing is brought up in the video :-

Keith: "Dude, where's my car?' turns into, 'Dude, where's my car? Oh wait, I can't drive?’ By far the best one, lan. And I know this came from you."

Anthony: "I know it came from lan too, cause I can see the handwriting."

Why is Anthony being able recognise Ian's handwriting so cute. He just knows him so well ☺️

One other moment I loved from this video was something I already made a post about here. Of Jackie referring to them as 'best friends' and Anthony laughing the hardest at his answer firing shots at lan, again, bestie-ism shining through 😄

Joycon HIDE AND SEEK (Everybody 1, 2, Switch)

Last one of the month! This video was full of so many great moments - two lanthony piggybacks, so many bestie moments, and them just being overly cute the whole time 🥰

And also many moments of them complimenting each other on doing well in the games. So many that I decided to compile a little video. Enjoy! :-

And that was it for September!

Hope you all enjoyed and I shall see you next time ❤️

#smosh #ian hecox #anthony padilla #ianthony #☀️🔍#ian and anthony #smoshian #smoshanthony #ianthony compliments #my posts

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omegalomania · 1 year

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hey gang what time is it its time for another joe trohman podcast. this actually came out like a month ago but i missed it until isa linked it to me and because i like doing these heres a highlights reel

the host says he appreciates that joe opened the book with the question of whether or not satan fucked his wife to which joe replies "well you know, when you have kids, sometimes you wonder that. you truly wonder what are these demons. i love my children btw they're phenomenal."

sometimes it does get tiring playing the same songs over and over. joe says that "thnks fr th mmrs" has a really good energy and tempo that keeps it exciting to play live

he talks about playing a really short iheartradio christmas show pre-pandemic and nobody in the crowd knew "sugar we're goin down" since they were only familiar with the more recent hits like "centuries" and "uma thurman" and joe said that it made him fall in love with sugar all over again in a weird way ldjfldkfd

he laments recently getting the chance to see wu-tang, nas, and busta rhymes at the hollywood bowl but he didn't go

his love language is giving gifts! he got his brother a custom drum set (which his mom attempted to throw out)

he reiterates that when writing the book he didn't want to be mean to any of his bandmates cause he likes them and thats not what the book is about! the host makes a joke: "like how you guys had that threesome with simple plan...i understand, you don't wanna get into that!" joe is offended that he clearly doesn't know how many guys are in simple plan. "there's more than three guys in there! the orgy was far larger than you give it credit!"

he doesnt remember any other names that the band could have been called but he does think fall out boy is a pretty terrible name for a band. "i can't believe i'm in a band called fall out boy."

discussions of the band origin and how joe funded it with his bar mitzvah money ("fall out boy, funded by judaism!") but when asked about financial gains from the band he says they all split everything evenly and it's one of the things that's helped them last this long

talking about scott ian and the damned things and he talks about how managing a supergroup is like herding cats because everyone is so busy with their respective groups. he says he'd LOVE to do a third damned things record though!

he talks about how weird it was to have this boy band aspect to them when they were at their peak pre-hiatus, because they were all hardcore kids and punk kids.

he recalls that around this time patrick asked their manager, with visible concern, "are we...the nsync to panic at the disco's backstreet boys?"

he's glad that they've outgrown that and kept pushing forward and looking forward, and by now they're no longer a boy band. "we're a man band!"

he thinks it's kind of neat to see the emo movement of the aughts become nostalgic and cool now ("it was not fucking cool when we were doing it [...] we stuck around for long enough to Not Be Lame"), but it's a big thing for fall out boy that they do not want to be a nostalgia act and they want to keep making new albums.

the host semi-jokingly says "so you and panic at the disco are not gonna go out on tour, is what you're saying." joe says "no" very flatly and i lose my shit.

he denies that fall out boy is working on any specific new music. he says they're just piecing things together organically and that no real album has coalesced. (note: this episode aired 11/12, ~2 weeks before the fob8 tribune ad)

he talks a bit about working with brian posehn on the axe and how much he loved doing it! he calls the whole story a metaphor for dealing with pain and trauma and the different ways there are to confront that stuff. he said the axe is coming out as a trade "soon" so people who don't have a subscription to heavy metal can read it

his first concert was tom petty and the heartbreakers when he was 10 or 11

he says the two things that matter most for a band's live show are the drummer and the singer. he then proceeds to be extremely sweet about patrick and andy.

"patrick, he's incredible, he's so gifted, and he's worked so hard with his voice lessons and figuring out how to sing from the diaphragm properly, and he really knows how to work through when he's sick and having real issues, so he's quite a trooper."

"and andy is just a great drummer. when he thinks he's had a bad day i'm like...yeah. sure. i don't think you know what that is."

he did not get laid in high school. first time was in a shared tour bus, listening to testament (a thrash metal band), when he was 19. (they never saw each other again)

since testament was the soundtrack the host asks if he ever gets a reaction whenever joe hears chuck billy (testament's lead vocalist). joe says without missing a beat, "when i see him i do, that's for sure."

he is an avid bowler. he has a wristguard and a spare ball and he used to take lessons. he calls it great stress relief!

#fall out boy #joe trohman #*making poasts #the pros of this podcast is that joe is zooming the whole time so u can see his pretty pretty face #the cons is that the hosts make some pretty off color remarks lol #joe is very gracious with them though he plays it off pretty well #i just rly rly love joe talking about this kind of stuff like i appreciate his approach #hes very empathetic and i envy that #hes also so glib and candid and approaches everything w humor and i Relate To That #lot of talk about mental health and addiction and trauma and stuff and a lot of it was rly insightful #but this is just the cliff notes so im mostly grabbing the zingers here #ty isa for alerting me of this!!

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aeor-is-for-reccing · 1 year

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Shadowgast Recs: Featuring Cats

This week, we have a dozen mostly-fluffy fics that feature Caleb and Essek's cats - sometimes Frumpkin, sometimes the ones that come after. Dig in after the cut - and as always, if you liked them, don't be afraid to kudos and comment!

You don’t understand, we don’t hold hands. by comradeartemis (1435,Teen) Warnings: none

In a modern AU, Caleb and Essek are teachers and Frumpkin has a habit of showing up on zoom

Reccer says: It's very cute!

On our own time, in our own way by royalgreen (allyoop) (1576,Teen) Warnings: none

Essek learns about New Years wedding traditions. Essek then panics.

Reccer says: It's extremely cute and fluffy

(Do I wanna know?) If this feelin' flows both ways? by Criticalpancake (17758,Mature) Warnings: none

Caleb and Essek go from friends with benefits to something more with the help of Frumpkin

Reccer says: It's a soft, very pleasant Modern AU set in the post-97 feeling of being attracted to each other but not sure where they stand - and both are more comfortable showing affection to the cats than other people

Herding Cats by roundandtalented (3258,General) Warnings: none

Essek keeps on bringing home cats, for a very loose definition of cats

Reccer says: It's sweet and soft and there's a little bit of humor

a piece of me that's always somehwere else by essektheylyss (midnightindigo) (4718,Teen) Warnings: None

The small black cat that Caleb has taken in does not like Essek, until he very much so does.

Reccer says: Very sweet and fluffy, with just enough of a hint of angst to make it tasty

Familiar by Timbrene (8793,Teen) Warnings: none

Essek's interactions with Frumpkin, before and after the campaign

Reccer says: There's a lot of touching descriptions of Essek learning about cats, interspersed with a lot of yearning

A King in Cat's Clothes by royalgreen (allyoop) (1544,Teen) Warnings: No warnings

Caleb owns a cat cafe, and Frumpkin is very suspicious of Caleb's new friend.

Reccer says: Frumpkin's POV is amazing and hilarious. Frumpkin does not forgive and does not forget, even though Caleb and Essek are well on their way to becoming soft domestic boyfriends.

Troublemaker by SaltCore (1309,General) Warnings: none

Essek deals with an unruly kitten. Caleb is smitten.

Reccer says: It feels extremely true to life and all the more adorable for it.

Smoke Sting, Strangled Pulse by thetickingclock (783,Teen) Warnings: Major Character Death, Lifespan Angst

Two different castings of Find Familiar

Reccer says: It's a short piece, and little bittersweet, but it's very evocative

a healer’s gift by toneofjoy (7280,General) Warnings: None

When one of Caleb’s cats falls suddenly ill, he seeks help from a druid healer.

Reccer says: This is a cat owner’s dream. It will make you want to give your cat a smooch and maybe cry into their fur, in a good way.

Traveling Elf AMBUSHED by WILD BEASTS by Professor_Rye (2709,General) Warnings: none

Based on a certain cute video, Essek finds himself targetted by a number of stray cats on the side of the road

Reccer says: It's tooth-rottingly sweet. Just completely adorable

In the Cat’s Tongue by Interrobang (1367,General) Warnings: None

Caleb gets a magic item that lets him cast speak with animals. He learns secrets from the cats.

Reccer says: I commissioned this and it definitely exceeded expectations! It’s SO sweet, and it’s funny, and it’s like a heated blanket on a cold day. This is definitely every pet owner’s wish fulfillment fic.

Aeor is for Lovers is an 18+ Shadowgast Discord server. The above fanfic recommendations were pulled from our community for this weekly event. All fics, unless otherwise specified, will primarily feature Shadowgast. And hey! Don’t forget to leave comments and kudos for the lovely authors!

Have any questions about what this is? Check out the FAQ! Next week’s theme is going to feature a number of Essiks - pre episode 97 fic!

#critical role #critrole fic recs #shadowgast #cr fic recs #frumpkin criticalrole #caleb widogast #essek thelyss #cr fic #cat owner Caleb widogast #fluff

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bumblekastclips · 6 months

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Starline Isekai: The Lightning Bolt Society

KYLE CROUSE: We got a question here to start us off again from Scurvypiratehog! "After the events of issue 50, what if instead of perishing, something else happened to Starline.... what if he got banished? Banished... to the Sonic Boom Universe, because now the only villains willing to work with him is the Lightning Bolt Society! How would Starline adjust to his new life in the Boom dimension? Would he even try to become buddies with Boom Eggman?"

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IAN FLYNN: See, I think at that point he'd just want the sweet release of death, 'cause you've just prescribed him to Hell. KYLE: [laughs] I think we've kind of done this before, but yes, that is effectively... IAN: But we've touched upon Starline and Boom Eggman and how he just wouldn't tolerate the buffoonery and would try to take over... but the wrinkle here is the [laughing] Thunderbolt Society-- KYLE: That's true, yeah... he would be- that would be- there would be incompetence... IAN: --which are a step down. Yeah, I mean, they've got the drive, which might enamor them at first, but after that... it would just be worse, because... [Starline voice to the Chameleon/Tree Spy] "Why are you a tree? We can see your face, you don't even look like a tree. Get out of the tree!" So... KYLE: [chuckles] IAN: Nah, he'd- he'd go cuckoo-bananas. KYLE: Maybe he could make them competent... or maybe that's impossible, I don't know. IAN: I imagine he could get them to coordinate briefly, but [chuckling] you can only do so much with broken parts. KYLE: Eh, I guess it would be like herding cats. It's not easy. Not easy to do, not worth doing. IAN: So I imagine he would finally reach his breaking point, and because he has the initiative, and the wherewithal to act on it, he would take over. KYLE: Mhm. IAN: He would just do it again. Boot Eggman out of his base, he'd actually send the badniks in coordinated strikes, the heroes and villains would have to come together because, "Oh, wait, we actually have to do something to survive?" KYLE: [laughs] IAN: They would have to stage an actual siege of the Eggbase, Starline would get knocked out a window into that active volcano, and would wake up and, [Starline voice] "Where is he, now...?" [Eggman voice from AoSTH] "You there! You look like you want a promotion!" KYLE: [cackles] Yes! Oh no, things just went from bad to worse! IAN: We're slipping back into Doctor Starline's Internal Hell Isekai. KYLE: Yeah, I know. I know, it's just the thing... yeah. IAN: But it's such a good premise. KYLE: [laughing] It is! It well and truly is. It's unfortunate you'll never be able to do it in- officially, at least. IAN: Nah... KYLE: But, oh well. It's fun to think about.

--- TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Please remember that nothing that is said on BumbleKast is canon! It's just some guys and their opinions occasionally spitballing ideas. If you don't like an answer, you don't have to take it as Word of God or anything like that. It's all just for fun! ----- Do you want a specific question transcribed and posted? Send the question and the episode date to my ask box! Or if you just want questions about a certain character, send me their name and I will see what I can do!

#starline isekai #dr starline #doctor starline #starline the platypus #sonic boom #idw sonic #lightning bolt society #archie sonic #bumblekast #ian flynn #kyle crouse #The first of many Starline Isekai questions! I've been wanting to start working on these for awhile. They're always fun.#Youtube

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platinumrosetail · 1 year

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I have a request for you! A Lackadaisy x Pokemon request!

Basically a Espeon!Reader falls into the Lackadaisy universe, let's say during the pilot episode? She has no clue what's going on, but seeing how Rocky, Freckle, and Ivy were in trouble, she uses her psyhic powers to save them and escapes with them. Her actions, along with her exotic looks, ends up catching the attention of a certain glasses wearing black cat called Mordecai.

Lackadaisy is a new fandom that I got in to so I hope I be getting requests for it. Me and the requester talked and we decided to add some things to it so the extra things that weren’t in the request is from us chatting and making sure we got everything all good, just wanted to say that to clear up any confusion you might have! 😁

The requester had also inform me that mordecai is asexual but for this he can be any sexuality as there are many, I know there might be some people not liking when other people change the sexuality of a character and I’m sorry for that but I like modecai romantically and so I made it a au where he has a different sexuality, if you don’t like that then you can leave, plus this is fanfiction so there would most likely be au in some if not most along with how how fanfiction will most likely have different dialogs with the reader, oc, or when someone ships a character with another character and need a way to get them in love with one another so please don’t post hate on this as you can leave it alone if you don’t like it, thank you.

I also don’t know some of the characters accents so i hope i do a acceptable job on it from what i could hear in the pilot and comics, i also don’t know the slang that are from the 1920’s times but I’m hoping to go do some research and hopefully make this come out as almost accurate to the times it’s set place, s wish me luck 😅, though, of course when I do use them it’ll be for the lackadaisy characters that are involved, the reader will most likely have a bit more modern type of outlook as she will be born in the modern times of the Pokémon games we know of.

Warning: noob author, female reader, gang fights, violence, au, and others.

Characters: mordecai, zib, Viktor, nico, one-sided!asa sweet.

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You were just walking down the path to your den after visiting your sisters, who’re the other 8 eevee evolution sept for the youngest who is still an eevee named eve, you decided to take a detour to get to a field that had some beautiful flowers and tasty berries that you can grab for some dinner.

You guess you weren’t paying attention to the ground as you tripped and fallen into the neck length tall grass and tumbled down which made you dizzy.

When you got back up on your feet and noticed how far away the ground is and that the grass doesn’t come to your neck like it usually does when you come here, some occasions a herd of herbivore pokemon would com in and shorten the grass but you know that you didn’t tumble down for that to happen so fast.

You looked down at your paws to only see them more human-like but still have paw like features like claws that seem to not want to retract.

You also have on clothes like a human would, the type of clothes is (c/c) (choice/of/clothes) that is of a past time period, how you know this is because you had came across on one of your adventure to the human territory that is known as cities/towns.

You heard muffled voices behind you which made you look and see through the tree line and see two feline beings that didn’t look like any pokemon you know, one did seem to have a arginine like pattern on their form, the other seemed to have dark fur, at least as dark as a kitten but with out the red details.

You’re guessing that this is a cemetery with how the two seemed to be digging up a coffin from a grave with how many tombstones there is laced out.

You heard a sudden voice which made you jump in surprise as you didn’t expect there to be a third party with the two though that sudden surprise had made you step on a twig which alerted the two that was on the ground.

The two looked in your direction in a frightened state which made you guilty so you slowly came out in the tree line and into the open.

“Sorry to have frightened you, you see, it would seem I’m a bit los-” ……… you had accidentally tripped over what you could guess was a big root.

“What is with me and tripping today~….” You groaned out in embarrassment and defeat at the clumsiness that doesn’t usually come out this frequent, especially around other beings that is watching you.

“Let me help you miss! I’m rocky!! This here is my cousin Calvin but I like to call him freckles and over there is my good friend ivy pepper! What’s your name pretty miss?!” This ‘rocky’ fellow came out of nowhere and introduced himself, his cousin, and his female friend.

“O-oh! Um…. Hello, my name is (Y/n). I’m kinda lost you see and I don’t know where I am or how I can get home from here….” You explained.

“Have no fear dear damsel in distress! We shall help you to beloved abode!”

“ROCKY!” A sudden whisper yell that came from ivy which made both you and rocky look at her in confusion. “If you don’t remember, we’re in a middle of doing something right now!”

“Ahh!~ and we’ll do it after we bring the madame to her home safe as a daisy!”

“I don’t mind waiting until you you get done….. with whatever it was you were doing, I’m not in any rush really.”

“Ok! You can come with us to the little daisy cafe after we’re done! We do need more costumers for miss M so this would be great!” Rocky says upbeat and loud which made the two with him ‘shh’ him.

“What exactly are you doing here? If you don’t mind me asking, maybe I could help you with it.” You questioned them as you haven’t the faintest idea of what their doing here disturbing the dead and hopefully they have a good reason to as you don’t know and don’t want to find out about any ghosts being here like there is in some places as that’s usually where deadly ghost types resides at as it’s their main territory.

“Oh! We’re getting booze from this coffin for the lackadaisy clu-” before he could finish ivy covered his mouth with her hand but you’ve already figured out what their doing with how much he said.

“Lackadaisy club? What’s that?” Ivy sighed and let go of Rocky after you said that already knowing you pieces together the finishing of the word Rocky was about to say.

“It’s a club for allies of little daisy cafe that was founded by atlas may which is now in the hands of his wife after his passing.” Ivy explained while glaring at Rocky for your guessing of giving it away to a complete stranger, aka, you.

“Oh.” Is all you said.

“Well, seeing as you already know this much information, why don’t you join the staff?!”

“You can’t just ask her that, Rocky!” Ivy scolds Rocky.

“Oooh~ what’s the harm? We need more staff for little daisy cafe and lackadaisy, plus she already know what we’re doing here so why not?!” Rocky tries to convince Ivy as both you and the quiet boy who’s name is Calvin look at each other and nervously smile at each other as the other two continue to talk.

“Fine! But don’t drag me and Calvin in with you if you get in trouble for bringing her.” Ivy says while crossing her arms and looking away from Rocky in a mad way.

“Uh, Rocky I think I found-” Rocky came down to where Calvin was interrupting him when he was talking in the process.

“Is that it?” Ivy asks.

“Well, it it isn’t then we’d have an awkward explaining to do to the family of uuuh…. Herman hapfamschfeel?”

You just stayed quiet as you still didn’t fully know what was going on and you also didn’t know how to pronounce that name either so you couldn’t really help at the moment.

(I’m going to speed this along a little right here.)

We are now driving away to save our lives.

The coffin indeed had booze in it and while we were putting the in the container that these three had in their…..car? Whatever they called it back in the day, until one dropped, surprisingly didn’t get destroyed, Rocky and Calvin were trying to find it in the dark until Ivy went and grabbed her flashlight, though some shed of light did come from another car like thing which scared both you and Ivy but the two didn’t notice until you and Ivy yelped and started heading into the car like contraption.

The passenger side car door opened and all of you were now being shot at by whoever got out of that car.

Ivy reversed the car making it go backwards as all four of you panicked as more shots were being fired.

It took a while for Rocky and Calvin to get in but thankfully they got in safely without getting shot.

Ivy was still going in reverse which ended the car close to the water of a not so deep pond.

Ivy was able to turn the car around to the correct way and started driving on the dirt path that was under the bridge before gassing it.

The door to the back was still opened with Calvin hanging onto it though Rocky was able to drag him in and shut the door in the process which made you breath a sigh of relief.

You were still processing all that’s happening so you don’t notice what was going on in back sit with Rocky and Calvin.

Though you tuned back in when Rocky was holding on to the case that had the booze in it.

“What’s going on back there?!” Both you and Ivy asks in worry.

You hear gun shots which made you look back to see Calvin shooting at the car that was attacking you guys.

“I’m going to help them.” You said as you try and get yourself in the backseat.

“What?! Are you crazy?!” Ivy yells but you continue on.

You help Rocky get back in and he turned Calvin to the back door window.

“Breaks!” Ivy hit the breaks as she was told as you hold on to something.

Calvin continues to shoot at the car following you guys as it’s now on the side of the car you’re all in.

Calvin had shot one of their tires which made them get off the road though you saw one of them get out of it.

You get on top of the roof of the car so you can have more room. Hopefully the stores of psychic power you have would be enough to distract them from following you further and would work still in the night even if it’s a little.

You decided to use psybeam as it results in confusion so maybe it will do the same to them even though their not a Pokémon.

Mordecai, the one who got out of his and his colleagues car watch as one of the cats get out of the car he and his colleagues were following wondering what the cat was going to do but was shocked to see a pink beam come out of what would be the cat’s forehead.

Once the beam hit it brought him in confusion and dizziness.

You quickly got back in as Rocky got Ivy to turn left into…. Somewhere, the car crashed into some kind of warehouse that was most likely used for work.

Rocky got out of the car as you make sure Calvin and Ivy were ok and not hurt…. As much.

You watch in confusion and worry as Rocky got up and started laughing for whatever reason you didn’t know before swinging open a door that was apart of the warehouse and exit out of it.

You got out of the care with careful steps as you hadn’t processed what was going on still and only did what you could think of which was sit and calm your breathing and rushing heart so you could focus more on what’s happening and what might happen next and to process all that’s already happened, and while doing that Ivy and Calvin talked which you haven’t focused on yet until Calvin said something about the engine compartment of the car which was making smoke.

You sadly couldn’t help much as you don’t know how to fix anything like a vehicle and you don’t have the moves or typing for it.

You look around for something that might help y’all.

(I’m going to speed things along again as it’s already pretty long and I still need to do get some more stuff typed in for the request.)

Calvin had gone out to throw them away as you and Ivy stayed with the car.

Ivy had spotted a shadow of someone coming closer to where you two were which made you go to the door which had another person in y’all’s path.

“Well, hi cutie.” The guy complimented while greeting which made you blush as you don’t get complimented much but quickly brought back to shut the door with Ivy and hid underneath the car.

The two are now right next to the car as you two try to stay quiet, the female of the two said something that sounded almost kalosian.

Explosions were heard which brought the two’s attention onto that thankfully.

Calvin had found you two as what you could guess Rocky was setting the explosions; you held the two close so as to protect them from any possible sneak attacks that might happen.

Ivy asked what happened as you and her helped hold Calvin up as he held his head which made you focus on the wound you notice he has.

He just said his cousin name as the cat in question passed by laughing like a maniac.

“Here let me help with that wound of yours.” You gestured calvin to get a little closer so you can see the damage more.

“Don’t freak out at what I’m about to do, ok?” Ivy and calvin looked at you in confusion as you get ready to use morning sun, a move that heals.

a soft glow like it would in the day came and the wound is healed as good as new and like it wasn’t there and didn’t happen

“H-how?” Both question as you just smile softly while saying nothing.

More explosions happened as you and Ivy helped Calvin as he’s still recovering from whatever had happened to him while he was away from you two though when y’all looked up y’all see rushing water coming which made y’all hurry back inside to avoid it and not to get wet.

You three got into the car and exit out of the way y’all came through. Ivy came across a muddy rocky and slowed down so he could get in before driving faster to get out of there.

You and Ivy both look back to see one of the ones after y’all until you two see that he wasn’t aiming to shoot anymore.

All of you finally made it to where these three were originally headed to after they had finished their errand.

You see four cats, three male, one female, you were behind Rocky so they couldn’t see you with his tall form in the way.

You awkwardly waited as the four paid attention to Rocky, Calvin, and Ivy as you didn’t exactly know what to do as you’re mostly used to your family and only ever talked to a stranger is if it was necessary plus you thought it might be rude to interrupt now.

It took a while fire the four to notice you as they were paying attention to the booze and the three you came in with.

“Um, before you two start your jazz, do you mind introducing us to your friend over there?”

You were looking at your shows that came with you when you were transported to this world before looking up at what the man with the blue eyes slicked back…. Fur? Hair? You’re just going to go with hair but anyway you awkwardly wave while smiling nervously before greeting in a small voice feeling anxiety creep up you at the attention being on you.”

“Um, h-hello…”

“Who might you be, sweetie?” The she-cat questioned.

“I’m (Y/n), and I was found by those three while they were doing their errand, you see, I had gotten lost somehow when I was in my favorite field and had tumbled down, and the next thing I knew I was somewhere entirely different and had found them doing the errand which leaded me to joining them, if you’d like for me to leave then I’ll leave, sorry to bother you by the way.

After some more talk and a few hours of getting to know them and showing them that what you’ve said was true by doing some of the moves you had learned as you grew and gotten stronger, you finally have a job at the little daisy cafe and at the lackadaisy club.

One night the two out of three that was there when you first came to this world came and snuck into the lackadaisy club to steal some of their stuff but ended up catching you in the midst of singing as it was apart of your new job there.

You waited tables at both lackadaisy and little daisy while sing at the club, you only knew the songs from your world so that brought in some customers which was great for business.

Though what you and the others didn’t know was that two people that works for the marigold was her to steal things for asa sweet the boss of marigold.

“She sure can sing! And isn’t she also the one with those three?” Nico questioned after looking more close at the she-cat after noticing a sense of familiarity of her.

“Hm, yes, indeed she is a good singer and yes she was there with those lackadaisy, but need I remind you what we’re here for?” Mordecai questioned as he shifted his gaze from you to his colleague, nico, who put his paws up in surrender before the two went and begin what they had came there for.

While you were singing to wick’s guest and other costumers that had came and mordecai was stealing from lackadaisy with nico on the look out it would seem some other people decided to follow and attack the car that destroyed their farm that helps them make alcohol for them to sell, they had attacked victor while rocky went to get some help unloading the automobile.

When you were inform about the situation it was already too late to stop viktor from getting his injury though you hurry and went to him as you may be able to heal him even if it’s just the wound and not the pain that had came with the injury.

You had gotten to where Mitzi, ivy, zip and the band, and the doctor was and began using morning sun to heal viktor, they were all shocked to see what you were doing but kept quiet so you could concentrate on the task at hand, though ivy was less shocked but still shocked as she still couldn’t believe you have powers that could heal and possibly do more with it.

Mitzi was astonished at how you have powers and hoped that you would still stay with them as this could help them save money from having to use the doctor that was there with you all right now and you’d be a good ally than a enemy.

Zip was shocked but not as much as you would think as he thought there might be something about you that you were hiding from them but now understood why as this could have anyone with bad intentions use you for their benefits.

Viktor was woozy and couldn’t focus on a thing sept for the red glowing gem that was on your forehead but when he was back at his home and was able to comprehend what had happened he in his own way said thank you though he also made sure you were alone so no one could her him and even if you told anyone no one but maybe mitzi would believe you.

After that happened plus paying some visits to him with ivy Mitzi had called you to come with her, rocky, and freckles to meet with a friend of her late husband and hers.

You, rocky, and freckles were introduced to as a and the other cat named mordecai who reminds of that cat that didn’t shoot at you and your new friends, you been trying to sneak a few glances at different times.

Asa had creeped you out especially with his flirtatious ways and the way he would look at you which brought the protectiveness of rocky, freckles, and surprisingly Mitzi, she had grown to like you as a sister would and rocky, and freckles grown to like as a older sister would and the same goes for ivy as well.

Mordecai had noticed your glance but didn’t question it as he guessed he understand why you were glancing at him at times as it would seem you recognized him or felt a familiarity from him

(A/n: hope you like it!! I’m sorry that the last bit was kind short, i just wanted to hurry and get it done so the requester could finally see it, reason why it’s took so long is because i procrastinated as i was thinking idea for a possible book for this lovely fandom and also cause i was busy with work and i had went and visited my aunt, plus i was trying to draw a oc inspired by this request because it interested me but sadly i couldn’t get the oc how i wanted yet, but anyway hope y’all have a wonderful day/evening/night!!!)

#lackadaisy #lackadaisy x reader #espeon #pokemon crossover #pokemon #Pokémon!reader #mordecai #anime #various x reader #anime x reader #x reader stories #crossover #anime crossover #x female reader #female!reader #reverse harem

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sepublic · 10 months

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Now I want to elaborate on the Makuta of Odina as our big bad villain. The thing about Vamprah is that he’s a hunter, and one who has taken a vow of silence; He acts animalistic, all things considered, and wears the Mask of Hunger, which adds to his motif as a predator who feasts on prey.

One of the earliest descriptions of Makuta was that of a “raging, kicking, screaming beast” and it’s a depiction that’s really stuck with me. Less of a person or god and more of a monster, an animalistic force of nature incomprehensible to the Matoran.

When Makuta was first introduced, it was as the master of the Rahi, powerful and dangerous beasts that have been placed under his sway by masks he infected. This precedent was not forgotten later down the line, when 2003 established Rahi Control as one of Makuta’s powers, and it was eventually revealed that the Brotherhood of Makuta’s original purpose was to create Rahi for the Matoran Universe.

So Makuta in this story is the apex predator, the leader of a pack; The most powerful beast in the land, for whom all others answer to. And an unnatural, ravaging monster with endless hunger, and a taste for sport. There’s a sadistic side to Makuta, who ravages ecosystems like an invasive species.

Humanity has a primordial fear of beasts lurking in the darkness, waiting to strike; Unseen with only our imaginations to fill in the gaps. So let’s incorporate that idea for the Makuta of Odina; A creature who brings darkness with it, enveloping the area in shadows for Makuta to hide in and strike unseen. Like Shelob from Lord of the Rings, and especially like...

You ever heard of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal? It’s a wonderful animated show, about a caveman and his T-rex surviving against some horrible odds in prehistoric times. My favorite episode is the The Night Feeder, and the titular beast is a cryptid that strikes only at night, in total darkness. It remains entirely unseen for the whole episode, so you can only see from its perspective, and glimpse the damage it inflicts on prey and environment alike.

We only get to see the Night Feeder’s dreaded true form in the last minute of the episode, for a few seconds. This is after our protagonists learn that its fear and weakness is fire; Fire which brings light, which allowed humanity’s ancestors to conquer the darkness and explore new horizons. The Night Feeder is beaten as it is seen and revealed, stripping it of the infinity of the unknown by making it quantifiable via comprehension.

I want to play with that idea; A thematically protean creature that can be anything, whatever its prey imagines, because it’s a Schrodinger’s Cat situation where if you can’t see it, who knows what it is? And thus so many options are on the table. Makuta is a monster of shadows, so the way to defeat it is with light; Light thematically reveals its true form, taking away both the shadows it uses to hide itself, but also taking away a lot of the mystique and fear Makuta employs. It is no longer a formless entity, you can see now that it’s limited to the physical form that is illuminated. Like Jean Jacket from Nope, seeing the beast is a form of victory over it.

And it’s neat that I bring up the idea of monsters and beasts that must be hunted, primordial times and whatnot. Because Vamprah’s domain in G1 is the very headquarters of the Dark Hunters... So what if we took that name literally in this adaptation? You’ve got this mercenary group, not exactly good guys, but our protagonists hired against an even greater threat. Makuta ravages livestock, it slaughters entire herds for no other reason than the fun of it, while eating something unknown from its prey that cannot be interacted with.

Enter our Dark Hunters; A group of trophy hunters, monster hunters, that kind of thing. They’ve conquered the most elusive and dangerous cryptids, but this is their greatest hunt yet. They learn the mistake of underestimating the Makuta; They think they’re the masters of the shadow? The Dark Hunters believe it’s their territory and camouflage from which to strike? Their greatest asset has now been turned against them by the Makuta.

Our protagonists can be Dark Hunters with explicit ties to hunting and/or animals; Such as Airwatcher, Savage, Charger, etc. Tracker and his pet bull are must-haves, as is Primal, whose name and use of a simple spear feels VERY relevant given the influences I’m incorporating into Makuta here. The Hordika Dragons can be a pack of hunting dogs, feared and reputable, only to fall against the Makuta.

There’s definitely the tension of Man VS Nature, Man trying to conquer the wilderness and its animals, taking trophies. Maybe Makuta is a punishment sent upon these Dark Hunters, who kill for sport, and now find themselves on the receiving end of a karmic beast who inflicts the same. It eats light, spreading the night and darkness across Odina, thereby spreading the Makuta’s territory. It can only strike in shadows, but when it does, it’s virtually unstoppable. Courage is tasty and Makuta knows its scent, devouring bravery to leave nothing left of its prey but terror in their souls as they are shredded.

While other Dark Hunters rely on fancy tools and machines that fail in the face of the supernatural power of Makuta, Primal (whom I shall refer to by the name Nuoka given by creator Peter Dolan), our main protagonist, prevails in his simpler toolset; He hearkens back to the ancient hunters of prehistoric times who fought like animals and thus better understood them. He can fight on Makuta’s level, by Makuta’s rules, and actually make it out alive. Firedracax is another hunter with a specific grudge against a species of pack predators, whose whole power is fire; This could thematically put him at odds against Makuta as another main protagonist.

There can be some discussions of industrialism vs nature, the idea that perhaps a society more removed from it isn’t necessarily better. Cities aren’t necessarily more ‘advanced’ than a nomadic society, after all. This ties into Nuoka as a former member of a tribe, who has his own defense against the prejudices of other Dark Hunters. Likewise, civilization may not be as divorced from nature as it likes to think; Society is still a part of nature and thus has a responsibility to it.

Makuta is a challenge to human arrogance; Not literal human arrogance, these characters aren’t human. But you get what I mean. The shadows have birthed a dark creature, like the Grendel that Beowulf fought, or many other beasts sent by the gods and/or nature to punish humanity’s hubris. Makuta is the Scorpio to the Dark Hunters’ Orion. Maybe Makuta was once a hunter named Vamprah, who was cursed for his bloodlust with a form that reflected his heart, and even infects others with this transformation to create Rahi.

I like to think the Makuta of Odina resembles the Makuta Nui set from G1; A more animalistic take on Makuta that never showed up in the story but was nevertheless deemed canon. It looked bestial enough that for the Maze of Shadows game, the developers even declared it the set depiction of the Ash Bear! This can be Makuta’s true form, revealed in its final moments when light finally triumphs over its darkness, just as Nuoka manages to slay it. This beast spoken of around campfires is now just a campfire story.

I also want to consider incorporating the Rahkshi here as Makuta’s brood; Creatures who wield staffs resembling man catchers, which is a karmic reversal of man trapping beast. The Makuta Nui combiner takes some visual cues from the Rahkshi, since it’s made using pieces from Makuta; Himself resembling his ‘sons’ and vice-versa. So the Makuta of Odina can resemble a more animalistic, bestial Rahkshi, foregoing a tool for massive claws and fangs. Makuta’s visage takes cues from from the Avsa, Kraahkan, Makuta Nui, and Rahkshi.

In darkness, Makuta stalks and hunts its prey across multiple environments, apparently flying and swimming; Suggesting it DOES shapeshift, or maybe it just comes across that way in the confusion and chaos of the dark. Survivors disagree on what they saw of Makuta, who can say for sure? Other Rahi act as smaller bosses for our protagonists to build up through, and maybe reconsider their treatment of beasts, at least for Nuoka. When Makuta is slain, there’s definitely the implication that Nuoka has been motivated by his experiences to bring a change to how the Dark Hunters operate in irreverence to nature, and if necessary, stop them altogether.

#bionicle #vamprah #makuta #brotherhood of makuta #odina #rahi #dark hunters #primal #Nuoka

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naomiknight-17 · 2 months

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My day started off pretty terrible, and I felt so garbagey and the cats were being so annoying I lost my temper and raised my voice at Tim

But then Jon brought me an iced cappuccino and a wrap. And I managed to drag my freshly caffeinated ass into the shower and scrub myself clean. And I got a chance to snuggle with both Jill and Tiny Tim in turns (I think he's forgiven me for shouting)

Then Jon made us a lovely cauliflower-bacon chowder for dinner with garlic bread on the side as a special treat (we needed to use up leftover buns)

And just now I even did a big load of dishes and fed the cats - which involves an interesting dance of herding the hungry screaming creatures into separate rooms so they don't eat each other's food

And you know. I'm feeling a lot better.

I guess there's something to be said for a hot shower, a good meal, and getting some chores done. Even though we all hate to hear it

Also I rewatched all of the currently available Dungeon Meshi episodes, which is of course incredibly healing

#i'm gonna play sims for a couple hours and then get some sleep #maybe tonight i'll actually get some rest #last night was all stress dreams and the. being woken early because Leon was screaming his head off #so. fingers crossed and all #mod post #cats #chores #tiny tim the cat #the anti-worm #he was doing that thing this morning where he claws at the grate on the laundry room door and metallic rumbling noise fills the house #it's very loud and annoying and he wouldn't stop. with that on top of Leon's incessant screaming i lost my cool a bit #(leon was upset because jon went to an appointment. tim wanted breakfast)#anyway #leon the cat #leon oliver

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arizonaconservativegal · 6 months

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Thoughts on the latest house speaker?

Honestly I don't know much about the guy, which is probably a good sign because I remember the ones who piss me off. The obligatory outrage from the left is promising too. Most of the things they're mad about looks like stuff I'd count as a plus. But. I'm more interested in his ability to herd cats than I am in his voting record or ideology. I want to be hopeful that he'll be effective since he managed to get unanimous support from the party on the official vote but I'm skeptical since it took like six hundred rounds of inner-party voting before they landed on him as a nominee. They're going to have do another budget vote in a couple weeks so I guess we'll see how strong his leadership actually is at that point. I'm just glad this circus is over for now. Hopefully we won't be doing it again next month. It's going to be a challenge to convince voters to forget this episode before they cast ballots next year.

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oneatlatime · 11 months

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Imprisoned

The opening shot's background has to be a watercolour.

I don't see Katara looking for food. If she's going to complain, she can find her own dinner.

This looks comfy.

Sokka two for two so far: only one getting food, only one with any common sense. Sokka has mom friend vibes here.

I see my prediction about Katara going nuts upon meeting a teenage boy who isn't her brother is about to come true.

Looks like we're back up to the standard of beauty set by the Southern Air Temple. It's all so colourful.

"Look at how they're dressed." This brings up a point I've been thinking about: Aang & company know that the fire nation is after them. Why aren't they making even a token effort at disguise? They could even wear the same styles, just in brown or green.

Ah yes, natural.

"how can you say that?" Katara - you've known these people like five minutes and narrowly avoided getting them into trouble once already. Maybe don't go around judging them like you know their whole life story? Also that comparison will mean absolutely nothing to the earthbender's mom. What does she know about your relationship to your waterbending?

Katara is painfully out of character here: "What can the fire nation do to you that they haven't done already?" Would Katara, who has already mentioned multiple times that the fire nation straight up killed her own mother, believe that the Fire Nation would go no farther than a protection racket?

Kudos to the mom for giving them shelter for the night.

Every shot in this episode so far is very pretty. I don't want this post to devolve into 75 screenshots so just imagine I'm going 'ooh pretty' a lot.

And Katara mentions her mother again! See, she's very aware of what the fire nation does.

"It's not enough, is it?" Raw line. And a good point.

At what time of day is this episode happening? The atmosphere seems unnaturally yellow. Maybe it's mining dust in the air?

Not good deed goes unpunished. This won't come back to bite them at all.

Sokka right again on the need to leave asap. Seriously, I do not envy him the impossible task of herding a flighty 12 year old (who also tops the fire nation's most wanted list) and a stubborn-just-because younger sister all the way across the world. Like herding cats, if cats also had the ability to blow you across town and drown you on dry land.

Now it's night time. Ok, must have been some funky dusk lighting.

Nice bait and switch with the soldiers coming to the door. It fooled me.

Sucking water out of the pump like that seems like a great way to lose the prime.

Katara didn't quite force him. But I don't think he would have done it if Katara hadn't been there to talk him into it. I still think it's a little bit her fault, but it wasn't all her fault. Kudos once again to the mom for not blowing up at Aang & friends. They've been in town maybe 12 hours and her son, who has managed to evade capture as an earthbender for - what, five years? - gets immediately arrested.

Katara's plan is to get herself arrested by the same people who, as she intimately knows, have the ability to kill people's moms. You know what, I was right. Katara just goes out of her mind around teenage boys.

Sokka why are you on board with this? They also killed your mom. You know that's a thing they can do. You have no guarantee that these fire nation soldiers are as bad at capturing the Avatar as Zuko is. You saw yesterday that these soldiers are willing to burn down buildings for pocket change, what do you think they'll do to your hotheaded sister who runs her mouth at the slightest injustice?

Avatar universe version of the squirrel joke from Up.

Ok this is obviously an episode with a tone switch in the middle. From super-serious bonding over shared trauma to gooftastic misadventure. Kind of tonal whiplash. I guess I should stop trying to take this episode seriously from this point on.

Poor Sokka. He is surrounded by idiots.

I think Aang's ears are the biggest. Of the humans.

Once again guys, can you not throw something beige on? You're on a stealth mission.

Are the things on the left and right ship hulls under construction? Is the fire nation fleet built by prisoners of war?

Why would anyone think that Katara knows what she's doing? Although I will say that there's no better place to be a waterbender.

So it is a ship yard. Fleet built by prison labour. Huh.

What is up with this warden?

I hereby rescind all previous objections to characters' lack of disguises. This guy is less than a foot away from a water tribe necklace being worn by someone whose sleeves are obviously blue and he spots nothing. Maybe fire nation people are colour blind? Sartorially inept?

Bending racism. Bendism? I'm actually surprised that this is the first time it's really come up. Once I understood the magic system I figured the superiority/inferiority of the elements would be a big plot point.

This show has consistently gorgeous skies.

Was that really the only way to find them? They couldn't have asked around? The prisoners and prison staff need food and supplies. Those have to come from somewhere, so someone knows. I'm putting too much thought into this again.

I think I know the father's voice actor. He sounds familiar.

Katara once again back on her "how can you say that?" bullshit. Judgy much.

Katara put a sock in it! You just announced your very non-earth kindgom origins to the entire rig. And come to the attention of the warden. She has a death wish. How is Sokka going to keep her alive all the way to the north pole?

I like this! I didn't work!

And she's back to being an idiot. Obviously she's going to end up freeing them in the end, because this is a kids' cartoon and they don't get unhappy endings as a rule, but an ending that affirms Katara's bleeding heart tendencies is only going to make things worse in the long run. Because next time she goes on a justice spree and does something even stupider she'll be over confident due to her success here.

You want a way to help them? Defeat the fire nation.

Sokka sure puts up with a lot.

It's a good thing that the Snidely Whiplash division of the fire nation forces is in charge of this particular rig, rather than the mom-killing division.

The humour is not landing with me in this episode.

What was Katara's plan for freeing the prisoners if Sokka wasn't there to come up with the whole plan? Just hope really hard?

The father would be right, if they didn't have the Deus ex avatar with them.

Straight facts from the warden here. If he hadn't kept running his mouth I bet not even the not-yet-broken-in-spirit guy would have acted. But he did keep talking, and so wrought his own downfall. Nice.

Badass line from old guy here, but I'm being a nitpicky little shit today, so I gotta ask: was the warden really a coward? 'Colossal asshole hopped up on his own power' seems more accurate. I guess you can't say asshole in a kids' show.

Appa can keep up with coal-powered ships. Speedy boy. Also where's his saddle in this shot?

You really think you'll be able to take back your villages? You think the fire nation is going to lose out on a source of coal without a fight? Yeah, yeah, kids' show, consequences handwaved.

Perfect one scene summary of Aang: uses prodigious bending powers to play with his friends. Also a callback to the butterfly.

By freeing the boy's father, so that the boy has more than just one thing (his earthbending) to remind him of his family, Katara loses the one thing (the necklace) that she had left of her mother. That is ouch.

Hey Zuko! haven't seen you in a while. Your hand is giant. Your haircut is still trash, but you are surprisingly menacing in this shot.

Bad guy and beautiful sky. As tonally dissonant as the rest of this episode.

Final thoughts

The credits tell me that the guy's name is Haru. I wasn't even going to try to spell it until I saw it written down. They also tell me that his dad is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. A quick google tells me that he was in Lilo & Stich, which is where I known him from. Also the warden is George Takei? A bit on the nose to have him playing the warden in a POW camp. Also he deserved a better character.

If it's not already obvious, I don't like this episode. The visuals were consistently beautiful, and it started off strong with exploring loss and the realities of war. Then it descended into girl power fantasy / looney tunes episode. Turns out that Katara's plan for getting through life is to cause problems and let Sokka fix them.

What was Katara's plan for freeing the earthbenders if Sokka hadn't come up with the coal plan? Was she going to try another speech? She was determined to stay until she freed them, but how was she going to do that? Haru getting arrested was somewhat her fault, so she was sort fixing a problem of her own making. Fixing what you broke is a good lesson, but this whole plot line still bugs me.

This kind of turned into a Sokka episode. And it's wonderful how supportive he is of his idiot sister. And he's obviously been that way their whole lives, because Katara basically expects him to fix things. She looks to him for a plan. But it's also not so wonderful how all of his very legitimate (and correct) concerns were steamrolled over. And why was he ok with the fire nation arresting his sister?

Even Aang is kind of a dud in this episode. Why is Aang ok with letting the fire nation arrest Katara?

There was some sibling stuff in this episode that was interesting. Sokka being Katara's constant support even when her problems are very much self-inflicted; Katara expecting Sokka to fix things, or even just keep them fed, to the point where it's basically an unconscious expectation on her part.

Mostly this episode just felt out of character. The backgrounds were consistently gorgeous and it's nice to see Aang take a backseat and get to hang out with some animal friends. But I don't think this one is going on my re-watch list.

I have to come up with a collective noun for Aang, Katara, Sokka, Appa, & Momo.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #imprisoned #avatar the last airbender

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duckymcdoorknob · 7 months

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𝓣𝓲𝓬𝓴𝓵𝓮𝓽𝓸𝓫𝓮𝓻 𝓓𝓪𝔂 2: 𝓐𝓬𝓬𝓲𝓭𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓪𝓵

Ahhhhh my first Double Decker fic !!! I will admit, I still don’t have a great grasp on their characters (16 episodes is too little 😭), so I’m gonna try my best with characterization.

Also please forgive me if this is not accurate, I’ve never touched a drop of anything aside from church wine 💀

—CW: This do have tickles below the cut ngl, alcohol and intoxication!—

Tags for today: @chrimsss

The day went exactly as it usually does: Doug and Kirill work together to save another victim of the current crisis, get caught up in a fight against a crazed Anthem-user, win said fight, then go out to celebrate.

And their usual celebration?

Going out for a few drinks.

Or, in Kirill’s case, getting one drink and losing his mind due to how much of a lightweight he is.

The constable was face-down on the counter, resting his head on his right arm as his left hand spun a barely-touched glass of water.

“You alright, Constable Vrubel?”

Doug always did look out for Kirill, even if he had a weird away of showing it.

“Yeah!” The purple-haired male chirped, head unmoving. “Jus’ godda finish m’wadder s’ I can ged an’udder dr’nk.”

The brunette sighed, “You’re sure that you want another? This would be your second Old-Fashioned… You’ve barely touched your water, and you’re barely upright.”

Kirill narrowed his eyes at his partner. “Tha’s n’t fair! I-I’m good, i c’n handle m- alc’hol.”

Doug couldn’t help the airy chuckle that escaped him. “Constable Vrubel-“

“Stop c’llin’ me th’t ou’side ‘f work.”

“Fine, Kirill,” the detective replied curtly. “Personally, I think you should go home.”

“Nooooooo! ‘M okay!” The constable whined, lifting his head from the bar top, revealing a red mark on his forehead. “I c’n keep g-goin’!”

Doug locked eyes with Derrick, who was placing a second Old-Fashioned on the counter, the man understanding what the detective meant immediately.

“Closing time!” The ex-officer announced, gently drying pint glasses. “Start finishing up, everyone. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

“Alright, Derrick’s closing up, let’s go, you.” Doug beckoned, rising to his feet and gracing a hand on his partner’s back.

Kirill whined in protest as his second drink was taken from the counter and quickly downed by Deanna, who grimaced in the process.

“You heard him, buzz-cut, get moving.” She barked, tapping the side of his water cup.

The constable wasted zero time and began to chug the water, not realizing how parched he was. After that cup was drank, he got a refill from Derrick.

Soon enough, Kirill was stone-cold sober once more. (WHY DONT WE JUST PRETEND THAT THIS IS ACCURATE) He sat on the stoop of the bar, pouting and glaring at his partner.

“What’s up with you?” The brunette asked with a cocky smile.

“You know what’s up,” Kirill murmured. “You cut me off, bastard…”

“I wouldn’t have gotten you to leave any other way, now would I? You still haven’t even left the bar yet.” Doug replied, gesturing toward the concrete steps.

“And you know what, I don’t think I will leave the bar! Bastard…”

The detective sighed as he stepped closer to his partner. “Kirill-“

“No! Don’t you start with me! I’m staying put, and that’s final!” The purple-haired male upturned his nose and closed his eyes, refusing to look at Doug.

Doug sighed while kneeling down. “Sometimes, it’s like herding cats with you.” He scooped up Kirill and threw him over his shoulder. “If you want to act like a toddler, you will be treated as such. Now come on, I’m taking you home.”

The constable yelped and clung onto the brunette as his partner began walking away. “Doug! Put me down! Can you even hear me? Put me down you- HYEAH!”

The detective paused dead in his tracks, just having previously squeezed at the back of Kirill’s thigh to get him to shut up. “Kirill? Did I hurt you? Are you hiding an injury from m-“

“It’s nothing! Just forget it!” The purple-haired male yelped as he squirmed.

“It’s not nothing. Sit still, I need to look at your leg.” With a stone-cold stoicism, Doug poked and prodded at the thigh in question, eliciting choked giggles from the officer on his shoulder.

“D-Doug i’m- pfff- fine! It’s okay, im alrIGHT-“ Kirill yelped once again as he felt a swipe behind his knee. “Doug st-ahaha-“ he slapped two hands over his mouth, praying his partner had not heard.

Unfortunately…

“Wait, wait, wait… are you- are you ticklish?” Kirill could practically hear the evil in Doug’s voice as his eyes grew wide. “No! I’m not! Don’t touch me! No no- nohohoho!”

“Oh my god, you are!” The detective gushed as he began to pinch at small section’s of the constable’s thigh. “Ohhh, you’re usually so tough! How ironic is this?”

“Dohohohoug! Wahahahait! Puhuhuhut mehehe dohohohown!” Kirill whined as he gently slapped at the broad back beneath his palm. His hands balled into fists as he felt scribbling behind his knee. “AGH! DohohohoOHOHOUG!”

“I wish I had known about this sooner. You would’ve been much easier to deal with… at least I know how to get you to behave now.” The brunette mused, continuing his assault on the back of his partner’s knee.

It was almost too cruel.

Kirill’s face was contorted into a bashful smile as all of his co-workers started at him fondly— and if you were Deanna, menacingly.

“Dohohohoug! Puhuhuhut mehehe dohohohown!”

“That’s a negative. Until you learn to behave yourself, I have to resort to drastic measures.”

In one swift movement, the detective wrapped both hands around his partner’s hips, squeezing with a ticklish vigor. Kirill squealed and began to pound his fists against Doug’s back.

“DOHOHOHOUG! NAHAHAHAT THEHEHERE! HYEHEHEHAHA!”

“Ohhh, did I find a sensitive spot, constable?”

“YEHEHEHEHES! PLEHEHEHEASE DOHOHOHONT!”

“Please don’t what? Goodness, you need to start acting your age.”

“TIHIHIHICKLE MEHEHEHE! TIHIHIHICKLE M- WAHAHAIT WAHAHAIT! NOHOHOHO-“

“Ohhhhhh, tickle you! Of course I can. Thank you for using your words, Kirill. Now then, let’s get you home.”

The purple-haired officer whined in agony as he continued to laugh himself hoarse. His mindless pounding against Doug’s back did nothing for him, and he could only writhe in agony until his partner decided to have mercy.

Their coworkers watched in amusement as Doug cracked a rare smile of pure menace. Unfortunately for Kirill, his apartment was a long way home from the bar…

🎃————♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎————🎃

#t content #double decker #double decker Doug and kirill #doug billingham #kirill Vrubel #dddk #tickle fic #double decker tickles #tw alcohol #cw alcohol #augtickletober2023

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comradekatara · 1 year

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They're blind if they don't see that about Sokka! Like. The other three kids would blatantly waste DAYS at a time, despite their very tight time limit, on whatever random bullshit captures their fancy. They literally planned vacations and even he got caught up in it but like......it's absolutely herding cats. You even see this problem in miniature, with Toph having to constantly hound Aang into earthhbending training. They're all flighty n distractible ish and avoidant in their own ways but Aang is very much the worst and yet also the most prioritised member who overrules Sokka regularly "for fun".

yeah I mean i was just so confused by that response bc it was such a bad faith misreading of what I had actually said, and also just a blatantly incorrect reading of the text??? I think a large swath of this fandom has a very surface level interpretation of the show (which is understandable, most people are not as invested in understanding the nuances of this show while still enjoying it, thats perfectly fine) while also just cherry picking the parts they like/latch onto and distorting the parts they found less compelling to suit whatever narrative they’ve crafted for themselves. which I suppose is their prerogative as audience members, but it’s frustrating to me as someone who thinks analytic work should always stem from understanding the text as holistically and completely as possible. normally I try to ignore such misinterpretations, since if I didn’t I would literally get no sleep, and yknow, I have a life. but i could see people’s tags in my activity feed turning this argument into a moral issue in which my very character was attacked (someone literally said “comradekatara and their followers are bs” which makes it sound like im running a cult or smth. yikes) and so I felt the need to clarify and defend myself in a way that I usually don’t when angry zutarapilled weirdos go on and on about how evil I am lmfao

anyway, to your point, sokka is absolutely herding cats. he is constantly trying to get them to be as economical with their time and stay as safe as possible, and they just straight up refuse to listen to him. I see people make arguments that sokka “wasted time on kyoshi island” by training with suki, but a) I don’t think receiving formal training for like the first time in his life is a waste of time and b) aang was clearly the one who insisted on staying there, sokka would’ve left whenever, but aang really liked it there, and considering this was right after he discovered that his entire people had been wiped out, it’s not exactly like sokka and katara can be like “no more fun for you!” the only other instances i can think of of sokka wasting their time is in “the ember island players” when he makes them all go spend two hours watching a play that they absolutely loathe. in fairness, I think sokka and suki should’ve realized that their friends (besides toph) would not enjoy such an event, but the episode would be way less effective if it had been just them watching it, so for metatextual reasons I’ll let it slide. (and fwiw, sokka’s training with piandao took two, three days at most, so it clearly wasn’t smth that interfered with the schedule.)

so yeah, my original point about sokka herding cats seems pretty obvious to me considering how many detours aang and katara constantly insist on taking (and arguably toph too, but she’s generally less resistant to sokka’s ideas). but then that person had to go and act like I said something I didn’t, and then add on a bunch of incorrect analysis to boot. truly, genuinely, weird behavior. the “momtara who does all the work and singlehandedly raised these children including sokka and has never once had fun in her life because she is struggling under the weight of being the most mature & reasonable fourteen year old girl who ever lived (and also that’s why this one spoiled prince who can’t even hammer a single nail would be such a good boyfriend for her because he loves doing dishes and is so emotionally intelligent & articulate)” koolaid is strong I guess.

#estra-die-ol #asks #maybe we watched different shows idk #atla: the ‘katara has no flaws and sokka is an idiot’ cut

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